Piggly Wiggly

That's actually this dog's name. I stopped by a local shelter and walked a couple dogs who really seemed to need it. Dogs really appreciate it when you do stuff for them, I've noticed.

Morning walk

Follow-up testing

I'll admit to being a little anxious about the endoscopy today, but figured that in the grand scheme of things, it had to be less traumatic than my time in this hospital last month. For one thing, this time,  I only had to fast from midnight until the time of the procedure. Although, it seemed a little insensitive for the waiting room to have a sign on the refrigerator telling family member to help themselves to complimentary refreshments, but reminding patients: NO FOOD FOR YOU!

And right after I notice that, I heard a voice from the hallway inviting family member to come and get some coffee, tea, or hot chocolate--but of course patients awaiting an endoscopy could not have any. Really, couldn't you have found some way to discreetly make the family members aware of this, without reminding me of how hungry I was. In the grand scheme of things hot a huge thing, but I did have a bit of a rumbly in my tumbly and could have done without any additional reminders of how much I really would like to eat something.


The procedure today wasn't all that bad, and it's nice to know that my stomach and esophagus have healed.

Whew!

Brady gave us a major scare yesterday. I know that he's unsteady on his feet, and has a hard time "taking care of business" outside on his own. So I walked him on the leash several times throughout the day, being careful to not hurry him or do anything that would make him fall down.

But then, when it was time for us to watch something together as a family in the evening, I left him out in the yard for like an hour.

I now know that, apparently, Brady cannot be left unsupervised for that long. because when I went to let him in, I found him lying on the ground, with his front leg stuck in the gate (in the area I've got circled, you can see a bit of his fur there.)

The ground was wet and covered with mucky leaves. Apparently Brady was lying down, tried to get up, and his leg went through an opening in the fence. He struggled to get it out, but couldn't. He obviously thrashed on the ground a bit trying to free himself, because when I went outside, what I found was a very wet, dirty, bedraggled collie.

I had to carry him into the house, and was really concerned that the leg might be broken. We laid him on the kitchen floor and Demetrius brought me some soapy water so that I could start to clean him off.

After working at it for a while, and at least getting some of the wet leaves out of his fur, I decided that this was going to take all night unless I got him into the bathtub. I used the sprayer to rinse out a huge amount of muck from his fur.

By the way, Brady freaking hates the bathtub. So, it was at this point that I learned, yes, actually he could stand up--and he wanted out of there NOW.

So I obliged, and cleaned him up just a bit more using some "waterless shampoo and conditioner".

He's doing pretty well today, thank goodness.

Church unity--you're doing it wrong!

I honestly thought I had reached a point in my life where I no longer felt the need to comment on this sort of thing. 

This sort of thing being the little church in Kentucky that has voted to ban interracial couples.  As half of an interracial couple, my reaction to this sort of thing is generally something along the lines of, "You suck. I wouldn't want to hang out with you anyway."

But for some reason, I decided to click through and read the article, and now I feel compelled to comment--because of this:

Melvin Thompson, a minister at the church, explained to the Lexington Herald-Leader that the resolution “is not intended to judge the salvation of anyone, but is intended to promote greater unity among the church body and the community we serve.”

UNITY? That's what this is about? You might want to check your Bible, because, as I recall, God's idea of unity is kinda different from yours.  And another thing--I'm pretty sure God is all about challenging us to do things that take us outside our comfort zones. It's pretty much His modus operandi.

I'm picturing God doing a "facepalm" in reaction to this absurdity.

Playground equipment--or level of hell?

We saw this contraption yesterday in a playground we passed while out for a walk. I was amused. What was it, a Mobius climber? When we passed it again on our way back to the car, I decided I just had to take a picture of it.

Upon closer examination, I noticed that the thing had a sticker on it. It read "Infinity Climbers."

"...and, as your punishment for the many unspeakable acts you have committed (which we will not name, because that would make them "speakable"), you are hereby condemned to spend all eternity climbing on this...um...whatever this thing is!"

Sounds ominous...

So, I saw this sign at a local park today, and it caught my attention. True, every park I've ever visited has had some sign near the entrance, notifying visitors that the park is only open during daylight hours.


But I'd never seen this particular turn of a phrase before--the park is closed during hours of darkness. That just sounds spooky. No problem--I'll make sure I'm far away from your park when the Hours of Darkness come. Wouldn't want to take a chance of running into Voldemort...

Brady says...

Getting up is HARD WORK!

This is me

Source: American Illiterati blog

Brady off-leash

Brady off leash. Most of the time I still walk the old guy on a leash, but sometimes he seems to do better without one. I think because he’s unsure of his footing. This way he only steps where he feels somewhat confident that he can stabilize himself.

