Finally!!! Some Good News!

Maybe the GI does have a clue... I got my blood drawn yesterday and made my appointment this morning with my doctor and he came in with a small smile on his face! The highest out of range function is dropping and the two that were lesser out of range have dropped into high normal range. Yahoo!!!

The best part is I can go from 40 mgs. a day of the steroids to 30 mgs. a day for the next two weeks then drop back to 20 mgs. for 2 weeks until my next blood work and appointment. Thank you Lord... Those steroids wreak havoc with me, especially my rest and if I don't get my rest I'm a grumpy, growly lump that just wants to be left alone by all except my girls and sometimes even SueSue gets on my last nerve. Chloe is always sweet and wonderful and as content to lay around as long as mom wants to...

Reporting on the melatonin the shrink wanted me to try... I think it is helping me to rest better. I seem to be going to sleep easier and feeling more rested. I do seem to have more drowsiness to deal with when I do get up but once that passes I am feeling pretty good. I even started painting the kitchen. Will wonders never cease...

Anyway, let me say that I appreciate you all putting up with all this medical boring stuff simply to support my struggle with dealing with scary health things. More than I can say I am thankful for each and every one of you holding me up and being there when I needed to yell and vent and cry and know it's okay to let my guard down. More than words can say.

I've Been Too Long At The Fair...

I wish. Of all things I enjoy doing one of the top things on my list is going to the State Fair. It is one of those things that Carol and I both enjoy. We don't care about the rides but we love to go through all the buildings... Seeing all things from quilts, woodcarvings, photographs, butter sculpture, all sorts of crafts and foods... pies, cakes, cookies, canned goods, on to cut flowers, veggies of all sorts entered and hoping for best of show ribbons and recognition from their peers.

We like to look at all the things the school kids make, create, draw, paint and, again, cook and enter for perusal and judgement feeling their excitement emanating from their works or perhaps that's just my over-active imagination and recall from back in the olden days when I would enter poster drawing contests in grade school and be so excited, especially when news would come back that I'd won a ribbon... recognition for my creative abilities.

We also enjoy sampling a variety of "fair foods"... We both have our favorites and what we usually do is buy something, share it, wander and look some more, buy another food, share it and wander on to the next thing... for sure we always end up with a funnel cake, usually taking it to the car as we leave to munch on as we drive home.

This year none of the above happened. We would like for it to have happened, I mean we aren't getting any younger you know, but due to financial problems (van troubles that needed repair) and my feeling lousy and having doctor bills to pay... We didn't go to the fair.

But I digress... I've been too long from my blog. As I had shared with you all I have been having a hard time dealing with depression. I went to my GI on Sept. 13th for my appointment. My liver enzymes were still off, including another one that hadn't been up before. I've really got my doc scratching his head now. I told him that I really was not trying to be his difficult patient and he said if this keeps up I'm going to end up at the Liver Center at Mercy or Baptist Hospital. Geez. And as if I wasn't sleeping poorly enough, he jacked my Prednisone, a steroid, to 40 mg. a day and put me on Imuran, the long term med he had said he was going to prescribe after that first month of steroids got my ducts settled down which they didn't but he started me on the Imuran anyhow. It takes a while for the Imuran to build up in my system and he will start reducing the steroids a bit at a time. If any of you have been on an extended steroid regimen you know how it can mess with you. The news of possibly having to go to the hospital for tests was not exactly the news I was hoping for when I went to my appointment and I came home angry, frustrated and even more depressed. Am I ever going to feel human again?!

I called and made an appointment with a psychiatrist. I went to see him today. He upped my Cymbalta and also had me get some homeopathic stuff. Melatonin to try to help me rest and B-50 to help do something else, fish oil for something else and a prescription for folic acid to help with the liver. Don't misunderstand me... I'm more than willing to try this regimen for the next month and will try to document if it helps and at my next appointment we will determine if there has been any improvement in the depression. If so I will continue taking the vitamins along with the antidepressant and if not we will take the next step whatever that may be.

So I bit the bullet and took your all's advice and, better late than never, made the call for help. I hope that I will be able to soon report that the black cloud has lifted and is finally under some form of control. Better living through chemistry, don't 'cha know... Seriously I knew I needed some help to break the cycle but just kept putting it off thinking I could pull myself up by my bootstraps like I had in times before but I just didn't have the reserves this time. I think the extraordinary heat of the summer, along with the physical ailments that I've been dealing with the last 8 months just wore me down so I want to thank you all for standing behind me, encouraging me to get some help to deal with all this... You probably should have been kicking me in the butt to get me to move on it a little quicker but at least I'm in the works now and will follow through until at least my mind is better...

