And the eyes have it!

July 20, 2015

On Wednesday July 15^th I had my eye surgery: trabeculectomy (for glaucoma) and cataract in the left eye. It was about a 90 minute procedure and fortunately I have no memory of it, although I was under a local anesthesia. Each day afterwards through Saturday I had daily visits to the doctor’s office for a check up. For the first few days I was bed ridden. I was allowed up to use the bathroom and to eat. No reading and no TV. I did fairly well listening to the radio as we didn’t have time to get to any books on tape. Each day the doc said my eye looked good. I am also restricted to NO bending, lifting or straining. This doesn’t sound too bad but so much of this is automatic and I constantly have to be mindful of my movements. I drop things and bend down to pick them up and then remember I am not supposed to do that. I can do some real damage if I am not careful. So no loading a dishwasher, no putting things in drawers that are below my waist, forget grocery shopping…I went grocery shopping briefly in Sunday and found myself reaching for peanut butter on the bottom shelf and almost had a melt down when I realized what I had done.

After the surgery on Wednesday, we spent Wednesday and Thursday night in town to make things easier since I was tired from the surgery and I had to be back at 10:30 the next morning and again return at 9:30 on Friday. We spent Friday night at the farm and were joined by Larry’s daughter, Hillary and her sweet family: Scott, her husband and their two kids, Henriette and Ewing. We left Saturday morning for my doc appointment and did not return to the farm. Larry and Susan were expected to return around 11:00 p.m. that night. I miss waking up to the most gorgeous view each morning and my time with Baker, the smartest, coolest dog ever.

There are seven stages of recovery from my eye surgery. There is no specific time frame as each patient heals differently. By Saturday I was at stage two which meant I could read and watch TV and be out of bed for small time periods. I was told by my gyn doc no baths and by my eye doc no showers. I cannot wash my hair until stage four!!!! I have oily skin so I have washed my hair daily since I was a teen even when wilderness camping. I am going crazy with this restriction. Pray that I am at stage four when I go for my next check up on Thursday.

July 22 2015 

On Sunday July 19 we started going through boxes that were left at the storage unit. We created three categories: take to the condo, put in yard sale, and re-store. We worked two-three hours each day, about all either of us could handle, particularly me. It was much easier to do it at the storage unit using my old desk as a place to open boxes instead of bending over a box on the floor. We bought home boxes each day and put things away in the condo. We combined contents and repacked boxes that were to be re-stored and we started boxes for the yard sale. Our goal is to downsize our storage unit from 23 X 24 to something about half that size. Ron’s shop and its contents will be stored as well as any boxes of items we wish to keep at this point.

We went back on Monday for a two hour stint and on Tuesday and Wednesday Wendy Wibbens joined us to help out. I have known Wendy since she was 16 and I administered her GED.  That was 41 years ago!!!!  We have history and a very fine relationship. She is on vacation here from Oakland CA. She took me to my gynocologist post op appointment on Tuesday morning. My doc was pleased with my progress and told me to come back next year when I was due for my annual check up. I was also given the go ahead on having a bath! Yippee! I took a long hot bath that night and it felt divine. I felt clean for the first time in over a week. Now about that hair…

On Tuesday we went to the unit after lunch then worked for a couple of hours. Wendy was terrific and packed up items for the yard sale. We made great progress. She came back to the condo with us and helped to unload the items we brought home. After putting things away, she and Ron organized the kitchen. I must confess before my surgery when Ron and I were bringing things here I literally dumped box contents into the drawers and cabinets here. Well, the two of them took care of getting it all straightened out and it is just terrific.

Around 6:30 the three of us headed to NE Portland and had dinner at Tamale Boy, one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. Wendy went to her friend’s house for the night and we came home, pretty tired from a long day.

Today I got up and after breakfast took the trolley to a place in SW Portland to be fingerprinted, a security requirement to being back on the board of Our House of Portland. I had an interesting conversation with the owner of the print/copy shop where I was finger printed (it is all electronic now, no more messy ink). The owner was Indonesian and came to this country in 2005 seeking asylum because he and his wife had converted to Christianity from Islam. I didn’t know things were that strict there. He said they came here with two plane tickets and $2,000 and now he owns the print shop. I told him he was the classic American immigrant success story.

