Over the hill and through the woods.....

...not to Grandma's house we go, but home! The drive was very long. I started at 7:30 am, spent over an hour at the border crossing, then had to go veeeeery slowly over Mt Hood. I probably would have been faster going down to The Dalles and up Hwy 197. But I didn't know. This is how the pass was all the way. Actually, this was one of the better sections. I was ok going slow, I felt safe. But it just made for a long day.

As soon as I got home the kitties wanted to go outside. They don't like being inside all the time, and they'd been inside for six days...so out they went. They came back in after just a little while, since it was snowing hard. But they were just happy to get out! :)

Merry Christmas!

well, I'm home in Vancouver for Christmas. The drive up was pretty good, but slow due to weather and a couple accidents. Christmas eve we had immediate family, plus Syl and Spiro, of course. Here's a picture of the creche I made for my mom back in...wow, maybe 1983 or '84? There's not one more like it in the world! :) It was Smurfs, Terracotta warriors, llamas, Perivuan china bull, crystal turtle and more! We still put it up every year. It's SO vanEijnsbergen!!!! :)
Syl and Spiro came, like always, with their brand new baby. She is just GORGEOUS! I am biased, but she is gorgeous. we had a really good time, and were so happy that they came. Like I've said before, Syl has spent more Christmas Eve's at my house than I have since 1986 when I met her. She has not missed one! And this year with a 6-week old, they were there. So special.

Here's mom and Kai watching the Santa candle merry-go-round. He's a pretty good kid. Very cute. My parent's camera has some even better pictures. I'll upload those when I get 'em from them.
And here's mom looking at the destruction in the living room after we finished opening our presents. Big job cleaning that one up!

Today, Christmas Day we went to my aunt and uncle's house in Langley for Christmas Day dinner. My cousins were also there, and we had a lot of fun. We had a rather nontraditional Christmas meal, paella. But it was amazing. There are two dishes, 'cause it had shellfish, so that one on the left is for me, without shellfish. I'm allergic...

Along with the paella they ALSO had crab legs. Hee hee. I thought they looked hilarious.

Here's the feast. Unfortunately 'cause of the way the room is set up I could not get back far enough to get everyone in. Too bad.

It's been a good Christmas so far. We're having an "open house" tomorrow and then I head home Thursday. Hooray! :)

Nothing's new...

I haven't been updating 'cause nothing has been happening! :) My legs are healing slowly, but they still swell something awful. I've been trying to do some really gentle spinning at home, alternated with leg and ab exercises. I'm also trying to remember to take it easy and not get to anxious. I'm sure I'll heal in leaps and bounds in the new year.

I'm heading up to Vancouver on Sunday to spend Christmas with my family. I'm looking forward to it. I have to work Saturday for one of my staff, or else I'd head up sooner. Another of my staff fell off a ladder yesterday...I really hope he's well enough to work.

Other than that, the Bend Bella Cyclists Executive Committee had a cookie exchange at our monthly meeting, so I've got lots of great cookies. Too many really, so I'll be giving some away and taking some home.

Surf's up

Wow, I haven't updated in a while! That's probably since not much is happening. I've started back swimming...but I can only do about 15-20 minutes of very slooooow laps. Well, it's more like one length, stop and tread water for a minute, another length and rest...but it's a start, right? :)

It is going well, but I'm still only allowed to work 20 hours per week at the branch. I can work from home though. The incisions look really good, except there is some dimpling around a couple of the stitch marks on my left leg. Can you see the dimpling...and no, that's not cellulite!!!! :P My legs still get tired pretty quickly and they swell too. So I'm wearing super sexy compression stockings for another couple weeks to help with that. I'm hoping the dimpling is just because of swelling.

Since I am only working part-time, I watched Surf's Up today. It's really actually super sweet. More than that, it's good. I enjoyed it very much and highly recommend it...even to those that don't watch kids movies! :)

Stitches out...

I'm so glad, the last of the stitches are out! Hooray! I still don't get to take a bath until Saturday... but it's nice to not have to wrap my legs anymore. I've started back to work, but only part-time. It's amazing how much my legs still swell and how tired I get, despite having my legs up at work as much as possible. And my poor little legs are SO dry!

Oh well, soon enough it'll be all healed and back to biking, hiking, swimming and skiing! :)

I had something else I was going to say, but now I can't remember what it was....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day everyone! :) Let's see...what am I thankful for? Everything, but especially that I can finally walk around the house without pain. Whoohoo!!!!! I see the doc tomorrow morning for my 10 day check up. We'll see if they want to take out the stitches. I hope so, so that I can take a shower. Ick, 10 days without a shower or bath...not too fun. So here I am a couple days ago getting ready for my leg/foot massage. My mom was a PT, so I got lots of nice massages. They really are feeling much better, but there are some odd twinges, and my left leg down at the bottom is numb.

