Another Day

I thought about taking some pictures to post of a before and after of the back yard and garden – you know, how bad it looked before we got it all cleaned up. Unfortunately, the now is only in the “talking about” stage. I know I am coping out, but at least I am not getting myself committed to completing the entire project. It will get done, but the question is when! Max has homework and a midterm this weekend, but our plans are to work in the yard. We really need to be planting the garden!

As if I don’t have enough on my plate, I have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow to discuss the future for my knee. One nice thing about the scheduled appointment is I have to go to Pleasanton and I can get my blood work and EKG (for the breast surgery) done at the same time. I made the appointment with the orthopedic surgeon when I got my last cortisone shot (before I went to Ireland and before I had my biopsy). I had made up my mind that I was way too tired of the limitations my knee was placing on my life – Ha! Bring it on . . . this could be my year.

I finally cleaned house today and am getting back into somewhat of a normal schedule; although, I have been spending a substantial amount of time loosing myself in my video games. I have also been working on my computer to get my pictures backed up (thanks, Duane). I have not even loaded all my pictures back on my new computer OR all my drawings and card information. I need to get back to drawing because it is a really good meditative experience for me. My drawing gives me an opportunity to express my emotions – love, gratitude, sadness, anxiety, fear, anger, serenity, joy, peace and hope! And at this particular time in my life I happen to be running many emotions at the same time.

Max and I are actually celebrating 6 years of being together on April 1st (could have been a joke, but NOT). Our Domestic Partnership certificate is October 28th AND yes, we do celebrate twice! We are going someplace nice for dinner, but Max is choosing the restaurant that will be a surprise for me and new for both of us.

Later . . .

Information Update (Cancer & Surgery)

Well I guess it is time for an update regarding this whole surgery thing. As most of you know the biopsy came back as cancer (right now it is classed as Stage I). Max and I went to see the Breast Care Coordinators and the surgeon on Tuesday and received a lot of really good information dealing with what is facing us in the near future.

Since the lump they took out was cancerous, I not only have to have my lymph nodes checked, but I have to have more tissue removed from the location where the cancer was found. When a lump is removed it is a requirement there be 2 to 3 millimeters negative (cancer free) margin around the cancerous tissue and that was not the case with what they removed from me (there was less than a millimeter of negative margin). So now the surgeon needs go back in the same incision and remove more tissue to give them the correct negative margin. Why did they not get it the first time? That was my question as well. They only knew to take what they were after according to the mammogram. The tissue that was removed was the correct tissue, but they did not know it was going to be cancerous; therefore, they did not know what margin they were looking for or needed. Since what they removed was cancerous, they now have to check the lymph nodes to ascertain if any cancer traveled to that area.

So here is the rundown as I know it – I am scheduled for tests (blood and EKG) and have a pre-op appointment on April 13th. My surgery is scheduled for “sometime” on April 24th. This will be a lumpectomy and lymph node removal surgery. To find the correct lymph nodes to be removed (the ones the affected area drains to) I have to be injected with a radioactive dye prior to my surgery so the surgeon will know the correct nodes to remove. I am scheduled to receive my injection April 24th @ 9:30 A.M. and I will not know the exact time of my surgery until the Friday prior to Monday the 24th. The radioactive dye they are inserting takes several hours to move to the node area – so my surgery will be later, but I will not have the exact time until the 21st.

The only good news about all this is this time it will not be done with local anesthetics! I will be put out and will not have to FEEL any of what they are doing (unlike the previous biopsy I went through). The down side is that removing lymph nodes tends to be a painful surgery with a painful recovery. That is what they make pain pills and ice cream for – RIGHT?

Once everything is completed and all the appropriate tests have been run, all the information will be forwarded to an oncologist who will then devise a treatment plan based on the findings. As it stands right now I know I will have to do five weeks of radiotherapy (radiation treatment) and what else (hormone therapy or chemotherapy) will depend on the results obtained from the completed surgery.

So now you all know pretty much what Max and I know, but if you have any questions and don’t want to do the internet research, feel free to ask. I really don’t want to talk this to death, but emails (drae@sbcglobal.net) will be answered.

All you women out there who have NOT had a mammogram in the last year – GO GET ONE! EARLY DETECTION SAVES LIVES!

Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers.
I love you all!

Later . . .

