More from Lake Woebegone

Hi Everyone –

It seems as I’ve gotten older, I spend an awful lot of time either telling people about my last illness and my doctor’s appointments or listening to them tell me about their most recent illness or listing their doctors’ appointment and not talking about fun things like the latest gossip or scandal. What are we becoming??  SO, I promise this is the last installment about my various medical experiences, as fascinating as they might be. Enough already!

Here we go, when we last left off, I had come to the end of my three month chiropractor commitment and I was still lurching around with no solution in sight. So, I embarked on an extensive medical research effort – namely, looking through the local Mansfield Living magazine – and, lo and behold, there was a full-page ad for Spine Team Texas, with offices all over, including Mansfield. They were announcing that they had added a new doctor, Dr. Kibuule, to their staff and he specialized in adult scoliosis. I figured “why not?” and made an appointment for March 23. His initial diagnosis was that he didn’t think he could do anything to help me, but sent me to get an MRI even though he suspected that it wouldn’t show anything. He referred me to a neurologist for an EMG test on my left foot and ankle and said to come back for another appointment on April 4th. Had the MRI done the next Wednesday, March 28, and had an appointment with the neurologist the following Friday, March 30. The EMG test is a fascinating sequence of electric stimuli to see if the nerves in my foot were still functioning – and they were! So he ordered an ankle brace, special vitamin pills because my toes were cold, and sessions at a local physical therapy center and come back to see him in a month. Another one of those “why not?” moments, so I ordered some of the vitamin pills, made an appointment with Hanger Orthotics to be fitted for a brace and signed up for physical therapy.

Meanwhile, I had the follow-up meeting with Dr. Kibuule, the spine surgeon. He had gotten the results of the MRI and now thought he could fix whatever it was that was wrong. The surgery would be preformed at Southlake Hospital where they have this fantastic new machine – the only one in the area. It’s like a big CTScan donut that goes around the patient and the surgeon just makes small incisions and inserts probes and can see what he’s doing in real-time throughout the procedure. He said I would stay in the hospital overnight and walk out the next morning. Another “why not?” moment. So in a matter of moments, the surgery was scheduled for the next Tuesday morning, April 10^th. The Spine Team Texas main office and the Harris Methodist Hospital at Southlake are in adjoining buildings. Southlake is about 45 minutes north of here so we drove up the next day for the pre-op procedures at the hospital, including a chest x-ray. I didn’t think anything about it since I had had chest x-rays when I had been in the hospital last November and December. But the next day, the neurologist from the hospital called to say that the x-ray showed some nodes on my lungs and they wanted to check them out and could I come back up there the next day (Friday) so they could check them out with a CTScan. So back up to Southlake we went. They reviewed the scan immediately and told us right away not to be worried – it was just two broken ribs that had healed. I remembered my ribs really hurting after one of my first visits with the chiropractor and they said the ribs were probably just bruised. But guess what – they were actually  broken!

The next Monday, I went to be fitted for the foot and ankle brace. They use a type of bandage/tape that they soak in water and then wrap around your foot and ankle. It dries and turns to a solid within minutes. The put a plastic slot-like thing on your leg before they wrap it and then they use a box cutter to cut the hardened mold from your foot. They also make a lot of different prosthetics there for amputees which made me feel a little guilty for being there just because my left foot was flopping around on its own – at least I still had a left foot!

Then up EARLY the next morning to be up at Southlake by 6:00 am with the surgery scheduled for 7:30. Checking into the hospital is like checking into the lobby of a Ritz-Carlton – they have six operating rooms and 16 “over-night suites” and the whole place is really posh! I don’t know that I would have chosen the room that I got, but then they didn’t ask me.

When I asked how long the surgery would take and they said 300 minutes I couldn’t believe it – I kept doing the arithmetic in my head and just couldn’t believe that it came out to 5 hours. It actually ended up taking 5-1/2 hours! The X-LIF (Extreme Lateral Interbody Fusion) procedure is performed using an incision on the side and then six small incisions on the back. He removed one ruptured disk and fused it with a metal “cage”, cleaned out some bulging tissue that was pressing against some nerves, and realigned two vertebrae by screwing them together. Lots of stuff going on in there! And I did walk out the next morning – with a supply of pain pills!

Before the surgery, I was fitted for a brace that is just like a corset from Gone with the Wind, including the a set of “pulleys” to tighten it – I’ll have to wear it for six to eight weeks. Also got a “bone growth stimulator” thingie that I have to wear for 30 minutes a day on my back for the next 9 months – when I’m not wearing it as a fashion accessory! It looks like the steering wheel on those little go-cars at a carnival. It uses a Combined Magnetic Force (CFM) to make the cells split and divide and grow faster. Actually it seems a little weird but it keeps track of the days you wear it and if you don’t do what they tell you, I’m not sure what they will do to you but I don’t think I want to find out!

