Day 1.5 – The Trip to the Mother Ship

First, I again have to apologize because I know that there were several people looking forward to my daily updates from this trip. Our apartment had wireless internet, but for the first three days, it didn’t work, then all of a sudden it worked, but still we were dragging ourselves home each evening, sometimes as late as 8-9 pm, so I truly doubt you’d have gotten much from me even if the wireless thingee had worked. I will do my best to type these up in Word and get them posted as quickly as I can once we’re back in the States and have the internet. Now, on to the show…

Mom and I got up early, drove to Indy in the Party Van, stopped and picked up Haley, then headed to Holly’s. We pottied at Holly’s and grabbed Duncan and were off like a herd of turtles. We stopped at Dairy Queen to get ice cream and give Natalie a hug good-bye and we were off!… like a herd of turtles.

At the airport, we gave Duncan goodbye smoochies and he drove off in the Party Van. Next, checking in and security.

Now, being a full-time viewer of The Daily Show and the Colbert Report, I knew all about these new full-body scans that they do now, but what were the odds, right? Well, Rose’s odds on this trip, as you will learn by continuing to read the never-ending saga of this trip, were just right every time. Yep, I got pulled aside to go through the full body thing. I thought about yelling "Hey, don’t look at my junk" at them, but #1, I wasn’t sure if, as a female, I had junk… and #2, I didn’t want to spend my two-week vacation in the pokey. I did ask my usual, whether or not I could have a copy for my Christmas cards, but I was told that no one could see the scans… not even them. Which really made me want to inquire as to the point, but… (see #2 above). So I was through security and attempting to get my shoes back on when someone realized that my bag wasn’t there – and another guard comes up to me to ask it if it is mine. Turns out that the box of Cream of Wheat that we’d packed looked suspicious. Imagine what their reactions could have been (see #2 above) – mom just poured it all into a ziploc baggie (yes, an off-white, powder-like substance, in a baggie) – I’m the one who insisted on putting the baggie back into the box! Fortunately, me and the Cream of Wheat must’ve looked innocent enough because we finally made it onto the plane to Toronto.

In Toronto, we had to go through customs and the moment I’d been waiting for finally arrived. I was going to get a stamp in my passport!! Wait a minute… he told me I could go on through. What about my stamp!? I the guy if I couldn’t have a stamp… he said sure and gave me a stamp. Rather anti-climactic and unfulfilling, but it was still a stamp. Whoo hoo!

The flight to London was supposed to leave at 8:30 p.m. I don’t think we even got called to board until almost 10! But once we got settled, we were on our way to London!

The plane was nice, each seat had a video monitor on it and you could watch TV or movies or whatever from it. During the 6-7 hour flight, I watched Rango (animated with Johnny Depp) and Hall Pass (not worth my time figuring out what to put here, but it was better than Rango.) One unexpected nicety was that we were served dinner. Who serves food on planes anymore? After two crappy movies and a rather fitful nap, we arrived in London Heathrow at 9:30 AM.

First, customs and the receipt of another stamp in Ye Olde Passport. Again, not as exciting as I'd hoped, but we were now officially on the Mother Ship! Pretty exciting.

Our first task was to get to the apartment (or the "flat") we'd rented for the week. We found the underground or "tube" and hopped on. Heathrow and our apartment were situated in the southwestern quadrant of the metropolis that is London. And the apartment was about 7-8 blocks (not sure that their definition of "block" is the same as ours, but...) from the closest tube station and going to the apartment, it was mostly downhill. The apartment was the lower floor of a two-story house. I think if we'd had the whole house, it would have been much likek the Dursleys' house in the Harry Potter movies - it even had a cupboard under the stairwell where we could have locked an unwanted relative for the evenings. As it was, it was a little smaller than we anticipated, considering there were four of us, but we were only there for the evenings, so didn't find it to be a problem. The wireless internet was not working, however, that we considered that to be a problem. Especially since I knew my beloved fans would be concerned if they did not hear from me. hmpf...

Anyway, I took a shower and a short nap - not sure what the others did, but then we decided to set out in search of sustenance and then to go see London from the London Eye. So we took the tube to the appropriate station and then took a wrong turn upon leaving the station. However, we could not complain as we discovered and had our first real "English" meal in a pub - the Camel and Artichoke. The inside was very reminiscent of the Jungle in downtown Evansville, for those who know what I'm talking about. And the food was very good. Holly had the ubiquitous fish and chips. I had a grilled chicken Cesaer salad of which I could only eat three ounces, of course. The great part came when I asked for a 'to-go' box for the remainder of my chicken and, after waiting about 15 minutes, the waitress came back with a plastic container!