I came home, called Wendy and she came over and the three of us went at it again. I am glad to say we have a sizable yard sale pile. We managed to get through the last of the boxes in the storage unit we are dealing with right now. There are more that we have to do but we are waiting on some book shelves to arrive on Friday before going through our boxes of books. Once again we unloaded the things we brought back to the condo and headed out to lunch at a nearby Vietnamese place around the corner. Afterwards we walked another block for dessert, a hot coffee drink at Starbucks. Wendy headed home and we rested for while as we were pooped. I napped and Ron read.

Ron has been busy hanging up textiles, masks, and artwork. He has done a terrific job. I think by this weekend we will be pretty set here except for a part of the iving room where we will put in wall unit book shelves for both books and chatchkies. They are scheduled to arrive at the store on Tuesday the 28th . It has been a difficult time for both of us, frankly. Ron is worn out and has been somewhat stressed. No surprise there with all that has happened since returning to Portland. I have to fight with myself for feeling useless or inadequate because I am so limited right now. But here we are, in a lovely neighborhood, in a gorgeous condo and we have made it our home/sanctuary and nest in less than a week.  

Moving and preparing for surgery

July 3

We went to Portland to pick up Mark’s Tahoe to load up boxes from the storage unit and take to the condo. The movers come Tuesday and we wanted to get some things put away before the chaos ensues. The battery was dead even though Joe, Mark’s cousin, had attempted to recharge it. Ron added some water to the battery and we went to Sellwood to load up the car with the things we had stored there. Back to the Tahoe. It was ready to roll so we went to the unit and loaded it up and filled our car. I was able to load things like bags of coat hangers and pillows. Ron had all the heavy stuff.

We went to the condo. I unloaded the car while Ron worked on unloading the Tahoe. At 2:00 we stopped for lunch then decided we needed to get home to Baker who was inside the house and we worried about July 4^th traffic. For the first time I can recall I -84 on ramp from I-5 was a piece of cake. Usually by this tine of the day (3:00 pm) it is a friggin zoo. I guess most folks left town on Thursday.

On the way home I got a call from Wendy, a Parkdale neighbor. She had gotten our phone message asking her to help with Baker today. She had been out of town in The Dalles, working on a rental she and Dick own. They let Baker out while we were en route. It made for a less anxious trip home. Once we got home we went to Wendy and Dick’s to pick Baker up and to visit. I took my calendar to ask for help on days we can’t be here, like Monday when we head to Olympia to see my eye surgeon and the 15^th  when I have my surgery.

We both were exhausted when we got home. It was hot today and I think both of us are more stressed than we realize. I rested in bed for a bit then we made a simple omelet supper and watched the news. I think today was my second day out of bed since my surgery. I see how I can get into the trouble I was warned about: you feel great so you do things you shouldn’t be doing. DUH! Bingo, just what I did today.

July 4, 2015

We said today we would just rest. Here is how we rest: we picked raspberries before breakfast, had breakfast then Ron went out to work on the duck compound, trying to make it more secure from unwanted birds who get in and peck the eggs. I showered, cleaned two bathrooms and swept the house. Damn I am hard headed. I wore myself out and did rest the rest of the day. I even took a nap and slept deeply.

July 5, 2015

We returned to the condo to unpack boxes. Ron went to the storage unit to get another load and I worked quickly trying to empty as many as possible. Some were easy with blankets, pillows and such and some were tedious. I unpacked two large suitcases that we had packed for Mexico. I decided the goal was to get the boxes emptied and out of the condo so we had room to work. I literally dumped things into the kitchen drawers and shoved things into the cabinets with no particular order. We can organize later. The kitchen is so small, a fraction of what I had for the last 20 years so there will be some major adjustments there. I feel the pressure of my July 15^th surgery date and want to get us as settled as possible before then because I don’t know what restrictions I will have post surgery. I will find out more tomorrow when we drive to Olympia and see my doctor. Fortunately our son David is flying out to help us. He arrives on Wednesday and leaves way early on Sunday. The extra help will be terrific.

