Medical Mutterings, #Vegan #Recipe Experiments, #Tortoise Playpens, And #StormCaira

Happy Tuesday! At least, I hope it's a happy one.

I appear to still be sick; my cold and cough are still lingering. I've thought they were getting better a few times, but apparently not. I'm still sniffly and coughing, especially at night and first thing in the morning. It starts to look like it's going to stop, and then starts back up again. At least it's not getting worse. That's something.

Anyway, another week has come and gone, so let's see what I've been up to, shall we?

***~~~***

Tuesday was my appointment with the dentist at the hospital to look at my tongue.

The consultant I saw had a look at it, and agrees with my regular dentist that it needs to be removed. He's going to do it himself in a few weeks. I'm booked to have it done on March 3rd at 4:10pm.

Officially, he could have booked me in sooner. However, there's a slight complication.

You see, they're insisting on having a sighted person signing for me - again.

At least this guy offered me an explanation that makes sense as to why though.

Basically, there's no official procedure for my situation. Normally people fall in to one of the following catagories:

• People under a certain age, who require a parent or guardian to sign for them.
• People old enough to sign for themselves, with no disability.
• People with a physical disability that doesn't stop them being able to read and understand the document, so allows them to be able to sign for themselves. Such as people in wheelchairs.
• People with a mental handicap, where another has to make decisions on their behalf, since they lack the ability to do so. In which case the person making the decisions would be the one who signs.
• People with some kind of disability who have an assistant with them, who is generally expected to be the one signing on their behalf. This being what happens in most cases with blind patients.
• People who can't make decisions because of the medical circumstances, so their next of kin needs to.

However, I'm a person with the kind of disability that prevents me from reading the document myself, who has the mental capacity and intelligence to make the ddecisions for myself, and is insisting on doing so. Something they don't usually encounter, so have no procedure put in place to deal with. So, since they have no procedure put in place for it, the consultant wants to follow the lead of the gynecologists, since everyone was obviously happy for things to be done that way, so he knows he won't get in trouble for it.

I guess it does kind of make sense, but is stupid, annoying, and a load of hastle that could be avoided if they just let me sign the ******* piece of paper myself. They could even just call Kelly (listed as my next of kin) ask him if he accepts my decision to sign myself, and then - when he tells them he does, which I know he will, since he agrees it's ridiculous that they won't let me - let me do it. But... No! They have to be awkward. *sigh*

So, what all that boils down to is that we need to enlist the help of our friends Andy and Lorna again - or one of them anyhow - to come sign for me. Either that, or put Lilie and Logan in doggy daycare for the day so Kelly can come do it. Either of which I needed time to arrange. Hence me being given four weeks between seeing the consultant and having them remove the lump, since we could guarantee that would be long enough to arrange doggy daycare if Lorna and/or Andy couldn't help. Or give them plenty of notice if they could, which is the case, since Lorna says she'll do it.

Yes, I can assign the job to anyone I want. They just have to be able to see to read what they're signing. Like I said, it makes sense, but is stupid, annoying, and involves some extra steps that are a waste of everyone's time.

Anyway, apparently it will take just 20 minutes to do, since they just give me a local anasthetic, do a quick cut, and send me home. So I should only be at the hospital for an hour or so at most. But they advise I don't eat anything for the first couple of hours, and then stick to a soft food diet for a few days afterwards.

Yeah? Ya think? I'd have done that even if they hadn't advised it. I'm pretty sure even that's not going to be fun for those first couple of days. But only drinking won't be an option, because the only painkiller I can take is ibuprofen, and taking that without food is not a good plan. Weetabix and soup are my plan for those few days... Soft but filling.

Logan is going to be unhappy come toast and sweetie ball time... Might have to have Kelly share some toast with him. Kelly's not a big toast eater, but he will eat toast, and I'm sure he'd do it for those few days so Logan will settle properly.

Yes, my dogs are spoiled. No, you won't change that. *wink*

***~~~***

Wednesday my monthly supplies of the vegan items that are tricky to get locally arrived (like my jars of jackfruit, and a few other things). So I had to get all those put in their places.

Also, this was the day I did a bit of a food experiment, and worked on an idea I had for a vegan cottage cheese recipe, so I could try it in a recipe that called for cottage cheese, which Deanna had posted.

It was the rice and bean pie recipe she posted recently, in case you were wondering. It's a great one as is for vegetarians, but needs some adjustments and replacements to be made for vegans. One of which is a vegan alternative to the cottage cheese.

Deanna did find this vegan cottage cheese recipe. But I had an idea that was simpler and quicker to do, so figured I'd try my own idea first. I might try that other cottage cheese recipe at some point though, as well as check out some of the other recipes on the Loving It Vegan website.

In the meantime, I made my own simpler tofu-based version - which may or may not be what others who have used tofu as a cottage cheese substitute have done in the past - which tasted pretty close to cottage cheese in my opinion, and Kelly said looked a lot like cottage cheese too. I tried it in the recipe, in tortillas with some refried beans, and also just plain on a bit of bread, so I've tested it chilled, as well as cooked with something. The recipe will eventually go up on my website, and I think Deanna is planning to add it to the recipe of hers I linked to in this post, but if you want me to share it on my blog too, let me know, and I'll post it next week.

***~~~***

Thursday I mostly enjoyed petkid time, only doing the day to day things that always "have to" get done, and tried to take it a bit easy, because apparently the two days one after another with things going on took a lot out of me. So, even though I thought - wrongly, as it turned out - the cold might have improved, I was feeling really drained and achy; I was extremely low on spoons, and didn't have it in me to do more than absolutely necessary that day.

I might be doing great compared to how I was before I had my hysterectomy, but I still have health issues to deal with, and still have days - sometimes a few in a row - like that, and this was one of them. Hey, even on these kinds of days I feel better than I did on my best days before the hysterectomy, so I'm definitely not complaining. But it's why I mostly try to do only a few things each day, and most of them can be done sitting down.

***~~~***

Friday we did the dogs' flea and worming stuff, and I marvelled - as I do every time - at how much easier Lilie and Logan are to do it than just about any other dog I've had to do it for. When it comes to their spot-on flea stuff, they'll both come to you when you call them for it (even though they've seen you getting it ready) and stand there patiently while you put it on them. As for the worming tablet: Logan takes it without a fuss, even without it being hidden in anything, and even Lilie will take it without issue if you put it in whatever her current favourite food item happens to be (right now that means ham). Two minutes at most, and you've got the stuff out, treated both dogs, and are done with it. Completely different to all the times I've had to crawl under beds and desks to capture hiding dogs.

