Off Topic - Second Surgery Down

I am really glad to report that yesterday's surgery went very well. Heck, I was home before 6:30 PM and the surgery was at 2:40 PM. As soon as I was in recovery I was wide awake and alert. Whatever this type of anesthesia was, is what I should always get. I usually wake up fighting with nurses when I have been put to sleep. I am sure that my nurses yesterday were glad. They were having a patient who was having some difficulties and had to be admitted to SICU - Surgical Intensive Care Unit. I kept hearing the Recovery Room Nurses calling to regular hospital asking if a bed was ready. This was an Out Patient Facility and not really equipped to handle unforeseen problems.

Par for the course during this whole "breast issue" scenario is that what the Plastic Surgeon has been telling me for months, didn't happen. He told me all along that yesterday I would have tissue expander that I have had in since September removed and my other breast would be lifted at same time. Well, he comes in to draw on my chest with his handy dandy black magic marker and during the talk he said that I must have misunderstood him and that the breast lift would be done at yet another surgery. Ha- ha, am sort of getting used to it now.

Here is a tidbit for those of you less versed in breast reconstruction. They take your nipple in a mastectomy. Bye bye. What they offer in its place is a tatoo. It won't have any protrusion to it, just a flat tatoo. Oh well, there is no feeling over there anyway because all of the nerves are severed during the mastectomy. And Praise God, no cancer.

Unbelieveably, I am not hurting since Recovery Room where they gave me a shot of Morphine. I am on pain killers, but I thought I would definitely be hurting more than this. I will knock on wood and hope that I haven't spoken too soon about the pain issue.

Anyway, I am home and doing pretty well so far. I am really glad to have that part behind me. Now, all I have to do is let this left side heal very well and then I will go back for surgery number three. So, how has your year been? Ha-ha.

Thank you to all who will be reading this and sending their best. You guys did exceptionally well in keeping my spirits up last September. So glad that you all are still here. Have a good one all.

How was the manicotti Chris?

Ruby

Glad to hear all went well, you are right breast surgery is not very painfull. They had me on a pain pill after mine, but I wasn't on it long as it made me sleep all the time. I think you can get pastey nipples to replace the one you lost. Just incase you want them for tight tank top weather.

To bad they didn't do both surgeries yesterday, sometimes I think these Drs change their minds or think out loud and then tell us we heard them wrong. It is probably for the better, after the new one heals its better to match up the other side.

The manicotti was very good. We were all full and ready to take naps instead of work. I called in sick today, there has been an intestinal flu going around and I may have a touch of it starting. Hated to get to work and then not be able to get home again. So I'll be taking it easy today.

Last night I made a version of the crab salad to take to work for lunch, hope I'll be able to eat some today. Darn!







This message was edited Feb 22, 2007 9:14 AM

Good morning Ruby! I'm glad to hear/see you are doing well :-)
I've been doing a little more lurking than posting during which time i've noticed we have several things in common from dysfunctional family background, clutter & elephant collections...i have the little elephant watering can too :-)

I have to go up to the house we are trying to sell today...i hate going there, but hopefully won't be much longer....perhaps with a stint of warmer weather there will be signs of greening & flowering that will make everything look prettier...never know what will catch any one's eye.

I did ws 10 milk jugs yesterday...i gave myself permission to skip it after reading how you took it off of your list....once i felt it was ok to let go i found a little time to 5 jugs and then 5 more when my oldest daughter got home from pre-k....she wanted to see flowers this morning...had to explain it doesn't work that fast!

Take it easy today!

Lynda

Ruby- So glad hear you are doing well. I can't imagine what you have had to go through. Keep up the positive thinking!

Chris- Sorry to hear you're not feeling well today. Bet the manicotti was super. Yesterday it got very sunny outside and while pulling weeds i had a yen for fresh veggies. So later, at the grocery, bought stuff to make stir fry tonight. Now it's cloudy and I wish I'd bought pasta and tomato sauce. Oh well!

Lynda- What type of seeds are you wsing? I still have 10 or 12 milk jugs but can't decide what to put in them. HD has Burpee seeds on sale and I bought several more pkgs. of columbines.... probably should do those.

Officially, spring is only a month away. Yaaaaaaaa!

let's see....i did 2 different columbine; bachelor buttons, white datura, amaranthus (sp), cypress vine, peachy keen hollyhocks, petunia mix, snapdragons....wow, i remembered them all!

i still want to do some more...hoping to have a little garden for each of the kids (3), so i want some colorful & fun plants and flowers

it turns out my mix was about 50-50 from trades/sasbe and bought, so i'm curious as to what will perform the best

Greenie - I vote for columbines, and I don't even know what else you have. Some, or most of the columbines are really pretty I think. Sort of want to call them "striking." I had one come up last year that was such a dark blue/purple that it was almost black, depending upon how the sun was hitting it.