So it’s been three weeks today since the surgery and I’ve “graduated” from two weeks of home-health nurse and physical therapist visits. The physical therapist kept instructing me to “sit down like a lady” so I’m not sure just how I’ve been sitting for the past 72 years, not knowing any better!

Got my foot-ankle brace this morning and it really does help keeping my foot in line. You can get the brace made in any one of a number of different patterns so I chose the leopard skin pattern. Another fashion accessory!

 Putting on the tape to make the mold

Cutting the hardened mold with a box cutter

The finished mold

The leopard print doesn’t show up as much as I thought it would but it’s still fun. The brace goes over a pair of socks and into a shoe. It really does help! Started three days a week for four weeks of out-patient physical therapy this afternoon to work on those muscles in my left leg and foot so hopefully I’ll be able to walk like a normal person – I’m beginning to wonder if I ever did!

To make sure I include the entire family in my medical report, John had a colonoscopy yesterday which was supposed to be relatively non-eventful but he had a severe asthma attack right at the end of the procedure and scared everyone – thank goodness he seems to be almost completely recovered today. We had to take Bubba to the vet for an allergy shot since he was wheezing and whooping and pulling out his hair in tufts. He’s getting better too.

So that’s all the news from Camp Woebegone and what’s left of us!

April already??

I can’t believe already April – we’re still sweeping up leaves from last fall – millions and millions of them! And it’s gatting WARM! with no air conditioning! Found out that a mouse had chewed through the wiring running from the thermostat to the AC unit — but at least it’s fixed and running as of yesterday. Have you ever had those “time-burps” where everything rushes by and you know you were busy but everything seems a blur when you look back and try to figure out just what you did do? Well, March was one of those . . .

John and I have signed up with Ray Martinez, a personal trainer at Lifetime Fitness here in Mansfield – he certainly has his job cut out for him in trying to “train” both of us – thank goodness, he’s very patient and really knows what he’s doing (or we might just tie ourselves up into irrevocable knots) – John is making more progress than I am – I’m still struggling with that incorrigible left leg – in contrast to the two of us (John and me) moving about rather slowly, Ray is a runner and will be trying out for the next Olympics (I can never keep the years of the Olympics straight so I’m not quite sure what year) – he ran in the Cowtown Half-Marathon and came in 4^th for his age group – Ray convinced us to come and see him run and we agreed, not realizing that we would have to be there at 7:00 am (early for us!) – he told us where to stand where the runners would be splitting between the Marathon and the Half-Marathon – this was on the 25^th of February and it was bitter cold and John and I were the only ones standing there! I thought there would be a crush of people like you see on TV and we would have to push our way to front to be able to see him, but NO! We did yell and cheer and got a picture of him as he came by, but then went directly back to the car and went home!

We’re gradually getting to see more of Fort Worth and the more we see, the more we like it. The museums (the Kimbell and the Contemporary) are wonderful and the architecture of the older parts of Fort Worth is beautiful. Right by where we were standing to see the runners, there’s the beautiful Fort Worth Water Gardens.

This park was designed by Phillip Johnson from New York. The water park is an oasis in the concrete jungle of the center of town. The park features three pools of water: the aerating pool, the quiet pool, and the active pool with water tumbling down a series of terraces down to a small pit.

In addition to going to the gym two or three days a week, I was continuing with my chiropractor appointments three days a week. The first week in March, the chiropractor got a new “decompression” machine, which would hopefully perform miracles and fix my “left-legged lurch” – it really is a modern, stream-lined version of the medieval rack where they attach you to a two part table and pull! It seemed to help a little – before I could barely finish washing the dishes before my back really hurt (perhaps in part due to the fact that no one in their right mind you really WANT to wash the dishes) and after the decompression, I could finish washing the dishes painlessly! So much for that miraculous cure!

Meanwhile, I talked John into going up to Colorado Springs to spend some time with his three daughters, Margaret, Carol and Lesley – Margaret had bought a new house in the Springs when she was “deployed” to the Air Force Academy as a glider instructor and was anxious for John to see it – along with the new gliders!

Margaret’s house is a beautiful Victorian in the historic part of Colorado Springs – Lesley lives in the cottage behind the main house. Lesley just passed the exam to qualify her to teach advanced placement mathematics in high school in Colorado Springs. Carole, in addition to being a 911 call taker at night, is making some beautiful jewelry that can be seen at

www.MarilynGraceDesign.etsy.com

John and the three girls made a side trip up to Cripple Creek for a little bit of gambling. Cripple Creek is one of five gambling locations permitted in the state of Colorado. Besides the lure of winnings, the location is spectacular.

Coming up next (beginning in April) for Margaret is a six-month deployment to a small base a hour outside of Las Vegas where they train drone pilots. Sadly, there’s no housing on the base, so Margaret will have to stay in Las Vegas, courtesy of the Air Force. She has a six-month lease on a suite at the MGM Grand!

