We are alive and well, well worn out!

Three different people called me today, since I had not posted on my blog and they were worried about me. Thanks friends, that means a lot to me, and I am really sorry I worried you. But last night we got in late, and wanted to leave early today, so there just wasn’t time to report all we saw and did.

The last two days, make that three, have been a whirlwind of excitement and fun, and there is just too much to share. Tuesday we went to the Animal Kingdom which up until now had been my least favorite park. However, I really can’t say that any more, we had a fabulous time and I’m ready to go back again. Most favorite thing was the Lion King Show, WOW! Spectacular and fabulous and wonderful and delightful! I got some great photos too, which I will share another time.

Today was Disney Hollywood Studios, formerly known as MGM, or at least it was the last time we were here. Another great day, but not quite as exciting as the Animal Kingdom. Best part of it were the Christmas lights, but more about them later, and maybe even a video clip if I can figure out how to do that.

What I want to share tonight is someone we happened to see while at the Animal Kingdom yesterday. Who would be the last person you would expect to see on vacation at Walt Disney World this time of year? And if I told you I saw that jolly old man here, would you believe me? Well I did! I’m not sure if he was a cast member or a vacationer, but he was most certainly Santa.

We were walking along, well I was riding, John was pushing, and I noticed the white hair and beard, and the bluest eyes and rosy cheeks, and I swear his eyes were twinkling. People were rushing past him, not even noticing him sitting there. I told John to stop, and turn around… and pointed him out… . People walked right by him, and every once in a while a child would do a double take, just to be hushed by a parent who didn’t even bother to look. One little girl walked up to him, and placed her hand on his knee, and then was called away by her Mother who I swear didn’t even look!




I really wish I had asked a cast member if he was a plant or a cast member, but honestly, I don’t want to know… I know who he is, just wondering why he is here and not up North getting ready for his other trip?

Disney Day One

Woke up this morning to rain, dark clouds, and what looked like a pretty miserable day. However, the local weather man assured everyone that the rain would stop by 9 and the rest of the day would be dry, and know what, he was right! After we had breakfast and checked out of the hotel, moving to WDW for the rest of the week, there were only left over rain drops falling from the trees occasionally, and the rest of the day was dry. Dry and I will add, for all of you who are still in the beginning of winter, warm. 79 degrees, and delightful.

Our first stop was Epcot, which is really my favorite, I think. We rushed… ok, we didn’t rush at all… we don’t rush, we are on vacation. Besides, John is pushing me in a wheel chair, and my 200 pounds probably isn’t that easy to push, and I really think he’s going to get a workout this week… so we didn’t rush. We moseyed on over to the Land to see about Soarin’, and had to Fast Pass for later in the day. Which was ok… so we did “Living With The Land” boat ride, always interesting, and I did see some new plants this time…

Then we went to visit Jonathon’s old friend Figment, changed a little since we first went through there in 1987, but the same old Figment. From there we were shrunk but fortunately enlarged again, and then over to the Living Seas. They’ve changed the ride some, it’s Nemo now which is kind of cute. We looked around at the aquariums, went to the Turtle Talk show, really cute and then went next door to the Coral Reef for lunch. Delicious lunch and the scenery was terrific, a 5million plus salt water aquarium, full of all kinds of entertainment to watch as we ate.

After a filling lunch, we went back to Soarin’ which was really terrific. I mean it was mind blowing, and sensational, and thrilling and wow! I want to do it again, and we might when we go back again later in the week. It was hard coming back to Earth, but we did, and then just moseyed around some more, ending our day with a journey through Spaceship Earth.

Now we are settled in for the night in our Caribbean cottage, practically next door to the center of the resort, and yet still close to the parking lot and transportation. Disney did great in placing me where I could get around so easily. I’m tired, and ready for bed… tomorrow The Animal Kingdom!

Sunday night in Kissimmee

According to the Garmin we could have been in Kissimmee by noon today, but we took the scenic route to get here. It was worth it, saw some pretty scenery, a mean looking ocean, and even viewed JFK Space Center from a distance. We thought about going in, but all the walking and the cost kept us from going in. Honestly, I would have enjoyed it, IF we weren’t going to WDW tomorrow and for the next week.

Temperature report, we saw 70 today, and have been walking around with just a sweat shirt on, and that was by the breezy ocean. Here in Kissimmee nothing is needed, yet. We’re ready for anything, heavy coats, light weight coats, sweatshirts, long sleeves and short sleeves…. Bring it on we are ready. I even have a few pairs of shorts, as soon as I can wash off all the Doctors drawings.

And rain, no bother. We stopped at a Gander today and got some good rain wear, good enough for WDW anyway. rain or shine, warm or cold, we are ready.

Oh yes, for those who ask, knee report. So so today, I’m not over doing it, if anything it’s just from sitting in the car. Tonight I almost lost myself walking to our table for dinner. Knee went one way and I went the other. No pain, but a good scare, so I’m taking it easy.

