health

A careful day, and my new toy

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I woke this morning feeling really good.

So good, it made me suspicious. 😄

My husband asked if we could hit the post office before the store its in closed at noon today, so my daughter and I headed out in the late morning. I felt well enough to drive, but she went in to get the mail while I waited in the truck because I wasn’t going to push my luck. Several packages came in, including my husband’s new CPAP mask style that he is trying out, because his old style is discontinued and he can no longer get replacements he’s supposed to be getting regularly for it.

I also got a new toy, but I’ll show that later…

My daughter had bought a wrist brace for her sister that turned out to no be the right type, so she wanted to head back to the pharmacy today and exchange it. Neither of us had eaten yet, so she bought us lunch, too. I ended up going back to the pharmacy as I realized I needed something to carry my T3s in while I’m out and about, since I’m supposed to be taking them every 6 hours. If all goes well, we’ll be in Costco shopping when my afternoon alarm goes off. I ended up getting a waterproof metal pill holder keychain, large enough to hold a dozen tablets, which is 6 doses for me. I think it will work out.

We stopped to get some gas on the way out – I’ll do a fill at Costco. I had a 5¢ off coupon to use, which required pre-paying, so we both went into the store and got some energy drinks to last the three of us a few days, with my daughter picking flavours for her sister. We will pick up a case of Monster while as Costco, but those have only three flavours in them. The gas station not only has lots more flavours to choose from but, between their regular sales and my CAA discount, they are significantly discounted compared to most places.

I did get my daughter to drive home, though. I’m still feeling “good” but find myself moving very slowly, without actually thinking about it. Like I’m walking through water. Hopefully, I will still be up to the Costco trip tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I have a new “toy”, but an physically barred from doing anything that would allow me to use it for the next while.

I got a portable sawmill for our chainsaw. We can cut our own lumber, or even just trim the logs that will be used to make raised beds, so they lay flat on top of each other.

I have no idea when I’ll personally be able to use it. One of my goals for this summer was to get more dead spruces out of the spruce grove, with the help of my brother and his tractor. He only recently got his tractor working again, and I’m unable to do the physical labour necessary to do the work while the doctors figure out why I’m still dealing with pain and bleeding that the surgery should have stopped.

However, it does mean we could potentially process the logs more in situ, rather than dragging whole tree trunks out of the bush.

I’ll be making sure my brother knows where I’m storing it and that he is welcome to use it himself, should he ever need to.

In other things, I did feel well enough to do the evening cat feeding. I spotted 4 kittens in the branch pile, looking to get into the catio for food. Just four. Still no Slick.

We have got to catch those kittens, before whatever got the other two and their mom gets them, too.

The Re-Farmer

Kittens, grinding and tiny tomatoes

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This morning I got a call from the tree removal company. Someone would soon be here to finally do the stump grinding!

Which was a bit of a surprise. We had a downpour this morning, though it was past by the time he got here and, according to what he saw on the way over, hitting the town east of us. Normally, he would not have come out in the wet like this, but he had checked the weather radar before calling me and it showed clear skies over us!

I must admit, I was geeking out completely. I’ve never seen a stump grinder before, never mind one in action, in person. It was a beautious thing!

Since I was out anyhow, I took the time to check on the branch pile, were I spotted some kittens. I saw them again, after he started grinding, nervous but watching.

I only saw the four at one time. It’s possible I saw the other two on their own later, but from a distance and with tall grass and branches in the way, most of the time all I could tell was “black kitten” or “tabby kitten”.

We have not seen Slick for several days. I am beginning to think she may be gone. It’s also possible two kittens have disappeared as well.

For now, we are making sure they have plenty of food in the catio. Other cats, skunks and probably raccoons as well are going into the catio – there’s no way to stop them – go in and eat their food, but if we time things right, they get a chance to eat well. My daughter is still doing the morning cat routine for me, and we still have a bit of the freeze dried cat food mix left, so they are still getting cat soup in the mornings. Once we’re out of the mix, we might start using some of the donated canned cat food we still have left to make cat soup.

He set up a barrier around the stump to keep flying chips from hitting the house or flying all over the place, to make for easier clean up. While I was checking on things in the yard, I noticed him pause with the grinding to remove parts of the tractor tire that were still stuck under the root ball. He had bins around the stump to haul away the chips, but seeing him move the tire pieces, I brought the wheelbarrow closer. The next time he paused in grinding, I suggested it might be easier to use the wheelbarrow. Which worked out because he ended up using a bin to scoop up chips into the wheelbarrow, then dumping it with the rest of the wood chips behind the house.

More wood chips! Yay!

The first image above, he was about half way through the stump. Maybe a bit more.

While I was checking the tomato bed, pruning off yellowing branches, my younger daughter came out. She talked to the guy for a while as he paused with the grinding again. When he started up again, she and I walked around the yard a bit more, looking for kittens and checking the nearest garden beds.

That’s all I did. I swear.

That was all it took, and I could feel the pain returning. I headed inside to sit down, but it kept getting worse, and I had to ask my daughter to take over being available for the tree guy.

Then I remembered that, with stuff going on (including calling the clinic and leaving another message), I had forgotten to take my morning pain killers, meds and supplements. I took care of that right away. I’m finished with the antibiotics and the stuff that’s supposed to stop the bleeding (I’m still bleeding), so I’m back to almost all supplements.