Our friends Rick and Ellen came over to a brief visit since we don’t have any furniture to offer anyone a place to sit. They arrived a little before Ron returned from the unit. When he got back, he suggested we all grab a bite to eat. That was great because it forced us to take a break and gave us more time for our visit. Afterwards, we came back and unpacked more boxes and tidied up, taking flattened boxes and paper to the recycle bins in the basement.

July 6, 2015

Off to see the wizard. We got up and Ron has been showing me how to take care of the geese/ducks in case he needs to stay in town during our move into the condo. We also anticipate that he and David will spend Saturday night in town since David has a VERY early flight out on Sunday.

We think our drive to Olympia will take two or so hours from Portland and want to make a stop in Vancouver on the way. We anticipate getting home late since my appointment is at 4:15 and I have a page of questions to ask regarding the surgery. I am hopeful that I will calm down a bit afterwards. I have some anxiety regarding how I will be able to function after the surgery as it relates to our move into the condo. I am assuming I won’t be able to do much so currently I am in a hyper mode. Imagine that? Anyone who knows me (us) knows we call ourselves hyper active adults but in these circumstances we shift into overdrive!  As I look at the calendar I am limited between now and the surgery in terms of getting into town and getting things done.

We left at 11:00 to make a stop in Vancouver then head on up to Olympia for us to meet with the eye surgeon. He had suggested that we talk before the surgery so I would fully understand what was involved. His practice is in Olympia three weeks a month and in Portland one week a month.

I asked Ron to come with me so he could take notes. I had prepared a long list of questions and knew I would not be able to retain everything. The drive was quicker than we had anticipated and we arrived over an hour early for the appointment. So we treated ourselves to a Starbucks coffee and sweet treat. I walked around the shaded parking lot because I really do not like long spells of sitting. It was around 2:30 when we arrived. Then we read in the car until time to go in.

Dr Samples is a great guy and very easy to talk to. He explained the procedure: I will have cataract surgery and glaucoma surgery. My cataract is unusual in how dense and small it is. With the glaucoma surgery he will create a canal to help reduce the pressure build up which can destroy my vision. For a few days afterwards I will just be lying around and doing much of nothing…not my strong suit. I will be wearing a patch...arrrrgh.  Each person is unique but as a guide for two weeks I will not be able to bend my head below my heart, strain or lift anything over five pounds. I will be checked after the surgery each day for three days then weekly for one or two weeks, then monthly for six months then quarterly for the rest of the year. After that it will be every six months. If all goes well it appears we can move to Mexico but I will need to leave every six months for a check up. I am not making reservations yet for Mexico!

There are risks associated with the surgery. There can be bleeding, hemorrhaging and infection. He said he has ‘never lost an eye’. He is quite conservative, cautious and he is adamant about adherence to the restrictions. None of this is overwhelming but I do have a difficult time lazing around. I will have no choice about this though as losing an eye is very serious business. It is best that we stay out at Parkdale because being in the condo I would want to be doing things. The drawback is the three hour round trip. It has gotten somewhat onerous for us. When we were invited here to recuperate from the hysterectomy I didn’t know I would be having eye surgery too! Nor did we know we would be buying a condo after we moved in here. Such is life.

We got home at 9:00 road weary. I walked down to the neighbors and fetch our charming dog Baker. I think he was glad to be home after spending the day with a teenager dog that runs circles around Baker. We went to bed at 11:00 because Ron wants to leave early for Portland to meet the movers.

July 7

Ron and the movers got going around 11:00 and were loaded by 1:20. They wrapped up around 5:00. A lot of our things are still in the storage unit but half of what is stored are Ron’s shop and tools. We left all the artwork for now and other things that we can bring over ourselves as we have room. I stayed home but got reports throughout the day.

July 8

David arrived at 11:30 from NYC. He started his day at 4:30. We ran errands including grabbing a bite to eat. Then we worked at the condo for about two hours. By 4:00 we needed to leave and get back here for Baker. He can go about eight hours then he needs to be let out.

I must have overdone it (duh) because at 8:00 PM I asked Ron to feed the geese and ducks so he could take me to the ER in Hood River, about 25 minutes away. I was bleeding and thought it would stop which is why I had waited to tell him. Not so. By 11:00 we got to come home with the admonition to take it easy. I am so hard headed and thought I was okay to unpack boxes. There must not be much brain in my skull due to its thickness!

