Mom and I attended the 8 o’clock show last night and it was one of the best shows I have ever seen. I love the fact that it is the real-story of the Wicked Witch of the West and how she really never got the benefit of the doubt…ever. And that maybe, just maybe she wasn’t as evil as we have all been taught since we were young.  The show was not only great, it really added on to the book which I read about three years ago. The two work together and you should go for both, if you haven’t already!

Thank you Mom and Dad for such a great birthday present. 34 was a great birthday that seemed to last almost an entire week… Every birthday is special since I’ve been given another chance.

I’ve spent the last few weeks worrying about the stomach surgery I was required to have. It was so nerve wrecking for my psyche that I was getting stomach aches and headaches. I was scared to go under anesthesia and running into an illness like in March. Well, on the way to the hospital this morning, we received a call from the surgeon’s office stating that a set of lungs had become available and the doctor had to perform a LUNG TRANSPLANT instead of my elective stomach surgery (Yea, it was really something I wanted to do) Anyway, I had to reschedule for early July which really screws up my schedule for the rest of the summer,  although I am happy that someone was given the opportunity to live on due to a wonderful organ donor and a GREAT surgeon who can save so many lives.

A

What a great birthday I had last night! I am so thankful to be celebrating another birthday especially after the year I’ve had. We spent the evening at the Atomic Cowboy eating, drinking, visiting and dancing (near closing time). Cindy and I started the dancing party with Snoop Dogg’s California and then Gin and Juice. It was pretty funny to watch a bunch of white girls trying to cut a rug.  

In the photo from left to right: Shelly, Me, Amy, Cindy, Amy and Denise. I wish we could have gotten all the girls in the photo, but things were a little crazy.

I want to say thanks for everyone coming out to celebrate and making my 34th one of the best in years.

Hello there. Well tomorrow is my birthday, more importantly I have five days until all solid food is eliminated from my diet…I mean my surgery. I received my list of items I can eat for three weeks past surgery and the list stinks. Have you ever heard of cornmeal pudding? It sounds disgusting and I wouldn’t eat that if my life depended on it, ok maybe if my life were depending on it. I can have honey, but I’m wondering how full I will really be after a bottle of honey..? Doesn’t strained or blenderized soup sound yuck? I’m very happy to report that I can eat/drink milkshakes — WOHOO. I’ve decided to not eat any meat after my surgery, I think its going to be a good transition from a liquid diet to a vegetarian diet and I’ve wanted to stop eating meat for a long time. I did stop eating pork almost a year ago, but now all meat is going to be eliminated except seafood. Although, now with the oil spill in the gulf, I can’t afford seafood anyway. Can you believe the mess down there? I feel terrible for the families who depend on the the ocean for their livelihood.  I’m so mad about the whole thing that I don’t even like to mention it.  Anyway, I will not be eating meat. I just heard a group sigh from all the chickens and cows…. Especially chicken since I eat so much of it.

This evening a friend and I went to a new coffeehouse and watched a woman play the hard. It was really pleasant and the woman played so beautifully. I can’t say I have ever seen anyone up close play the hard, but it was really cool. She played a Janis Joplin song which was so cool!

Mom purchased new Wicked tickets yesterday and we are heading to the theatre on June 22 at 8pm to see WICKED! I can’t wait. I’m trying to talk Mom into Ethiopian food, but I doubt she will budge.  I’m going to find somewhere new for us to have a nice meal together. It will be nice to hang out with her, it seems we are always rushing when we are together so it will be a good change to be able to slow down and actually hang out. I have the best Mom. and Dad and brother and dog and Grandpa and Aunts, and cousins….okay I’ll stop!

Funny thing, when Creagle first came home, she always laid under the desk on my feet. Right now she is trying to get under the desk and her booty is too big to fit there. She is really getting frustrated with this one, I bet she is going to start howling—just as I thought, she’s howling and trying to push my legs out of the way. Silly girl.

Namaste’

Oh, I have forgotten to tell you all about Dr. Meyers (Amazing). He is the doctor that will be performing my stomach surgery. Can you believe someone is smart enough to do both lung and stomach surgery? When I visited him, I couldn’t stop thinking about how smart he is. Seriously! I wish I had 1/10 of his smarts. A friend of mine had his lung transplant performed by Dr Meyers and he really thinks he is a great doctor. I too received a nice feel from the doc too. So, the surgery will take place next Weds in the hospital, The actual surgery will be two hours and I will be there for another 23 hours unless something else occurs –let’s hope there is not an issue, I’ve done my time in the hospital for the year. I won’t be able to eat solid food for three weeks after the surgery, so I am bulking up this week for sure. I hope the 3 week time frame was an overestimate and I’ll really be eating tacos sooner.

I ended up taking a break from classes, not by choice, but because a financial aid staff member screwed up my paperwork and I missed the deadline to get into a late-starting summer class. Iwas anger at first but then the more I thought about it, the more it sounded good. I hope I will be able to travel after I’m healed from the surgery. I’m not going anywhere when I’m on a liquid diet unless I can have Pina Coladas. 

My nephew Jacob is doing well after his bout with Mono (poor kid). He should be fine by the end of next week, but I think he has to sit out the rest of the summer in baseball. I guess we should all be thankful that he made it through that ordeal okay.

I also wanted to mention the 28+ people who lost their lives in Arkansas. I feel really sad for all the families who were lost in the floods. I can’t imagine how scary that was for the victims. My thoughts are really with everyone involved in the whole ordeal and I hope with time, the hurt will dissipate.

