BLIND DUMB LUCK

There are times when I wonder if I will ever learn. I did something so stoopid Friday night that I am amazed at myelf. I got so caught up in WoW that I stayed at the computer until almost 0300. I woke up very late Seturday morning with another DVT. Just what I didn't need. I did stay in bed for most of the day, with only very short bathroom trips and even quicker stops here to answer e mails. I even got myself ready to go to hospital like a good girl. I was so slow Sunday morning that I missed morning clinic hours. "Fine", I told myself. "Get your butt in gear earlier and go tomorrow." I was actually up and ready to go when Savta called and said that he'd like to meet up with me and we decided to meet at the clinic. I got a little delayed in leaving thanks to a semi emergency loo stop. I was feeling more than a little crap and decided to not get dressed and headed out in my house coat.On the way I remembered that it was Monday and my doc does not work on Mondays."Ok" Thought me to myself, "I'll just wait another day so I won't have to explain the whole mess to the new doc at the clinic" Savta and I met up at about the half way point between Gimp House and the clinic, and came back here to sit in the sun and chat for a while. The very first thing he told me was that I didn't look at all well. No kidding? So, there we sat in the sun and chattered away, then, I stayed in the sun and chatted with a neighbor for a while, then, went to get the mail. I was feeling much better by the time I got in.
Today I did manage to get the clinic in the nick of time and the doc and I decided that I could skip the hospital this time and came up with a plan. If I have lost enough weight to fit into a stock pressure stocking size, I'll start using them like I was supposed to a year ago, and that I would get an echo doppler ultrasound done on my legs and go see the vascular doc who did my endarterctomy. He also suggested that I go to the store that sells the stockings to be sure they'd fit before giving me the authorization to buy them. I did exactly that, and the owner said, "No problem, they will fit you just fine" and complimented me on my weight loss. Little does he know how I did lose all this weight. I'm so glad it's gone even if the method is highly unrecommended. So, rather than wait until tomorrow, I'll go back to the clinic at 1600 to get the authorization. Might was well get that sorted as soon as possible.
I am well aware that I was just plain lucky this time, and have already told myself that next time, there will be no fooling around. I will take myself off to hospital and not count on blind dumb good luck. I will also never again stay at the computer for so many hours. That was just about the stupidest thing I have ever done. It's not like I don't know any better. I do, and will not do that again. Other than that, not much of note has happened.

IT TOOK LONG ENOUGH

I've only been talking about it since the day I found that the jammy bottoms my son's sister left in her closet here fit me now! I came up with more excuses than usual to not have a picture taken in them. I really really don't like most(ok, all) of the pictures I've had taken over the past 11 or so years. Then, I decided to just get it over with and handed the camera to Golan last night and told him to shoot me. He did, and I actually am quite pleased with the way I look in them! Right. Now, you tell me how I look 60 lbs lighter.

See how much room there is in the legs? And never mind the chins. I also don't really want to talk about how much it hurt to force myself to stand up straight. Back when I was young, beautiful and able to walk, I had very good posture, but, now that my spine is distegrating, I'm kind of bent over when I stand up. I figured this out from the pictures I posted yesterday.The original plan for these jammy pictures was to have Pegasus in them too, but he wasn't having any of it and plopped himself down on the floor to my right. He's getting almost as good as I am at hiding from cameras. Smart doggy
Nothing much of any note happened yesterday, and here we are at Tuesday, waiting to see who/if anyone shows up for the weekly cleaning hour The kitchen is in pretty good shape for a change, so, I think we'll do the 'pantry' instead of dishes and stove top before we do the floor. Or, maybe, change the bed. I have about half an hour to cogitate on the international implications of the options!

ONE DAY I WILL FIGURE OUT A WAY

I am doing this under protest. I really do not like having my picture taken, and I dislike posting it on the interweb even more. Yeah, I know I've posted more than a few here, but, in my defense, they were only to illlustrate events. I have now been convinced that losing 60 pounds IS an event that needs a picture posted. So, here's one, in illustration of the first time in close to 11 years that I bought a 'sweat suit' at a proper sized people store. Thanks to this picture I have discovered that I can not stand up straight any more. Oh, well, here I am 60 lbs. lighter.