Misc Shots

Here is a shot of Kevin dressed in his motocross gear right down to the new boots I carried over in my luggage for him. He was very happy with the boots and especially the fact that they fit him!

Jessie and family have a wonderful little grouchy dog named Trudy. I met Trudy when she was just a puppy and loved her to pieces. She barks and carries on with everyone who comes to the house, but after the first day she stopped barking at me and we were fast friends. Jessie was going to do some laundry for me and I laid my white clothes in front of the washing machine. Jessie suggested maybe she should put the clothes in a basket to keep Trudy away from them. Well this picure shows how we found Trudy the next morning when we all got up - snuggled and very cozily asleep on all my clothes. Cute! She really is a very sweet little thing. Here is a picture of her dressed up in her "reflector" jacket to be seen at night.

She had some puppies (she was a naughty girl with the boy next door) and Paddy gave one to Aoife, Adrianne's daughter and Jessie's grandchild (pronounced for you non-Irish folks - E-fa). The puppy has long hair is an adorable little thing. You can see the puppy is living "the dog's life" spread out on the rug in front of the fireplace for an afternoon nap.

I had a really fun time in Ireland, but I am equally pleased to be at home where I belong. It is comforting to have the dogs once again following me from room to room, sleeping in my own bed cuddled up to Max and actually back to "regular" food is good for me. The whole time I was in Ireland I drank instant coffee, which not that bad, but there is nothing like a fresh brewed cup of coffee first thing in the morning.

I guess that will bring to a conclusion the pictures from Ireland. I have a lot of pictures that I have not posted with the majority of them being of people. I will probably put all my shots on ImagineStation and will send out invitations for anyone who wants to take a look.

Later . . .

Ahhhhhhhh Irish Food!

OMG - we have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, dressing and mashed potatoes, but there is absolutely NOTHING that can compare to a traditional Irish dinner (at least not for this person). This plate displays the gorgeous meal, which Adrianne (thank you, thank, you, thank you) prepared especially for me. Let me tell you I was a VERY happy person that night. And I am proud, or ashamed, to tell you I completely cleaned the whole plate - not one little drop left on that baby! The meal consisted of ham, stuffed boned/rolled chicken, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, cabbage, carrots, turnips and parsnips all lightly glazed with a wonderful cream sauce. THEN after I completed the meal, I followed it with a bowl of homemade deep dish apple pie, smothered with fresh hot custard. I could eat food like that everyday EXCEPT I am sure my life would not last long when I reached 350 pounds! But that was a heavenly treat of all my very favorite things to eat while I am in Ireland. Ham over there is NOT like ham here and neither is the cabbage and custard is just GOOD.

Almost done with pictures . . .

St. Dominic's Abbey

What a beautifully quaint old building. It was completely open (no roof) and was still being used as an active grave site (there were fresh flowers on one of the graves inside. I would never have assumed this was a grave site from just looking at the building from the outside. The stone and rock work was amazing. The part that really attracted Jessie and I to this site was the sign on the front of the building indicating where you could get a key if you wanted to enter. Can you imagine - "a keeper of the key" for entrance into a secured building that you could have access to by just finding the correct house and knocking on the door. You know I had to have a picture of THAT!

I guess it really is the rock/stone work that draws and fascinates me . . .

Rock of Cashel

Continuing our tour of the Cork area lead us to the Rock of Cashel. Large and impressive, but unfortunately very badly run down on the inside. I suppose it is difficult to keep things together and preserved in the kind of weather they deal with on a regular basis - still impressive to say the least. I think the part that probably fascinates me the most is the overwhelming use of rocks and stones in all their buildings and structures. This cross has been made from just a large stone AND preserved through all these years!

I think what I especially like about the country is that even with all the new building and houses there is still the "feel" of old Ireland.

Still more pictures to follow . . .

Kelshea Castle

Jessie and I decided to give ourselves a treat and have lunch at a REAL castle. Kelshea Castle is a place that Maxine and Kathy stayed when they visited Ireland and actually the first place and time they met Jessie. Check out the copper top on that fireplace! I knew Max had been here and it was not far from Jessie's house so I wanted to see the place. We could not see much of the grounds and surrounding builidings because it was raining really hard that day. We had a great lunch of creamed soup (what else) and sandwiches and it was not even absurdly expensive (17 Euro).

