Losing half of myself!

More news, more things to digest

2006-05-01T17:52:00.000-07:00

I am told now that I probably need a hysterectomy.... I started bleeding the day I had all my mammograms and ultrasound tests and it kept up for 18 days! Saw my regular doctor and that's what she said. I am going to a GYN doctor in a couple weeks and a breast cancer specialist the end of the month.

Talking to my friend Nancy, she also had the same Birad 3 classification on her mammograms/ultrasound but it turned out to be cancer! So I am going to her specialist who saved her life, after two other surgeons wanted Nancy to wait the six months recommended by the radiologist who gave her the Birad 3 diagnosis....No way I am waiting!

To relieve my mind and to get new friends, I signed up for a Bus tour of Logan, Utah, about an hour or two north of here.. I went with a bunch of seniors older than me and made a new friend! It was fun! We went to Gossner's dairy outlet store, to Pepperidge Farm thrift store and to Cox Honeyland store with Golden Corral lunch in between. Made a whole day of it.... really nice to get away! The mountains in their spring colors were magnificent!

The mallards have become a regular feature at my bird feeder. They come every day and now sleep next to the feeder. I put out water and a pan of bread with water in it, so they can digest it easier. Even the magpies love that and now Robins are also feeding on it. I love watching the birds!!

At my doctor's office I had lost 7 lbs! Hey, that's a start! My back pain is worse so I had an MRI and that was not fun. I felt like the stuffing in a manocotti! They stuffed me into this metal chamber and turned it on, and it was hot, very noisy and my arms went numb from the pressure of the sides of the machine tunnel. Who invented these torture machines??? Egads!!

2006-04-18T15:34:00.000-07:00

This male Mallard was guarding his mate, during the snowstorm, checking to see if the pesky Magpies would attack or the Mourning Doves would trouble her...

The pair were hunkered down by the bird feeder, laying in the grass and reaching forward to eat the birdfood in the grass, but then after a while, they got up and wandered over to the concrete pad next to us to siphon up some water mixed with breadcrumbs I put out....

She finally settled down in the bushes near our RV and only came out when she felt hungry or threatened. The dogwalk was right near us and everytime someone came by to walk the dogs, the ducks moved away a bit, to safety.. I think they were nexting on the Jordan River Parkway near us and the water rose and destroyed their nest site. I don't know how they got on this side of the chainlink fence....I've never seen them before!

Prayers answered!

2006-04-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a freak snow storm. When I looked out my window, here were two mallards right next to the RV, at the bird feeder! Silly ducks. They hung around all day, chowing down on birdfood and bread I threw out. I went out in my bathrobe and bare feet to feed these two!

Today, I got the long-awaited phone call from my doctor about the Radiology reports for the Mammogram and Ultrasound I had last Thursday..... wherein they found some lumps in the left breast, which was unexpected.

Don'tcha hate it when they DON'T TELL YA ANYTHING and you know THEY KNOW and still they don't tell you, because supposedly they aren't supposed to? But if it's good, why not tell you, rather than leave you worrying for days and days?

Well, I worried for nothing, they told me. My doctor's nurse said it's benign and doesn't need surgery and they'll check me again in six months. Supposedly, whatever they found was FAT deposit type material. What me? FAT? NOOOooooooo! I'm not fat, am I??

Okay, there goes my plans to have double mastectomies and reconstruction with LARGER breasts..... I guess I can dream...

But seriously, I didn't want to go through the whole surgery thing anyway...I've had 22 surgeries in my 62 years, thank you!

Yes, God does answer prayers.. and He answered mine. Thank you LORD!!

2006-04-14T23:08:00.000-07:00

Life is all about new beginnings...... This beautiful tree reminds me so much of God's love and mercy.. I hope He will have mercy on me in the coming weeks and months.....

Digesting bad news.......

2006-04-14T22:48:00.000-07:00

Here's my hubby putting up our red and white rope lights, so when we sit out in the evenings, the light is soft and bright under the awning... His motorcycle is under the cover on the left... his pride and joy..... and my bikes are out of sight to the right of him .....
Now that I've had time to digest the bad news ... that I may have to have breast surgery and that may mean a double mastectomy.... I am only worrying about one thing: PAIN!!

I have had 22 other surgeries in my life and well remember the terrible pain after the operations...and how sick I felt for so long..... the last time I had surgery I was in the hospital for 11 days...and every day was miserably, painful, and tedious...

Now, I won't know until the middle of next week, what's to happen.... but in the meantime, yesterday, I was enjoying the beauty of the outdoors in Springtime....