The neckline of the top is a little crooked, but, then, so am I! Just try and imagine hauling around 60 lbs more. Scary, isn't it? There will be another picture coming along one of these days. It will illustrate the jammy bottoms I raided from my son's sister's closet, and the jammy bottoms are getting a little bigger! I am the world's champion spiller and there were coffee and soup spots on the thighs of the jammy bottoms, and I wasn't about to have a picture taken with those stains. I finally got them clean and am fast running out of excuses to not have the picture taken!
Nothing of earth shattering consequence has happened since my last post except that my son called, and they have another baby on the way. Ok, so, that isn't world shattering news, but it is pretty exciting to this gimpy old granny. I'm not sure when the new member of the family is due. I kind of forgot to ask because we got into the whole 'I do not want to know the baby's gender' thing My son's generation is used to everything NOW and just can't wait for much of anything. The sad thing is that because they can find out the gender in the early months, they will never know the delicious feeling of anticipation that parents of my generation had.I might be brain damaged and a little forgetful these days, but I do remember how much fun it was to wonder if it would be a boy or a girl and talking about names for either option. Back in those olden days, it was possible to find out the gender by amniocentesis(sp) but that was usually only done to check for suspected defects after an ultra sound or if there was a family history. Ultra sound was pretty primitive in those days and it was really hard to figure out what the baby would be. These days even a half blind person can see for themselves what it will be.That is good medically, but, it takes away all that wonderful anticipation. Yup, the NOW generation sure is missing out on one of the most wonderous experiences we of the 'medical dark ages' got to enjoy until the very end. Unless of course, you were married to my ex husband, and he was in the labor room with you. In that case the anticipation could last a little longer. When my son's sister was born, the baby catcher announced that she was a girl. Her father disagreed with that medical opinion and argued that, "No, It's a boy!" They went back and forth on that a few times until the poor, sore, wondering mother said that she'd go with the baby catcher on that as he has more experience in gener recognition! Poor Daddy finally figured out that, yes, it's a girl! Ah, the good old days. Of course I still like anticipating things. Just about anything. It's one of life's greatest pleasures for me.I wake up every morning thankful that I will be able to find out what the new day holds for me. Ok, sometimes I could be happier without some of the things, but, that's just the way it goes sometimes. Even then, I'm thankful for even those days.I just love being alive and able to function at all. Anticipation is, to me,one of the best parts of being alive. That, and curiosity.
I have a very close friend from early childhood whose bithday and old home phone number are indelible in my mind. I sent her an e card on her birthday and never got notification that she opened it. That got me to thinking that maybe I had the wrong e daay for her, and came up with the bright idea of contacting her through Facebook. It worked, and then, I found out that she had gone to Maine to help her mother who had broken her arm. So, yeah, of course I called. She had taken herself off to an interweb coffee house, so, wasn't home (duh). I did have a most wonderful chat with her mother. Boy did that ever take me back in time. It was a bittersweet reminder of my own mother, and after we hung up I got a little nostalgically weepy, but it was a very nice weepiness. Part of it was that she brought my mother and childhood back so clearly, and that I was talking to someone who had actually known me pretty much from the day I was born and my whole life history was pretty much known to her. It was wonderful, and I do know that my friend knows just how fortunate she is to still have her mother.I still ache all over missing my parents.But, I do still have my brother, and that's wonderful. I adore and admire that kid so much. And am ever so thankful that I still have him.

