Jack – Page 11 – The Dackel Princess

Time….

Just when I thought that life could not possibly get any more interesting, I found myself living through the last four days. I’m actually thinking that perhaps we should fast forward and get through 2009 quickly before anything else happens! Let me explain.

On Saturday late in the evening Hubby exhibited all the symptoms of a small stroke. It was there for a few minutes and then he seemed fine. Tired, but fine. I forced him to come to bed early and all seemed well.

Sunday he lazed around and rested. I watched him like crazy, but he really seemed just fine. I was determined however, to get him into the doctor’s office as soon as I could.

Monday I woke up to find him out the door going skiing! I wasn’t happy about this, but off he went. He was home by noon, as the conditions were not the best.

Monday night after dinner, we were sitting watching the TV when Hubby exhibited classic symptoms of a stroke, only this time it did not resolve and were more severe. I dressed quickly, got Hubby into his clothes and into the car and raced drove the car down the eight and a half miles to the local hospital.

He was quickly admitted and testing began. CAT scans, blood tests, everything you could think. All the while, I sat and paced, nearly unable to breathe. I felt like a deer standing still in the headlights of a car! Trapped. Fear causing me to be unable to move or make things better. At midnight they determined that they needed to keep him overnight to continue drug therapy and testing, so I kissed Hubby and left.

I got to my car and sat there, exhausted. I picked up my cell phone and called my friend, Gail and she talked me up the road to my home. I have to say that driving eight and a half miles when you are this exhausted would have been impossible if it hadn’t been for her. Thanks Gail!

I slept for a few hours and then woke with a start! I got up, turned on the coffee and called the hospital to check on Hubby’s condition. All was stable. I called a few people, then I sat and just stared into space. I prayed.

I know I write quite often, joking about Hubby, but this man, this wonderful man that I have been married to for nearly 21 years, is the most important man in my life. He’s my best friend, my husband, and my lover. I simply cannot think about life without him in it!

Today I spent the entire day racing back and forth up and down that same road between our home and the hospital. I sat on Hubby’s bed and held him, raced home, and walked the dogs. Then I was back to the hospital and was trying to learn as much as I could about Hubby’s condition. It was indeed a stroke.

Later in the day I saw a surgeon. I have not felt well since before Christmas and today I learned that I have an ovarian cyst and will need surgery soon to have the ovary and cyst removed. Things like that I can handle, but not stuff happening to my guy.

My sister called late in the day to tell me that my Dad has been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS, formerly known as “preleukemia”). He is quite old and hasn’t been well for a long time, and although I am not surprised by this it still saddens me.

Too much right now, Gentle Readers. It’s all feeling like it is too much. I told Mel that I felt so tired. So very tired.

Then Hubby called and he had gotten the doctor’s to release him. I drove down the same road and picked him up. I loaded him, with his things and drove immediately to a pharmacy. I seemed to be purchasing the entire store, but soon was back in the car, prescriptions in hand, and drove Hubby back home.

We’re sitting here in our pajamas now. Both of us feeling exahusted and weary. Time, dear friends. It can be your friend, filling your life with fun and frivolity, or it can be your enemy, making the time drag by and filling those hours with real unhappiness, tension and illness.

Christmas, Snow & Shopping

I woke early today and watched the newsman announce that we would have a dry morning before a good snowstorm began in the early afternoon. I thought to myself that this might be a good time to go off and do the grocery shopping and the last minute Christmas shopping before the flakes began to fly.

I went in and sat on our bed and woke up Hubby. I asked if he also thought this would be a good idea, then, I let the dackels in to kiss and jump on him until he was wide awake.

We both dressed and put coffee into a thermos and off we went.

No sooner had we gotten to McDonalds, where Hubby was getting a Sausage Egg McMuffin, than the first flakes of snow began to fly. By the time we drove 10 miles south and stopped for gas it was really snowing. I thought perhaps we should abort the mission, but Hubby assured me that it was actually a great thing because the stores would be empty and we would be able to get a lot done.

And we did! In fact at one point Hubby insisted that I try on some nice clothes for me. Since I have no dress up clothes I really need something pretty, yet dressy to wear when/if we go out.

I found a pretty suit. It has black slacks and a bright blue jacket and fits like it was made for me. But what really amazed me, was the size! (Size 8!)

Hubby found a few things he liked, we replaced a frying pan that had lost its ability to remain non-stick and through all of this, we remained calm and un-phased by the fact that it was snowing like crazy outside!!!