The second image, was after he was done and had cleaned up. You can see the little pile of broken tire bits on one of the patio blocks. He’d had to move one of them to get a root out. We’ll later need to move all the blocks and re-set them. I don’t know what my brother has planned for that, but I expect we’ll need to get more sand or gravel to lay under it. That would be a good time to move a couple of other blocks in front of the steps that have sunk and build things back up underneath them.

Nothing I can do at all right now. Today is exactly 1 week from the procedure. I may not be restricted to lifting a maximum of 10 pounds anymore, but each of those blocks weighs about 50 pounds. Since I can barely walk around the yard without triggering the pain, it’s probably not a good idea for me to start rebuilding a patio!

While on that subject…

I got a call back from the clinic. The receptionist told me they hadn’t received anything from the hospital about my ER visit on Saturday, so she had already contacted them to fax my file to the clinic. The doctor that did the surgery won’t be back until Monday, and she was able to give me several times to choose from to come in. So I now have an appointment scheduled.

The pain kept getting worse, but I was still mobile when the guy finished the job. He was with my daughter, writing up a bill, when I came around. Once I had the invoice, I took a picture of it and sent it to my brother. The total for the tree removal (3.5hours), and the stump grinding and clean up – after taxes – came to a little over $1800. My brother was prepared for that, so he was able to send them an e-transfer soon after.

I ended up having to lie down and tried lying down in my own bed at first. I barely settled when I had three cats lying on me – Susan was on my ribs almost instantly – then Butterscotch on one side of my head, Cheddar on the other, plus two more on either side of my legs. Which would have been okay, if they would only stay still! The final straw was then a tabby – I don’t know if it was Mitsy or Shadow – suddenly parkoured off my stomach after vaulting over Ghosty nearby.

I ended up on the couch in the cat free zone, aka: the living room.

Which got interrupted by a phone call from my mother.

*sigh*

It turned out to be an okay call. Partly because, when she asked how I was doing, I flat out told her that I’d been at the ER again and was still dealing with pain. She had been prepared to regale me with her usual comments about her own health complaints, which have changed little in the years we’ve been living here. The main difference is that she is now blaming it all on her digestion, rather than her heart. It is very hard to pick out enough detail to determine what is going on. For example, she started off saying how she was feeling back “all over” and, at first, it seemed she was talking about pain. It took some questioning before I was able to figure out that she meant full body fatigue. Lord knows, I can understand where she’s coming from on both, but we’re still never sure how bad it is. She told me they are “neglecting her” because they “won’t let” her see a doctor or a dietician. I’ve tried to explain, several times, that the nurses have notebooks for each person living here, they write down about issues, then have regular meetings with the doctor to talk about them. My mother complains about the same things she has been for years but others – like her legs swelling – she brushes off completely. Oh, they’ve never told me they talk to the doctor, was her response. Except we’ve all told her this, several times. It’s not that she doesn’t remember. It’s that she doesn’t believe it. For other things, she makes things sound completely different than what’s really happening. When talking about her digestion, she starts talking about how she’s burping all the time, which is a very specific piece of information – until it comes out that she is forcing herself to burp because she says it makes her chest pains feel better afterwards. ???

I’ve been in the room with her while she is forcing those burps, and it’s really… unpleasant to watch and hear. One of her reasons for claiming the staff is “neglecting” her is because, if one of them is in the room with her when she starts (forced) burping, they leave. I have no idea what she expects them to do about it. She also keeps bringing up how her pills were two hours late and the nurse had said she forgot to give them to her, as if that happened just this morning. It didn’t. It happened during a festival, on a day when they were taking residents outside to watch a parade go by. The nurse had apologized, but she “forgot” because she was physically helping people outside to see an event my mother chose not to watch herself. This was weeks ago, and it only happened the one time.

In the end, the reason she had called me was because she wanted a few things brought to her. Things that I passed on to my siblings. My sister will probably be the first to visit my mother in the next while. My brother has his grandchildren for the week, and they might be able to come out on the weekend. I have no idea when I’ll be up to visiting my mother next. Even if I do make it into town, having the energy to do whatever brought me there, and visit her as well, is more than I can handle right now.

*sigh*

Thankfully, today’s pain did mostly pass by the time my mother called, though I had to take more painkillers for it at my usual 6 hour mark. My daughters had made supper and, after eating, I felt well enough to head back outside. I checked on the kittens (three of them were in the cat bed in the catio, but ran into the branch pile when they saw me coming), then went back to pruning tomatoes. In the process, I found some ripe Orange Current tomatoes.

One of them was red, like a Spoon tomato!

I gave them to my daughters. They quite like them!

Thankfully, the pain didn’t come back as I was outside, but I didn’t push myself, either. Not that I’d pushed myself this morning…

So that’s where I’m at now. Still frustratingly dealing with pain that the surgery should have stopped from happening. I had felt so good right after, I was quite hopeful about that. *sigh* It’s probably going to be too early for results from the biopsy when I see the doctor on Monday, but I definitely need to talk to her about what’s still going on. She already knows I’m more than willing to go for the next likely surgical option.

My daughter and I have talked about our upcoming stock up shopping trips. We have decided we will do the Costco shopping on Thursday, when CPP Disability come in, first. With the last business day of the month being on Monday, my husband’s main disability payment with his private insurance should come in on Saturday instead, so we’ll do the other stock up shopping on the weekend.

