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Hi everyone.
I'm home from the hospital and doing quite well.  I am up and walking with my walker and have exercises to do often.  I have the coolest machine that when I'm hooked up to it, moves my knee up and down by set degrees.  It helps the knee to not be as stiff and sore.  I also have an ice machine and that does wonders with the cooling effects.

I so appreciate all your kind words and thoughts and prayers. 

Rob is doing well also.  He has a really bad knee also, so am hoping it will hold on until I'm all fixed up:)

Blessings to you all.

Surgery

I just wanted to let you know that I'm having my right knee replaced on Monday, Dec. 5th.  It has needed to be done for several years now and this is not the perfect time, but I am going to do it anyway.  The pain has gotten to the point I'm not moving around unless I must.  It hurts so bad all the time.  Coupled with my fibro and CFS I'm miserable. 

I would appreciate good thought and prayers.  It will be a challenging month ahead for us.  Rob is already concerned about his ability to care for me... I will need assistance for about 2 weeks to move from bed to wherever.... PT will start the day after surgery and last about 2 months or so, depending on how I do. 

I will come home Thurs or Fri if all goes well.  If not, I will go to a nursing facility for a bit before coming home.

It's a crazy, busy time to be down, but at least I will be getting it behind me.

Please pray for my brother who is most likely having surgery on Dec 8th to put an L-VAD in his heart.  Without it, he is in end stage heart failure.  Hoping and praying it will go well and that he will make it through fine.  I so want to be there with him.  He's in Salt Lake City at the transplant hospital.

Thanks so much for being so supportive and loving to me.  I have found such a comfort in your blogs.

God Bless and Merry Christmas to you all!

Some new and interesting work on Fibro/ CFS/ Lyme/ etc.....

Hi to you all.  I wanted to share this info with you today.  This comes to me from my specialist so I trust the source.  A totally new to me way of thinking and treating these horrible conditions.

http://www.iadvocatehealth.org/protozoal_infection0.aspx


Hope you find this interesting.  I sure did:) 

Blessings to you today and always!

Elaine

Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to say hi and hope and pray you all have a wonderful day today.  Even in the midst of our illnesses, I believe that if we look, we will find much to be thankful for.

Thank you for being a part of my life and for making this journey easier by sharing yourselves with me.

Blessings to you today and always!

We did it!

We really did!  We drove to MT and back this past week.  My brother is quite ill and lives in MT.  We live in Oregon.  So my dear husband did all the driving and we made the trip. 

God went before us with weather and road conditions.  He was with us every step of the way and we actually had NO close calls!  Amazing for a long trip like this.  Just about 1,000 miles each way. 

Our dear family stepped up and cared for our dogs for us.  We stayed in motels and then 4 nights with my brother and his wife.  His heart is failing him.  They will go to Salt Lake City on Nov. 15th for another evaluation for either a heart transplant or another procedure to install "hard ware" that will assist his heart.  There is the chance that they can do "nothing" more for him.

We had a wonderful visit.  I rested up the week before the trip and slept quite a bit while there. 

They have satellite TV so I could watch HGTV and just relax when my brother was resting. 

We did do some sight seeing.  One day we went to a museum and saw the Pulitzer Prize photos.  It was a real eye opener.  Another day we visited another museum and here is the link: bairfamilymuseum.org/    It was an incredible place to visit and we loved it!  We didn't have to drive so I rested in the car each way. 

I have no idea why the font changed:)

We arrived home about 4 PM today.  It was totally worth the effort.  I can crash later:)  I wanted to see my brother so badly.  I love his wife very much too. 

It was an incredible trip.

If  you are the praying type, please pray for them.  They have some hard choices ahead.

Hope you had a great day today!

Blessings,
Elaine

A new doctor

Well, I did it.  I found a new doc and have an apt next week to get to know her.  As I was calling around, the doc I have now was the name I was given over and over..... makes me wonder what I did to make her dislike me so much?  Oh well, water under the bridge and moving on!
I appreciate all your kind word of encouragement!  It means so much to me and keeps me going.

This week went by in a blur.  I slept the first part of it.  Then the sunshine came back and I sat in the sun and worked jigsaw puzzles:)  Lovely. 

 Then I got notified that I was a runner up in a contest I'd entered with an author I love.  Jane Kirkpatrick!  If you haven't read anything by her, look her up.  She's great.  I won her new book and three other authors new books!!!!!  So now I have some new reading material for the rainy days on the way:)  I seldom win anything so it was a real treat! 

Then someone close to us stopped by with coupons for dog food that will keep our dog fed for several months for FREE!  What a blessing that is!  He weighs nearly 100 lbs and is expensive to feed:)  Our little dog eats much less and is on a special diet as he's old....

My husband had three GOOD days in a row!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That in itself is a huge blessing!!!!!  He worked outside and got some sun and got lots of "fall" things done too! 

Yesterday we had 6 of our 7 gkids for a few hours:):):)  Rob helped and it was nice so they could play outside and did.  Some played the WII and games on the computer and everyone took turns and shared!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I had a nice visit with my daughter in law and son in law when they picked up kids too!  I was exhausted and had a frozen dinner for supper:)  So did Rob. 

All in all, I'd say this was one of the best weeks we've had in a very long time.  One to tuck away and remember when things aren't going well....

God is good, all the time.  Even when life isn't!

Again, thanks for all your uplifting words!!!! 

Blessings to you all,
Elaine

It's been on my mind

Something happened last week that has been heavy on my mind.  I was at the doctors office and the "nurse" who was helping me was very nice.  She asked me all the right questions, etc. and when I mentioned my CFS and fibro, she said, "Oh, I have that too.  But I refuse to let it destroy my life.  I just push through it and take meds for the pain.  I get really tired, but just move on."  And she left the room.

I was sitting there with my thoughts swirling a million miles an hour.  Why can't I do that?  Why is she different?  What is wrong with me?  Am I lazy?  Have I given up?  Do I give into my symptoms too easily? 

It's been haunting me all week.  I felt as though I'd been slapped in the face.  That my illness was an excuse.  That I could be well if I just wanted to be.  And my doc has the same attitude I do believe.  (Yes, I'm looking for a new one).

Where does that leave me?  Why are some of us so ill and others able to function "normally" with it?  Do I just need to push harder?  Pretend that I am not ill?  Pretend that I can?  I have done that and it has always led to a severe crash.  Sometimes lasting years. 

I'm not feeling sorry for myself.  I am just confused.  I want to be well.  I desire to be well.  I have black berries, plums, and tomatoes to pick.  I watch them ripen and fall to the ground.  Others wonder why I didnt plant a big garden this year?  Well, I couldnt.  And in the past, my daughter and family were here to do most of hte work.  They have moved and that is no longer a possiblility.  People say things like "if I had all that space, I would plant a big garden".  Well, come on over and do it.  Gardens are a lot of work.  I love fresh produce, but am simply not able to get it on my own most of the time.  Once in a while I can pick a few berries or get a few tomatoes off the vines. 

How do you handle these kinds of situations?  I'm feeling very fragile right now.  My hubby is not very well, and my brother needs a heart transplant.  We are still waiting to hear about the road/bridge project that may impact our home, and yes, I'm stressed out.  I KNOW GOD will take care of us, its just the getting there that has me wondering... can I keep up my strength long enough to get thru this all?  I have set priorities and have let so many other things go over the years.  A clean house means huge set backs.  So... its dusty and the floor needs scrubbed.  But I talked with family on the phone, hugged my gkids, and pray, pray pray!

Thanks for listening.

God bless,

Elaine