"I get knocked down, but I get up again
Your never going to keep me down"....
Had a bit of a set back Late Sunday night and hit me hard by Monday afternoon.
Had been keeping close eye on my temperature after coming home and Sunday night it started slowly rising.
Monday morning I felt "off " . Nothing much . Just a little more fatigue than the past two days. A little light headed. A little hyper sensitivity to sound, taste, touch. UH OH...
Called my Doc and told him I think something was going wrong. He said until my temperature had reached 101.5 I'll be fine.
As the day went on I felt worse each hour. Now wracked with chills, sweats and muscle aches. My fever hit the magic number and I again phoned the office.
Not good, back to hospital for blood and urine work up. He phoned in two antibiotics for me and we picked them up and headed home. I was feeling so crappy that I just dropped the seat back for the car rides.
My fever kept going up and I spent a little over two days in bed. Very sick. My surgery was a cake walk to what I felt during that bacterial attack on my body.
The antibiotics are harsh , strong ones and this complicated my system even further...Let's just leave it at thank goodness to the chemists who invented Imodium.
Mother Nature was up to her old tricks and dumped another ten inches of snow on us during my illness.
At least Paul did not have to deal with muddy dogs on top of everything else.
Finally by late Thursday I felt better. Weak as a kitten , but it beats sicker than a dog any day!
Got my surgical staples removed on Friday.
Much to my relief my abdominal area no longer looks like an angry Rapper with a metal mouthed ( or Grills as they call them ) grimace.
The Doctor told us the blood cultures and urine tested positive for both E Coli and Streptococcus.
No wonder I felt like I had been hit by a bus!
Must have picked these up before I left the hospital.
My tumors were benign so we were happy for that news.
So, I'm really glad to have this over. Just a bit of bad luck I guess.
Just before I went in for surgery Paul and I went out for Chinese food.
My fortune cookie read
"your troubles will cease and fortune will smile upon you"
Anyone who knows some of the odd twists of fate that have been thrown my way will appreciate the irony of that little slip of paper.
I think my friend Lori was right when she said
"You grabbed the wrong cookie"
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Back Home Again
"Hey it's good to be back home again.
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend
Yes 'n' hey it's good to be back home again - John Denver
And it does!
I went in early Tuesday morning for my surgery. I managed to hold it together just up until the anesthesia Nurse informed me they were just about ready for me. My phobia took hold and the tears spilled, much to my embarrassment. The Nurse was wonderful and steadied me with jokingly telling me she did not want a "snotty patient" to put under. She talked to me and comforted me and took my fears seriously. "What are you worried about , Michele?"
I answered "never waking up"
She reassured me I was such a low risk having never been a smoker, heavy drinker and had no underlying health concerns.
I had talked to a few trusted friends who are employed in the medical profession as well as this very nurse in the days prior to my surgery. I had a very good understanding of the sedation process but being phobic, it was too hard to over ride my emotions just as time came for me to be sedated.
Yet, it was just as described to me.
The nurse indicated she was administering the first part of the sedation through the IV....and the next thing I recall was hearing a nurse saying "Okay Michele, your out of surgery everything went well".
WOW.
I was in my room by 8:00 AM . My brain was active but sluggish and it was hard to stay awake. I was hooked up to a Morphine IV . I felt like I had been hit by a bus! After several hours I started to be more aware and the nurse explained to me that if I needed pain relief there was a little button just off my right hand that would give me Morphine as I needed it. The first day I did pop that button some but asked the nurses if I was abusing it at all. They said that after surgery I was given a measured unit of Morphine and that in the following 12 or so hours I had used the equivalent amount . I felt like I was pushing that button a lot the first half of the day but they assured me that they have had patients that they had to take it away from because they kept pressing the button.
The one thing no one had made me aware of was that there would be a catheter inserted in my urethra the first 24 hours.
Having never undergone any major surgery before this was the most irritating thing to the surgery.
Your encouraged to get up and about as soon as you can. Somewhere in the late afternoon I gave it a go . I wanted to get the clouds out of my head but to be honest the catheter was the issue more than the eight inch incision in my gut!
Clutching the IV pole with one hand and the bag of my own urine in the other as I made my way over to sit in a chair was not a walk in the park.
SITTING in the chair with the catheter feeling more like a flagpole shoved in my urethra was MUCH worse!
That night around 4:30 AM I woke up and counted down the hours...that catheter was coming out around 6-6:30 AM I was told the night before and it could not come quick enough.
Nothing worse than the nurse adjusting your blankets and some how tugging on that line from the urine bag to where it was going in your body, I felt like my urethra was now located somewhere down around my knees.
