Saturday, July 03, 2021

It’s quite obvious that there’s been a gap in posting. I’m on smoother paths now but not cured. In March of that year we’d like to forget, I developed an abscess in my lower right leg. Very quickly, it popped and I was raced off to to hospital. Once it was examined by my medical team, the decision was taken immediately to do the dreaded revision. What followed was 7 weeks on one leg with stronger antibiotics. Then a brief wait without antibiotics to see if the infection rushed back in.  It didn’t. Then a new knee with some not very rigorous physical therapy and then home. The infection is under control but I am on long term antibiotics.

Moving around is extremely difficult. I’ve been home about a year by now and I’m still having trouble moving because of the lack of balance  I can stand and pivot to get into my commode chair or into the motorised wheelchair but it’s not graceful.  Shoes are difficult (lympheodema) and I have heaps of shoes that fall into various categories of what I can get my fat feet into, and what I can walk (even 3 steps) in.

I also developed a right shoulder pain that developed from using the stand-up support frame while I had no knee. It’s left me with pain from neck to fingers. With careful daily nursing, it’s decreased but a single mistaken reach and it’s back. I still get headaches but if I manage my reading time, it’s bearable. I acquired a viral infection in my left eye that threatened my graft. I’m on long term anti-viral medication. My ophthalmologist won’t operate on my right cataract because of fear of damaging the graft there. My vision is crap.

Jim is here mostly permanently now. We applied for a residence visa last April, and, after filing masses of documentation (all digitally), we were approved. Jim is being a live-in nurse and he does everything for me.  I cannot express my gratitude for his help. He shops, does laundry, feeds the cats, goes to the chemist, drives me to doctors, you name it. We watch baseball and talk to each other a lot, which is what I really missed. We have our differences but nothing too serious. At least we can talk them out face to face now.

Believe it or not, I still do fibre stuff. I have almost completed a blanket made of squares of pin loom weaving of my own handspun. The debate currently is how much it will shrink when it get fulled. It is very light but also very warm. I hope the cats don’t rip holes in it. It’s grey with a blue halo of wool and mohair.

My concern, aside from COVID-19 and the fate of the planet (what’s to worry about?), is my beloved Imp. She’s 17 now and it shows. Her coat is no longer glossy and her rear legs are stiff. She has kidney disease and has lost weight dramatically. But she’s on my lap as long as we can manage with lots of petting and baby talk. Max is no longer a kitten but he still wants to play at 4AM whether I’m awake or not. He’s so lovable and still squeaky. We wonder how he’ll handle the loss of his sister.

I’m tired and typing is a chore. I’m still reading scifi and mysteries not to mention books about baseball and history. Good night for now


Saturday, January 18, 2020

Here’s the thing about my insomnia. I go to bed around 11, take my sleeping pills and then try to get drowsy. I’m trying to turn off the active verbal parts of my brain, so I do jigsaw puzzle, adult colouring apps on my iPad, or play mahjong. Things that are repetitive but not to extent that I’m simply bored, but of enough interest so I keep at it. If I’m lucky I’ll feel drowsy by 1AM, sometimes later. I turn the light out settle down and go to sleep and wake up an hour or two later, wide awake. I used to (and do on occasion) just not sleep at all. I’d finally fall asleep at 5AM or later or not at all. Sometimes it’s my brain chasing its tail, sometimes I’m just wide awake but progressively more tired.  I can try keeping the light off and toss and turn, I can read my BBBB, I can go back to the puzzles, but I’m just not sleepy. I pay a penalty for this the next day by sleeping past the sociably acceptable time (like noon). But I feel like I’m losing half my day.

Medical report: I haven’t seen a doctor since I was discharged from hospital. I should call my infectious disease doctor next week to see if he’s back from holidays and wants to see me. The knee is very slightly better. It is still red, hot, and swollen but bit less of all of that. It’s still weak and quite painful if I twist it, like trying to put on shoes. I really can’t tell from my angle whether there are changes. I will need to have blood work done to find out whether my inflammatory markers are up or down, and to check on my very slight anemia. I still am mentally prepared for knee revision (taking out the existing knee and replacing it). I’m still on 2 different antibiotics every day.

