I was released from the hospital Thursday morning and ready to go home. Walking is a bit slow. I am not allowed to lift anything over 7 pounds, nothing that requires pushing and pulling (vacuuming). The only exercise that I'm allowed to do is walking and just taking it easy. No swimming until at least three weeks, allow time for the stitches to heal. Was not allowed to drive until all the pain medication was used up.
Gary filled my pain medicine prescription when we got home. I was taking the pills 4 times a day, but by Friday I was taking them 3 times a day and by Sunday only 2 times a day until they were gone. No refills on those happy pills. While on the pain pills I had no appetite. Gary kept insisting that I eat to get better, but there was no way I could eat anything like I did before the surgery. Once I was done taking the pain pills, my appetite came back and I felt ever so much better.
My walking was done indoors around the house. I had my walking track and I walked quite a bit working my way up to 10 laps. I did walk outside a few time, just in front of the house. Walking was very slow, in fact I think Grandma could have beat me in a race.
Mom came to Hardin on Monday to help take care of me. She did some housework, the dishes and vacuuming. She did run some errands for me and most importantly she took me out for coffee. We went out for lunch and in the afternoon she did bring some smoothies for a snack.
The biggest feat for me was sitting in the movie theater watching the last Harry Potter movie. It did get a little rough towards the end, those chairs are not the most comfortable but I was able to move around a bit. My movie snack was a large glass of ice water. The nice little young man behind the counter didn't charge me for the water. Felt good to get out, but it was a bit tiring.
Gary, Jennifer and Mom took great care of me during the first week. Fixing the meals and making sure that I am doing ok.
I am experience menopause. I was told that I would immediately since my ovaries were removed. I would have went through menopause no matter what, but with the removal of my ovaries I lessened my risk of ovarian cancer. I get the hot flashes throughout the day. It's not that bad, I just get overly warm without any notice. When this happens I drink alot of ice water and that helps a bit.
These hot summer days don't help much either. Thank goodness for central air and fans. At night I sleep with the fan on in the bedroom. I think I am freezing Gary but he says I'm not. Wait until winter.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Surgery Day
On July 13 I had a hysterectomy. I had been battling fibroids for four years and now I finally can have a pain free life. Tuesday I had to do all of my pre-op admission stuff. They gave me some soap to prep my skin for surgery. I had to take a shower before bed and again in the morning before surgery with this special soap. Also I had to drink magnesium citrate the day before. Jennifer went with me for all of this. Afterwards we ate lunch at Applebees, as that would be my last good meal until I get out of the hospital. Then we did a bit of shopping.
Got home and drank the magnesium citrate and then I could only have fluids for the rest of the day. Nothing to eat or drink after midnight. Wednesday morning arrived and I had to be at the hospital at 7:50 am and then schedulded for surgery at 9:50 am. Gary and I got to the hospital in plenty of time and got checked in. I had to leave all of my jewelry at home even wedding bands, so I didn't have much to pack for my overnight stay. My name was up so off I went for all the pre-op stuff. Gary could have stayed with me during this portion but he left to get something to eat. All he had to do was check in and they would tell him where I would be.
Three different nurses got his phone number so I'm not sure if all of them called him or just one. While I'm in pre-op they made me take a pregnancy test. I asked them if they were kidding and they weren't. I assured them that I wasn't pregnant, well apparently I wasn't as I still had the surgery. At this point I had to leave my glasses and partials behind.
I was wheeled upstairs and then I talked to the anesthesiologist and my doctor, then into the OR. I just remember them putting the mask on my face and the next thing I knew I woke up in recovery. It didn't take long before I was moved into my room. I was the only patient on that floor. While I was in recovery, the doctor talked to Gary and told him that everything went fine, no problems and that I will feel so much better.
I slept most of the time and I was not allowed to throw up. I did have to get up and walk around with some help. I had a bracelet on my wrist stating that I was a fall risk. We had a few good laughs over that one. Being the only patient on the floor does have its drawbacks, the nurses seemed like they were always taking my vitals every half hour.
I was able to come home on Thursday morning.
Got home and drank the magnesium citrate and then I could only have fluids for the rest of the day. Nothing to eat or drink after midnight. Wednesday morning arrived and I had to be at the hospital at 7:50 am and then schedulded for surgery at 9:50 am. Gary and I got to the hospital in plenty of time and got checked in. I had to leave all of my jewelry at home even wedding bands, so I didn't have much to pack for my overnight stay. My name was up so off I went for all the pre-op stuff. Gary could have stayed with me during this portion but he left to get something to eat. All he had to do was check in and they would tell him where I would be.
Three different nurses got his phone number so I'm not sure if all of them called him or just one. While I'm in pre-op they made me take a pregnancy test. I asked them if they were kidding and they weren't. I assured them that I wasn't pregnant, well apparently I wasn't as I still had the surgery. At this point I had to leave my glasses and partials behind.