Speaking of Lilie and Logan: on Friday I also called the groomer. Logan is booked in for a full grooming session on February 21st at 11:00am, and Lilie's booked to go in at the same time for her nails to be done (since she doesn't need a full grooming session again yet, but she doesn't wear her nails down properly, so those need trimming regularly). They'd have normally been on the same grooming schedule, but Logan missed the last one because of his upset stomach. I was going to just leave him until Lilie was due to be groomed again - especially since that would be right before we plan to get him neutered, so then his fur would be relatively short for them doing that - but he's starting to look really scruffy, and it's getting difficult to keep his fur from getting tangled and knotty (even with regular brushing) so I thought I better get him groomed now, before it becomes a problem for him.

I was still feeling kind of achy and drained - most likely not helped by my cough and cold deciding to inform me it hadn't left after all - so didn't really do much else on Friday, except sort a few eMails (since at least that didn't take much energy to achieve) and discover one of the blogs I follow was talking about this Little Library Cafe site, which I definitely need to check out some of the recipes on.

***~~~***

I wasn't feeling so drained and achy by Saturday, but had a mostly petkid play and DVD day anyhow, since it was the weekend. So, the main thing I achieved was to set up a playpen for Artemis. Actually, other than the "have to do" daily tasks, several games of fetch and tuggy, and watching of DVDs, it was the only thing I achieved. But that's fine.

Anyway, I needed - and wanted - Artemis to be able to come out of the vivarium for playtime without having to be cuddled the whole time (other than bath time, when we have a designated tortoise bath bowl that Artemis is in, which you may have seen in a recent post from Mollie) since it's good for the tortoise to have the change of scenery, exercise, etc. But the tortoise is too tiny to be wandering around loose (even if some people do that) and the pet playpens you can get are made of mesh, with gaps in the mesh that are either big enough that Artemis could easily fit through them, or just right for the tortoise to catch a foot or something. In short, not designed for tortoise playpens. So I improvised, emptied some stuff out of a plastic storage box, and made a little tortoise playpen out of it.

Artemis loved it!

The playpen isn't particularly large, but neither is the tortoise, so it's good enough. I'll look for a bigger box to make Artemis a larger playpen when I can, and sort out a few more toys for it when I do. For now, Artemis has space to stomp around out of the vivarium without getting lost or squished, a log tunnel thing to climb in and on in that space, and some sticks to play with. Like I said, Artemis seems pleased to have those things.

Here's a photo of Artemis in the tortoise playpen:

***~~~***

In a rare display of the weather reports being completely accurate, in the early hours of Sunday morning, "Storm Caira" showed up, bringing lots of wind, and a fair bit of rain too. Luckily, we had nowhere we needed to go that day, since we wouldn't have wanted to be out there. Even Lilie didn't want to go out there. There was nothing much we had to do either, which meant I could enjoy more DVD watching and petkid playtime while listening to the storm.

We tried to get a video of Artemis in the tortoise playpen, but Artemis wasn't in the mood to play. All we got was a tortoise who refused to do more than stomp a little in one spot and look kind of sulky. I'm sharing the clip anyway.







Listen to that wind. Is it any wonder the tortoise was feeling kind of cranky? I mean, look at the storm:







The jingling you hear in both clips is the tags and bell on Lilie's collar. That's her barking in both clips too.

Artemis did play some later, so I tried to get a video of that. In fact, I did a few short videos, and a couple of photos too. But I did them myself, and Kelly hasn't had a chance to look at those to see if the tortoise is actually in them.

I also tried to get some photos and videos of Mollie, Lilie, and Logan. But, again, Kelly hasn't had a chance to sort through them yet. I'll share any that successfully got animals in them in the near future. Probably in a Friday post.

***~~~***

Monday was still stormy, with lots of wind and a fair amount of rain, though the weather was calmer than it had been Sunday. The sun even tried to shine a few times. There was still a weather warning alert on for the area though, complete with a flood warning. Some parts of the country got some snow, and the snow is meant to be heading South, but doesn't seem to have made it as far South as where I am. At least, it hasn't as of writing this, though it still could. I won't hold my breath, but I will hope, especially since some areas only a couple of hours drive from us have seen some.

I spent some time sorting eMails between when I woke up and when it was time to deal with the petkids, and then spent the rest of the morning alternating between dealing with chores, seeing to the petkids, and helping my Mam with something over the phone. The afternoon was mainly spent beta reading a story for an author friend, with some time squeezed in to finish putting this post together and sort a few more eMails between sending her my notes on it by eMail, and needing to go start preparing dinner.

***~~~***

So, that was my week. How was yours?

Introducing Logan

I told you last week about our special delivery. Well, now he's here, so it's time for you to meet him.

As I mentioned last week, his name is Logan, and I've been following his progress since he was born on April 14th 2019.

But what, you ask, is Logan?

As I ended up admitting on Twitter and Facebook in replies to a couple of the posts I did on Sunday, Logan is a dog. Actually, if you want to be completely accurate, Logan is an apricot and white Cavapoo.

We've been talking since soon after we got Lilie about getting her a pal, and have finally done so.

A Cavapoo - for those who don't know - is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel x Toy Poodle. In Logan's case, his Mother (Posy) is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and his Father (Barkly) is a Toy Poodle. Posy is a tri-colour (white, black, and tan) and Barkly is mostly cream with a chocolate brown patch on his nose. I don't have any photos of Barkly, but you'll get to see Posy among the photos in this post.

By the way, in the interests of full disclosure: the photos and video in this post were taken by Tessa Marchand of Castellan House Kennels, were eMailed to me by her, and are being shared with her permission.

Those of you who knew Kero's full title (Castellan Keroberous) or who have checked out the pet pages of my website, might find the name of the breeder familiar. Yes. It's the same place we got Kero from, about fifteen years ago. Only this time we live too far away to have been able to visit regularly, so had to settle for following his progress via photos, eMails, and telephone conversations. We also posted a blanket and toy with my scent on to Logan (I hand delivered a toy with my scent on it to Kero) and used the services of a professional pet courier - who Tessa has worked with enough that she could recommend him - to bring our little boy home.