Two days after John got back from Colorado Springs, we took off for Santa Fe to go to the Bead Fest and to celebrate my birthday on St. Patrick’s Day. There was a huge traffic tie-up on Interstate 20 just as soon as we reached it, so we decided to make it an adventure and find the back roads. Route 180 isn’t exactly a back road, but it was so much more interesting than the interstate and we made really good time. We went through some really interesting towns and are now making plans on going back to them to see more. Mineral Wells had a beautiful old hotel, the Baker, that captured our attention.

This is just a little bit of its history.

Earl Baker said that when his 70th birthday came he would close the doors of the Baker. True to his word on April 30, 1963 Earl closed the doors of the Baker Hotel. This put 250 people out of a job and ruined the social life of the citizens of Mineral Wells. In August of 1963 the Hotel went up on the auction block. Bidding was very light and nothing really came of it. In 1965 a group of local leaders formed the Civic Development Corporation and reopened the Hotel paying Earl Baker monthly checks for the hotel. While visiting the hotel on December 3rd of 1967 Earl Baker was found in the Baker Suite on the floor after having a heart attack. He was rushed to the nearby Nazareth Hospital but died later that day. The Baker Hotel closed in 1972 due to slim profits. Today the Baker Hotel of Mineral Wells sits empty waiting for someone to give it new life. The stores on the ground floor were available to rent out and the lobby floor was rented out for weddings and meetings. Tours were given by volunteers well versed in the hotel’s history. Sadly the roof of the hotel is in need of repairs and leaks have caused great damage to the “Grand Old Lady” of Mineral Wells. Many people fall in love with the Baker and have the desire to repair her but sadly to restore her would cost about thirty million dollars. So The Baker sits waiting for the day that someone will again restore her to her glory. Perhaps apartments, offices, a museum or even a retirement home would be a good choice to continue the life of the Baker. The current owner of the Baker Hotel is Greg Horn of Phoenix, Arizona.

We stopped in Albuquerque to visit with good friends from the Santa Fe Flea Market days and had dinner at the Flying Star near their house. Then up on the familiar road north to Santa Fe the next morning. It’s still magical to see it on the horizon. The Bead Fest was held in the “new” (new since I was there) Convention Center and was as exciting and fun as ever – I bet if Tim Tebow came to Bead Fest, he would be even more excited than being a Jet! This wall hanging in the Convention Center was astounding!

We got to eat in almost all of our favorite places, including Bob Cat Bite for the best hamburger in the world –

plus Harry’s Road House, Zia Diner, and the La Fonda for Sunday Brunch with two good friends from my Santa Fe days.

Luckily, we missed most of the bad weather all around us except for one wildly windy day on our last day in Santa Fe and a dusting of snow on the morning we left (beautiful!). Bubba and Billie Bob were on really good behavior for the entire trip. The pictures below are from a Louis Vuitton ad but I think this is how they really see themselves!

We’re enjoying the wonderful weather here in north Texas as long as it lasts – hopefully for a few weeks at least. Taking advantage of the beautiful day last Saturday, John and granddaughters Emily and Elizabeth and Aunt Maggie painted birdhouses on the back patio.

John and I deliver Meals on Wheels on Thursdays which gives us a chance to meet some really wonderful people and to see parts of our area that we might not ordinarily see. I have to admit getting out of the car to be confronted by a large bovine creature did catch me by surprise!

But seeing the field after field of blue bonnets in the last few weeks has been breathtakingly beautiful –

Just a brief recap of the ongoing medical mystery story of my strangely-behaving left leg. After three months of appointments three times a week with the chiropractor, I finally went to Spine Team Texas who sent me to a neurologist. After an MRI and an EMG, the neurologist narrowed it down to four problems: 1) weakness of my left side from the stroke, 2) a pinched nerve, 3) spinal degeneration due to arthritis, and 4) neuropathy. So I’m going on Thursday to be fitted for a brace for my ankle and then start on another stint of physical therapy three times a week. The discouraging part is that I probably should have done this three months ago, but the important positive side of it is that now we know what’s wrong and are doing something to make it better — hopefully.

Mysterious

This whole thing with my left leg is becoming more of a mystery as time goes by — during the second hospital visit in December, the resident neurologist said there was NOT a second stroke, the MRI was identical to the MRI from the first episode — BUT my left leg still has a mind of its own and refuses to cooperate — the cardiologist didn’t seem the least bit concerned about that, so off I went out of the hospital and back to the outside world — this is where is starts to get confusing — after the first episode in November, I was back to walking normally in three days — the physical therapy concentrated on improving my balance and then discharged me from outpatient care in two weeks — then the second episode occurred in December with the same physical manifestations but the neurologist said no stroke and home I went — after that, my leg has never returned to normal — when I tried to walk, my left foot would just curl to the inside and I was afraid I would put my weight on it and break something — I can wiggle my toes on my left foot, but I can’t point my foot (there go any hopes for a ballet career!) — since the doctor had not prescribed any physical therapy follow-up this time, I was at a loss what to do — the first thing I did do was make an appointment with a new cardiologist — any faith I had had in the one I was going to and eroded away — couldn’t get an appointment until January 31 so I worried during the whole month of January that something else would happen and I’d be struck with Dr. Doom — but I worried for naught, and the new guy is great.

