Monthly Archives: October 2009

Aging, Family, Health, Holidays

Changes

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Fall                           Waxing Dark Moon

The leaves have finally changed color in our yard.  It happened almost over night.  Many went dry before they turned, but more have become red, gold, yellow.  The colors of fall are as much a part of our landscape as the snowdrops and daffodils are of spring.   Fall’s color gives us one last Times Square moment from the vegetal world before the emphasis moves to the monochromatic grace and elegance of winter.

Sounds like Dr. Mary Ellis may visit over Thanksgiving.  The Singapore government nixed an earlier visit due to the H1N1 virus.  Mary’s had a lot going on over the last four years.   Working and finishing a dissertation has never been easy; it consumed extra time and holidays.  This would be the first Thanksgiving I can recall in a long time that she would be here.  It’s always good to have family around during holiseason.

Kate comes home today.  Her primary exercise for the next bit of time will be walking.  Yes, she’s up and about.  No 100 yard dashes in the near term, but moving is good, real good.  She cannot twist, so no Chubby Checker’s music on the CD player.  She also has to bend at the waist, no flexing of the back.  She will need percocet for a few weeks.

Fortunately hand work is how Kate spends time while listening to lectures at continuing medical education so she has projects to keep her busy.

As soon as she’s able (maybe right now), she can also start using the treadmill.  5 minutes at first, then more as she heals.

Aging, Faith and Spirituality, Family, Garden, Our Land and Home

The House That Harvey Built, We Have Made a Home

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Fall                                                New (Dark) Moon

The house that Harvey built ( Harvey Kadlec) as a model house for Kadlec Estates–3122 153rd Ave. NW, Andover, Minnesota–became a home long ago.  The kids have contributed memories and projects.  The land around the house has had many iterations of plants and vegetables.  Kate has sewing materials and tools scattered here and there.  I have books and computers.vegachair

With Kate off in the hospital this home reverts part way to house.  Without her here part of the spirit of the home dwells elsewhere.

Houses are inanimate, things of wood and metal, pipes and plastic.  The house, or the apartment, at least in America, will have serial occupants.   Except for those folks who work with architects, their construction and  siting decided by someone else, often a construction company, these sophisticated shells provide shelter from the elements and changing seasons.  Various ports of entry connect a house to electrical service providers, a gas company, a cable or satellite service for TV and broadband internet, water and sewage removal.  Often a patch of earth surrounds the house, a buffer between the house and the outside world.

A home, now that’s another matter.  A home is a house (or apartment) that has been made real in the Velveteen Rabbit way.  It may have a step or two that jiggle when walked upon.  Maybe one or two windows have their weatherstripping coming loose.  The floors probably have scuff marks and once pristine walls have chips showing the wall board beneath.  At any time there is probably a light bulb out somewhere.  The gas fireplace stopped working two or three years ago.  The water pressure is not what it once was.

That brand new furniture that looked so good in the show room?  A dog is asleep there now with a young boy.  The cat scratched the chair and though long dead her mark remains.  The beds in the home have bred dreams, consoled sadness and rocked with anticipation on holiday mornings.  Showers have cleansed little boys before t-ball games, girls before prom, mom and dad before anniversary dinners or after funerals.

Cars have been dissected across the dining room table.  Gardens planned.  Weddings, too.  Thanksgiving dinners and birthday parties.  The oven still has the remnants from a first cake.

Aging, Family, Health

Kate on Tuesday

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Fall                                              New (Dark) Moon

Back from the hospital to visit Kate.  She has the blue plastic line with its black plunger next to her at all times so she can get in the morphine drip for her current fifteen minute period.  Aside from the bout with nausea during standing at around 8:30 am, she seems in reasonable, if not great spirits.  She did stand without nausea later in the day, a big step, but the pain is still intense while upright.

The People magazine I brought for her has a picture/picture puzzle where you have to identify the things that change from one picture to its near-identical twin below.  I gave it to her and she found 6 right away (out of 10).

We chatted off and on about the dogs, Ruth, her sisters, hospital care and the every dependable quality of hospital food (mediocre).  She feel asleep from the morphine at one point.  I wandered off and got supper, takeout from McDonald’s.  This seemed appropriate to me since the spine folks share floors with the Minneapolis Heart Hospital.  I figured my meal could bring me back to those very precincts. When I got she back, she had her meal:  tomato soup, chocolate pudding, a fruit drink and, best of all, Coffee!  We ate together while a cold rain fell and a mist settled over the skyline of Minneapolis.

She doesn’t like the condition she’s in right now, but in her words, “I signed up for it, so I need to suck it up.”  Hmmm.

That’s all the news from Lake Woebegone for today.

Aging, Health

Second Day at Abbott-Northwestern

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Fall                                             New (Dark) Moon

Kate called.  “Hi, I called to say I’m miserable.”  In Kate talk this means something made her nauseous.  She tried to get out of bed around 8:30 this morning and nausea struck.  This sends her in a downward spiral much more quickly than pain.  The second day after surgery is the pits.  No matter the results or reasons on the second day things hurt and the immediate hurt out flashes whatever rationale the surgery had in the first place.  This will pass, but it’s no fun while it lasts.

