Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Stitches out and Stanford

Today I went to Stanford for some more testing for my post tendon transfer surgery. There are always very excited at the progress that I keep making and so am I. I guess because I live with myself everyday I don't notice the progress as much as they do but I'm always thrilled to find out that I am getting stronger and I love helping them out, they are really cool people to hang around with. They put me on the back of their brochure for tendon transfer surgery and they always seem to really appreciate my help but I love doing it.

Yesterday we took Brodie to get her stitches out and she is like a new pup. It is so neat to watch her jumping around and playing like she used to. I ran her around Stanford for a while and I think we might have done a little too much because she is limping a little bit on her right rear leg but she will have all day tomorrow to rest up. They're repaving the park and they're doing my section tomorrow so I won't be able to have anybody here to help me from 6 a.m. to 6 PM.

Friday I go back to Stanford again and then to Valley medical to meet with Lynn for OT. We are able to straighten out my finger a little bit but it looks like I'm going for another surgery to straighten out the tendon, I thought I was done with surgeries. Friday afternoon were getting together to play Cribbage, it has been a while and I'm looking forward to it.

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Camping

Wow, what a beautiful drive and a beautiful place to be. My aunt and uncle camp at this place about three times a year and is the first time that I have been there. There is a beach right across the street and everybody at the campgrounds is very friendly. My aunt and uncle are the kind of people that get to know everybody around them and everybody loves them, I'm really not surprised but it is really cool to watch how much people are attracted to them. We walked around the campgrounds a couple of times and talk to some people and just enjoyed how beautiful it was. It took about two and a half hours to get their and my mom was exhausted so didn't really get to enjoy it very much, she took a nap as soon as we got there. I met the best barbecuer in the world I was told but unfortunately we had to leave before dinner. They were barbecuing some fish and chicken and my aunt was making some clam chowder that smelled wonderful. Their next camping trip is 4th of July and I really would like to go. It is only going to be for a few days and it will be a good chance to try it out and know whether I would like it or not, I'm pretty sure that I will. I'm so glad that we went but sorry it took me so long to try it out. Brodie had a great time despite the funnel collar. There were two other dogs at the campsite for her to play with, this was also Brodies first introduction to camping and how fun it can be. Unfortunately as usual I forgot to bring my camera and I am very sorry because the pictures would have been gorgeous and great memories.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Brodster

Brodie is doing great and we get to take her stitches out next Tuesday, both of us will be really glad. She's getting used to wearing the Elizabethan collar although I know it's very annoying, I would not want to wear it.

I'm staying in bed and resting today because I took my van in to have everything checked and usually it takes pretty much all day. On Saturday we're going to meet my aunt and uncle in Plaskett. It is about two and a half hours from here and I looked it up and it is gorgeous, I cannot wait to check it out. My aunt and uncle and a lot of their friends go camping here quite often and I'm hoping one of these times I'm going to go with them and try camping. My neighbor told me that a friend of his is getting rid of a bunch of camping stuff so he's going to take pictures of it and if there's anything there that I can use.

Next month I'm going to Modesto to stay overnight, my nephew David is going to graduate so I wanted to be there to see it. I wish I would have gone to other important events over the years but I always thought it was better not to go, to much work for everyone else to help with my care and I always thought of an excuse but not anymore, I'm not going to miss any other important events.

Since my trip to Arizona and to Disneyland and then my flight to Georgia I realize how much I have missed and I regret not doing it before. Now I'm going to take every opportunity to do anything that I can.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Update on Brodie

Brodie is doing much better. This was our first day out since her surgery and except for the cone on her neck you would never know that she had major surgery. I had a dentist appointment and 11, an appointment with the physical therapist at Valley Medical at 1:30 and an appointment with Tony at 3p. By the time I got to Moorpark the receptionist told me that she had been trying to call me all day, Tony had called in sick for the day. I went to the Mini Gourmet and not an avocado, bacon cheeseburger, have been craving one for a long time and they make the best one. I love when I have a busy day like today and everything seems to fall into place.