Blarney Castle (County Cork)

Another area of Ireland I had not seen was the Cork area. We decided to head down that way for a day drive on Sunday. Most people have heard of the Irish "gift of the gab" and you are suppose to able to get it by kissing the "Blarney Stone" located at the top of Blarney Castle. I made my way to the top of the castle (unfortunately Jessie gave up about 3/4 of the way up) climbing a "gazilliion" tiny little winding stairs. The winding continued to become narrower and narrower and the steps became smaller and smaller.

The inside of the castle was actually quite interesting with all its small little rooms everywhere (check out the picture at the bottom).
I passed on actually kissing the Blarney Stone - I gab enough and the idea of kissing something that many gazillion people had already kissed did not actually appeal to me (not to mention the laying on your back suspended with some strange man holding on to you). The left shot is of the "stone" (that smooth part at the bottom). The right shot is of the the man who holds you and the man who takes your picture. I blew a kiss to the stone and there was no picture to be had because "little miss chicken-little" Jessie was safely waiting down on the FIRST FLOOR of the castle.
It really was quite the climb and even though my knee was screaming "stop, oh please stop", I decided that I needed to make the climb to at least SEE the stone. And the castle itself was quite interesting and the surrounding grounds were really beautiful.
The castle would actually be a really nice spot to bring a picnic and spend the day roaming about the grounds and the castle itself. I think Blarney would be a place I would also visit again and do a bit more exploring of the castle (with a knee that is cooperating with all the stairs and climbing around that could be done).

There are still more pictures to come . . .

Carrick-a-rede Rope Suspension Bridge & the Coastal Towns

After exploring the Giants Causeway we went in search of this rope suspension bridge that Kevin and I had heard about. We both wanted to walk across it, but unfortunately the way to get there was not compatabile with my bum knee. We found information on how to get above the bridge so we could at least see it and get a picture of it. It was pretty overcast and quite some distance and I was not even certain the picture would show up at all. This is something that I will do again in the future because I think it would be a real kick to walk across this bridge (Jessie did not care that we could not get to it, but Kevin and I were a bit disappointed).

The bridge was about a ten mile drive above the Causeway and afforded some really pretty scenery. All of Ireland is dotted with old castles and a variety of picture worthy scenic tours. I personally think the coast of Ireland (all sides that I have seen) is fantasticaly beautiful. What a treat to have an island that has the Atlantic Ocean, Irish Sea and the Celtic Sea surrounding it.

After we saw the suspension bridge (located near Ballycastle) we headed back down to the coast to check out the towns of Portrush and Portstewart. They were both quaint little coastal villages much like seaside towns in the USA, but the architecture was MUCH better! It could be Morro Bay, but like I said - better architecture. We had a nice time hanging out around the towns and stopped and had some lunch (creamed soup and chips). I have to mention the creamed soups over there are really delicious - not to mention rich, since they are actually made with real cream!

The bottom picture is of the park that is pretty much set in the middle of the downtown area of Portstewart. After lunch we basically just got back in the car and made the long dirve back to Ballybrittas (where Jessie lives in County Laois). The roads were good and the drive was still very scenic (we took a different route home). So I now feel I have a good sense of what the North is all about - all my previous trips were during a time frame when traveling to the North was not that good of an idea (especially if you were from the Laois area since that is where the prison that houses all the political prisoners is located).

Still more to come . . .

Giants Causeway

Unfortunately by the time we reached the Giants Causeway my knee was really swollen and walking was somewhat difficult (who am I kidding - it was really painful). So we now faced the dilemma of how to get down to the coast - you could walk or take a bus. Jessie does not like to ride buses and there was no way I was going to be able to walk down and back up - so I won and bought us some bus tickets and away we went.

The Causeway is amazing and reminds me of the Devils Postpiles at Mammoth Lakes. Because it was misting and raining it was really difficult to walk on the rocks or do much climbing (no way was I gonna chance taking a fall on my knee). We did manage some nice walking along the path and I ventured out for my picture on that very cool rock.

Kevin managed to travel around the rocks and pick me up a bunch of really nice sea shells that I was able to bring home. The place has a lot of really neat places to explore and a lot of walking could be done, if one was in good shape and did not have bad knees!

Unfortunately my knee was placing limitations on the exploring I wanted to do, but nonetheless, we had a really nice time in a really beautiful place.

I had a horrible time getting these pictures posted - so sorry if the spacing and such is messed up.

More pictures to follow . . .

