Comin' at you

I am moving slow tonight, this seroma removal has truly taken the starch out of my sails. I had to remove the dressing tonight, which I am sure the doctor would wish I hadn't; but the itching had me tearing at my skin nonstop. Now there is a rash, but small and sooth able with cortisone cream carefully applied above and below the incision. Somehow I had pictured an incision 2 or 3 inches long with lightweight sutures, and instead I have metal sutures on a large incision 6 inches long. And, may I add, ugly ugly ugly.

Thank you all for the words of encouragement throughout this endless process. It is funny how "here" friends disappear, and "far" friends hang in there. I don't know all of you who send me words of encouragement, but I thank each one of you for even the shortest comment. Should I ever be in your shoes I hope I will pass the hugs and kisses along.

Bumper sticker of the day: "All is not lost - but much is misplaced"

Very tired

I'm back from my "minor surgery", it's 1:30 in the morning and I hurt. I have to leave the drain in till my next appointment, next Thursday. I'm calling the doc tomorrow for something stronger than ibuprofen. Meanwhile I'm walking around to feel better.

Oh yeah, and the first thing they did when I got to the surgery center was to remove my shoes and socks and put on little booties, thereby covering up my pedi and all my callus-smoothing efforts!

I got the loveliest things for Christmas, and got to watch the smiles from the gifts I gave lighting up the faces I love. I gave a rice cooker to R that she wanted, and a small Nikon camera to C, so he won't have to borrow mine. N got a Kindle Fire, which he hasn't put down except to charge it since he opened it. Our Christmas dinner was steak and baked sweet potatoes, so minimal effort and no leftovers yeah! A quiet but satisfying day.

I hope all of you had a likewise relaxing or exciting day with family and friends, and are ready to get back to a normal routine again. Maybe you have this week up to New Year's day off from work and can take in a movie or two. I'm going to watch the DVD of Cowboys and Aliens, it looks like a hoot. But whatever you do, remember to give a little thanks to our men and women in the armed forces who cannot be home just yet, and their families who are eagerly awaiting their return. Bless them.

Back to bed.


Wordless Wednesday, a day late.

Bumper sticker of the day: "Money talks. But chocolate sings!

Same song, second verse

Next Wednesday I will have surgery to remove a hematoma/seroma from the area near the mastectomy scar. Outpatient, general anesthesia, quickly done. I am consciously preventing myself from thinking about it. Tomorrow is Christmas, and that is all I am focusing on for now. Once Christmas is over, I will work on getting the diet and exercise efforts underway. I won't dwell morbidly on the what-ifs and such. I won't.

Note to self: shave legs.

Did you ever hear the definition of "minor surgery"? It's surgery that happens to someone else.

The weather here has been so weird, hot/cold, clear skies/rainy and grey, even thunder. I still haven't blanketed the horses, because the blankets are thickly padded and I don't want them to swelter when the temperature goes up. As long as they are in the barn, they are warm without blankies, the barn keeps out the wind and traps the heat they produce. I am so glad we built this barn, the old one was so inadequate in cold weather. Now they have heated water buckets, hot water, airy stalls where they can see each other, and have that cozy feeling when we shut the big door. A nite light. Toys in the stalls. All the mod cons.


what the well-dressed equine is wearing this season...

Bumper sticker for the day: "It could be worse -- what if sex was fattening?"

Wordless Wednesday

Where I will be in March...

Update

Oncology nurse called and set me up with surgeon. He aspirated the lump, which diminished it, but when I said, "So it is a cyst?" he hemmed and hawed, and set me up to come back on Thursday. What I wouldn't give for a straight answer.

Pondering

What is it about yawning? There I am, in bed, it's cool and dark and I am dozing when bam! I yawn. This in turn makes my eyes water, which makes my nose run, which means I must search out a kleenex, all of which makes me far more awake than I was before the yawn. How weird is that?

And speaking of the word weird, what is that i before e except after c stuff? Weird.

And did you ever notice the word small is a big word, and big is a small word?

When you go to the grocery store, if you don't need a cart, there will be so many at the entrance you can hardly move past them, but if you do need a cart, they will all be in the parking lot?

And isn't it useless to take your car to the shop when it is making a funny noise, when it will never make it while you are there, only as you drive away? I personally need more than a noise to go to a repair place; it has to go knock knock and pour smoke at the minimum.