No, pet couriers aren't cheap. But it actually only cost a little more than it would have cost us to go fetch him, while being a whole lot less stressful for the little guy, since doing it ourselves would have meant a lot of swapping trains and cars, where as having Chris (the courier) bring him home, he could be in the same vehicle for the entire trip, with fans and air conditioning available to him. It shortened the journey by a few hours for Logan doing it that way too. We consider it worth the extra bit of money to make things easier on Logan.

Anyway, I'm sure you want to see those photos - and video - I mentioned having been sent by Tessa, right? So prepare yourself for a lot of puppy cuteness, since Tessa sent a lot of photos, as well as a video, allowing us to watch each of his milestones as he grew from a tiny little fluffball who couldn't do anything but make squeaky sounds and nuzzle his Furmama for his food, to the eight week old puppy who finally came home on Sunday.

First, here's Logan at a week old:

Here he is about a week later (at 13 days old):

Here he is four days later (at 17 days old) with his eyes just about open:

Remember I mentioned sending him a blanket and toy? Well, here he is two days later (at 19 days old) on the blanket I sent him, playing with the cow toy I sent along with the blanket:

Logan apparently loved the toy, and so did Posy, who also played with it sometimes. I can't help hoping Posy wasn't too disappointed when it came home with him. Bless her.

Anyway, Logan learned to properly stand on his own four paws right on schedule at around four weeks old. The day after he was officially considered able to walk - so, two days after he turned four weeks old - we got these photos of him, complete with obviously frequently played with cow toy:

Two days later, at the age of four and a half weeks, Logan had an adventure.

You see, Logan is the only puppy in his litter. So, to help him learn the social skills and behaviours puppies would normally learn while playing with their littermates, Logan went to puppy playschool. Yes, you read that right. Playschool. It's like the doggy version of the Mother-toddler daycare type groups some parents take their kids to. Only it's for puppies.

Anyway, happy to help us not miss out on any of his milestones, Tessa was kind enough to send photos of Logan's first day at playschool, so here he is, making friends on his first day at puppy playschool:

He went to playschool every day after that, and even went to a sleepover a couple of times - once he was eating puppy food, and old enough to be away from his Furmama for long enough. Puppy slumber party. Love it!

Speaking of Logan's Furmama: near the start of this post, I promised you'd get to see Posy among the photos. So, here's Logan with his Furmama, right around the time he turned five weeks old:

The day Logan turned six weeks old, Tessa sent us a video she took of him while he was at puppy playschool. Anyone who follows my YouTube channel will have had a sneak peek, since I actually uploaded it on there a couple of days later. But, for those who haven't yet seen it, here it is:






Now, here he is at seven and a half weeks old - just a few days before he came home to us:

Logan had his first puppy shot the day that last batch of photos was taken (June 5th) and his vet check was described as, "A1," so that's good. He's scheduled to have the other part four weeks later. He's all booked in for July 4th at 11:00am, because I couldn't do the 3rd, since I have an appointment myself that day. I want to keep today's post about dogs though, so I'll tell you about that next week. We would have taken him in on the 21st of June, when Lilie has to go back to the vet to have the other half of her shot, but he won't be ready to have it yet then... It's about two weeks too early. So, July 4th it is, and no walkies for him until almost mid July.

Anyway, on Sunday morning, which was the day he turned 8 weeks old, Chris (the dog courier) picked him up from Tessa bright and early (at about 6:00am) so by the time I got up at 7:00am he was already on his way, and I woke up to an eMail letting me know he was on his way, complete with photos. So, here's Logan, ready to make his journey home to us:

We have, of course, taken more photos since he arrived home a few hours after that last batch was taken on Sunday. We should have a video or two as well. There are some Lilie photos too, of course... Got to include our baby girl! But we haven't had a chance to sort the stuff on the camera yet. We're too busy enjoying having Logan home at last, and the fact Lilie finally has a little brother to play with (when she wants to play with him). Luckily, this post contains plenty of puppy cuteness to keep you going while you wait for us to stop basking in our two adorable pups long enough to see what shots we ended up taking. I'm hoping to have at least some of them ready for Friday's post, when you'll learn how Lilie and Logan's first days together went.

Before I end this, I'd just like to say one more thing: thank you, Tessa, and Chris, for our new baby boy. I suppose I should thank Posy and Barkly too, since he certainly wouldn't be here without them. *wink*

Medical Mutterings - February 2019 Edition

*~*PTMI ALERT!*~*
This post contains mention of blood, vomit, and medical procedures concerning the female reproductive system. If reading about any of those things makes you uncomfortable in any way, you should probably avoid reading it. You have been warned!

As most - if not all - of you know, I went in to hospital for a hysterectomy on February 7th 2019, leaving a selection of scheduled posts to entertain you while I was in hospital having, and then recovering from, the surgery. Plus, I hoped, while I spent my first few days at home just focussing on my recovery, and spending time with Kelly and the furkids. I hope you enjoyed those.

Regardless, now I'm back, and glad to say, the surgery is over. At least, most of me is glad to be able to say it. There's a small part of me - a very small part - that still clung to hope, even while I begged them to give me the hysterectomy, and now weeps for the loss of any chance I'll have the son whose name has been ready for him since I was a teenager. But most of me is glad. Most of me is relieved to have a chance at a better future for myself, even if it meant extinguishing that last flickering flame of hope. Most of me is cheering, because the bleeding is gone for good. At least, I will be glad when I'm not in so much pain.

By the way, if you're curious: the drink stuff I had to drink before surgery wasn't quite as bad as I expected it to be, though it wasn't particularly great either. I've had worse. It kind of tasted like the lemon version of that powder stuff you add to water for treating colds and flu, except you're meant to drink that hot, and this stuff was cold.

anyway, our friends, Lorna and Andy, were helping us out with the fact the hospital wanted someone sighted to sign my paperwork. Officially I should have been allowed to do it myself, because I'm old enough to do so, and my impairment is physical rather than mental. But the gynecologists had insisted. None of the nurses are quite sure why, since they don't see any actual valid reason why I couldn't have just signed it myself with a second nurse there witnessing that the first hadn't forced me, forged my signature, or whatever. That's what I did when I was having my eye out, and for the surgeries after that when the implant was refusing to take. I should have been able to do that this time too, and we all would have been happy for me to do so. Except the gynecologists. So, Lorna and Andy helped us with the problem of needing to have someone sighted sign the paperwork, while someone else was able to stay at home with Lilie. It saved us the hastle and expense of arranging to put Lilie in doggy daycare for the day. Although, I do admit she would have probably really enjoyed that, since she loves having friends to play with. Still, the moved surgery date, combined with the cost, made having helpful friends a much better option from our point of view.

