Another Day in Spokane...

I think I am going to have to move my camera storage spot to the Jeep! Once again we went to Spokane without my camera...


Another of the reasons we need to come back to the ranch every so often is to take care of dental and medical check-ups. We have appointments with our primary care physician next week. Since Group Health allows patients to contact their physicians by email, we were able to ask her to set up the lab work and other tests ahead of time so that she would have all of the results when we actually see her.


So this morning I had appointments to have both a mammogram and a follow-up ultrasound of the benign cyst on my kidney. In addition, I also had another blood draw to check on how well the anti-coagulant was doing.


But, I had a nice reward after all that stuff was done! My nephew Jared is up in Alaska with his Dad and brother on a fishing trip. He and his wife Becky have recently moved into a new home in Spokane. We stopped by to see their brand new house and then went out to lunch with Becky and my little Great-niece Ellie who is just a little over seven months old. (Understand now why I was mad I had forgotten to bring the camera?) We went to the Mustard Seen in Northtown and had a very enjoyable lunch.


We stopped by the church on our way home to Auntie Violet to see how the packing was going. There was a pretty good sized crew there helping Pastor Terry and Jerilee load the U-Haul truck. They were just finishing up when we stopped by.

Happy Birthday, Vic!

Today our dear friend Vic celebrated his 90th birthday! His youngest son Curt and daughter-in-law Sarah hosted a pulled pork barbecue in their front yard this evening. I didn't count how many people were there, but I think there were at least a hundred. It was a lovely evening even though it got a bit breezy.


What Vic has seen in those 90 years! I always enjoy chatting with him both for his stories of his past and to hear what he is up to now. We've known him for a long time. When Forry first learned to fly, Vic was already a very experienced pilot (I think his pilot's license number is only two digits...). He literally took Forry under his wing and made sure he became a good and safe pilot. We have many fond memories of Flying Farmer trips with Phyllis and Vic --through the US, many trips to Mexico and even through Central America!

One of my favorite memories is of watching Forry and Vic install a Jeep starter in our Cherokee Six on a remote airport in Baja California. With no aircraft dealer and a non-functioning starter, those two farmers went into town, bought a starter from an auto parts store and installed it. It worked great! (We did have to have it replaced when we returned home as it was "NOT FAA APPROVED")


I only wish Phyl was still with us and could have been there to celebrate this momentous occasion with us. But, I am sure that she was looking down from heaven, making sure everything was going just right!

A Day in Spokane

I had an early morning appointment this morning in Spokane for a follow-up visit with my primary care physician following last week's overnight hospitalization. She did make me feel better about not seeking care sooner, saying that given the lack of other symptoms except for the swelling, she probably would have done the same thing...


The blood work came out well; my pro-time is elevated enough (i.e. the blood is "thin" enough) that I no longer have to give myself the heparin shots twice a day. I'll have it checked again on Wednesday, but it looks like we are on the right track.


Forry took his pump for the spray rig into the pump place out in Airway Heights. They were able to replace the valve unit in it, saving him from buying a whole new pump. But, when he went to install it this evening, he found he also had a cracked "Y" joint. He'll have to run into Moses Lake tomorrow to get a replacement for that!


The hillsides and roadsides along the I-90 freeway from about Cheney to Sprague are full of the color of the many lupines (I think this one is Lupinus sericeus, but would have had to take a magnifying glass to see the hairiness on the back of the leaves...).

There were clump after clump of them along the road and out into some of the pasture land --

A Bittersweet Day...

• Today was the official "farewell" for our pastor and his wife. Pastor Terry preached his last sermon at Menno this morning to a very crowded sanctuary. Terry and Jerilee have been at Menno for twelve years! After a couple of months of rest and relaxation, Terry will be pastoring a new congregation in Oklahoma.
  
  
  After a wonderful, very typical, Mennonite potluck at noon (complete with fresh strawberries and ice cream!), people re-gathered in the sanctuary for a time of sharing. It was fascinating to listen to people tell about how Pastor had been with them through many significant life passages during the past twelve years. There were tears and smiles and stories told. Following a picture show, the Redigers were presented with a gorgeous quilt and Jerilee was given a pair of binoculars from the Menno women in recognition of her new interest in birding.
  
  
  (I did discover that sitting upright in a pew for any length of time was VERY uncomfortable! I left the morning service and went to sit on the chaise lounge in the nursery with my leg up for the last portion. I was careful to sit in the corner of a pew during the after lunch sharing with my leg stretched out... The swelling has continued to go down. I have an early AM appointment with the doctor tomorrow, so will find out then how my clotting factors are doing.)

A Farmer's Frustration...

One of the reasons we come back to the ranch in eastern Washington every spring is so that Forry can take care of the weeds on the land in the CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) as well as the non-farmable land in the coulee. While the rest of the land is leased out and the tenant takes care of it, Forry is responsible to make sure that the noxious weeds are sprayed on the CRP stuff.






It would probably take no more than a week or two to take care of the spraying if he could spray every day. But the one thing he CANNOT do, is spray when the wind blows. And it seems like it has been windy more than half the days we have been here.



This morning the air was very quiet and Forry got up early to spray. I heard the four-wheeler leave, but a few moments later -- just as I had gone back to sleep -- I heard it come back. Seems the pump on his sprayer had quit working...!











He took it all apart this afternoon to see if he could figure out why it quit working, but wasn't able to see anything wrong. I guess we be picking up a new one when we go up to Spokane on Monday for my doctor's appointment!





(I spent a very quiet day today. I think the swelling in my leg has diminished quite a bit...)

On Being Patient -- OR A Patient?