So I behaved today and stayed home and in bed all day until time to make a simple supper. Ron and David worked all day and go a lot done. Ron seemed pleased with the progress.

Today I got a call saying St Vincent’s Hospital requires patients to have had a physical prior to surgery and it has to have been within the last 30 days. Guess what? I was past the time limit so the eye clinic called my doc’s office and they said they could get in tomorrow at 7:45. We will need to get up at 5:30 and drive for about 1.75 hrs to get there on time with the morning traffic. Then I have a hair cut and manicure scheduled for later in the morning in Vancouver. I will need to come straight back from that to let Baker out. OY, I will be thankful when all this is behind me and we are just hanging out at our cool condo! There is light at the end of this tunnel. The temps have been in the mid 90’s to the low 100’s for weeks but today it dropped into the 80’s and there is a breeze. What a difference. This is so much more typical of our usual weather this time of year.

Life on the farm

June 27, 2015

Today is Saturday and I came home from my surgery on Tuesday. All went well with one small hiccup. The doc who performed the operation was concerned that my bladder/kidneys were not functioning well after the surgery so I remained on the operating table while an urologist was called in (it was night by now). He did a dye test and determined that all was in order so I got sewn up and went to recovery. I got to my room around 10:00 p.m., later than expected. My surgery started around 3:00 in the afternoon but with robotic surgery I think it takes about an hour to set up before actual surgery begins.

I was released the next day, Tuesday at noon. It takes about 90 minutes to reach Parkdale. I went upstairs and when I tried to get into bed I had excruciating pain in my shoulders and screamed out, tears where flowing down my face and Ron told me to breathe. It hurt like hell to cry and to breathe. I finally got into bed. Apparently this is the worst side effect of the operation. I was injected with carbon dioxide gas to help the surgeon see better and to help move things around. This is a common practice. However the gas aggravates the diaphragm and a nerve that goes to the shoulders.  The pain felt like torture frankly but was only in the shoulder region. By night fall I couldn’t take it any longer and Ron convinced me to have my narcotic prescription filled. He left to go to town, an hour round trip. What would I do without this wonderful guy?

With the help of the drugs I was able to sleep but had to sleep in a sitting position because I couldn’t lie down without creating the stabbing pain in my shoulders. I did this for two nights and slept well. Ah hard drugs, a godsend under the circumstances. This experience made me even more sympathetic to my friends who have had to deal with much more serious physical/medical problems.

If ever there were a perfect place to recuperate, Parkdale would be it. Larry and Susan’s farm is in an idyllic setting. Our bedroom window looks out on tidy farms and a drop dead gorgeous view of Mt Hood. I often sit on the edge of the bed and just take it in. It is a healing gesture. Then my first days post op, Larry or Ron would bring me coffee and my meals. I stayed upstairs the first day due to the discomfort I was experiencing each time I got out of or into bed. But by Wednesday I was able to do downstairs for short visits.  Between Larry and Ron my every need was attended to…hey I could get used to this!

On Thursday Larry left for Portland and to pick Susan up at the airport. She has been visiting her mom in Florida. They stayed overnight in Sellwood. We watched the news after dinner and on Friday I was out of bed much of the day. I walked around the property briefly, had my coffee on the patio taking in the view and we headed into town around 12:30 to go to a notary for a condo document and to do some grocery shopping. It ended up we went too early as the notary wasn’t available until 2:00. Because it was 90 degrees we decided to do the non perishable grocery shopping before seeing the notary and to pick up the rest on our way back to the farm. As luck would have it we ran into Nick, Mateo and Stacy, friends from Portland, at the grocery store. They were on their way to a camping weekend nearby at Lost Lake so we had a brief visit in the store and we hope to go see them this weekend. I find getting out of the house helpful but am being careful to not overdo it. Everyone has warned me about feeling really good then overdoing it. Being a hyperactive adult this is a challenge but I want to be well as soon as possible. I am lucky to have had this type of surgery.

In the late afternoon my new ophthalmologist called. He had not answered my emails and I discovered earlier in the day that he had been attending a meeting and had not been in the office. I asked about delaying the surgery until October. He said I was losing eye sight and by delaying I was risking losing more. I decided to set up a meeting with him in Olympia where his practices three weeks a month. He is in Portland one week a month. We will meet July 6th as the surgery is now scheduled for July 15^th. I am proceeding with this as Ron will need to be in Costa Rica in mid September and I feel the longer I have in recovery before his departure the better. The appointment in July will give us more information to know exactly what we can expect in terms of risks and possible outcomes from the surgery.