The British Airways London Millenium Eye is a giant ferris wheel type of ride that was built for London's 2000 celebration. When you get on the ride, it takes about 30 minutes to make the entire circuit - while riding the Eye, you get a fabulous view of the bulk of the city or at least the buildings/sites on or near the Thames River. We were fortunate to have very nice weather and and we rode the Eye taking plenty of pics. I can't post all of the pics on this blog, of course, so I will try to post a representative selection and if you want to see the full photographic travelogue, you are encouraged to become my fiend on Facebook where all of the pics will be posted.

After the Eye, we hit the ever-loving gift shop, or maybe even two! And then we trotted back to the tube station and found our way back to the apartment about 9pm... and it was still daylight! What's up with that?!

Apologies from London

Hello to all who are anxiously awaiting blogs from our trip to London!


Unfortunately, the wireless here in England seems incompatible with our laptop and my iPhone :( so there will be no full blogging done until we are back in the States. This post is from an internet cafe a couple of blocks from our flat, but if I blogged from here, there'd be no pics.


But just to give you a taste, as I'm typing this, it is 10 am on Friday morning and we have seen the London Eye, Madam Toussouds (sp?), the Tower of London, taken a cruise up and down the Thames, and I think I'm forgetting something. But we've lots of pics and tons for me to write about.


Again, I apologize for getting everyone's hopes up only to dash them, but think of what you have to look forward to... for example, I will probably be 30 pounds lighter when I get back due to all of the walking we've been doing. We're doing well. No one has had to bludgeon anyone yet, although there've been some close calls. The weather's been great - even better knowing that it's in the 90's back home!


Later, lovies, Rosemary

Long Live the King!

This past weekend, my mother and I drove up to Indy to attend my youngest nephew's high school graduation.  This nephew, Duncan, a handsome, strapping 5 foot 11 lad, will be going to USI in the fall and will have the distinct honor of living with his grandmother and his hot, hip and happening favorite aunt (moi!) for the first year.  This blog entry is not about Duncan.  Although I'm sure there will be several in the future about my new roommate, I just wanted to throw his name out there for future reference.

 

This blog, like many in the past few months, is about toilet paper, as TP issues seem to follow me.

 

Mom and I woke up early on Saturday and hit the road.  We drive up US 41 to I-70 in Terrible Haute and then on to Indy.  But that's about mid-way in the trip and even if Mom hasn't taken her water pill, at least one of us as to wee.  So we generally stop at the Riley exit on I-70.  There is a McDonald's there along with a Burger King, a Wal-Mart, and two truck stop/gas stations.  So whatever our needs, the Riley exit is a good bet.

 

So Saturday, we stop at the McDonald's.  I think I've mentioned before that I, over the past 42 years, have purchased the right to stop and "use the facilities" at any McDonalds anywhere in the world for the rest of my life.  That first year that the McD's Monopoly came out alone earned me the right well into my 30's.  Not to mention the summers when the Beanie Babies were in the Happy Meals!  My point is that I have contributed mightily to McD's corporate earnings, so I do not feel bad about visiting any given McD's and using its facilities without making further contributions to the cause.

 

We go in, get seated, so to speak, when I notice that there is no TP in my stall.  I say as much to Mom and ask her to hand me a couple of squares.  She replies that her stall is equally empty and hands me a (clean) tissue from her pocket.  God bless my Mother and her continuously running nose! 

 

I finished up and washed my paws and exited the restroom to go inform someone, anyone, of the lack of TP because I knew they'd want to do something about it.  I frequent McD's restrooms because I have come to expect a certain level of quality.  Anywho,... I got to the front counter and there was a long line, so I assumed no one behind the counter had time to listen to me.  However, I'd seen an employee obviously taking her break between the ladies room and the counter, so I back tracked and went to tell her.  I apologized for interrupting her break and told her the ladies room was out of TP.  She said, (and here I quote verbatim, as I will never forget her words), "I know.  We ran out yesterday.  You have to ask for napkins at the counter."  She then went back to playing with her phone.

 

I am not generally a confrontational person, so I use that and the fact that I was stunned into silence to explain why I just walked dumbly to the van.  As I got comfy, I started to just be horrified by what she'd told me.

 

Since then, I have come up with a list of things that the manager of that particular McD's could have done in this situation.  The list is as follows:

 

-          They could have put some napkins in the ladies room so people did not have to ask at the busy counter.  Plenty-o-accidents, if you catch my drift, could happen while waiting at that counter.