My daughter is going to have to do pretty much everything. We’ll be sure to bring my walker, so I can sit as needed, rather than using the cart as a walker.

So frustrating!

But, it is what it is. We deal with the hand we’ve been dealt.

What else can we do?

The Re-Farmer

A surgery update

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I am so glad we left early. Three constructions zones on our route, slowing us down.

We still got there well before my registration time. They took me in for processing and prep almost immediately, and it wasn’t long until I was in a stretcher, waiting to be brought in for surgery.

I fell asleep.

Twice.

After several hours, the doctor finally came by to let me know that there had been an emergency that came in and everything got delayed. She had one more person ahead of me, before I could get done. When I heard a nurse telling someone it was past 3:30 (my check in time was 11:45, but we checked in almost half an hour early), I asked someone to call my daughter and let her know about the delay. She was more worried about the surgery than I was.

The surgery itself took only about an hour. While in recovery, I was informed they did find and remove something unusual. I’m to go back to the doctor in four weeks for a follow up, test and biopsy results. I got a prescription for antibiotics and something to control bleeding, if necessary, that they wanted me to fill right away, but our pharmacy would be closed long before we reached town, so I will do that tomorrow. Meanwhile, I was given instructions for home, and what to look out for that I would need to go straight to the nearest ER for if it happens.

They kept asking me what my pain levels were like, on a scale of 1 -10. My response? A half. Maybe. Just a dull ache. Pain, of course, can be a relative thing, and compared to the past few months, there was almost no comparison.

After my daughter wheeled me to the truck, we made a quick side trip for some take out so I could eat and hydrate on the way home, since I wasn’t ready to be going in and out of the truck yet.

We also took a different route home, allowing my daughter to detour two of the three construction zone.

As for me, I feel absolutely fantastic. I am so happy!

It’s still possible I might go for another, more major surgery, depending on the biopsy results, but I suspect I won’t need it.

I can’t believe how much better I feel already. Wow.

My daughter, meanwhile, as informed me that she will do the morning routine. I am banned, no matter how good I might be feeling. 😂

I get to sleep in, in the morning.

What a novel concept!

The Re-Farmer

A quiet day

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I did get a decent amount accomplished today. Got rained on for some of it, which I didn’t mind.

First up, I just had to share this clip from the outside critter cam that I found.

That’s Sweetie in the front. The cats gets along with the raccoons, but I don’t blame her at all for running with those three barralling towards her!

While feeding the outside cats, I got to snag a picture of this little cutie.

The poor thing is such a bundle of nerves, ready to run away at any moment. The important thing, though, is that it’s staying close to the house and regularly coming over for food.

This morning, I had to stay close to the phone as I was expecting a call from a nurse about my surgery next week, any time between 8am and noon. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait too long! I now have pre-op instructions. I stop taking any supplements as of today, and one of my two prescriptions needs to be stopped three days before surgery.

Once that call was done, I could get some work done.

One of the things I got started on today was moving more rocks cleared from the garden bed over to near the fire pit. Then I took out the broken cinder blocks and fire bricks from inside the pit. It needed to be cleared of old ashes and leveled inside, then the fire bricks returned, as they are used under the Dutch Oven. The cinder blocks were very handy in there, but they can’t handle the heat and broke into pieces. We’ll make do without them for now.

The soil around the outside of the fire pit needs to be loosened and leveled before the rocks are added, to replace the old enameled bricks my daughter took out for me. The cracked handle on my garden fork finally gave out, unfortunately, so it’ll have to wait until I get a new one. Last time I was at the hardware store, there were none in stock. That fork is only thing I’ve got that’s strong enough to break up that soil, other than a spade.

This is a project that’s going to be spread out over quite a while.

After doing as much as I could on that for now, I heard something odd and went into the outer yard to see if something among my brother’s stuff had fallen or blown over. I never found anything out of place but, since I was there, I started pulling a whole lot of vines off the back of the junk pile and the willow trees beside it. I was able to access the old bath tub, drag it out and set it up.

It wasn’t that rusted out when it got buried in the junk pile.

For now, I’ve got it supported and stabilized with pieces of the elm tree that had been in front of the kitchen window. I’ll have to pick up something up to stopper the drain, as it will be used to soak and wash the outdoor cat beds and blankets. Some are too big for the washing machine, and all of them are too dirty and gross to use in our washing machine. At some point, the tub will get sanded down and spayed with enamel paint to keep it from rusting out entirely, and then I’ll build some sort of stand to hold it upright. Preferably with wheels, so it can be moved around easily as needed.

Once I got as much outside stuff done while being rained on as I could, I quickly changed and headed to the post office to pick up a couple of packages.

This was a surprise…

This is the 5 pound container of salt my husband got for me. The packaging was damaged, so Canada Post put it in this plastic bag, which has an apology printed right on it.

A 5 pound container, and Amazon packed it in a plain paper envelope. Not even a padded one. This really should have been i a box!

We also got a package of LED lights my husband got for me.

Each light came with the teeniest, tiniest of screwdrivers! That’s to open them up to change the batteries. 1

The Velcro it came with isn’t long enough to fit around my all terrain walker frame. My husband had some longer Velcro strips that he didn’t need, so I used those, instead.

Red light on the left, green on the right.

Who, reading that, knows why?

I gave the other two to my husband for his walker, though he’s stuck with blue instead of green.