It was wonderful to sleep in my own bed last night -- and sleep I did! I slept through until about 6:30 this morning and after a trip to the bathroom, promptly went back to sleep. I did have to get up by 8 though, because this is what was waiting for me --

These are pre-loaded syringes of Lovenox (enoxaparin sodium), a variety of heparin that I get to inject every twelve hours in my stomach.

I get to keep this up (along with oral coumadin) until my doctor's appointment Monday morning. They'll take some blood and figure out where my clotting factors are at... And then decided what to do next. The one thing I know for sure is that I'll be on blood thinners for the next several months.


One of the doctor's orders was for "light activity." He made it quite plain that meant walking around in the house -- NOT going for walks outside!


So, it's been a rather long day. I've been thinking about the friends and colleagues who are meeting in Anchorage today and tomorrow. I would like to be there with them, but it's obvious that wasn't what was to be. Do you suppose that once again, I'm going to have to learn what patience is?

Once Again at Home!

It's a little before 8 PM. We are back home at Auntie Violet and I am trying very hard to stay awake long enough to write a note. After a night in the hospital connected to IVs and getting started on both a type of injectable heparin and oral coumadin, the doctor decided this morning that the therapy could continue just as well on an outpatient basis.



Note I did not say "a night of rest!" I was just getting settled for sleep about ten PM when there began incredible lightning and thunder storm outside my window. In the midst of the storm, I get a roommate. It took a good hour for the nursing staff to get her settled and her history etc. taken. We barely got the lights off and settled down again when her IV started acting up and they had to restart it. The mother of the IV nurse had obviously never talked to her daughter about "using an indoor voice" -- especially in the middle of the night! Or the inadvisability of showing a patient late at night all the different levels of lighting possible in the room and leaving lights at the brightest level when you leave the room...


So now it's two AM and here comes the Head Resident doctor. One of the new residents (they just started last Sunday) had taken my history and physical earlier in the evening and she was following up on it. She was apologetic about coming so late, but said she had been tied up in the ER all evening. By the time she did her own physical exam and asked a bunch of questions about our wandering life style, it was another hour later. Since I'm now wide awake it's time for a trip to the bathroom pushing the IV pump on its pole ahead of me. Then of course, my roomie needs to take a trip as well; which causes her IV pump to start beeping.

Back to bed, finally dozing off; in comes the RN; says the Chief Resident looked at earlier lab results and wants me to take some oral potassium; says she'll be back in two hours with a second dose... Nurse Aide comes in to take vital signs; roomie's IV beeps every time she moves or turns over. 4 AM: Lab tech comes in to draw blood for AM labs, makes three trips in and out the door for more supplies while drawing roomie's blood -- only has to take one trip for something missing when he does mine! (Of course, leaves lights on during all of trips back and forth...) Starts to get light outside.


And so the night went! Breakfast trays come at 8 AM. Would you believe that after vital signs at 6:30, not another soul comes into room until the dietary aide arrives?! Would have been a nice hour and one-half of sleep, but both Sister Sherry and Forry call to see how things are going!


8:30: The Group Health doctor tells me I can be discharged and give myself the necessary injections at home; RN becomes very relieved when I tell her it's okay -- in another life I had been a nurse. (She'd been trying to figure how how she's going to teach me how to give myself the shots when I have only one more scheduled dose before I leave the hospital. The drug uses a special pre-loaded syringe with automatic needle retraction -- they don't sell the empty syringes and the drug is way too expensive to waste any of it practicing on an orange...)


11 AM: Paperwork in hand, the runner gives me a ride in a wheelchair down to the front door; Forry pulls up in the Toad and we are off to the pharmacy and then to home!

Best Laid Plans

Well, after all the fussing about packing and getting organized for our week in Alaska, we will not be going after all!

My back surgeon sent me for an ultrasound as he didn't like the edema in my leg. The next thing you know, I've been admitted to the hospital with a deep vein thrombosis (clot) in my thigh!

So, instead of flying to Alaska, I get to spend a few days here in the hospital. Talk about plans being made in jello!

Packing...

I usually don't have much trouble packing. I did so much traveling when I was a working woman that I kept a duplicate bag of toiletries in my suitcase to make it easy. For some reason, this trip to Alaska is proving to be difficult. I'm not sure why, we're only going to be gone from Thursday through next Tuesday. We get in late Thursday evening; have meetings Friday through Sunday afternoon; then have a free day on Monday and leave Tuesday afternoon.

I think part of it is not being real sure how casual an affair this conference will be. I'm leaning towards not taking any dressy clothes at all. I don't have any official role, so I think I can get away with it. Forry's jeans are not in great shape, so we'll go shopping for him before we leave.

Then there's the box of books from Oregon we were asked to take along for the bookstore at the assembly -- plus the hymnals and songbooks (a copy for us and one for Dennis and Colleen) we have to take with us. And since we do have a free day on Monday and a rental car, we certainly want to take the binos and bird books -- and the cameras!

I've got a follow-up appointment with my back surgeon at eleven thirty tomorrow in Spokane, so we're planning to stay up there overnight and leave from the Spokane airport in the afternoon. We'll fly to Seattle and then to Anchorage, getting in about 8 PM.

A Laundry Day and Dinner Out

Since we are flying to Alaska on Thursday and want to go to Spokane the day before, it is time to start getting organized to pack. Which means I needed to get laundry done. I did get a good start on it today, but certainly didn't accomplish anything more than that!

Pastor Terry and his wife Jerilee will be leaving Menno the end of June (he has accepted a new pastorate in Oklahoma). We were glad we were back here before they left so that we could spend a bit of time with them and say good-bye. This evening they came by and picked us up and we all went to the Porterhouse Restaurant in Moses Lake for dinner.

We have enjoyed the years that Pastor Terry has spent with us and have appreciated his wise counsel. We will miss them both!