NOT THE HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY

I've had, what? 58 birthdays so far and I remember very few of them. What I do remember from the last 9 or so is how happy I was to be here for them. Today easily qualifies as one of the worst ever. I was awake unti well after 0300, and was woken by the phone at 0830. Yes, this time I did answer the blue tooth, not a cigarette lighter. The minute I heard my friend Etty's voice, I knew what she was going to tell me. Her husband Yaacov passed away last Thursday and she couldn't reach me to tell me before the funeral. Etty and Yaacov were the only people that I stayed in touch with from Nazareth Elite after I moved here. There are few better friends than they. Yaacov had hands that could fix anything and a sense of humor that would have put most standupists to shame. He was one smart guy. The world is a sadder place without him in it. They are sitting Shiva at his mother's house near Tiberius, which means I can easily visit as there are no stairs to negotiate. I'm thinking of maybe going tomorrow.
The car needed to have it's annual inspection today. As I can't exactly get into the office myself, Golan went with me, and did that part. Then, I brought him back here and went back to go through the test. After the headlights were checked and I was informed that the car doesn't need glasses, I had to move up to a pit so they could check stuff from there. As soon as I stopped over the pit, I was overwhelmed and the tears started. It's just so sad that a guy who is only 60 years old gets a brain tumor and then dies. He had so much to live for. Both their sons are now married and have kids and are doing well in general. He was so proud of them and should have had more time to enjoy them. After a few weepy moments, I got control again and finished the test. The only thing wrong was the wiper blades but for NIS 30 they were changed on the spot and the car is good to go. Of course I had to take it back to that office I can't get into. The tester guy grabbed someone who was going in and asked him to sort it for me. He did, and even put the new sticker on for me. So, the car is good to go. It will get it's annual wash for passing the test tomorrow as it's kind of raining today. Now that that's all over with, I can get on with being sad. It certainly goes with the weather.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

I don't much like my birthday any more. I used to like it a lot more when my father was still alive and sent that annual birthday/ Hannukah check. Not for the money, but because he remembered. I miss him all the time, but it's even worse at this time of the year.One thing that do like about my birthday is (are you ready for this?) that I am one year older than I was on my last one. With all the things that have gone wrong with me, I never quite expected to make it this far, but am quite pleased that I did. I bought myself a present this year and am trying to pretend to myself that it's from my father.

Isn't she cute? Golan is going to help hang her up someplace later. Gimp House doesn't exactly have a lot of spare floor space for her to take up, so, we'll just have to hang her.
Another thing I'm giving myself for birthday is to send an unused cell phone to a friend in The States. She really can't afford one right now, and I don't use this one, so why not?
All in all it's shaping up to be a fine birthday and I hope I have lots more! (wicked grin of evility)

I DID IT AGAIN

It really is fun being me, or should I say funny? I never know what I'm going to do next! So far I've used my right ear as an ash tray, slammed my face in the fridge door, almost wiped dog poop off the floor with my face, driven Harley up the side of Gimp House and been dumped unceremoniously onto the ramp. But the latest doesn't fall short of the others except that it really posed no danger to me at all, which makes it all the funnier.
Every night when I climb into bed, I put my blue tooth 'ear' on the table next to 'my' side of the bed. The cell phones go on the other side of my bed and just lie there getting charged. The other morning the main cell phone rang and I reached for the blue tooth 'ear' to answer it. The phone was still ringing but I didn't hear anyone on the other end of the ear. I finally gave in and opened my eyes to find out what was wrong with the 'ear' and discovered that I was trying to answer a cigarette lighter that is similar in shape to the 'ear'. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, I decided that the best course of action was to just go back to sleep.
Now, who can honestly say that they know someone who has done even one of those things I've managed to do in the last six months or so?
Yes, it really is fun to be me. I never know what I'm going to do next. It's fun finding out, though.

THAT'S ONE WAY TO START A DAY

It's an internationally known fact that I am total crap in the morning. There's a very strong element of stay away until I've my morning coffee to it. Who knows this better than good old Pegasus, who has been subjected to my morning fits for almost 20 years now? You'd think that after living in Gimp House since 2002 he's have the morning routine pretty strongly engrained. It really should be automatic. It's the same thing every single morning. I get up, go pee, get him and his lead sorted, roll to the door with him behind the wheely, open the door, then, unlatch the screen door, back up, let him go out ahead of me, hook him onto his nice long chain that is locked onto a ramp railing. Every day. Every single day. For some reason, known only to him, he didn't quite get the behind the chair part and his lead got wound around the left wheel of the wheely. Now, I'm in a wheely because I kind of can't walk. The chair can't go forward or backwards, I can't stand long enough to sort the lead. Uh oh. Trouble accompannied by lots of yelling, shouting and cussing. I did finally manage to wrestle the chair into the living room, and put the wheely's cushion on his 'bed', fold the wheely, tip it over and release the lead. I had released him from the lead before the wrestling part. Right. Lead in hand, wheely upright, cushion in place, and this time he gets it right, and I can go make my coffee and calm down.
He's pulled that trick before, but never gotten the lead wrapped around the wheel. If I have anything to say about it, he won't get another chance.
Old gimps can learn new tricks from old dogs.