After I feed the dogs, eat lunch and nap I’m going into see her.  She feels yucky so I think some iris are in order.

Fortunately this week is pretty light expectation wise, so I can focus on the homefront and Kate’s needs.  Right now I’m cleaning, decluttering, making things cozy for her return home.  We’ll get her healed up and functional.

Oh, I got approved by Allianz as a preferred client for long term care health insurance.   This means they predict, based on my health records, that I won’t need their money.  On that basis they’ll sell me some insurance.   Geez.

Aging, Health

Kate’s Progress (and mine)

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Fall                                       New (Dark) Moon

I went back to the hospital last night to see Kate.  She was loopy with her finger on the PCA, patient controlled anesthetic.  It adds a hit of morphine when she decides she needs it.  She has a dilemma:  the pain is intense (to be expected with work on bone) but she does not like the way the morphine makes her feel.

Current plan has her in the hospital through Wednesday with Thursday a possibility if the pain has not subsided.  Pain management and the danger of infection are the primary reasons for her stay.

When I got to the hospital around 7:20, she had just arrived her in room.   It was a long recovery.  She was happy to have the procedure finished and the healing process underway.  Around 8, when the visiting hours are over, I left a very quiet hospital.  Kate had her fingers on the TV remote.

To continue for just a moment in the vein of pathology my vertigo hangs on, not too bad, but present.  It seems to return at some level after I lie down for a bit.  What’s left now is a woozy feeling on the periphery and the sense that I might pass into nausea.  In other words the symptoms, or their ghosts, hang on though the initial insult has waned.  No fun, but it’s not back surgery either.

General

Surgery Finished

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Fall                                New (Dark) Moon

Kate made it through the surgery just fine.  She’s in recovery and I’m home feeding the dogs and letting the lawn mowers work.  I’ll head back in an hour so to see how she’s doing.  We think she’ll stay tomorrow tonight, too.

It’s a relief that this phase of the process is complete.  The results of the surgery will not be apparent for some time, maybe as much as 3 or 4 weeks.

Aging, Family, Health

Kate’s Big Day

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Fall                                                 New (Dark) Moon

Speaking too soon.  Vertigo returned last night, stronger than at any point during this last spell.  Damn.  An annoying experience.  This morning, so far, I feel uneasy, but ok.  Hope that continues since we have a lot going on today.

Kate’s big day.  We go in around 11:00 for her 1 p.m. procedure.  Once she’s out of her surgery and in recovery, that is, after I know for sure things have gone ok, I have to come home to feed the dogs and take a nap.  She’ll be at Abbott-Northwestern in Minneapolis for the duration, estimated at 2 days.

Aging, Faith and Spirituality, Sport

Groveland

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Fall                                    New (Dark) Moon

As we approach Samhain, Summer’s End, on October 31st, we begin the new phase of the Dark Moon.  It finds my body healed from the bout of vertigo and relieved that the second round was milder than the first.  May it be so until it disappears.

At Groveland this morning, we had a lively and honest interchange over Groveland’s future.  I’m not sure what direction they’ll take though I have my guess.  It felt good to be in the O.D. role again.  Organizational Development is a skill I have that I use only occasionally.

The day is spectacular, sunny and warmish, a perfect mid-fall moment.

Tomorrow is Kate’s surgery.  It promises to relieve a good deal of her pain. May this, too, be so.

Not to mention that the Viking’s are working over the Ravens right now.

Cinema and Television, Health

Vertigo Comes Again

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Fall                                          Waning Blood Moon

Vertigo is a famous Hitchcock movie, one of his best the critics say.  Maybe so, but I wish it was something I experienced only in movies.  Unfortunately, it has come to visit me again.  I turned my head yesterday morning just after I woke up and said, “Oh, damn.”

This episode was neither as dramatic (I knew what it was.), nor as intense as the first one.  Kate had an opportunity to take care of me, which she liked.  I will have an opportunity to return the favor very soon.

I suppose vertigo was among the spells that visited my ancestors.  With no explanation this would start out as terrifying then gradual descend to a major nuisance.

This morning I have to go into St. Paul to do an organizational development (or de-development) process for Groveland UU.   It will be important to maintain my balance.  (ha, ha)

Weather +Climate

Snain

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Fall                                 Waning Blood Moon

A drizzly, cool day has settled in over Andover.  The weather folk call this wintry mix, but that seems so inelegant.  Yucky weather.  Crummy weather.  Snain.  Slert.  Aacckk.  Something like that.

It’s a great day to be inside snuggled up next to a warm computer screen.  Even so, Jake the fence guy is out in the backyard in carharts and hoody sinking posts for the new fence.  When I said, “Great weather to work outside, eh?”  He responded, “That’s why I’m going to Thailand in three weeks.”