My next blood work and GI appointment is scheduled for the 27th of this month. I'll keep you posted on what is determined at that appointment. But I will post something between now and then so you all will know I'm still alive!

I will try to not stay quiet for this long again. Thanks to each and every one of you for checking on me and encouraging me. And I really, really mean it.

Another Ringy Dingy...Flower And Veggies...

My hens and chicks and other succulents came out strong and happy to show their colors, oh joy, oh joy. Spring is coming.

Let's burst out with all our blooms to celebrate!












Let's throw out beautiful color to welcome spring...











Fifty one days later. I've never lost hens and chicks to heat and am praying that these are not truly gone but will come back next spring.


















They look like someone tried to blowtorch them... and I guess in a sense that was true.












Sunflower turning it's face up toward the sun, celebrating...















Now... they can't even hold their heads up...















Ah, beautiful lantana. So bright and vibrant in it's color.
















This plant has thrived! It has at least doubled in size and has been blooming it's branches off.














The yellow and white lantana and the beautiful blue plumbago that so delighted me with the colors looking so good together...











These also have loved the heat. I wasn't too surprised about the lantana but the plumbago did surprise me. It looks so delicate but it must be tough as iron to have survived the heat.

I'll be getting more of both those plants next year just in case we have another hot one... but I'm praying that we don't have to go through another summer like this one in my lifetime.

I've shared with you now some of the good, the bad and the ugly. I hope your summer wasn't as tough on your garden as it was on ours. The weather forecasters think we here in Oklahoma will hit the 50 days over 100 degrees F. by Saturday, but having had a break with several rounds of storms will make the rest of the summer bearable.

Ask Not For Whom The Bells Toll...

Just be glad it's not for you or me... July, 2011, saw records being broken for heat all over the country and Oklahoma won with the hottest average for the month EVER recorded in the United States. It is a record that I just as soon would not have been smack dab in the middle of and watching my garden being roasted. My good day cucumbers that started out so well are DED dead...

Before... I was having fun hunting the little baby cukes getting their start towards growing to make my day, my salads day. At about the 2oth straight 100 degree F. day Norman was put on water rationing and we were cut to even day watering and the soaker hoses and sprinklers could only be run on our day before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m. so I did a lot of evening watering.





This picture I took today... just 51 days later. The good day cucumbers, besides trying to survive the heat, were defeated by a cut in the hose that I didn't find for four days. I had been fussed at to stay in out of the heat with all the medical crap that I had going on. I would go turn on the water to the soaker hose that I had run under some hedges, the sunflowers and the good day and bad day cucumbers. When things started looking not so good I got out and investigated and found the leak in the hose. Very little water made it to the plants for six days.


The bad day cucumbers getting their start. I have had a lot of fun doing the planting by the signs that Tipper over at Blind Pig And The Acorn started three years ago. I've always worked hard trying to insure that both groups got the same treatment, both in watering and keeping weeds and grass from taking nutrients from the plants so between the heat and me not checking the plants closer and not finding the hose problem really made me feel bad because both groups didn't get the same fair shake.


This picture I took today. These plants have survived, but barely. The break in the hose was further away and so these plants got their fair share of water. I found two cucumbers when I was looking at the plants today when I was out taking photos. I will probably say something on down the line about the cucumbers but this will be my last 'official' farm report because of the demise of the good day plants.

I was going to show you the flowers and how they are doing but I think I will make that my next post. I want to do some comparison photos for them also so I will work on that because I really do want to share with you all and help you see how decimating the heat was not only on the veggies but on the flowers. These posts will be somewhat depressing but I'm also trying to explore the optimism that all who love to garden must find to keep on keeping on with what we love to do when weather extremes mess with us...

Does that sound grandiose???

It's Not The "C" Word...

I'm not sure what it is but it's not cancer. The name of the diagnosis of the liver biopsy is as follows:

LIVER BIOPSIES: Changes suspicious for autoimmune cholangitis

Big words for a little lady... I've asked for the medico types in my family to share with me what the hell this is in layman's terms and when I get it I will share with you. Best I could understand from my doctor was that it is somewhat rare and is inflammation of the bile ducts. The doctor doesn't know what causes the change in the liver or if it can ever be cured or just managed but for the next 30 days I will be on 20mgs. of Prednisone and then he will put me on a prescription that he indicated I would probably have to take until Jesus comes home... And you all know just how much I love to take drugs with no ending. However if it makes me feel more like my old self I will gladly take it.