THE ADDICTION PROGRAM

My addiction training program worked out very nicely and my pharmacist said that he wished more people used it. According to him, most folks just want to get rid of their pain, and don't give any thought to what they are getting into.
*I* on the other hand, thought about it long and hard.(cue applause) I also didn't want to go through what went through back when we were looking for an NSAID and every single one I tried gave me impossible side affects without stopping the pain until we found that Naxcyn (naproxin) did the job. The fact that it eventually gave me a nice peptic ulcer is what lead me to trying several non NSAIDs, none of which worked for more than a dose or two. That's when I started thinking about moving into the world of addictive pain murderers, and asked the doc for one of the oxys. He gave me a prescription for 5mg of oxycontin, which most pharmacies don't keep on hand. The one I went to said that they would have some for me the next day. I promptly decided to take Naxcyn until it came in, which I did, figuring that one or two couldn't do much more damage to my stomach, and that I might finally get a good night's sleep. I did take one that night and the pain was gone within half an hour and I slept quite well that night.I took another in the morning, and again, no hurting. I picked up the 5mg and took the first one at around 1500, then, read the little mini book that comes with it. I should have done that first. It's quite specific about taking them at 12 hour intervals. So, I got to to delay taking the next one until I got the timing right. In fact, I started taking just one a day, instead of two. You really should work your way up the dosage ladder very slowly and pay close attention to your body and it's reactions. That first dose kept the pain down to a low roar until the next morning, and, most importantly, I didn't seem to have any bad reactions to it. I knew it would be ok. I finished the 5mg box in 11 days because after the first day, I decided to try the two a day regimen like the doc prescribed.
I asked him to up it to 10mg on the grounds that the pharmacy always has 10mg and higher in stock, and that it would wonderful to get rid of even more of the pain and I wasn't having any bad reactions to it. So, after the doc had a quick phone consultation with the pharmacist, who told him that he really didn't know when he'd get the 5mg in, and that he thought it was a very bad idea to have me taking Naxcyn while waiting, he agreed, and I went down to get it.
Thing about pain is that it has a purpose. It's to tell us that something is wrong. I was hoping that the 10mg would get the pain down to a very dull roar so that if anything else went wrong, as things tend to do with me, I'd know it. Pain killers don't discrimminate. They knock out pain, and too many times you can miss something important because you can't feel it. Right. The 10mg gets the pain right down to where I want it. I can feel that the pain is still there, but it really is much less and lets me get through the day easily and I am sleeping ever so much better at night. What a relief that is after the last year and a half!
So, my addiction training program was a great success. I have the pain under control, my body has not had any bad reactions to it, and I haven't had that buzz or high others had warned me about. And my pharmacist ( a great guy in any event) loved The Plan and said that he intends to start recommending it to newcomers to world of narcotics.
Works for me! And I highly recommend it to anyone contemplating entering the world of junkydom!

Tarzan Rope

Some of us gimps have trouble getting up in bed. THe 'normal' ones amongst us install a proper trapeze contraption like they have in hospitals over their beds. Me, I install a tarzan rope that I bought in Maine, not knowing what in heaven's name it was. All I knew was that it was purple, so I bought it and when asked by several other shoppers what it was, simply told them that it doesn't matter what it was. It's purple and that's all I need to know about it.
I usually don't have trouble sitting up in bed and can to sit ups, pretty much forever. When I got sprung from my last hospitalization I had trouble sitting up because my stomach was sore from repated shots of Clexane. That was when I realized what the purple thing I'd bought in Maine was for; it's a Tarzan Rope. See?


It might look a little odd, but it works and it's not dangling in my face like a proper trapeze would! It sure did come in handy the morning after I forgot to take my meds, and my back did not want to hear about sitting up or anything else. It's even more fun if you can do a proper Tarzan call! That's really fun if someone else is in the house! Hmmm, my box spring is getting a little tatty. I've only had it since 1985, and moved 5 times since then, so I guess it's allowed to look like that.

