Truths About Friends...

This much I know is true about friends... "Friends" is used much too loosely in our culture; "Best Friends" don't have to label themselves as such... they just are, they know it & don't have to advertise it; You can have more than one "best friend" with each one being the best at what he/she does in your life; a Friend calls when her Daddy dies so you can be there to cry with her & hold her hand; a Dog is a girls "best Friend", too; your spouse should be your best Friend & mine is; when people say "BFF" or "Best Friends Forever" sometimes forever is pretty short; Jesus is also my BEST FRIEND & He says "BFFE" - Best Friends For Eternity & His eternity is a hell of a lot longer than some peoples forever. I love my friends.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Updates aren't always fun...

I went to the doctor on Wednesday. Good news and bad... my anemia is resolving nicely but I am extended off of work until the 3rd because they still don't know why I lost so much blood & where I lost it. The doctor found some masses in my stomach. He casually tells me "Of course it could be cancer" but probably not since I don't have a sudden weight loss. His other line of thinking is that they are ulcers that have become encapsulated so... full torso CT scan & a colonoscopy for me! Sounds like a blast!

The other problem is my fasting blood sugar was 155. Hopefully it was a lab error or just a fluke (I have been known to eat without realizing it so maybe I wasn't really fasting). I fasted for 12 hours yesterday and he had my labs redrawn. Please pray that I am not diabetic!

I just finished my first Zumba workout. Dear Lord in Heaven & Earth I thought I was gonna die... and I did the short version. Thank God cancer isn't taking off the weight & I have plateaued so it's time to get moving. I'd like to loose 25 more pounds (I've lost 40 since the 1st of the year) so now I have to get my but moving. Especially if I am diabetic.

Last Sunday we celebrated Duck's Sobriety Birthday... 20 years clean & sober. Sunday the 1st I will have 10 years clean & sober. He got me more ink for my birthday & anniversary. He paid for all my background work to be done on my sleeves. Today I have an appointment at 11 am to start filling in the flowers. This is the meat & potatoes. I've been waiting a long time for this. I'll post pictures soon.

I went out with the girls the other night. We had so much fun. We went to Chevy's for happyhour then we went BOWLING! I suck at bowling but they do too so we ended up having a blast! I'm ready to do it again girls!

Jesse just got home from spending a week at my parent's house. She's with Ben this weekend and next then school starts. She's so proud off her job. She bought all her school clothes and supplies (except what my mom got her). I'm so proud of her too. 13 years old and working a job and learning to support herself and saving $ in a savings account. Good for her!

Jesse's gone this weekend, Duck's taking some alone time on the bike & doing an overnighter and the bike. I shoot a wedding all day Saturday & Sunday I get the whole day to myself. My favorite book PILLARS OF THE EARTH was just released as a mini-series on Net Flix so I think I'll spend Sunday watching that.

Not much else to share... I'll post pix soon. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Casie, too! And Too Much H2O

I almost forgot... Casie was one of the girls from the unit that came up & took care of me while in the hospital. She made me a great doggy Get Well Card, too. As a matter of the fact several of the girls made me scrap book style Get well Cards. They are all too good to me!

There was just too much water in the basement and the carpeting was too wet. It was starting too reek & I'm allergic to molds so I just spent the better part of 2 hours cutting up and pulling out almost 800 sq ft of carpet. It's not very pretty under the carpet but I REALLY don't want anyone getting sick from deadly molds from water leaks.

Today we get to go shopping for all new riding gear, compliments of Farmers Insurance. It's part of what has to be replaced from the accident on May 1st. Helmets, leathers, shoes, everything will be replaced!! Shop, shop, shop... fun, fun, fun!

Shower time now...ttyl!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Catch Up & Clean Up (continued)

Well, big decisions about the surgery on Duck's arm. He made end up with no use of his hand if the surgery isn't successful. If it's a small area of the nerve that's being affected it MAY be reparable. If it's complete nerve damage the success rate is about 0% recovery with the possibility of loss of the use of his hand. Hmmm... numb fingers vs. worthless hand. I say NO WAY but it's not my decision.

So our washer has been on it's last leg, no, last toe for quite sometime and a friend of ours was selling a fairly new washer & dryer for &75.00... so we bought the. He brought them over last night, hooked em up & started to run it thru a cycle since it hadn't been used in a while & we went up stairs & all had dinner. I went into the basement a few hours later to find the whole basement (minus my closet, thank God) with 3 - 4 inches of standing water on the floor. This is the CLEAN UP part of the update. We had about a dozen people helping us take EVERYTHING out of the basement and 2 shop vacs sucking up GALLONS of water. The standing water is all gone but the carpeting is SOAKED and will take a bit to dry out. I've been saying I needed to clean out the basement but this is a bit ridiculous. Some things were ruined other just slightly damaged and still other are just fine. It's gonna take a while for everything to dry out and for me to sort thru it but I'm excited to see the basement when it's all put back together. A fresh start after living here for 5 years will be good.
AND the washer is fixed. A simple little tube came off & a friend of ours who was helping knew exactly what the problem was and just fixed it in about 10 minutes. So all's well that end's well....