SO, in the meantime, I decided to try a chiropractor — made an appointment at the end of December and they did an evaluation — this is the x-ray of my back which shows some twists and curves — those nerves down on the left side of my spine are all crunched together and the one on the right side are all stretched –

they said there was a 50/50 chance they could help me, so I signed up for a three-month program of adjustment and electric pulsations and massage and balance therapy — I’m halfway through it now and, to my great disappontment, it doesn’t seem to be working — the chiropractor wanted to get an MRI of my back to maybe see what was going on, but Medicare doesn’t cover chiropractor requests and an MRI can be terribly expensive so that option is on hold –

John and I both signed at LifeTime Fitness with a personal trainer — John wanted an overall program and I wanted to strengthen the muscles in my left leg — I think the exercises are helping me but I still lurch along like a drunken marionette — I get exhausted after just a little bit of walking because I’m twisting so much side to side — it’s weird.

Now, I’ve finally gotten a referral from our GP to go see a nuerologist and hopefully then I can find out what’s going on — meanwhile I feel like some sort of giant troll holding on to anything I can grab to get from one place to another — John is getting much better about giving me a hand to hold on to — he was used to my being able to walk and walk very quickly — I can use the shopping cart to get around the grocery store and in and back to the car —  we’re planning on going to the Bead Fest in Santa Fe in mid-March and as much as I love going back to Santa Fe and especially the Bead Fest, I’m kind of dreading not being able to get around — I’ve tried a walker but that just keeps me from falling down and I get just as tired — but I do have a bycicle bell on the walker, so people would at least get out of my way! I’ve tried a cane, but I get so mixed-up about which side it goes on and what exactly to do with it that I would be a menace in the near proximity of people — I refuse to even think about a wheelchair — I know that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense but after seeing my father in a wheelchair for most of his life, I just can’t re-live it –

So and ideas or comments are welcome — I just want to find out what’s going on — if there’s something that can be done then I want to do it — if nothing can be done, then I need to concentrate on dealing with it –

What CPAP mask?

As you might have noticed, I’ve become quite disappointed with the cardiologist that I’ve been going to — the Yellow Pages don’t come with a guarantee of satisfaction. We found him when we first moved here and he had office hours in Mansfield, so why not? But, some background: John and I had both been tested for sleep apnea in Colorado Springs. The CPAP mask really helped John and I suppose it helped me (although I kept thinking of us as “senior snorklers”) but I really hated the mask and finally turned it back in after signing all sorts of waivers saying that “Yes, I know I’m turning the device back in even though it had been prescribed for a medical reason” and went back to snoring (so I’m told) but I don’t think John can hear it when he has his mask on.

So this new cardiologist became very interested in sleep apnea and its connection to heart problems — I have a feeling the real motivation was that LOTS of people have sleep apnea and there’s a gold mine under all those masks. So September 20, 2011, John and I were sent to an over-night sleep test where they hook you up to all sorts of monitors to see how you sleep and then wake you up at 5:00 am and push you out the door to find your way home. Surprise! Both of us had sleep apnea. What the cardiologists didn’t know at that point was that it’s a two-night test — first night they see if you actually do have sleep apnea and the second night they fit you with a CPAP mask and monitor the difference in your sleep. So we waited and waited for the results, and nothing happened. When we showed up at our next doctor’s appointment, the doctor had two people there at his office who were relatives or cousins or something and who worked for a CPAP mask distributor. Well, the doctor thought they were going to give us each a mask and they thought they were just going to show the masks to the doctor. John had brought his mask with him so they knew what he needed. But then, they kept trying to figure out how to put one mask after another on me — evidently they had never tried to put a mask on an actual patient and they got it on backwards and John was trying to get it reversed and the woman was about to burst into tears and they both told the doctor that they were there just to show him the different masks, not to fit one on a person.

Several weeks after that, the doctor found out that we needed the second night of testing to get the masks. By that time it was almost the end of October so off we went for another “over-night”. Apparently, with ordinary insurance, they would provide the mask the morning after that second night and send you home with a mask. BUT, not with Medicare! With Medicare, the masks come through aq central distributor approved for northern Texas. So still no masks.

Another few weeks and we went back to the doctor’s again — just to complicate it a bit further, John still had the CPAP machine but the plastic mask part was shot. So all he needed was the mask part. The doctor had John’s sleep test results and said he would send them over to the approved distributor and he should have a new mask in a week or so. But for some reason, they had lost the paperwork and test results for my tests. After looking through literally hundreds of pages of paperwork, they confirmed that indeed, they did NOT have my paperwork and would have to get copies from TotalSleep, the testing company. Not to worry, they would have them faxed over right away. So home again.

