My Latest Wild Adventure

Sorry I've been incommunicado for the last week, I've had quite an adventure. My elbow was a bit swollen, red and a little sore last Friday so my doctor put me on antibiotics and told me if I developed a fever to call immediately. My sister was coming to visit on Saturday. After I got up and got it together on Saturday I took my temperature just because he said to watch it, not thinking I actually had one - well I did and it was fairly high, but I tend to run high fevers so I wasn't terribly concerned. Since it was the weekend I put in a page to whoever was on call, shortly after my sister arrived, he called me back and instructed me to go to the emergency room! After about 30 minutes of driving. And stops at several wrong buildings, we finally arrived at the ER. I was there for about 6 hours having all kinds of tests, they finally decided what he had thought when he sent me over, I needed IV antibiotics, so they started those and admitted me to the hospital. I was a bit stunned considering prior to taking my temperature I thought I was fine. Guess that's why I'm not a doctor :-). I was quite impressed with how thorough they were, they leave no stone unturned! After I was admitted, they did even more tests. The most stocking part of all this, at least for me because until all of this started I had never been in a hospital, was how little rest you get. I've always thought of libraries for sick people, a place where you whisper and be very quiet and the patients rest - they are nothing like that! They're fairly noisy but the big thing is they wake you up all night long to do tests, I was extremely fortunate, the techs who came around every few hours to check my vital signs would come and take mine early if it was only 30 minutes or so before the scheduled time because they knew I was awake because they just changed my IV or did blood work I thought that was so considerate.

I saw at least 8 different doctors during my 3 day stay, which I find amazing, everyone here is specialized but they confer with each other to make sure they are giving the patient the best possible care and with that many opinions I felt quite comfortable they were on top of anything I needed. It wasn't a bad experience at all, except it occurred during my sister's visit. They never found anything, like an infection, causing the fever, but apparently just having cancer can cause fevers, but I feel much better knowing they checked me from head to toe so that's probably all it is. I was still running fevers when I got home so I just have to take Tylenol. They seem to have gradually made their way down so when I run one it's just slightly over normal, which is great. I had been a bit tired for the past few days, from the fevers, I'm sure, but today I feel pretty much back to normal.

Here's the best thing, it snowed, we probably have about a foot in the courtyard, it's almost to the seat of the chairs! I doubt very many people up here find that exciting, but for someone from Florida, it's great, especially at the holidays! The beginning of the week we're supposed to get a lot of snow, something called the Lake Effect and it will be in the teens with 30 mile an hour winds and a windchill around zero - so I plan to be watching all the snow out my window while I stay nice and toasty! My sister got me all stocked up, she lives in upstate New York, so she knows about not being able to get out when there's a big snow storm. Apparently there is a Nor-Easter coming through her place and then here contributing to next weeks weather. Doesn't bother me, Hallmark channel is running Christmas programs almost 24/7 - what more can you ask for? I'm going to try to get some good pictures of the snow and I'll upload them - it's sooooo pretty! It's not icy this week, it's more like powder, so this is giving me time to relearn how to walk around in it! I haven't spent much time in snow in a long time, this way I'll be prepared for next week when it's icy snow!

There's something interesting I've noticed, quite a few women wear fur coats! I was surprised, of course I don't see that in Florida, but seems like I was always hearing about PETA people throwing red paint on people in fur! So either they stopped, they don't do that in Ohio or all these coats are faux fur, be interesting to know which one. As they say, inquiring minds want to know :-)! Well, I think I'm going to sign off now, I'll be back later. I've missed you guys, thanks again for all the prayers, love & support!