You have already failed me 😖

Let’s at least start with the good stuff! We closed out 2024 with a great family gathering in Dallas with my mom & the kids. My cousin hosted a massive Christmas dinner 🍽️ The true Christmas blessing was his mom, my aunt Cathy was on the mend from some terrible health issues that had us all quite concerned. My Aunt Cathy was & is, an incredibly important influence in my life, with her love of art & Jesus & baking 🍞 Again, a story within the story for another time 😉 Her renewed health meant all the rolls & cornbread & my favorite, pralines! Now there is much debate on how to pronounce this last word, whether a long A or short. I go long, cuz that’s how my Granny said it & there ends the debate 😆  

’Tis the season for carb overload. We ate, we laughed, we drove go karts & killed virtual zombies & played Settlers of Catan.  How am I just discovering this game?! My brothers made us play at Thanksgiving & I was hooked. Yes it helped that I won the first game, albeit with much coaching, but hey, a win is a win! 🥇 Fortunately, our pet sit parents had the game in Dallas, so we had to play again. Our daughter announced she had never lost a game. That was her downfall 😣 We played three games over the week, my mom & Dave even paired up as a team. Mom thought in the end, she was a better banker 🤣  Dave, Andrew & myself, all had a win, Erin not so much 😞  Sorry babe, it had to be said, yes I’m a terrible mother 🤣

After the week, the kids headed home ✈️ Andrew to Colorado Springs & Erin to Pittsburgh. We closed out our Dallas pet sit with a rainy day of cuddles as I began to lean in to the cold Erin had left behind 🤧

As December & 2024 came to a close, we decided to drive down to San Angelo, TX to meet up with some of Dave’s co-workers & spend New Year’s Eve at one of their local breweries.  One of the guys, Evan, was so excited to show us around town. I absolutely loved it because that is usually my role. It was wonderful to experience the other side of such hospitality 💜 San Angelo is an unexpected gem 💎  One friend told us, it is the largest US city with no interstate access. Both I20 & I10 are 2 hours away, one to the north & one to the south.   It’s hardly a sleepy little town with its 100k residents & ample amenities. San Angelo is home to ASU, that would be Angelo State University, as well as Goodfellow Air Force Base & Shannon Medical Center. These are the big three employers, probably with a big oil add.  

A few fun & interesting facts… ASU has a 4 year degree aviation program that guarantees a Southwest Airline interview. They are adding a mechanic track to the degree & have constructed new classrooms at the regional airport. The regional airport, SJT flies to DFW, Austin & San Antonio with flights on American, Alaska & Qatar airlines. 

Goodfellow AFB (insert wiki link) is a non flying Air Force Base, their runway closed permanently in 1975. In the late 70s Goodfellas was slated for closure, but instead was given new life by absorbing multiple missions from around the United States into one concentrated base. Goodfellow’s mission is now intelligence training for all branches of the military as well as training military firefighters 🚒

The Shannon’s, Margaret was Scottish & J.M. born in New Orleans but whose family migrated to Australia in 1849, built a life & legacy that gave San Angelo its premiere medical services. Having no heirs upon their deaths in the late 1920s, the couple left their entire estate to establish a foundation for a hospital in the area. The non profit hospital continues to thrive with virtually no city or county taxes for support.

San Angelo also has a thriving arts scene, a personally attended yet public water lily garden & all the barbecue you can eat!

We rang in the New Year at the brewery of one of Dave’s co-workers. Wandering Minds serves up over a dozen house brews & seltzers. We imbibed through the night chatting with friends & meeting new locals. My favorite was a seltzer that tasted just like root beer, dangerous!  Their now local brew master was from Colorado Springs & had brewed for some of our favorites there, small world. We kissed 💋 when the ball dropped & called it a night 😴

We headed back to Dallas & then on to Atlanta, GA where we planned to stay with my sister for 2 weeks, which became 3, then 4 😬  My mom joined us in ATL for the originally planned weeks. I went to Zumba with my sister a few times & confirmed it’s not for me 💃 We all went out thrifting. I made some great finds… an almost brand new suitcase for $7, a scuba top for $5 & some practically unworn “boots with the fur” (sing it with me) for $7 🛍️   My sister & her hubs made us amazing food 🥘  We wined & dined & laughed. 

We have had some seriously wacky weather here ❄️  They were making snow in Pagosa for the Skijor while we were getting hit with not 1 but 2 Arctic Blasts 💨 We hunkered down for the first with some good ole’ fashion declutterring 😜 By the close of the weekend, we had gotten rid of 4 TVs 📺  3 box & 1 flatscreen, a chaise 🛋️ , extra exercise equipment 🏋️ & made 2 large piles, one for charity, the other for electronics recycling ♻️ Yes, I was having a great time! 😊

We didn’t make it out for our “girl’s trip” but hopefully my mom can join us a few places over the next months to make up for it ✈️

My sister & I were having a really wonderful visit until she had to kick us out to what will likely be one of the most expensive hotels stays, the Piedmont Fayetteville Hospital 🏥  I didn’t expect to meet my out of pocket again this year & definitely not before my official one year anniversary of my double mastectomy Jan. 23, 2024 🗓️  But there we were, in the ER, in Georgia 🏥  Not the best start to the next leg of our rebooted journey. I blame our free celebratory coconut cake we had the previous week 🤦‍♀️  Jinxed it!