We went to the grocery store and bought all that we will need for Christmas (except the vegetables) and after we schlepped it all to the car and drove home we worked putting it away.

Hubby is currently out trying to snow blow the driveway, and it is still snowing. The weather man said today that it is now the wettest year in our state’s history!

Meanwhile, Hubby just came back in and informed me that we have another foot of snow out there (it is still snowing), on top of the 12 inches we got yesterday! Even Fritz doesn’t want to go out!

Me either. Glad I got my stuff done today!

The Backpack Incident!

I recently purchased a new backpack for myself. Hubby’s been using my old one when he goes off to work in the parks here in town, and since I use mine to carry my computer and camera gear, I want a nice clean pack.

So LL Bean was having a big sale on their super padded back pack and I ordered myself a new one complete with my initials.

MJ*

I was showing it to Hubby and told him it was official, he could now keep my old backpack, and he said it was very nice, but the old one also had my initials on it.

MJ*

I thought for a bit and then it hit me Hubby’s first name begins with J and since we have the same last name all I really had to do was remove the M and it would be completely personalized for him.

I was so excited about this and told him my plan. He liked the idea and immediately went outside and got the backpack from the Jeep. I got out my stitch ripper and began removing the offending M while I watched the TV.

I was going along pretty well and then I started to feel cold. At first I thought perhaps it was a metal tool that was just cold from being outside in the Jeep. Then I started to feet WET! I felt down and it was wet!

I opened the backpack and there was a can of coke that had obviously frozen, exploded and was now leaking all over me!

I took everything out of the pack and tried just wiping it up, but that was not going to work as it was very sticky! So, I finished removing the M and then washed the pack in the washer using the gentle cycle.

Good as new, clean as a whistle and with Hubby’s two initials J*.

Am I a great wife or what?

The Week That Was (Or Will Be!)

I got a call from the hospital today asking to pre-register me for my upcoming surgery on Wednesday. Fine, I said, let’s do it. So we went through a list of questions.

Name: Maribeth

Date of Birth: November 17, 1958

Next of kin: Hubby

Primary Care Doctor: Dr. C.

Insurance: Yes.

Did I want to sign up for a new program that involves setting up an automatic payment with a credit card once the Insurance company has paid their share?

Hm. I had to think. What is the advantage?

Well, the advantage is that after the Insurance company pays their share we get a 20% discount off of what we must pay. By using the credit card we save them having to bill us.

I talked to Hubby about it over lunch and we decided to go with it.

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I had no sooner hung up the phone with the Hospital Office Personnel, than my phone rang again and it was the Operating Room Scheduling Nurse. She told me that my surgery will be at 1 PM on Wednesday which means Hubby has to have me there by noon. Then she needed to ask me her questions.

Medications: Yes.

Diabetic: No.

Smoker: No.

Drinker: No.

In four short questions this woman learned that I am a totally boring woman who drinks tea.

She told me I could have nothing to eat after midnight, although one 8 ounce glass of apple juice was allowed. Gee, isn’t that nice!

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Once I was done with her I was starting to make Hubby his favorite potato salad, when the phone rang again. It was my dentists office reminding me that I have an appointment tomorrow. Yep, I knew that! It’s on my long list of things I am doing this week.

I finished that, made lunch and once that was done Hubby left to go work on one of our town parks, and I finished making the potato salad.

The phone rang again, and it was my hair stylists office reminding me of my appointment with her tomorrow directly after my dental appointment. Yes, I must be beautiful for my plastic surgeon! LOL!

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Then Greta and I were off to the Vet for her exam. She is doing better, but still has a little mastitis and must be on antibiotics another week. She was a very happy girl to go out for a ride in the car, and to see everyone at the Vets office.

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Arriving home we met up with Hubby and now we’re cooking out the last of our marinated chicken breasts for dinner. Tonight is an easy meal night, and then tomorrow I will cook a little so that on Wednesday when I get home I can just sit and Hubby can wait on me!

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So life is busy, and I am trying very hard to keep things in balance all this week. I have to say, things are not usually so chaotic. It’s not that I am a lazy person, far from it, as I have four dogs and a husband to keep up with, but I do like my tranquility, my slow paced life and I will be glad when it is mid July and I am back to living my normal, quite existence.