Tomorrow Epcot! Can’t wait!

Snow and rain

No, not where we are, but back at home and where Jonathon and Steph live, LOL! We had a great weather day. It started out a little drizzly as we headed south through NC on I95, but the further south we got, the fewer clouds we saw. Finally while we enjoyed lunch in Manning SC the sun broke through the clouds, and soon we needed our sun glasses.

FYI, we had lunch at a Sonic, a chain yes, but not one that we have locally, so this was our first Sonic meal. Our sandwiches were good, John liked his onion rings, and I now have a new favorite dessert, coconut cream pie something… I think it was a shake. All I know is it had chunks of coconut in it, and was really quite yummy. Good thing we don’t have Sonic near us!

Tonight we had a delicious dinner at a local Italian place, sausage just as good as my favorite NY Italian restaurant up in Endicott. John had a personal pan pizza that would have fed the both of us, and he enjoyed that too. Now we are pleasantly full, and will watch TV for an hour or so before going to sleep.

Tomorrow we plan on driving leisurely down the coast, avoiding I95 as much as possible, we’ve seen enough of it and are ready for some new scenery!

PS
OK, health report, at the prodding of some emails and a phone call, LOL! I am doing great. I can honestly say I have 98% less pain than a week ago, and that pain I do have is post-operative and normal. I am not taking any meds at all, except my allergy meds and the daily aspirin as ordered by the Doc. I am walking without the walker, and only need a little help when doing stairs, although thank goodness there haven’t been a lot of those.

Greetings from NC.

We decided that the weather forecast between home and Florida was a little threatening so we decided to leave a little early. Better to be ahead of the bad weather than stuck on the highway in it. We heard those two awful words, snow and ice, so we packed up and headed south a little earlier than anticipated. Trip so far has been uneventful, except for traffic in Norfolk, and more and more clouds the whole way. Then darkness, I think they call it night, and certainly rain, it lulled me to sleep last night beating on our window.

So now we are a day ahead of ourselves, and have no plans at all… wonder what we can see we’ve never seen before in this part of the world?

Must be booboo day

Sometimes BOMs get put on line with errors in them. I test them, I have other ladies test them, and I have people who read them just looking for spelling mistakes and typos. But somehow there are some mistakes that just don’t show up for years.

Today I’ve gotten two emails about mistakes in the BOMs. One was a typo for sure, one I make often and I’m surprised (and disappointed) my testers didn’t catch it. Instead of 12 1/2 I typed 12 /12 Now any quilter and apparently the testers knew what I meant, but as the person who sent the email pointed out, that would be frustrating to a beginner.

The second mistake was a visual thing, the strips looked different, but were the same, just turned, and I goofed when I wrote the pattern, writing what I saw and not what was. (I made the block so I know what I sewed, but not what I wrote)

I greatly appreciate when people point out my mistakes to me, for one thing it tells me that someone is using my patterns. I know people are visiting the site, but I like knowing people are using the patterns too, which is why I write them.

So please, as much as I would rather get a photo of a block or quilt when you use one of my patterns, if you send me a booboo it’s just as nice. Then I know you are using the pattern, and care enough about the next person who might not be as knowledgeable as you are in quilting and get horribly frustrated. And that I do not want to happen!

Bear Paws Heated Gowns

I got a lot of laughs about my heated gown, and a few sounded a little doubtful of it, but I found it on line and more, that it’s good for you. I knew that already, since it brought my blood pressure down by lulling me to sleep and getting the nerves to settle down.

Here’s an interesting article I found in an Iowa newspaper about the same gown I had on Monday evening. Not traditional evening wear, but I sure wish all hospitals used these. (And not just in surgical wards either!)
Quote “When going under the knife, comfort is key. At Greater Regional Medical Center, surgery patients don’t have to settle for the traditional hospital gown and blankets to feel better about having surgery. Since December, the hospital has utilized the “Bair Paws” warming system, which is a gown attached to an air flow generator, and operated using a handheld controller. Surgery nurse Diana Turner said the ease of control over a patient’s body temperature is where Bair Paws can prove superior to the conventional heated blanket. “A warm blanket will cool off if you just sit there,” Diana explained. “They can control that with the Bair Paws.”

And a little more from the article “She said wearing a traditional cotton hospital gown could add to a patient’s discomfort because they can be a bit revealing. “That’s the joke — the gown and the bed pan,” Turner said laughing a little. “If we eliminate that idea, it’s one less thing to make people feel anxious.” The material on Bair Paws gowns overlaps, ensuring anyone who wears it won’t feel exposed. The gowns even have a front hand-warming pocket much like a hooded sweatshirt. Environmental Bair Paws gowns are made from biodegradable wood fiber, which has been recycled into fabric. Diana said the more eco-friendly gowns cut back on the hospital’s water and energy usage, even though they are one-time use garments. “It cuts back on the amount of laundry that has to be done,”

You can read the full article at http://www.crestonnewsadvertiser.com/articles/2008/04/02/news/local_news/4-2aabairpaws.txt

And I found the web site of the company that made these delightful gowns.. http://www.arizant.com/us/bairpawssystem/patient

And no, I didn’t buy one… little bit out of my price range, and I carry enough “stuff” already to the retreats, I don’t want to add to what I have to take.

