In my last post, I whinged about things not making sense with getting the data off my glucose meter. Well tonight I realised what was wrong. Somehow my monitor's date got set for a day ahead of the current date. The PC software that came with it is stupid and only wants to know about dates that are current and not in the future. OK, so I suppose that's the way it's programmed, but a good program should have told me my meter had dates in the future that it wasn't going to import. At least then I would have had a clue. I only discovered this when I wrote down all 25 readings on the meter tonight before importing the data and then marking the dates on each. So I tricked the software by changing the date on my laptop to tomorrow's date so everything would get imported from this batch of readings. Then before importing to the database that shows everything on the web page, I manually adjusted the date. Pity I didn't notice about the times until later... at some point I changed the setting on the meter to use 12hr time. Big mistake. It got it's AM and PM confused and so I had a bunch of 6am readings I marked as 'fasting'. Turns out those were probably my pre-tea readings. So have put the monitor back to 24hr time, and after uploading the data and making sure I hadn't lost anything, I deleted the data on the meter so my next readings should have the right date and time. I'll have to keep an eye on it though - the date & time could be getting changed inside my case when I've got it in my purse.
The reason why I had 25 readings on the meter is because 1) I was afraid to try downloading the data after last weeks fiasco, and since last Friday, I've been otherwise occupied with installing Ubuntu's Feisty Fawn on my computer. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution, and I've heard and read lots of good things about it, and I was a bit annoyed with my previous distribution - Debian - since it hadn't been updated for so long. I had quite a few issues I hoped that Feisty would resolve for me. For example, I have a 4 port USB port, but none of the ports have worked with Debian for months now despite my attempts to resolve the problem. I knew it was a software thing because I could use a 'live' Ubuntu CD and have access to the USB ports without a problem. So it wasn't the hardware. I also had problems with my Email software, Evolution. I couldn't upgrade it on Debian due to library issues and it had bugs that were fixed in newer versions but not being able to upgrade meant I just had to deal with the bugs as best I could. Most of the time it just meant closing and reloading the program, but you shouldn't have to do that several times a day.
So Friday, I stayed home to be a geek. My first order of business was to make backups of my essential files. Unfortunately this took most of the day but those backups have been a good investment as they've saved me heaps of time in getting things back to how I like to have my computer set up. I didn't finish backing up to DVD/CD until about 10pm Friday night and then started an install on a USB Hard Drive. It took ages and then it turned out as I finally sorted out on Saturday morning that my computer BIOS says I can boot from the USB HD, but reality says 'No'. So I installed on my computer, and actually made it so the drives I didn't want formatted weren't visible or 'installed' so that I didn't have to worry about losing Gigs of music and downloads. That went much smoother and faster.
My next order of business was to get mail set up. I'm not a typical user. I don't just have my mail program do a POP3 poll for mail on the server. Oh no, I had to install Exim4 (a Mail Transport Agent), procmail and fetchmail so that I could have the same arrangement as I've been using. Fetchmail uses Pop to go out and get mail for me from my main server at VCSWEB and also my Yahoo account, and then passes the mail onto Exim4 which is a mail server, and that in turn looks to procmail and my procmail filter file to sort my mail into various folders (and I have a LOT - all neatly organised). This actually went quite well as I had my previous mail spool and all my folders copied over. The nice thing is once everything is set up (in the right order) and running, it's all done behind the scenes. Fetchmail runs as a daemon and every 5-10 minutes goes out and collects the mail and the other programs just deal with it for me.
Where I ran into problems was in copying over my older config files for Evolution (my mail program). Some how the file permissions were wacked and I actually CRASHED the computer (something that only happens very rarely with Linux) when I tried to convert an Email to a task (what a cool thing to have as an option!) and the task directory wasn't writeable. Everything has worked fine once I fixed the file permissions on like every file in my home directory (so it seemed).
I was able to easily work out what I needed to do to get my webcams working on the new system. It only required one line in the /etc/modprobe.d options file. I had jotted down the two key pieces of information (card number and tuner type) from my old system which saved me hours of trying to figure it out again as we've been through this exercise a few times in the past.
The only snag was that when I rebooted after making the change, somehow the system lost my 'window manager' (metacity) and that made it so I only had one window to work in, and there were no tops on program windows so I could resize or move them and things like alt-tab didn't work to switch between windows/running programs. I found the answer to the problem using Google and fixed it. I had to add metacity to the list of files that get run when I log in and then re-log in. Worked a charm. I'm sure a newbie wouldn't have been able to work that one out though.
The very first bit of software I installed was mc (midnight commander) as I'd be lost without it. Basically it's a file browser that runs in text mode, and shows two directories at once so you can copy from one to the other etc.. It has a lot of built in things though like a text editor and you can look into archived files with it, copy files from archives to where ever and run all kinds of commands on files. The only thing is that I use it both as root and as 'me' but Ubuntu doesn't have a root login, so there's no home directory for root. This means that the configuration settings for mc (like being able to store frequently used directories to get to them quickly) keeps disappearing for either user (me or root). I have to admit the graphic file browser that comes with Ubuntu is quite nice, but having screwed stuff up in the past with graphic file browsers, I tend to use mc instead as it's safer -- for me.
I'd wondered if my little script that I found online to make the backgrounds change every few minutes would work with Ubuntu but no worries. So I have all my nice family photos and other neat pics as my background and it changes every 5 minutes or so.
I'm also a bit weird. I don't mind using Gnome, but there are certain KDE programs that I must have available. KDE and Gnome are desktop managers - each are different and come with their own base programs. For web design work, I prefer to use Quanta which is part of KDE, and I also prefer to use Konsole for my term (this lets me type commands and use MC and such). Gnome's term uses different key strokes for certain things and it messes up my ability to use mc which uses the F-keys and Esc key for many of it's functions. I didn't have any problems installing either Quanta or Konsole, and was pleased that it didn't like it had to do a complete install of all of KDE just so I could use these two programs. It only installed what was actually required.
And Quanta is MUCH more responsive. I've no idea what version I had and what one I've upgraded to, but what a huge difference.
I spent last night trying to get Samba going the way we want it to work here. Samba is a server that lets other computers connect to my machine to share folders. I need it to require a user name and password for our personal directories and so far I haven't succeeded in getting this going, and that's despite having our previous config files. I'll keep at it though.
So what with the bug fixes in Evolution and a faster Quanta program plus other nice touches, today I finally feel like I've accomplished more than a few things that have needed doing. Having the ability to save a list of tasks is essential for me - my short term memory is horrible these days. Being able to organise tasks and just the nice feeling of crossing them off the list is a great feeling. I still have lots to do and catch up on. I haven't read the mail from the various mailing lists I'm on since Friday, and because I reorganised where I store the web sites I work on, I need to do a lot of work in setting up the 'projects' in Quanta for the sites I'm responsible for (it's only about 20 different sites!). Meanwhile though, I'm just tackling things as they come.
Tonight I compiled the two little programs that I use, and finally got my glucose readings online since I hadn't done this since last Thursday. I also added more postcards to the Flickr site. I had 4 come in today. One was from a lovely teenager in Germany. All of them had neat stickers on the back too. I've put a link on the sidebar for the blog here to the Postcards on Flickr, and also earlier today added this link to the sidebar of my website.
Basically, I've just plain been getting things DONE, and that's a nice feeling!!
24 April 2007
19 April 2007
19 April: Spilled Tea, Etc
Yesterday I showed the nurse two areas on my back that are feeling odd - one was just a bit of pressure on the side where all the healing is happening and the other is a small little nodule that hurts on my spine, right on top of where I had the arthritis flair up last year. She was quite concerned about the area where it feels like a bit of pressure and said it looked swollen to her. She rang Flinders and got me an appointment for today. She couldn't see anything special with the other little area.
So today at Flinders they couldn't really see what the RDNS nurse was on about - I think perhaps the swelling was being a bit like a car you take to the mechanics and had actually settled down before my appointment. But they gave it a full irrigation - ie poured clean saline into the wound and let it come back up on it's own. The nurse doing it said it was really weird. She'd pour it in, the water would disappear and then come back out a minute or so later. This helped get some minor/normal gunk out and I have to admit it felt like I'd had a 'shower' there on the way home. Hard to describe, but it had a clean feeling. Still hurts like heck when they do the dressing changes. The doctor could feel the little swelling on my spine but didn't know what it was but didn't think it was much to worry about. That's good.
As far as healing goes, the area looks good but the size is still the same (and it was painfully painstakingly measured today. So I'm happy it's looking good and doesn't have signs of infection. The rest will come along eventually.
I also have an odd pain on the side of my right leg (same side as the hole). It was there last week too but I figured it was just caused by a change in posture and walking and such while carrying Boris (the 2kg VAC pack) on my other shoulder. It's become more noticable this week though, so if it continues I'll have to ask my GP about it too when he returns from his holiday. He'll be back on the 30th. It's not intense or anything like that so I'm not overly worried about it, but thought I'd mention it just so I can reference it with a date if needed in the future. It feels like I bumped into something or perhaps slept on it wrong, but I'm not sleeping on that side either. Probably just a change in posture because of the hole, I reckon.
While waiting for my appointment I had a book with me to read and it's a good book. But I had to stop reading and couldn't even play solitaire on my phone because I kept having problems with double vision. Grr. Have never had a problem with double vision before so dont know what's up with that. Was OK later today, at least for playing solitaire.
I hate typing this stuff as it makes me feel like a hypocondriac, but I do need to note stuff in case I need to know when it started. And of lot stuff with me is only short lived nonsense that settles down without the need to do anything further about it.
So this afternoon, once home and getting settled in, I spilled a whole lotta tea. Here's what I wrote to the BC List as we've all been complaining about random clumsiness lately...
ARRRGG!!
I was making a pot of tea today and had just poured a cup of tea as well (half cold tea from the pot, half hot water - thank goodness. I'm pouring into the pot and have a sudden muscle spasm, reflex, whatever, and end up knocking over the full cup of tea which dropped to the floor and broke the handle. I burned my finger, got tea all over my clothes and thank goodness that cup wasn't full of just boiled water or I'd be burned in several different places.
Now, I haven't mopped in awhile - I have that hole in my side and mopping isn't something on the list of things I should do. Sigh. Well, part of the floor got mopped with paper towel as I wiped everything up, and I can't believe how dirty they came up either. On the bright side there's a few clean spots now and the cupboards and counter got a good wipe down. They really didn't need it though.
And I broke my favourite tea cup. Boohoo!
Rod kept typing away at the computer in the next room and I was really annoyed he didn't even come to have a look when I shouted out that no, I probably wasn't OK. So all while clearing up my mess I was brewing about his lack of helpfulness, or even just plain curiosity. Turns out he
didn't even hear the accident or my shout. GRUMBLE. How can I be grumpy when he didn't even hear me? Sigh. Anyway, maybe I'll get it out by just sharing with y'all.
Hugs, (Cuz I NEED one!)
Gaelyne
-----------------------------------
Later, after a few Emails from others sending love, I wrote back .....
Thanks! I am feeling much better now. Isn't it funny how sometimes the smallest things can make us fall apart when bigger things going on ( the infection and hole in my side, a cancer scare, etc etc) we seem to just weather somehow?
Today with the 'teapot episode', I was very near tears and angry way beyond the scale of the situation. Maybe I just needed a release. I later took a nap and slept very soundly without moving for a couple of hours. I feel much better for it.
------------------------------------
I find I'm still a bit unscrewed this evening, as my eyes keep leaking and I found myself really missing Mum. We used to have such nice complaint sessions together ... and I can even see/hear her doing a 'Tsk' with a nod of the head in understanding. A bit like my German friend's 'Aaachh!' but more the British version. :-)
When I copied my readings from the glucose monitor tonight, for the first time before checking things, I deleted what was on the monitor. DAMN, because what got saved to the computer doesn't make any sense, has different times from when I did my tests, and has tests missing. Like I had an 8.0 this afternoon (I tested because I was feeling funky at that time), and then it was 4.4 an hour or so later. Those readings aren't there. I tested at 7:10 this evening and it was a 4.1 as it was my before tea reading. It's not there but instead there's a 7:32 reading that's 6.2. And there's a 5am reading in there, and I don't even remember getting up last night. This makes no sense.
I really hate that Murphy's Law guy. This beyond a joke.
Anyone care to come help me get my floors vacuumed and mopped?? All the tea you can drink! LOL.
OK, I just recieved some work via Email so I better get it done while I'm thinking about it.
Am still waiting for the official Ubuntu 'Fiesty Fawn' release so I can upgrade my computer. Am really starting to look forward to that, but with Murphy hanging around, perhaps I should wait a bit.
So today at Flinders they couldn't really see what the RDNS nurse was on about - I think perhaps the swelling was being a bit like a car you take to the mechanics and had actually settled down before my appointment. But they gave it a full irrigation - ie poured clean saline into the wound and let it come back up on it's own. The nurse doing it said it was really weird. She'd pour it in, the water would disappear and then come back out a minute or so later. This helped get some minor/normal gunk out and I have to admit it felt like I'd had a 'shower' there on the way home. Hard to describe, but it had a clean feeling. Still hurts like heck when they do the dressing changes. The doctor could feel the little swelling on my spine but didn't know what it was but didn't think it was much to worry about. That's good.
As far as healing goes, the area looks good but the size is still the same (and it was painfully painstakingly measured today. So I'm happy it's looking good and doesn't have signs of infection. The rest will come along eventually.