B & B at Portballintrae

The B & B Jessie found us was really quite nice. It was colorful, warm and cozy. We had two double beds and two twin beds, a living room area with coffee table and chairs, an electric kettle with coffee and tea and a nice bathroom with a shower. The one problem I continued to have was hitting my head on the ceiling. I had the hardest time remembering how the ceiling slanted and I must have banged my head three or four times - finally I remember and stopped banging my head. For the nights stay and breakfast for the three of us it only cost us 60 Euro (nice bargain that was). We went down to the local "Chipper" and picked up sausage, beans, fish and chips and brought them back for a good warm meal. I guess it might be the Irish patotoes, but there is NO comparison between our "fries" and their "chips". Yummm and I ate many orders while there. The Irish breakfast that was served the next morning was really good. There were a couple of things that were a bit strange - soda farel being the strangest, but it was tasty and a great way to start the day. I took a picture as we were leaving the B&B at the miserably cold and rainy day we were facing, but off we headed for the Giants Causeway and the coast.

More pictures to follow . . .

Belfast Ireland

I really am not sure where to start with my Ireland trip. A lot of the trip consisted of just visiting friends. I suppose I should just post all the pictures on ImageStation, but I will try to post a few with some details. This is my first Ireland trip that I made it up North. I must say Belfast is a very pretty city and well maintained. It was an obvious change crossing over from Ireland to Northern Ireland - better roads, cleaner landscapes and more open fields and spaces. If I thought Irish accents were a bit difficult to deal with - Northern Irish talk VERY fast with a a different accent altogether.

As an interesting note, we stopped to get something to eat in a large shopping center's food court. I choose Burger King and when I asked for "milk" to drink, the response was, "We don't do milk". When I asked for salt and pepper, the response was, "We don't do pepper". I was getting some very strange looks and I am sure they thought I was some strange alien (which technically was the truth).

Jessie, Kevin and I spent several hours walking around Belfast. We could have spent all day roaming around (it is a huge and beautiful city), but we were headed further North to the coast to check out the Giants Causeway and the coastal ports and scenery. Even though Ireland is a small island, it still takes time to drive from place to place and we needed to make it to our B&B before it got dark. Directions are not the greatest and signs are not easy to see - especially in the dark.

I will add another post for the pictures of Giants Causeway and the coast.

Later . . .

The LAX Nightmare

The wonders of LAX will never cease to amaze me. Why in God’s name would they make it so horrendously difficult to make the transition to the domestic terminal after arriving on an international flight and going through customs??? It is bad enough that one is dog-ass tired, achy and sore after a way too long flight, but THEN you have to deal with the whole miserable transition part. So let me share my experience at LAX.

I retrieved my baggage with only a couple of problems – one bag was VERY heavy and the other bag was ripped with things falling out the end. I managed to load my stuff on a cart and make it through customs without any difficulty. I proceeded out of the terminal and was informed I needed to turn right and catch the shuttle to terminal 7 for my connecting flight. The shuttle was picking up passengers on a little island that had NO ACCESS for the cart which held my bags (I had the VERY heavy one, the ripped one, an extra carry on and my green bag Denise made me). All I could do was get the cart to the curb and unload all my bags on this little island. The shuttle showed up and I had to lift all the bags onto the shuttle – one at a time. The shuttle then dropped me off at a little island where I unloaded all my bags (three steps up and three steps down with a swollen knee that did not want to bend or hold any weight). There I was on the island with all my bags AND there was not a push cart to be seen. I needed to make my way across a street and then find an elevator to take me up to the departure area. My very heavy bag had wheels, so I had to put the bag with the stuff falling out and all the other bags on this HEAVY bag and TRY to wheel it across the road (now I was dealing with MEGA HEAVY). OMG not an easy task, but I finally made it. I then began the struggle to find the right entrance for an elevator to get me up to departures. I only dumped my whole load FOUR times during this process. Thank God an elderly Black man came walking by with one of those push carts and mentioned, “Honey, you look like you need some help.” I told him I would LOVE to have his push cart (he had nothing in it and was probably going to return it for the .25 cents). He was very sweet and said, “You can not only have this cart, I will put your luggage on it for you.” He then wanted a handout and I gave him a handful of change, which made him very happy. At this point I am hot, sweaty, pissed, tired, thirsty, achy, sore with a throbbing knee and just NOT very happy. I finally found the elevator to get upstairs and then found a plastic bag to put my torn bag into and got in the line to check my bags for the flight to San Francisco.