Feeding the old boy

Thanks for the comfy slippers, Daddy!!

My dear husband left me his slippers under the table near the couch in case I needed them. I found that I couldn't really use them, but hadn't gotten around to telling him he could go ahead and put them away. Then Cat Girl found them. I had to take a picture before taking the slippers away. Such a weird cat...

The evil monitoring device

My nemesis. I freaking HATED this machine. It was always beeping at me, and I had a headache most of the time. There was a squiggly line representing my oxygen levels, one for my respiration, and one for my heart rate. People kept coming in and bothering me every time the machine beeped and didn't stop until someone came to do something.

At some point my blood pressure was high, causing nurses to come in MORE often to check my blood pressure. (I never have high blood pressure--if anything, it is typically on the low side.) But basically, I got my arm squeezed really tight on a regular basis. Not so comfy.

Once I was allowed to sit up in a chair, I could watch the monitor and work to bring my heart rate down. Or I could make sure the little tubes were securely inside my nose, and take several breaths through those tubes, and bring my O2 levels up to a level that made the machine stop making noise. I'm still not sure why I needed to be on oxygen, but even my very last night in the hospital, I still had these stupid tubes in my nose. so even if I finally fell asleep, if I moved at all, and my oxygen levels reflected that, someone had to come in and fuss about something.

Anyway, that's why I wrote that I said on Facebook that I was working on my biofeedback skills. I just wanted the bad noise to stop, because it was making my headache worse, and I had no way of making a headache go away. Tylenol was useless, and I couldn't have Excedrin, the only thing that had EVER worked for my headaches, and Excedrin is what caused my ulcers in the first place.

It's all pretty much a blur...

...but here's what my hubby shared on Facebook while I was in the hospital:

Written on Tuesday at 1:02 a.m.

Just got home from 10 hours in the ER and ICU with Renee. She came home from teaching Friday complaining of flu-like symptoms and just sacked out. Saturday it wasn't better. Sunday she was having dizziness. We went to the ER to have her checked out. They think the symptoms were because of bleeding in her stomach or esophagus. She had an NG tube and they pumped 300ml of ruddy goo out of her stomach. They gave her 4 units of blood and I don't know how many bags of various clear stuffs. Her color is a lot better. There's no more red coming up the NG tube. So, the bleeding has probably stopped. We have a GI consult in the morning and they may put a scope down her to see what is going on. Prayers and good vibrations are more than welcome!

Various Facebook friends replied, and at 8:18 a.m. on Tuesday, Demetrius wrote...

Thanks, everyone! I got a call this morning that her hemoglobin count was stable at 8 after getting the 4 units of PRBC (packed red blood cells.) It was at 4 when she checked in. The nurse joked that she looks "about a quart low". And, that turned out to be pretty accurate! 7 is the cut-off for transfusing. So, she's above the hatch marks on the stick now to continue the automotive analogy. They took the tube out of her stomach. And, she's resting. I'm going back in once the GI consult comes in. I'll post more news when I have it.Then Tuesday at 3:40 p.m.The endoscope revealed 3 ulcers in her stomach. One showed signs of recent bleeding. That was probably the culprit. They clamped it and closed it. Now, they are watching her blood count. She'll be in for at least another day.

Wednesday at 12:03 a.m.

Renee's hemoglobin count is still hovering around where it was after the transfusion. That's good. Hopefully, she kicks production into gear and it starts to go up soon. She seems to be resting comfortably. She's still being fed intravenously. Sure... It's all cool and Matrix-y. But, she REALLY wants to be able to have something with actual flavor! That has to wait until they know they don't need to go back into her stomach.

Wednesday at 2:13 p.m.

I got to Renee's room and she was sitting up in a chair. Yay! Her blood count is still holding. And, she will be moving out of the ICU into a "step down" room. She's FINALLY having her clear liquids - chicken broth and Jello. (Yay, again!)

Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

They offered her actual solid food this afternoon. So, they think her stomach can take it. She's out of the ICU and in a regular room. Maybe home soon? (fingers crossed)
..................

Anyway, that's what Demetrius shared. I got out of the hospital on Friday, and everything since then is a blur. I've spent most of that time either sleeping or wishing I could fall asleep.

Going to go do that sleep thing now.

Excedrin is the devil

I was released on Friday, but didn’t get any sleep at all that night. I may have gotten about four hours last night. In the whole time I was in the hospital, I got no more than 5 hours of sleep.

The night before my release, having been told that could POSSIBLY be released on Friday, I was still wearing a band on my wrist indicating that I was not allowed to get up without calling someone for help. I acquired that band AFTER being moved from ICU to a regular room.