Usually I don't get up on the weekends and I did have a lot of things to do for my weekend attendant but I was invited to Lulu's daughters engagement party and I didn't really plan on going but I think I will.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Brodies surgery

Brodie's surgery went really well. The doctor called me while she was in recovery and said that she really needed it and she's going to feel so much better. Luckily they kept her overnight but I get to go pick her up tomorrow. I hope she's not in too much pain because it's really hard for me to deal with seeing somebody I love and pain, I would rather be in pain myself, but I know it's going to be better in the long run.

Keith came by today and I finally got the backdoor fixed. It's so nice to have it working again but I think I'm going to be a little bit more careful about who I give the code to, some people can just come and knock on the door I think. Sometimes it's very frustrating to not be able to not answer the door if you don't want any company.

I had another OT appointment today and Lynn said that if she's not able to straighten out my finger a little bit by the end of this week she's going to send me to the hand clinic next month to see if they can operate and permanently stretch out the tendant so my finger won't bend under any more. I'm not looking forward to another surgery but hopefully it will be my last... I keep saying that.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Happy Mothers Day

Today is going to be a nice relaxing day. I didn't even wake up until about 8:00a, I usually don't sleep in that late. My weekend attendant comes in at 6:00a but she usually find something to do and doesn't try to wake me up.

The pictures I took at Aubrey's baby shower didn't turn out but her mom sent me some really good ones so I'm going to add them.

Happy Mothers Day

Today is going to be a nice relaxing day. I didn't even wake up until about 8:00a, I usually don't sleep in that late. My weekend attendant comes in at 6:00a but she usually find something to do and doesn't try to wake me up.

The pictures I took at Aubrey's baby shower didn't turn out but her mom sent me some really good ones so I'm going to add them.

Mother's Day Eve

Today turned out to be a really fun day. Stanley made breakfast for everyone, he always makes killer breakfasts. Everyone was getting a little bit restless so we decided to go do SOMETHING. My mom needed some parts for her vacuum cleaner so we drove to a place where she had called to make sure they had the parts. I have been looking for a vacuum cleaner for my front porch and my van, I didn't want a new one because it's mostly dog hair, and I found one. After that we went grocery shopping and Stanley got stuff to make a taco salad for dinner and bean soup for the next day. The taco salad was really good and I cannot wait to try the soup tomorrow.

After we ate on my way home I passed by and I heard Jerry in his backyard and he asked me to come and check it out, he has been working in his backyard for the past several days. He had grass but decided to put down blocks so he could put a table and chairs and some plants. Jerry seems to do really well with plants of all kinds and his backyard was absolutely beautiful. He was out there with Liz and Keith so I stopped to visit for a while. They are all three really cool people and I love hanging around with them, they always make me laugh. Unfortunately my attendant was waiting for me at home so I had to get going but I wish that I could've stayed and visited with them some more.

My cable quit working today and that is very frustrating. Jerry came over this morning to bring me a CD of Sugar Land that he had burned for me, Sugar Land has an awesome voice. Jerry said to give him a call later on and he would come back over and fix the cable for me. It seems like whenever I was coming he was going so we kept missing each other all day and I thought I was going to have to be without cable all night tonight and all day tomorrow. When my mom came by she decided to just turn everything off, wait a couple of minutes and turn everything back on and of course it started working again... why didn't I think of that?

Tomorrow is going to be another lazy day. Usually I don't get up on the weekends but I have been and it is great. I get a little restless and grumpy when I have to stay in bed for more than one day.

Friday, May 12, 2006

A dogs world

I have just been exhausted and going through a bad time with my dog. She started limping really bad on her right rear leg so I took to the vet and they sent me to a specialist, bottom line is she needs a very expensive operation... but, before we do that she has a couple of other problems that we need to take care of first. Last Sunday when we were at my mom's my Aunt reached down and patted Brodie her on the head and mentioned how hot she was. That Monday the van came around to give her a bath, they come around every month, trim her toenails, check her ears and clean her teeth. When they brought her back into the house the guy told me that her ear was very red and swollen so I took her to the vet. She has two kinds of bacteria in her ear and it was so swollen they could not even get in to clean it out without knocking her out. The knee specialist had to knock her out to look at her knee further so they said to wait and have doll done at one time. While they were there they noticed that around where she urinates is very red and swollen, this has been going on for a long time. Because she is part pit bull and part lab the muscles around where she urinates tightens up when she stands up after urinating and urine gets caught in there and burns her so of course that is another operation. So on Monday they're going to remove her ear canal and fix her so that she won't get burned by urine anymore. After about six weeks after the infection all heals up then they can go ahead with the other operation that's going to leave her out of commission for about sixteen weeks. Needless to say we have been running around like crazy, of course they don't have any surgeons in my area so we have to travel, trying to get blood work and tests done.