The next day I felt much clearer but was running a fever. I kept at the breathing exercises they ask you to do even though they hurt like hell . I was also taken off the Morphine. While it did help with the pain it also made me very sick to my stomach . I think between the anesthesia and Morphine just made me feel horrible and as soon as I was relieved of it and that catheter things felt much better. The fever was troubling but thankfully broke on Thursday.
I was doing my best to be up and walking and wanted bad to go home.
What a treat to leave the hospital and be greeted with 70 degree temperatures!
My overall first time hospital experience was a very good one. I hope it will be my last, or that it will be a very long time before I have another stay to compare this one to it.
It was so good to get home.
I missed the dogs. Paul said they missed me too. When he would take them out to walk they went hunting for me. When he brought them inside they searched the rooms for me.
It warmed my heart to find so many messages on e mail asking how I was feeling as well as several of my closest friends calling me in the hospital to check on me. Thanks everyone, it means much to me.
Paul did a great job of caring for the critters , though I had no doubt he would not do a fantastic job.
My few remaining hair sheep obliged us and did not have lambs while I was in the hospital. I was happy for this, but more happy for Paul because I know he was worried about dealing with a lambing while I was not here.
We did have a ewe deliver a single a few days before I was to go in. When I was looking through my records I saw that she had had her own lamb on her birthday. Now, what a sweet present for her. She is a great mom, something you worry about breeding sheep that are just coming on their own first year.
So, now on to healing.
I hope I'll have the dogs and myself tuned up and in good shape for our first trials this spring.
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend
Yes 'n' hey it's good to be back home again - John Denver
And it does!
I went in early Tuesday morning for my surgery. I managed to hold it together just up until the anesthesia Nurse informed me they were just about ready for me. My phobia took hold and the tears spilled, much to my embarrassment. The Nurse was wonderful and steadied me with jokingly telling me she did not want a "snotty patient" to put under. She talked to me and comforted me and took my fears seriously. "What are you worried about , Michele?"
I answered "never waking up"
She reassured me I was such a low risk having never been a smoker, heavy drinker and had no underlying health concerns.
I had talked to a few trusted friends who are employed in the medical profession as well as this very nurse in the days prior to my surgery. I had a very good understanding of the sedation process but being phobic, it was too hard to over ride my emotions just as time came for me to be sedated.
Yet, it was just as described to me.
The nurse indicated she was administering the first part of the sedation through the IV....and the next thing I recall was hearing a nurse saying "Okay Michele, your out of surgery everything went well".
WOW.
I was in my room by 8:00 AM . My brain was active but sluggish and it was hard to stay awake. I was hooked up to a Morphine IV . I felt like I had been hit by a bus! After several hours I started to be more aware and the nurse explained to me that if I needed pain relief there was a little button just off my right hand that would give me Morphine as I needed it. The first day I did pop that button some but asked the nurses if I was abusing it at all. They said that after surgery I was given a measured unit of Morphine and that in the following 12 or so hours I had used the equivalent amount . I felt like I was pushing that button a lot the first half of the day but they assured me that they have had patients that they had to take it away from because they kept pressing the button.
The one thing no one had made me aware of was that there would be a catheter inserted in my urethra the first 24 hours.
Having never undergone any major surgery before this was the most irritating thing to the surgery.
Your encouraged to get up and about as soon as you can. Somewhere in the late afternoon I gave it a go . I wanted to get the clouds out of my head but to be honest the catheter was the issue more than the eight inch incision in my gut!
Clutching the IV pole with one hand and the bag of my own urine in the other as I made my way over to sit in a chair was not a walk in the park.
SITTING in the chair with the catheter feeling more like a flagpole shoved in my urethra was MUCH worse!
That night around 4:30 AM I woke up and counted down the hours...that catheter was coming out around 6-6:30 AM I was told the night before and it could not come quick enough.
Nothing worse than the nurse adjusting your blankets and some how tugging on that line from the urine bag to where it was going in your body, I felt like my urethra was now located somewhere down around my knees.
The next day I felt much clearer but was running a fever. I kept at the breathing exercises they ask you to do even though they hurt like hell . I was also taken off the Morphine. While it did help with the pain it also made me very sick to my stomach . I think between the anesthesia and Morphine just made me feel horrible and as soon as I was relieved of it and that catheter things felt much better. The fever was troubling but thankfully broke on Thursday.
I was doing my best to be up and walking and wanted bad to go home.
What a treat to leave the hospital and be greeted with 70 degree temperatures!
My overall first time hospital experience was a very good one. I hope it will be my last, or that it will be a very long time before I have another stay to compare this one to it.
It was so good to get home.
