Saturday, December 31, 2011

What a year.....

Ever have one of those days where nothing goes right?  I have one of those lives.

JANUARY- Finally healed from the bariatric surgery(Dec), had energy was able to get things done.  Insulin was decreased from 100+ 2x a day to 20 units a day.

FEBRUARY-  Had cataract surgery that everyone said was a piece of cake.  Unfortunately the shot to deaden the eye bled causing a blood clot which they had to break up before doing the surgery.  A lot of hard pressing around my eye to break it u. So was left with blood in the eye and huge black and blue area.


I got the weirdest looks from people....but, simply pointed to my husband and laughed. 

APRIL- My mother was in the hospital for a week, came home for a day and went back in.  Her wheezing was caused by aspirating fluids (she had to thicken everything for months), her trachea collapsed and the tumor on the remaining thyroid was bigger but they couldn't remove it until the trachea was fixed.

MAY-  A week before our 40th Anniversary my husband was rear ended on his motorcycle while stopped at a light.  The guy they figured was doing about 45 mph when he hit him and then didn't even get out of his van to see if Gary was ok.  He broke 2 ribs and snapped off 5 points on his vertebrae.  He was off work for a couple of months, and yes he did buy another Gold Wing when he was better. 
This was the day they hauled the bike away, it was like losing an old friend but it saved my husband's life.


SUMMER- was spent driving mother back and forth to Ann Arbor's University of Michigan Hospital for appointments in preperation for the surgery to put a stent in her trachea

AUGUST- We took a trip down to Oklahoma to see our our oldest son who lives near the Grand Lake Of the Cherokees.  Unfortunately they were having 100+ heat so never got to go out on the boat or sit on the deck and enjoy the lake but, we enjoyed Phil and Leah's company. 
                   2 days after we got home mother had her stent surgery in AA, it was suppose to be outpatient but, when they took the breathing tube out she couldn't breathe so was admitted for 4 days.  Sallie and I drove back and forth each day thinking that she would be coming home the next day.  We were exhausted.
                   At the end of  the month mother felt well enough to go to Munishing in the UP for our family reunion.  We had a great time seeing everybody and revisiting old haunts.
Mother and Sallie (older sister) in front of Totem Village in St. Ignace, MI.

SEPTEMBER-  Mammogram was clear, I am still cancer & lump free.  YEEHAAAA!  Dr decided infusions would be better for ostopenia than pills.  6 years of cancer drugs weakened my bones.
                          Mother had the rest of her thyroid removed and pathology reported it was non cancerous.  great news and a big relief.
 Mom's neck after thyroid removal.
                           We start a weekend project of replacing the shower in our bathroom.  It turns out to be the bathroom from hell

OCTOBER-  I started having high sugar symptoms but my sugar would only be at 100.  Started reducing the insulin.  A1c was at 5.4, an all time low for me after many years.
                     Gary turned 60 but couldn't plan a party,  I was hospitalized with chest pains.  Found out later they were esophageal spasms, I now carry nitro with me.

NOVEMBER-  Taken off insulin and put on metformin the day before we leave for Oklahoma.  Diabetic episodes were happening more often.
                           Go to Oklahoma so father and son could go hunting.  They get their deer the first day they go out but, as Philip describes it, His father's deer had a diaper and a pacifier!  I have 3 more 'episodes' that seem to be worse.

DECEMBER- My yearly check up with the surgeon, I have an episode while there and they wheel me to Er.  The episodes turned out to be TIA's...mini strokes.  MRI or MRA show I have an aneurism.  CT angiogram showed I didn't but, as soon as the test is over I have a seizure.  EEG is abnormal, you think?

                       Work starts on the back room, we hire someone to finish the bathroom from hell, DIL takes me out to do Christmas shopping.  The house is in chaos.  Everything from the bathroom is in our bedroom and hall.  Everything that was on the hall wall is now on the dining room table.  Everything from the back bedroom is in the kitchen, garage and wherever there was a space.   Back room is done, bathroom is done, floor replacement starts in the kitchen and hall which mean everything from the kitchen and hall is put anywhere we can find room.  It doesn't get done before Christmas but, we just work around it. 

Decided not to wish for a healthier new year as that is what I wished at this time last year.  I do wish that everyone HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!