This & That Friday

Poor Hubby came in today carrying some of the baby apples he had culled from our trees. On June 22nd we had a terrible hail storm and in his hands he carried the results of the hail on his fruit trees. Although they are not all lost to this damage, a fair portion of the baby apples look like this:

I feel so sad about it and I know that Hubby does too, but what can you do. The storm was out of anyone’s control, and there was nothing we could do to protect the trees. I guess we will be making a lot of applesauce this year!

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I had a wonderful surprise today as my two Viking’s called me to say hello from the land of the midnight sun! Renny and Tor are together at Tor’s summerhouse and they wanted to share a hello with me and with Hubby! Here is a picture that they sent to me taken at about 11 PM!

It is wonderful when blogging helps you to connect with other people in the world who share your interests. Thank you again for calling!!!

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This is the day I will be having my Glucose Tolerance test. I think that is a poorly named test. You see, you have this test because your body is intolerant of sugar (glucose). The test takes three hours and requires you to fast before you go. Then they take your blood, make you drink some hideous sugar syrup and take more blood at timed intervals, over a three hour period.

Oh this should be fun! (NOT!)

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Now that I have been growing my hair for two and a half years I wanted to give you a shot of it from behind. Remember, two and a half years ago I looked like this:

And now here is the back of my head. You can see how much it has grown.

It sure makes me happy, as I have wanted to grow out my hair for a long time and lacked the patience. It wasn’t until my old hairdresser butchered me, that I was able to get the steely determination for growing it out.

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So TGIF everyone and have an excellent weekend!

It’s A Date!

Today when I got up, (well after Hubby) I looked at him and over my coffee asked, “Want to go to the City?”

He asked what I needed and I mumbled a few things, but mostly I just wanted to go out with him on a date! Since he is still on the lookout for a few more apple trees, he agreed. He also suggested that we stop in at the New Hampshire Historical Society Museum, and of course lunch at our favorite Chinese Buffet.

So we made sure that all the dogs were walked and then we headed south in the station wagon. It was not such a pretty day today, but we chatted as Hubby drove and it was so nice just to get out.

We got grapefruit at Sam’s Club, and picked up a few other items along the way. We stopped for lunch and we really enjoyed the meal.

The museum was interesting. There were portraits of famous New Hampshire people (such as Daniel Webster and Nathaniel Hawthorne) as well as several lovely landscapes, all centering on the White Mountains and the various Notches that take you through them. There was one that was so beautiful that I actually felt like I was walking through the woods there.

Soon we looked at our watches and realized that we needed to get home for the pups. So we said our good-byes to the museum and headed north. Half way home Hubby asked if it was okay if he stopped and bought two apple trees, a MacIntosh and a Honey Crisp. I smiled and said he should go for it.

So we have two more trees added to our ever growing orchard. We now have 13 varieties of apples, 4 varieties of cherries, 3 varieties of pears, 3 varieties of plums, 3 varieties of peaches and two varieties of grapes. All in all about 36 fruit trees! Yeah, it’s really beautiful in our yard right now!

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Springtime

Spring has come to the Dackel Princess homestead. Our fruit trees are budding up and right now our cherry and plum trees are bursting with flowers. It’s just so pretty to go out and walk around the yard, and see the trees filled with life. Flowers, bees and bright green leaves, after a long winter of skeletal shadows and snow drifts that went half way up the tree!

But spring is here!

The dogs love to be out amongst the trees and running through the grass. Thinking back over the winter, I fretted that I would ever see green grass again, and yet here we are!

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Mandy came up on Friday to celebrate both Hubby’s birthday and Mother’s Day with us. It was so great to have her come here and visit with us and the doggies. It never ceases to amazed me that the dogs remember her so well each time she is here. Greta especially just loves her Mandy!

Naturally we wanted to celebrate with a nice dinner at Canoe. It’s Mandy’s favorite restaurant too, so we went over for a nice leisurely meal.

When we arrived we saw that our favorite waiter, Andy, had returned to the staff and we were lucky enough to be seated in his area. We had the sweet and sour calamari, a bucket of mussels sauteed in garlic and white wine and a dip of artichokes and crab! I should have stopped there, but we all ordered meals, which we ended up bringing home with us! LOL! Once again we were not disappointed in anything that we ordered. Including the one order of molten chocolate cake for dessert. Mandy got that and Andy brought three forks so we all could try it! Wow! it was amazing!

