Surgery update

Since I am "one-handed typing" this post will be lots of pictures.

I wore this bulky foam rectangle a lot in the last 2+ weeks.  It prevented me from really injuring myself right after surgery and was a comfortable place to lean the wrist.  BTW, the wine glass in this picture belongs to my daughter, not me, and we are watching the results of the election.  I was on Percocet, so wine would have been a really bad idea.

My surgery was on November 9th at a pretty quiet Lahey facility in Peabody, MA.  While in the waiting room, we noticed these cool monitors so that loved ones could watch the progress of the patient.  The smiley face means you can visit them.  Rod took pictures of my progress. 

 And here I am right before surgery listening very attentively to what is about to happen.

For those who have not heard yet, apparently I talked for 1.5 hours non-stop.  I had a nerve block and was still awake for the procedure.  Clearly the way I cope with things is to talk.  My surgeon said it was remarkable that someone could keep talking for that long.  I remember thinking, why not just keep talking it is a way to pass the time, I don't really care if anyone is listening and that was my natural reaction to being mildly sedated with a plate being inserted into my arm.

Wrist Injury-Using Dragon software finally

For those of you who don't know Monday I fell up our patio stairs and broke my wrist. I just move too fast. I come by this honestly since my mom is as impulsive as I am. She recently had an injury as well to her hand. The cast right now is a great reminder to just slow down but going forward I need other reminders. I need to not have my head in the clouds, I need to look down and watch for the potholes, I need to just not move so fast!

One idea I have is just have a padded spacesuit around me I wear at all times to protect me from my falls. I could carry my hiking sticks that I bought myself in July after a fall up the same stairs.

I am actually amazed that I reached the ripe middle age of 58 before I broke a bone. I guess I spoke too soon as I gloated and said I have never broken a bone. My wrist surgeon showed me the break and showed me where my radial bone is not holding the rest of the wrist bones on top of it correctly.

Friday I go in for plates and pins surgery. I am actually looking forward to the surgery since the pain I'm feeling is probably because the bones are not in alignment. I never take pain medication but Percocet is my friend right now. I know it is easy to get addicted to it but for now I look forward to that every six hours little white pill.

I am accident prone, I am clumsy and for now the cast is a reminder to slow down look down and maybe I will carry those hiking sticks. BTW I'm using voice recognition software for blogging and as an extrovert, you will now hear way more than you need to know about my life.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Grief revisited today

This collage sits on my desk of
Daddy as a little boy and a
family needlepoint

When I hear of another death it allows me to revisit the losses in my life.  Yesterday, through as email from a dear friend, we heard of a 20 year old who took his own life.  It stopped me in my tracks as I felt deeply for his family.  I wondered how it would be best to reach out to them and I plan to attend a wake or service when they happen.

17 years ago today, my world stopped as Daddy died suddenly.  A dark veil was dropped on me that day, and the veil will always be there.  It is thinner now, but it is always there. I will never forget that split second when my brother Charles, on the phone, told me that Daddy had died.  We knew earlier that he was in surgery for an aneurysm, and that his chances of living were slim, but there was always a bit of hope. 

My legs collapsed underneath me and a few minutes later, a friend handed me a glass of water.  I was at a youth retreat with Christopher, and the leaders conducted a service of grief for all the youth and leaders.  It was a perfect service to share our very recent grief, and to allow the others in the circle to share griefs they had never spoken aloud.

It was the exact place for Christopher and myself to be as we prepared to travel a few hours to my family home, and grieve deeply with my mother and siblings.  Rod and Bethany travelled the two hours from Lexington and picked us up and we drove to Brandon to arrive there in the wee hours of the next day.

The next week was a blur, of family and friends stopping by with bundt cakes, and burying Daddy in a family cemetery in New Haven VT.

Every November 4th, I stop and grieve, and today I also grieve for that young man who was in such despair that he could not go on living.

Hug your loved ones today, enjoy each connection you have today with another person who is dear to you.

I Quilt when there is a weather disaster

Today as we await the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, I sat down at my machine to put a border on my latest project.  For the quilters in the audience, I am attempting a Flying Geese pattern in the border of a Yellow Brick Road pattern.

As I sat sewing today, I realized that at least two other memorable quilting projects have happened during a weather emergency.  It is not surprising that I am inside and therefore think of quilting.  It must be my comfort "food".  Oh, I eat my comfort food as well.