My Chinese Snow Peas are really up now and the anemonies are still in bloom. The tree in the corner of the yard next to us didn't have any blooms and now it is a magnificent explosion of pinks! The birds, Mourning Doves, Starlings, Magpies, Finches and English Sparrows have become so bold that they flock to our feeder even when we are sitting just feet from them outside our RV.........

Some unexpected news....

2006-04-14T21:54:00.000-07:00

Well, on Thursday, I went to Salt Lake Regional Hospital Radiology to have a diagnostic Mammogram and Ultra Sound of the mysterious lump in my right breast that I found recently.. I don't remember if I bumped myself on something or what, but I found the green-bean shaped lump about a week prior ......and my doctor said I should get it out and she wanted a mammogram...etc..
So, based on her reaction, I really thought to myself, "Self, you are over-reacting as usual..It's probably nothing serious and certainly benign"...... as she seemed to be trying to indicate... Was she trying not to scare the crap out of me?

So, I didn't worry. I asked the radiologist tech to do BOTH breasts and she said they routinely do, for comparison. I whisked through the procedure (gee, she didn't even mash me enough to hurt really) ....... and then she came in and said that they were going to do an Ultrasound too, because they found something in the LEFT breast, ........but the owie on the right breast didn't even show up on the mammogram!

I was too shocked to even worry about it and when the other tech did the ultrasound, I saw immediately two BLACK areas on the left breast....that's NOT good...I know. From years and years in Histology and working in the medical field in various jobs......

2006-04-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

I came across some of the photos we took while trucking across the country, some 5,000 of them. This is the Georgia backroads in summer....
This one on the left is from Utah and the one on the lower right is from SW US probably NM or Arizona.... all taken from the cab of our Semi by a Cannon A-70 digital camera....

These photos are some I took over 16 months of trucking for Swift across the country. We decided we could enjoy Rving after being cooped up in a truck cab for as long as 30 days in a row....not killing each other at all!
Well, the rain has temporarily stopped....my knee is better and I am itching to ride my bike. My son, Austin, who just got back from two years in Brazil, got a job yesterday and is elated. Here he is just minutes off the airplane in Salt Lake. Our pride and joy and one of three of my sons. I will be soooo glad for him and us when he moves out on his own, and begins his life with a roommate. Our little RV is crowded!!!

2006-04-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

This is our home - a Trail Lite Ultralite RV. We love it! It's filled with luxuruous inside and is 27 feet long. We are full time RV-ers and will begin travelling the US in 2008!

Today we are barbecuing and have the awning up in Salt Lake's 66 degree temps. Spring is HERE!!!

Spring planting and blooms!

2006-04-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

Here at the RV park there is no room for a land garden, so I bought some containers and am raising snow peas, bush beans, bush tomatoes, peppers and salad greens. The yard is so beautiful right now, trees in bloom!

More Spring pictures from my RV site

2006-04-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some more great shots from today, Friday, April 7th....I had bad news yesterday that a lump in my breast has to come out and also had two cortisone shots in my foot and kneecap and am confined to the couch until the sprained knee heals...but I couldn't resist sitting out in the sunshine to shoot these pics!!

Here are my Spring phtos!!

2006-04-07T16:35:00.000-07:00

Well, here's some Spring photos just taken in Salt Lake outside our RV park site!

Enjoy! Considering yesterday it snowed about 5 inches of awful, wet and cold snow, and today it's in the 60's, these photos are just what I needed!

Losing half of myself!

2006-03-29T18:57:00.000-08:00

Losing half of myself!

Well, this is WHY I throw my leg OVER the seat of my new bike...I learned to do that to clear the backrest on Hubby's Honda Nighthawk.....I don't drive this thing, just him crazy because I am the biggest chicken on a motorcycle you ever saw...I have to close my eyes when he takes the curves or I will puke on him!

2006-03-29T18:47:00.000-08:00

catch those chicken knee guards! Wow, June beetles hurt at 60 mph! But I don't drive this beast, hubby does!

2006-03-29T18:45:00.000-08:00

Handsome hubby with longer hair!

Losing half of myself!

2006-03-27T19:52:00.000-08:00

Losing half of myself!

I started out on a Women's Comfort Cruiser, one speed....after getting the saddle height right I discovered that there was TOO MUCH OF ME to peddle around - I was exhausted and knees really hurting (which is NOT a good thing since it was my orthopedic surgeon's idea that I bike to improve my overworked knees!) Plus I kept reaching for the HAND BRAKES, which I didn't have on the one speed; Do you think my brain could remember way back to when I was 12 and used coaster brakes?