I now have my first walker bling. 😄

For now, I’m done with the outside stuff I hoped to accomplish. We didn’t get a lot of rain, but it’s still too wet to use some of the equipment I’ll need to sue.

It’s not even 5:30 yet, and I’m so sleepy, I could probably call it a night! As it is, I’m starting to have a hard time typing. I can at least say it was a relatively pain free day, for now, and there’s no sign of it kicking in for the evening, either. Here’s hoping it stays away!

The Re-Farmer

Really??

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Oh, boy. What a day.

Yeah, we missed going to Costco again. I wasn’t feeling well.

Not because of the pain levels I’ve been having lately. Not at all.

The morning actually started out rather well. I woke up around 5:30am. Usual routine; use the facilities, feed the inside cats, supervise Butterscotch while she uses the litter box so other cats won’t bother her. I was back in bed by about 6am and actually slept, waking up before my alarm went off at 8. I felt rested and awake.

Then I sat up.

I was immediately dizzy.

Just a head rush, I thought. I sat up too quickly.

I took my morning meds and supplements.

It didn’t go away.

I got up and took care of feeding the outside cats…

… and some skunks. Those little ones were acting so famished!!! I didn’t have the heart to chase them away.

The bigger one with the feral kitten, I left alone because if I tried chasing it away, I’d scare the kitten away, too, and she really, really wants to have her share of cat soup!

I was still dizzy.

I decided to walk around a bit to see if the fresh air would help, but I definitely wasn’t up to watering the garden or harvesting anything. I finally went back inside and settled in.

My younger daughter, who was supposed to go with me, was up so I messaged her to come over. I told her how I was feeling. I wasn’t safe to drive, but if she could do the driving, I could probably do the trip. Not to Costco, but at least to the nearest Walmart.

There was a problem with that.

She had managed to get only a couple of hours sleep, and wasn’t safe to drive, either.

So I figured, we could both lie down fore a couple more hours and head out later.

Before lying down, though, I realized I hadn’t eaten yet. I wasn’t feeling hungry, but felt I should have something in my stomach, at least. I managed a small piece of cheese.

Cheddar aged with malted whiskey. Probably not a good choice, but it was already cut, and it was quite delicious.

I didn’t feel any better or worse after eating, at least. Then I tried to lie down.

The dizziness got worse. Bad enough that I had to grab my garbage can to get sick into.

That ended up happening two more times over the next few hours. After the second time, I gave up on lying down and was at my computer, watching gardening videos.

At this point, the family was getting quite worried and kept checking on me, trying to figure out why I was feeling like this. After the third time I got sick, I asked a daughter to make something mild for me to eat, just so I wouldn’t be getting sick again on an empty stomach. My daughter ran some options past me and I chose a couple of hot dogs, just because that would be the fastest.

It was the hot dogs that brought an idea to mind. Eating didn’t make me feel any better or worse, but something about the wieners made me feel… different.

I did a quick search.

My suspicions seemed to be in the right direction.

I was low on salt.

Now, this is something I’d been aware of for a while, because low sodium is one of the things that can contribute to the Charlie Horses I’d been getting, along with a lack of things like magnesium, zinc and potassium. Symptoms of lack of salt include dizziness, nausea and muscle fatigue, which I had been attributing to the dizziness and hadn’t thought much of.

I don’t use a lot of salt in my cooking, because we all have different preferences. You can always add more salt, but you can’t take it away. So, to compensate, I kept a tiny bowl next to my keyboard of coarse Himalayan pink salt. The little chunks are easy to grab, and I would just eat a little piece of salt every now and then.

I emptied my little bowl some time ago, and kept forgetting to refill it.

Could it be that simple?

I refilled my salt bowl and let the family know what I was trying, and ate a few pieces.

My daughter came down to check on me less than a minute later.

I was already starting to feel better, but I didn’t want to jump the gun.

I kept eating more little pieces of salt, slowly, with water.

After a while, my daughter came back to check on me. By this time, I could definitely say I was feeling better – I had gone from getting increased dizziness just from turning my head, to being able to shake my head from side to side energetically, before I felt any dizziness. With my daughter there, I decided to try walking.

I was back to walking normally again. No dizziness. Balance returned. No nausea.

Aside from still feeling a bit weak, and my throat on fire from the last time I got sick, I was back to normal.

Salt.

It really was that simple.

We’re getting a bit low on the coarse pink salt. Something I could pick up when we finally get out for our second stock up shop. It’s a bit hard to find it without being in a grinder, and we have a refillable grinder we prefer to use, but sometimes it’s in stock.

My husband went ahead and ordered 5 pounds of it off of Amazon.

When it got to be time to feed the outside cats, I decided I was well enough to also to a harvest and water the garden, so I messaged my daughters to see if one of them was able to come along, just in case. My younger daughter joined me, bringing my walker and the harvest colander out for me.

Not only did I feel well enough to feed the cats and do the harvesting, I felt good enough to dig up the garlic while my daughter did the watering!

Right now, not only is the dizziness still gone, but I actually have an appetite, and feel I can eat a full meal again.

With plenty of salt.

Tomorrow, we’re going to try for Costco again. Unless something else happens.

Third time’s the charm?

The Re-Farmer

A Garden Friend, and an update

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I have been out for much of the day, between my medical appointment and the stock up shopping. The stock up shopping will get its own post, later.

This morning, I did the outside cat feeding and my morning rounds, as usual.