Lorna and Andy had planned to also be the ones bringing me home, but the surgery date being moved meant they couldn't, because they'd been planning for months to go away somewhere, and they were due to leave while I was in hospital. As it is I think they pushed back their departure date a few days for my sake. I don't know that for sure, but suspect it. If they did, I'm extremely grateful for them for doing so. It didn't really matter that they couldn't be there to take me home. It was having someone to watch Lilie while someone else provided sighted assistance for signing the paperwork that we most needed their help with. Getting myself home was easy enough, since I'm entitled to the free hospital transport available to elderly and disabled people, and there was the option of a taxi home if I didn't want to wait for that to be organized for me. I did wait though. I usually don't, because it's quicker to get a taxi. But I did this time around, since I didn't want to be rushed by a taxi driver when I was recovering from surgery. Plus, I wanted someone with medical training on hand in case the stairs proved too much for me (even though I did get some stair practice with the physio team before leaving the hospital, just to see how I handled it). I'm glad to have that hospital transport available when I want to make use of it, and really grateful to Lorna and Andy for helping as much as they could before they went away.

I'm also grateful to all those who sent prayers, positive thoughts, etc. So... Thank you!

I'm going to do my best to tell you everything, but it might be in a random order, because I'm having to write this in short sessions, since sitting down for too long is painful enough even now that I've jokingly said to a few people, "I wish I knew what I was being tortured for, because then I could give them the information." Apparently I wouldn't hold up well under torture. I've generally got a reasonably good tolerance for pain, but all anyone would apparently need to get information from me would be to take the pain past that point. Hmmm... Probably shouldn't have admitted to that.

For those who might be wondering - since I dare say some who have been following things closely will be - yes. We made it before the shot ran out. So, the bleeding didn't have time to start back up before the surgery.

A lot of the nurses on the gynecology ward remembered me from all my hospital trips last year. A couple of the doctors did too. I found it amusing when I showed up and was greeted by name, even before I gave it. Usually you'd have to identify yourself, possibly even show your appointment letter. Apparently I'm well known enough that I didn't even need to give my name. I can't decide if that's a good thing or not.

Anyway, I had what they call a "sub-total hysterectomy" (at least, I think that's what they called it). It essentially means they left part of the cirvex (neck of the womb) to avoid getting close enough to potentially cause problems with my bladder (especially since I had my ureta replaced during surgery when I was a young child, because of complications caused by something to do with the kidney problem I was born with). I also still have my ovaries. But the bulk of the womb... The part where the bleeding happens... Is gone. They asked my permission to do this before I went under anasthetic, and I told them as long as I wasn't going to have periods any more, that was fine. They assured me the only difference between the original plan (taking everything but the ovaries, which they left because of hormones, since I'm still only in my 30s) and what they did, was that I technically still have a cirvex, so could potentially get cirvical cancer (though I'm as likely to get that now as I would have been if they hadn't touched anything, so I'm not really worried about that).

The only other change to the plan for surgery itself was that they couldn't do the keyhole surgery like they'd hoped to, so instead I have a large scar that stretches right across my lower stomach. This is something I already knew would be a possibility, from the day they agreed to the surgery last June. The only difference that makes is more pain, and longer for healing. Something that wouldn't be such a problem if I wasn't apparently allergic to almost every single painkiller.

We already knew Paracetamol was a potential problem for me, since it can mess with my breathing. We also knew pure morphine couldn't be given for too long after surgery, since having too much of it has me throwing up. But apparently even things like Codine will have me throwing up after a few doses. Something we didn't realize at first, because I was putting my feelings of nausia down to being so hot in the stuffy ward, and having to ignore my body's intollerence for lactos, since I was having to have dairy at every meal due to the only dairy-free vegetarian dishes on the menu at the hospital being too spicy for me (something I knew from previous hospital visits). It was only when I got home, and things went from bad to worse, until I couldn't eat, but was throwing up anyhow, that we realized it was more than that.

I'm sort of glad we didn't realize before I went home though, because Ibuprofen (the only painkiller I seem to be able to take without any bad reactions) isn't enough to do much for the pain even now, and I know I never would have made it home without that Codine in my system. As it was I'm not sure how I managed to sit up for that long without crying, since sitting up for the ride home was so painful I was almost glad for the stair climbing, since at least I could straighten out. Yeah, it hurt that bad. It's now two weeks later, and I still can't sit for long without a lot of pain. The hospital is about ten minutes drive from my home, and the transport took someone else home first, making it more like a twenty minute journey. I never would have managed that without tears without the stronger painkiller in my system, and the ambulance guys who took me home would have had me back at the hospital if they'd known how much pain I was in even with that. As it was they were annoyed at me being asked to do the stairs so soon after surgery, and about the fact nobody bothered to tell them that the lady they were helping climb three flights of stairs was blind. Not that they minded my being blind, but they should have been told, and were annoyed they hadn't been.

Anyway, as is often the case for me after surgery, because of my being asthmatic, I spent the first night on oxygen. It started with the mask, but they ended up doing the tubes in the nose, since apparently I tolerate those better. I didn't keep trying to remove those anyhow. I've always hated the mask. It's not so bad if I can hold it, but I hate when they strap it to my face. So they'd strap it to me, I'd wake enough to realize and freak out, they'd let me hold it, I'd fall asleep and drop it, so they'd strap it to me, and around and around it went, until everyone got fed up and I agreed to the nose tubes. Not once did I attempt to remove those. Like I said, it's just that I really hate the mask. If I hadn't been so out of it until the early hours of the following morning, I might not have had it all night. But I was out of it enough that first night I only have a few flashes of memory, and hardly nibbled at the bit of toast they brought me (though I was drinking well from the start). Me being out of it made them reluctant to rush to take away the oxygen supply. I think it was because they had me on good pain meds that first night, hoping my system would tolerate them long enough to get me through the worst of the pain. It didn't. But it was worth a try.