Lynda - Glad that you could benefit from my wise words. Ha-ha. No, I don't know a thing about you, but I know myself and I definitely have a tendency to over-book myself with plans, Since this surgery is over now, I am leaning toward getting some WS'ing done either beginning tomorrow or Saturday. Hubby tells me that the weather will be decent, in 40's and 50's for about the next week or so and I can deal with that. Can't deal with freezing tempertures though. So, hopefully I will be able to report back soon that I finally got started. I have had all the suppliles since last fall.

Chris, you are so sweet and wise lady. And a nut if you think I will buy a pastie to make my tank tops attractive to men folk. Ha-ha, Ha-ha. No way lady. Yeah, you seem to have things right about some of these doctors. I believe that he changed his mind because of the late hour that he got started. I was number 4 on his schedule yesterday, so I am sure he was very tired. It is okay, later is fine too. Good point about matching up the sizes. Good point.

I hope that you will begin feeling better soon Chris. Can't have my buddy feeling bad for too long. If you get to eat the salad, let me know how it is. So far, John hasn't made ours yet. I will make him in charge of dinner tomorrow maybe. I have spaghetti made for today.

I wanted to welcome you here Lynda. Post any old time. I have come to depend on this particular board as being a life line of sorts for myself. I have met some really fine people here, and am looking forward to when I get to meet some of them in person. At the groups plant trade in June, I hope to meet a lot us. Gonna try and hook up with Ladygardener when she is traveling through Virginia for her vacation this summer too.

As for selling a house, I have been told that the time that most houses move is between March and August, mostly due to working around school schedules. So, I bet it will be sold in March if not before. Do you mind sharing the story behind why you are selling it? or tell me to mind my own business. Ha-ha, I can do that.

Anyway, am off to the dentist office now to get a new "flipper." That for those who don't work in a dental office, a flipper is a partial plate. I have had one tooth on this one since last July. I had to order another one last Thursday that has two teeth. Oh man, getting to be my age is hard sometimes......ha-ha.

Be good all and I will check back again later today. And Chris....I am thinking of taking a good long nap at dental appointment too. Must be the pain pills.

Ruby

Lynda, That looks like a good mix of plants. You will have fun, I'm sure.

Greenkat, funny how weather has an effect on what you feel like eating, I had taco salad yesterday, wonder if that had anything to do with the way I feel this morning. I know the chemo I had last year really messed up my digestive system, it's still not right, but getting better.

Ruby, You should not be in the dental chair long, just to place the flipper. You might wake up with the next patient in your lap! ( That's an inside dental office joke) And if you'r on pain meds you should not be driving! Good gosh girl !!!

we lived in colorado springs prior to moving to martinsburg wv...my husband retired from the air force & then got a job working at the pentagon...he hates dc or at least the thought of living there, so he came out looking for a place and found that house & then i moved from the springs...what fun....new baby, huge dog, i think 5 cats, two chinchillas & a rabbit....made for a funny caravan!

we took time exploring and really liked the shenandoah valley area...my oldest daughter has dev'l delays and is considered in the autism spectrum so we regularly go to charlottesville to see a specialist and the school system is leaps and bounds better where we are now (no offense to any in wv)....she more than doubled the hours that she goes per week with the pre-k here (her bday falls so she turned 5 after the cutoff, which really works best any way) and she has flourished....

we found a house that is now home before we were ready to sell the other & it's been difficult to work on that house and set up house while my husband commutes to dc....on the bright side he has more flexibility for being home when needed due to driving instead of taking the train....found out how good that was when i fell down the stairs in oct...he was able to get home before 11am and had we been in wv 5pm would've been the earliest

Rbuy - SO happy for you...very relieved to know you're not in a lot of pain!!! Saying prayers for you!!

Ruby, I'm glad you sailed through the surgery so well. For all your complaining about being old and falling apart, I think you must be a tough old bird. (Just trying to make you laugh.)

Chris, glad you're taking care of yourself with this bug.

Lynda, that's so cute about your daughter coming home and expecting to see flowers already. LOL

Ruby, maybe we can get some of us together to go to the garden fair at the state arboretum in May. Debbie will be there I imagine too.

Winter cravings - I made a big pot of beef vegetable soup last week when it was so cold, which seems to hit all my winter craving buttons and warms from the inside out. Greenkat, do you have a vegetable garden? I found seeds for the neatest greens at Pinetree Garden Seeds. It's called tyfon or holland greens, a cross between some kind of turnip and Chinese cabbage, apparently very easy to grow. You can eat it in salads or use it for stir fry or cook it up like other greens.