J is back in the states but he’ll be back next week. It’s been a struggle keeping going without him but I do manage to take care of myself. I sleep a lot, not just because of insomnia but my body seems to demand a lot of sleep when I’m fighting any illness. I read, I watch TV. I’m busy making woven squares on my pin loom for the ultimate blanket. The loom is 4” square and I’m using the handspun derived from a gift. It will no doubt take a million squares and I also need to find out how much they will shrink when washed. I endure the attention of the cats. The Imp wants to sit on me, practically 24/7. Max roams around the house and jumps up on the arm of my chair and screeches in my ear. He subsides with petting but then goes off again and comes back and does it again. He’ll rarely sit down. Sometimes he brings me a toy to play with. Feeding them is chore because of bending down which is a very dangerous manoeuvre for me. I have a mountain of laundry to do, again because of the bending and standing required.

To all foreign readers (all two of you), I was not anywhere near Australia’s recent bushfires. The closest ones to me were about 50 miles away and unfortunately burnt out all the wonderful forests along the NSW south coast, which is Canberra’s vacation spot. We have been in drought for several years and it doesn’t take much to get it going. People died, millions of native animals and birds died. Here we had so much smoke in the air that the air quality was the worst in the entire world. Many places shut down and I just stayed indoors but it was very oppressive and frightening. We finally got some rain which has dampened everything down but it will take years to regenerate.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

For once I have no exciting news regarding the infection. Just plugging along with antibiotics. I think they will be extended for an additional few weeks but we’ll see. I worry that they’ll decide to operate just when J leaves. Banish that thought!

We had a simulated Thanksgiving dinner tonight, one day late. J got a frozen rolled turkey breast, and we opened a bottle of bubbly. We had roast sweet potatoes, asparagus, turkey, and not very nice supposed Spanish rice. I was hoping for yellow rice like I was used to in Florida, but it wasn’t. I wanted to make corn muffins, but I’m still not up to cooking. But it was nice even though we forgot the cranberry sauce.

Speaking of bottles of wine, we have been drinking wine I have ordered from Naked Wines. This is not a plug and I have not linked to it. I started off mostly as a way to explore little known and independent winemakers. The scheme collects money from you monthly and you order what you want when you want. But the way, I can only drink whites, since reds give me migraines and I’m nervous about rose. I tend to wait till I have a decent balance and/or J is coming, because I don’t drink much when he’s not here. So far the results have been mixed. Many of these wines are not ones you would find in your neighbourhood bottle shop, and are newly established, or with limited distribution. Living in Canberra and being disabled, I can either order wines I know from previous experience or advertising, or rely on the retailer to point me at what he wants to sell. The wines from Naked have been an exploration. All are Australian, of course, but range from the Hunter to Margaret River. Some just neutral (“that’s a glass of white wine, all right”) to pretty damn good. I wanted to try Pinot Grigio but J doesn’t really like it. A good Riesling or Chardonnay is his taste, and mine too although I am a bit more adventurous. I have to watch my consumption because I will happily keep drinking as long as the bottle is open, but I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t probably drink at all with my health issues, but life is pretty boring otherwise. Food and drink are my only luxuries so I buy top shelf brands of liquor and sometimes indulge my palate otherwise. J and I did a lot of wine tourism in California and had our favourites which of course you can’t buy here. Mostly these wines cost me in the $12-20 range. I think if you’re going to drink it and then it’s gone, don’t spend a lot. We did limited experiments with high priced vs pedestrian wines and decided out palates were not sufficiently fine-tuned to notice a large difference to justify the price. Dom Perignon is very nice but worth five times of a more typical bubbly, no. And I’m not comparing to the $3.99 bargain bin.