Despite the issues with the pain meds, from a medical and surgical point of view, I was ready to go home within two days of my op. From a physio point of view, I was ready to go home two days later, and did. But I spent the first couple of days I was home in a bad way from what turned out to be the allergy to the Codine, so it's only been in this last week I've been able to really start recovering at all. I'm tired, sore, wish the OT (occupational therapist) would get their butt in gear so they could come tell us how I'm supposed to wash my hair when I can neither lean over the bath nor climb in to it, and unable to tackle the ever-growing pile of eMails waiting for my attention at the moment. So please bear with me. Oh, and if I spelled anything wrong... You know what? I'm not in a position to care right now. I just hurt too damn much! I usually take the time to proof-read my posts, and try to catch all those pesky typos (not to mention check my spelling). But right now I hurt enough that I'm prepared to risk spelling mistakes and typos if it means sitting here a little less time.

Yes, I'm improving every day, so maybe by the time this actually goes live I won't be hurting quite as much as I am at this exact moment. Also, maybe by the time my follow-up appointment rolls around on April 9th, I'll be able to sit up without feeling like I'm being tortured long enough to endure the trip to and from the hospital, and the waiting time at the hospital, without tears. Maybe. In fact, probably. Not yet though. Definitely not yet. But I'm getting there.

No. I don't regret anything. I'm glad it's done, and relieved there's a brighter future ahead than there otherwise would have been for me. I'll just be able to appreciate it more when I stop hurting so much, and wish I could just go to sleep, and wake up when that time comes. That or find a painkiller that does something for the pain without causing some kind of allergic reaction in me. Either would work.

Oh, and... I almost forgot... They checked my bloods before I left the hospital. My HB and iron levels are fine. It did take them about 45 minutes to get a vein willing to co-operate so they could check this. But at least the results were good when they finally got something to test. Hopefully they stay that way. They should.

My time on the gynecology ward was about as pleasant as a hospital trip where you get cut open, and then keep throwing up because you're allergic to the good painkillers, can be. One of the other patients, Ellen, even took me for a bit of a walk around the ward. She'd have done it more, I think, only I didn't want to bother her with asking. It's just a shame they moved me to SAU (surgical assessment unit) for the last bit of my hospital stay. They moved me there since they had some gynecology emergencies come in, and since I was just waiting to recover enough to come home, I didn't need to be close at hand for the gynecology team. Why they also moved Ellen, I don't know. Mind you, I actually think the hospital plays musical beds way too much in general. If someone else comes in, put them in the other beds. Don't move everyone all the time. Sometimes the move does make sense, like in my case when I didn't need the gynecology team on hand any more. But mostly it doesn't, like with Ellen, who still didn't even have proper answers from what I could tell, and had been moved to a new ward pretty much every day she'd been in hospital. Also, they like to do it in the middle of the night. It's really annoying, especially for people like Ellen who get moved constantly. I wish they hadn't done it in my case too though, since I knew where things were where I was, and things got all confusing when I got moved. Not helped by the fact the nurses in SAU had no idea how to deal with a blind person, and no interest in figuring it out. Then there was me being missed out with medication, and Ellen having to actually go make a nurse give me something for pain. Yes. My time on the gynecology ward was about as good as it could have been. But my time on SAU was far from it. About the only good things were that Ellen was there trying to look out for me, and I got to meet the Mother of one of the people from Oscars (our favourite food place) who was in the bed across from me during my time in SAU.

Kelly's been great, by the way. He's been helping me when I need him to, and even did my shots when I couldn't. Well, I probably would have managed to stick those needles in me eventually, but I won't pretend I'm not grateful to him for coming to the rescue. See, I needed to have shots for the first week I was home to avoid blood clots, because of not being able to be mobile. Fine. Except, though I knew how to do them, I had a slight problem with the part where I needed to stick the needle in me. OK. Fine. I couldn't bring myself to do it. Like I said, I'd have done it eventually, but was grateful I didn't have to find out how long "eventually" would have been, and could have Kelly do it instead. I had pills to take too. A couple of different antibiotics.

Lilie's been a sweetie, and shown how smart she is by fetching Kelly whenever she thinks I need him. She hardly left my side during the time I was at my worst, despite usually liking to go hang out with her Daddy for a while sometimes. Unless she was eating, drinking, going for potty runs, or fetching Kelly for me, she was never more than a couple of feet from me during the first week I was home.

#FurkidFriday: Lilie The #Westie Goes Out Visiting

Hi everyone. This is Lilie the Westie again.

So... Mummy disappeared to that hospital place again a few weeks back. I know she told you about it. I also know she doesn't like going there, so don't know why she goes so much. If she hates it so much, I can't understand why she doesn't just stay home. Daddy says she's going there to get better, but she still seems like Mummy to me, both before and after she goes, so that comment just doesn't make sense. The humans say I shouldn't worry about it, so I won't.

Anyway, I didn't mind too much, because Daddy stayed with me. I mean, I missed Mummy a bit, because she's good to play with, and more likely to hand out treats than Daddy is. But Daddy was there, so it was OK. Only then Daddy said he had to go see someone called a doctor (I'm told that's what you humans call vets) and I couldn't go with him. So I was a bit worried about what would happen to me. I can't stay by myself, and they hadn't booked me in to the doggy daycare place I heard them talk about a couple of times before. Like I said, I was worried. Not very worried mind, since I try not to let things bother me. But I couldn't help being just a little bit worried.

It turned out OK though, so I'm glad I didn't waste too much time being worried about things. That would have seriously cut in to my playtime, and there never seems to be enough of that as it is!

Anyway, the humans called Lorna and Andy came to get me. I've seen them before. They're nice. They brought me here from my Furmama's house, and took us out to lunch. Plus they come visiting sometimes, and like giving me attention when they do.

I got to ride in their car, which I've done before, and go see their house and garden, which I haven't done before. We spent lots of time out in the garden. Plus, Andy and the human pups that live in the house next to theirs took me and their dog for walkies. She's a Wolfhound, I think, and her name is Merida, or something like that. We both loved it. She's fun to play with - I don't even care that she's loads bigger than me - and so were the human pups and Andy.