-          They could have put a kindly worded sign on the door warning the prospective users of the ladies room that they would need to get napkins at the counter.

-          They could have nabbed some TP from the men's room.  Now, I realize this assumes that the men's room has TP, but I'm not in the mood to give the benefit of the doubt here.

-          They could have run across the parking lot to the Burger King and smuggled out some TP.

-          They could have gone to the Wal-Mart, which shared the same parking lot, and purchased some TP, or even wood chips from the lawn and garden section.

 

I'm sure you're wondering, "Rose, what about your return trip from Indy?  Did the Riley Exit McD's redeem itself??"  Well, I'll tell ya.  We did not give it the opportunity.  We went to the Burger King.  And the King did not fail us.  The King had TP.  Long live the King!

 

Back to the Old Grind

I am back at work this week, after an entire month off, and it has gone pretty well.  I've figured out a few things and sort of settled into a routine of sorts.

 

Monday, well, Monday was Memorial Day, so I didn't have to work.  But I did have to think about work and how I didn't have any bras that fit – and consequently, because they didn't fit, they caused gi-normous back pain.  So Mom and I headed out to the far east side of town, (Mom packed a lunch!) and I got some new ones at Sears.  Could have got the size that fit, but the next size down (still a C, thank you very much, Holly!) fit, even though it was tight, so I got two of that size instead so they would last longer.  (So if you see me in a corner adjusting myself, that would be why!)

 

Tuesday, I woke early, chugged part of my protein shake which, let me just say that if you're even slightly nauseated in the early mornings, as I am, is not the easiest thing to do.  Where was I?  Oh, then I set out on my walk.  Now, in our condo area, we live in the building farthest from the road, so my route is to walk to the road, cross it, and walk up the hill to our church and then around the church 3-4 times, then back.  Mom suggested, and I immediately discounted because obviously I know better, that I only walk once around the church, so as not to tire myself since I have to go to work.  As you might guess, I circumnavigated the church 3 times and then walked back home, took a shower, got dressed, ate breakfast while farming, and then was ready to go to work.  Well, let me say here and now, Mom was right.  After all of that, I was pooped and wanted nothing more than to crawl back into bed.  It was 7:45 a.m.!  Sigh.

 

As I left the condo that morning, I started to wonder exactly why it was that I felt that 4 weeks off to recuperate would be better than 6.  Especially since Steve was going to be on vacation both this and next week.  Sure Carrie might like me to be there to do stuff for her, since Steve isn't there to suck up the bulk of my time, but… pssshhh…  But I went.  I have to say that everybody gave me a very warm welcome back.  But then, after the immediate thrill of everyone commenting on my return and how fab I look, they expected me to sit in that chair and work for 8 hours!  Yikes!  Did I mention I was pooped!?

 

I got through the morning, ate lunch at my desk – by the way, it is much easier to drag a meal, any meal, but especially a 2 ounce meal, out for 30 minutes when you're sitting at your desk and working at the same time – then I took an hour nap in the naproom over my lunch hour.  That got me through the afternoon and then home.

 

The rest of the week has been pretty similar.  Although I have made the following observations:

 

-          Vanilla Boost is the most horrendous thing ever to pass my lips with the possible exception of that barium I had to drink for the pre-op testing.

-          Eating 2 ounces of pureed meat and some generic veggie while everyone else in the room is eating gooey, greasy pizza is not fun.  However, to the people sitting beside me, if you're not going to finish the piece on your plate, at least get it out of my arm's reach so I'm not tempted to rip that pepperoni off of it and suck the greasy, cheesy goodness off of it.

-          Eating cottage cheese for breakfast is much more fun when you're sitting on the couch and trying to fend off a 10 pound cat (Cleo) who has developed a LOVE of cottage cheese.  I think that should count as part of my daily workout routine.

-          Flintstone vitamins are not as fun as I always assumed they would be before I HAD to take them. 

-          I would kill, literally KILL, anyone of your choosing for a big ol'glass of iced tea, sweet or un, but preferably sweet since I'm daydreaming, with a STRAW in it.  I never realized how much I loved straws until I was told I couldn't use them.  And I really miss caffeine.  I accidentally had some the other day and I felt like a totally different woman.  BTW, Memo to the Crystal Light people – don't assume that just because the box says "Energy" that the poor schlub buying it is going to realize that it contains caffeine.  Put the word in big bold letters on the front of the box!