Gouda was missing this morning. I do hope I see him when I go out later to water the garden!

I didn’t water this morning, but I did check everything out. While adjusting the melon vines, something moved.

A long, skinny something.

An adorable garden friend!

I just saw the tail at first, and I thought it was going under the mulch but, when I went around the other side to check on the other melon vines, I spotted the head. I was very happy to see the garter snake.

Eat up those slugs and bugs, my slithery friend! Just leave the frogs alone, please!

My appointment with the doctor was at 11:30, and it takes about an hour to get there. I left almost 2 hours early, knowing there was construction along the way. It also gave me enough time to stop at a gas station to pick up an energy drink for the road.

Not gas, though. The price has gone up to $1.819

Ouch.

In the end, I got to the clinic barely 10 minutes early. Once I got there, I realized I’d been there before. Several years ago, my brother and I had taken my mother to see a specialist in this clinic. Not the same doctor, though. I don’t think this one was even there at that time.

Once there, I had three pages of forms to fill out, on top of the medical history form they had emailed me that I’d submitted. Some of the info I’d sent them was already inputted into these forms. It’s always strange filling these out. Too many questions have answers of … no, not in my medical history, but yes, and that’s why I’m here!

I barely finished those when I got called in, first to get my vitals. My height and weight, anyhow. The BP machine failed, so they just skipped it.

When the doctor came in, things went very quickly and efficiently. She had some odd information on the file, just as a date for when all this started – which was my birthday. So I explained how the first symptoms were there quite a while ago, but not something that stood out enough for me to remember exactly when they started, the progression until I found myself with a reversal of menopause, then catching on to this being a rare side effect of the anti-inflammatories I was taking, and how it all subsided as soon as I stopped taking them, but haven’t gone away completely. She was wondering why I hadn’t gone to a doctor earlier, and I had to explain that we live in the boonies, it was winter, we got snowed in, and I had to cancel a couple of appointments because our truck broke down.

Then we went through what tests I’ve already had done, the referral to a specialist in the city and a biopsy that I no longer need, since I’m seeing her now, instead.

She confirmed that all the tests except that one ultrasound, have come back normal.

She then said she wanted go get me into the OR as soon as possible, because I’m coming up on 60, and this should not be happening. Normal test results notwithstanding.

She knew of an opening in mid August – another doctor got a cancellation or something – and she wanted to book me for that. Otherwise, the earliest would be the end of October.

I took the August date.

She walked through the procedure with me – basically, she needs to get a camera in there to actually see what’s going on – what procedures she will be doing, and what she might be doing, depending on what she sees at the time. I got some instructions, signed the consent form, and will get more details when the hospital calls me. I’ll find out then if I’ll be overnight, or if it’ll be a day surgery. I’ve got strict instructions on an 8 hour water only fast, with the water being cut off 3 hours before surgery.

I also got requisitions for blood work and EKG, to be done today or tomorrow. Since I was doing the stock up shop after my appointment, it wasn’t going to be today, so I’ll do it tomorrow. I’m expecting to do the Costco shop tomorrow, and the town I drive through on my way to the city to get to the new Costco has a hospital and lab. I can stop there in the morning, then keep going to the city when it’s all done.

As for today’s stock up shop, it was rather different doing it in this area rather than in the city, but it worked out. It’s starting to cool down, though, so I’m going to head out and water the garden while it’s still light out.

The irony of all this?

I’ve had zero pains today. Not even mild pains.

So very weird.

But then, all of this has been very weird from the start!

The story of my life, really!

😄😄

The Re-Farmer

Our 2026 Garden: July garden tour video

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So… I ended up not going anywhere today, which would normally have been our first trip to the city for stock up shopping.

I took the above screen cap well before we were to reach the hottest part of the day, which was around 3 -5pm. As I write this, we’ve finally started to cool down. While the high was around 32C/90F, the humidex reached heights of 38C/100F

I decided to stay home. Today’s city trip would have been the Canadian Tire, Walmart and international grocery store run. I have my doctor’s appointment tomorrow in the smaller, nearer city. I can do the Canadian Tire and Walmart stuff after my appointment, and anything we wanted to get at the international grocery store can wait.

I ended up spending most of the day lying down. I did manage to get outside to feed the cats (I counted 18, including the kitten that showed up for cat soup), and a morning walkabout, but not much beyond that. The new painkillers are doing nothing. I eventually tried the T3s again, and they did nothing. It wasn’t the worst pain day I’ve had, but it was enough to make doing anything very uncomfortable – and “doing anything” included sitting, standing or lying down.

I really hope the doctor can figure out what’s going on when I see her tomorrow.

In the end, I did finally put together the clips I took and made the July garden tour video.

I hope you enjoy it!

The Re-Farmer

Frustrating, but that’s good? Maybe?

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Today was a rather long day. Thankfully, my daughter was with me to do most of the driving and help me get around.

I had started my fast last night, and we were planning to leave early for my CT scan appointment. We ended up leaving even earlier than originally planned, which turned out to be a good thing. The drive to the hospital itself is just under an hour, normally, because it’s right at the edge of the smaller, closer city.

There was construction on the highway, which delayed our arrival a bit. We still got there early. I had forgotten to bring a 1L bottle of water from home, but we had some 500ml water bottles in the truck, which was good. I borrowed my husband’s disabled parking placard when we parked at the hospital, and my daughter manhandled my walker out of the truck for me. I had been fine this morning, but during the drive in, the pain started to kick in again. By the time we got to the hospital, I was really appreciating that walker!