After I stayed with them for a while, I got another car ride, and came home, where Daddy was waiting for me. Later, before bed time, Mummy came back home too. It was a great day!

They said they loved having me visit, so I hope that means I get to visit again some time. I was a very good girl, and - as I said - they loved having me visit, so I don't see any reason why they won't let me. Maybe next time Mummy and Daddy can come too? That would be even better!

Lots of licks,
Lilie

Medical Update - June 17th 2018 (PTMI)

This past Thursday was exhausting. But everything worked out, and I made it to both appointments with time to spare.

First, the asthma appointment:

I didn't see my own asthma nurse, because she's unavailable at the moment - hence the rescheduling in the first place - but the one I saw was just as nice, and my asthma appointment went well, as I'd expected it would.

My peak flow level is up a little. Not by much, but I have asthma, so it being low is normal. It was 250 last time, and 260 this time (normal is supposed to be 430, though the asthma nurse admitted that many people without asthma actually struggle to manage that). Also, my asthma assessment shows some improvement in general since I started using the spacer and the new inhaler, which is a good thing. I did say I thought it was helping. There's still room for improvement, but the asthma nurse and I are pretty sure some of that will settle itself in time, and when the issues I'm currently dealing with are resolved. So we're leaving things as they are for now, and I shouldn't need to see an asthma nurse again for at least a few months. No new appointment has been made at this time, since we'll just make one when it's time for me to get one of the regular assessments I should have been having.

As for the gynecology appointment:

It went better than I expected, but not as well as I'd hoped.

The good news is, I'm now on the hysterectomy waiting list. The bad news is, it's a three to six month wait.

I saw a female gynecologist who isn't the big guy in charge, but can speak for him in certain situations, plus got his approval before leaving too. They said I could stick around until he was free to get it then, or make an appointment to come back for that. I told them I'd stick around. I wasn't having them use that as an excuse to delay things even further.

OK, here's where that "PTMI" warning mentioned in the title comes in.

The gynecologist went straight to suggestions of alternatives to a hysterectomy. I wasn't surprised when she started in on other options first, including a comment about how, since the scan and the biopsy - which was clear, so didn't give us more issues to worry about - had been so painful for me, perhaps they could put me under anasthetic to have a proper look inside my womb. I was frustrated that she did so, but not surprised.

"So," I said. "No matter what path we take, you have to give me anasthetic, yes?"

She confirmed that this was the case.

"Good," I said. "Then you can give me my hysterectomy."

The gynecologist suggested maybe I wasn't understanding about how it carried so many risks. I pointed out that every option is risky, and I know the risks.

"Alright then," she said. "Tell me what they are."

So I did. I listed the risks the NHS themselves list.

When I did that, they backed down, and agreed I could go on the waiting list for a hysterectomy.

She insisted my being put on that three to six month waiting list is the soonest I can have it done. It isn't. They could do it faster if I was a priority case, but they won't make me a priority, because they want me to try and lose some weight.

I knew they'd start about that. Gynecologists always nag me about my weight.

Anyway, I did have to agree that less weight would be better for me, and it would be nice to get some weight off before the extra weight starts giving me other health issues to worry about. But I also pointed out that this would be easier for me to do if they'd get on with giving me the hysterectomy already, and asked how I'm supposed to manage to get weightoff with the constant bleeding making me feel so dizzy that just sitting up for too long can often make me feel like I'm about to pass out.

They suggested we increase my iron tablets to try and control the anemia. I replied that I don't need more iron, I need less bleeding. They had to admit I was probably right about that. Well, duh!

To cut a long story short, a compramize was reached. They'll tell my doctor to arrange hormone blocker shots for while I'm waiting, which should - hopefully - make the bleeding stop so I can get some exercise without such a high risk of passing out. They don't usually like to do this for someone my age. That's why, when they do the hysterectomy, they'll be taking my womb and not my ovaries. If the shots work, they will temporarily make my body think it's going through menapause, because it will essentially temporarily shut down my ovaries' hormone production. The hormones do more than work the reproductive organs, which is why they leave them to keep working as long as possible when they do a hysterectomy, unless they absolutely have no choice but to remove them for medical reasons (which they don't in my case, since removing my womb will be enough to make the bleeding go away). However, it is potentially a good way to make the bleeding stop - assuming the shots do what they're meant to - and at least I know it's not something they're going to want to leave me having for longer than they have to.

I'm torn on how I feel right now. On the one hand, I'm relieved they finally said yes to the surgery. On the other hand, I'm annoyed that they started in on my weight again, especially when at least 40lbs of my weight is what I've put on over the past few years while fighting them, and that they're using this weight issue as an excuse to avoid doing it quickly.

Anyway, now I have to hope these shots do what they're supposed to, and - quite frankly - have to do everything in my power to try and get some weight off, no matter how I'm feeling. Thankfully, they never gave me a spacific weight goal to reach. They just want to see that I'm trying. I think they're doing it to make me prove that I really would do something about my weight if I didn't have the bleeding to deal with. If the shots do their job, it shouldn't be too bad. If they don't... Well, I'll just have to hope that doesn't happen.

I suppose, if the worse comes to the worse, and the shots don't work like they're supposed to, so I end up passing out while attempting to get some exercise when the bleeding is bad, at least the ambulance ride to hospital will make them get the point. I hope it doesn't come to that though.

Oh, and there's one final condition I have to meet before they'll do the surgery, but it won't need to be worried about until the day I go in to hospital, and is one I don't mind doing, even though it means more hastle for us at the time.

They're insisting it be my next of kin - so that means Kelly - who signs the consent form, because I can't see to read what I'm signing. When I had my eye out, they were content to have the doctor read the consent form to me, and me sign it, while a nurse watched to verify this had been done, and I was signing of my own free will. The gynecologists are not content to do this though. They were willing to do this for the one that gave them permission to put me on the waiting list. I even managed to write my own name clearly enough that they could read it. But the pre-op form is another matter. So, when surgery day comes around, we'll have to arrange a doggy-sitter for Lilie, or put her in doggy daycare for the day, because she has seporation anxiety issues, so leaving her home alone is not an option, especially since Kelly will need to be at the hospital with me for at least a couple of hours, and I doubt they'll speed things up for our convenience.