I was in that line for ONE HOUR AND FORTY-FIVE MINUTES! OMG you can not imagine the number of people that were missing flights – I am very grateful I did not try for the connecting flight that had forty-five minutes between my landing and its departure. While standing in line I was chatting with several people who were missing flights and the whole scene was a general cluster "you know what". I was complaining about being tired, hot and thirsty and this woman who was standing there with a bottle of water offered to give me the bottle. I told her I would be only too happy to pay her $5 for that bottle of water. She would not take the money and gave me the water. THANK YOU BLONDE LADY GOING TO SACRAMENTO FOR A FUNERAL FOR THE WATER – IT WAS A LIFE SAVER FOR ME!!! I know she will probably never know this, but I PROMISE I will repay her kindness by returning the favor to a stranger sometime in my future with a similar act of kindness! I finished checking in and got my boarding pass – ahhhhh, twenty minutes before my flight was scheduled for departure. LAX – I only have horror stories connected to that place and international arrivals for domestic connections.

I did make my flight and arrived home safe and sound and very grateful that someone (Darling Max) was there to take on the luggage problem.

Later . . .

Monday

I certainly seem to be having a hard time getting back in the grove with my blog. I think my schedule, not to mention my thinking, has been severely damaged by my cold/flu and surgery. Addressing the cold/flu business – I think I have about recovered from that illness. I am still trying to chase down the reason for this cough, which I have been battling for many months before I became sick in Ireland. I had a doctor’s appointment today concerning that very issue, which frustrated the crap out of me. Doctors are certainly not among my favorite people these days.

Maybe I should deal with my surgery and get that out of the way. I mentioned the first part of the dual procedure went well and the second part was a bit of a nightmare. First off when I was on the table the nurse put a “grounding thingy” on my leg. I did not bother to ask the reason for this and am not completely certain as to the reason now. The only thing that would have been nice if the nurse would have checked the positioning of my arms BEORE the surgeon started working on me. What I do know is while I was lying on the table my doctor mentioned she would have to cauterize some small blood vessels as she proceeded with the surgery. As she cauterized I would receive a hell of an electrical shock on my arm. After about three times of being shocked and flinching, she asked if I was all right. I told her I was fine, but I was moving my left arm because I was getting the hell shocked out of it. I moved my arm above my head and she asked the nurse if my arm was touching the metal – which it was. I guess the whole grounding thing for my leg had something to do with whatever she was using to cauterize the blood vessels. To make a long story short – because I was getting local anesthesia there were numerous times that I COMPLETELY felt what she was doing. There I was on my back with tears running into my eyes praying to let it be over! I suppose there is no way to deal with issues like that when you are under a local, but somehow I still think they should just shoot you full of whatever they are using to numb you so that there is NO chance that you will end up jumping off the table in pain. Even when it was not actually painful I could feel what was happening and smell the cauterizations. Not a fun time and I NEVER want to have any kind of surgery that does not entail being completely OUT!
So that covers the actual procedure. I will call on Friday to see if they have any results.

I finally put the pictures I took while in Ireland on my computer today. And I will post some pictures connected with my trip in the next few days. Tomorrow I will expand on the nightmare at LAX. I swear I will never fly into LAX again.

Later . . .

Safely at Home

I made it back safe and sound, but unfortunately I got myself a heavy case of the Irish cold/flu before I came home. I was miserably sick but still managed to enjoy myself the last few days. The flight from Dublin to LA was actually quite nice (way too fricking long, but I was in a new plane that was roomy and cool). I will not go into detail about what LA to SF was like (think nightmare). I have stories and pictures and I will try to catch up on my trip this coming week.

I had my surgery procedure this AM. It came in two parts and the first part was not bad at all. They did a couple of mammograms and inserted the wire and dye for the surgeon to do her thing. The second part (the actual removal of the tissue) is something that will be left for discussion another time (think painful nightmare). Result will be available in 4 to 7 days.

Because I was sick before I came home (coughing & sweating) and not getting much sleep and I don’t sleep on planes and I was coughing and sweating once I was home – I am dead ass tired right now and planning to do some serious resting. My throat is so sore that if I talk above a whisper I cough and coughing does not feel real good on my chest right now – so I am keeping my conversations to a minimal. I will touch base with everyone next week.

Later . . .