I’m up and moving!

I’m actually amazed at the difference a day can make, especially one with surgery at dinner time, LOL. I can say that I am in 90% less pain today than I was yesterday, and moving much better, despite the surgery.

Now I know that one does not usually give blow by blow descriptions of surgery, but I have to share some things with you all. Don’t worry, nothing squeamish here, I promise. I want to share some of the advances in patient comfort since my last surgery in 2002.

I was admitted at 3PM exactly on the nose, and taken immediately to the outpatient pre-surgical ward. I was weighed (lost 11 pounds), did the thing in the bottle bit, and then taken to my stall. I know they don’t call them stalls, but to me that’s what they look like still, so I will call it what it looks like, LOL. I was then ordered to strip down and put on this lovely, but not quite paper and certainly differently looking gown. BP taken, it was higher than normal for me, showing my nerves were working well, and she was brushing the hair out of my face, running some sort of something across my forehead.

Then I climbed, not very easily, into bed and they hooked me up. While one nurse was torturing me on the left side, trying to find a vein, another nurse was on the other side doing something. I wasn’t watching her but the vampire want-a-be on the other side instead. I kept telling Nurse Vampire that beating on my arm wouldn’t work, but she wasn’t paying attention…

And all of a sudden my gown was air born and my body was surrounded with warmth like I just can not explain. The nurse on the right had plugged in my heated gown and footsies, and I was toasty warm within seconds. I asked it this contraption would follow me into the operating room, which is always cold, but didn’t get an answer.

In the meantime Nurse Vampire moved over to the right arm and was beating on that, and finally achieved her goal, not drawing blood but giving me juice, so I apologized for calling her a vampire. After nothing to drink since midnight my body appreciated a little drink, even if it was through a tube. (And Nurse Vampire slipped me a tiny little ice chip, very small but quite delightful, to say she was sorry for beating on me.)

Well this toasty tent I was wearing was delightful, and I must look into getting one for the retreats where I am always freezing, although I’m not real sure but pretty sure it is a little out of my price range… not so much the garb as the warmer unit that goes with it. I was soon fast asleep despite all the noise going on around me. (And this was pre-drugs)

Soon I was well done, and John who had been allowed to sit with me until surgery time asked the nurse to turn me down. A whole hour had passed while I was napping, and the nurse (who looked very familiar to me and turned out to be a band Mom from years way past) said that she had some bad news. The Doctor was running slow on his current surgery, and I had at least another hour and a half to wait. So back to my nap I went, still pre-drugs, until my body who hadn’t had but vein juice decided I had to go. I was afraid they would bring me a bed pan, but fortunately they let me up, since I was still pre-drugs. I got up and did my business, and then was ushered back to bed.

Then the nurse came in to take my BP, it was a little more normal for me, thanks to those naps I’m sure, and then she brushed my hair off my forehead again, I said thanks but I had to ask, “what is that” and she replied 97, and I realized she was taking my temperature. Silly me, thought she was brushing my hair.

All of a sudden the Doctor appeared with this goofy grin on his face. He said he was sorry he was running late, but I was up next. Then he started drawing faces on my knees, another modern medical advancement? I don’t know, but it had something to do what ever he was going to do to me, and when I peeked a little while ago to see what I could see under the bandages there was an upside-down smiley face peeking back at me.

I went into surgery at 6 finally, but don’t remember anything at all about that, isn’t medicine wonderful. I woke up almost two hours later as they tried unsuccessfully to smother me with something they called an oxygen mask, but I swear there wasn’t anything coming out it was just smothering me, and the nurse and I had a good fight as I took it off, she put it back on, over and over again until I finally won the battle or else didn’t need that silly thing any more. No advances in medicine in the recovery room, I had drink and eat before I could get up and since I was so thirsty I drank a cup of water happily and asked for more, and enjoyed a dinner of saltines and ice chips.

I’m home, resting comfortably, and in much less pain than the past few months.

Now excuse me while I go look up heated hospital gowns, I’d love to have one.

I'm home

I'm home. I'm drugged. I'm fine. for now.

Marge
typed by John

Surgery Monday

Some of you may know that I am scheduled to have surgery today, exploratory surgery on my knees to clean them up, and maybe see what’s wrong with them. (Other than old age, LOL!) I promised I would update everyone here about that great adventure, so here’s a warning…. DO NOT WORRY when you don’t hear anything. My surgery won’t even start until after 3PM when I have to check into the hospital. More than likely I will not post anything at all until tomorrow morning, so please don’t stress, and don’t be pestering my honey… he will be taking care of me which will be his primary job for a day.

Happy Birthday Anne!