Patty's epic adventure

 7/23/23 Ha!  The date is 23/23 today.  Looks cool.  We are leaving tomorrow morning for Alaska and won't be home until August 15th.  It takes us 15 hours to get to Anchorage.  Gads.  We have a huge layover in Dallas, but it still beats driving 120 miles each way.  We fly all night coming home and would not want to make the drive after that.  I'm almost all packed and ready.  I'm SO ready to get out of this heat! My incisions are healing up nicely and I don't need pain meds much any more.  I did have one boo-boo yesterday, tho.  I bent over too far and felt a pop in my back.  I think I popped a stitch.  It was quite painful, but I saw no blood.  Could have been an inside stitch, for all I know.  I'll be more careful now, that's for sure.  I tried on all my jeans to try and find a couple pair that I can tolerate, but I had no luck at all.  My incisions are on my waistline and until I heal up more, I...

  7/19/23 Today is Wednesday.  Yesterday would have been my mom's 100th birthday.  She died 8 years ago and I still miss her a lot.  Gosh, people, appreciate your family.  Because when they're gone, you will wish you had more time with them. I had back surgery yesterday and they removed my spinal stimulator.  I have two incisions to admire.  One is larger and is where the battery pack was resting.  The smaller incision was where my two leads went up my spine.  I was lucky he could pull them both out with no trouble because they have been in there for 8 years and I have a lot of scar tissue.  David took off my bandages at noon today and I can shower tomorrow.  It's difficult to sit down and get up again, but I'm up quite a bit to walk around the house.  I'm not allowed to get sweaty, so I have to stay indoors.  Oh, darn.  No swimming, or baths,  for a month.  They sent me home with wrap with stretchy straps t...

  7/12/23 What a day I had today.  Whew.  Glad it's over.  First thing this morning, I went to the Cancer Center.  They drew blood and I waited to see if my numbers were good enough to receive my very last  infusion.  Yes, you read that right.  My very last  one.  Labs came back and I was close enough to get stuck.  I was there about an hour and just as I got in the car, my back surgeon called me.  He asked me a bunch of questions and then said if I could be at the hospital in 10 minutes, they could do all my pre-ops and he could operate on Tuesday!  Wow! I dashed to the hospital and was there for almost 2 hours - most of it waiting..... then they drew more blood...  Anyway, they said the doctor approved me for surgery and I will have my spinal stimulator removed on Tuesday.  I can be a normal person going through airport security and don't have to go through all the crap to get an MRI any more!  I'm flying...

  July 9, 2023 Whew!  What a week I've had.  I was terribly sick.  I usually just say I've been a bit under par, but this past week warrants a full confession.  David was at the ready to take me to the ER, but I didn't want to go.  The last time I was there they couldn't wait to shove me out the door and were so rude.  That left a foul taste in my mouth and now I don't like them.  In hindsight, yes, I should have gone.  However, I survived (so far) and am recovering at home.  I got an infection in my upper left torso and swelled up like a hot air balloon.  Boy, did it hurt.  Gads.  Headache from Hell.  Low grade fever.  Then came diarrhea and dry heaves all night.  I can't throw up, but the dry heaves are horrid.  My stomach was churning and I got no relief from the heaves.  I sure wish my esophagus was not a one-way street sometimes.  Then, the pain went around to my back, but not like my reg...

  7/1/23 Well, it's July.  Two years ago, were were staying in the RV in the summer heat in Houston while I was undergoing radiation 5 days/week.  And, I was bald.  Today, I'm going to take a dip in the pool (skinny) and will have to dry my hair and fix it when I get out.  I had it trimmed last week.  Got the (hopefully) remaining dry, chemo hair cut off.  Most of my curls went with it, but I still have some. I'm going to Alaska the 24th of this month for my nephew's wedding and I'll be up there for 3 weeks.  It'll be SO nice to get away from this oppressive heat, but I had to make a decision this week about the trip.  I could either have my eyes fixed, or go.  I can't do both.  I put off my eye surgery until I get back.  I can't get in the water for a month, fly for 2 weeks, go to the mountains, or be far away from the surgeon's office (Dallas).  Surgery takes about 45 minutes, I will have an eye patch on overnight, and I...