View From My Window

Saturday, November 16, 2019 — What a fantastic day this has been. The youngest son Richard, my niece Jeanette and her husband Brian came up for the weekend. Richard brought his Traegar smoker and a 14 lb. turkey that he put into a brine last night and smoked in the smoker today. We had a wonderful dinner at 3:00 p.m. and had invited Mike and Cheryl from next door. When they showed up for dinner, happily Cheryl’s brother Robert was with them. Dinner was smoked turkey, Stove Top Stuffing, fresh mashed potatoes with gravy, whole cranberry sauce, sauteed brussels sprouts with bacon, green bean casserole (with Cheryl’s suggested addition of bacon and water chestnuts), cinnamon glazed carrots, King’s Hawaiian rolls, misc. celery and pickles, and apple or pecan pie with ice cream for dessert. Talk about a yummy meal, it was a real hit.

After dinner, Jeanette and I got busy in the craft room and made a couple of shirts. The first one was a surprise for someone to be named later. The second one was for yours truly.

The lettering is silver glitter vinyl and the sweatshirt is a dark teal, so it’s really sharp looking.

Jeanette has a cat and when we let Ruby in, Ruby made immediate friends with Jeanette. Later in the evening, Ruby laid on the counter next to Jeanette and actually had her head laying on Jeanette’s arm as Jeanette was working on the computer. I walked in, saw Ruby all lovey-dovey with Jeanette and said, “Traitor!” LOL Ah me… I have to laugh … that cat will go to anyone for an ear rub! When Mike and Cheryl came over they asked if Ruby was here and I pointed her out — laying on my chair in the office. They cracked up… they said they knew if she wasn’t at their house, she must be here. Too true.

I told Jeanette that Ruby looked like she was in love… LOL

It’s been a blessed weekend–we didn’t get a photo of it, but we had a deer come across the back of our property. Amazing. Every time we have company, we get deer. Otherwise, we never see them. It’s still cool to see them. And we had cows on the hillside across the way. A great wild animal sighting day today.

Not much else to report so will close with blessings to all. Be safe, be well, and please be happy. Be sure to tell those you love that you love them. Be kind to others — we never know what burdens others are carrying.

View From My Window

Monday, November 11, 2019 — First of all, I want to thank all of the many veterans who have helped keep our nation free. Blessings to each and every one of you! I so appreciate your service.

Next, I want to relay the results of my visit to the cardiologist this morning. In the words of one of my blogger friends who wrote about dementia, today’s message was “One of  Life’s Little Surprises.” Come to find out, my heart has scar tissue on the face of it–possibly from a heart attack, but the cardiologist agreed that a severe/prolonged respiratory infection could also damage the heart, and this is possibly what occurred in March of this year when I had that really bad respiratory infection.

He says I’m strong and he wants to make me well. In order to find out exactly what’s going on with my heart, he’s going to do an angiogram. I told him about the trouble I had with residual pain from the previous one and he says this time he will go through my wrist. So now I wait for the scheduler to call and set up a day and time for the next step.

Meanwhile, I’ll try not to worry. “Don’t borrow trouble.” as my grandmother would say.

Be safe, be well (please!) and be happy. I know that no matter what happens, I will persevere and will move through this. I have a lot of life left in me and feel confident that between the cardiologist and my soon-to-be new pulmonologist, they’ll get me back on track, physically. Oh, and don’t forget to tell those you love that you love them. I am ever grateful for the family and friends I have in my life–that means each and every one of you!

View From My Window

Friday, November 8, 2019 — I have chronic depression, for which I take an anti-depressant. When I get weighed down with a lot of ‘stuff’, the antidepressant doesn’t work quite so well. My breathing has been an issue for me for most of this year. I believe it’s responsible for my heart not doing so well. I see the cardiologist on Monday and will get the results of the chemical stress test at that time.

Yesterday, my breathing was really bad. I decided I really needed to see a different pulmonologist, so I did a search on the net for all of the pulmonologists in my insurance plan. With list in hand (or alphabetized in my word processing program) I then did a search through a medical review site for the names of those dr’s. I found one that I decided I wanted to see, but he’s not in my plan. I called my insurance carrier and explained my situation. They said I needed to see my primary and request a prior authorization to go outside of my plan. Deed done… I called my primary dr. to schedule an appt. for today.

I went in to see her this morning and long story short, I’m on an antibiotic and once again on Prednisone (40mg. per day rather than the previous 20). I am also looking to have a new pulmonologist before too much longer. We WILL get this resolved. I am mentally and physically tired of this. I’ve struggled to breathe for most of this year.

Today was my bi-weekly lunch with my support group buddy, Sharon. I unloaded on her and she unloaded on me. I told her I felt like crying (I HAD cried at the dr’s office–after suddenly realizing how very depressed I was.) I told Sharon I felt like I woke up this morning to find that I’d climbed into a black hole. How did I get there?? I was ticked yesterday, but not depressed. Overnight, the anger turned into depression. Or maybe, I just began to openly face it today. I don’t know, but it sure felt good to see that my dr. was on my side and wanted me to be well. That in itself is a boost to my emotional health, nevermind that prescription for prednisone that I know will help my breathing, and the antibiotic which should kill off what I believe is a lingering sinus infection.