John got a call from the distributor a couple of days later and they said they would deliver his mask within the week. After waiting for a week, John got another call from the distributor saying that they could not provide the mask unless the sleep study results had been reviewed by an “accredited sleep disorder doctor” — and evidently our doctor wasn’t! Not only was he not accredited, but he wouldn’t be until sometime next year if ever! But that’s not the end of it — in the midst of all this, TotalSleep went bankrupt and all the records were gone!

There is one ray of sunshine in all of this though — John contacted the distributor and BOUGHT a mask! I’m probably still snoring away. . .

Deja vu — all over again — sort of. . .

And here I thought I was all over that stroke and everything was back to normal (whatever that is) — but NO! My roommate from college, whom I hadn’t seen in 47 years, and her husband were coming down to Austin from Virginia for a wedding. John and I drove to Austin Sunday afternoon, December 11th and we partied (as much as people our age can party any more) for the next day and a half. The job of driving around Austin was bestowed upon me since I had the dubious distiction of having lived in Austin in this century. As some of you may remember, driving with me can be quite exciting and I think all three of the passengers probably aged disproportionally during the short time I was behind the wheel. But we did NOT go through that red light and we arrived safe the various destinations, although they all threatened to get out and kiss the ground when we did arrive. Needless to say, it was a busy day and a half.

I think I may have tried to do too much and my left leg was feeling sort of funny when we got back to the hotel room on Monday night. We were going to meet some good friends from Austin for brunch on Tuesday and then head back home. When I woke up Tuesday morning, my left leg was again completely useless and my left hand was tingling — just like when I woke up in early November. So we got in the car and headed right back to Mansfield. My leg wasn’t feeling any better by that evening, so back we went to the hospital in Arlington. Evidently when it’s anything like that, particularly on one side of your body, they just assume it’s a stroke. So all the procedures were repeated — the CAT scan, the EKG, the MRI of your brain and then I was whisked upstairs again to the Acute Care floor. But instead of getting better in the next day or so, this time my left side just stayed numb.

Then the heart monito showed an irregular heart beat so I was transferred down to the Cardiac Care floor two floors down. They put me on a 24-hour monitor that records your heart beat every minute or so for the 24 hours. Then the cardiologist decided I should have a TEE (transesophageal echocardiogram ) where they use a tiny camera to check for clots in the back side of your heart. No clots (but he did find an aneurysm) so I finally got to go home on Friday night.

By that time, I know I was tired of being in the hospital and I think the cardiologist was tired of seeing me in the hospital, so I was rather abruptly discharged — with no prescription for physical therapy — more about that later.

Stroke!

This all started last Saturday, November 5th — I got up at about 6am to feed the dogs and then crawled back into bed for a little more sleep — woke up about 9am and thought I had a charley-horse in my left leg — it was like my leg was asleep — it took a bit of struggle to get to sitting on the edge of the bed (one of the pitfalls of age, I thought) — but when I tried to stand up, my left foot just curled under me and I slipped right down to the floor — John came running in from the bathroom to find me sitting on the floor! My then I realized there was something really wrong with my left leg — I knew right off that it was a stroke, one of the things I really feared and dreaded. John called Dr. Segal (he’s a cardiologist and internist who has an office here in Mansfield that both of us have been going to) — he called back in a couple of minutes and I told him what was going on — he said he wanted to talk to John but unfortunately at that moment John was out in the backyard with the tree-trimming man who had arrived right on schedule — Dr. Segal, who is Indian, was totally confused when I told him John was in the backyard with the tree-trimming man, but luckily John came back in just a couple of minutes — so the Dr. said to get me to the emergency room at the Medical Center of Arlington, about a 25-minute drive — John called David, our son-in-law who lives right down the street, and David came down to help get me into the car — luckily we had a tall folding chair with a metal frame that I could use to “walk” out to the car and off we went.

(Some background information and an admission of guilt: my blood pressure medicine that I was prescribed made me feel lethargic and made my head fuzzy — so starting in the beginning of September, I stopped taking all of them and immediately felt so much better — more like the myself that used to be.)

Dr. Segal had called the emergency room and they were waiting when we got there — then the fevered activity began — first they had to document who I was, then set up an intravenous line, take some vials of blood, run an electrocardiogram, and wheel me down the hall for a CAT scan — they did give me an aspirin — the little thing they put on your finger to measure blood oxygen kept setting off its alarm but we never did figure out that one — I was up in a room in the Acute area by noon — pretty quiet for the rest of the afternoon — I had strict instructions that I wasn’t allowed to stand up or try to walk by myself — Later that night I decided I didn’t want to use that little potty chair, so I leaned on the bedside table and the edge of the counter on the wall and managed to get to the bathroom — unfortunately when I finished I tried to stand up and promptly slid down on the  floor — I tried all sorts of contortions to pull myself up but just couldn’t make it — the bathtub was so smooth and I was afraid I was going to pull the toilet right out of the floor and had visions of water shooting out and flooding the floor — soon I heard a knock on the door and the nurse discovered my plight — she literally just picked me up and got me back in bed — I felt horrible because she was so upset — I was fine but evidently having a patient fall down is a no-no — she checked me all over for bruises — I tried to explain to her that I was really good at falling down — I don’t get scared and sort of drop like a bag of sand — she had to write up a report of the “incident” and from then on I was branded as a FALLER, complete with yellow slipper-socks and a yellow wristband –