We made our way to the CT waiting area, where I had a form I needed to fill out first, which gave me time to chug a bottle and a half of water. Someone came by and asked me if I was the one from the ER in the town nearest us, and I confirmed. She thought I was supposed to come in with an IV port, and I said I had been told that would be done here.

I was called in soon after and they set me up in the scanner and the IV. I was forewarned about what I would be feeling with the dye that was normal – and what I should let them know about immediately if I felt them, as they were NOT normal!

The scan itself went very quickly. They ran me through a few times, with the robot voice telling me when to take a breath, hold it, then “BREATHE” again. My daughter could actually hear that last “BREATHE” from the waiting room!

Then they warned me that the dye was being released and… yeah, I was glad they warned me about the sensations in advance! I’ve had a CT scan before, but it was so long ago, things were a bit different, and I hadn’t needed a dye, so this was quite new. Once the dye had time to do its thing, they ran me through the scanner a few more times.

When it was done and they returned to help me get up and leave, the guy that inserted the IV port asked if I wanted it left in.

???

Which is when I was told that I would have to go back to the ER in town to get the results of the scan, and if I were to be getting surgery, they’d be needing to put an IV in, so did I want to leave the port?

After asking a few questions and him leaving to check something, I decided to leave it in. We had expected that I’d see the gyno for a curettage, presumably after the results were viewed, but if the results were being sent to the ER from yesterday, that obviously wasn’t going to happen there. As far as I know, the hospital I went to last night does no surgeries at all, might possibly do biopsies, but that’s it. I told him we were planning to go to the Walmart nearby after this scan, and that I’d intended to break my fast. If I were going for surgery, though, I needed to keep fasting. For the length of time it would take for the results to get to the ER in town, we did have time to hit the Walmart, first.

While my daughter was putting the walker back into the truck, I updated the family and noticed the time. It had just turned to the time of my appointment! Talking about it to my daughter, we were extra glad of that. While she was in the waiting room, she started chatting with woman that had joined us just as I was called in. She asked what time her appointment was, and she told her she was there for me, and what time my appointment was at… which was the same time as her appointment! So it seems the ER managed to squeeze me in. We were extra glad to have left so early!

I would have been okay to drive to the Walmart, but the pain was getting worse, and I now had an IV port in my elbow, protected by a “sock”. So my daughter did the driving from then on.

Usually, when shopping, I use the cart as a walker. This time, I relied on the walker and my daughter did all the lifting and loading. We had just ran out of kibble for the outside cats this morning, so we got a couple of their largest bags – we only need to last a couple of days before our first city shop – and some more canned cat food for the inside cats. Given that we now had to go back to the ER in town, we made sure to pick up some quick and easy ingredients for supper, just in case. We made sure not to get anything that was frozen; I remembered to grab some freezer bags, but there’s only so much they can do – especially in the heat of the truck box! We figured, if necessary, we could stop by a local grocery story, if we wanted.

That didn’t happen.

From there, it was back to town and the ER. I wasn’t expecting to go back, so I’d already cut off my wrist band. I got a new one while explaining why I was there, and then sent to the waiting room. Someone came by not long after to take my vitals, and then it was back to the waiting room.

By then, I was really starting to hurt, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. As time went on, it was the fasting that became more of an issue. I finally went back to the admissions person and talked to her, explaining that we didn’t know if I’d be going for surgery and still needing to fast or not, but I was starting to feel dizzy and faint from not eating. After asking a few more questions, she got on the phone and I went back to the waiting room.

Then the doctor came by, calling my name. When he saw me, he did a double take and I just had to laugh.

He recognized me. I’ve seen him several times in the past, about my mother!

By the time, my daughter had gone to the truck and brought back a bag of beef jerky from our stash. She’d gone back to get another water bottle when I was called in, so I asked for the door to be left open, so she saw us and joined us part way through.

The first frustrating thing was finding out that I was supposed to see the gyno after getting the CT scan. The staff there obviously didn’t know this when they sent me back to this ER.

The other frustrating thing was that my CT scan showed nothing. No problem at all. There is just that one ultrasound that showed a problem.

Meanwhile, I was in enough pain that I was having difficulty sitting up straight.

So, nothing was going to happen today. I could eat. I could get rid of the IV port. I could go home. I will get a phone call with an appointment, soon, for a consultation regarding our next steps.

As he left, he told me to go back to the waiting room and someone would come by to remove the IV port. Then I could leave.

I was already tearing open the package of beef jerky. It wasn’t a large package, but it was enough to keep me from feeling sick and ready to pass out!

Then we waited.

And waited.

Finally, my daughter went to the admissions person. I just needed the port removed, and we could leave – and I was ready to take the thing out myself, except I had no gause and medical tape, and the port needed to have proper disposal.

The admissions person sent my daughter to the nursing station. She soon came back to tell me someone would be coming over soon. About a minute later, someone did.

Half a minute, and it was done. I was freeeeeeeee!!!!!

From there, my daughter wanted to make sure I ate, but I also had the new prescription for tramadol to pick up. A Subway shares a parking lot with our pharmacy, so that’s where we went. Once parked, my daughter went in to drop off my prescription while I made my way to a picnic table in the shade by the Subway, skipping the walker this time. When she got back, she told me they needed half an hour to fill the prescription, which was plenty of time to eat.