I did get a call this morning from the Depot’s treasurer, asking me what needed to be done for the Bake Sale Fundraiser planned for the first two weekends in December. We had a really good heart to heart talk. I told her about my health situation and losing my voice because of the inhalers. She asked if I would like her to find someone to take my place for this year’s bake sale and I said, “Yes. That would be wonderful.” She said, ‘No problem. You’ve done so much for the Depot, you deserve a break.” One more load off my shoulders… Most grateful. She said she’d have to let whoever agrees to take it over contact me because she always just allowed me to handle it and never really knew what I did or how I did it. The bake sale is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Depot. I’ve been in charge of it from the beginning, except for the two winters we spent in Arizona, which was 2013-14. It feels good to know someone else will handle the bake sale.

Enough whining for now. I’ve come through worse and I’ll get through this.

Do take care of yourself and those you love. Be safe, be well, and remember to tell those you love that you love them. Our love for one another and faith will carry us through the roughest parts of life.

 

View From My Window

Tuesday, November 5, 2019 — We’re winding down this year, faster and faster it seems.

Another trip to Bakersfield yesterday and another CT scan for Robert’s abdomen and pelvic area. I’ll have to call his urologist this morning to doublecheck the date/time for his next appointment. I can’t seem to find anything on the calendar and know there has to be one in the future.

Our company has left and they withstood our power outage with grace and sympathy. Not the best time to have company from as far away as New Zealand, but it happened and we struggled through it. I have thought about purchasing a generator as back-up power but when one of my quilting friends plugged in their generator during the outage, it caught fire and burned their house down to the ground. As the house burned, the fire spread to the surrounding acreage. My friend was able to rescue their dog but was unable to save anything else from the house. How devastating to have this happen to anyone, but especially since the situation that necessitated the use of the generator was a knee-jerk reaction from the utility company to ‘prevent’ wildfires during periods of high winds. Shutting off the power is not the best way to prevent wildfires.

I’ve looked all over for my camera. It’s gone missing and I’m beginning to think I left it somewhere or that it dropped out of my purse without my feeling/seeing it and it’s history. I hate it when I lose things. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, I do a bang-up job of it!

Not much else to report so will close this with blessings to all. Be safe, be well and be happy. Remember to tell those you love that you love them. As the weather changes and we see the trees turn color and drop their leaves for the winter, I think of the fact that we’re fast approaching the end of yet another year. I pray that our next year is better than this one has been.

 

View From My Window

Monday, October 28, 2019 — Our friends arrived this afternoon and we’ve had a wonderful time catching up on one another’s lives. Before they arrived I finished sewing down the binding on the quilt that my niece will be raffling off as a fundraiser for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. I’ve sold $20 worth of tickets already, and if anyone wants to purchase a ticket, you can contact my niece, Jeanette Vogt or add a comment at the end of this post.

The quilting was done by Tehachapi Long Arm and it’s a design of Fall leaves and pumpkins in a variegated thread. Just beautiful…

Be safe, be well, and please be happy. Be sure to tell those you love that you love them.

View From My Window

Sunday, October 27, 2019 — My cousin and her husband went on a tour to China for their 50th wedding anniversary. She sent me photos and text about their adventure–something I know I’ll never be able to do in this life. This is the cousin we visited in 2004. She and her husband lived in North York Moors in the U.K. They have since moved to a warmer part of the country. It was their home and the lovely green hillsides that prompted us to do an aggressive search for property here in Tehachapi. A decision which we have never regretted.

I’m still waiting for our company to arrive or at least call. Meanwhile, I’m off this computer and back to stitching the binding down on my niece’s quilt.

Be safe, be well, and be happy. Be sure to tell those you love that you love them.

View From My Window

Saturday, October 26, 2019 — I woke feeling much improved this morning. As the day progressed, I felt some tightness in my chest and used my inhalers. They seemed to help. I hope to get off of them eventually. Time will tell.

I received a call about 7:15 a.m. from a gentleman in Otawa, Canada. I almost didn’t answer it, but it had a name in the caller ID window so figured it was o.k. He was asking about the place in AZ and would I be willing to rent it for the month of March next year. I explained that it was on the market and I really couldn’t promise to rent it under the circumstances. He said he’d rented next door to our place previously and really liked our place. I agreed with him and said it was in great condition and we had fantastic neighbors. He asked if he could check back with me in February to see if the unit would possibly be available and I said, ‘Sure.” (though I really hope it’s sold by then). I told him I’d received a number of calls from others, looking to rent our place. One woman wanted it for Jan-Mar 2020 and again, I had to say no. I don’t have the energy or wherewithal to take care of another place (or worry about it, either).

The monthly caregiver support group meeting was this past Thursday and I relayed what I had been going through with my bank account and situations with Robert. I admitted that I got very depressed at times when I realized that the stress was always there-it never disappears-and he’s only in the mild stage. Late afternoon and evenings are definitely the worst times. I feel bad when I see that he’s depressed and I can’t do anything about it.

We have company coming tomorrow–at least we’ve got them marked down on the calendar as arriving tomorrow. We haven’t heard from them recently, so I’m concerned that they are being held up somewhere along the way. We’re ready for them, so hope they make it o.k.

Be safe, be well (did you know that the heart and lungs are tied to one another? When one gets ill, it directly affects the other. I learned this from my neighbor just tonight.) Be kind to others — we can’t see inside people to know what’s going on in their lives, so be gentle and be supportive of everyone you come in contact with. And be sure to tell those you love that you love them…and do it often!