I was wheeled upstairs and then I talked to the anesthesiologist and my doctor, then into the OR. I just remember them putting the mask on my face and the next thing I knew I woke up in recovery. It didn't take long before I was moved into my room. I was the only patient on that floor. While I was in recovery, the doctor talked to Gary and told him that everything went fine, no problems and that I will feel so much better.
I slept most of the time and I was not allowed to throw up. I did have to get up and walk around with some help. I had a bracelet on my wrist stating that I was a fall risk. We had a few good laughs over that one. Being the only patient on the floor does have its drawbacks, the nurses seemed like they were always taking my vitals every half hour.
I was able to come home on Thursday morning.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Wyoming Thunder
This is our second year of participating in this event. It is sponsored by a group of Viet Nam vets who happen to ride motorcycles and they have their own motorcycle group. This is the 21st year for this.
The vets raise money all year long to buy new flags for the Viet Nam Memorial in Cody and the second weekend in July they hold a rally to replace the old flags. It is alot of fun and I have met some very colorful people. I have a new friend, I call her Pinky and she is from Casper. She told me what her name is but I can't remember. Can't describe Pinky you will have to look at my photo I have of her. She is quite the character.
It costs $70 for a couple to participate in the whole event. It starts on Friday night in Casper. I think the majority of them meet in Cheyenne, but as a whole the group meets in Casper. For your registration fee, you get two nights camping, a prime rib dinner in Cody, t-shirts and flags. The VFW in Thermopolis serves them a lunch on Saturday afternoon. Also on Saturday they have a poker run and Meeteetse is one of their stops.
We meet up with them in Meeteetse. We ride with our friends Jake & Aletha Moran and this year with Wes & Denise Lambert. Our friend Dick Russell rode with us to Meeteetse then he went on to get back home after lunch. We meet Mom and Grandma at the Cowboy for lunch and some visiting as we wait for the group to roll into town.
We get to Cody early so that we can check in and get a good campsite before the mob arrives. This year we were at a new campground as the original one is closed. We stayed at The Ponderosa, which is next to the museum and right in town. Got our tents set up and I got all the ribbing about my tent. We have one that you can stand up in and it even has a closet. The others have little pup tents. Our friends call our tent "the condo".
This year we didn't get to visit with Grandma as she wasn't feeling well. Will get a visit in with her this summer when things aren't so busy and we can go to the house.
Got our visiting in before the group rolled into town, then some more visiting while they had about a 20 minute break in Meeteetse. Grandma's boyfriend Ted was there and he wishes Grandma the best. He met her two years ago and just started talking to her. He even asked is she would dance with him. Grandma went with the flow. Ted is from Spokane WA and he tells his family and friends about Gracie, especially his mother who is only 93.
Saturday night we get a prime rib dinner at Cassie's. It was good and they sure do a good job serving about 200 people, not to mention the other customers. The other customers don't seem to mind when we take over, but we are only there for about 1 1/2 hours. Didn't win any prizes and Gary didn't win the raffle of a pistol.
Sunday we wake up bright and early, mainly from a bird waking up us. It was the loudest bird I've heard. Got moving around and packed up for the ride home. We ate breakfast at The Sunset House. It was within walking distance from the campground. Very good food. Then it was just sit and wait.
At 9:00 am we all headed to the fairgrounds to line up for the parade through town and to the Memorial which is by the airport. The parade started at 10:00 am, we had police escort. Needed to with about 300 bikes roaring through town. Not many people on the streets, but there were quite a few.
Had a small memorial at the wall. In November one of the flag poles was knocked down by a windstorm and hasn't been replaced. That has some of them upset, that the pole is not replaced. The govorner is going to get alot of e-mails and other correspondence about the flag pole.
Had a great time and we had nice weather and spent time with good friends. There was only one incident where a woman in a white SUV tried to take us out. We were on our way to Meeteetse, when this woman decided to pass about three cars on a blind curve and she had the solid yellow line. Gary told me to hang on because we are going for a ride, he was going to take the ditch. Fortunately he was able to get over to the shoulder, while the woman kept going. We were the lead bike. She received alot of hand gestures. Gary gave her all of his fingers, while our friends gave her a couple more.
The vets raise money all year long to buy new flags for the Viet Nam Memorial in Cody and the second weekend in July they hold a rally to replace the old flags. It is alot of fun and I have met some very colorful people. I have a new friend, I call her Pinky and she is from Casper. She told me what her name is but I can't remember. Can't describe Pinky you will have to look at my photo I have of her. She is quite the character.