One of the things I expressed my frustration over as we talked was how – once again – I’m having issues, but tests are coming back “normal”. According to most tests I have done, I’m really healthy overall. At least my osteoarthritis shows up on X rays. This has been a “problem” for years, to the point that I’ve stopped going to doctors for some things completely, like my chronic cough that I’ve had for about 25+ years now. That, thankfully, has gotten better on its own, though it’s still there. I just ignore it now.

When it came to the pain itself, what the one ultrasound shows doesn’t really explain the pain. My daughter suggested that, if the gyno starts talking curettage with me, I might want to request just having everything removed. Which is exactly what I’d been thinging myself. I don’t need those lady parts anymore. I’m done with them, and they’re trying to kill me.

That’s a conversation to have when I get a call from the gyno.

Speaking of calls…

While in the waiting room at the ER, my daughter got a call from the clinic in the city she had an appointment at this morning. She’d left a message last night, and they were following up. She explained about me going to the ER yesterday, and that she was driving me around for tests today. Usually, when people don’t show up for appointments without letting them know at least 24 hours in advance, they’ve started to charge for the time. Too many people just don’t show up for appointments, and that really messes with their scheduling (and often results in other people stuck in waiting rooms longer). When there is a legitimate reason like this, though, those charges get waived! The earliest they could reschedule her for, though, is in October!

Once my daughter and I were done eating – and I was feeling SO much better, even though I was still in pain – we went in to get my prescription. There was someone at the pick up counter, so I quickly went through the supplements as I was out of zinc. Which resulted in someone else getting served ahead of me, and she ended up taking a really long time, talking about her insurance loud enough for all to hear. I couldn’t stay standing anymore. Thankfully, they have chairs right by the pick up counter. While I was there, the pharmacist that owns the place, who knows all of us quite well by now! – saw me and told me my meds were ready. So she took care of me before the other person was even done.

I only have a week’s worth of the tramadol, if I take them 3 times a day, though they are “as needed”. Which means I should be hearing from the gyno within that time.

Here’s hoping.

Once we got what we needed, I took one as soon as we were back in the truck!

Then we could finally go home, with my daughter driving. When we got to the gate, I was banned from getting out to open it. She backed the truck up to the house so I wouldn’t have far to walk, then she and her sister took care of unloading. By this time, it was time to feed the outside cats, so they stayed out to do that, too – now that we had more kibble for them!

I stayed up long enough to get on my computer and update my brother and SIL, planning to lie down and let the tramadol kick in.

Then the phone rang.

It was my mother.

Actually, it was a very frustrated sounding nurse who had made the call for her, let me know my mother wanted to talk to me, and handed the phone over.

The last time I talked to my mother was when I visited her and walked out because she was being so nasty to me again.

After exchanging greetings, I asked how she was doing. I was pretty sure I knew what she was about to tell me.

I was write.

She immediately launched into how she was sick. She was feeling soooooo sick.

She wanted me to come visit her.

*sigh*

I had not intended to tell my mother about any of what’s been going on, because she is always really terrible about it when we mention any health issues we have, but when she told me to come visit her (told, not asked), my response was “I just got back from the hospital.”

She said she didn’t understand.

So I said again, I just got back from the hospital. Less than half an hour ago.

What was I telling her? she wanted to know.

I told her, I went to the ER yesterday. Today I went to the city for tests, then back to the ER for the results. They’re trying to figure out what’s wrong, and I’ve been home for less than an hour.

Oh, I didn’t understand at first, she tells me.

She then told me to tell my brother and sister to visit her.

She would have kept me on the phone, but I told her I would pass on her message, right now, and was able to get her to let me off the phone.

*sigh*

Shortly after I hung up, my daughter came by saying “that sounded like a Babcia call.”

Yes. Yes it was.

I’d just finished messaging my brother and SIL about getting home and updating things easier on a keyboard rather than tapping on a phone, so I updated them about my mother’s call, too. Then texted my sister, who doesn’t use Messenger anymore. I hadn’t planned to tell her about what was going on, either, as she tends to tell things to my mother without our consent, sometimes. Not out of malice or gossip. It just doesn’t occur to her not to do it. Since I’d had to tell my mother about it anyhow, it didn’t matter anymore. She tends to turn off her phone when she’s at home, though, so who know when she’ll get the message.

Once that was all done, I finally was able to lie down for a while.

Thankfully, the tramadol did kick in after a while, and I felt well enough to go outside for a walkabout, using my walker.

I ended up watering the garden for the evening, even though I’d asked my daughters to do it later, when things cooled down a bit more.

I just couldn’t help myself.

Things are going to get hotter over the next few days, so the garden is going to need watering in the morning and evening to help cope with the heat. It won’t get as extreme as it got not long about, but still hot enough to be an issue.

My problem is, I keep thinking of all the things that I should be doing, while there is no rain in the forecast. Work to do in the yard and garden. Physical labour I probably shouldn’t be doing at all.

Which is driving me bonkers.

Ah, well. It is what it is, and I do what I can, and my daughters try to help as much as they are able.

We are such a gimpy family right now. All four of us!

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer

Home for now, plus a harvest

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

So… today actually started out pretty good.

We were getting predictions of rain and thunderstorms. At one point, my weather app told me it was raining right that moment.