I also have an odd pain on the side of my right leg (same side as the hole). It was there last week too but I figured it was just caused by a change in posture and walking and such while carrying Boris (the 2kg VAC pack) on my other shoulder. It's become more noticable this week though, so if it continues I'll have to ask my GP about it too when he returns from his holiday. He'll be back on the 30th. It's not intense or anything like that so I'm not overly worried about it, but thought I'd mention it just so I can reference it with a date if needed in the future. It feels like I bumped into something or perhaps slept on it wrong, but I'm not sleeping on that side either. Probably just a change in posture because of the hole, I reckon.
While waiting for my appointment I had a book with me to read and it's a good book. But I had to stop reading and couldn't even play solitaire on my phone because I kept having problems with double vision. Grr. Have never had a problem with double vision before so dont know what's up with that. Was OK later today, at least for playing solitaire.
I hate typing this stuff as it makes me feel like a hypocondriac, but I do need to note stuff in case I need to know when it started. And of lot stuff with me is only short lived nonsense that settles down without the need to do anything further about it.
So this afternoon, once home and getting settled in, I spilled a whole lotta tea. Here's what I wrote to the BC List as we've all been complaining about random clumsiness lately...
ARRRGG!!
I was making a pot of tea today and had just poured a cup of tea as well (half cold tea from the pot, half hot water - thank goodness. I'm pouring into the pot and have a sudden muscle spasm, reflex, whatever, and end up knocking over the full cup of tea which dropped to the floor and broke the handle. I burned my finger, got tea all over my clothes and thank goodness that cup wasn't full of just boiled water or I'd be burned in several different places.
Now, I haven't mopped in awhile - I have that hole in my side and mopping isn't something on the list of things I should do. Sigh. Well, part of the floor got mopped with paper towel as I wiped everything up, and I can't believe how dirty they came up either. On the bright side there's a few clean spots now and the cupboards and counter got a good wipe down. They really didn't need it though.
And I broke my favourite tea cup. Boohoo!
Rod kept typing away at the computer in the next room and I was really annoyed he didn't even come to have a look when I shouted out that no, I probably wasn't OK. So all while clearing up my mess I was brewing about his lack of helpfulness, or even just plain curiosity. Turns out he
didn't even hear the accident or my shout. GRUMBLE. How can I be grumpy when he didn't even hear me? Sigh. Anyway, maybe I'll get it out by just sharing with y'all.
Hugs, (Cuz I NEED one!)
Gaelyne
-----------------------------------
Later, after a few Emails from others sending love, I wrote back .....
Thanks! I am feeling much better now. Isn't it funny how sometimes the smallest things can make us fall apart when bigger things going on ( the infection and hole in my side, a cancer scare, etc etc) we seem to just weather somehow?
Today with the 'teapot episode', I was very near tears and angry way beyond the scale of the situation. Maybe I just needed a release. I later took a nap and slept very soundly without moving for a couple of hours. I feel much better for it.
------------------------------------
I find I'm still a bit unscrewed this evening, as my eyes keep leaking and I found myself really missing Mum. We used to have such nice complaint sessions together ... and I can even see/hear her doing a 'Tsk' with a nod of the head in understanding. A bit like my German friend's 'Aaachh!' but more the British version. :-)
When I copied my readings from the glucose monitor tonight, for the first time before checking things, I deleted what was on the monitor. DAMN, because what got saved to the computer doesn't make any sense, has different times from when I did my tests, and has tests missing. Like I had an 8.0 this afternoon (I tested because I was feeling funky at that time), and then it was 4.4 an hour or so later. Those readings aren't there. I tested at 7:10 this evening and it was a 4.1 as it was my before tea reading. It's not there but instead there's a 7:32 reading that's 6.2. And there's a 5am reading in there, and I don't even remember getting up last night. This makes no sense.
I really hate that Murphy's Law guy. This beyond a joke.
Anyone care to come help me get my floors vacuumed and mopped?? All the tea you can drink! LOL.
OK, I just recieved some work via Email so I better get it done while I'm thinking about it.
Am still waiting for the official Ubuntu 'Fiesty Fawn' release so I can upgrade my computer. Am really starting to look forward to that, but with Murphy hanging around, perhaps I should wait a bit.
17 April 2007
17 April: This and That
My little boy's growing up! See: link
Nothing much new to report. I wrote an article last night and today. Am now letting it 'rest' so I can come back and edit it with fresh eyes. Last night our neighbour visited and posed a challenge to us. He had a bet with a friend and wanted to know how many languages there are in the world, and how many words are there, in all languages. The answer to the first one we could find - it's 6.912. But the second is an impossible question because so many languages are merges of other languages. So the answer is 'infinite'. Still interesting stuff. He's a real Aussie bloke and quite a character. A very nice distraction although sometimes the timing isn't all that great. Still, I'd do anything for our neighbours as they're exactly the same with us.
I had a good sleep last night and awoke to the doorbell - my nurse came earlier than usual today. It was good to get that over with for the day right away though. Yesterday and today she's used a 'barrier wipe' on my skin before putting the tape on and it really has helped me stop being itchy anywhere the adhesive meets my skin.
Yesterday I had a few postcards arrive, and then later in the day I had a book arrive in the mail too. It was a book I've read that was on my Wishlist, as its one I'd like to keep. The title is "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom. The really amazing thing about this particular book is that it was first purchased in Tehran, Iran. The person who bought it registered it on bookcrossing.com and then sent it over here to someone in Australia, eventually winding it's way to me. What an amazing journey!
Today I had a few more postcards and a lovely card from my daughter (which she designed the artwork for) as well as a photo of her and her fiance. You can view the postcards as well as the card and photo on Flickr.
For the last two weeks in the paper there's been a voucher for a free 9in pizza at a new pizza place that's just opened in Woodcroft. It was one free pizza per person per voucher, so Rod and I each got a pizza for tea tonight. We had to stand in a long line for it, but the owner brought around soft drinks and we even had a free slice of pizza while waiting in line. It was excellent pizza too. What a very successful opening they've had today.
Well, I need to get back to work so I'll mosey on out of here.
Nothing much new to report. I wrote an article last night and today. Am now letting it 'rest' so I can come back and edit it with fresh eyes. Last night our neighbour visited and posed a challenge to us. He had a bet with a friend and wanted to know how many languages there are in the world, and how many words are there, in all languages. The answer to the first one we could find - it's 6.912. But the second is an impossible question because so many languages are merges of other languages. So the answer is 'infinite'. Still interesting stuff. He's a real Aussie bloke and quite a character. A very nice distraction although sometimes the timing isn't all that great. Still, I'd do anything for our neighbours as they're exactly the same with us.
I had a good sleep last night and awoke to the doorbell - my nurse came earlier than usual today. It was good to get that over with for the day right away though. Yesterday and today she's used a 'barrier wipe' on my skin before putting the tape on and it really has helped me stop being itchy anywhere the adhesive meets my skin.
Yesterday I had a few postcards arrive, and then later in the day I had a book arrive in the mail too. It was a book I've read that was on my Wishlist, as its one I'd like to keep. The title is "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom. The really amazing thing about this particular book is that it was first purchased in Tehran, Iran. The person who bought it registered it on bookcrossing.com and then sent it over here to someone in Australia, eventually winding it's way to me. What an amazing journey!
Today I had a few more postcards and a lovely card from my daughter (which she designed the artwork for) as well as a photo of her and her fiance. You can view the postcards as well as the card and photo on Flickr.
For the last two weeks in the paper there's been a voucher for a free 9in pizza at a new pizza place that's just opened in Woodcroft. It was one free pizza per person per voucher, so Rod and I each got a pizza for tea tonight. We had to stand in a long line for it, but the owner brought around soft drinks and we even had a free slice of pizza while waiting in line. It was excellent pizza too. What a very successful opening they've had today.
Well, I need to get back to work so I'll mosey on out of here.
14 April 2007
14 April: Readings & Comments
Wow, really pleased with tonight's results. Mind, aside from the shells, there's very little carbs in a taco. It's mostly protien and veggies.
5.4 / 98 Fasting 09:42:00
6.2 / 112 Pre-Bfast 10:18:08
6.1 / 110 Post-Bfast 12:28:44
5.2 / 93 Pre-Lunch 14:54:18
5.7 / 103 Post-Lunch 17:09:54 salad, sausage roll
5.3 / 95 Pre-Tea 18:08:48
5.7 / 103 Post-Tea 20:40:53 4 Tacos. Yum.
Had a good day in. Did 4 loads of laundry. Had my dressing changed, made tea. And finally finished setting up a new web client. They were all set, but I had to set up their stats and such. Meanwhile some directories had been moved so along the way I needed to update my little menu program that lets me step through all the things that need to be done so it could find all the files that I update.
My next project is to write an article on finger picking for the ADI mailing list. I'm off to get a start on that now.
12 April 2007
12 April: Good News
Apologies if you've read parts of this in Email that I sent out.
My results finally came back, and the blood test showed it was a bit abnormal but NOT in a bad way... ie, no cancer. No Myeloma.
I also had an appt at Flinders today, and we have 'abandoned' Boris, my 2kg VAC pack as he wasn't helping me. In fact one doctor who last saw my wound before the VAC was put on said aside from not looking infected the size of the wound hadn't changed at all in the 3 weeks I've had the VAC pack attached. And it isn't infected at all. Just taking it's sweet time
to heal.
Instead of Boris, I'll have regular dressing changes at least every two days (once a day if necessary) and I don't have to see anyone at Flinders for two whole weeks!
Regarding surgery, the current doctor looking after me conferred with Dr. Dean, who had been a registrar and looked after me when I had thereconstruction surgery (which also turned into a nightmare of wound infection(s)). The general consensus was that surgery for me wouldn't
be a good idea. As I'm susceptible to infection, we could end up with a much larger area... infected, which wouldn't be helpful at all. Additionally with my current health - being quite anemic and having diabetes they really feel strongly that anesthesia wouldn't be the best
for me either.
It feels funny not to be carrying Boris around with me. Tonight we came home from being out for a bit and I forgot all about the fact my purse was on my shoulder because I've been so used to dragging Boris around with me for the last 3 weeks.
So, good news all around. I've got iron tablets for the anemia and have had a couple more tests regarding that, but my GP is going away until the 30th, so we'll deal more with that when he comes back.
We went to the fireworks tonight -- the ones rescheduled from 2 weeks ago. They were great - all 5 minutes of them before they cancelled the event due to NON-EXISTING 'high winds'! The place was packed with families and kiddies in Pajamas too. I came home and looked up the weather and it said:
So what a crock. What there were of the fireworks were great and hopefully I'll be able to upload to youtube the bit I took with my camera. It even has the announcement that they'd been cancelled in it.
Anyway, Rod's packed it in, so I shall be following. I bought myself some marked down Easter eggs tonight and have been good so I can enjoy them. I think we'll be watching Heroes tonight.
My plans for tomorrow are to finish up some work and otherwise take it easy.
OH, what I didn't mention in my Email to people is that on Monday with the ride we took (in the car, not the bike), my side/wound started really hurting, and when the changed the dressing on Tuesday it was the most painful I'd had to date. I had to cover my mouth so I wouldn't scream. Well today was much worse - I did yelp and I actually cried. It REALLY HURT. And I apologised because I'm not a yeller or screamer, but it was very painful. And that was on pain pills too. The re-packing was OK though, as it wasn't trying to push the foam into me, and by then the 2nd Panadiene Forte I'd taken was in effect. So that's another reason I'm happy to be free of Boris. The nurse felt really bad about 'making me' cry (it wasn't her fault), and gave my back a good rub down with Alpha Keri cream. It really helped stop the itching and my back is still feeling like it's been well creamed, and it's now hours later. I might have to get some of that for myself.
Oh and for the Geeks ... my computer is now telling me it's up time is 99 Days, 9 hours. In a few days, when the new version of Ubuntu comes out, I'll be upgrading to it. My first upgrade in over a year. I'm looking forward to it. And I'll have my son to help guide me since it's the system he uses. :-) Funny, I used to help him, but now he's the one I ask silly questions of. What a nice change.
Anyway, G'night Y'all
My results finally came back, and the blood test showed it was a bit abnormal but NOT in a bad way... ie, no cancer. No Myeloma.
I also had an appt at Flinders today, and we have 'abandoned' Boris, my 2kg VAC pack as he wasn't helping me. In fact one doctor who last saw my wound before the VAC was put on said aside from not looking infected the size of the wound hadn't changed at all in the 3 weeks I've had the VAC pack attached. And it isn't infected at all. Just taking it's sweet time
to heal.
Instead of Boris, I'll have regular dressing changes at least every two days (once a day if necessary) and I don't have to see anyone at Flinders for two whole weeks!
Regarding surgery, the current doctor looking after me conferred with Dr. Dean, who had been a registrar and looked after me when I had thereconstruction surgery (which also turned into a nightmare of wound infection(s)). The general consensus was that surgery for me wouldn't
be a good idea. As I'm susceptible to infection, we could end up with a much larger area... infected, which wouldn't be helpful at all. Additionally with my current health - being quite anemic and having diabetes they really feel strongly that anesthesia wouldn't be the best
for me either.
It feels funny not to be carrying Boris around with me. Tonight we came home from being out for a bit and I forgot all about the fact my purse was on my shoulder because I've been so used to dragging Boris around with me for the last 3 weeks.
So, good news all around. I've got iron tablets for the anemia and have had a couple more tests regarding that, but my GP is going away until the 30th, so we'll deal more with that when he comes back.
We went to the fireworks tonight -- the ones rescheduled from 2 weeks ago. They were great - all 5 minutes of them before they cancelled the event due to NON-EXISTING 'high winds'! The place was packed with families and kiddies in Pajamas too. I came home and looked up the weather and it said:
IDS10034
Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
South Australia
Adelaide Forecast
Issued at 4:00 pm CST on Thursday 12 April 2007
Warning Summary
Nil.