Ruby
I’m so very glad you are doing so well. I know things will continue to go well for you. I don’t think I would let them tattoo a nipple on my chest. I think I’d want something outrageous instead. Maybe a large colorful octopus ??????

Hey There Chris - I am able to drive on pain meds, but Doc told me yesterday that I cannot drive for one day, and that is today. ha-ha I have a ve4ry high tolerance to narcotics because I have taken them so much over the past 22 years. John took me to the appointment. I still don't have the partial. The dentist had to send it back to grind down an area. They just called about 5 minutes ago and said I could come back this afternoon. I was too embarrassed to tell them that I am already in my pajamas. Ha - ha. I will go back tomorrow morning and get it.

Lynda - i am only about 15 miles from Charlottesville. That is where we do all of our business for the most part. My son just started taking classes in C'ville and so for a while we will be going 4 days a week. I would love to meet up with you on one of your visits here. Let me know.

Thank you Chantell and Hart. You said it Hart, I am a tough old bird. Ha-ha. And hey Chantell.........haven't heard much from you recently. Are you doing okay?

Take care all.

Ruby

Holly - The Nut of The Day Award goes to you!!!! That would be interesting wouldn't it - to get something other than a nipple tatooed there. Now I have all sorts of images coming to mind. A daisy? A rose? Star? Moon? Ha-ha.

Take care ladies.

Ruby

Ruby: I'm so glad the surgery went well!

Ruby, glad you have your "second surgery down" :) All this brings back memories - used to work for a plastic surgeon before moving to VA - I'm sure it is frustrating for you to think about yet another surgery, but believe me you don't want a "tired" surgeon working on you, take it one step at a time :)

Hart, we WILL be at the Arboretum in May and would love to see some of you there! They're downsizing this year, just a little, dropping about 10 booths - I think they had complaints last spring that they were getting too big! Had been following along on the thread for your meet in June (?) but with our schedule probably won't be able to make it :(

Debbie

Thanks Happy and Debbie - I am really thankful that it is not worse. Yep, looks like the year that I will most likely meet rcn on her circuit. There are so many of you that I am looking forward to meeting. See ya'll then.

Ruby

Yesterday I got a lot done including indoor sowing: 3 varieties of calendulas, 2 nasturtiums and annual chrysanthemums (Ismelia carinata).

Link to PlantFiles annual chrysanthemum: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1895/index.html

Last year I grew them (annual chrysanthemums) with limited success: they had pretty foliage but no flowers! The nasturtiums finally bloomed but without much enthusiasm. I didn't try calenduals last spring.

Here's a photo of "Empress of India" nasturtiums in a pot, July '06:

I recently read that these plants prefer cool weather. They won't bloom when it gets too hot. So I'm going to try putting them in the ground by early April.

Hart, I have a very small veggie garden. In past years, most of the space was dedicated to tomatoes. I have tried growing veggies in pots, too. I've found that greens of all kinds do well. Will check out tyfon, thanks.

Ruby- , glad all is well physically. Maybe you should make a point of finding out if possible, about that anesthesia, that was so much more agreeable.
greenkat- I had nasturtiums last year too, for the first time. I planted them late and they also languished until fall cool. The leaves were too peppery for me to eat tho.
hart- I've been tempted to try tyfon.. Looking forward to hearing how you like it.

The annual chrysanthemums are pretty, never seen them before. I have planted nasturtiums from seeds and last year they did not start blooming till fall, our summer was too hot, gee wish we had some of that heat now.

I am feeling better this a.m., I tried to be online yesterday, read a few threads and then went back to bed. I never sleep in the daytime, just when I'm really sick.

Everyone stay healthy!

Chris

Happy Saturday Chris and All - I hope that you will continue to do better Chris. Gee, you have been through and are still going through so much and I never hear you complain. But...we all know just how important a good attitude is in order to over come some of life's trials.

Sally, you bring up a good point about the anesthesia. I will try to remember to bring this to the attention of the doctor who administers it the next time I go for surgery.

Greenkat - sounds like you have been hard at it. I can't seem to make much progress in getting things done, because I have so much just every day ordinary stuff to do first and then no energy. All of my projects are just sitting and waiting for the day that I will get to them. The thing that is sort of hanging over my head is to begin putting books and collectibles and such in my two, new-to-me glass front bookcases. There is a lot of stuff in the floor of that room and some of it will go in them but will need to find hiding places or donation place for the other stuff.

Well, off for now. Will see you good people later on. Have a good one.

Ruby

Ruby, if you don't want to donate the books to your local library, don't laugh but a lot of local jails have small libraries and are always looking for books. Your local senior center or nursing home might be glad to have them too. But for goodness sakes let them sit until you're better, okay?

I had the prettiest nasturtiums at my old house and have had the same experience as you all here. Only difference is they were growing in shade at the old house. Maybe it was the variety. The old ones were Alaska. Very pretty variegated leaves.

