House Showing

Yesterday we showed our house for the last time in 2009 to a couple with no kids (still at home) and two horses.  They absolutely loved the place and want it.  They just have to sell their house in ???.  I can’t remember the name of the town they live in here in western Washington.

We have Jennifer looking at a house we found on the internet in Alpine.  It was built in 1974, which is older than I like, but if it’s in good shape and we can make it into something we can love….

But there are still the two big “IFs”: they have to lower their asking price on their house the sell it, and we have  to find something we both like to live in.

We put it in the hands of the Lord a long time ago, and so far, the dominoes are falling in order.  Oh, there’s another big “IF”—if they make and offer that we can accept!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

“I’m gettin’ nothin’ for Christmas…”  Actually, I AM getting “somethin’ for Christmas; it’s your Dad who was getting nothing for Christmas, as per his request.  Since our company isn’t coming until Janurary 11, I just saw a bright red down vest that I want to see on him.  His work clothes are oh so colorless, so I ordered it and will surprise him with it.

My best Christmas gift (I hope) will also come in January—the implanted pump.  Since nothing has worked so far, it’s hard to get excited about this one, but if administering morphine directly on the spot from which the pain emanates doesn’t work, nothing will!

Christmas will be quiet as a mouse, not that we have any mice, so I’m trying to get Scrooge to take me out for Thai food that night.  He doesn’t see the need!  I see I’m going to have to forceful on this.

Have a safe, healthy, fun-filled Christmas.  We wish we were there, at each of your homes.

It Worked!

The morphine  worked pretty well.  I’ll give it another try next week to see if it was just a fluke.  It’s gotta work ‘cause what I’m taking regularly DOESN’T work anymore!

Next “Silver Bullet”

Went to Olympia to a special pharmacy to obtain some morphine which will be injected into the trouble spot on Monday.  All prayers welcome!  I don’t have many alternatives after this other than to rely on pills.  My insurance company must be tearing  its hair out!

My Best Techie!

And he’s FREE!

Pinewood Derby for Non-scouts

Newel made both of these for a couples social at Church. I wanted a Tin Lizzie and he produced this little work of art—my “Wood Whizzy!”

Implant Update

Last Wednesday I had the first trial for the medicinal pump.  I got a shot of an anesthetic which deadened me from the waist down in just a few seconds.  He said he have me a whole day’s worth of what I would get in the pump, so it was pretty strong.  In fact, going to the car afterwards, even after resting in the office for about half an hour, I was virtually a paraplegic!  Really! My legs were like rubber and wouldn’t do what they were told. 

We went through a drive-thru for lunch because I didn’t want to try falling on my face in a restaurant.  Then we drove home.  I had the shot at 12:55 am and when we got home at 3:30 pm I was able to walk by myself from the car to the house.  I had no pain at all for about 2 hours from the waist down, but as the sensation began to “thaw” from the soles of my feet up, I began to feel everything.  By 4:00 pm I was pretty much “thawed out” and back in the pain business.  I reported to my doctor the next day.

My next step will be another trial with another drug—morpheme.  I have to obtain a prescription for it from a special pharmacy that makes up these meds, then I take it up to Dr. Li who will then inject it like he did the others.  Oh, what fun!  I asked him if the morpheme will deaden my legs like the last one did and he said it wouldn’t.  There has to be a magic bullet out there somewhere…….I’ll keep going until I find it.

When at first you don’t succeed…..

……you try, try, try again.  So, here I sit with the very latest of electronic fashion accessory draped around my  body, trying out every level of  stimulation it produces.  I’m to try  it all day and all night!  Next week I’ll go back and report my success…….or lack of it.  Just so I keep my sense of humor—which does get away from me from time to time.  Something good HAS to happen because there isn’t much to choose from after this.  I’ve had steroids injected into my spine, at least one ganglion scrambled, and have taken pain killers by the wheelbarrow full.  With the stimulator, I have endured two sessions of a small lead (like a wire) jammed up and down my spinal cord to find the exact spot where the pain is the worst.  The doctor found the magic spot a week ago, but I have yet to experience the magic of the stimulator.