I also indulged myself with online browsing of real estate. I looked at property in Yass, which is a little way north, to see if house prices were any lower. They’re not. But I found this absolutely over the top mansion on quite a few acres which captured my imagination. No price, up for auction. It’s a nineteenth century (I think) two story, simply huge house. I’m sure it needs expensive work, putting in a new kitchen and bathrooms but the rooms are huge. Grand reception rooms, each bedroom has an attached sitting room, all with fireplaces. I’m sure that means there’s no other heat but it’s so romantic and brings up visions of balls with ladies in lovely gowns and your fleet of servants serving grand dinners. Sitting on the verandah, overlooking the rolling hills. Romantic, but completely impractical. Sigh. Good night while I think of thundering cats running around that huge house.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Apologies to all. I promised more regular posts and then fell off the edge of the world. In mid September my knee became very much swollen, painful, red, and hot. It was almost as bade as it was before surgery. When I saw my infectious disease doctor at the beginning on October, he hustled me into hospital again. I had another needle aspiration that removed a lot of fluid and had a pic line inserted. I started getting very large doses of penicillin every four hours. After a week I asked if I could receive the treatment at home because all I was doing in hospital was lying in bed all day. I was given permission, came home, and am on the same regime I was on before, but this time I’ll be getting antibiotics for at least 6 weeks. I’m going through the Canberra Hospital instead of Calvary. It’s farther away but it has the better medical facilities, I think. That’s where I had my knee removed and replaced 8 years ago. At this stage I’m still due three more weeks of antibiotics, and I go in tomorrow to have a second ultrasound of my knee with possible needle aspiration. My knee overall is looking better. It is no longer red and hot, but is still swollen on the inside of my leg. To add to the mix, a cyst I have had on the top of my head for over a year with no pain or other activity, suddenly decided to burst open, leaving my hair full of gunk and a hole where it had been. It’s been seen to as well and I have a bandage on the top of my head.

Once again J has gotten more than he has bargained for, and has provided taxi service across Canberra weekly, if not more frequently. Most of my healing is due to his care, and his bringing me goodies like fresh figs and takeaway Indian food. I was hoping to put up my Christmas tree this year but there’s no way I could get it down by myself. In fact, summer has arrived suddenly and it’s in the 30’sC this week and continues windy. This is fire weather and so far we are the only corner of Australia not to be enduring bush fires. I was hoping when J was scheduled for a visit that we could go down to the coast for a couple of days but I am on the hospital’s schedule which means daily nurse visits.

I cannot promise to post as frequently as I had planned. I hope I can do better at least, now that I’m no longer in such pain. I hope you are all getting prepared for holiday festivities but it will be a quiet one here I expect. I still sleep a lot. I missed the World Series in hospital but I’m glad Washington won.

Friday, October 25, 2019

A brief one tonight because I’m tired and sore. I saw my infectious disease doctor today. There are no breakthroughs on offer. One strong possibility is that I go back in hospital to get stronger doses of I/V antibiotics. That will also allow my surgeon a chance to see what has developed since I saw him last. If it’s to the private hospital I was in last time it’s not horrible except I will miss being at home with J and the cats.  The doctor says the damn Pasturella is hiding in my knee prosthesis and if they can’t get a reaction with a different antibiotic mix, removing the knee and replacing it is the only option. Not happy but somewhat resigned. Of course, the knee was on its best behaviour, swollen and red but not hot or very painful. It saved that till I got home.

We ate Indian takeaway (saag paneer for me with naan) and watched Moneyball which J had never seen. Having seen statistics on every aspect of baseball for the past few weeks, it seemed a bit archaic to view the days when none of that really mattered.

Tomorrow make sure my hospital go-bag is stocked and wait for a phone call.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Gosh! This daily posting can be a grind! Just kidding. If I stop getting hits, I’ll stop.  Or if you tell me I am not writing what you want to read. Want me to rant against the entity that sometimes resides in the White House? Be glad to oblige,  but my close friends have already heard it, and most Australians I have met can’t understand either technically or rationally how we put him in office. These are the days when I’m very glad to be a long way away and I don’t read/listen/watch news because of the drivel it contains.