It costs $70 for a couple to participate in the whole event. It starts on Friday night in Casper. I think the majority of them meet in Cheyenne, but as a whole the group meets in Casper. For your registration fee, you get two nights camping, a prime rib dinner in Cody, t-shirts and flags. The VFW in Thermopolis serves them a lunch on Saturday afternoon. Also on Saturday they have a poker run and Meeteetse is one of their stops.
We meet up with them in Meeteetse. We ride with our friends Jake & Aletha Moran and this year with Wes & Denise Lambert. Our friend Dick Russell rode with us to Meeteetse then he went on to get back home after lunch. We meet Mom and Grandma at the Cowboy for lunch and some visiting as we wait for the group to roll into town.
We get to Cody early so that we can check in and get a good campsite before the mob arrives. This year we were at a new campground as the original one is closed. We stayed at The Ponderosa, which is next to the museum and right in town. Got our tents set up and I got all the ribbing about my tent. We have one that you can stand up in and it even has a closet. The others have little pup tents. Our friends call our tent "the condo".
This year we didn't get to visit with Grandma as she wasn't feeling well. Will get a visit in with her this summer when things aren't so busy and we can go to the house.
Got our visiting in before the group rolled into town, then some more visiting while they had about a 20 minute break in Meeteetse. Grandma's boyfriend Ted was there and he wishes Grandma the best. He met her two years ago and just started talking to her. He even asked is she would dance with him. Grandma went with the flow. Ted is from Spokane WA and he tells his family and friends about Gracie, especially his mother who is only 93.
Saturday night we get a prime rib dinner at Cassie's. It was good and they sure do a good job serving about 200 people, not to mention the other customers. The other customers don't seem to mind when we take over, but we are only there for about 1 1/2 hours. Didn't win any prizes and Gary didn't win the raffle of a pistol.
Sunday we wake up bright and early, mainly from a bird waking up us. It was the loudest bird I've heard. Got moving around and packed up for the ride home. We ate breakfast at The Sunset House. It was within walking distance from the campground. Very good food. Then it was just sit and wait.
At 9:00 am we all headed to the fairgrounds to line up for the parade through town and to the Memorial which is by the airport. The parade started at 10:00 am, we had police escort. Needed to with about 300 bikes roaring through town. Not many people on the streets, but there were quite a few.
Had a small memorial at the wall. In November one of the flag poles was knocked down by a windstorm and hasn't been replaced. That has some of them upset, that the pole is not replaced. The govorner is going to get alot of e-mails and other correspondence about the flag pole.
Had a great time and we had nice weather and spent time with good friends. There was only one incident where a woman in a white SUV tried to take us out. We were on our way to Meeteetse, when this woman decided to pass about three cars on a blind curve and she had the solid yellow line. Gary told me to hang on because we are going for a ride, he was going to take the ditch. Fortunately he was able to get over to the shoulder, while the woman kept going. We were the lead bike. She received alot of hand gestures. Gary gave her all of his fingers, while our friends gave her a couple more.
Friday, July 8, 2011
30 Year Class Reunion
Last weekend was my 30 year high school class reunion. Started getting information in March and I registered in April for the three day event. It cost $70 for two people to participate in everything for the three days. That included a boating trip at the dam, the meet & greet, the dinner and dance, golfing and the picnic.
I signed up for the Meet & Greet on Friday night, the dinner and dance on Saturday and picnic n Sunday. They were going to have an alternate event on Saturday for those not interested in golfing, but there was not enough interest for the alternate. That's ok.
Gary didn't really want to go with me so I asked Mom is she wanted to come. She would be in Hardin anyway to pay her bills. I went to her 30 year reunion 26 years ago and it was only fitting that she went to mine.
The meet and greet was supposed to start at 6:30 pm at Mojoes, a coffee shop that one of my classmates owns. Mom came to my house and we walked on over since it's only a block away. Got there a few minutes early and we were the only ones there. The clerk knew about the party but couldn't get ahold of anyone to find out what to do and she really needed to lock up. We told her that we would wait outside, that way she can lock up and if no one came by we could just leave and not leave the business open. It was about 7:00 before people started showing up. They got off the lake late.
Good thing Mom always brings her camera with her. The batteries in my camera had died on my, so Mom was snapping away. There must have been about 40 of us there. Had a good time visiting and posing for photos. I had told Gary that this thing will probably last a couple hours, after all it was just a meet and greet. We didn't get home until 11:00.
Saturday was the dinner and dance. For dinner we had prime rib. I told Gary and Mom that they could arm wrestle for it. Mom won. The dinner was out at the golf course. Cocktails were at 6:00 pm and then dinner at 7:00 pm. We arrived about quarter after six and had our cocktails and visited some more. Got some more photos. A slide show was on showing the fun on Friday. Looking back I should have gone on the lake, looks like they had alot of fun. Dinner was good, but it was very hot in the dining area. No airconditioning. A few speeches were made. Amber Clifton had made a slide show of events in high school and of the past reunions. That was fun. Then it was time for dancing. Had a DJ and it was the son of one of my classmates. I got out on the floor and danced quite a bit. In fact most of us women did the dancing, just a few guys. Mom even got out on the floor. Got pretty hot dancing out there. Once they opened the doors and got a fan going to circulate the air it got better. Things started to slow down around midnight, so we decided to head on home.