So on into Sunday — everyday, at 5am, they wake you up to take about six vials of blood — then come back after a while to take your temperature and blood pressure — it was still dark outside! — After breakfast came an MRI, then an AMR – John  came over to watch the football games and brought me  some of the jewelry stuff I was working on so I happily spent the rest of the day trying to figure out chain maille instructions — my son, C3, arrived that afternoon after driving up from Austin even though I had told him everything was under control and he didn’t need to make the trip — it was really wonderful to see him though!

Monday was a series of visitors –the neurologist to say that I had had a small stroke and to recommend some physical therapy –two  physical therapists to evaluate me — by that time, I was feeling a lot better but still couldn’t walk in a straight line down to the end of the hall — Dr. Segal came by late in the morning — I was glad John and C3 were both there — he asked me what the neurologist had said and what medicines they had given me (seemed as though he should have known all that) — during the conversation, he told C3 that evidently his mother had some sort of ”death wish” by not taking the medicine he had prescribed — and told me that I should get on the computer and research what happed to me — he said he would try to get back the next day, but no mention of when I could go home, and off he went – the neurologist and the physical therapy people had outlined the three possibilities after I was discharged — in-patient rehab in a rehab hospital, out-patient rehab at rehab center, or in-home health service — I was voting for the out-patient option — I didn’t feel like spending the next two or three weeks in a rehab hospital — I was relieved when one of the physical therapists said I probably wouldn’t even qualify for in-patient rehab because I was improving so quickly — home health sounds like a nightmare of just taking your chances as to who would show up — the hospital case manager came by in the afternoon and said based on the recommendations of the neurologist and the physical therapists, I could go home the next day — just needed Dr. Segal to sign the discharge papers –
John came over that night and slept in the recliner in the room — I really fell apart the previous night and it felt so much better to have him close by –

Tuesday: I was ready to go! The case worker had sent the paperwork over to Health South for out-patient rehab and had ordered a walker to be delivered either to the hospital or to me at home — then the nurse came by and told me Dr. Segal was thinking about home health care — Dr. Segal  hadn’t mentioned it — that really bothered me since my confidence in Dr. Segal was rapidly eroding — I called his office and spoke with his nurse, telling her about what I had heard and that I wanted the out-patient rehab and did NOT want home health care — Dr. Segal called back and told me I didn’t know the whole picture nor all the facts and he hadn’t made any decision yet — I told him that I just wanted to go home and jokingly said that I imagine he wanted to get me “out of his hair” — he said that was exactly the problem — so I was REALLY ready to go after that response! He said he would come to the hospital that afternoon — when he arrived I was all packed up and ready to go — he  acquiesced to the out-patient rehab — told me to come to his office on Friday and he would go over the list of medications in detail (his office called later that day to move the appointment to the following Monday) — signed the discharge papers and I was out of there!

Since I’ve been home, I’m almost completely recovered — I think it may have been a TIA stroke (see, I did my research) which sort of heals itself — John told me I was supposed to lean on the walker, not just carry it around the house! We did Meals on Wheels on Thursday morning, but it completely wore me out — I came home and slept for four hours — so I don’t think I’m back completely but at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel — and just hope it’s not a freight train!

Waxahachie Chautauqua

John and I drove down (or over, I’m not real sure) to Waxahachie for their annual Chautauqua — this year it was about ouil and gas (Energy…Oil & Gas in Waxahachie & Ellis County) so of course we were interested. Waxahachie has the only original Chautauqua building remaining in Texas. The building itself was marvelous — built in 1902 and refurbished in the 1960s. It’s built completely out of wood and rises to a point of the octagon.

        

The building is in the middle of Getzendaner Park, a huge park which appeared to be frequented by a lot of people. As you can see, there are windows on all sides and big ceiling fans all over so it was cooler insider considering it was another hot day in Texas. (Not quite as bad as a week ago, but still pretty hot.)

After a suitable number of introductions of important local people, the program started with an engaging presentation by a professor from the TCU Energy Institute, a petrophysicist, on the Geology of Ellis County and Surrounding Area. He described himself as a “rock breaker” and had a wonderful way of explaining and illustrating the way the geology in this area developed.

Next on the agenda was a performance by the Waxahachie’s Old Fashioned Singing Project. a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the traditions of congregational singing as it developed in the southern United States in the first half of the 20th Century, especially in brush-arbor meetings and rural church “singings.”