It wasn’t.

So I went out to water the garden in the morning. In the process, I gathered what I would call our first real harvest of the year, with everything weeks behind.

I picked a few of the Rainbow Mix carrots. They’re still small, and it was more of a thinning by harvesting action. The baby carrots will taste just fine!

I was very happy when I started checking the bush beans. The yellow ones seem to be ripening the fastest, and I picked a decent amount of those, plus a few green and purple ones. Then I grabbed a few of the turnips that were left and a bunch of Golden Boy celery. I’ve been picking a bunch of celery every now and then, along with harvesting some turnips, but nothing that I would really consider what would be a typical harvest I would normally get from the garden, until today.

After watering the main garden area, I left the harvest on the chest freezer in the old kitchen and went back to watering the garden beds around the east and south yards, and the old kitchen garden. The Arikara squash is looking amazing, and I can see more Blueberry tomatoes starting to form.

About half way through, I was starting to feel pain starting to kick in, but it wasn’t too bad yet. I messaged my daughters asking them to put away the harvest, and if they could make me a breakfast. By the time I was inside and finished eating, it was definitely time to take some pain killers and try lying down.

It didn’t work.

It just kept getting worse. Quickly. Bad enough that I finally started talking to the family about driving myself to the ER.

They agreed.

My brother and SIL were still here and I was updating them, but it turned out they had their Messenger off. Which is fine. I was just keeping them informed.

The girls got the truck to the house and unloaded of market inventory, loaded my walker for me, put my prescriptions and a charger cable for my phone into a bag for me to bring along, and took care of the gate so I didn’t have to go in and out of the truck as I left. The only time I started having issues with the drive in was when I found myself stuck behind someone doing 65kph in a 100kph zone and couldn’t pass.

When I parked at the hospital, I was so incredibly glad for that walker. Sitting while driving wasn’t too bad, but once I was walking, I found I couldn’t straighten up.

Once by the admissions window, I started getting my health care card and the woman at the desk waved me over right away. When I handed her the card through the slot under the window, my hands were shaking violently. I couldn’t stay standing, and my face must have been a sight, based on how quickly she got me processed.

From there, it was a brief time in the waiting room and then I was in the triage room. A nurse got my vitals and asked me all sorts of questions. My BP was, understandably, a bit high, but not too bad. Considering the pain I was quite obviously in, it was not a concern.

Then it was back to the waiting from for a bit longer before they took some blood, and then it was a wait until the results were in. That’s when I got to talk to the ER doctor.

We went over the details again, including the whole background about how this started with those anti-inflammatories I had started taking, a while back. They had worked so well for what I was taking them for, too!

The doctor then found herself with a bit of a conundrum. The things she normally would have done – the tests, the referrals, etc. – were things that were already done, or in progress. There was that one ultrasound that showed abnormal, and it’s why I was being referred to a specialist in the city for a biopsy.

So what, she asked me, did I want her to do, in context of being in the ER?

We talked about the pain levels some more. I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t stand, I couldn’t even lie down, to get any relief. She did prescribe tramadol and she wanted me to fill the prescription right away, to use in stead of the T3s. She even made sure that it was not anti-inflammatory, and that it wasn’t contraindicated with anything else I was taking. The pharmacy was still open for a couple more hours, and she was ready to send me home with the prescription.

As we talked more about how bad the pain was, and she looked at the ultrasound results some more, she realized that my doctor’s referral was something that could take months to be fulfilled. I needed to be seen right away.

She knew of a specialist at the hospital in the smaller, nearer city. She told me to stay until she had a chance to get through to the specialist and see if I could see her right away.

The pharmacy closed while I was waiting.

When she came back later, she told me the specialist wanted me to have a CT scan, and that I should get a curretage.

*sigh*

She wanted me in either tonight or tomorrow. Which I was actually quite happy to hear.

The next while in the waiting room was for the appointment for the CT scan. I was there long enough that I was starting to become hungry to the point of getting light headed. Of course, I kept the family up to date on all this (my brother and SIL had seen my messages by this time). My husband and daughters were suggesting that, if I was going home, to make sure I grabbed food somewhere first, even before I mentioned getting so hungry. Frankly, I would have just gone to the truck for the beef jerky in our road food stash, but I didn’t want to miss someone coming back with information for me.

One of the nurses came by as soon as they had the appointment made. It’s for tomorrow morning, and my daughter and I will have to be on the road by 9am. I’ll need to fast, plus make sure to have a liter of water to drink before the CT scan.

My daughter, meanwhile, has called the clinic for her own appointment in the city tomorrow and left a message about rescheduling. I can’t say I feel too badly about that, since this is the clinic I found so creepy and actually felt was unsafe, while in the waiting room during her last appointment, which was essentially a meet and greet. This is something we disagree on.

So that’s where we’re at now. I’ve just finished having something to eat with my evening meds and supplements and will now start my fast. I’ll be going to bed pretty much as soon as I’m done this post.

Tomorrow should be… interesting.

Hopefully, this will finally bring an end so the issues I’ve been having! Or at least tell us what’s going on, so long after I stopped taking the anti-inflammatories.

Meanwhile, all my brain can do is list off the things I want to, or should be, doing that I physically can’t right now. The pain did eventually recede, but just getting up and walking around it enough for me to feel it threatening to come back.

I need to lie down before I start doing tasks I really should not be doing.

The Re-Farmer