Newel looks a little like he’s forgotten that Halloween is over with because he still has some of his Frankenstein make-up still on.  He had a cancerous lump removed right next to his right eye, and a benign (but large) lump removed from his lower back.  I get to play nurse and dress his “owies”.

Growing older is just so much fun!

Secret Grieving

I’m experiencing waves of grief off and on throughout the day and can’t discuss it with anyone buy Newel yet.  If the secret comes to be, an era in my life will end, but another one will begin—maybe a really good one that could change the tears to smiles and laughter.  In the meantime, I keep the kleenex box close by.  I can’t predict when a wave will wash over me.

I don’t need this on top of another bout of poor communication with my pain doctor and the start of the rainy season here in western Washington, and more signs of senility in my 91-year-old dad………..  More later.

Winning and Losing

Tonight Newel and I attended a Church dinner where we raced our own Pinewood Derby cars.  Newel’s car competed three times and won once.  I competed twice and came in second each time (i.e., lost).  We were winners though because we lost in style!

Newel crafted both cars………so cute!  His was an old fashioned Indy 500 racer and mine was a Tin Lizzie!  I called it my “Wood Whizzie”!  When I told him what I wanted, he went on line and got a picture of a Tin Lizzie and worked from that.  Both cars are little works of art.  My car won a box of See’s Candies for being the most creative design.  My “Wood Whizzie” is a good example of how I think and feel about myself.  I don’t like to do things like everyone else—I love to be creative.  Next time I’m going to try to craft my own car.  It all was good for my spirits.

My chronic pain has killed off all my old creative pursuits, and tonight I felt a little spark lighten up the dark.

Update of my Tail of Pain

I’m still sitting on my painful tailbone, waiting for the doctor’s office to receive permission from Medicare for a second try at hitting the right spot with the spinal cord stimulator.  Pills help enough to keep taking them, but they cover about half the pain or less.

I don’t know where I’d be without Medicare, but it is socialized medicine, and I have to put up with the beaurocracy! (SpellCheck wouldn’t spell that word for me and I’m too tired to go get a dictionary.) It’s bureaucracy!  I got the dictionary; I couldn’t stand it. My brain is as tired as my tail.                

Grandchild Alert!

Leif, Freja, Britta and I just had a good tramp in the woods.  We ate the last of the blackberries, kicked over mushrooms big as bird nests, and hacked our way through the brush with Freja and Leif’s new scythes (wooden) made in Grandpa’s shop.

Britta is a living, walking example of why toddlers are called “toddlers”.  In her little purple boots, that match her purple striped dress, with her blond pony tails bobbing along she toddled over the pathways.  This is why my blog page starts with “Grandchildren”.  All of them are the apples of my eyes!

I’m glad right now that we haven’t moved to Utah.  It’s much too beautiful here.

Next week we will try once more to replace the leads on my stimulator to see if we can get it in the right spot for maximum benefit.  More waiting, but worth it in the long run—I hope.

Implant Day

I had the long-awaited trial period of the spinal cord stimulator today.  It’s a day I don’t want to repeat.  The doctor had to do THREE procedures where only one usually suffices.  Despite many shots of anesthesia, it was still very painful.  When it was all over he said I have scar tissue built up where I had  disc repair surgery in the 1980s.  He said it makes my problem in that area more understandable now.

So, the probes were finally in place and hooked up to the control box.  They  tried for a long time to get the probes right over my tail bone, but couldn’t.  When they turned on the juice to the control box, the current felt like my old problem with paresthesia.  If fact, that’s exactly what it is—paresthesia.  I’m going to try it for a week, making contact with the company’s rep every day.  It’s going to have to do a much better job for me to have a permanent implant.

Not at all what I was hoping for.  I’m very disappointed. Maybe it’ll get better with time.

Post Utah

We’re unpacked and back in the saddle again after a 5-day trip to Utah to see all the family there and check out some real estate. 

Seeing the family was delightful.  They had a big barbeque at Jen’s house after Church on Sunday because that was the only day they could all get together.  It was fun for everyone except a few picky eaters who didn’t eat much.  The rest of us chowed down on some very good victuals, visiting as we feasted.   The Alvord home was sporting its new landscaping which included a water feature—a rushing stream over rocks.  Haley asked if she could take out some of the rocks and replace them later!  She’s an original for sure.