Basically, they're agreeing to do the surgery, but they're making me jump through their hoops in order to get them to do it. It's unfair, and it's stupid. But it's what they're doing, and I can only do so much to stop them playing their games. Personally, I wish they'd do what needs doing quickly, so I can get on with my life.

I also wish people would realize that being overweight doesn't mean the overweight person is always making poor diet choices. I eat healthily 90% of the time, and don't over eat. My weight issues are due to lack of exercise. Why do people struggle to accept that? Why does everyone keep assuming that I'm overweight because I sit around stuffing my face with junk all day long? Yes, it's the cause of weight issues in many people. But there are other reasons why someone could be overweight too. Why is that so difficult for people to accept?

Random Ramblings - April 8th 2018 (FD & LBE)

It snowed a bit more after the cut off time for the events in my previous random ramblings post. Not much, but enough to replace what had started to melt throughout that day. There was still some snow on the ground on the following morning, when the post went live, and it started snowing a bit more that morning. Unfortunately, the temperature then rose enough that the snow turned to rain, which soon got rid of what was left of my snow.

We were promised more the following weekend, but none came. I don't mind though. Well, not too much. I always want more snow, of course. But we've done well for snow this year, and we had made it to the Spring Equinox by then, so the lack of snow didn't bother me in this particular case. After all, by then it was Spring for certain, whether you work with the calendar that says the Equinox is the midpoint of the season, or the one that says it's the start of the season.

Personally, I usually go by the one that says it's the midpoint of the season, even though the weather doesn't always reflect this. I often feel like I should apologize for this though, since me believing this so firmly resulted in an argument that got out of hand, and cost me an online friendship I'm still sad to have lost. I'm sorry for how I handled it. I'm sorry the argument happened, and that it got out of hand. I'm sorry it cost me the friendship. But I'm not sorry for believing what I do, nor for holding firm to my belief, even when others were disagreeing with me.

Anyway, the temperatures over the past couple of weeks still haven't been all that warm most days, but they've been staying above freezing as a general rule, sometimes hovering around 10 or 11 degrees C (52 or 54 degrees F). At one point it even got up to 12 degrees C (56 F). Though mostly it's been 6 degrees C (44 F) or lower.

As for actual weather: some days have been sunny, but there have been Spring rains happening quite often. No actual storms though. Not unless they were mild enough that I slept through them and didn't notice they happened.

***~~~***

We got some new teatowels, or "dish towels" if you prefer to call them that.

We kind of needed some new ones anyhow, but the real reason I ordered some was because the place where I order the bulk of our food shopping from had some with unicorns on them. Except the unicorns weren't in stock, and they aren't sure when - or if - they'll come back in stock. So they brought some butterfly ones to see if I'd accept those as a substitution, which I did, since we did need some, and I couldn't count on the unicorn ones coming back in stock. Unicorns would have been better, but butterflies are nice too, and I didn't want to refuse the substitution, and then find the butterfly ones weren't available either when I next did an order. The other ones they currently have are just plain different coloured ones, or basic patterned ones. Not as interesting as unicorns or butterflies.

I always have "allow substitutions" turned on when I do my grocery order, because most of the time I'm happy to accept the items they pick as substitutions for out of stock items (it's usually just a different brand of the same thing, so I usually accept it, unless I have a good reason not to). I'm given a chance to refuse them when the shopping arrives, so I can tell them to take back anything they've picked that I can't - or won't - accept as a substitution for the out of stock item I ordered, and this way there's less chance of me ending up without something I'd counted on as part of a meal.

Anyway, my tea towels are a set of three "butterfly print" tea towels. I don't have a picture, but I'm sure you can imagine what butterfly print would look like, and be close enough in your imaginings to be reasonably accurate.

Yes, I could have looked elsewhere, but chances are it would have cost me more to do so, and the butterfly ones were already here, so... *shrugs* I could still look elsewhere for unicorn tea towels anyhow, if I want to.

***~~~***



Towards the end of March, the landlord's workmen came to install that extra fire alarm the health and safety guys insisted on.

I might have mentioned this before, but... The reason a fire alarm was put elsewhere in the first place is because the kitchen is an area at one end of the living room, with no windows, so the fire department guy thought it would be better to have the alarm further away from the cooker. But the health and safety guys didn't like that because of the location of the stairs that are the safest - and only proper - exit from the building. Where the fire department guy put the alarm means chances of making it to that exit between when the alarm went off and when the fire blocked it would be slim. We see his point, and do agree that having more time to escape the building in the event of a fire starting in the direction of the kitchen - the most likely place in the home for one to start - would be a good plan. But it's still annoying that sometimes just cooking dinner will set the alarm off. Luckily Kelly's tall enough to easily reach to stop it when that happens. I'd have to climb on a chair, and even then would struggle to reach, since the ceilings are high and I'm short (and can't stretch up very well). Mind you, me climbing on a chair wouldn't be a good idea to start with. I used to be able to do that kind of thing. Maybe not easily, but certainly without a high risk of falling off. I could even - with the help of a chair to get me started - climb up on the kitchen counters so I could reach high cupboards. Not any more though.

Anyway, the installation of the new fire alarm is done now.

They came one day, when we thought they'd be doing it, just to look at where it needed to go. They kept us waiting for a couple of hours, since they wouldn't give us a firm arrival time, came in and looked at where it needed to go, and then left, saying they didn't have the things they needed with them, so they'd be back the following week to put it in. It always irritates me when they do that, especially when I know for a fact they were given instructions on where it was meant to go before they came out. Why couldn't they just bring the stuff they needed with them when they came to look? It would have been a lot less hastle, wouldn't it? I always wonder if they do the extra visit just so they have an excuse to charge for a bit of extra time spent on the job.

Yes. They came the following week, as promised. But still didn't have the right part. So they left their tools here while they went to fetch it. They weren't gone more than 20 minutes or so. But it took a couple of hours to actually do the job, because there was some issue with the wiring. I'm not sure what it was, but whatever they were doing to fix it kept causing power surges that made me glad our computers have surge protectors.

So, that's one more job out of the way.