The first quilt I recalled was one I called "Shattered Comfort" since it was a quilt that I made after 911, when the images on the TV were just too much to handle.  I listened but did not watch.  This hangs in George and Judy's house.

 

The second one was the original quilted jacket.  I had bought the kit and pattern in early December of either 2000 or 2001, and a few weeks later we had a major snowstorm.  Out came the pattern and fabric and I am pretty sure I finished the jacket in a few days.  The original is on the left and Judy's New Year's Eve jacket is on the right.

The lesson I am taking from this is make sure there is an unfinished project at all times, in case there is a natural disaster.  BTW, that is not the only reason to have unfinished projects.  My preference in Myers Briggs is P, and we usually have a stack of projects which are 90% complete.

Off the work on this latest natural disaster quilting project and listen to the wind outside while sewing in the comfort of our house, as long as the electricity is still on.

Day 2 - Washington DC

We really did have a whirlwind trip to DC with the Sisters (Mavis, Doreen and Karen).  We got up on the second day and ate at a diner really near the Capitol.  We love to find the non-touristy restaurants and through Yelp we found Pete's Diner.  Great breakfast, wonderful customer service and we were fueled for the day.

Bethany told me to make sure to see the Museum of the American Indian and I respect her opinion so I spent most of our three hours there.  From the outside design, to the organization of the inside by tribes, this museum is wonderful.  I found during this museum that I don't go through a museum sequentially.  Rather, I try to spend time on areas with information that I could not look up on the Internet.  I loved the arrangement by partial circles of the tribes, and the themes of what happened to the American Indian.  Rod and I ate lunch in that cafeteria, which was the food from some of the Indian tribes.

We stopped at the Pentagon to view the memorial there.

Our last stop in DC was at Arlington Cemetery.  I have not been there since Mama died in 1993.  Her name is now engraved on the back of her husband's, Grandpa Joe, who I never knew.  The English family toured the Kennedy graves and the tomb of the unknown soldier.

We left DC at 3:40 pm and drove pretty much uninterrupted to arrive at Lexington just after 1am.  We did have one minor mishap around NYC, when our car wanted to go across the GW bridge but we talked it out of that and we toured Teaneck for a few minutes.  Once we got on the Palisades Parkway, we pulled over at an overlook to look back at Manhattan.  This was at about 9:30-10:00pm so the view was wonderful at night.

After this full two days, we decided that once we are both retired, we want to spend a few months around DC taking in all the free museums, concerts, and touring the Civil War battles fields.  House swap anyone?

Day 1 - Washington DC, has it really been 19 years?

As part of our two week visit from the English family, we traveled to Philly and Washington DC.  We spent most of two days very near the Mall, taking advantage of all of those museums that our tax dollars pay for.

We check in at the Hyatt Regency just after 5pm at night.  This hotel is two blocks from the Capitol, so we figured it was convenient, and since they are remodelling we got a great deal on the rooms.  Oh, and it was the weekend so the Government was not around.  I have a question, "Why do all of the big hotels in DC, have prostitutes who walk in front of the entrances in broad day light?"  When Rod and I were "courting" we met in DC in a hotel in Dupont Circle and they were also very obvious.  No need to answer that question!  I think I understand human nature, but it was striking, as we checked in at 5pm at night, and it was way more obvious that in other cities, and hotels that I have stayed in.

The next morning, after a wonderful breakfast at West Wing Cafe, we bought the on-off trolley ticket which was fabulous.  The narrators were really incredible so if you go, choose one with a live narrator.  I had not seen the Holocaust Museum, so after traversing the mall several times on the Trolley we got off there.

I have learned that when I am in a museum, I don't want to be constrained by the pace of others, so we said, "let's meet in 90 minutes!".  I then took off to experience the museum by myself.  I have heard a lot about the Holocaust Museum, and it really was moving.  I was struck by how civil people were, and quiet.  As I walked through, I wondered how many people around me lost family members during that time.  I actually finished the permanent exhibit, and went back to view a few parts in more detail.  I also went through the rooms, that were designed for children.  This was the only place I saw someone taking pictures and she was asked to stop taking them.