ADDICT IN TRINING

As usual, there is nothing 'average' or 'usual' with me medically! I've been happily cruising along on 2.5mg of rat poison daily and the clotting levels have been just fine. Then, Sunday rolled around, as it tends to every week or so, and I went and got a blood draining for a clotting level. It came as no surprise that my clinic's site refused to let me in to check the results. That was most annoying as I had a feeling that something would be way off. There was absolutely no leackage from the stick site. That's a first for me. There is usaully at least a small leak, but, not a drop on Sunday. Then, last evening I got a call from my doc telling me to not take any rat poison and to show up for a repeat draining today. My INR was 6, which is high, but makes absolutely no sense in light of the no leakage on Sunday. For once I followed doctor's oeders without arguing, and just came back from the repeat drainage, with strict orders to call my doc at 1700 for the results, which, if today's leakage is anything to go by, should be spot on.
I wonder, if as St. Gracie suggested, the levels might be cockeyed because of my new addict in training regimen? It's not like anything can be ruled out with me, but I have my doubts about that one. The only thing I can really attribute to addiction training is the case of the squits I suddenly developed on Sunday. According to other addict friends, constipation is what usually happens, so, what do i do? I go and develope the exact opposite. My cleaning lady is here now. When she finishes, I'm going back to the clinic to have a nice long chat with the doc about this stuff. I was in a rush to get out of there and back here so I wouldn't miss her. The state of the floor is embarrassing even to Pegasus. There are clumps of dried mud everywhere and scraps of paper that he liberated from the trash bin next to my bed. I just ignore it as I roll over and around it. Addicts in training are not expected to clean floors when they have a cleaning lady who actually shows up once a week or so!

WHO KNEW?

It's amazing how cheap and easy it is to be become a 'legal' addict in Israel. We've pretty much run out of pain killer options, so my doc suggested that I try oxycontin. He did warn that it's highly addictive, (yeah, yeah, I know) as he was printing the prescription. I charged downstairs to my clinic's pharmacy, but they don't keep it in stock down there, so I had to go to a Superpharm (kind of like a Wallgreens) and they don't keep it there either. The head pharmacist did call around and found some that would be there the next day, but I had to get the prescription changed because he can't give out 20 of them in one go unless the doc specifies a reason for that much. So, yesterday morning, it was back to the doc who just gave me a new one that specified 2 per day for 10 days and that solved the problem. And they only cost NIS 13, which is around $3.25. I'm going to go nice and slow with it and start with 1 a day, like those vitamins. Cheap, innit? In the mean time my doc has sent off for official permanent approval for me to take it. That should be ok as my pain is my lower back which is slowly disintegrating, and left leg which needs both knee and hip joints replaced. They can't do that because you need the other leg to be able to go through rehab after the replacement and that leg is partialy paralyzed, so the replacements are a no go. My sawbones told me several years ago that it would be a matter of pain management. I took Naxyn (naproxen) for 10 years, then found that it caused a nice little ulcer which lead to all the nonesense with the coumadin. I did try a few other non NSAIDs which did nothing for the pain. So, here I am an addict in training! At least it's cheap.And after taking one, it works. It's also the lowest dose, 5mg.
I did finally get a solid night's sleep last night. Constant pain can do wicked things to a person. It really sucks about the ulcer because the Naxyn does work quite well. But, I am thankful that there is something else. It really doesn't matter if I do get addicted because there are really no ther options at this point.

OUCH

Please don't ask how I manged to do this. Let's just leave it at; it takes a special talent that I apparently have. As I was manuevering Harley to get off the ramp and head into town, he suddenly took it into his head that it would be ever so much fun to dump me off his seat and onto the ramp. He had more success with that than I did with getting up from the ramp. There I sat, with my legs dangling over the edge of the ramp, waiting for one of the crew that's working in the flat across from mine to come out. After a few minutes, the foreman came out, with the foreman from the renovation of Gimp House. When I saw that Ali was there too, I knew all would well. The two foremen and another guy from the crew tried to get me up, but didn't succeed. Ali went off and found an nice strong board and got two more guys and after I'd scooted back to sit on the board, they managed to lever me up. I ended up with a scraped left ankle bone a sore right arm and the usual aches and pains in my back and right leg. They were so sweet, and waited until I got off the ramp with Harley. The 2 guys who really don't know me, wanted to help me back off the ramp, but Ali told them that I'm quite able to do that on my own.
I headed straight for the clinic to get my monthly meds and have a chat with the sugeon about that test he wants done, but that I can't get to too early in the morning. I also wanted the nurse to put something on the new scrape. I found my little bottle of spray bandage and she sprayed me, so, that's all set. The surgeon said that he'd sort out something with the test, and my regular doc had to leave, so we'll do the meds tomorrow. We also have an issue with my pain meds. THe last two I tried are useless. He said that if he gave me one of the oxys, there might be an addiction issue. Like that worries me? I've only been on pain meds for 11 years. Duh. He did say we'd sort it tomorrow. Ok, so I wait another day. It's just pain.
After that, I picked up a carton of fags, and went to my favorite grocery store to pick up a few things.
Now, I'm home and my bed is calling me. It'll have to wait until I get that cake I've been planning baked. When it's out of the oven, I will answer the call of the bed.