-          If I see that commercial for Applebee's, the one where they're announcing their new grilled entrees and you see the steak covered in onions, mushrooms, and cheese, again, I may have to jump off of the couch and plunge my fist into the tv.  Dear State Farm Insurance Agent - Would my homeowner's insurance cover that?

-          Work would be much better if I could do it from my lounge chair on the balcony with a cat on my lap.  I may bring that up at my next review.

-          Weighing every morning may work for some people (i.e., my mother), but it's just making me borderline psycho.  If that number doesn't go down soon, even just by 1 number, I am going to have to increase my Paxil!

-          I think all 48 of the pounds I've lost so far have come off of my butt.  One would think that that is a good thing, considering the size of my pre-op butt, but…  When I sit in a certain place for too long, my butt gets sore.  I'm thinking I've lost a lot of padding that was nice to have.  Would it look weird if I walked around carrying a pillow to sit on?

 

So in answer to the ubiquitous question, "Are you happy to be back at work?"  No!  That's just crazy.  Who wants to work for a living when they could get up, watch Regis, farm/dig for treasure and/or kill zombies, watch Days of Our Lives, nap on the balcony, have dinner, farm/dig for treasure and/or kill zombies, and go to bed every day!?  People who say to me, "I bet you got bored," they don't know me very well!  I am, however, happy to be back amongst friends and co-workers who I have actually missed.  I'm happy to relieve poor Jennifer, up in the collection department, of having to deal with Steve regarding his spreadsheets and reports and stuff.  Although I firmly believe it did him good to miss me for a while, I like Jennifer and don't feel the need to torture her any more.  I'm happy to have a job where I generally enjoy what I do and who I work for.  (We'll disregard the times in the past that Steve's made me cry as they were hormone-induced.)  And I'm very happy that I work indoors in a comfy office, with air-conditioning, especially since it's supposed to be 94 degrees today and Rose doesn't like to sweat.  So yes, I'm happy to be back.  But I'm going to have to step up my pursuit of a sugar daddy who can keep me in the style to which I've become accustomed during the past month, because, damn it!  I miss Regis!

Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes...

So this morning I had an appointment with my doctor. It wasn't scheduled, but for the past couple of days, I've been feeling woozy, dizzy, clammy, etc. I knew something was off, and after a call to his office, we were told that it was probably low blood sugar. Of course the fact that I only eat 6 ounces a day and none of it contained any sugar other than what came naturally in my applesauce, I wasn't surprised. Especially since I was still taking my Metformin - which is a diabetes medicine, even though I don't have diabetes, long story, don't ask.

First, sipping some apple juice made me feel better almost immediately. Then the doctor ordered a blood sugar monitor for me so I could test it. Mom went and got it and even after sipping my juice (from my sippy cup!) for an hour, my blood sugar was only 76.

So I went to go see Dr. Marienau this morning. First things first. When I weighed, I was down 31 pounds. YEAH! Then my blood pressure was 111/70. Which is picture perfect - and I hadn't even had all of my BP meds for the day! Anyway, after talking to Dr. M, I am now totally off of the Meformin AND one of the two BP meds that I take. I go see him again next Friday to revisit the BP.

Needless to say Rose is feeling very good. I'm still sort of woozy from the BP meds that I have already taken today, but I'll just be careful and watch what I'm doing and how I'm feeling. I'll let Mom drive to Absolute Beauty for my manicure this afternoon. Also, Mom and a family friend who works at my Dr's office both tell me I'm looking skinny today, so I plan on dropping by the office this afternoon to say hi and give'em a look see!

That's it for today. Rose Out!

Second Thoughts, Anyone?

Ok, I'll admit it. I've had second thoughts. Kind of like I might have after burning the only bridge that could get me home. Why? Well, I was in pain, first and foremost. Even when I wasn't in pain, I was uncomfortable. And after I got home, it felt like I was spending my entire day taking pieces of pills every 10-15 minutes, except for the 30 minutes before and after my meals. And the meals - well, they weren't exactly inspiring.

I started seeing a therapist about a month ago, ultimately to help me get through my food issues, but immediately to help me get through the fear. She's a Christian and we talked about how I have no doubt that this whole thing is a part of God's plan for me and how the fears are the devil's way of undermining my following thru. She recommended Joyce Meyer's Battlefield of the Mind and I got it and have been slowing reading it.

Since the surgery, whether due to the pain or the pain meds, my eyes have been having problems focusing, making reading difficult. So the magazines and Kindle that I took to the hospital with me remained in the suitcase. But since I've been home, and since it was painful to sit down and to get up, once I was on the potty, I stayed there for a while. The cats would come in and entertain me and after a day or two, I put my Battlefield of the Mind book in there, too.