Forecast for Thursday evening
A fine warm and clear evening. Light to moderate east to northeast winds. Early
evening sea breeze.
So what a crock. What there were of the fireworks were great and hopefully I'll be able to upload to youtube the bit I took with my camera. It even has the announcement that they'd been cancelled in it.
Anyway, Rod's packed it in, so I shall be following. I bought myself some marked down Easter eggs tonight and have been good so I can enjoy them. I think we'll be watching Heroes tonight.
My plans for tomorrow are to finish up some work and otherwise take it easy.
OH, what I didn't mention in my Email to people is that on Monday with the ride we took (in the car, not the bike), my side/wound started really hurting, and when the changed the dressing on Tuesday it was the most painful I'd had to date. I had to cover my mouth so I wouldn't scream. Well today was much worse - I did yelp and I actually cried. It REALLY HURT. And I apologised because I'm not a yeller or screamer, but it was very painful. And that was on pain pills too. The re-packing was OK though, as it wasn't trying to push the foam into me, and by then the 2nd Panadiene Forte I'd taken was in effect. So that's another reason I'm happy to be free of Boris. The nurse felt really bad about 'making me' cry (it wasn't her fault), and gave my back a good rub down with Alpha Keri cream. It really helped stop the itching and my back is still feeling like it's been well creamed, and it's now hours later. I might have to get some of that for myself.
Oh and for the Geeks ... my computer is now telling me it's up time is 99 Days, 9 hours. In a few days, when the new version of Ubuntu comes out, I'll be upgrading to it. My first upgrade in over a year. I'm looking forward to it. And I'll have my son to help guide me since it's the system he uses. :-) Funny, I used to help him, but now he's the one I ask silly questions of. What a nice change.
Anyway, G'night Y'all
11 April: Quick Notes
It's late and I'm in a bit of a rush to get to bed so this will be brief.
I rec'd 12 postcards today! Most were from Finland, and one was from Michigan!! I've uploaded these to Flickr - see link in the post 2 down from this one to see the new ones. They don't have descriptions yet, sorry.
Rod's brother stopped in for a visit tonight.
I have had no news from my GP, but tomorrow I see the team at Flinders so we might know more about the decision on surgery by tomorrow.
That's all I know. Sorry! Off to bed now. G'night!
I rec'd 12 postcards today! Most were from Finland, and one was from Michigan!! I've uploaded these to Flickr - see link in the post 2 down from this one to see the new ones. They don't have descriptions yet, sorry.
Rod's brother stopped in for a visit tonight.
I have had no news from my GP, but tomorrow I see the team at Flinders so we might know more about the decision on surgery by tomorrow.
That's all I know. Sorry! Off to bed now. G'night!
10 April 2007
10 April: Still No Test Results
The blood test was still not done, so GP says he'll be ringing them and finding out what the deal is and will ring me back. I did read online this weekend the test can take 2-3 days to get the
results, so have decided to try not to sweat it too much.
This morning at 9am, I had an appt with the Diabetes Education Nurse. She absolutely loved my website print outs of my averages and details pages. I also interviewed her for an article I'm working on. I did something highly unusual for me - I went and bought myself a new purse. I've had the same one for the last 5yrs and although it's not falling apart yet (which is amazing, really), it was definitely time for a new one. And it goes with Boris quite well. Yes, I'm still plugged into the VAC. Which reminds me. When the nurse asked if I was exercising lately I lifted up Boris, all 2Kgs of him, and said well, no matter where I walk or how far, I'm carrying this extra 2kgs with me. Does that count? (giggle). Yes it does count. :-)
While standing in line waiting to put my fortnightly form in, I rang the RDNS callcentre to leave a message for my nurse so she would know that I was away this morning and would be home in the afternoon. I even gave my mobile number so she could reach me while I was out. Well that was a waste of time. First they told me I wasn't rostered on to see anyone today. NO, THE AGREEMENT WITH FLINDERS WAS THAT I WAS TO BE SEEN SATURDAY BY HOSPITAL@HOME, AND TUESDAY BY RDNS. The thing is, my dressings are supposed to be changed every 48 hours, and this weekend we compromised and made it a bit longer to accomodate the RDNS nurses as they didn't have anyone on the weekend skilled at doing VAC dressings. Well, the lady on the phone just sent someone to my house instead of taking in that I was OUT, and I came home to find a note that more or less said 'We were here, you weren't, ring us if you have a problem, we'll see you tomorrow.' So I rang and again they sent someone out without 1) finding out if she could do a VAC dressing and 2) taking in that I need to have Boris clamped and off for 30 minutes before they start. The nurse that came was quite nice, but had never done a VAC and so I said straight out that she wasn't going to change my dressing. She arranged for another woman to come - fortunately someone I'd met earlier who came to help my first RDNS day when the person that was to be my regular nurse had just crossed me off the list without telling anyone and didn't bother seeing me -- I'm pretty sure that nurse got her butt fired for that action, or should I say in-action. Anyway, it was Maria, and she's a card. I quite like her, and she did know what she was doing, and brought another nurse who will be doing me for the next two weeks, and trained her in how to do the change. It was a bit like having a pajama party in my bedroom. But Boris was happy with the change and only freaked Maria out a little as he has a nasty habit of looking like his battery is empty when you first turn him on - really he should be exchanged I suppose, but now I know his quirks, I'd hate to get used to another Boris.
So my next hurdle is Thursday when I see the plastics team. I'm only seeing them because they were the ones that did the original surgery. But it will Thursday when the decision is made on whether they'll open my back up further. One thing - Maria had seen my back when I was still having the ribbon packing, and she was really impressed with how well it looked. So that's good. I just wish it didn't hurt so much as it does lately.
OH, apparently they found an extra bit of foam that the previous nurse had put in, and that was pressing right up against the underside of my skin against the vacuum seal, so that's where the pain is from. Still hurts though. Little things like moving, bending, etc really is nasty.
Yesterday, not realising it was going to cause me agony, we went for a long ride in the hills - in the car. We checked out the dams and reservoirs - and seeing the damage from a fire they had at Mt Bold. But the car ride -- man, every little bump I could feel in my wound, and I did my best not to let on that it hurt, a lot. I really wanted and needed to be out a bit and I knew Rod did too. I will have to remember to get a pillow to put behind me, so the wound isn't right against the seat. I'm sure that will help a bit. I lean forward if we go over a speed hump, but a lot of bumps, you just don't see coming (hey that describes this whole 'infection/abscess episode, doesn't it? - It was a bump I sure as heck didn't see coming). We stopped at a clients tea house and had a chat, then went to the local pub and had a beer. They weren't serving dinner until 6 and it was only 5:15 so I talked Rod into taking me to the Emu which is another pub closer to home. We had a nice counter meal there - Rod had fish and I had a great ravioli dish. And we were home in time to watch Neighbours. Neighbours is an Aussie TV soapie I like to watch - it teaches me more about Australian culture than a lot of other shows, and I find it often quite amusing.
Tomorrow I'm doing some laundry, maybe some housework - but not if my side is still hurting a lot, and enjoying a day of not having to be anywhere.
I'm not posting any BGL results today because there's nothing new I'm experimenting with today since I was out all morning.
More news as it comes to hand.
results, so have decided to try not to sweat it too much.
This morning at 9am, I had an appt with the Diabetes Education Nurse. She absolutely loved my website print outs of my averages and details pages. I also interviewed her for an article I'm working on. I did something highly unusual for me - I went and
While standing in line waiting to put my fortnightly form in, I rang the RDNS callcentre to leave a message for my nurse so she would know that I was away this morning and would be home in the afternoon. I even gave my mobile number so she could reach me while I was out. Well that was a waste of time. First they told me I wasn't rostered on to see anyone today. NO, THE AGREEMENT WITH FLINDERS WAS THAT I WAS TO BE SEEN SATURDAY BY HOSPITAL@HOME, AND TUESDAY BY RDNS. The thing is, my dressings are supposed to be changed every 48 hours, and this weekend we compromised and made it a bit longer to accomodate the RDNS nurses as they didn't have anyone on the weekend skilled at doing VAC dressings. Well, the lady on the phone just sent someone to my house instead of taking in that I was OUT, and I came home to find a note that more or less said 'We were here, you weren't, ring us if you have a problem, we'll see you tomorrow.' So I rang and again they sent someone out without 1) finding out if she could do a VAC dressing and 2) taking in that I need to have Boris clamped and off for 30 minutes before they start. The nurse that came was quite nice, but had never done a VAC and so I said straight out that she wasn't going to change my dressing. She arranged for another woman to come - fortunately someone I'd met earlier who came to help my first RDNS day when the person that was to be my regular nurse had just crossed me off the list without telling anyone and didn't bother seeing me -- I'm pretty sure that nurse got her butt fired for that action, or should I say in-action. Anyway, it was Maria, and she's a card. I quite like her, and she did know what she was doing, and brought another nurse who will be doing me for the next two weeks, and trained her in how to do the change. It was a bit like having a pajama party in my bedroom. But Boris was happy with the change and only freaked Maria out a little as he has a nasty habit of looking like his battery is empty when you first turn him on - really he should be exchanged I suppose, but now I know his quirks, I'd hate to get used to another Boris.
So my next hurdle is Thursday when I see the plastics team. I'm only seeing them because they were the ones that did the original surgery. But it will Thursday when the decision is made on whether they'll open my back up further. One thing - Maria had seen my back when I was still having the ribbon packing, and she was really impressed with how well it looked. So that's good. I just wish it didn't hurt so much as it does lately.
OH, apparently they found an extra bit of foam that the previous nurse had put in, and that was pressing right up against the underside of my skin against the vacuum seal, so that's where the pain is from. Still hurts though. Little things like moving, bending, etc really is nasty.
Yesterday, not realising it was going to cause me agony, we went for a long ride in the hills - in the car. We checked out the dams and reservoirs - and seeing the damage from a fire they had at Mt Bold. But the car ride -- man, every little bump I could feel in my wound, and I did my best not to let on that it hurt, a lot. I really wanted and needed to be out a bit and I knew Rod did too. I will have to remember to get a pillow to put behind me, so the wound isn't right against the seat. I'm sure that will help a bit. I lean forward if we go over a speed hump, but a lot of bumps, you just don't see coming (hey that describes this whole 'infection/abscess episode, doesn't it? - It was a bump I sure as heck didn't see coming). We stopped at a clients tea house and had a chat, then went to the local pub and had a beer. They weren't serving dinner until 6 and it was only 5:15 so I talked Rod into taking me to the Emu which is another pub closer to home. We had a nice counter meal there - Rod had fish and I had a great ravioli dish. And we were home in time to watch Neighbours. Neighbours is an Aussie TV soapie I like to watch - it teaches me more about Australian culture than a lot of other shows, and I find it often quite amusing.
Tomorrow I'm doing some laundry, maybe some housework - but not if my side is still hurting a lot, and enjoying a day of not having to be anywhere.
I'm not posting any BGL results today because there's nothing new I'm experimenting with today since I was out all morning.
More news as it comes to hand.
10 April: Postcards from Strangers!
My friend Vicki wanted to cheer me up since I've been going through so much lately, and had a lovely devious plan too. She belongs Postcrossing.com and in a forum mentioned that I needed cheering up and gave my details and explained a little of what I've been through lately. Now, her plan was that I would just start receiving postcards from around the world and not know why. Well... I'm such a geek. I get my stats for my website Emailed to me daily and sometimes I even read them. One day last week (? Actually, it may have been longer, I'm not sure), I noticed some traffic on my site coming from a Postcrossing forum. Knowing Vicki was involved with this site, I fired off an Email and asked her if she knew anything about it then went back to reading the stats. Well, further down in my reading I found the actual forum link and discovered her request to send me postcards and was amazed, truly blown away, by all the messages saying they'd send me a card. Wow!
Well the first few have arrived, so I put them on Flickr (another place where Vicki has some very outstanding photos), so that I could share them with people. My link for the postcards is http://www.flickr.com/photos/flitterg/sets/72157600061246151/, but I'll be putting the scans here to be viewed too.
The first one I received, from Aoraki, Mt Cook, New Zealand:
This one came from Cannes, France:
This one came from Ensisheim, which is a town in Alsace, France. It also included a butterfly stamp inside the card (this was a greeting card) from Korea:
This last one for today was from Vicki, and in a parcel. It actually didn't arrive with the rest of the mail, and was slightly opened, so I think it may have been delivered to another address by mistake. She sent me a lovely card, some refreshers we'd talked about some time ago, a newspaper clipping of something her daughter and granddaughters are involved with, and a cute pink Avon Breast Cancer Teddy Bear. (I'll try to put a photo below of the newest teddy in the family).
I put the Teddy with Alice, another BC bear, and you know, I just knew that Alice and 'Wally', another bear, were doing an awful lot of paw-holding and smiling. Well now I know why! You know what paw holding can lead to with Teddys!! :-)
Stay tuned for more Postcards from Strangers! :-)
And yes, these definitely put a smile on my face, and I really did need it. :-)
Well the first few have arrived, so I put them on Flickr (another place where Vicki has some very outstanding photos), so that I could share them with people. My link for the postcards is http://www.flickr.com/photos/flitterg/sets/72157600061246151/, but I'll be putting the scans here to be viewed too.
The first one I received, from Aoraki, Mt Cook, New Zealand:
This one came from Cannes, France:
This one came from Ensisheim, which is a town in Alsace, France. It also included a butterfly stamp inside the card (this was a greeting card) from Korea:
This last one for today was from Vicki, and in a parcel. It actually didn't arrive with the rest of the mail, and was slightly opened, so I think it may have been delivered to another address by mistake. She sent me a lovely card, some refreshers we'd talked about some time ago, a newspaper clipping of something her daughter and granddaughters are involved with, and a cute pink Avon Breast Cancer Teddy Bear. (I'll try to put a photo below of the newest teddy in the family).