We also got to visit with the Shelley’s and the Burdick’s in their sweet homes—“sweet” because love abounded and these grandparents feasted on it.

The tour of homes with a very nice realtor was less successful.  It’s almost going to be impossible to find something that will fill our needs.  One house,  on two acres, had a really great shop and extra land for plenty gardens and orchards, but the house was not thrilling and they were leaving a lot of furniture, including a huge wrap-around couch and huge flat screened TV in the basement.  They said the couch was so big, they had to take it apart to get it down into the basement.  The house was a bit used by humans and dogs and cats.  Ugh.

Sooooooo, we came home ready to stay in Washington a bit longer and make at least two flights down the Utah a year to see the family.  We’ll fulfill our contrast with our real estate agent and stipulate that the buyer had to meet our asking price or no deal.  Everyone can be bought so they say, and we can probably if they meet our price.

My surgery was  cancelled yet again.  The next appointment for it will be the 30th of this month.  I’m more than ready for this thing to happen!

Charlie Brown Alert

My dad was admitted to the ER this morning with a bladder infection.  I saw him this afternoon in the ICU where he will spend the night.  He may stay there longer simply because the hospital is full up!

Wilma called me this afternoon when Newel was out “Churchifyin’” so I hopped in the pickup and went over to the hospital myself.  Newel joined me later.  Dad was ruddy-faced and running a fever.  Occasionally he would get the chills and need more covers.  He was very tired, but was still awake when I got there.  Wilma and I spoke with him, but tried not to tire him anymore with conversation.  We are all very concerned because an infection like this is very treatable, but the doctor keeps reminding us that he’s 91.

While I was there his PB was getting closer to normal and he was coaxed into eating some soup and cottage cheese (his choice). Just before his meal arrived he told Wilma and I to get home because it was getting dark and we didn’t want us driving in the dark.  He had a smile on his face as we kissed him goodnight.  We said we’d be back tomorrow morning.

When Dad does go, I want it to be quick and pain-free, but I am not ready to let him go yet (as if I have anything to do with it!) These last 11 years have been so loving, making up for all the fear I had of him while I was growing up.

Staying hip

I’m hip—a new flat screen TV and HD upgrade are being installed as we speak.  It’s my 47th anniversary gift from Newel.  What a sweetie.

We’re going to Utah on the 17th and will return on the 22nd. Then---on the 23rd I get my spinal cord stimulator partially implanted to test drive it for one week.  Then all of it will be implanted if it works for me.  Pray Pray Pray

Good News

47 years ago today I married my sweetheart in the Manti Temple.  It was the best move I have ever made.  47 years, 4 children, and 14 grandchildren—a life full of blessings.

Another day, another blog….

Jennifer and I have had a really fun two-day visit and she’s about to take to the skies.  I guess I’ll see here in two weeks when we go to Utah.  I may post pone my implant procedure since the doctor’s office screwed up my appointment so bad.

The Last Post of the Day-----I Promise!

The kids are all packed up and ready to head towards Everett.  The house will be so quiet.

Sorry, Britta—I didn’t see you in that picture!

Hans, Leif and Freja having fun at Grandma’s

It’s a verrrrry slow Sunday.

My first picture entry.

Our two sweet girls---Abby and Amy.  Amy is now in another home because two dogs proved to be just too much for these two oldsters, but she’s happy and so are we.

Ta-da! Another post—learning process—be patient!

I’m on drugs.  Yes, it’s true.  I’m on pain killers and it fogs up my mind.  Hopefully, on September 2nd this will be fixed.  I’m getting an implant.  Sure hope it works.

My first picture post.

This is my cocoon from the world—is there such a thing?  There is now.  It’s up for sale and I don’t know if I’m ready to metamorphose.

Yet another Post

Eric is teaching his mom all about blogs and how they work!

Here’s another post

This is eric writing a post for his mom.

My First Post!

I’m glowing, so I was told……my kids are here! and Eric’s teaching me about blogging, so this may be really lame—but I’m LEARNING!