Mom went back to Meeteetse on Sunday so she missed the picnic. Gary went to the picnic with me. I told him that he had to go, people weren't believing me that I had a husband. Some were glad that Mom wasn't there, said she was pretty wicked with her camera and afraid of some of the pics. I told them that I have the pics and they breathed a sigh of relief. Not too sure that it's any safer with me than with Mom.
The picnic was held at the Devore house just out of town and it was pretty warm that day. Tables were set up outside under some shade and also in the garage with a couple fans. We were served burgers, brats assorted chips and dips and assorted salads. It was all very good. We ate in the garage where it was nice and cool and we managed to get a table by the fan.
Got to visit some more, soon Deanna Devore came out wearing her old cheerleading uniform from high school. She had an extra uniform and convinced Janet Freeman to put it on. They were both cheerleaders in high school. Not bad for them to still fit into their cheerleading uniforms after 30 years. Got one final group photo. We were there for three hours before heading home.
Had a great time and it was very nice to see my classmates. Some I haven't seen since graduation. I have to honestly say that the women aged better than the men. There was only one who I didn't recognize right away, until she took off her sunglasses and started to talk.
I signed up for the Meet & Greet on Friday night, the dinner and dance on Saturday and picnic n Sunday. They were going to have an alternate event on Saturday for those not interested in golfing, but there was not enough interest for the alternate. That's ok.
Gary didn't really want to go with me so I asked Mom is she wanted to come. She would be in Hardin anyway to pay her bills. I went to her 30 year reunion 26 years ago and it was only fitting that she went to mine.
The meet and greet was supposed to start at 6:30 pm at Mojoes, a coffee shop that one of my classmates owns. Mom came to my house and we walked on over since it's only a block away. Got there a few minutes early and we were the only ones there. The clerk knew about the party but couldn't get ahold of anyone to find out what to do and she really needed to lock up. We told her that we would wait outside, that way she can lock up and if no one came by we could just leave and not leave the business open. It was about 7:00 before people started showing up. They got off the lake late.
Good thing Mom always brings her camera with her. The batteries in my camera had died on my, so Mom was snapping away. There must have been about 40 of us there. Had a good time visiting and posing for photos. I had told Gary that this thing will probably last a couple hours, after all it was just a meet and greet. We didn't get home until 11:00.
Saturday was the dinner and dance. For dinner we had prime rib. I told Gary and Mom that they could arm wrestle for it. Mom won. The dinner was out at the golf course. Cocktails were at 6:00 pm and then dinner at 7:00 pm. We arrived about quarter after six and had our cocktails and visited some more. Got some more photos. A slide show was on showing the fun on Friday. Looking back I should have gone on the lake, looks like they had alot of fun. Dinner was good, but it was very hot in the dining area. No airconditioning. A few speeches were made. Amber Clifton had made a slide show of events in high school and of the past reunions. That was fun. Then it was time for dancing. Had a DJ and it was the son of one of my classmates. I got out on the floor and danced quite a bit. In fact most of us women did the dancing, just a few guys. Mom even got out on the floor. Got pretty hot dancing out there. Once they opened the doors and got a fan going to circulate the air it got better. Things started to slow down around midnight, so we decided to head on home.
Mom went back to Meeteetse on Sunday so she missed the picnic. Gary went to the picnic with me. I told him that he had to go, people weren't believing me that I had a husband. Some were glad that Mom wasn't there, said she was pretty wicked with her camera and afraid of some of the pics. I told them that I have the pics and they breathed a sigh of relief. Not too sure that it's any safer with me than with Mom.
The picnic was held at the Devore house just out of town and it was pretty warm that day. Tables were set up outside under some shade and also in the garage with a couple fans. We were served burgers, brats assorted chips and dips and assorted salads. It was all very good. We ate in the garage where it was nice and cool and we managed to get a table by the fan.
Got to visit some more, soon Deanna Devore came out wearing her old cheerleading uniform from high school. She had an extra uniform and convinced Janet Freeman to put it on. They were both cheerleaders in high school. Not bad for them to still fit into their cheerleading uniforms after 30 years. Got one final group photo. We were there for three hours before heading home.
Had a great time and it was very nice to see my classmates. Some I haven't seen since graduation. I have to honestly say that the women aged better than the men. There was only one who I didn't recognize right away, until she took off her sunglasses and started to talk.
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