My mom headed out this morning. She probably would have left a day or two ago, but she was nervous about the weather on the pass. Looked clear today. It really was great having her here. Not only did I get massages, but I got to see the pictures of Mexico!!! I got to see what I missed. :) My cat Loki decided that she LOVES my mom. I've never seen her all over someone like that. She's usually really shy, but she was seriously ALL OVER my mom! If we were sitting down she chose mom's lap over me. Now that's unusual.

My mom had never seen any of the Harry Potter movies, so we watched #1-4 while she was here. She really enjoyed them and wants to read one of them. Hee hee.

Welcome Vahla!

One of my best friends Sylvia and her husband Spiro had their first child this weekend. Her name is Vahla Elyse and she's just BEAUTIFUL! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Here's Spiro with Vahla on day one.
Syl and Vahla at home.
And I LOVE this one, Vahla and their dog Twitch. Twitch is SUCH a "mother" dog...you can already see how much she loves her new baby! :) I can't wait to meet her in person. I was supposed to go up this weekend, as Syl's sister Serena is getting married, but since I'm on bed rest that can't happen. Oh well...Christmas.

Pictures of the incisions

Ok, I decided to not post the pictures here, 'cause I know some of you are complete wussies! :) But I've made a Flickr gallery of both surgeries. The ones from this surgery are at the end. See, lost longer and they're going to scar really good!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chandravan/sets/72157603189421875/

Home from Surgery

I spent the weekend setting everything up in my house for when I came back from surgery. I decided to rent a hospital bed, since getting up of the air mattress on the floor was difficult enough last time. I also shopped...I don't think you could fit one more thing in my freezer or cupboards! :) But I got it all set up to my satisfaction, and it's pretty good if I do say so myself.

My surgery was scheduled for 12:20 on Monday, which meant no food after midnight and no fluids...nothing, after 6:30 am. Heidi and Derek took me to the hospital at 10:50, I checked in, had my pre-op blood taken and all that. Then I sat and waited for the nurse to come take me back to the surgery area. And I wait...and wait...and wait. Finally at 1:00 I asked one of the admitting nurses. She checked and found out that Dr Smith was really behind. She'd had some serious complications with her first surgery and everything was behind.

So they sent me out to wander around, but gave me a pager. They'd page me when Dr Smith was ready. All I could smell everywhere I went was the cafeteria. I was SOOOO hungry and thirsty. But I still could not have anything. I sat in the lobby and did crossword puzzles. Finally I got beeped at about 3:50. They took me back, but by the time I actually got into surgery it was about 5:30.

The surgery went well, but my coming out of the anesthesia was a little more difficult than last time. I was really nauseous, so I had to stay until I felt ok. The nurse opened up an antiseptic wipe and used that as smelling salts. Worked really well! :) By the time Barrie and Kate were able to take me home it was after 9:00. I spent the night there and I gotta tell ya, they really took care of me! :) Here I am on the couch just after getting there. Icing. The doc wants me to wear those soft casts/walking casts on both legs. At the hospital the pants I had wouldn't go over the big boots, so they game me some scrubs. Hee hee.

This time around, it's much more painful! Dr Smith warned me that it probably would be, since she did two muscles in each leg not just one. Well, she was right. OMG! Last time on day two I could do a little walking...sure as a hobble, but I could do it. This time I can shuffle a foot or two...but only if I'm holding on to something. Sigh. This was me yesterday morning.

My mom is going to come down and take care of me on Thursday or Friday. I'm looking forward to that...some times you just need your mommy to come take care of ya! :) So that's my update for today.

Getting ready

So, this weekend is all about getting ready to sit on my ass for a couple weeks! :) I decided to rent a hospital bed, instead of sleeping on the air mattress. It was really really difficult to get up! I had to turn over, crawl to the couch or wall and then find some way to haul myself up. Someone suggested a hospital bed...duh!!! It's $170/month and my insurance will pay for 80% of it. It's electric, so I can put my feet or head up, and best of all, getting out of it will be so much easier! :) It was delivered yesterday and I think I got the room set up pretty well.

So, today is shopping and getting all the things I'm going to need. Tomorrow is cleaning, cooking so that I don't really have to for the first several days, and then arranging everything close to the bed. Everything within arms reach...