Next was “A Short History of Oil and Gas in Our Region”, narrated by Dr. Tommy Stringer of Navarro College. While oil was first discovered in the US in Pennsylvania in 1859, Texas has dominated the petroleum industry for more than a century. Oct One of the Lone Star State’s oil drama began in Corsicana in 1894 when oil was discovered by accident by workers drilling a water well only blocks from the town’s business district. By the end of the decade, more than 500 wells within the city limits were producing 800,000 barrels of crude per year. The first refinery west of the Mississippi began operations south of Waxahachie in 1898. Navarro County experienced a second oil boom in 1923 with the discovery of the Powell field 10 miles east of Corsicana, and a third and smaller boom occured in the early 1950s.

The highlight of the day for us was the next presentation by the Waxahachie High School Jazz Orchestra — they were TERRIFIC!! Students in this band are encouraged to perform and rehearse at the highest level of their ability. Members are enrolled in private lessons and participate in the All-Region Jazz Band Auditions, Solo and Ensemble Contest. Students explore the history of jazz, develop improvisational skills, learn basic jazz theory, and perform solos with the band.

We’ve already made reservations for their annual performance at the Jazz Cafe in February 2012. You couldn’t resist tapping your feet to their music and wanting some Jack Daniels and a cigarette!

Next came a video entitled “Haynesville: A Nation’s Hunt for Energy”. The action takes place in the backwoods of north-western Louisiana and follows the momentous discovery of the largest natural gas field in the United Staes, the Haynesville Shale. The film focuses on three lives caught in the middle of the find: a single mom takes up the defense of her community’s environmental protections, an African-American preacher attempts to use the riches to build a Christian school, and a self-described “country boy” finds himself conflicted as he weighs losing his family’s land to an oil company’s offer to make him a millionaire. From a broader perspective, the video explores the current energy situation and what something the scale of the Haynesville (170 trillion cubic feet of gas) could mean to the United States’ energy picture.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Then some comic relief was provided by the Waxahachie Community Theatre’s production of the melodrama “Mischief in the Magnolias or Weed ‘em and Reap”. Clover Leaf is the once stately mansion owned by Colonel Beauregard “Lucky” Sweetwater and his wife, Sherry May. Alas, their ownership of this magnolia-shrouded domicile is in great danger of being auctioned off for non-payment of their mortgage. The auction is scheduled to take place the next afternoon as threatened by Dudley Deadheart, the bank president and Sherry May’s former beau. This predicament may also mean the beginning of the end of finishing school for the Colonel’s attractive, but socially awkward, daughter. What will become of the family as they face the possibility of losing their dilapidated, antebellum mansion to a  banker with an apparent heart of stone? Stay tuned!

The program was concluded with a presentation on “Hydraulic Fracturing” presented by ExxonMobil. The presentation provided a comprehensive summary of the steps involved in an actual hydraulic fracturing job. The pros and cons of hydralic fracing were also presented (admittedly more pros than cons!). Referring the ongoing discussions and concerns about the additives to the fracturing fluid, the presenter recommended the web site www.FracFocus.com for up-to-date information.

John and I were delighted in discovering the town of Waxahachie and we had a wonderful day!

Michaels Open House: September 10, 2011

Yesterday was my first Open House day at the Michaels store here in Mansfield – Michaels @ Mansfield, as I call it. The purpose of the Open House was to get people to sign up for classes – since I’m the jewelry instructor, that means jewelry classes. Since I started working at Michaels at the end of July, I’ve had one class and one student. I had a class scheduled for last Tuesday night, but no one signed up so I did a demo which consisted of
making Halloween earrings out of some of the Halloween ornaments they sell in the store. I did my first demo in July before I worked up the nerve to move some furniture around. They had a sort of display thing right inside the front door as you come in so I stood there and made a memory wire necklace. Not terribly exciting but I did talk to everyone who came in and left.

This time, I wheeled the display thing over to the bead section of the store and put in
right in front. Had to move one of the displays but luckily it was on wheels
and could be moved. This arrangement was much better since it was obviously
connected to the bead section.

The jewelry classes evidently are a new thing at this Michaels store. Of all the customers I talked with, no one was even aware that we offered jewelry classes. (Notice the “we” – I think I’m starting to identify with Michaels, which could be a little worrisome at this age!) Anyway, John helped me make a big posterboard with description of the classes and pictures of the sample products. Right now there are four “core” or beginning classes
and two intermediate classes that I’m offering to teach. The core classes are:
Fundamentals of Bead Stringing (you make a memory wire bracelet),

Fundamentals of Crimping Techniques (you make a beaded necklace),

Fundamentals of Knotting (you make a funky, hemp bracelet that looks like macramé),

Fundamentals of Wire Wrapping (you make a pair of earrings),

Intermediate Bead stringing (you make a three-strand necklace),

and Intermediate Bead Stringing with Watches (you make a four-strand necklace with a watch).