One morning after we'd got home, I had woken (??) up in pain, and was sitting there waiting for the pain meds to kick in, and I just broke down crying because I knew this was the biggest mistake of my life and I knew that it couldn't be undone. I picked up the book and read the next page or so, and then prayed. I know, here I am on the toilet praying, but it wasn't too long before I felt tremendously better.

So here we are now, tomorrow I am two weeks post-op. And despite a horrible night (couldn't get to sleep, and what little sleep I got was very fitful - I'm weaning myself off of the pain meds and the Tylenol wasn't kicking it), I'm feeling very positive. I can't sleep on my tummy yet, which helps make the nights difficult. I have no appetite - in fact, I forgot lunch yesterday. I have yet to have a day where I get all of my protein in or drink all of my liquids.

Mom made a very perspicacious observation early on, though. She pointed out that we are intelligent beans and if we're having problems getting all of the pills/protein/liquid/calcium/vitamins, etc stuff under control, how on God's green earth do the morons do it??

As to the food, mom has been outdoing herself. When we first got home, we had enough to worry about that yes, we went with baby food. And other than the fact that the meat ALL needed salt, it was fine. Since then, mom has made (and yes, pureed) pot roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, pork chops! It has all been divine! One of my hardest parts of the meals, though, is dragging out the 2 ounces for 30 minutes! That's just crazy... even with the baby spoons. For one thing, I have to fend off Cleo for 25 of those minutes.

So yes, there have been second thoughts, but they are quickly squelched. As I'm sitting here, I know I've lost weight... frankly, my butt is feeling particularly boney of late. Today we are going to drop by my doctor's office and weigh on their scales so hopefully, we'll have good news.

A Stitch in Time

Ok, it is Saturday morning and my surgery was about 72 hours ago.

We got to the hospital about 9:45 on Wednesday after hitting a McD's drive thru so mom could have some breakfast - didn't want her getting too tired or hungry. After all she's got to take care of me!

The surgeon was ahead of schedule, so they took me in for surgery earlier than the previously set 12:45. I actually walked into the surgery room. Everybody introduced themselves and that's all I remember about that!

Next I'm having a lovely dream and someone has the audacity to wake me up.

The rest of the day was spent with them waking me up every two hours to walk, wee and breathe. Mom graciously spend the night with her baby girl because, frankly, I whined. :)

Thursday, the pain meds started helping me a lot and I was able to start taking laps around the ward. They had signs that said that 16 laps equal a mile. I knew deep in my heart that that was never happening, but I patronized them into thinking it might. I also didn't sleep as much that day and was able to broadcast an email out to my peeps to reassure everyone that I was alive. I also started "eating" my "meals" on Thursday. Of course those meals were an ounce of fluid, juice, broth, etc, and an ounce of something very soft with protein in it. I made mom go home when Natalie and Haley left for the evening. I knew that she didn't a very good night's sleep the prior night and if I was going to allow this woman drive me home the next day (although I was praying for another day - despite the cost) I knew she needed a good night's sleep.

I was pleasantly surprised to be told that they wouldn't wake me up to walk the second night, so I'm thinking I can sleep right? No, that stupid bladder of mine work me up every 2-2 1/2 hours because I had to pee and the nurse told me that if I got out of bed to wee, I had to take a lap. Suddenly I realized their evil plan to get a mile out of me just might work. Sigh.

At about 3:30, I knew that if I stayed awake for a half hour, the coverage of the royal wedding started at 4am. Back when I was 12 or so, I was at my grandmother's house when Chuck and Di got married, but I set my alarm and got up and watch the whole thing. Maybe it was because I was more of a romantic back then, or because I was younger and hadn't just had surgery, but I decided to go back to bed.

Fortunately, my ubiquitous bladder woke me up in time to see her walking down the aisle at six am. It was a lovely wedding, then I had to go for another walk.

The doctor came in and told me she was releasing me to go home. I was very scared, but after a very nice pep talk from the nurse, I was ready. So they filled me with a butt-load of drugs and we headed out.

The children were all very happy to see us back, and poor Giz tried his best to climb up on my stomach to sleep, but I think he was satisfied with sleeping on my legs.

So I'm home, my back aches and my abdomen hurts. I took my lortab last night, but am trying to get by today without very much.. so far I've only taken I dose.

I'm tired now. My email's that I've typed from my phone aren't sending. I think it is nap time.
Ciao!