I put the Teddy with Alice, another BC bear, and you know, I just knew that Alice and 'Wally', another bear, were doing an awful lot of paw-holding and smiling. Well now I know why! You know what paw holding can lead to with Teddys!! :-)
Stay tuned for more Postcards from Strangers! :-)
And yes, these definitely put a smile on my face, and I really did need it. :-)
05 April 2007
5 April: No News
I rang my GP at about 4:30 this afternoon, and the results of the culture were in. Apparently the culture found ordinary skin germs, but they shouldn't be in my wound. There's nothing I need to do, just continue taking the antibiotic I'm already on.
When I asked about the other test he hemmed and hawed and said he was looking for it and finally that it wasn't in. So, either that's true, or he didn't want to end the day telling me bad news. His usual method for bad news is to tell me to come in, and makes sure I have the very last appt for the day. So that leaves me hanging with the big question over the weekend, but you know, that's probably kinder the alternative. So I just have to convince myself to believe that the results really aren't in and that worrying about it is futile. Easy to say, a lot harder to do.
We have no major plans for the Easter weekend -- here in Oz we get a four day weekend. On Good Friday even the pubs close -- ALL DAY. And Monday is Easter Monday so it's also a holiday. Rod has finished this term of school as of today so no school for him until the end of the month. We might go for a drive in the car on Monday through the hills in hopes there's some Autumn colours to see. I almost talked him into how I could ride on the motorcycle if we put Boris in my backpack, but then I realised if we did get into an accident (heaven forbid), there'd be like a zillion people telling us what idiots we were taking me out on the bike with a wound. So the car it is. Damn. I really miss riding on the bike and having the wind rushing past my face, and being able to just sit there, ride and think whatever thoughts float along. I could really use that at the moment too, but first I have to heal.
My brother sent news today that his sister-in-law passed away yesterday. She had had breast cancer and had it before I did. She developed a new primary last year and had other problems as well. I'm so saddened at the loss of not just another BC sister, but also of someone I knew and respected. She will be missed. I feel for my sister-in-law too as she was very close to her sister and as she and my brother are separated I know this is an especially hard time for her.
On the brighter side, the Commodore computing community was worried today about a beloved fellow member who does so much for all the various communities by keeping everyone informed of what's happening in the world of get togethers, conventions and other news. Fortunately he is OK and was only in hospital for 14hours. Another member of the community we were worried about, a minister, we've at least heard word that he and his family are OK. There were 3 tornados that ripped through his small town of 1000 people recently. His house is damaged but OK, but most of the town has had major damage. So while the news about his town wasn't good, it was good to know he and his family are OK and we all understand that he has been extremely busy tending to both his house and no doubt to all of his congregation and town. I posted a note in the mailing list that we have for Commodore users about his situation and suggested we send him cards and letters to know that we are thinking of him and to let him know of all of our support. I hope it results in a lot of love & support for him. He's a great person.
I also wrote a short article today for a Commodore newsletter today. The program I was writing about was shareware (meaning to register it you need to send the author money and he sends you the registration details), but the author, a friend of mine, died about 10yrs ago. As this is a great program, and deserves to be used, after many years of considering it, I gave the details for my own personal registration. It will mean that anyone who uses these details will see my name on their screen along with the time when the screen saver activates, but I think that could be forgiven. And as the author can't be paid, but spent the last years of his life caring for both his parents who had alzhiemers, I strongly suggested sending a donation to any Alzhiemer charity in the authors name. So I hope the program gets used by more people and appreciated, and that people will respond and send a few Alzhiemer charities some money.
So I think karma-wise, I've done some good today, rather than spending all of my time brooding and worrying.
When I asked about the other test he hemmed and hawed and said he was looking for it and finally that it wasn't in. So, either that's true, or he didn't want to end the day telling me bad news. His usual method for bad news is to tell me to come in, and makes sure I have the very last appt for the day. So that leaves me hanging with the big question over the weekend, but you know, that's probably kinder the alternative. So I just have to convince myself to believe that the results really aren't in and that worrying about it is futile. Easy to say, a lot harder to do.
We have no major plans for the Easter weekend -- here in Oz we get a four day weekend. On Good Friday even the pubs close -- ALL DAY. And Monday is Easter Monday so it's also a holiday. Rod has finished this term of school as of today so no school for him until the end of the month. We might go for a drive in the car on Monday through the hills in hopes there's some Autumn colours to see. I almost talked him into how I could ride on the motorcycle if we put Boris in my backpack, but then I realised if we did get into an accident (heaven forbid), there'd be like a zillion people telling us what idiots we were taking me out on the bike with a wound. So the car it is. Damn. I really miss riding on the bike and having the wind rushing past my face, and being able to just sit there, ride and think whatever thoughts float along. I could really use that at the moment too, but first I have to heal.
My brother sent news today that his sister-in-law passed away yesterday. She had had breast cancer and had it before I did. She developed a new primary last year and had other problems as well. I'm so saddened at the loss of not just another BC sister, but also of someone I knew and respected. She will be missed. I feel for my sister-in-law too as she was very close to her sister and as she and my brother are separated I know this is an especially hard time for her.
On the brighter side, the Commodore computing community was worried today about a beloved fellow member who does so much for all the various communities by keeping everyone informed of what's happening in the world of get togethers, conventions and other news. Fortunately he is OK and was only in hospital for 14hours. Another member of the community we were worried about, a minister, we've at least heard word that he and his family are OK. There were 3 tornados that ripped through his small town of 1000 people recently. His house is damaged but OK, but most of the town has had major damage. So while the news about his town wasn't good, it was good to know he and his family are OK and we all understand that he has been extremely busy tending to both his house and no doubt to all of his congregation and town. I posted a note in the mailing list that we have for Commodore users about his situation and suggested we send him cards and letters to know that we are thinking of him and to let him know of all of our support. I hope it results in a lot of love & support for him. He's a great person.
I also wrote a short article today for a Commodore newsletter today. The program I was writing about was shareware (meaning to register it you need to send the author money and he sends you the registration details), but the author, a friend of mine, died about 10yrs ago. As this is a great program, and deserves to be used, after many years of considering it, I gave the details for my own personal registration. It will mean that anyone who uses these details will see my name on their screen along with the time when the screen saver activates, but I think that could be forgiven. And as the author can't be paid, but spent the last years of his life caring for both his parents who had alzhiemers, I strongly suggested sending a donation to any Alzhiemer charity in the authors name. So I hope the program gets used by more people and appreciated, and that people will respond and send a few Alzhiemer charities some money.
So I think karma-wise, I've done some good today, rather than spending all of my time brooding and worrying.
04 April 2007
4 April: Readings & Comments & Good/Bad
Where to begin? The day started off with work for me to do and so I stayed in my PJs and worked on the project until it was finished -- just a little update for a client.
7.3 / 131 Random 13:31:04 Better from 9.4 - after 2 cups grn tea
3.6 / 65 Random 17:18:51 Missed lunch. Needed snack.
5.8 / 104 Pre-Tea 18:30:12 Better from low of 3.6
12.5 / 225 Post-Tea 20:48:59 Wow, & is after green tea. Hmm.
4.3 / 78 Bedtime 23:29:25 Was feeling off.
5.0 / 90 Fasting 08:43:57 Woke up after a fever.
7.3 / 132 Post-Breakfast 12:01:55 Crumpet toast & PB as usual
5.4 / 97 Pre-Lunch 13:29:39
6.9 / 124 Post-Lunch 15:16:03
9.3 / 168 Post-Tea 21:14:31 KFC. Probably too many chips or mashed
potatoes. 2x Chai Green tea
Rod came home and his mock interview had been a success. We caught up a bit, then I went to take a shower to get ready for todays appts - one at Flinders for a dressing change and one with my GP for Mondays test results. Well that's where things started to go a bit wrong. I have a new bright red rash, this time on my front, and includes all of the area of my 'good' breast - including the scar areas where I had the reduction done. It extends down onto the middle of my stomach and is warmish to me. So figuring I'd end up staying at Flinders, I packed a bag to put in the boot (car trunk). As you can tell by this journal entry, I didn't end up staying luckily.
The wound care team were just as mystified as me about the rash. My wound is looking OK, still draining good, but no real progress in healing. They will keep Boris with me through to next Thursday when I have an appointment with the plastics team, and Marg is quite stressing to them she feels it will heal better opened. I don't want that, but I do respect her knowledge on the subject. And she's really good to me as well. The other drama there was I had to tell them that RDNS wouldn't have anyone qualified to change my VAC dressing on the holiday weekend. Marg again went to bat for me and I even heard her tell someone on the phone that 'that's all fine and dandy but my concern is for the well being of my patient.' When I left, things were still up in the air but she left me a voice mail later to let me know a compromise had been reached. I would be seen on Saturday by a nurse from Flinders Hospital at Home unit, and then my regular RDNS nurse, Michelle on Tuesday (Monday is also a public holiday here). Then my next change would be on Thursday at Flinders. Michelle, my RDNS nurse had said I might have Boris removed today but as it turns out, that's all for NEXT week, and if he's removed it will be for me to have surgery and then have him reattached with different dressings on the larger open wound.
After leaving Flinders, we did our weekly grocery shopping and then from the shopping centre I walked over to the doctors office - just across the road. I actually got there faster than what Rod driving to the parking lot exit! So the good news is that my HBA1C is a lovely fantastic 6.2! How wonderful, and better than my predictions! This was because my old monitor actually was reading too high.
But there are other things to deal with. My cholesterol didn't come down as much as I'd like and I've been given pills for that as I had two high tests so it's drugs for me.
Next there's two worrying aspects of my general blood tests. First I'm still anemic, and second there was another blood test that requires further testing which he ordered done on the blood samples they still have.
They didn't have the results of the culture taken on my wound, so I will have to ring him back after 3 tommorow for the results of both the culture and the further blood test. They did find a bug/germ in the culture which is why it's taking longer.
So I asked what they were testing for with the further blood test and geez, I wish I hadn't. It's to rule out myeloma, which is a cancer of the bone marrow. And some of it's symptoms include anemia and frequent infections because of how it affects the immune system. However, he did tell me he's had this test done on many patients over the years and only two have ever come back positive. It won't sit right with me till the results come in though.
On the rash, he is certain it's an allergic reaction. I find that hard to fanthom - I'm taking 2 Telfast (Fexofenadine) 180mg a day. This is a high dose of antihistamine. We'll see what pans out, but Marg from Flinders has put it in the records and the Hospital at Home team will also check on it on Saturday. And Marg said if I had any problems with it at all over the weekend to go straight to the ER at Flinders to get it taken care of. So at least it's been seen, and if it is cellulitus I know I'll get it taken care of. Being that the worst of the rash is right on the nipple (which was moved and reattached when I had the reduction, and I'm VERY HAPPY with it, I sure don't want to end up with an abscess on the front as well as on the back!
Oh, I also have a stool sample kit to check for iron there and have to return it to the office when it's relatively 'fresh'. Ewwww! Not sure what that check is for exactly, but he prescribed iron tablets that I'm not to start on until after I have the test done. Fun. Not.
So after I left there, I walked back to the shopping centre and put my prescription in and sat on the bench outside taking in some of the things discussed. Geez like I needed more to worry about!
I had Rod pick me up (mobile phones are so great for that), and we went to KFC where we both used coupons for a free piece of boneless chicken (which were very unimpressive) and 2pc Feed meal. He substituted his drink for a cheesecake, and I did the same only for a salad instead. KFC's here don't have the nice yummy buttered biscuits (scones in Australia) and just have a dinner roll instead. It's so not the same, but dipped in the gravy its not too bad. Oh well though, we have Hot Cross Buns at Easter time and we picked some up so I'm looking forward to that as a bedtime snack. :-)
So some things have been sorted out and others are looking to be sorted soon, one way or another. Hopefully all with the least scary options.
03 April 2007
3 April: Readings & Comments
Well you can say I was out of control today, but aside from missing lunch, I don't know why my reading at 12:45 this afternoon was 9.4, or why it was 12.5 after tea. I even had green tea. And I can understand dropping to 3.6 as I missed lunch - I was sleepy and took a long afternoon nap. I feel like I've been a Yo-Yo today - up, and down. Not good.
6.2 / 111 Fasting 10:45:09 Forgot to test. This is after cuppa reg tea
9.4 / 170 High-BS 12:44:56 Was feeling sleepy. Very odd.
7.3 / 131 Random 13:31:04 Better from 9.4 - after 2 cups grn tea
3.6 / 65 Random 17:18:51 Missed lunch. Needed snack.
5.8 / 104 Pre-Tea 18:30:12 Better from low of 3.6
12.5 / 225 Post-Tea 20:48:59 Wow, & is after green tea. Hmm.
This is disappointing, and I feel pretty crap at the moment. We'll need to see what tomorrow brings though. Anyway, it's after 11 and we're needing to get to bed early. Rod has an interview at school tomorrow (a mock one), and I have those appts tomorrow.
Just did another blood test as I'm really feeling off... 4.3! Shesh. Let me off this yoyo.
02 April 2007
2 April: Readings & Comments
We both missed our alarms this morning and woke up 8:30! Rod normally leaves at that time, and my doctors appointment was at 8:40. It wasn't too bad for me - I couldn't have a cuppa tea or breakfast anyway since I was fasting, but Rod ended going without breakfast or lunch till he got home around 1:30 today.
5.8 / 105 Fasting 09:03:42 Done at Drs Office. Had HBA1C blood test.