THE GREAT PAJAMA HEIST

I have kind of taken over the large closet my ex daughter left behind when she got married. I assume that if she had wanted it, it would be long gone by now. She left a bunch of clothes in it. She never dreamed that I'd ever get thin enough to wear any of the things she left and even told me to get rid of my old clothes because I'd never ever fit into them again. Really?
It was a little chilly here the other night and I remembered that there were two pairs of satin jammies in that closet. I got them out, and guess what? They fit. I guess losing 60+ pounds had something to do with it. I still have a way to go before I get back to the point where my old clothes will fit properly, but I'm well on the way. So there.
Other than that, not much has been happening except that I managed to turn night into day again. It's enough to drive a body wild. By around 0300 my body aches to sleep, but I just can't. Then I do, and wake up late in the morning. Then I end up struggling not to doze off during the afternoon so that maybe I'll be able to sleep at night. That doesn't always work. It ain't easy being a night owl, but, I guess I'll just have to learn to live with it. It would be much easier if the rest of the world was more accommodating. I rather doubt that will ever happen.
Yes, that was a huge sigh you just heard.

HOW COULD I ALMOST FORGET?

I came very close to forgetting that yesterday, Columbus Day in 1970 was the day I landed in Israel for the very first time and knew beyong a shadow of a doubt that I had found the place I was destined to live in.I do believe that everyone has a place for them. Some find it right in their back yards, others, the really lucky ones find it elsewhere quite by accident, like I did. To this day I'm not entirely sure where the idea to come here came from. Divine Inspiration, maybe? But, the minute I got off that plane, I knew I was in My Place. It took a lot longer to find the sprcific place here. I was sent to teach English in Kiryat Shmonah and knew very early on in the school year that this was the spot. Two days after school let out for the summer, I moved up here with kids, lock stock and barrel. I feel so blessed to have found my place. I can't even begin to imagine living any place else. I am well and truly home.

I SUPPOSE I SHOULD BE HAPPY....BUT

After making an inept attempt at repairing my Windows operating system, and making a right mess of it, and getting the sweetest techie from the cable company in to fix my non working cable phone, my computer decided to pack it in. I'm still not quite sure what all was wrong with it, so I did the smart thing and got my geek in. He set up the laptop and I got it connected to the interweb, and off this one went in brand new Chevy ambulance to the Kiryat Shmonah Computer Hospital. There was a knock on the door at a little after noon and the computer was home and declared cured of all ills, viral and otherwise. Again I got it connected to the interweb, and started downloading all my stuff, like Firefox and Thunderbird. Thunderbird refuses to work correctly. It receives mail but cannot send. A very sweet guy from my server tried for ages by remote to get it to send, but it was stubborn in it's refusal. In the end we did get the detested Outlook Express to both send and receive. Now all I have to do is try and remember everyone's e addys. Yeah, right. I do have a pretty good memory of what my usual downloads were and have started rebuilding my favorites list. It should be finished in 10 years or so. It's going to be a long long night.
Susie, please, send me those stories again.