As usual, the long story longer…. I woke up Sunday morning with all of my joints screaming. I hoped it was just an extra glass of wine 🍷  from dinner with friends the night before but no joy. My right arm was red & swollen. Maybe should have headed to the ER directly but instead we went to see Wicked 🧙 for National Popcorn Day 🍿

We got back to my sister’s. I still felt pretty crappy, so I put on my compression sleeve & took some heavy duty nsaids. I was feeling better at bed time & slept well. Monday morning I woke up feeling ok but upon inspection, my arm was more swollen & red & the redness was beginning to creep up my arm, across my frankenboobs & down my torso. My Colorado PT returned my call from the night before & confirmed I need to get to the ER, stat 😉  Why do they call it the ED now, just to confuse us 🤦‍♀️  I digress…

Note to self, always say the pain is much higher than I think. One because maybe we wouldn’t have waited 5 hours to be seen & I forget I have an unusually high tolerance for pain & have been in some kind of pain everyday for the last year 😔  After intake, triage & multiple failed blood lettings, then success we headed back to an ER chair for the next 8 hours. From there I was taken for multiple tests, X-ray, contrast CT & ultrasound of my arm. They took blood cultures & started not 1 but 2 IV antibiotics, that I would continue for the duration of my stay every 12 & 24 hours ⏰  About 230am I was moved to an ER room with a bed. About 430am a nurse checked on me & we finally got some answers. After seeing 2 doctors & countless nurses, this guy seemed stunned we had not been talked to. Thankfully, he spent half an hour with us looking at the results from the tests, all unremarkable. That’s good 👍  the one time you want to be unremarkable is in the hospital 😉 Current diagnosis, cellulitis or skin infection. My final diagnosis upon discharge would be – Sepsis without acute organ dysfunction 😬

How does one get cellulitis? That is a great question, I wish any of my previous doctors would have stressed just a wee bit more! For me, most likely it was from shaving my armpits, SERIOUSLY! I have 2 fewer lymph nodes in my right under arm because they were taken during my mastectomy as standard procedure. This means my system is disturbed, incomplete & confused, so whatever bacteria got in to whatever microscopic cut, my body was just unable to fight it off 🦠  

We settled in for our potentially week-long stay. I took a shower 🚿 put on my hospital gown, ordered dinner & made a few phone calls to my family.  Most of the trauma was behind me, just a bit more that evening & it would be a couple of quiet days to release. I have never been one to be squeamish to give blood 🩸  I actually find it very interesting to watch & feel 😬  I am however learning more & more what it feels like for them to miss or for my vein to collapse mid procedure. I was poked no less than a dozen times over this adventure. Before BC, my right arm had been the go to champ of blood labs, but now she was off limits. I won’t go into detail about how pissed Dave was that it took them so long to give me a limb restriction bracelet 😡  as every nurse in the ER failed on my left then asked to use my right, um no.  I will also not say how he found a collection of said bracelets & put them into our “hospital go bag” stores 💼

If you are still reading, this is where it gets a little yucky… the first gal stuck me twice before giving up, thank God because she was one of the worst I’d seen/felt. The second guy used an ultrasound machine to find a better vein & was able to place my first IV.

You can just hear him describing his movements.

I would get my first antibiotics through this IV in the ER. After the antibiotics the nurse hooked up fluids. About 15 minutes into that, I told Dave something was wrong. The vein must have blown because the fluids were going into my arm not my bloodstream 🤦‍♀️  My left arm was swollen to nearly twice its normal size, it would take 18 hrs for that to subside. Thankfully another nurse had gotten her 2 pricks for blood cultures before yet another nurse put a second IV into my left hand 🫲  That IV would be stable enough to push the fluids & one more round of antibiotics. I had hoped Dave would be heading home after the 7pm shift change but that IV would nix those plans. My lovely day nurse Shameka began to use the hand IV to push my next 2 antibiotics. She flushed the line which was super painful & then started with the first more viscous antibiotic. HOLY CRAP IT HURT. It hurt so bad I asked for pain meds. We told the nurse about the previous IV & we all agreed this one too had outlived its usefulness 😖  Shameka removed my hand IV, gave me a Percocet & went home. Nurse Karen was up next. Karen was the nicest & most joyful person I had encountered thus far, especially for the night shift 🌙 What happened next was a minor miracle. I was due my next antibiotics but had no IV. It had started snowing, snowing in Georgia for the second time & it was coming down 🌨️  It was 8pm, anyone who could, had left early, including all the phlebotomists 🩸  Nurse Karen was determined to figure this out. She said she would call down to the ER but she wasn’t sure they would send anyone. Dave assured her that if he had to go down there, he would most definitely bring someone back with him.  Karen then remembered Nurse Marque. No one had come to replace Marque from the day shift. Marque was the go to IV guy 💜  Karen got Marque. Marque got the supplies. I closed my eyes & prayed, yeah I was tired of watching & really tired of the struggle my poor pitiful veins were having to endure. I sang a little “Jesus loves me” to myself & prayed for Marque’s favor. Bing, bang, boom, it was done 💥  I told Marque he was highly favored & that I had been praying for him. Marque returned the prayers & headed back for his double shift.  Marque’s IV would do the rest of the heavy lifting of 5 more rounds of antibiotics.

