Two Walks and a Nest

Recovery day 9.

I can honestly say I got bored today.

I suppose that's a good thing.

I did take two naps and two walks!

We wandered around the yard a bit today and discovered a mockingbird nest.

I can't tell you how excited I am to find this.

I love mockingbirds.

There are four eggs.

I tried very hard not to disturb the nest when I got this picture.

The nest is deep within one of our rose bushes.

We also toured our apple trees.

There's not many apples but at least they're there.

Overall it was a great day.  I am still very tired, thus the two naps.

I quilted some, spent several hours just sitting on the back porch and obviously got the camera out!

Praise God for the little things!

A Little on the Tired Side

Recovery day 8.

It wasn't a horrible day, just a tiring one.  I slept well again but ended up with a migraine before the morning was over.  I'm not a big fan of medications, especially ones labeled narcotics.  I reluctantly took one and attempted to rest.  Eventually the migraine left but it left me exhausted.  It became a couch afternoon, which I'm OK with since I just had brain surgery :-) .

The good news is that I started quilting on Nolan's quilt.  I had prepped the quilt before my surgery so I would have something to do.  I'm glad I did.  I don't like sitting around and doing nothing.

 I've also made it my personal goal to get the mail every day.  That's about a 500 foot walk round trip.  We've even walked to my in-laws house down the road a couple of times!

I can do things... I just get tired quickly!

The Little Things

Recovery day 7.

Today marks one week since my surgery.  We can't believe it's been one week already.  Last night was the first night I slept through the whole night.  It also means I woke up without pain medication.  It wasn't bad.

Last evening was also the first time I washed my hair.  I'll admit that a tiny part of me wanted to but most of me screamed no.  The surgeon did not cut my hair.  Instead of cutting, they make a part and slick it down with some sort of nasty goo.  The first time Nolan saw me (we left him in Indiana with family), he asked why my hair was up!  Imagine high hair from the 80's, not washing it for a week and you get the idea.  So today my hair is slightly cleaner than yesterday.  I will still be wearing my floppy hat while I am in town though :-) .

Yes, I Had Brain Surgery

I've had a lot of time on my hands to think about this post.  Yes, I had brain surgery.  The cut your skull open kind of surgery.  I have a four inch incision going across the middle of the back of my head.  You'll be happy to know there are no pictures with this post :-) .  

Why on earth did we choose this surgery?  Well, I had an AVM.  What's an AVM? It's a malformation of the veins & arteries.  Why did it need to be taken care of?  AVMs can bleed.  Bleeding in the brain is bad.  The procedure we chose had the highest success rate and the lowest risk... unfortunately, it has the longest recovery.  The good news is that they got it taken care of.  Praise be to God!

My surgery was June 18th in St Louis.  I spent a total of three days in the hospital with the first one in the ICU.  We chose to stay at our hotel for a couple of nights after my release from the hospital.  The first night "home" we had a little adventure with a fire alarm.  I had only been released from the hospital for four hours when it went off.  Did I mention we were on the fourth floor and it was raining?  I walked down four flights of stairs with a throbbing head and the help of Dwayne.  Needless to say when the coast was clear, I waited for a wheelchair and the elevator!

So here we are on recovery day 6.  We've been home about 24 hours but it's great to be home.  Today, I've been given the green light to gradually go back to my normal routine, within reason of course... even drive.  I laughed when the nurse told me that I could drive as long as I'm not taking narcotics.  Didn't the nurse know I had my first nap by 8 AM this morning?  I'm happy to report that my pain can be managed with OTC pain meds.  I will be on this long road to recovery taking it one day at a time.  I get tired very quickly.  I'm up for visitors, just call first to make sure I'm not napping! ;)

Prepped and Ready

The not-so-glamorous side of quilting.

This is where you tape your project to the floor one layer at a time.

I chose to string baste this project since I will be hand quilting it.

I tried a different method of string basting and it turned out well.

I forgot to take pictures of the basting stitches.

Just imagine giant crooked stitches all over the quilt and you get the idea.

It took a few days to get it done, but now it's ready for quilting.

And it's no longer taped to the floor!

Progress

Today we started our school day with a lantern because we had no power for a while.

Thankfully it came on not too long after we started.

We were glad to be back in the 21st century.

Judging by the dog, it was slightly cooler today than yesterday.

20 degrees cooler.

I finished drawing what felt like a million stars on Nolan's quilt.

I don't believe in luck, but Murphy's Law abounds at times.

See the little pencil?

I had two white ones and only one blue pencil.

Guess which one kept breaking?

I was bound and determined to finish, even if the pencil was only an inch long.

Now I can sandwich the quilt and start the basting process.

Little Snapper

I caught Casey sleeping like this the other day... it looks mighty uncomfortable.

Generally speaking, labs make great watch dogs.

Our dear old Rosie was great at watching the world go by and

would bark if all was not as it should be.

Casey, on the other hand, is still learning what should be barked at.

So far her barking does not include calves in the yard...

or UPS or Fed-ex or the mail man.

In Casey's defense, Rosie had made friends with all the delivery people

so that's why Casey never barks when they're here!

Today she actually barked at something worth checking into.

This little snapper was crawling around the back steps and Casey didn't like it.

I picked him up for the boys to see.

Connor grabbed the fish bowl with the intent of keeping it for a while.

The boys had a do-not-ever-pick-up-a-snapping-turtle lesson.

Unfortunately, this little guy was quite smelly.

He lasted two minutes inside before I told the boys we were taking him to the ditch.

We literally just started our lessons for the day when the dog started barking.

We happily stopped to take the little guy to the ditch to let him go.

We had to stop at the neighbors on the walk back home...

grandma & grandpa enjoyed our morning visit. ;)