I managed to finish making samples for all the classes by last Friday and took the pictures. Sadly, I hung the Crimping Techniques necklace on a nail in the “photography closet” and promptly forgot where I put it and didn’t find it until late Saturday night after the Open House was all over! Luckily, I had a necklace that I had made years ago that showed the
techniques so at least I had something to show. Actually, I think my beaded spider got the most attention –

The Open House went from 1-3 pm on Saturday afternoon and the big selling point was that if you paid for a class that afternoon, the class was 50% of the normal price. The classes run $25 for a 2-hour class plus supplies. My advice was to sign up for a class at the Open House and pay $12.50, use one of the 40% coupons that come on most cash register receipts and then use the 10% class discount for other supplies (like beads!). During these
economic times, this is still a lot of money to many people I spoke with. I think two people signed up for a jewelry class yesterday. At least that’s a start.

But in the meantime, I learned a lot about where things are in the Michaels store. Like black tulle for a Halloween tutu, Stay-Fray to keep material from fraying on the edges of a cross-stitch canvas, white glitter for a photographer who needed the glitter for snow in a photograph (thank you Martha Stewart), Velcro to fix a woman’s brace, buttons to put on an embroidered pillow, and a bloody rubber hand at the end of a shirt sleeve for  Halloween (I had to buy one of these). Had a chance to “show” a blind woman the Halloween earrings I had made – her friend described them (they were like little
Christmas balls, one was glossy black and one was matte shiny orange) and then the blind woman felt them and held them up to her face – she really loved them, so I gave her the sample pair I had made. The smile on her face was worth the whole day. When things were a little slower, I had a chance to try to figure out “chain maille”, a big fad in jewelry making that I don’t understand and don’t think I fully appreciate. Also have to learn Stamping and Dapping because these are two more classes that I need to add.

It was really a fun day and it was good to be in contact with people again – I hadn’t realized that I must miss it. I have to check and see if anyone signed up my class on Tuesday night – if not, I get to go in and “play” some more!

John and I are going on our first Meals on Wheels delivery tomorrow morning – we’re substituting for the Mansfield Route #1. Filling in for Mansfield Route #5 on Tuesday morning. We’re substituting until a route opens up or one needs a driver(s). We’re prepared with maps and the iPad and just hope we don’t get lost and people think they’ve been forsaken. This should be an adventure! Stay tuned.

Austin Birthdays Trip

John, my husband, and Rhodes, my son, both share the same birthday date: August 30. This year seemed particularly momentous since John turned 70 and Rhodes turned 40. So John and I left the Monday before and drove down to Austin for the joint celebration. Instead of the boring tedium of I35, we took a round-about route through Rendon, Hamilton, Keene, Lampasas and more that I can’t remember at the moment. It took longer but was much more interesting! Took about 4-1/2 hours. After a short nap (John and I are old), Jeff (Rhodes’ partner) joined us and we went out to dinner at a great pizza restaurant whose name I can’t remember either. Then early to bed and late to rise on Tuesday.

Tuesday we ate and ate and ate. In between eating, we did manage to do some shopping. We ate lunch at Hop Daddys on South Congress in Austin. Evidently, it’s one of the hot new spots because we got there about 11:30 and by noon, the place was packed and there was a waiting line down the street. John got an absolutely huge hamburger and ate every bite.

After lunch we got a once-in-a-lifetime tour of new house being built by Ivan, a friend of Rhodes. The house is located on Mary Street in south Austin and is name “Barcelona Modern”. it is just spectacular! The exterior is huge slabs of white poured concrete that feels like soft satin. The front end of the house is cantilevered over the yard with steel I-beams to keep from damaging the roots of the surrounding huge live oak trees. The lot is long and narrow and the house is 110 feet long. The ceilings are 11′ 4″ high. The inside is painted white with pale grey woodwork and the windows are framed in black. The large round windows define the interior.

Next we went to see the house that Rhodes and Ivan call the “Castle”. The original building was a monastery and Ivan built the attached house which was then purchased by a billionaire from Canada who has been adding to it ever since. I think it has eight bedroom and seven bathrooms at this point and they are now excavating for a wine cellar.

Meanwhile, Rhodes had made reservations for the birthday dinner way in advance with another friend who is a chef and had moved to a new restaurant. Well, the chef never emailed back so the plan was to go to a new restaurant called “Barley Swine” instead. But that afternoon, Bill the chef called to profusely apologize for not answering the email and invited us all to his restaurant. So we ended up going to BOTH. Barley Swine is a sort of tapas restaurant with small portions and impressive plating. There were five of us and we ordered seven different entrees and ate it ALL! Here’s a picture of the specials for that Tuesday.

We then headed downtown for another dinner at Taverna on Second St. This is a sumptuous Italian restaurant and Bill the chef pulled out all the stops to impress us. I’m sure the results definitely impressed all of our scales the next day! We waddled back to the car and headed for Rhodes’ apartment for the birthday cake — and what a cake! Blue Note Bakery in Austin made a cake that looked exactly like an iPad, except it had delicious confetti-colored cake inside.

The next day we met some good friends at the original Kerbey Lane on 35th for lunch before heading back to Mansfield. We picked up Bubba and Billy Bob at the kennel as soon as we got into town because we missed them! The trip was a gastronomic adventure and lots of fun, but it’s always good to get home too!