Body Watch:
Beginning yesterday, I noticed a diminished capacity in my right arm. I have almost no gripping power; I can't pull a weed, flick a lighter, nor carry anything of any weight. Most of the weekend I felt nausea in the background and headaches in the foreground -- Uncle Shorty would have described it as being a bubble off... I tire more readily...
Am wondering if any of that is related to the surgical injuries sustained in the second surgery. Those incisions, and the incised muscles, are now in their fourth week of healing and we know that I've been compensating with other muscles to take care of the more immediate injuries. Will talk with dd about this. Could also be a side-effect of the chemotherapy which was administered into that arm...
I'm doing my mile and noticing that I'm not gaining any speed, nor am I feeling energized to add another lap. I'm sure that filling the dozen and a half bird feeders and the daily weeding that I inevitably find myself stooping for are adding some, but it's not the extra laps yet... Am sweeping and digging for my arm exercise...like feeding two birds with one orange *grins* Am also doing grip stretching exercises -- not noticing lots of immediate improvement, but for now it's not getting worse.
Mrs. B is willing to wait to teach us the Mendhi Art, which means it will probably happen in two to four weeks. She's getting us the supplies so we'll be ready to go once we send my hair to Locks of Love. The wait is because there's a chance that I'll only experience hair-thinning as opposed to hair-loss, and perhaps no loss... We have a fair amount of hair products to use up here before I lapse to another style...
Marie Watch:
Overall, she remains well. Her back bothers her much more these days. The two weekly massages have been helping to make her a bit more comfortable, and we both appreciate that. She has another pressure sore on her right foot. It took me almost a year to heal the last one, which was ten times larger than the current one. The necrotic spot isn't getting any larger, but it isn't shrinking, either. Will get in touch with her podiatrist.
We understand that Marie's youngest daughter, Susan, and our sister-in-law, Patty, will be visiting in the next weekend/week. We know she'll be thrilled to have the company! She sure perked up when Rodney was here!
Plant Watch:
Up near the mailboxes, the clematis are blooming on the signposts. The echinaceas are ready to pop along with the striking blue stalks of the lambs ears. The pink, red and yellow rose bushes are in bloom. Another is close behind -- not sure of it's color.
Two...weeds, probably, but they're putting out a beautiful yellow-white blossom that reminds me of squash... They're on the edge of the long bed where they won't bother anything, so we're gonna watch 'em...
Astilbes are blooming all around our yard against the backdrop of sundrops and two vibrant orange hybrid daylilies.
Yesterday Kevin mentioned that we added some bareroot plants: two forsythias, two white spirea, two red wieglia, and two more pink Rose of Sharon. We also added a new miniature cattail to our pond and took some water lettuce over to the other pond.
Olive, Katie, and Co: It looks like only two of the three pampas grasses at the head of the long bed have made it. The Rose of Sharon is holding well. Do you remember where the hydrangias and other grasses were planted?
Critter Watch:
Raccoons have eaten through a plastic birdseed container on our front stoop. Trashed the lid and put a 4" hole right under it. *sighs* So, we've armed ourselves with some metal cans like we have in the back. We've expanded our feeders up to Mom's house (4) and in front of our house (8), so we need a larger stash in front.
The two black squirrels are sticking pretty close and I think the six grey squirrels are still homebasing from here. The chipmonk population continues to become tamer...walk up to within a foot of my foot with little concern.
We still see six fish, so Bardo isn't eating _there_. *crosses fingers*
Other birds aplenty! The wrens in our front Hat Houses have hatched; I can hear them peeping softly. Don't know how many, but now we need to watch for crossing wrens as we come up the front walk. *smiles*
Other Watches:
Thanks, Janet, for the visit this weekend; we wish you safe travel home and are looking forward to that cup of tea and chocolate treat. Today a former student was here as a new employee of the company helping us with Marie's care. And, a long-time-no-see friend showed up in town.
Overall, I must say we're doing as well as can be expected, and maybe a bit better. *grins bigly and knocks on wood*
What have you been Watching??
5 comments:
My guess would be a little of both the surgery and the Chemo, as the cause of your right arm issues. The tiring is what I've always heard is a side effect of chemo. Did Dr C mention any of the blood boosting drugs? Neulasta for white cells and Procrit for red? We give procrit to premies who don't make red cells fast enough to keep up with their growing bodies.
In the meantime...
Two new bird sightings. A dove, slightly larger and more gray than the mourning doves, possibly a Eurasian dove escaped from a neighbor's racing flock. And what we think are Hepatic tanagers from Mexico. They look like house finches at first but are larger and more orangy red.
In the garden I'm watching the hollyhocks for the first signs of color. DonnaMarie has some beautiful hot pink and red ones already blooming.Lots of rain the last two days has helped!
Took a hint from Kevin and brought a laptop to the surgery waiting area. R2 is in for back surgery as we speak. This sort of thing is considered routine (taking a bone chip out that has been pressuring a nerve, doing a little sculpting of bone. . .incision of about 2 inches), so this is a pretty low anxiety wait. She goes home after recovery and doesn't even have to lie flat on her back or anything.
I'm taking the day off and will "dote" when this is over. It seems like we're spending way too much time in places like this, but that's just me.
Surgery went well, and now we're sitting around the 8th floor of Mercy Hospital, waiting to be sure all of Robyn's various bodily functions are intact. Burping, apparently, comes back first.
They found several fragments in there, rather than just one, and one of the two "extra" ones was rather large. 6 weeks from now, she should be able to resume her routine: trapeze, kick-boxing, etc.
She sends regards (urp) to DP and Kevin.
nancyturtle! No mention of blood boosting drugs. Will try to remember to ask tomorrow.
...a racing flock??? Congrats on the tanager siting; we still haven't spotted one in here.
...am I remembering that hollyhocks are invasive here? We got the photos that you sent; let us know if you put up more on your page here.
I'm checking for rain daily. Hauling a wagonful of water (eight gallons) to the new shrubs is something I should probably do in two trips...
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tuna! Thanks so much for letting us know that R2 is out of surgery and able to send greetings.
Do let her know our thoughts are with her.
We'll have to schedule a trapeze demo for some time after the first of August...?
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Make nice!
Hollyhocks do tend to reseed easily, so they could be invasive there. I think they need lots of sun, so dawoods are probably safe. I will post some pictures soon.
My satelite modem seems to be failing, so I may be off for a few days. They are sending a new one tomorrow by Fed Ex. (free since I've been a "loyal customer" for 6 years). The old one comes and goes, but the tech support guy said it will eventually not come back.
Where are the new shrubs?
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