November 1-
Well, I managed to
keep myself out of the hospital all week! In fact, this past Tuesday and
Wednesday were the first Tuesdays and Wednesdays that I was not in the
hospital for the month of October. I still have a way to go until I am 100%,
but it does feel good to be moving in the right direction and staying out of
the hospital. My main issue is getting rid of all the fluids that are still
in my body. They really pumped me full of fluids when I had the surgery to
keep my blood pressure stable. I was weighing about 25 lbs more than I did
when I went in for the first surgery. Then to make matters worse, the
medicine they had me on to help me get rid of the fluids was not working, so
this past Wednesday they changed meds and that one kicked in. Lots of panic
runs to the bathroom! but that is fine with me. The past 3 days I have lost
7 pounds and have around 12-14 more to go until I am at the weight that I
was when I went in. I also still have the two drain tubes in, but one has
been dry for almost a week and the other is really slowing down. I have an
appointment with the surgeon Tuesday and I am sure the one will come out and
maybe the other will have stopped by then and they both can come out. I have
been told that when the drain tubes come out I will feel WAY better.
Have not really been doing much other than my regular
work duties and getting caught up on all the correspondence with the
website. Autumn is always a busy time for the site, even though I am not
doing any forecasts or other updates, I have lots of work to do that is
related to the advertisers. I did manage to get all caught up with that this
week, so now I can handle things as they come in. The snowfall forecasts
will start up next week, November 9th. The way things look this week, I will
not be missing out on much snow to forecast for. For those of you that did
not catch my announcement, my outlook for this winter is available through a
link on the forecast text page. Keep in mind I really do not put a lot of
faith into any seasonal forecast, including my own. Just not a lot of good
science to use when it comes to forecasting that far out.
Nora went back to work this week. Actually she took a new job
with a different school district and before she could start, went on a 12
week maternity leave. So this past Tuesday was her first day at the new job.
We are having her cousin come over and help me with Grace and the pups. In a
few weeks I should be strong enough to be able to take over things and be
the stay-at-home, working dad.
Yesterday was Graces first Halloween, but we really felt
she was too young to get all dressed up and go trick or treating. She would
not have been able to eat the candy and our weather was pretty typical for a
Keweenaw Halloween. Cloudy, with scattered rain and snow showers and winds
of around 20-30 mph. So no big dress up, but Nora did have a
cute get up for her to be in all day. We did not keep her in the hat all
day, but I thought it was cute and called her my
little pumpkin head. I think Millie was eyeballing that hat too, but for
a different reason (both Huck and Millie like to eat pumpkins)!
I have been getting out for some short walks this past
week. The exercise feels good and it very good for me. When the weather
permitted, Nora, Grace, the pups and I took about a half mile walk on a
quiet country road not far from the house. I pushed Grace in the stroller,
while Nora managed Huck and Millie. Today we decided to take a little walk
in the woods. Grace is now big enough that she can sit
in the Baby Bjorn looking forward. I think she really liked it because
she really loves to watch active things and walking through the woods was
great entertainment for her. It was really nice to be back
in the woods with the family. As we walked along, I reflected back to
all that has happened this month and am amazed at all that has happened and
all that my body has had to go through. I think it was a really good thing
that I was still exercising right up to the day I went in for the surgery. I
can't imagine how I would have even made it through some of the periods I
had if I had been in bad shape to begin with. I also thought about how glad
I am to be moving away from all of that mess and towards being able to enjoy
all that the beautiful Keweenaw has to offer- especially when the snow
starts to pile up! I have a new sled coming for this season and can't wait
to be floating across a freshly fallen blanket of powder.
As we walked through the woods, I was really amazed at
how bare the trees were. It is not unusual at all for them to be bare at
this time of the year, but if you look back to some of the pictures taken of
Grace outside for the previous journal, the trees still had about 75% of
their leaves on. Not anymore, we are pretty
much completely bare. I guess it is time for the snow to start flying.
Seems hard to believe that in just two weeks, opening day of deer season
will be happening. Another two weeks and one day and snowmobile season
starts. Nice things to look forward to indeed.
Well, I think that about covers it for this one. Until
next time...
Good night from the Keweenaw..
-JD-
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