My hip is still doing good after the last injection and now I know my liver hasn't rotted away and is something I can live with maybe the medicine I'll be taking will help get me back somewhere in the vicinity of feeling human again.

Pardon me while I wipe my brow and say"Phew! Thank you, Lord!" Now maybe I can shed the stress that has had me tied in knots, making me hurt and only want to sleep.

I've got to get out and take photos for the final farm report so I'll be back in a day or two. If I get my layman's interpretation of autoimmune cholangitis I'll share it with you.

The Debate Continues...

Whoda thunk that grannie panties and Daisy Dukes would get such a discussion going? The reason for me breaking down and buying grannies is that when you get older and have a tendency to, well, ummm, how do I say this graciously... to leak a bit if you laugh, sneeze, cough and various other reasons... I just couldn't get myself to go commando. My bikinis that I have worn for years rode my hip in just the wrong place and were aggravating my aching hip. I fought it as long as I could stand but finally had to bite the bullet and buy the grannies. I can tell you that if you hurt bad enough you will do what is necessary to ease the pain.

It is true that I didn't have panty lines when I wore my DDs however... DDs tend to ride low on one's hips and unless you wear a t-shirt or blouse over them... the grannies show above the waist band of the DDs making me feel that I looked more like Erkel than just an aging Daisy Duke wannabe. Of course the t-shirts also cover the, ahem, muffin top around the top of the waist band or the love handles that also hang over the sides. I have never had to worry about my gams... I got someone else's legs. My brother has called them chicken bird legs among other things. Just being raised in a climate where shorts are more of a necessity as opposed to a luxury in the summertime I have all my life worn shorts and never paid much attention to how I looked in them until the GPs (Grannie pants so I don't have to keep spelling it out) problem. And to be real honest with y'all I mostly wore my DDs around the house and in the garden... not like going to the Golden Corral for the all you can eat buffet, although I have worn them to Lowe's to pick up paint or to visit the garden center and maybe to run to the WalMart for something I needed for right then, not for the whole food shopping thing. I didn't want to be in WallyWorld too long in case someone had the camera out looking for another one of our much loved WalMart shopper photos. And I must say even in my DDs I was dressed better than a lot of folks I saw doing their shopping... just sayin'.

I'll try to do some further clarification on this subject in another post. Just wanted to let you know that I'm enjoying all the chatter on this DD and GP subject. Goodnight and sleep tight... in grannies or whatever...

DumDumDaDumDumDaDaDumDumDaDum...

This is a post that hurts my heart to write... It is an end of an era. It is an admission that I never thought I would have to make. As we grow older we have these revelations smack us upside the head, things we never thought would be revealed to us in our lifetimes. The layers of innocence that have been peeled away from me over the years have not prepared me for this last layer of innocence to be ripped from my very innards.

All my life I have been a people watcher. I've learned many valuable lessons from watching people and the most valuable lesson that I learned was that I didn't plan or wish to get old like a lot of the people I knew... I would see them in their old people clothes and make sure that I didn't shop in the matron areas of different department stores... I wouldn't be caught dead in those areas. I didn't feel old so therefore I refuse to dress old.





Now comes the end of an era... at least part of an era...








R.
I.
P.

M
y

D
a
i
s
e
y


D
u
k
e
s





They don't look like much laid out here on the bed but when I slipped them on and rolled up the frayed bottom into cuff, an attitude just automatically came over my body.

I was ready for anything and I was sassy enough to get whatever I put them on to do was gonna get done with FLAIR, baby. With pizazz!!!

There was just something for me about my Dukes. For one thing, not many people my age had the confidence, the balls to wear them. I thought nothing about it. I had my projects that I like to wear them for mostly as you can tell for painting jobs around the house.

Then the revelation... and realization. Somehow for me...Daisey Dukes and granny panties just don't jive. It is a totally incongruous juxtaposition in my mind, a total oxymoron and I just can't get my mind past it.

So it is with deep sadness that I'm putting my Dukes away... I can't just pitch them yet. They will go deep in the drawer to R.I.P. until I can either get rid of them or use them in some sort of craft thing or maybe just to stay there until I go up in the sky and they will be someone else's problem...