6.2 / 111 Pre-Lunch 13:26:38
5.4 / 97 Pre-Tea 17:54:07 Decided to start having tea an hour earlier
6.7 / 120 Post-Tea 20:20:51 2 skinless grilled sausages & pasta. Green tea.
I had my tests done, and was weighed. Before he looked at my nice print out of the stats from my website he commented that being sick and feverish helped me to loose 3kilos. AHEM, those 3 kilos came off from eating a proper diet as evidenced by my excellent readings... but I let it go.
I will hopefully get the tests Wednesday afternoon. If I'm unable to go (will cover that in a bit) Rod will go for me for the results.
There's a small coffee shop near the Drs office that 2 of my brother in laws have commented on how nice it is, so I stopped there and had a mocachino and an apple muffin before walking home. Wow, was there a lot of caffiene in that mocachino! And to think I only had 1 shot of coffee in it instead of two!! I was buzzing around for hours after that. I got home just in time for Michelle's phone call and she'd come in the next half hour to change my dressing. I got towels in the wash and other mundane things going before she came.
There's some uncertainty about what will happen on Wednesday. Michelle said they might not reattach Boris to me if they plan to do surgery. The other thing is that this is Easter weekend coming up and there won't be any RDNS staff trained to do the VAC dressing. So I'm a bit concerned I could end up having surgery before the weekend. Talk about feeling in limbo!!! So its possible I might not even come home from the Wednesday appointment at Flinders - they might just admit me and get things started. I sure wish I had a crystal ball right now.
And Boris is quiet today and now I'm worried he's not working right after having been a noisy hog all weekend. Maybe he doesn't like Mondays either.
Tonight we're having left over pizza tonight & watching Family Guy and Stargate Atlantis so we better hop to it.
01 April 2007
1 April: Quick Comments
Rod's tired early again tonight so going to shower and go to bed early. It's just as well as I have a fasting blood test tomorrow (HBA1C and cholesterol) so may as well go to bed at an early hour.
Appt is for 8:40 am and will have Rod drop me off. Will try to remember to see if he can do a culture of the wound stuff to make sure I'm on the right antibiotic.
In the afternoon or late morning Michelle will be coming to do another dressing change.
I did laundry today while Rod was home to help me. Ahh, nice clean clothes again!
That's about it for now. Cheers.
Appt is for 8:40 am and will have Rod drop me off. Will try to remember to see if he can do a culture of the wound stuff to make sure I'm on the right antibiotic.
In the afternoon or late morning Michelle will be coming to do another dressing change.
I did laundry today while Rod was home to help me. Ahh, nice clean clothes again!
That's about it for now. Cheers.
30 March 2007
30 Mar: Readings & Comments & Grumbling
I feel like crap! My side aches and hurts. Boris the VAC hasn't shut up all day. I really have a lot of fluid this time around and he's doing his job, I just wish he weren't driving me slowly insane.
5.4 / 97 Fasting 07:59:03 - Should be 'overnight' as I went back to bed.
5.9 / 106 Fasting 11:14:49
7.9 / 143 Post-Breakfast 13:04:22
8.7 / 156 Random 14:03:38 - Really felt quite ill at this point
5.7 / 103 Pre-Lunch 14:51:08 - Took a nap and felt better
5.2 / 93 Pre-Tea 18:29:32
7.7 / 138 Post-Tea 20:40:23 - Fish & Chips
My side started hurting last night and hasn't eased up at all. I had a dressing change today and underneath everything, my back is quite a bit red - I had the nurse take a picture with my phone camera so I could see it. We decided it was wise to get on some antibiotics so I managed to get the very LAST available appointment with anyone at the medical centre I go to. As I couldn't very well show him what was under the vacuum seal, I showed him the photos the hospital took last Friday and then showed him what it looks like this Friday. He agreed that antibiotics are the way to go and gave me a prescription.
I'm still worried about them having to open the wound pockets/tunnels up in my back - I'm just afraid it'd be really painful. The logic behind it is good, but my fear doesn't want to know about logic.
Anyway, I'm tired and grumpy and Rod's on his way to bed so I shall join him. G'night!
28 March 2007
28 Mar: Readings & Comments
I'm drinking a cup of guilt free hot chocolate with toffee. It's got all of 46 calories but you sure wouldn't know that by the taste. Yum.
5.0 / 90 Fasting 10:59:40
5.9 / 107 Post-Breakfast 13:32:10
6.6 / 119 Post-Lunch 16:08:01
4.2 / 76 Pre-Tea 18:27:58
6.1 / 109 Post-Tea 20:41:55
Yesterday the plan was to meet Rod down at Colonades - I was going to take a bus there as he would be where I needed to be so I figured we could save on petrol if I just met him there in the first place. Well that didn't happen. He finished classes early so came home to pick me up. I was still finishing the 'chores' I wanted to get done, and the doorbell rang. It turned out to be his brother, who'd just dropped his car off to get the breaks fixed. So we offered him a beer and had a nice visit then dropped him off at his house on our way.
Boreass (my vacuum pump I have to carry around with me) of course let everyone in line at Centrelink know of his existance by making rude noises. I had a much nicer person this time and they even told Rod how he could submit the forms for me. We've done that in the past but he got yelled at for it once so we haven't been game to try it again. Now we know how to do it without getting hassled. That's nice.
We shared a lunch in the food court, literally. It was a $7.99 meal with noodles and your choice of two different dishes with it. I picked lemongrass chicken and Rod's choice was the thai stir fry beef. We shared this together and it really was quite enough for the two of us. I then stopped at 'Just Cuts' and got my hair cut while Rod wondered around and picked up our weekly lottery tickets (1 lottery ticket for Saturday Night's draw and two crossword scratchies). My haircut didn't take very long at all - maybe 15 minutes. Then we went to Big W where I bought my self a new pair of slippers for this winter, and then Woolworths for our groceries.
Speaking of slippers... Pam, if you're reading this... When I was visiting you, you gave me a lovely pair of black slippers that it turns out are really two slippers from 2 different sets. I've looked at them and though they look like a pair, both have different manufacturers! The left slipper has a butterfly design on it, and the right side has a bow. So I reckon somewhere in your house is the OTHER pair. Should you find the other pair, please pass them on to Diane to put in the box to send me. I really really like these and have worn them out. And I accidently wore them to the Mall yesterday, but being cute and black, people probably just thought they were lovely shoes of similar design... I hope!! (Here's me walking around with tubing coming out of me and into a black box I'm carrying and I'm worried people might notice I'm walking around in black satin slippers... right).
While in Big W, my phone rang. It hardly ever does that! It was the Lymphodema clinic ringing to ask if I'd like to participate in another Tai Chi study they're doing. Just the other day, reading old mail, I was reminded that I'd asked DiabetesSA about the cost for their 10 week Tai Chi course that I'd like to take and looked up when it starts (the end of May) and thought by then I should be able to participate. The cost for the DiabetesSA course is $40, and the biggest problem is I'd have to take a bus into the city and then to Hilton. This is a fairly long distance from home - at least 45 minutes by car, longer by bus. So, taking part in the Lymphodema trial, it's closer to home, easier to take one bus to get there, there's no cost involved, and they pay for transportation costs (I think it's $2 per trip). How cool. And they have two trials set up. One starts in May, and the other starts in July. So if I'm unable to do the first one (which I would certainly HOPE I'd be able to do), I can do the second one. I do Tai Chi on my own, following the instructions from my last Tai Chi Lymphodema trial I was in, but it's good to have a course now and then to refresh how to do things and make sure you're moving correctly and haven't assumed a bad habit or something. No, I haven't done any Tai Chi since I developed the abscess, but I'm thinking I can start to gently do most of the routine without too much of a problem. Tai Chi is very gentle and I'm sure a little gentle stretching isn't a bad thing for healing. I shall have to talk to Marg about it though to make sure it's OK.
Also, I'm not sure if I mentioned, but I've made an appt with my GP for a fasting blood test, HBA1C and cholesterol as well as a pap smear. That's for next Monday morning.
So today I did have my dressing changed, and bless her, Marg, the wound specialist accidently tore my skin when taking off the tape. She didn't mean to, but she didn't realise just how fragile my skin is there. It's only a small cut, but OW. She felt so bad, and then Marion, the only other American I know here and a nurse in that section made comment that I had the patience of a saint. I thought she was nuts but she was referring to my overall entire experience with dealing with wound infections since having my first surgery. OK, on that count, she's probably right, but if you have a look at the very bottom of this entry you'll find a very apt quote from one of my personal heroes - Helen Keller on the topic.
Anyway, this time Marg did the measuring to see how far the pocket goes, and found that it's a circular tunnel that goes to my spine, and then curves back around and returns to the opening. We won't know until I've had at least 2wks therapy with the VAC, but if it doesn't appear to be making a difference, she said they may need to open the pocket so they're dealing with an open wound instead of a closed one. They would still treat it the same way - with the VAC system, but would be able to use the better black foam and it would heal better and faster. She also said "I know you don't want to hear this but..." and she was right. That's a worry. I mean where the current opening is, it's near my side, and I can sleep ok. If the back is opened up... well. Hmm. When the dressings were done on Friday, she went with what Awen (another nurse) told her about where the pockets go on the inside. Today she was doing it herself and found that it continues on, much to her disappointment. She also, like every nurse or doctor before her that's measured it has told me just how large an area it really is. She said it doesn't look like much on the outside, but inside, it's just massive. Sigh.
Our roast turned out very nice today, and right on time too this week - 6:30pm instead of 8pm.
I'm in the process of updating my glucose pages on my website so I can have some details to print out for my appointment on Monday. It's not finished yet, but hopefully I'll do some work on it tomorrow.
Anyway, I guess that's about it. This is two days worth more or less, so that's why it's so long.
Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in the world.
-Helen Keller
26 March 2007
26 Mar: Readings & Comments
Well I didn't have a dressing change today, even though Marg, the wound care specialist at Flinders phoned me to see how I was going and even she thought I'd be having a change. Instead they'll see me at Flinders on Wednesday to do the change and possibly I'll only need to have the dressing changed once a week. It is, after all, a totally vacuum sealed area. It's probably better to have less opportunities for germs to become present. Not that Boreass would allow any germs - he'd just suck em right out of there.
6.3 / 113 Bedtime 00:06:51
6.4 / 116 Fasting 08:43:39
7.7 / 138 Post-Breakfast 11:39:11
5.4 / 97 Pre-Lunch 13:32:34
4.2 / 76 Pre-Tea 18:42:43
7.0 / 126 Post-Tea 20:45:53
I had my usual crumpet toast with peanut butter today, so am a little surprised at having a 7.7 reading for post-breakfast. Maybe I spread it on a little too thick, or the other possibility is that I had a mandarine flavoured green tea and perhaps the mandarine green tea isn't as effective. Probably too much PB I'm betting.
I did a lot today, but nothing worth writing about. Basically I managed to do some kitchen tidying and other odd jobs, plus I actually cooked tea tonight (a lamb and veggie stir-fry). Tomorrow we're going to have another go at having a pork roast again. Last week it wasn't done until 8pm.
I am feeling more 'energetic' and less crappy finally. Just don't want to overdo it.
Oh, one of the things I did today is convert the movies that I took on my USA trip with my camera and phone camera into a format I could view on the computer. Boy am I disappointed. I got a bit of Steve drumming, a snippet of conversation with Terry, a bit of life at home with Pam and Ron, some of Diane's house on the outside, and all the rest was Fira's drum and fife corp in Canada. No conversations with my kids, no great videos of anyone really. If I were to do it again I'd do more video of PEOPLE I love. Glad I have photos, but video with sound would have been so much better. Oh well.
I have to put in my fortnightly form at Centrelink tomorrow and may go get my hair cut too if I'm feeling up to it. Also plan to do grocery shopping. By time I finish I reckon I'll be glad to be home and have Boreass off my shoulder!
One of these days I need to catch up on actually replying to Email, doing some invoicing and catching up with some paperwork that's threatening to grow over my desk. Meanwhile though, Rod's bushed and has headed off to bed, and so I shall be following him shortly.
25 March 2007
25 Mar: Readings & Comments
As mentioned in the previous entry, I woke up VERY itchy in the night and also had a fairly high BGL considering my current lowered BGLs the last few weeks. I stayed up and drank a few cups of green tea and got the readings down. The odd thing is, there's a reading at 8am that I don't even remember doing. How odd.
5.3 / 95 Bedtime 00:07:14
8.0 / 144 Overnight 03:18:37
6.3 / 114 Overnight 05:17:49
5.9 / 106 Overnight 08:03:31
5.3 / 96 Fasting 11:17:21
5.9 / 106 Pre-Lunch 14:12:41
5.3 / 95 Random 18:05:02
5.1 / 92 Pre-Tea 18:58:33
5.3 / 95 Random 20:07:22
7.1 / 127 Post-Tea 21:19:51
We had a BBQ lunch with friends today. It was lovely and we took a bottle of wine to share. I had a moment of intense dizziness later in the day (6pm or so) and did a reading, but my glucose was fine. It passed quickly. I do wonder as I'm still not as well as I think I should be, and I look pale in the mirror, at least to me.
Anyway, for tea we had left over pizza from last week that I was clever enough to pull out of the freezer earlier today. I went to check what time I did my pre-tea reading by checking the monitor and absent-mindedly pricked my finger since I had the case open without even thinking about it. So I had a random reading about an hour after tea - I wasn't going to waste the drop of blood! So that's 2 readings I did today that were without my thinking about it - the one at 8am that I must have been up to go to the loo or something, and the one after tea that was just doing things by rote. It's a worry.
