Misc - May 30th

Morris reclaims his bed: As previously stated, Morris sometimes sleeps on the bed in the guest room/office. However, he lost his access to the bed when Nancy was here. I couldn't find him in the house a couple of days after Nancy left but knew he was somewhere in the house.

And here he is..... He moved a small pillow out of the way and crawled in between the pillows on his bed which he shares with guests when they come to visit.

My new favorite flower: I had never heard of Knock-Out Roses until I was here last summer. They were introduced in 2000 so are a relatively new species. They are cold and heat tolerant, reliably resistant to disease, produces a bevy of blooms every 5 to 6 weeks from spring until the first hard frost and come in several colors. I'm really surprised that they aren't used in the desert.

You see them EVERYWHERE back here - in medians, along highways, on street corners, as hedges, single plants and in elaborate landscaping areas. This group are between my apartment and the street behind my apt.  The blue arrow points to my patio.  It was important to me when placing my recliner, that I would be able to see out the dining room window and see these roses. From the recliner, I can look straight out or at an angle through a dining room window. I walk past several groupings of Knock-Out roses when doing my morning walk and love them.

Lung biopsy: I am scheduled for the biopsy on June 5th.  They called me last Tuesday to say they had an opening yesterday if I could come in and I said "no". I needed more time to get my "mind around the whole thing" so rescheduled it for the 12th. Vivian (niece) is going with me since I can't drive afterward.  They told me to bring a bag just in case I have to stay overnight, and I really didn't need to hear that! I guess the biggest risk is that the lung will collapse and they have to re-inflate it which is the main reason for having to stay overnight. Then I see the cardiologist on June 9th..... Thank goodness I have some genealogy and photography classes scheduled in June so I have something to look forward to....

When it rains, it pours.....

...and I don't mean the stuff that falls from the sky....  You never know when you move to a new area what your initial luck with new doctors will be but I have lucked out with my new primary care doctor!  I went in to see him on May 6th for a "get acquainted" appoint. I wanted to have all my doctors in the KU Med Center which is where the liver and kidney doctor are so they can all see each other's notes, lab results, tests, etc. The main hospital is about 30 minutes away but some clinics, etc are only a few miles away.  Anyway, he wanted me to have a cardio scan done since I have a history of heart disease in my family and I have always had high cholesterol and high triglycerides.  Then there was a back x-ray to find out why my back keeps bothering me - it was especially bad when I was moving boxes around, etc. On May 16th, I got one of those "the doctor would like for you to come in to discuss your test results" calls while Nancy was here so she went with me that same day.  I found out that I have a lot of plaque buildup in my heart arteries  which doesn't surprise me. However, when looking at the pictures from the CT scan on the heart, they found a little spot (about 1/2" dia) on my lower right lung. For the plaque, I have an appointment with a cardiologist to see what he says but the emphasis will be on prevention.  At least it didn't take me having a heart attack to find out I have a problem.  The doctor feels that the spot on the lung could be scar tissue from having histoplasmosis when I was a kid. That is a fungus caught from birds and my mother had chickens when I was growing up and I was the one who gathered the eggs everyday.  For you in Tucson, histoplasmosis is the Midwest version of Valley Fever. He said I could have had it but didn't know I had it and it does sometimes leave scar tissue in the lungs. That is what we are hoping it is but I do have a needle biopsy early scheduled next month. Needless to say, the idea of lung cancer is pretty hard to digest due to Larry and my nephew both having had it.  The doc is being very positive because the spot is so small and I fit the profile of someone who could have contacted histoplasmosis. And then there is the back..... I have a problem with L4 vertebrae and moderate arthritis from L4-S1, what ever all that means.  We are dealing with the heart and lung first and then will worry about the back.  The GOOD news is that my liver and kidney function tests were perfect! I am trying really hard to not panic, accept what I can't control and just flow with it until we know more.  

Yes, I'm still alive

It has been a very busy 2 weeks.....  A friend from Tucson was here for a week and that kept me busy being hostess and tour guide. Then on Friday, I went down to Sarcoxie, my hometown, with 2 nieces and we came back Saturday afternoon late. Our mission was to put flowers on the graves of 14 family members - some mine and some on their mother's side plus some for my sister-in-law's family. When I was a kid, it was a big thing to go "decorate the graves" for Memorial Day. I was surprised to learn that it is still a big thing here in the Midwest. It was nice to know that some traditions have continued in parts of the country. I knew so many of the people in the town so it was very nostalgic for me.

Front row L-R: My mother, dad and nephew who died last August. My "spot" is the one to the left of my mother's 8-).  My nephew chose the spot next to my dad so they could "chat".....

I left Morris to fend for himself after leaving plenty of food and he did quite well.  I think that is only the 2nd time he has been left by himself overnight. Yes, I know, SPOILED! I knew when I got home that he would either totally ignore me or chew me out and it was the chewing out as he was following me around the house. I couldn't get more than a few feet from him for several hours.

Speaking of Morris, he has really gotten in a habit of going for his daily walks. For me it is a lot of standing around while he sniffs every blade of grass and them moves on a few feet to repeat the sniffing. He checks out all the trees for lizards.  The birds who have nests nearby are very vocal when he is out in the yard.  Today he walked around about 3/4 of the apt building which is pretty large. He passed 4 patios on the way home and knew which one was ours by trying to go into it through the wrought iron fence around it - he ignored the other 3.

Iris blooms from Vivian's yard. I always think of my mother when I see them since she always had Iris plants in her flower garden when I was a kid.

 



 

Busy, Busy, Busy

I really have no idea how I ever found the time to work!  It seems like I am continually busy from the time I get up until 5:30 p.m. when I set down to watch the National News. There is reading the morning paper with breakfast, catching up with emails, facebook, etc on the computer, running errands, taking genealogy classes, visiting with family, genealogy research on the computer and at the local center, taking Morris for walks, working on my photographs in the digital darkroom (on the computer) and now there is "gardening". That schedule does not allow a lot of time for housework, laundry, etc. which means I have my priorities right.  Plus I don't have a bird feeder for Morris and that will be another thing to do - keep it filled since I don't think Morris will be doing it.

Speaking of gardening......after 8 years in the desert where I was limited to cactus and desert plants, I am like a kid in a candy store back here with all the plants and flowers.  So of course I had to have some and containers seemed to be the way to go. A lot of people in the apartment complex plant flowers and even vegetables along their buildings. That is more work that I want to do. However, I don't have a drip system here, much to my dismay, so have to water them all by hand.

This is my entry way. The single container is a rose bush which I just had to have! I'm thinking of putting a park bench against the wall so I will have a place to rest when I get tired of working in the garden.....

This is one end of the patio off the living room. The rest of the patio is taken up with 2 rockers, a small table big enough for wine glasses and a bakers rack. And for you ladies in Tucson, notice the wind chime. 8-)  I LOVE the sound it makes - you did good!  This patio faces north and doesn't get any sun so I was limited in what I can plant there.

The baker's rack is behind the rocking chairs.  All but one of the flowers/plants on the rack is real and the rest are artificial. 8-) The frog on the third shelf down, is from Larry's frog collection and is very well traveled having been with him in San Francisco, Sacramento (twice), Salt Lake City, Tucson and now Kansas.

Life is good...