All too quickly the night ended and Mandy had to drive home again. Hubby and I sat up for a while talking about our evening and how much we enjoyed it.

Yes, loved ones and springtime make a perfect package!

Good News

Today we did the Spring Check-up of our bodies. The bi-annual physical with our doctor.

When last we visited the doctor we discovered that my cholesterol level was significantly higher than Hubby’s, (his was perfect, mine was not!) and I was also significantly overweight. That was pre Weight Watchers. I told him of my plans to go to class and to follow the diet, but I’m sure if people actually did this when they told their doctor, the doctors would all be very happy!

At that time Hubby’s A1C level was quite high. This is the blood test that measures his blood sugar over a three month period. I was betting that if Hubby ate what I was eating for my Weight Watcher meals, his A1C levels would come down.

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Okay so that was about 6 months ago. Since then I have lost 31.2 pounds, and Hubby has lost about 12 pounds and we have really stuck to the Weight Watchers low fat, low calorie, high fiber diet. The results?

My cholesterol is now over 40 points lower and back in normal range! Hubby’s A1C level is 6.2 nearly 1 1/2 points lower! His blood pressure is good and mine is fabulous! All in all, when the doctor looked us over, he was actually smiling!!!

I still have a ways to go with my weight loss. About 22 pounds or so. Then the real challenge will begin. How to maintain this weight. I know that for Hubby and myself, we need to stay eating the good healthful foods that have become a part of our life. For me, to control the weight, and for Hubby to keep his diabetes and blood pressure under control.

So the Spring Check-up of our bodies went well, and in another 6 months, who knows where we will be. Hopefully in an even better place as we prepare for the winter and the 2008-2009 ski season!

My Bionic Hubby

Hubby had his two year check up on his artificial knees. For those of you who were not regular readers back then take a moment and go back and read about the first surgery and the second surgery, which gave me a Bionic Husband!

Looking back, it was a tough time for Hubby, and for me as his care-giver. Somehow, we teamed up and made it through, but I would not want to go back and go through that again. Yet, if we had to, I suppose I would do it all over again if it meant giving Hubby freedom from pain and the ability to ski 58 days during the season!

The ride over to the Medical Center was a pretty one, with a lot of spring flowers and blooming forsythia. It was warm and sunny and just the sort of day one can enjoy a ride. I felt only a slight twinge of guilt because I should have stayed home and worked more on the Spring Cleaning, but I opted to let it wait. After all, there is always cleaning to be done, but not always springs days like this.

I will say that once we returned, with a clean bill of health for Hubby’s knees in hand, I returned to the cleaning and actually got the family room curtains, washed, dried and re-hung. I’m already feeling better!

Hubby’s Big Day

Sunday dawned quite early. You see, with all the pollen and molds in the air outside right now, allergy season has been really tough. As we lay in peaceful slumber, we were startled awake by the sound of Hubby’s allergic sneeze rattling the room! Greta and I jumped and Fritz happily went to his Daddy’s side. Oh boy. I’d wanted to sleep late, but what the heck, I was awake, so off I went to make the coffee!

I asked Hubby what he wanted for his birthday breakfast and he wanted a “Farmer’s Omelet”. Sure, why not? So, I went to the kitchen and in no time made the omelet (eggs, onions, peppers, ham, potatoes and cheese) and an English Muffin. I had my usual Weight Watchers meal of yogurt and a Weight Watcher bagel.

The rain was coming down and it felt cool to us, but at 8:30 the twins arrived. They were so excited to celebrate Hubby’s birthday with us. Emily arrived around 10 o’clock and the party began!

We made a rather eclectic luncheon of noodles and pigs in a blanket for the kids, while Hubby had leftover spaghetti and meatballs and I made a salad.

But then the good part happened! CAKE!!!!!

Hubby getting his Angel Food Birthday Cake.

Hubby and his girls!

Cutting the cake.

Yes, even I indulged in a piece of the cake. It’s only 2 points!

After that the day passed as usual and then we got ourselves ready to go out to our favorite restaurant Canoe. Hubby had a wonderful Lobster and Shrimp Scampi and I had a special item on tonight’s menu Broiled Swordfish, with Asparagus! It was quiet and the scenery was beautiful and we enjoyed our evening out.

We ended Hubby’s special day watching some TV and catching up on our email, and watching one of the loveliest sunsets over the lake that we have seen in a while. All in all, a pretty good day of celebration for my sweetheart!