That's it for now.

Catch Up & Clean Up Time!






It's been a long while since I've blogged, hasn't it so this would be the CATCH UP part of the blog.

We LOVE Ruby. What a great ride! Duck to me to SLO (San Luis Obispo). It was just a quick over-nighter but we put over 500 miles on the bike in less than 36 hours. On the way down I was blessed with being hit on the forehead by a rather large bug & although I'm sure the bug got the short end of the deal (he's dead), I was left with a "goose egg" above my left eyebrow. Never the less we forged on & made it to SLO in time to take a nap & catch an AA meeting. Then the highlight of the trip... we had dinner with Donny & JoJo. The food was great but the company was much, much better. A decade ago Jo saved my life... she saved me from myself & my life of self destruction & for that I am eternally great-full. She is beyond a shadow of a doubt the very best friend I have ever had. On the way outta town, I cried because I just didn't know when I'd get to see her again... We took Hwy 1 home up to Monterey. What a beautiful coast line we have here in Cali.

Remember how I said I didn't know when I'd get to see Jo again? Well guess what!! I got to see her again just a couple of weeks ago. She called & asked if we could meet them in Hollister at the Corbin Seat factory. Jes was gone & I was off of work so meet them we did. We hung out at Corbin for a bit then went & grabbed a bite to eat. Again the company was better than the food. Then we all rode back to Modesto together. It was the first time I got to ride with Jo & I just can't wait for the next time. And you know me, when we parted ways at Carpenter & Paradise I cried again.

So let's see, what else? Duck is going this AM for a consult for the surgery he needs on his right arm - a hernia repair. We're also waiting for surgery on his back. Yep. That accident May 1 resulted in a piece of vertebra being chipped off & it's pushing on a nerve. We're still waiting for that consult... wait wait & then wait a little longer. Man I wish we could just get it taken care of so we could tie up the loose string with the insurance from the accident.

I've had a bit of a problem with my health lately. About 3 months ago I fainted at the bank for no apparent reason. I didn't think too much of it... as a matter of the fact I forgot to even tell duck about it! Oooops! Then I started having trouble staying awake at work despite getting plenty of sleep. Then one day we were out at the reservoir. I'd been laying in the sun for a few hours when I asked Duck if he was ready for some lunch. When I was standing at the tail-gate making the sandwiches I started to get really dizzy & felt like I had at the bank so I just bent down & put my head between my knees. I felt better after a few seconds so I went back to making the sandwiches. Then I felt everything closing in & I told Duck that I didn't feel right & though I was going to pass out. Well that's exactly what I did. He tried to get me to the lounge I'd been laying on but I stumbled past it then he says I turned to look at him, my eyes rolled back in my head & I passed out cold for 15 seconds or so. There's only 1 thing more embarrassing than wearing a swim suit & that's passing out & landing flat on your ass in a swim suit! Then next day I was having some more ink work done & every time I stood up I felt dizzy & once I even though I was gonna faint again. That night I went to a meeting & was outside talking to a friend when I tried to faint AGAIN! He took me back inside & told my Life Coach that I needed to go to the hospital. So I did what every good health care professional would do... I went to my unit to try a self diagnose the problem with having my blood pressure taken & checking my sugar. The charge nurse sent me to the ER despite my BP & sugar being okay. Laura help get me through there quickly & next thing I know I was being ADMITTED!!! I NEVER get sick enough to go into the hospital but my Hemogloblin was 7 (should be 14) & my crit was in the 20's. So I was admitted received 2 blood transfusions & an "iron infusion". I was only in overnight but I've been off of work work nearly a month now. Feeling somewhat better but still not 100%. I don't try to faint anymore but I get tired & short of breath easy & I get headaches but "I will survive". My doctor did some follow up blood work (I don't have the results yet) & wants me to go for a colonoscopy... fun fun fun! Just shoot me now!

Some of my girlfriends from the unit took care of me while I was in the hospital. Thanks Laura, Sumi, Jessica, Casie, Laurie, Regina, Sarah & the others for taking care of me & the cards. You girls ROCK! And thanks Janet for keeping Jes. You are truly a blessing!

We took a little vacation to the reservoir for about 10 days. Roo was with us most of the time but had to come home a few days early. We played in the water in relaxed & took naps. It was great but again VERY tiring for me. But at least I didn't faint in my swim suit again! I got a nice tan going on though. I was asked yesterday if I was Hawaiian!


Opps. Outta time. Going to the doctor with my hubby so I'll finish up later.