So my post-tea reading was a little 'high' at 7.1, but considering it USED to be twice that when I had pizza, I think I'm making process. And 7.1 is only 2 points higher than my pre reading so that's actually quite good, and it's below any danger marks (at 7.7 your body is being damaged), so all in all I'm pleased.
Tomorrow the RDNS nurse, Michelle (who is now my regular week nurse) will be coming in and doing a dressing change. I'm not looking forward to it - it's basically everything in that step-by-step photo in a previous entry), but I'd be freaking out about it even more if I didn't know who it was that would be doing the change. I like and trust Michelle.
Middle of the Night
Well it's 3:45am or 4:45am if it were yesterday (we changed the clocks here tonight). I woke up ITCHY where the tape over my wound is, and so rubbed some cortisone cream around the tape and then followed up by using my favourite moisturizer cream on my back as well, then took an additional Telfast 180mg tablet - I'd taken one at midnight. For those of you in the USA, Telfast is Fexofenadine Hydrochloride (Allegra) and is a non-drowsy antihistamine. Since I was by then awake, I got up and took my BGL - it was 8! So I'm having my 3rd cup of tea as I type.
All my administrations worked as I'm no longer as intensely itchy. It's still itchy, but not nearly as bad as it had been. It's nearly tolerable now. Frustrating. I worry that the tape thats used to seal everything is something I'm allergic to.
I also noticed that I seemed to bde generating a lot more exudate (that's fluid from the wound area), but it could have been just the difference from having been sleeping and sitting up and moving. I've often noticed more leakage (before the vacuum system) when I become more active after having been inactive for a little while. I have to admit to a bit of fascination when there is fluid in the tubing - I sorta enjoy watching it get moved through the tubes and sucked into the back of 'Boreass' (the VAC machine). I reckon the tubing should have lights. It'd be more fun to watch. :-)
Anyway, just had a yawn. Will go have a smoke (it's only 12c outside - COLD) and then back to bed.
All my administrations worked as I'm no longer as intensely itchy. It's still itchy, but not nearly as bad as it had been. It's nearly tolerable now. Frustrating. I worry that the tape thats used to seal everything is something I'm allergic to.
I also noticed that I seemed to bde generating a lot more exudate (that's fluid from the wound area), but it could have been just the difference from having been sleeping and sitting up and moving. I've often noticed more leakage (before the vacuum system) when I become more active after having been inactive for a little while. I have to admit to a bit of fascination when there is fluid in the tubing - I sorta enjoy watching it get moved through the tubes and sucked into the back of 'Boreass' (the VAC machine). I reckon the tubing should have lights. It'd be more fun to watch. :-)
Anyway, just had a yawn. Will go have a smoke (it's only 12c outside - COLD) and then back to bed.
24 March 2007
24 Mar: Readings & Comments
I cheated and had a few chocolate covered honeycombs last night (in American speak I think these would be referred to as chocolate covered seafoam). Guilty! And it showed in my overnight reading, so I had a couple cups of green tea before going back to bed.
5.0 / 90 Bedtime 22:49:27
7.8 / 140 Overnight 04:24:17
6.2 / 112 Overnight 05:42:09
4.8 / 87 Fasting 13:02:25
6.3 / 113 Pre-Lunch 15:53:04
4.5 / 81 Pre-Tea 19:10:04
7.9 / 142 Post-Tea 21:32:28
And then I actually SLEPT all the way until 1pm!! That's the latest I've slept in AGES and the most sleep I've had in one hit for a long long time. So maybe there's something good about having that new vacuum pack. For lunch Rod and I each had a roll with ham and cheese. It was quite nice. We plan to have a half roll each with the remaining ham for our snack tonight. Tea was curried noodles (for me) and cordon bleu. No, I didn't make it, it was the frozen type and we cooked it in the George Foreman.
I have some pics to share. First of all meet Boreass, pronounced Boris):
I named it because it snorts like a wild boar, and I have to live with it for the next few weeks with it by my side constantly so it may as well have a name! Boreass is heavy at 2k or about 3lbs and is the machine that goes with my vacuum seal for my wound.
Next, this is my new doona cover set:
I'm really pleased with it!! Note: Click here to see the full image.
An RDNS nurse came this afternoon and checked out Boreass and all my connections. All is well.
I didn't do much exciting at all except for chatting online with Diane most of the evening. That was fun and in between I read Email. Gee my life is so exciting at times!
Anyway, Rod's gone to bed so I think I'll follow. Can't wait to enjoy the luxury of a doona that actually fits our bed. :-)
23 March 2007
23 Mar: Readings & Comments
I woke up earlier than usual this morning because my new doona had wet spots from my wound leaking. Blech! Fortunately it seems to have not left anything visible. I felt really awful for the first couple of hours I was up, but my BGL was fine (that's the Random reading) and I wasn't running a temperature. Maybe it was just nerves over the whole vacuum procedure.
5.7 / 103 Bedtime 23:30:33
5.2 / 94 Fasting 07:45:38
5.3 / 95 Random 08:26:11
4.0 / 72 Pre-Lunch 13:51:19
9.2 / 166 Post-Tea 21:18:22
As I knew we'd be out until at least 2pm and I've had 2 or 3 times now where my BGL has been low after my clinic appts, this time I had a second light breakfast of the same thing (1 slice of crumpet toast with PB) at about 10:45 this morning. This seems to have worked as I was 'only' down to 4.0 by time we got home. As for the high reading for my tea tonight, well. We bought some lovely buns today, and I decided I wanted a 'Filet O' Fish' sandwich as part of my usual Fish & Chips. Now, I should have taken into account I was having a whole lot of extra carbs in the form of the bun and so not had as many (or any) chips (fries). I didn't even think about it. Then because I'm now on this machine, I sort of forgot to have my usual 2 cups of tea afterwards. Between the two, it really shows. So I've had a couple of cups of green tea and will check my reading again at 10:30 and make sure it's lower. Luckily because of having low readings the rest of the day it didn't mess up my averages for the day.
The appointment went well today. The first nurse I saw was the one who had liked my bookmark, and I had hers all made up. This one I made with embroidery thread (all 6 threads together) and the top and bottom had a neat pink star after the beads. She loved it and talked about the cool 'bling' and then came up with the idea it could be used as a wrap around a barrette for her hair too. Great idea. I'll have to make a few of those to sell.
The wound care specialist came in and this time I thought to ask if she belonged to a group and gave the name... she was a little surprised and said I sure am, I'm President! I smiled and said Hi, I'm your web host.
I'll be vacuum sealed for at LEAST two weeks, probably longer. However, this is supposed to cut down on healing time by at least 50% so better 2 or more weeks with this than 6-8 weeks otherwise.
It's basically a drain that's on the outside with a portable machine that keeps a constant negative pressure on the wound -- ie, a vacuum seal. This is a drain with the same type of tubes as I've had when I had my mastectomy and the reconstruction, but it's attached to this machine that collects the fluid and keeps a constant vacuum on the wound. The machine has a battery that can last up to a day, but it has to be plugged in at night when I go to bed to recharge. The vacuum is worn/used 24hrs a day and it has long enough (!) tubing that I can have the machine on a counter and take a shower while it's still in use. I had to borrow a safety pin from the next door neighbour so I could pin a gathering of the tubing to my shirt so I wouldn't have to carry it. I can't seem to find my sewing kit anywhere since moving.
The machine itself is in a case so that it is worn like a purse when moving about. It's not exactly light though - it weighs nearly 2 kilos. Unfortunately, the machine arrived from the company with an empty battery so tonight I've had to be plugged in where ever I sit, but after it fully charges overnight I shouldn't have that problem. When the canister that collects the fluid is full, the machine will sound an alarm and tell me on the reading it's time to change the canister, and since they taught me how to do it and I have spares it'll be no problem. The one good thing is that aside from seeing fluid in the tubing, because there's a cover on the machine you can't see the canister. I always hated that when carrying around drains and the drain bottles - that you could see all the icky stuff.
It's sure like revisiting mastectomy and reconstruction all over again though.
My dressings will be changed only on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays now. From what the wound specialist told me, and the instructions she wrote out, I have 2 bits of foam that are put inside the wound - both touching each other, and placed so they are part of the contours of the inner part of the wound cavity. They then put another bit of sponge on top - making sure that all three foam parts touch each other. This is then draped with film to create a seal. A small hole is cut in the center area where the sponge is, and the 'trac-pad' (the part of the machine that connects to me) is put on. This part connects to the wound/sponge and has the tubing that connects to the machine. This tubing connects to another tube that is part of the canister system. When I change the canister, I clamp both tubes and disconnect them between the areas that are clamped. I then put another canister in the machine and attach it's tubing back to the one from the wound, unclamp and turn the machine back on.
It does hurt a bit more, but it's not too bad. I'm sure to get accustomed to it. It does make some strange noises at times - a bit like a very loud grumbling tummy. The only real hassle so far is realising after I've plugged into a wall socket and sat down that I want various bits and pieces that I forgot to bring with me. I'm sure I'll get the hang of dragging it around in no time though - and hopefully will begin to remember to bring all the bits and pieces I want with me before sitting down and getting comfortable.
Oh, I just got Pam's joke about Hoovering around! Haha! Sorry, I'm a bit slow lately.!
I do think it's funny that I can't even run the darn vacuum cleaner and yet here I am attached to a ... vacuum. How absurd.
So we came home, I plugged in and then realised I wanted a zillion things and was about to unplug the machine to go get and do those things when Rod came in and said he was ready to go do the Target thing to find a doona cover and run a few misc errands. My machine said it had 3 bars so I decided to go with him. Damn good thing too. He got sticker shock as all the good doona covers were over $100. We finally found an aisle of mark downs and I found one that I kind a liked that was marked down to $65. On a whim, and because I had another package in hand with no price on it, I went to one of those pricing stations and did the bar code. The one that was marked $65 actually scanned at $40. The other one turned out to be a sheet set and I hadn't noticed. Good thing the scanner told me. So I got a nice teal coloured cover with two pillow cases for only $40. We then ran into some cheaper ones at Coles (our local grocery store) but they were $39 and as Rod pointed out, we got a $130 cover for only $40 instead of a $39 one for $39. Good point darling!
I also picked up some multi-vitamins today so that should help too. My HB count was 111, and they said they consider you anemic at 100, so I was close, but not nearly as bad as a few weeks ago. So the iron tablets I was taking the last two weeks have helped. I ran out the other day, but the vitamins I bought today has this included in it so I'm set.
Anyway, that's about it. Oh, suppose I should do another BGL to make sure the tea worked and include that here... 5.0 ... lovely the green tea did it's job. :-)
22 March 2007
22 Mar: Readings & Comments
6.4 / 115 Bedtime 23:38:26Wow, 21yrs ago, Mike and I got married. It just seems so long ago. How can that many years just go so quickly?
4.8 / 86 Fasting 08:09:39
6.3 / 113 Random 09:56:16
6.7 / 120 Post-Breakfast 12:32:05
4.4 / 79 Pre-Lunch 14:23:16
7.3 / 131 Pre-Tea 17:06:56
5.7 / 103 Post-Tea 19:42:48
I got up early with Rod at 8am, but went back to bed, so the Random reading at almost 10am was my actual pre-breakfast reading. I wanted to have a later breakfast today as I knew I'd be at the treatment center until at least 2pm and I was right. By time I got home my BGL was 4.4 and I really could feel that I needed some fuel in my system. After my lunch, I checked Email, had a quick smoke and then went and tried out the new Doona since it arrived this morning. And I really wanted a nap, so I took one. Rod didn't come home until about 5, and he brought KFC home with him. This was a bit early for our usual tea, but it was lovely. I then made a beaded bookmark for one of the nurses at the clinic (she'd seen mine and admired it so I asked if she'd like one), and followed that up with watching Neighbours (an Aussie TV 'soap' I'm addicted to). I spent the evening reading Email and looking up what they'll be doing to me tomorrow.
On the Doona, well... you could say I blew it, but I feel good about it. Our old doona covers didn't fit the doona we've been using. They've always been too big. I assumed the doona we had was for a double bed and that our covers were queen sized. Nope. Apparently all these many years we've been sharing a doona for a SINGLE bed using doona covers that were for a double bed sized doona. Long story short, the new queen sized doona is PERFECT for our bed. It nearly reaches the floor on all three sides (mine, Rod's and at the foot), and we will not be fighting for the doona this winter. I'm so pleased. BUT! Now I need a couple of queen sized doona covers as what we were using are now too small. And new sets aren't cheap. They're about half what I paid for the new doona itself. But they are also the centre piece of the room, so it's a worth while investment. Besides, having anything WHITE around Rod is just plain foolish. He really isn't one for being able to keep anything white for very long at all (minutes, sometimes seconds!). So the plan is to pick up an inexpensive (cough, cough) one tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully we'll find something nice that doesn't cost a fortune. I've looked online and didn't find anything that I liked the price of let alone the design.
I sent links to Rod and my sisters for the VAC system, but I'll add a couple here for anyone else reading in...
http://www.kci1.com/867.asp
http://www.kci1.com/29-A-107_Freedom_Brochure_1-05.pdf
More tomorrow as we see how things work out.
Vacuum Sealed?
Always willing to be a guinea pig for cool techy things, a doctor said he'd really like to see my wound in back with a vac pack on it and away they all went to sort out the details. Apparently it will be something inside my wound, plus outside it, along with a little machine that keeps it vacuum sealed. How interesting.
What I really wanted, and didn't get yet was antibiotics, but hopefully tomorrow. They did note that I was very white (I really am feeling like crud) and so ordered a blood test to test to see if I'm still anemic. I've been taking iron tablets, but ran out of those night before last. I was very anemic earlier when I first went in with the abscess so should be interesting to see what the results are. I also had them send a copy of the results to my GP ... it's so cool they use Email for these things these days.