The weather has been really nice here so wherever we end up traveling we try to find a nice park and grab a something to eat and sit at the park while were waiting for Brodie to be done. Yesterday we tried Greek food and it was pretty good, don't eat the spinach thingy.
 
Today's going to be a pretty much a lazy day. My afternoon attendant has the day off so I'm just going to sit around and watch stuff that I TiVod and probably sleep all day. Tonight Stanley, David and Corinne are going to come and spend the night and spend the day tomorrow with mom for Mother's Day.

Monday, May 8, 2006

Mother's Day

Lulu took the day off because she ended up working yesterday for her sister. Leticia came to work but then got a tummy ache and ended up calling Lulu to take her home and finish with me so I ended up staying in bed all day. We were having a Cribbage party at my mom's so I needed to get up.

It was busy here today. They delivered a tool chest that I had ordered on Friday and wouldn't uncover it before they left. When we did uncover it there was a big dent in the side so we called them back to see what they were going to do about it. They gave me the choice of giving me forty dollars back or they would come and replace it. Since I need to keep it outside I decided to have them replace it because I knew it was just going to end up getting rusty. George came over at 10a.m. because the guy from Home Depot said that he would be here to exchange the tool chest. George waited around for a couple of hours and then went home to eat and send Juliet back to watch out for the the truck. When the truck got here Jerry came over to make sure that they brought me what I was supposed to get this time and put the casters and the handle on the toolbox. While Jerry was outside Keith came over to say hello, he has been working really hard and I don't really see him that much anymore. Both of my doors had broken so I asked Keith if he could take a look and he was able to fix the front door but he needed a bigger drill to replace the keyless lock on the back door. I told him as long as I could work one door I would be happy.

Jerry went back home and barbecued and brought me some beef and chicken kabobs that tasted really good, he is such a good cook.  Since Jerry bought his own business he has been very busy. He asked me today if he took pictures and wrote descriptions on some stuff that he wanted to sell if I would manage it for him on eBay because I am always ordering stuff from eBay. I have never tried selling anything but it sounds like it could be a lot of fun and millions of people do it so it can't be all that difficult.

Next weekend Stanley, Janet and the kids are coming down for Mother's Day. David is going to come down a few days after that, my mom is going to feel so lucky.

Modesto David graduates on June ninth. We are going up there on the 8th and get a motel room so thatwe will not be late for the graduation.

I just found out today that my Gramps is going to stay here in California and not go back to Arizona. My mom and Gramps are going to take a trip to Bozeman Montana in July. I'm still toying with the idea of going. It would be nice to get away for a while but the trip seems like it's going to be pretty fast... it takes two days to get there, they'regoing to stay two days and it will take two days to get back.

Friday, May 5, 2006

Summer is here

I took my chair in on Wednesday to get everything fixed and I thought I was going to be without it for a couple of days, luckily I wasn't. They have to order a bunch of parts so I got it back at the end of the day but when the parts come in I'm pretty sure it's going to take a while.

The beginning of the week was really hot but luckily it cooled down. Tomorrow I have another dentist appointment and then I think I will get something to eat and take Brodie over to Oak Meadow Park. It sounds like it's going to be a beautiful day.

It sounds like one day this weekend we're going to play cards again. My aunt said that everybody enjoys it and I really do also, the time goes by so fast and we have so much fun.

There is a BBQ place by the hospital that I have been wanting to try so I grab some on the way home today and it was awesome. I hear a lot of good things about it and my aunt came by this morning and said that she had been there and she agreed, it was awesome. It looks like I'm going to be going back to Valley Medical Center about twice a week so I will be definitely hitting that place again. I'm trying to lose a little bit of weight for the summer so I usually have a big meal for lunch, around eleven a.m. and then at the end of the day when I get home I just have some cereal with granola in it and half of a bagel, I also found a place by the hospital that makes bagels fresh every day.