On that note I just finished watching season 2 of “The Good Fight” and thought it was terrific. Great legal cases, mostly relevant to our time, a great cast. I get it on Stan. I have no idea where it is broadcast elsewhere. And speaking of Chicago (because that’s where the series takes place), I listened to Michelle Obama narrate her own autobiography. This was my first experience in a long time in listening rather than reading. I found the experience somewhat annoying in that you have a person talking at you for (in this case) 14 hours and it lost its appeal along the line. She has a slight speech problem which as a linguist grated. Her book was absolutely great and I highly recommend it. She is a great woman aside from putting up with being First Lady. I thought it interesting that she accounted in detail Laura Bush welcoming her to the White House and showing her around, but not a mention about her successor. Hmmm. It was illuminating to hear about how the couple got together and worked their way up. Also the behind the scenes at the White House including how much the Obamas had to pay out of their own pockets for daily living. Of course a billionaire like the Donald will have no problem with that or will get somebody else to pay for it. I always had mixed feelings about Chicago. I visited very frequently for business and rarely had any time to explore. I am also a New Yorker born and bred and Chicago will always be the Second City. Also it was usually freezing when I went for library conventions and I hated plowing through snow drifts. I enjoyed shopping and eating out. There is/was a great German restaurant I think in what’s called the Loop that brewed its own beer and served game on the menu. I had several memorable meals there.

Today I got out and did a few things. I had another blood test done and while we were in the small shopping centre, J spotted a hairdresser who didn’t look busy. He asked if he would do a quickie haircut. Yes! I got a very basic cut which cost all of $33. The hairdresser knew all about Pasturella because he raises meat rabbits and they carry it and are susceptible to it. We also drove around a bit because it was a beautiful day. Then I came home and had excruciating pain in my leg. I wanted to watch the first World Series game and I managed to sit in the lounge room for 5 innings where the Nats beak the Astros which was very comforting. If they can do that in Houston, maybe they can do this. Go Nats!  Then (after dinner) I went back to bed in great pain. Crying and swearing were involved. I tried watching tv on my iPad, but it was pretty bad. Copious amounts of wine helped and it’s now quiet so maybe I can sleep tonight. I regret to admit that I have been drinking when I can’t sleep and sometimes for the pain. Sometimes it’s wine, sometimes tequila or scotch. Unfortunately I’ve discovered that for me the only spirits (liquor to Americans) I can drink straight up are expensive ones. So I have great single malts, and lovely tequila. It’s not a habit I like to indulge in but it does dull the noise in my brain.

Sleep well.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

I promised regular posts so I had better fulfill my end of the deal. Little sleep last night again. This is getting beyond boring. I tried reading but I have to be so careful. Now I know I have a cataract in my right eye I don’t want to strain trying to read. Horrible headaches ensue. I hadn’t even thought about the implications of my infection on other parts of me, but my GP cautioned consulting my infectious disease doctor about the advisability of having a minor skin cancer removed and I think I will add cataract surgery to that. My immune system is in slow down mode and maybe adding other healing to the situation is not a good idea. I will ask on Friday.

It’s lovely having J here. Now that I’m playing hospital in my bedroom, he comes in for a chat in the evenings. Let me clarify that I sleep most of the mornings and he often goes out in the afternoons. Evenings he reads while I watch tv. Of course, tomorrow the World Series starts so I will have to rouse myself for that. I’m not all that interesting to visit. At least this time I’m not actually in hospital, unlike his last two visits. I was hoping we could go down to the coast for a few days while he’s here, but I also thought I would be healthy by now. I can’t sit in the car comfortably for over an hour and it takes a little over two to get to the ocean from here.

Spring is here and it’s gotten quite warm for a while. Canberra’s weather is erratic in spring and fall and you have to expect sudden ups and downs. My fruit trees have blossomed but the birds will probably get all the fruit. I’m hoping I can save some apples from the rosellas. I almost missed the annual spectacle of my wisteria in bloom but I did see it before a wind storm blew all the blossoms off. I was also going to try and grow some veggies in pots on the back deck but I’m not up to tending them. Besides, I think this is going to be a dry year. I really miss gardening but that’s how it goes.

We are both distressed over the rampant development going on around our area of the ACT. New suburbs popping up like mushrooms and we can’t figure out where all these potential home owners are coming from and why. All I see is a lot more traffic and precious little being done to the roads or parking areas to accommodate it. Ginninderry supposedly will have 11,000 new homes and who knows how big Whitlam will be. They’ve been planning to redevelop my local shopping centre for years but no progress has been made. Those 11,000 homes will need to buy groceries somewhere.

Well, it’s 1AM so I had better at least try to sleep. Hope to get a few hours; I have to go out for a blood test tomorrow.