Dave could finally go home.

Karen said she would come back with sheets & blankets for the couch but Dave assured her this weather was no match for Black Betty 🛻  He would see us in the morning ☀️

Karen gave me more pain killers for the arm, the rash, my throbbing headache & it was off to sleep.  Maybe a bit too much 😬  She came in to take my vitals, who knows what time at this point. My BP was 85/47, um no bueno! I felt fine, no code necessary. My BP was up by morning to a whopping 102/58. I like to drop it low, low, low, low 🤣   

Nurse Abby replaced Karen for the next 2 days shifts, she too was a doll. She liked to hang out in my room because I was nicer than her other 5 patients & we gave her sourdough 🥖😊  Abby was a real trooper, she was one of the nurses who stayed overnight during the snowstorm to ensure she would be there for her shift the next day. I asked her if she got one of the “comfy” room couches? She said no, she slept in one of the recliners. Dave commiserated with her. He knows the chair sleep or lack there of all too well.

By Wednesday the antibiotics were clearly working, my rash was fading & drugs 💊 were helping my headache longer. Dave & I walked around the wing a few times. We saw Marque, he had gotten a bit of sleep overnight in the hospital but was determined to leave on time that night & enjoy his next 2 days off.  My sister came up to visit again & Dave held meetings in the corner of the room 💻  The hospital still wasn’t completely staffed due to the snow, not even the Chick-fil-A had opened that day! Dave got me a salad 🥗  for lunch & we had nut butter sandwiches 🥪 for dinner with goodies my sister had brought us. There were 4 more rounds of antibiotics, a few more blood lettings & multiple vitals taken  🩺  

Dave went home a bit earlier, once Nurse Karen had returned. She gave me my nighttime meds & I was out 💤 About 2am a nurse came in to take blood 🩸 I was so asleep, she had to physically shake my arm to wake me. I had been in the middle of the most vivid dream. I said, “thank you, the police were closing in on us. We were on some kind of job or heist. The church van was our cover. You woke me right as the cops were knocking on the van window 🚐  ” I laid my arm across my face to make it dark in the now lit room. She seemed un phased by my tale, but as she left & turned off the lights she said, “stay out of prison.” 🚔 🤣 I laughed & went back to sleep 😴

Thursday finally came, it was our first possibility of getting sprung. Nurse Abby had reported my 36 & 48hr cultures had been negative, meaning no infection in my bloodstream. Dr. John came around a second time & confirmed I would be going home that day 🏠  I would get 3 more rounds of antibiotics that day & be sent home with another 7 day course to finish 💊  I really need to eat some yogurt soon! 

Funny & not so funny things we heard in the ER/hospital

1. Young men waiting “All I heard was pop, pop, pop & knew I had to call 911”😬
2. Dr to the patient, “You know it says on the box not to put these in your ear?” 😖  
3. Nurse Abby, “Please don’t leave, I don’t know what is waiting for me down there in the ER.” 😢  

PSA: How to be even remotely prepared for something like this…

1. If you have had lymph nodes removed, stop shaving your armpits with a razor. After the fact, I heard from several of my brestie friends they were instructed to only use an electric razor in that area  🤦‍♀️
2. Make a hospital go bag! We may travel with much, but it was spread out everywhere in our current home space. We had to really think in the moment what I needed or what would make me comfortable for this unexpected situation.
3. Grab a ziplock bag – fill it – Medical POA, Meds list, charging cable, chapstick, toothbrush & toothpaste, hand lotion, facemask, essential oil you love & will want to put on the face mask or your pillow at night to quell the smell of hospital 😷  hair ties, extra undies, travel shampoo & conditioner as well as face soap & face lotion. These are the basic, if you have a bag at the ready, Murphy’s Law says your less likely to need it 🤞  Additional adds if you pack a proper bag – slippers (over the hospitals fashionable yellow non slip socks), deck of cards to relieve boredom, eyemask & earplugs for those pesky night vitals, mints or cough drops to combat the hot, dry hospital air.

Once again, we don’t pretend to have a plan for this adventure. It finds us where we are. It keeps us flexible. A huge thank you to my sister for putting up with us for so long & for her words to me about Dave & his devotion to me 💞  I could not keep such a good attitude without him. Dave continues to be my rock, my advocate, even my voice at times. I am an optimist. Dave is a pragmatist. Together we make a pretty good team. ❤️

Next we head to Virginia for a month or so. We hope to cross paths with many of our friends & take in some history. Until next time…😉