I missed the dogs. Paul said they missed me too. When he would take them out to walk they went hunting for me. When he brought them inside they searched the rooms for me.
It warmed my heart to find so many messages on e mail asking how I was feeling as well as several of my closest friends calling me in the hospital to check on me. Thanks everyone, it means much to me.
Paul did a great job of caring for the critters , though I had no doubt he would not do a fantastic job.
My few remaining hair sheep obliged us and did not have lambs while I was in the hospital. I was happy for this, but more happy for Paul because I know he was worried about dealing with a lambing while I was not here.
We did have a ewe deliver a single a few days before I was to go in. When I was looking through my records I saw that she had had her own lamb on her birthday. Now, what a sweet present for her. She is a great mom, something you worry about breeding sheep that are just coming on their own first year.
So, now on to healing.
I hope I'll have the dogs and myself tuned up and in good shape for our first trials this spring.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
March madness
I hate March, always have. Weather is too changing. Windy , rainy, snow sleet . Cloudy more than not. Yet it can also be warm , sunny , calm. So far this year we are not seeing the "Lamb" of March, has been behaving much more "Lion" like.
I have noticed some of the birds are making their way back.
Nice to see them as well as hear them. Geese honking, song birds feeble in their early spring songs.
Soon the air will be filled with many birds courting mates . I love listening to them.
Had two more lambs born a few days ago, and as I had worried the "runt" of the triplets died. Tried the bottle with him but he just did not take on enough. I really need to learn how to stomach tube them.
I still have five Maiden ewes to go of my hair sheep. Thankfully none look eminent so hope they hold off a bit while I'm in the hospital next week and then needing several more weeks for healing.
Took the young dogs out a few days ago and worked them. Finally melted off enough to give it a go. It's been a good solid two or maybe a bit more months that we have done any training. It shows. My handling was lazy and the dogs were not really listening . As soon as I am feeling well enough I'll get back at it, more at hand stuff to keep them honest. I guess for dogs who are just about 22 months of age they did not look THAT bad, but they have looked better! Both blew me off for the most part, no stop, no flank. I nagged for obedience but never did much to get it!
Well this was the reasoning behind the camcorder purchase.
So I could take a critical eye of the dogs and myself. I don't like much of what I am seeing in the video's but if I only shared them while all looked fantastic am I really being honest with you about the dogs?
I am having some issues struggling with the upload process and can't seem to figure out how to get them up , maintain the full length or the quality. They look grainy and choppy to me or are cut short of their full time. I am hoping I can figure out at some point how to clean them up. As well as offer some better work of both myself and dogs!
I have noticed some of the birds are making their way back.
Nice to see them as well as hear them. Geese honking, song birds feeble in their early spring songs.
Soon the air will be filled with many birds courting mates . I love listening to them.
Had two more lambs born a few days ago, and as I had worried the "runt" of the triplets died. Tried the bottle with him but he just did not take on enough. I really need to learn how to stomach tube them.
I still have five Maiden ewes to go of my hair sheep. Thankfully none look eminent so hope they hold off a bit while I'm in the hospital next week and then needing several more weeks for healing.
Took the young dogs out a few days ago and worked them. Finally melted off enough to give it a go. It's been a good solid two or maybe a bit more months that we have done any training. It shows. My handling was lazy and the dogs were not really listening . As soon as I am feeling well enough I'll get back at it, more at hand stuff to keep them honest. I guess for dogs who are just about 22 months of age they did not look THAT bad, but they have looked better! Both blew me off for the most part, no stop, no flank. I nagged for obedience but never did much to get it!
Well this was the reasoning behind the camcorder purchase.
So I could take a critical eye of the dogs and myself. I don't like much of what I am seeing in the video's but if I only shared them while all looked fantastic am I really being honest with you about the dogs?
I am having some issues struggling with the upload process and can't seem to figure out how to get them up , maintain the full length or the quality. They look grainy and choppy to me or are cut short of their full time. I am hoping I can figure out at some point how to clean them up. As well as offer some better work of both myself and dogs!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
the wonders of Wool
We have all heard how great wool is to keep us snug and warm when it's chilly out. Even when it's wet it still keeps you warm.
Why even a little hair lamb can figure that one out!
Why even a little hair lamb can figure that one out!
My hair ewes are finally getting with the program and had a set of triplets born yesterday (two ewe and one ram) and a set of twins today (ewe and ram) . I am a little worried about the triplet ram lamb. He is really tiny but seems to be bright and healthy and nursing well. I'll keep them jugged for a bit just to make sure he is off to a good start.
The ram lamb from the twins is pretty cool looking . Coco brown with flecks of white and badger markings.
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