Now the landlords just need to sort replacing the living room door for a fire door like the health and safety guys want them to do, repaint our bathroom from when they replastered the wall after that water issue, fix the speaker for our buzzer thingy (because something happened to it to make it that we can hardly hear the people asking to be let in through it, and they can't hear us at all, though we can still buzz people in to the building) and replace the windows. I have no idea at the moment when they plan to do those things though. Hopefully soon, but we'll see. They still have a load of problems to deal with because of the issues they've had with workmen in the past, as well as some new ones that have cropped up and are more important than the things we need them to do. When the work in our place will get done depends where our stuff is on the long list of tasks they have. We know they're working on things though, and they know they still have those things to do in our place, so all we can really do is to be patient, I suppose.

Besides, first they have to see to the new leak in the roof, which set off the fire alarm when the water got to the wiring for the one in the downstairs hallway. An event that meant I spent my Easter weekend in hospital.

Well, if truth be told, I hadn't been feeling well for ages. I mean, I never feel fighting fit or anything like that, but I'd been feeling very unwell for a few months, even for me. But the incident with the fire alarm sort of pushed me in to doing what I should have done a few months back, but was reluctant to do after a bad experience with a doctor who thinks being over weight is the cause of all the health problems in the universe.

You see, that doctor took away my medication. I was meant to be on iron tablets because I'm anemic, and inhalers because I'm asthmatic. But blood tests came back normal for the anemia - bearing in mind, they were done while I was on iron tablets, and had been for a while - and the doctor decided my asthma would get better if I exercised more. He basically said all my issues were because I'm over weight, and suggested I go for regular runs along the beach or something. I'm blind, have issues with my right leg because I've torn the tendons in my ankle (twice) and knee on that leg, I get dizzy from the anemia, and out of breath from the asthma. But he wanted me to go run along the beach to get some weight off. Uh-huh... Sure! So, should I call an ambulance before I start running, or have someone ready to do it after I either fall, pass out, or can't breathe? Yeah.. Needless to say, I didn't take his advice. However, I did find myself without medication.

A similar thing has happened before, and it once again ended the same way as it did this time: I eventually end up in hospital, and back on iron tabletts and asthma inhalers.

So, what does this have to do with water setting off the fire alarm? Well, what happened was this:

The water got in to the fire alarm, setting it off. We, of course, didn't know that was the problem until we got downstairs. All we knew was the fire alarm downstairs was going off, so we had to get out as quickly as was safe. So we just grabbed Lilie and left. We felt bad about leaving Joshua and the chinchillas, but there wasn't anything we could do. As it turned out, we could tell at once when we got down there what had happened, because it was raining in the downstairs hallway. So we stayed down there long enough for Kelly to enter the code to make the alarm shut up, and went back upstairs.

Trouble is, by the time I got downstairs I was a bit out of breath, and by the time I got back up, I couldn't breathe at all. No amount of breathing exercises were fixing it, and every time I even tried to use any, I ended up coughing so hard it stole whatever breath I'd managed to catch. So Kelly called an ambulance.

The ambulance guys managed to get my breathing OK, though I was still coughing a lot and had some wheezing in my upper right lung, but my blood pressure was through the roof, and my heart rate was even worse. My blood pressure eventually dropped to 170 over 100 after half an hour with them, but that was still too high, and at that point my heart rate was still 150, which is WAY too high. So they took me to hospital.

Giving me access to asthma inhalers eased the cough, but there was still concern about the rest of it, so I ended up with a couple of EKGs, a chest xray, several hours on a heart monitor, a bunch of blood tests, a CT scan to check for a possible blood clot - since my anemia made them reluctant to give me anything for any potential clot, since it would make the anemia worse - a blood transfusion, and a weekend in hospital.

They checked my kidney function too. It's always been low, ever since I was born, and still is. At one point it dropped down in to the range where things needed to be done about it... That was when I was a small child, and the reason for some of my many hospital stays. But my kidney function is staying in the safe zone at the moment, so that's good. I'm not sure if I mentioned on here, but I eventually found out that my kidney problem is part of the reason for my weight issue (because of water retension) as well as the original cause of both my anemia and the hormonal imbalance that causes the irregular bleeding that's now pretty much constant bleeding. I also get a lot of urinary tract infections.

The only good thing about spending the Easter weekend in hospital was that I got to meet Emma, and we had a fun Easter Sunday, because it was just the two of us on our ward for a lot of that day, so we had a good time with her family, and then watched movies on her phone. At least I was lucky enough to spend my time in hospital with someone as lovely as Emma. I do feel bad that she's still in there though... I wish she could have gone home after the weekend too.

My Mam's still in hospital as well. She went in a week before me because of an infection in her leg, and still isn't well enough to go home yet. Different hospital to me though... She's in the one where I had my eyes out in Wales, actually.

Oh, and my Grandma's now in hospital too, having gone in this past Friday with breathing problems. She's doing OK though.

Unlike Mam, Grandma, and Emma, I'm mostly doing OK now. OK for me, I mean. My asthma's still playing up so I won't be wanting to go without inhalers any time soon, I still need iron tablets because of the anemia, and we do need to watch my kidney function. But those things are issues I have to deal with all the time anyhow, and aren't anything new, so... *shrugs*

Well, that and the infection I ended up with during all this, which resulted in a return trip to A&E this past Friday. Thankfully I didn't get stuck in this time, but was sent home with antibiotics for it.

Anyway, let's hope this time the doctors leave me on the stuff, and don't decide that a good test result means I no longer need medication, which will eventually result in another hospital trip. Honestly, this pattern is getting beyond annoying.

So... Yeah... Our Easter celebrations ended up being me going in to hospital and then us eating chocolate eggs at home afterwards. Well, that and how I spent my Easter Sunday in hospital with Emma. Carl (my brother) says I fail at Easter hospital trips, because I didn't make sure I had an Easter egg with me in case I got stuck in. I had my Kindle and phone, and their chargers, but that's about it. I was wearing bunny rabbit pyjamas though, so he said I get some points back for that. Haha! Kelly would have brought me some in, but we had a slight problem: he couldn't leave Lilie, doggy sitters aren't easy to get at short notice (especially on a holiday weekend) and Lorna and Andy (our friends) were away for the weekend. They came home about when I was coming out of hospital. As it is, my ride home was via Lorna's friend, Anne. Who, by the way, I'm very grateful to for the ride home. Lorna and Andy would have helped out if they could. They helped a lot by arranging Anne as my ride home mind you. So I'm grateful to them too.

So... How did you spend your Easter weekend?