Health

Well, My Friends, the Time has Come

Fiascos, Health, London, Personal, Travel

Let the music play on, play on, play on …

What is that? I think it’s a Lionel Richie song. Anyway —

They moved it up, and we have a surgery date. July 2! Truth is, I’m getting much worse, sick (to some degree) all day every day.

I am absolutely thrilled. This will end a year and a half of pain and nausea, and other things best not mentioned in mixed company. I haven’t eaten solid food in a year, or been to a movie, or gone anywhere much at all.

They’re re-routing my lower guts, and also taking out a small tumor. This stomach/GI syndrome forces you to live minute by minute. Yesterday, I felt kind of okay, and then threw up in a cup while driving on a winding mountain road. Thank God I had an empty cup in the car!

Although I have to say, the pre-surgery rigmarole, pre-visits, paperwork, phone calls, and prodding is unbelievable. If someone were elderly or just not-that-with-it, I don’t know how they would get it done.

I really am thinking positively though. I have already made a list of all my favorite restaurants and foods. You can’t imagine how happy it will make me when I can have a Pizza Hut pan pizza or Pad Thai!

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I also just started the germination of a London trip. October is my usual month. It’ll be a good project for the next few months. I want to visit and photograph every ancient church within The City of London. (Not “Greater London.” That’s gigantic.) The actual City is very small, inside the ancient Roman & medieval city walls. I think there are about fifty churches.

The London Wall (in red)

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In passing — you know how much of a Dickens fan I am. My addendum to that would be except Martin Chuzzlewit. Just started trying to get into it. Jeez. I really dislike it.

So, that’s what’s going on here. Hope you’re all well!

The Gathering Storm

Health

It’s been a very difficult week, but I find ways to keep my spirits up and my mind busy. Preparing for treatment to start … I remember what it was like and how I felt. That’s why we are preparing so well for this go round. (Going so far as to have an actual room built. LOL)

Bit of a “Stomach Attack” (that’s what I call them) Sunday/Monday, and I was in bed all week. If my hands were not on a piano or organ keyboard, I was lying right here in my little sanctuary 24/7. Short Version — one of my doctors (who is not my stomach doctor) suggested trying a little bit of solid food for a few days. I did so. Disaster.

I’m looking forward to playing the Easter Service tomorrow. I’m resting all day today and I’ll get up early to take my meds and let them fully kick in so I’m going in as strong as possible.

As far as keeping my mind busy, one of the things I have been doing is stocking up and clearing out my digital entertainment queues — Prime Video, Netflix, Audible, and Kindle are the main ones. I came across this movie and thought, “Well, I’d watch anything with Maggie Smith, Laura Linney, and Kathy Bates in it. It’s on Prime if you’re interested.

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That’s about all that’s going on. I’m seeing the doctors on Wednesday for a chemo & radiation planning session. This whole being-seriously-ill thing really slows down time — it’s very bizarre.

The Plot Continues

Health, Home and Renovation

Well, it must’ve just been marked down as a bad week.

Wednesday night I got in the car at 6 o’clock to go to work to play the Ash Wednesday service. It was 18°. The car wouldn’t start. I know a thing or two about this and that, and I knew I was the victim of an old battery in freezing weather.

I called our regular Cab guy, and mercifully, he was available. My friend Miss K drove me home. Jonathan called AAA and had them come out and jump the battery so the car could run for a while and hopefully start in the morning.

Thursday morning I called AAA to buy a battery and to bring it to me. The nicest man ever was here within 30 minutes, tested the battery and alternator, hooked up some box so I wouldn’t lose all my data, and installed our shiny new battery.

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However, standing outside in the 20F-something weather for over an hour was definitely unwise.

Besides, I was feeling a stomach/GI attack beginning. (We’re taking medical steps to get that fixed.) I felt absolutely awful by noon, and my temperature goes up (weird) when this happens. Two of my doctors think that’s weird, and the other two are willing to chalk it up to the G.I. stuff.

I got to 102.9, I think. It goes back down as I start to feel better. It was 99 by evening after lots of rest. Along with this, I was without one of my serious medications because the drugstore hadn’t filled it yet. (Honestly, that was the worst part of it.) It was filled the next day, and I became more an operable human being than a groaning bed warmer.

So, that’s enough of that! I’m up to about 85%, and should feel pretty normal tomorrow.

On a happier note, our adding-a-bedroom project is started!

On the first floor we have the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, and this other weird room. I suppose it could be a dining room, but it’s small and in a strange place. Plus, we have never used the dining room when we’ve had one. Of course, it became a “let’s just put it in there” room.

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We’ve felt a downstairs bedroom would be a good idea for many reasons. (One of them is sick people wanting to be near the bathroom when needed.) My design is below.

We’re starting to move the furniture out of the room, after which my friend and contractor will build a new wall, replace the sockets and switches, and move a ceiling light fixture. After the bedroom is done, we’re looking at a bathroom redo.

My design, and probably very much what you would expect from me. =)

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So! The process will be fun to take pictures and blog about!

I’ll keep you posted!

The C Word

Health

No, no that C-word.

I had some great news this week that I need to share.

I was very, very ill a year ago. Four operations, one over eight hours. Four months of two kinds of daily treatments with extreme side effects. A bag for four months that my stomach juice went into. I think you can probably see where I’m going with this. I was quiet about it, very few people knew.

It’s gone, and I am without a doubt the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. So, I don’t name it anymore. I’ve found another way of talking about it — I make fun of it.

This illness starts with a C and rhymes with “prancer.” So we’ll just call it that. Prancer. They rank it too, according to how much it’s moved around — one, two, three, four. I had Page Flea Prancer.

When you have Prancer, you often have a blob. The blob starts with a T and rhymes with “bloomer.” I had a Big Bloomer. There’s a number they measure called your Bloomer Marker. Average is below 3.0 to 5.0.

I had a CAT Scan on Monday and saw my Zoologist yesterday. Absolutely clear. There are no cats inside me. My Bloomer Marker level was 1.38 — way great! I’m one year Prancer-free. =)