Catching Up

 
It is January 2019 and I am sitting in the TV room with ice packs on both my shoulders. It is beautiful outside. 

Megan has four children: Jon, Kate, Gloria, and Darren. 

Lauren has one child, Caleb, and is expecting their second child--a daughter--in May this year. Caleb has decided that They should name the baby George. 

Roberto is working as a firefighter, he and Lauren live come Roanoke Virginia. 

Nathan is working full-time at a Walgreens warehouse. He continues to worry constantly--though, with the Ritalin he takes, his ability to face challenges has improved. He continues to live with us in Florida. 

Brent works for NextEra Energy Marketing, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy.  He has a wonderful boss, actually a friend, whom he respects and enjoys working with. I worry about Brent's health, but he is the one in the family who has begun to help both Nathan and me begin to be more active.  

As for me, I am feeling the effects of a lifetime of recklessly using my body. That, combined with arthritis, has slowed me down considerably. I no longer ride horses or go scuba diving, and Nathan and Brent constantly watch me to make sure I am not out in the yard pulling weeds. I do ride my bike with Nathan and take walks with Brent after he gets home for work. Unfortunately, my habits of eating, combined with the restricted activities, has resulted in a very bother some weight gain.  I have gone from   124 to 140 pounds.  Lately all I have wanted to do is sleep. 
We now have a business with one townhouse refurbished and rented.

My father's second wife, Cindy, died in December 2018. Dad is lonely without her, and is also waiting for lower back surgery to relieve him of constant pain. He and Martha live close to one another in Springville, Utah. 

Recovering From Operation on Right Hand and a Week in Utah

It is only 9:30pm, but already Brent is almost ready for bed and Nathan is taking a shower before he goes to sleep.  I got to wear a new dress that I bought while I shopped with Martha last week in a curious little boutique that had been a family home at one point: The Busy Biddy.  

 The photo was taken with Photo Booth so it's grainy--but you get the idea.  
But I get ahead of myself.  A few weeks ago, Dr. Acosta removed the pisiform bone in my right wrist. Almost immediately I realized that I had waited too long to have my doctor do this. My hand is still weak and it will take few months before I can play the piano again, but there is no pain!

 Above:  After the bandages were off--one week after surgery. 

Thoughts on Plant Classes 7 September 2010

Some of the photographs that I posted a day or so ago were from the wedding that I attended in Wichita, Kansas. My sister Susan's son, Sam, married his long-time love, Ashley. She was radiant. The food was great. I had two pieces of wedding cake--sorry if they ran out early and someone missed out . . . but not really.

I went to my Plant Identification class tonight. It is a class that I don't really have any interest in, except that I love the teacher and there is a core group of students (most of closer to my age) that I also enjoy being with. It is kind of like a summer art class--we press plants and put them together in books, label each one and put them all in order. After Dr. George Rogers--very cool man--introduces the family of plants that we'll be collecting that night, we all get to hike around the campus and clip off flowers and leafs and put them into big plastic buckets. I get to hear about the plant characteristics (and I am beginning to remember some of them . . . not many, but some) and try to adsorb the information.

9/7/10

The Bones I Don't Have Any More

It has just occurred to me this week that I only have 204 bones in my body now.  I know that amputees have fewer than normal number of bones--I just haven't ever thought of myself in that way.  I can still do everything I could do before.  The scars aren't obvious.  I know that no one but myself will notice that my hand looks and performs differently than other people's.  The pain is gone--along with the bones.  I don't itch either.

I hate itching more than hurting.  After the last surgery, I had a horrible allergic reaction to something that got on my skin while they were putting the partial cast and final dressings on.  It started to itch--sometimes a symptom of healing--and it got worse and worse.  Almost crazy with the irritation, I finally tore off the bandages.  The entire area covered by the bandages was angry and red--raised and bubbling  with small bumps filled with fluid in clusters.  I've had several bouts of staph skin infections--and they itched BIG time.  I hate itching.  We went to the walk in clinic down the street.  The doctor took one look and told me that it was an allergic reaction.  Just to be on the safe side, she gave me an antibiotic along with the steroids.

I am starting rehab now.  The scar is a bit tender, but that will fade.  I can play the piano--after a fashion--and I am typing this with both hands.