MINDLESS MEANDERING OF MY MIND

It's been one of those weeks so far and it looks like it just might continue that way for a while. My cleaning lady was supposed to come yesterday. I really needed her because the sink was full to over flowing with dishes, pots and pans. I discoverd that, yes, I can do them myself, but evrey time I do, I come away with another 'do it yourself home PT test' and that hurts! After all, why do I have a cleaning lady? To clean stuff I can't like the floor and now dishes.
Ok, so she didn't come yesterday. She's been with me just long enough for me to figure out that she wiuld probably appear today. She did. So, that's that. Dishes are done, floor is washed, and I'm a prisoner in the computer corner unless I want wheely marks on the nice clean floor!
I don't mind being a prisoner here because I can keep on with my new addiction-Bookworm. Last night I quit for the day at level 16 which is the highest I've ever gotten. We had some wet, noisy weather for a while and I was nervous that the lightening might cause the power to go out and I'd lose the game. Luck was with me and the power stayed on, and this morning I'm up to level 19, a new record. I do enjoy this game. I go to it every chance I get.
Now I have to decise if I want to go out or stay in for the rest of the day. I'll decide after I bring Peg in. The floor is dry enough now.
It's quite a nice day, but I think I'll stay in as I don't really have anything to do outside today.
A few months ago my partner in crime and I went on a little crusade against some local criminal types who had illegally taken over an abandoned building behind our houses and had started all kinds of illegal bulldozing and building. There is a stream between our houses and the property they took over. They used the stream as their own private dumping ground and caused it to back up and overflow it's banks in heavy rain which we had last night. Golan and I sent e mails to just about evryone in the country who might have an interest in putting a stop to the criminal activity going on there. Eventually we hit on the right person and one fine day the work was stopped in it's tracks by a court order. We tried to get one of the local newspapers interested, but the reporter refused to go near it and gave the head criminal our names. In the end the rival paper picked it up and low and behold, that first reporter got her ass fired.We had spoken to her boss about it several times and he wanted to do an expose on it. When the rival paper covered it, he realized that she had torpedoed the story for personal reasons. You don't do that to your editor and stay employed for long. Now both papers are in on the act!
Now all we have to do is get the stream bed cleaned up. Right now it's a breeding ground for mosquitoes as the water level has gone way back down to almost stagnant. There's Nile fever in the area, so, someone will be around to get it cleaned up. I'd go down there myself, but there's no way to get Harley down the bank, and the stream bed is not passsable either.I guess City Hall will have to handle it. If they don't we know exactly who to talk to to force their hand.

ONE OF THESE DAYS

One of these days things will get done prperly the first time. Friday was not one of those days. I went to the clinic to get my meds for the month, and the doc only gave me half a month od 3 of them, so, back I went today to get the rest. I have four pill boxes that I fill up at the beginning of the month so I don't have to futz around opening ten different boxes of the meds in the morning and at night. I like it when I get it all done the first time. So, I was not pleased to discover that the doc didn't write twice a day for three of them so the computer would give me whole month's supply at the pharmacy. Today I went and got it sorted. Now I have to sit and fill the remaning boxes, and recheck the others.
After getting that sorted, I went down to the Industrial Zone, where my preferred supermarket and picked up few items. The gal at the check out told me that I can't write a check in purple ink. Oh yeah? All the law requires is ink, not pencil, and I've only been writing checks with purple ink for 20 years. I get so annoyed at these Russians who think they know everything. She was informed by her head cashier that I do and can write checks with my handy dandy purle pen and that it's prefectly legal. I think that next time I'll write in the Jewish date which is also legal here and watch her deal with that.
When I finally got home, I performed yet another PT(blood clotting time) test on myself as I went from Harley to the wheely. No big deal. I'd feel completely nakey if I didn't have at least several cuts and bruises.
And for my next trick, I think it's time to change into something more comfortable and do the dishes, make something to eat, and get my feet up.
Hell's bells! It's 92 degrees out there! Just saying; not complaining. It's nice and comfy in here.