They took out the other stitches today. But no, aren't going to stitch up the other yet and i'm glad of that.
Anyway, I'm feeling like crud, so will go unpack our new doona and pillows and hopefully go visit fairlyand. ZZZzzz.
What I really wanted, and didn't get yet was antibiotics, but hopefully tomorrow. They did note that I was very white (I really am feeling like crud) and so ordered a blood test to test to see if I'm still anemic. I've been taking iron tablets, but ran out of those night before last. I was very anemic earlier when I first went in with the abscess so should be interesting to see what the results are. I also had them send a copy of the results to my GP ... it's so cool they use Email for these things these days.
They took out the other stitches today. But no, aren't going to stitch up the other yet and i'm glad of that.
Anyway, I'm feeling like crud, so will go unpack our new doona and pillows and hopefully go visit fairlyand. ZZZzzz.
21 March 2007
21 Mar: Readings & Comments & Oh Crud.
4.7 / 84 Bedtime 23:39:32I was supposed to do my Post-Breakfast reading at 1pm, but Rod came home and was going to have his lunch so I decided to have mine too, so did my post-breakfast reading a little early and also had lunch about an hour and a half earlier than I suppose I should have, but would rather eat with company than alone. This may have had an effect on my very low reading before tea tonight. Both yesterday and today I just had a sausage roll for lunch, both times fairly early in the afternoon and both days of course I had low readings around my normal tea time.
6.8 / 123 Fasting 09:49:51
7.4 / 134 Post-Breakfast 12:49:39
7.4 / 134 Pre-Lunch 12:49:39
6.7 / 121 Post-Lunch 15:30:19
3.6 / 64 Pre-Tea 18:36:57
6.9 / 124 Post-Tea 20:39:32
For tea tonight we had curried left over pork. Instead of rice, Rod just wanted buttered bread, so I had noodles... oh my, what a nice treat. And you can see it didn't take my levels too high either.
Got on the scales today. Last week it was 86 kilos. This week it's 81.5. Yay me!
Now for some not as nice news...
Today I found out that the nurse who was supposed to see me yesterday just 'crossed me off the list' without telling anyone else she had no intentions of seeing me. !!!!! This caused considerable scrambling when I rang yesterday and today Michelle (who will be my regular nurse from now on) made comment about being understaffed today... reading between the lines, I think the one that crossed me off her list got fired. I did say that I didn't want her as my nurse as how could I trust someone who does that?
Unfortunately, it appears I have an infection. There's a green tinge to my dressings that wasn't there until now. And tonight I've started running a fever. I have a note from the nurse about the change for when I see the doctors tomorrow, and they are to write any new instructions for her so I'll have that for her on Friday. Meanwhile though, I don't think I want to be stitched up tomorrow if I'm showing signs of an infection in the wound. I don't think it'd be too good to healing if they were to do that.
Big Heavy Sigh.
Hey, I wonder if this is why I was feeling grumpy yesterday. Today I'm just very subdued and tired. And I took a nap from about 3pm to 6pm today too.
20 March 2007
20 Mar: Readings & Comments
4.3 / 77 Bedtime 23:53:18HEY look at that! Only one reading over 100 in mg/dl format! That's AMAZING! I'm so pleased. I can't say this is from any change of diet though as I am still using the same lowish carb and higher protien diet I've been on for a fair while, plus using 2 cups of green tea after each meal.
5.2 / 93 Fasting 08:26:23
7.2 / 130 Post-Breakfast 11:35:31
5.5 / 99 Pre-Lunch 12:36:35
5.4 / 97 Post-Lunch 15:27:52
3.8 / 69 Random 17:36:37
5.2 / 93 Pre-Tea 20:04:45
5.4 / 98 Post-Tea 22:11:36
I had my usual crumpet toast and peanut butter for breakfast, a sausage roll for lunch, and then around 5:30pm after a quick trip to the grocery store I thought I was feeling a bit hungry and I'm glad I checked. I think 3.8 is the lowest I've had to date. For my snack I had the heal of the crumpet toast loaf and some cheese. Tea was very late as we didn't get to the grocery store until later in the afternoon to pick up veggies so the roast didn't get put in as early as we'd of preferred. We had a pork roast with potatoes, gravy, carrots and onions. (YUM). Tomorrow we'll be having left over pork in curry sauce (also YUM).
I've already written about being grumpy so really have nothing more to say although I should mention that these readings really make me happy - no being grumpy with these results!
Grumpy
I woke up a bit foggy this morning at 8:30am, to a rather bleak and blah looking day, and my mood just hasn't improved all day. It's 3:15pm and I'm still waiting for the RDNS nurse to get around to change my dressing. We need some veggies for a roast we're having and I'd like to go with Rod to the grocery store, but it's looking a bit like I'll be sending him out and staying home to wait. I just rang them, and they won't be on after 4:30, which is the time I suggested they come, and was told the nurse would ring me in five minutes. Well it's been more like 10 now, and the phone hasn't rung yet.
But I wasn't grumpy about the nurse/dressing situation to start with today. It's more a case of it just getting to me rather than my usual cheerful attitude. For the first couple of weeks as I became more and more ill, I wasn't well enough to have much of an attitude one way or the other. Once it was diagnosed and I had surgery, I've taken things pretty much in my stride. Today though it hurts a bit more, probably because I did 'too much' yesterday, and I'm just bloody sick of it all. I mean, who needs an infection and abscess in an area that had surgery two YEARS ago? What the hell happened in that surgery 2 years ago? Did they leave a sponge in or something? Did the nasty fall I had last May when I landed on my back cause this? Or is it just a random mystery never to be resolved? I didn't ask for this. I didn't need to loose so many weeks out of my life to waiting around to have the hole in my side dressed daily. I normally don't whine or complain, but this really has gotten to me. Looking at the bright side, at least it's not cancer or any other kind of weird illness.
Harrumph, instead of calling, the nurse has just drove in. Will grump some more later just to get it out of my system.
...
Well that was nice. The nurse that came wasn't my regular nurse, but she was in the office at Lonsdale which is just up the road less than 2 minutes away and so she volunteered to come take care of me. And once she came, Rod and I went off to get our veggies for the roast. Some veggies. The total came to $76! We pretty much did our grocery shopping for the week though.
And when we got home, there was an Email from a neighbour down the road - a friend of Mum's - who had noticed the RDNS cars at our house the last few days and Emailed to ask if we were OK and if there was anything they could do to help.
Gee it's hard to be grouchy when there's nice people around offering help and support!
So I guess I'm a bit less moody now. Still tired and sore, but I guess that's to be expected.
Anyway, it might be time to take the roast out, so I better go see if I can help Rod with it.
But I wasn't grumpy about the nurse/dressing situation to start with today. It's more a case of it just getting to me rather than my usual cheerful attitude. For the first couple of weeks as I became more and more ill, I wasn't well enough to have much of an attitude one way or the other. Once it was diagnosed and I had surgery, I've taken things pretty much in my stride. Today though it hurts a bit more, probably because I did 'too much' yesterday, and I'm just bloody sick of it all. I mean, who needs an infection and abscess in an area that had surgery two YEARS ago? What the hell happened in that surgery 2 years ago? Did they leave a sponge in or something? Did the nasty fall I had last May when I landed on my back cause this? Or is it just a random mystery never to be resolved? I didn't ask for this. I didn't need to loose so many weeks out of my life to waiting around to have the hole in my side dressed daily. I normally don't whine or complain, but this really has gotten to me. Looking at the bright side, at least it's not cancer or any other kind of weird illness.
Harrumph, instead of calling, the nurse has just drove in. Will grump some more later just to get it out of my system.
...
Well that was nice. The nurse that came wasn't my regular nurse, but she was in the office at Lonsdale which is just up the road less than 2 minutes away and so she volunteered to come take care of me. And once she came, Rod and I went off to get our veggies for the roast. Some veggies. The total came to $76! We pretty much did our grocery shopping for the week though.
And when we got home, there was an Email from a neighbour down the road - a friend of Mum's - who had noticed the RDNS cars at our house the last few days and Emailed to ask if we were OK and if there was anything they could do to help.
Gee it's hard to be grouchy when there's nice people around offering help and support!
So I guess I'm a bit less moody now. Still tired and sore, but I guess that's to be expected.
Anyway, it might be time to take the roast out, so I better go see if I can help Rod with it.
19 March 2007
19 Mar: Readings & Comments
I've decided I quite like this blogging site. It works for me. It's easy to update and just seems to work without too many extras. This was after having a look at Yahoo's 360 which seems like a knock off of MySpace.
5.4 / 97 Bedtime 23:51:04
6.6 / 119 Fasting 09:35:21
6.3 / 113 Post-Breakfast 12:17:27
4.7 / 85 Pre-Lunch 14:14:57
5.9 / 107 Post-Lunch 16:06:58
5.2 / 93 Pre-Tea 19:27:55
6.7 / 120 Post-Tea 21:41:42
I did some housework today. I started the day off with a slice of crumpet toast and peanut butter, and then tackled a few things that have been on my mental list of things that needed doing. One of those things I probably shouldn't have done was vacuum. However, I used the light rechargable vacuum and it has the advantage of being easy to use plus you can't really over-do because it's battery lasts only long enough to do a very quick job through the house. And that's really all I wanted to do.
Just as I was about to reach one of the harder to vac rugs, the doorbell rang and was the nurse to change my dressing. Great timing. This was a new nurse, and she preferred to work in the dining room with me sitting up. That worked fine for me, and the bandages are much more comfortable because of it. I had two bags of stuff from Hospital @ Home and RDNS so I had her sort through it and take back stuff we're not using (like some dressing covers I'm allergic to). We consolidated it down to only 1 bag, and she's ordered some smaller dressing padding rather than the larger ones that were in my kit. She was here for about 45 minutes so that gave me a good break from vacuuming and I went back to it after she left. I only had about 5 minutes more work to do as it was.
A few days ago I did laundry and as there was Doona cover in the cupboard I'd never noticed before, I had Rod put that on the doona. Well that lasted only one night, as it fit the doona perfectly, but it didn't fit our bed. We ended up having cold feet as we turned it sideways so we were both covered. It turns out (and this wasn't really a total surprise to me) that we've been using a double bed sized doona with queen sized doona covers. Let's see if I can explain this for the American readers. You know the nice comfy comforters you put on beds? The Aussies have a better way. They have a duvet or doona that is the 'inside quilt/comforter part' and then there are doona covers you put on them. Sorta like two sheets sewn together to make a cover for the comforter. Then you only have to wash the cover, not the whole comforter. Apparently Doona is a brand name. Anyway, one of the online stores we get Emails for has doona's and today the queen sized one came with two feather pillows and free shipping. I checked my PayPal account (the site accepts PayPal) and ordered one. This one is 50% down and 50% feather, and is quilted. Now, before you start mumbling about allergies, I've been using a down doona for 10yrs now without any significant allergy problems, so that's not a worry for me. I'll be very pleased when it arrives. Our bed is a double, so having a queen sized cover seems to make sense - more comfy for both of us and no fighting over who has all the covers. It'll make even MORE sense when doona inside it is also queen sized!! Here's the link to what I bought: http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/50-down-feather-queen-size-duvet-doona-2-duck-feather-pillows/
I had the same lunch I had yesterday as there were only 6 more frozen mini spring rolls and a small container of cottage cheese so it was an easy choice. Rod came home shortly after and after discussing the doona on sale I went and bought it. I answered some Email, and then went off to take a nap -- all the extra stuff I'd done in the morning caught up with me. Rod woke me up and together we made tea. He cleaned and sliced the potatoes for me, I made the cheese sauce. He grated some cheese for me. For the chops, he suggested I put them in a foil lined pan and just cover them with thyme and rosemary and then close the foil, and put it in the oven with the potatoes. What a nice EASY tea. After half an hour, I opened the foil to let the meat brown and gave it another 15minutes. We didn't even need to wash the pan the chops were in as the foil kept the moisture and juices in.
Tomorrow I'm making a pork roast. We only buy meat when it's marked down and somehow managed to have about 4 roasts in the freezer and I decided it was time to cook one. So for tea day after tomorrow it will be curried left over pork.
I think we'll have an early night tonight. G'night!
18 March 2007
18 Mar: Readings & Comments
5.5 / 99 Bedtime 00:37:58
5.4 / 98 Fasting 10:47:30
4.6 / 82 Pre-Lunch 14:42:16
5.1 / 92 Post-Lunch 17:11:13
4.7 / 85 Pre-Tea 18:26:11
7.0 / 126 Post-Tea 20:40:53
My results have been pretty good lately. Even looking at the 'Big Picture' averages on my website you can see my levels have really dropped. I wonder how much having the infection gone (which they tell me had to have been 'brewing' for months) has made a difference?
I am feeling better but still have moments of tiredness and I got dizzy a couple times today (bent over to put some dishes away and stood up too quick).
For breakfast I had one slice of 'crumpet toast' which is something new and considering it costs nearly $2 for 6 crumpets and crumpet toast comes as a loaf of bread, it's pretty economical if you keep it in the freezer. Anyway, I had it with peanut butter on it. Was nice.
For lunch I had 6 mini spring rolls and about a cup of cottage cheese while reading a book.
I experimented with tea tonight. This was the first I've made our usual Sunday night pizza in a few weeks. This week I made it "Adam's way". My friend Adam has his pizza with no tomato sauce - just a bit of garlic olive oil with cheese on it followed by your regular pizza toppings. The reason for this experiment was to see if it improved my BGL readings which are normally quite high on Sunday nights after pizza. And it worked. my after tea reading was only 7.0 compared to as high as 13.8 in the past. I even had 3 slices instead of 2 like I should have had, and still the results are good.