Be Well.

I went to see a surgeon today. It’s a surgeon who works on the lung transplant team, but also stomach surgery. Apparently, I have acid reflux which can cause chronic rejection in a transplanted person’s lungs. I have to get stomach surgery in the next three weeks. It’s a real bummer, but it only makes sense since I’ve already had issues with rejection. The real, real, real bummer is that I’ll be on a liquid diet for three weeks…yes, three weeks. I suppose a positive spin on the whole thing is that I’ll lose a little weight..I guess! I’m trying to put a positive spin on the whole thing, but I haven’t really figured out the positives yet..we’ll except the health aspect of course. I’m sure in time the surgery will happen and I’ll be on my way to my regular life again.

It is hard sometimes to keep my head above water. I think I do a pretty good job at it, but I wonder when I’m just going to give up. I’m sure when I do give up it will be in the winter in the desperation of a major snow storm not during the summer. Summer is really a wonderful time..

Creagle is doing just fine as always. Last night I had to leave the bed because the brat was snoring and kicking. I believe she was having nightmares it’s okay though, I couldn’t sleep anyway and decided to get up for a bowl of cereal!

He and Carla departed for home a day early wanting to get back and get an extra day of rest. Amazing that Dad continues to be so active and enjoys life so much. He did get to see all of his sons and managed to stay with three of us during his stay. Hope you had a Happy Birthday Pop.

Since it’s June 1st yesterday afternoon we spent opening the pool. Sophia my fav granddaughter wanted to get in so bad and finally she got her wish. Her enjoyment only lasted about 5 minutes since the water was sooo cold. But she did get in for a few minutes.

Number one g’son Alex starts football conditioning today and it goes for 4 weeks prior to the start of practice. He’s getting so big and grown up. Only 3 more years and he’ll be driving. Of course he still likes hanging out with Grams and Gramps, hopefully that’ll continue for a while.

Jacob, who loves to be creative spent the afternoon rolling quarters, I didn’t have the heart to tell him that 40 quarters made a roll not 30 but we’ll get it straightened out. He wrote us the cutest note and it will be kept and given to him when he gets married or has a child of his own.

Amanda continues to progress and get stronger everyday. actually she goes this week for a checkup getting blood work, a PFT (lung volume test) Hopefully these tests will show that she is getting better and better.

Dad

There was a break in the weather yesterday so we decided to head to the Zoo. It’s weird but I have mixed emotions about the zoo. It seems that every-time I visit I forget the way I felt the previous visit. I remember the last time I visited, I vowed not to go back because some of the animals seemed so bummed out and this visit was no different. Don’t get me wrong, the St Louis Zoo is amazing and one of the best in world, but the animals seems so sad to be stuck in their various habitats. For example, we were in the primate house watching some random monkey sleeping when a little girl about 5 decided to start knocking on the window loudly. The signs throughout the zoo say, “do not harass our animals, if you see harassment occurring please call blah, blah, blah number”. Well, the little girl continued to knocking on the window until the monkey finally got pissed and started hissing and grabbing at the window. Everyone was saying, “oh my gosh that monkey looks crazy”. I thought to myself this wild monkey is stuck in the small cage,  alone with some lil’ Bi#t@* banging on the window, of course he is not in a pleasant mood. I eventually turned to the mother of the little _____ and said, “the signs throughout this habitat say don’t harass the animals so I don’t think she should be doing that”.  The mother gave me the dirtiest look, grabbed her daughter and took off. I know she was mad and gave a dirty look every-time we met throughout the day in the zoo, but I really felt sad for that monkey.

Another sad reality about the zoo is that one day the only place we’ll be able to see some of these wild animals in the future. St Louis Zoo does seem to be promoting a ton of different organizations to help some of vulnerable or nearly extinct animals.

The giraffes are probably my most favorite animal at the zoo. Recently, a baby giraffe was born and he/ she is adorable. Even as a baby it is so graceful! As always the sea lions entertained me by just being silly. It was just after their lunch when we passed their pool. One little guy was laying on the concrete with his head underwater. Occasionally he came up for air, but went right back down. I don’t blame him, those kids on field-trips were loud and annoying.

I suppose I’m getting old. I get really annoyed by stranger’s children. Jeff and I were saying that yesterday at the zoo would be a good day to teach birth control to teens.

Mohs Surgery Due to being immune suppressed the sun is not very friendly to Amanda. She gets these squamous cell skin cancer which actually have to be cut off using an instrument that kinda works like a biscuit cutter removing layers of skin then they stitch it, cauterize and staple it.  Yes it’s as bad as it sounds. Of course I have never attended one of these surgeries and doubt very much I could. They wrap her head and scalp to a point that resembles how a mummy looks and they send her home. After a few weeks she returns they remove the staples and check for additional cancer.

Her latest PFT was better as was her most recent lung X-ray. Her and her Mom are visiting the hospital at least once a week and most weeks it’s multiple times. Her Mom accomanies her into all procedures even the ones the Doctors or Nurses try to prevent her from attending, but those who know Mom know that is not going to happen.

In reading Amanda’s most recent post I see she says she almost “kicked the bucket” I’m afraid that each of us and a lot of other people had the same thought, but everyone who knows Amanda knows she is not a quitter and continues to amaze all of us.

That’s why she’s known as AA (Amazing Amanda)

Dad