SLOW GOING

Things are moving very slowly, but, never the less, moving. The swelling in my legs from the DVTs is finally gone, as are 5 more kilos. I acrually managed to break the 90 kilo mark and get to a solid 98 kilo, which is far from being svelt, but is firmly out of all the BMI overweight categories. I have to admit that I celebrated with a Big Mac and a small iceream cone. Not exactly items high on me new diet list...but, hey, it was a celebration and I don't get to do that very often. I pretty much stick with my veg and fruit regime and break it up maybe twice a week with some meat, chicken or fish. It's kind of nice that due to the mess in my stomach I don't get hungry very often.
The really big news is that we found a pain killer that acrually works. The one the doc from Rambam suggested was worse than not taking anything, so my doc at the clinic gave me something else and it works. It works so well that after popping one at the clinic pharmacy, the pain was gone by the time I got home. And that night I slept from midnight until 0930, which was a first in I don't know how long. Of course, I went and over ate the next day and was up most of the night with a miserable stomach. Serves me right. Today I'm sticking to cukes and plums and maybe a few grapes. We'll see how the night goes. At least I'm not barfing now. I'd rather be up with a miserable stomach than barf.
I'm still trying to keep my feet up as the swelling does start again after I've been here for a few hours. In fact, it's time to get them up again. That's my excuse for not posting here as often as I'd like; and I'm sticking to it for as long as I can!

SO TIRED

I guess it could really only happen to me! And, yes, I should have known better than to go to a demonstration in Jerusalem and go home on the same day. That only lead to more DVT fun and a week long hospitalization.
It was one of the lest pleasant hospital stays I've had to date. I studidly forgot to take my wheely cushion, which meant that I needed help to get up from the wheely. And I mean every time, including getting up from it to get into bed, go to the loo, and any other reason I had to go from sitting to sitting or lying on anything else. That was not pleasant.
The Clexane shots in the gut didn't start bothering me until I got home, and boy oh boy did it ever hurt. Still does a little. But, it's slowly getting better. Getting the shots is no big deal. They don't hurt at the time at all. But, then, shots and I are old friends and needles don't bother me in the least.
When I finally got home, I started to feel a lot better. No Place Like Home Syndrome. It's taken 5 days for the DVT caused swelling in both legs to finally go down. I stayed in bed most of the time, only coming to the computer when I had to get up to pee, and then, I only ripped through e mail at warp speed.
Today I am feeling much better in general. I went to sleep very late, then was woken up by a call from Dem Der at noon which I wasn't quick enough to answer. Then, I got a text from him, to which I replied "Thanks for waking me up. NOT." I promptly went back to sleep and woke up at 1715, with much less swelling and almost no pain in my feet. This is good.
They've got me back on coumadin and so far so good. Two of the factors that caused all the trouble before are gone, so, I'm hopeful that this time it will be ok.
The down side is that long trips are pretty much out the question for now. But that's ok because at this point I really don't feel like going anywhere farther from home than the clinic.

OUCH THIS IS BAD

It's demonstration saeson again. That's just fine with me. There was a demonstration in Jerusalem against the insanity the Health Ministry puts us through to get the transport allowance and other things.
I put myself in the car at 0700 and headed out to Jerusalem with NIS 200 worth of gas in the tank. I knew it would be iffy on the way home.
At least it was pleasent weather wise there. It was an 'exclusive' demonstration. There were more than few who were not invited. Ok. I wasn't exactly invited, but they were more than happy that I came.
I really don't know my way around Jerusalem, but somehow I managed to find the demonstration easily. We were outside the Bank Of Israel entrance and one of the guys had a bull horn that could be heard all the way over to the Prime inister's office. We made lots of noise and the TV stations were all there.
At around 1530 we decided to pack it up. We are going to have an even bigger one next week if things don't start moving.
I managed to find my own way out of Jerusalem, and was concerned that I'd run out of gas. Silly me. I still have a quarter tank. I'm not sure what time I got home. I had to call Golan to help me get out of the car. Both my feet were swollen. In fact, I had to stop a few times to loosen the velcro straps on my sandals.
I pretty much fell into bed and slept right through until morning. I did a few errands that I wanted to get out of the way before today. Another endoscope at Rambam hospital. When I got home after the errands, I put my poor feet up and dropped off to sleep. When I woke up, my right shoulder was screaming in pain. I must have slept on it the wrong way. I haven't had pain like that since I don't remember when. I kept trying to drink water because I knew I was dehydrated. I don't know how I fell asleep so quickly last night, but I woke up this morning without that pain. It's just a mild ache now. I can live with it. I think I'll let Golan drive to Haifa today. I'm still not 100%.
I'm going to finish this post with a survey question. Does anyone want me to post a picture of me after the weight loss? I'm not promising I'll post it, just asking if anyone wants to see it.