I had my dressing changed today by the RDNS weekend nurse and tomorrow will have a 'regular' nurse that I'll have all week. Rod spent the day working on his resume and a job application that I helped proof read. I really enjoyed helping with this. I forgot how much I love words and making them all fit together nicely. I should do some writing of my own.
My plan for this evening is to read another couple hundred comic Emails. I'm still catching up from my trip to the USA last year. I'm now up to nearly Christmas though, so maybe by Easter I really will be all caught up.
15 March 2007
15 Mar: Comments
I'm nearly out of testing strips - I've ordered some that should be here by tomorrow, hopefully, so meanwhile I haven't done a lot of testing. Just my fasting and once this afternoon when I was feeling really off (I was very very late in having lunch).
Tuesday I put in my fortnight centrelink form and gave them the medical certificate that came in the mail on Tuesday. Ugh! It had a trick question on it ... "can patient look for work 8 hours a week". I don't have to look for work. I'm on a Personal Support Program. Didn't matter, the bitch doing my paper work said:
Oh, we have to report this and no we won't accept this medical certificate.
So we said give it back. we'll bring in a correct one.
No she said, it's in our possession now I have to file it.
But it's no good - what's the point?
Doesn't matter. You just go get another one from your GP, but this one has to be filed.
I should have stood up and showed her the gaping hole (it's 10 inches DEEP!).
So yesterday in the mail arrived another medical certificate from Flinders. This was a slightly different form that still had the trick question on it, but in another place (and filled out correctly), and was for the same time period as the bad one. I hadn't asked for it, so can only guess two nurses asked two different doctors on Friday. Wish that one had come first though.
Today I had my treatment appointment and saw the doctors and had a new form for them to fill out for this week and got it filled out correctly. A nurse measured the cavity that they've been packing each day and it really is 10cm deep. It goes from my side to my spine. It's apparently looking good though and this week they will pack it lighter, and all being well next week they will stitch it up the rest of the way. I'll still have nurses coming in all week to do the dressings, but starting tomorrow it'll be the RDNS rather than Flinders Hospital at Home nurses. RDNS is a fee based system but the fee isn't too bad - $24 a month.
I had no problems with turning in the two certificates at Centrelink today aside from it being well past my lunch time and feeling a bit woosy.
My friend from Breaststroke had her check up at the Flinders breast clinic last week and her doctor asked about her scar on her back (she had same reconstruction as me). It was the first time he'd ever asked about it. She mentioned me, not by name, but that I'd had emergency
surgery for an infection in the area and he told her that yes, he and the other breast surgeons have been consulting with the registrars and my original surgeon on my case. I've apparently been a topic of conversation there all last week. I sort of knew that as on my way
outside one day I saw one of the nice breast care nurses and she mentioned she'd 'heard' I was back in hospital again.
Well I guess that's all my news for now. I'm off to go read my comic Emails. I've been accumulating them for months now, so may as well spend sometime healing and getting a chuckle here and there.
Tuesday I put in my fortnight centrelink form and gave them the medical certificate that came in the mail on Tuesday. Ugh! It had a trick question on it ... "can patient look for work 8 hours a week". I don't have to look for work. I'm on a Personal Support Program. Didn't matter, the bitch doing my paper work said:
Oh, we have to report this and no we won't accept this medical certificate.
So we said give it back. we'll bring in a correct one.
No she said, it's in our possession now I have to file it.
But it's no good - what's the point?
Doesn't matter. You just go get another one from your GP, but this one has to be filed.
I should have stood up and showed her the gaping hole (it's 10 inches DEEP!).
So yesterday in the mail arrived another medical certificate from Flinders. This was a slightly different form that still had the trick question on it, but in another place (and filled out correctly), and was for the same time period as the bad one. I hadn't asked for it, so can only guess two nurses asked two different doctors on Friday. Wish that one had come first though.
Today I had my treatment appointment and saw the doctors and had a new form for them to fill out for this week and got it filled out correctly. A nurse measured the cavity that they've been packing each day and it really is 10cm deep. It goes from my side to my spine. It's apparently looking good though and this week they will pack it lighter, and all being well next week they will stitch it up the rest of the way. I'll still have nurses coming in all week to do the dressings, but starting tomorrow it'll be the RDNS rather than Flinders Hospital at Home nurses. RDNS is a fee based system but the fee isn't too bad - $24 a month.
I had no problems with turning in the two certificates at Centrelink today aside from it being well past my lunch time and feeling a bit woosy.
My friend from Breaststroke had her check up at the Flinders breast clinic last week and her doctor asked about her scar on her back (she had same reconstruction as me). It was the first time he'd ever asked about it. She mentioned me, not by name, but that I'd had emergency
surgery for an infection in the area and he told her that yes, he and the other breast surgeons have been consulting with the registrars and my original surgeon on my case. I've apparently been a topic of conversation there all last week. I sort of knew that as on my way
outside one day I saw one of the nice breast care nurses and she mentioned she'd 'heard' I was back in hospital again.
Well I guess that's all my news for now. I'm off to go read my comic Emails. I've been accumulating them for months now, so may as well spend sometime healing and getting a chuckle here and there.
12 March 2007
12 Mar: Readings & Comments
7.2 / 130 Bedtime 23:47:16I'm home and recupperating from having emergency surgery last Tuesday night to open and drain a large abscess that formed on the right hand side of my back. Basically I had cellulitis (a skin infection) that didn't respond to the antibiotics I was on that formed an abscess underneath the area of my back where I'd had surgery 2yrs ago for a breast reconstruction (tissue was moved from my back to my front to form the reconstruction). It is a large deep wound that they are healing from the inside out as to avoid a recurrence of the infection. According to one of my nurses that come in daily to change the dressings, this had to have been brewing 'for months'.
5.9 / 107 Overnight 03:39:23
6.4 / 116 Fasting 08:21:44
6.3 / 113 Random 09:41:16
10.0 / 180 Post-Tea 21:19:56
I came home from the hospital on Friday and I've been taking it very easy as I'm not really up to doing much. Unfortunately the last two days I haven't felt very good at all - very fatigued - and I have a swollen gland under my chin, so I don't know what's up with that. Currently I'm just pretty much taking things a day at a time and doing a lot of sudoku puzzles and reading a lot.
06 March 2007
Off to the hospital
I need to have IV antibiotics as I'm quite 'toxic' according to my blood test. And anemic. Great. Anyway, will be in hospital but have no idea for how long or even if/when I'll even get a bed (I could spend a few days in the emergency room (it happens) waiting for a room. So be good, play nice, and if you get into trouble, don't blame it on me. :-)
05 March 2007
It's worse. But something is being done
Tonight the swelling has popped the seams of my scars in back. The redness, hotness and swelling covers the entire area where I had the reconstruction surgury in back, and is wrapping around the side. I *walked* to see a doctor today (it's not far, but when you feel like crap, it's a challenge). My doctor was booked full. So I saw this other guy who didn't think it was cellulitis but ordered blood tests and a chest xray. Of most interest is that he is having dinner tonight with the two men who did my original surgeries, so he'll be describing it to them and getting their view point. And he's never seen anything like it.
I'm still running a fever, I still feel like crap, and now the skin on my back hurts at every move. Earlier today it didn't hurt sitting in the car. Tonight it's seemed to have grown a new swollen bit that made me 'uncomfortable' all the way home.
We went to a free seminar for a free feed tonight all about how to make money on the internet. What a bunch of scammers, but people were going for it. Still, after 90 minutes of BS, the food was good. I so could have done with just a night at home though. http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/734301
I have to organise a ride for my doctor appt tomorrow morning. Today that didn't work so well - our neighbours are always home... but not this morning.
I'm going to do my BGLs (convert them from the monitor to the computer), but won't do a posting here. The values are definitely out of range (normally for being ill). I have been trying to be good and have nutritious food, but I have to admit, most of the time I can't even be bothered to make myself a cuppa tea.
I'm still running a fever, I still feel like crap, and now the skin on my back hurts at every move. Earlier today it didn't hurt sitting in the car. Tonight it's seemed to have grown a new swollen bit that made me 'uncomfortable' all the way home.
We went to a free seminar for a free feed tonight all about how to make money on the internet. What a bunch of scammers, but people were going for it. Still, after 90 minutes of BS, the food was good. I so could have done with just a night at home though. http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/734301
I have to organise a ride for my doctor appt tomorrow morning. Today that didn't work so well - our neighbours are always home... but not this morning.
I'm going to do my BGLs (convert them from the monitor to the computer), but won't do a posting here. The values are definitely out of range (normally for being ill). I have been trying to be good and have nutritious food, but I have to admit, most of the time I can't even be bothered to make myself a cuppa tea.
03 March 2007
2 Mar: Readings & Comments
7.7 / 138 Bedtime 01:46:50
8.1 / 145 Overnight 03:25:12
6.4 / 116 Overnight 05:24:15
5.7 / 103 Overnight 08:33:43
7.2 / 130 Fasting 11:02:36
8.2 / 148 Post-BF 13:36:16
6.7 / 121 Pre-Lunch 14:43:30
5.6 / 100 Post-Lunch 19:20:19
8.1 / 145 Post-Tea 22:14:17
6.6 / 118 Bedtime 00:05:46
I was up several times overnight with a fever, and sad to say it's back again. I also had it earlier today and was in bed with the doona over me when it was 37c outside (I was freaking shivvering).
As directed, I've been careful about diet today, and actually did make something with the new food processor that we'll have for our bedtime snack. And it's completely wonderful tasing and not an ounce of naughtiness (aside from the taste!).
Anyway, must go. Other half is out having a smoke.
02 March 2007
Quick word with doctor
I couldn't get in to see the doctor today - he's booked solid. And it's just as well because it's 37 outside, with not a bit of humidity. You people in Georgia might think that's a good thing, but when the wind comes straight from the desert north you really know you're not in Georgia or Michigan.
So I asked the receptionist and she put me on hold until he could come to the phone and he said what I'm taking should be fine, but the most important thing for me to do is to be careful about eating so that the diabetes doesn't further complicate things and make it even worse.
Am better than I felt this morning. My other half came home from his uni courses and is now sound asleep snoring. We're due for a cool sea change (when the wind shifts from the hot north to coming from the cool antartic south) this evening. Can't wait.
Meanwhile I'm just puttering ... in the real world as well as at the computer. Doing things as I feel like it and often quiting just as quickly (when I'm not well my attention span is worse than a kid with ADD, I swear, and I should know).
Off for a smoke and then maybe chop some of the mini apples we have (from our own trees) and try them in the new food processor along with some plain SF yogurt and cinnamon. Sounds tasty, and cold. And maybe chop some more apples and make some homemade applesauce that's not made with sugar.
So I asked the receptionist and she put me on hold until he could come to the phone and he said what I'm taking should be fine, but the most important thing for me to do is to be careful about eating so that the diabetes doesn't further complicate things and make it even worse.
Am better than I felt this morning. My other half came home from his uni courses and is now sound asleep snoring. We're due for a cool sea change (when the wind shifts from the hot north to coming from the cool antartic south) this evening. Can't wait.
Meanwhile I'm just puttering ... in the real world as well as at the computer. Doing things as I feel like it and often quiting just as quickly (when I'm not well my attention span is worse than a kid with ADD, I swear, and I should know).
Off for a smoke and then maybe chop some of the mini apples we have (from our own trees) and try them in the new food processor along with some plain SF yogurt and cinnamon. Sounds tasty, and cold. And maybe chop some more apples and make some homemade applesauce that's not made with sugar.
Still running a fever
ARG, this is the umpteenth time I've been up tonight. Had fever start after shower and it 'broke' about half an hour ago leaving me drenched. So much for the shower. Still have a small fever as per the pattern I've been having. Up, up, up, then a break and lots of sweat, down to near normal, and then repeat pattern. I'm so tired of this. And worried I should see the doctor about the cellulitis in case the antibiotics aren't strong enough (tomorrow being Friday and all still running a fever and all). Have already cancelled my other usual friday plans due to this and the fact it's supposed to be 37 tomoorw. It's the middle of the night here and was hoping to see my Sis online to give me some good advice, love and a bit of 'mothering'. She's probably at work today though.
Anyway, must try to get some sleep.
Anyway, must try to get some sleep.
01 March 2007
1 Mar: Readings & Comments
6.8 / 123 Overnight 01:51:52
6.1 / 109 Fasting 08:40:48
11.9 / 214 Post-BF 11:38:06
8.1 / 146 Pre-Lunch 13:31:29
6.0 / 108 Post-Lunch 15:44:41
4.6 / 82 Pre-Tea 19:05:44
13.1 / 236 Post-Tea 21:43:11
Am still a bit funky feeling. An area where I had surgery a couple years ago has been bothering me a lot since last weekend and last night Rod noticed that it looked 'bruised' to him. To me it looks like the outline of the area is very red and hot, with the centre having more fluid than usual. It feels tight to move the muscles that are there on my back. Tighter than normal. And it does hurt. So, I think I also had/have cellulitus (it's a skin infection) as well as the sinus infection. He says it looks better today, so apparently the antibiotics are working. Good. Like I needed anything extra like this!
I bought a mini food processor today. It's not as large as I'd of liked, but the price was right. I spent the day working on the BGL area of my website, mostly on the 'admin' side, making things a little nicer/easier for myself. Last night I wrote a little script that lets me take the information from the database file that Windows stores and manipulates the information into a format that can be uploaded to the MySQL database server, which it does. Then I go to the web site and add the 'event' that goes with each reading and any notes. Takes less than 5 minutes for the whole process, and it took longer than that to add all the data manually from the keyboard.
We both want to jump in the shower and head off for bed so I best end this here.
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