Speaking of noises, the computer here is making strange clunk clunk sounds when it starts up; but so far no smoke and no blue screen of death, so I'll keep going. It will probably die right after Christmas, when all the holiday bills come in.

Do you think it is a bad sign when the people at the surgeon's office recognize you by name?

"The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers."

Note on office door: "I AM LOST. I have gone to look for myself. If I should return before I get back, please ask me to wait."

Worrysome Thursday

Yesterday I went for my every-three-weeks cancer treatment. When I met with the oncologist for the pre-treatment exam, I pointed out an area on my demi-breast (the one that had the mastectomy) that felt like a hard knot. He agreed it was new and ordered an ultrasound, done right then. The unfortunate part is that the oncologist will be out of town for the next three days, and I won't find out any result until Tuesday of next week. Which is eons away, from my point of view. So think good thoughts for me, that this will turn out to be a harmless cyst.

T shirt of the day: "Easily distracted by shiny objects."

Wordless Wednesday

Bumper Sticker of the day: "Think outside the quadrilateral parallelogram."

Sunday

Insomnia again. And not just wakeful, but ready-for-the-day. I'd like to get some laundry going, bake a few muffins, and in general make some noise; this would not go well with husband and kids (30 year old kids), at 3 am. So I come in here and post to my blog.

Friday a week ago we had a minor traffic accident when we were stopped to let a car, three cars in front of ours, make a left turn. Unfortunately this was on a narrow twisty two lane road that gets heavy traffic and has a 55 MPH speed limit. The car behind us couldn't stop in time and rear ended us. Her car, a Chrysler Sebring, was pretty messed up in the front, bumper, grill, hood. Our car, the Lincoln, had 2 cracks in the rear bumper and a small chunk of the bumper missing. Really really minor, but noticeable. This Friday the insurance estimator took a look, and figured up the cost to replace the bumper: $1100. Isn't that insane? Yes, it is a 2010, but still... Anyway I feel fortunate that it was no worse, and no one hurt. I hate that road at the best of times, but especially at night. And we have driven on it every day for the last 30 years, because it is the only road to get home, coming from town.

Christmas is a mere 2 weeks away and I AM NOT READY. The tree is up (see below) but that is about the limit of what has been done. All of us used the internet to buy gifts, so for the most part it is just a matter of waiting for UPS Santa to come. And trying to figure out what is in each box by rattling it. A few mall trips are necessary, but on weekdays. I don't know why this year I feel so bah humbug, other than having cancer I mean, we didn't even get any Christmas stuff out of the attic other than the tree. I think I'll just buy some wrapping paper and call it done. No bows, because the cats chew them, get them all spitty and punctured. I used to make bows myself, all kinds of shapes and whatnot, but that was a long time ago. Humbug.

Did you know that humbug is a candy, like a mint? Peppermint flavor and toffee stripes. Here is a photo from Wikipedia:

Now you know...

Well back to bed, if not to sleep.

Bumper sticker for the day: "The voices in my head told me to buy more shoes."

Wordless Wednesday

Back again

I have enjoyed the break from posting here, but I don't want to get too complacent or I won't be posting for a month. Or more.

The latest here at the cat mansion (we're only here to open cans) is that Mac, the oldest, somehow managed to get outside -- not once but twice -- and cut or scraped his hind foot. It is a very small wound, but he will not leave it alone, and so it seeps blood all the time, staining everything he sits on (meaning, everything in the house). We took him to the vet, who gave him an antibiotic and shaved his foot, and put him in an E-collar so he can't reach his foot. He hates it, and bangs into everything and can't figure out how to back up and give it another go. For those who don't know what an e collar is, here is Mac in all his glory:



New front door, patio door, and all the interior doors have been replaced. Getting rid of all the dark, cheap doors (I call them trailer doors) and replacing with solid oak doors and getting outside doors that don't let the wind whistle in all winter is a tremendous improvement. We have other projects in mind for after the new year.

Christmas shopping is going along OK, no panics on my part yet. I haven't noticed any real crowds except at (ta-da) Walmart. Yes I do shop there, it is 4 miles closer to us than any other grocery store and it has cheap plastic junk that I just can't do without. Plus the photo printing thingys. In the store today, they called "anyone with cashier training to the registers" which I have never heard them do before. I'll bet they have had to lay on extra runs for the armored car pick-ups too.

It's too cold in here tonight to linger over this post. It's me for hot chocolate and a book.