We then grabbed a hot dog from the street vendor, ate it standing up, and boarded another trolley to travel to the war museums.  Here I was struck that most of what we saw that day was oriented around a war:  Holocaust, WWII, Vietnam, Korean, Lincoln Memorial.  This is where we also discussed that it has been 19 years since we were sight seers in DC.  My maternal grandfather was killed in WWII so we took pictures at the WWII memorial, of Virginia (His home state), Alaska (where he was killed) and Vermont (Where my other grandfather who served in WWII was from). 

We then boarded another trolley, and did the loop which goes by all of the embassies.  I want to go back and walk those streets, but it was fun to fly by them on the bus.  The National Cathedral is under construction, and it was still magnificant.  Georgetown on the trolley, and then back to the hotel.

We had dinner at Union Station and had arranged for my cousin Kit to join us.  She lives in DC and it was great to catch up with her.

After "The Sisters" went to bed that night, Rod and I went for a long walk, around the Capitol, down to the Washington Monument and back to the hotel.  It was a quiet night on Capitol Hill, and fun to revisit our walking days of DC in 1986.

Lessons Learned from Chamber crew at Star Island

This past week, I volunteered with my friend Amy, on Star Island.  We were assigned to the Chamber crew.  This is where all of the entry level volunteers are assigned.  Bright and early on Sunday morning we reported to the Linen Closet, which is in the basement of the Oceanic hotel on Star Island.

I learned a lot this week and here are three of them:

1. If you say you "Can't" you probably can, with some practice.  At the beginning of the week, as we were occuping ourselves folding linens, I really resisted folding contour sheets.  My MOM taught me how to fold sheets as a young lass, so it is not that I DON'T know how to fold them.  They are just difficult for me.  Amy asked me what I do at home with contours, and being a path of least resistance kind of person, I strip the bed in the morning, wash the sheets during the day, and put them directly back on the bed.  No folding needed.  However, as the week wore on, and as I listened to the professional chamber workers, I realized that with lots of practice, and I mean folding sheets in the tens if not hundreds, that I actually learned to like folding contours.  Notice I did not say LOVE!  So whereas I resisted on Sunday, by Friday I was actually reaching into the never ending bin of folding opportunities, for a contour.
2. Bleach, is a really good disinfectant and cleaner, and it does whiten things.  Living on Star Island, which is 40 acres big, with 400 others, is tight quarters.  There are many procedures in place to make Star seem like it is 1900 still.  Part of the intrigue of the Island is that you can go back over 100 years, as you sit in a rocking chair on the front porch, look out across Gosport Harbor to Appledore and Smuttynose.  Things have changed, but very little in some ways.  One of our jobs, in our 3 times a day rounds, was to disinfect the common living areas and the guest quarters.  With a bucket of diluted bleach, a rag and rubber gloves, off we went to clean while the conferees were eating their meals in the 19th century dining room.  Because of our waste water treatment plant, and the regulatory discharge rules, we cannot let bleach get into the system.  The white towels, and wash clothes become stained, and dirty and we cannot use bleach out there.  One of the tasks is literally, with a tooth brush and a paste of cream of tartar and diluted bleach, to scrub stains out of the linens.  Believe me it was a thankless job, and one that we wondered aloud if there was any positive result.  However, we were sitting outside doing this, and talking with a few others while we scrubbed away, and we were looking out on White Island Light House, so the task was arduous but the scenery was fabulous.  AND, my favorite Star Island shirt is now covered with spots of white, from when I sprayed the bleach bottle in the wrong direction.
3. Our young adults are very wise, full of energy and dedicated and brave.  The job we had on Star is a difficult one, and keeping everyone clean and healthy was compounded by a virus among the community.  Working with the CDC, the management team has put procedures in place to minimize the impact of the virus, on the workers and the guests.  There were a few disgusting tasks that chamber has to do, that the young workers would not allow Amy and myself to do.  We are eternally grateful for this gesture.  As they put on their masks, and gloves, and other protective equipment to go clean up a bathroom, or guest room, I marvelled that they did not get on the next boat to the mainland.  We discussed in our three times a day meetings, what was being done across the teams on the Island, to ensure good hygiene and safety.  They had really good ideas, and alternate solutions to issues, and verbalized these.  Often times their suggestion was implemented.  This community makes it safe to be open and honest, and brave.  Let's hope that Star is a microcosm for the others communities that these young adults return to at the end of the summer

We returned home exhausted, and I wonder how the Pelicans (college age workers on the Island), do it day after day.  I do know in a way, why they work there.  The natural beauty, the lack of technology and the deep community that is built there year after year.