No!!! I kept finding myself putting down my feet to stop me! Not a pretty sight nor a safe one....so after much chagrin, I realized that I needed GEARS AND HANDBRAKES!!!

So, back to the store went my nice blue cruiser bike and the fun began....hubby helped pull down the bikes I wanted to try and hold them up so I could swing my overly large leg over the seat (I don't know why I can't just step through the women's frame like a NORMAL PERSON!!!)....well, next thing I know I am hung up on the saddle front and can't dismount the bike and as I tried to lift my leg back off the saddle, I about fell on not only MY noggin but a couple little kids who were nearby!

Panic!!! Lesson # 1: don't wear street pants to try on bikes -- they were so baggy they kept hanging up!!!

Finally I wore myself out and him too, and we had to go to McDonald's to recuperate and think things over.....I got up my courage and many bruises and headed back to the store and settled on a nice blue women's mountain bike for me.......

Then Utah weather intervened and it rained, snowed and did otherwise dasterdly things, preventing me from riding my new bike for almost a week!

Finally, hubby did the "swap old saddle from old bike and adjust saddle height" deal , and so forth and I went for a ride! (Picture a very fat old lady peddling in a wobbling fashion around our RV park...the folks just stared at me)....One old fellow stopped us and chatted while I got my breath...hubby was of course, right beside me all the time I was riding in case I went KERSPLATTTT..... brave soul he was...

It took us three more tries before I got the saddle height, stem height and muscles going to be able to ride all of about 1000 yards all together....boy was I pooped afterwards, wondering if I'd bitten off more than this old gal could chew...I was sore for days after.....

I thought I should get a newer smaller saddle for me and off I went to LBS and came home with several dandy items: a helmet mirror, an ankle strap and a nice Italian gel seat......happy and dumb as could be...

Hubby patiently applied new seat, while I stuck on the mirror and he jogged besides me to make sure I didn't kill myself riding while trying to adjust the rear view mirror on my helmet.......nearly hit a car, nearly ran into a parked Rv and actually figured out the mirror, but.....THAT SEAT FELT LIKE A GEL ENNEMA!!!

Fancy Italian saddle or not, it was NOT working with my nether parts....AT ALL!!! So back we went and patient hubby (DH) swapped saddles while grumbling......and we discovered that the nice basket I'd bought earlier would NOt work with the new stem height...oh, well, great idea while it worked....

I also discovered that my cute little flourescent flag would not work if I planned to throw my leg over the seat to mount my bike.....still not stepping through the frame...as you see...don't know why but maybe it's because I CAN'T LIFT MY LEG THAT HIGH!!! (yet I can throw it over the seat....really dumb..huh?)

So, I had to get on my bike, stand and turn sideways to insert the flag pole into the rear mount...picture that! Really problematic, but you see THAT FLAGPOLE MIGHT JUST SAVE ME FROM BECOMING A HOOD ORNAMENT~~~

Well, the ride was perfect...I was having no trouble reaching the brakes, gears (on the handlebars) and I was not sitting too far back, and my trusty old "elephant" saddle was really CUMFY!!! I was a happy camper. ....but a very winded one! Hey, this biking thing is HARD if you're out of shape, very fat and very old.....
Even better, I could stop myself with the brakes and also reach out my feet to balance myself without falling over... A MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENT...

I am excited about riding in the future...but I am a long way from riding down the trails with Yellow, a team estrogen member....she lives in the avenues and has invited me to join her on the Jordan River parkway which runs behind me in the Rv park....I am picturing her being very not happy when she learns that riding a few blocks is ALL I AM UP TO NOW.!!!

So, slow but easy I go, and hopefully will build myself up...I need to LOSE HALF OF MYSELF SO I CAN BE HEALTHY!!! It's going to take time.....

2006-03-27T13:34:00.000-08:00

I can't use the basket anymore since I raised the stem, but I keep the flag to warn people NOT to get near me! I might squash them!! Hahahahaa

2006-03-27T13:33:00.000-08:00

Here I am in late March on my brand new Mountain Bike. Wow, am I FATTTTT!!! Hopefully I can lose half myself in the next year!

2006-03-27T13:29:00.000-08:00

Here we two are, this past year. Can you believe I'm 62 and he's sixty?

2006-03-27T13:28:00.000-08:00

Here he is with his short haircut. My hubby-found-online back in 2001!

2006-03-27T13:27:00.000-08:00

This was taken by my Treo cellphone while in our truck cab. We went trucking for a year, saw the US and decided it wasn't for us. Now we live in Utah!

2006-03-27T13:25:00.000-08:00

Here is my hubby and his motorcycle helmet. We have a 2003 Honda Nighthawk which he loves.