There's this strange little vegetable gardening show on BYU channel (that's the Brigham Young University channel) called Homegrown. This week it was about planning and they visited two English gardeners who do all their plants in pots. You should have seen the tomatoes and lettuce one of them was growing. The other had tomato plants just planted in large bags of soil and twining up his fence.

If anyone is interested in seeing it, let me know and I'll look up the time and channel on Tivo. I'm sure it will be repeated some time this week.

Chris I hope your tummy is feeling better today. Have you tried ginger ale? The ginger in it is really good for an upset stomach.

Hmm, guess the nasturtiums weren't as bad as I remembered. This is from summer before last I think.

Nice nasturtiums, Hart. The cleome is real pretty, too.

Those Brits have it made. The UK has a great climate for gardening and they are soooo far north of us. That's why they can grow sweet peas in the summer there.

I am feeling a lot better today, I ate some oatmeal with applesauce in it this morning and then later this afternoon had my comfort food from childhood, soft boiled egg, a dab of butter, pinch of salt and a slice of torn-up white bread mixed together. Mom use to make that for me when I was sick and it still works after all these years.

Chris- Glad to have you back and feeling better! My mom used to make soft boiled eggs, too.

Mom always gave us dry saltine crackers and ginger ale, which is what good old Dr. Martin used to recommend. Glad you're feeling a bit better, Chris.

I'm guessing I must have taken this picture earlier in the summer before the July and August dry spells had the nasturtiums petering out. The cleome just keep going, dry or not.

I have to laugh at your comfort food Chris. If I wasn't already sick, I would be trying to eat that concoction. Ha-ha. Just kidding...but boiled eggs is definitely one of the foods that I least like.

Hart, Ginger Ale was used as a remedy in our home growing up too. I hadn't really thought about the ginger being a stomach settler, but I guess that it is. If we were experiencing respiratory types of problems we were made to drink a mixture of whiskey and sugar or honey. Ear aches brought out a bottle of sweet oil.

My, how the world has changed. Now, our nation is forever throwing some pill or some liquid down our throats in hopes that we will find some relief from whatever ails us.

I hope that everyone will have a great day.

Ruby

Those foods must be the standard. Ginger ale and saltines. My mom had little egg cups you sat the soft boiled egg in. Ginger in any form will help with any nausea. I always have slight sea sickness on the dive boat. Usually when we have surface interval, time waiting on the boat between the 1st and 2nd dive. I take crystallized ginger along in my pack and eat a little on the boat as we head out to the dive site and right after the dive. I see a lot of gingersnaps and ginger ale coming out of peoples dive bags. It can work for pregnant women and chemo. patients too.

Dive Boat? Did you say Dive Boat? Just playing with you Holly, I am interested in hearing a bit about your dives. I have never done it and don't plan to start now, but would like to hear you share some of your experiences. Thanks.

Ruby

Here you go Ruby, Here I am in Grand Turk discovering the great blue. I'm just out hanging over the ledge (drop off) checking out the beautiful coral that lives on the wall (think side of a mountain).



This message was edited Feb 25, 2007 1:15 PM

Here's the pretty stuff. I have a story I wrote about my first night dive, if I can find it I'll send you a D-Mail.

Great pics. Thank you for sharing.

Ruby

Very pretty pictures, Holly. Have those of you in the Harrisonburg area ever noticed there's a diving school on Route 11 north of town? That still boggles my mind because I'm trying to imagine where they dive. It's like seeing a mountain climbing school in Omaha.

Hart, I'm near Harrisburg. But Rt 11 does run through here is that the area you’re talking about? I'm surprised too. We have a very large diving community in my area. Harrisburg, York and Lancaster all have dive shops that are very active. There are several large Quarries that are set up just for divers. They have underwater platforms set at different depths. Submerged trucks, boats and even a small airplane to practice and play with. At Christmas all the clubs participate in putting in underwater Christmas Trees (decorated). There is the Jan 1st Chili Dive, we get to scare the local Polar Bear Club that has an event at one of the Quarries every year. There is the Easter Egg Hunt and a lot of other actives designed to get us in the water and practice our diving skills.

Harrisonburg VA, Holly. Sorry for the confusion. I'm sure they must use a quarry too but it still strikes me odd to see a diving shop out here in the mountains. LOL

Of course with the rivers here, all the rescue squads have trained divers for river rescues but that's not quite the same.

Yes, We have a River Rescue here too. The Susquehanna runs right thru here with several Dams. And of course there is always an airplane to take you to a nice warm destination.

What amazing pics!!! I'm in awe!! I've snorkled various times - Bahamas and Aruba...but never dived. My dad was a Navy Seal and has been encouraging me to get certified...I think it would be awesome!!