Larry and Susan arrived around 6:00 p.m. and we waited until the heat abated and served a salad dinner which we all enjoyed. We had picked up three deli salads then Ron made a great green salad. We added some good bread and called it dinner. I rested in bed all evening and read Miss Marple mysteries by Agatha Christie. I had run out of reading material and found a book with five mysteries in the beside table to keep me entertained for now. These are quite dated so it is interesting to observe how things have changed in terms of attitudes towards women, age and gays. It makes me aware that some progress has been made. We were thrilled to hear of the two Supreme Court rulings on the Affordable Care Act and gay marriage equity.

I made it through the day with no narcotics and am pleased. I did wake up around 3:00 a.m. and so did Ron. I read until about 4:00 when he came back to bed. I then slept until 8:30. Ron has been working with a program called Home Architect which allows him to draw a floor plan of the condo and place furniture to see how things will fit. He refined it further during his wakeful hours between 3:00-4:00. He has done a terrific job of thinking things through. We are downsizing from 3,000 sq feet to 1280 sq ft. We have a large art and textile collection so some of it will need to be stored, sold or given away I think. We won’t make any decisions until after we attempt to move in.

Today Mandi, a former tenant of ours in Vancouver is bringing lunch for the five of us. We look forward to her visit.

Sunday

We had a super visit with Mandi and a delicious lunch. We will see her again hopefully before we move into our condo. Ron and I ate leftovers for dinner and Larry and Susan went to a winery for the owners’ retirement party. I spent the evening in bed as I had been out of bed much of the day.

Today after lunch we said goodbye to Larry and Susan who are leaving for Portland today and France tomorrow. We drove about 35-40 minutes up to Lost Lake to see Stacy, Nick, Mateo and Stacy’s folks, Rollie and Dolores whom we have known since the early 80’s.  Poor Mateo fell asleep as soon as we all congregated at the camp site as he had spent a long time doing a standing kayak on the lake, and was very tired. (so no picture of him). We had a great visit and enjoyed the cooler temps. Today is was about 87 degrees compared to Saturday’s 102. It was also cooler in the forest service campground which was probably another 1,000-1,5000 ft higher in elevation than Parkdale’s 1500 ft.

Stacy

Nick

Tricia

Dolores

Rollie

We came home and picked blueberries and raspberries then ate leftovers for dinner. We watched The Theory of Everything, a wonderful film about Stephen Hawking and his wife, Jane.

Through our stay at Parkdale, we've told you about Larry and Susan's dog, Baker.  He is so smart.... so here's his picture.

July 1

Today we found out that Mark, our older son, passed his defense of his dissertation and is now Dr Bergman. Hooray for Mark who has worked so hard on this degree while holding multiple jobs and while being a great dad and husband.

Our mover finally called back to say he couldn’t put a team together. I got rather emotional with tears. I can’t tell what all the contributors are to my emotional outburst but Ron thinks it is all that is going on: multiple health issues, the vagabond life style, and multiple plan changes this summer. Let’s not forget the disappointment of not moving to Mexico. We quickly got some recommendations from our realtor and our friend Ellen Levine. By the end of the day Ron had arranged for a move a week from Friday, July 10^th.  Tomorrow we will see if that can be moved up a bit as it doesn’t give us much time to get settled before my surgery on the 15^th.

We went into Portland where I had my eyes measured for the surgery and RON went to a lunch with buddies then a dental appointment. My friends Gary and Edmund picked up at the eye clinic and we headed out to Hood River where we had a play date. We ate lunch, visited art galleries and interesting shops. It was 102 degrees today. Oy! We came out to the house, about a 20 minute drive. They fell in love with L &S’s house and the setting. We relaxed and had a snack then later I gave them the garden tour, and showed them the orchard and duck/geese pond and where the birds are housed. After Ron got home, we decided to go back to town for a nice meal.  After dinner we said our goodbyes and rushed home to get the birds back into their house for the night. This house protects them from predators.