Time out #2

Time out #2

Not my most glamorous photo- scar plus drain.

So the time has finally come to deal with  the nodule on my parotid gland which if you have read my previous blogs, you will know that I found out about this in mid January and after a lot of visits to various doctors ,I will be having the operation to remove the nodule and even the parotid gland as well. I might have to have a "skin flap" as well I am told but they won't know that until  Dr D. goes in and has a looksie.

The operation procedure is very similar to the thyroid operation and is only considered day surgery but it is done in a fully equipped operating room at one of the major hospitals , Baylor Fort Worth so I have good care. Also because I am now familiar with the procedure at the hospital, it isn't so scary although I must say I shall be very happy not to have to do any more of these kind of experiences.

The thyroid had healed up very nicely in just under a month and there was not much pain from the after effects. I am still waiting to see if I will need medication to correct any deficiencies in my hormones or enzymes but that has to wait until I can track down a doctor who will see Medicare patients ! So far I fee l fine.

UPDATED 3 days later:
So the operation went well. I am now minus a parotid gland but at the present time have a  4inch scar that goes from right in front of the ear to down my neck. I still have a drain bottle and tube attached so fluid won't collect inside the opening. The whole gland was taken out , no cancer was found and I'm patched up as good as new or I will be when everything heals up.
 
Lots of waiting at the hospital but we were well taken care of and we understand with these surgeries the scheduling gets a little bit erratic as who knows what the surgeon may find and have to deal with . Very little pain now and what I have is mostly from the drain tube and the way it pulls at the skin. I also felt pretty groggy as I expelled the medications they used  for the surgery.from my body.

Mike has been an excellent nurse , keeper of the pills,  reminder of office visits and things I can and cannot do and driver. I couldn't have managed without him.
I'm glad it's over and we can get back to regular life again.  

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

A poster of the movie

While I was stuck indoors regaining my strength after my first operation , I did a lot of reading not only on the computer but also from books. On my tablet I found "the Life of Pi".
 Now I was probably the only person who hadn't seen the technically wonderful version of this movie  telling the story of the book. I knew the movie had received some kind of Academy award and who could have missed the trailers that appeared on TV. I knew that there was an Indian boy who appeared to be on a boat with a very handsome and large tiger and other animals appeared as well.
I thought from the trailers that this was akin to a Disney movie and as such it probably was very good for the right audience ( children) but not interesting for me.
So when I picked up the book and started to read. I was in for a good surprise. It is a very well written book with so much information  and also imagination that it is a most intriguing story to read. It really held my interest.

Yann Martel, the author. obviously did a great deal of research into animal behavior and I found out all kinds of things about animals that I had not know before. Also I was intrigued with the way the 3 major religions came into the story in such a shared way.

It has a good plot line. You hope Pi is going to make it to Canada although the alternate story told to the insurance company leaves you wondering.

A very different kind of book to read.
I must try and see the movie.

Where Have all the Flowers gone??

Where Have all the Flowers gone??

Photo by MIke

I think everyone will remember what a super year it was last year for my flower garden or shall I say the actual flowers I actually got to grow in our yard. If you read any of my plogs from last year they are full of flower stories.

Unfortunately this year 2014 has been very different. We had a somewhat mild early winter with little rain falling. Great all those people from up North think. So did we, but then we had a few week later, on around March some really late frosts and still little rain so a lot of the seeds that had been hibernating in the ground decided they were going to sleep in this year and while they were at it decided that maybe they'd skip growing at all this year.

I sure hope this isn't a sign on a changing climate. It's hard enough to get anything to grow in our part of Texas.

In 2013 we had outstanding irises. I can't take much credit for these as most were in the yard when we moved in. I had thinned a few patches out and also replanted some in new places but no fertilizer or extra topsoil just almost solid neglect on my part. We had all kinds and all colors.

Photo by Shirley.

This year to say it is disappointing would be  an understatement. A few here and there . That's all we are getting. Still each iris is lovely in it's own beauty and I suppose that's what is important as this photo MIke took proves.

I still like irises but not as much as larkspur.
Those are coming along.

Carrot cake for Easter

Easter Lunch

Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

We try to get to see as much of the family as we can on high days and holidays. These days it is pretty hard to get everyone together. Everyone has such busy lives. Add to that the younger ones have so much more energy than us slightly older folks but we always enjoy the times when we get together and catch up on the latest news.

On Birthday celebrations we usually go to a restaurant but on holiday times like Easter or Memorial day we all get together at the chosen house and everyone brings items to share for lunch.

The gathering this year was at Trevor and Laura’s house and I lost count of the people that came because beside our immediate family, the Burton family joined us plus a friend or two.

I do know that there were 7 large dogs that joined in the festivities and that isn’t counting our 2  dogs. They do not come to these gatherings mainly because like us , they are old and can be grumpy around pups. The pups have a ball and spend their time rushing around and having a glorious time. It was a bit like sitting outside at the dog park.

The food as expected was just wonderful- so many different things to try and Trevor cooked up a great BBQ, and the Burtons bought the first corn of the season .

I made a carrot cake with cream icing. I didn’t realize Laura had bought one as well( sorry Laura) but it didn’t matter as by the time we all got to dessert we were all so full it was the cakes that would probably get eaten later in the week.

I had been wanting to make this cake for a while as I knew it would be big and we needed people to share it with as both Mike and I love carrot cake but this would have been just  too much for two people.

It came out really well.

Happy Easter to all.

Hot Cross Buns

Hot Cross Buns

Just  imagine the crosses please.

Every year for a good many years I try to make hot cross buns and every year there is just something not quite right about them.

We don't as a family do much to celebrate Easter. In England when we grew up it was considered mostly a religious holiday and commercialism hadn't quite crept in as it has done on so many other holidays. We attended special church services and events ; there were a few items that came in the shops such as chocolate eggs, an extremely expensive and rare treat at that time and of course. on Good Friday, hot cross buns. We all knew the rhyme,

Hot cross Buns,

Hot cross Buns,

1 a penny, 2 a penny,

Hot cross buns,

If you have no daughter ,

Give them to your sons,

1 a penny, 2 a penny,

Hot cross buns.

So I guess I try to keep the tradition going. I have tried all kinds of recipes. Some from England. Some from the USA. Some have been terrible – a total disaster. Some have been as huge as dinner plates,- some have been like rocks,- some have been almost right but not quite so I'll keep trying I expect.

Yes I could go to the local English shop and buy some . They even sell them here in Texas now. But you know I think the real reason I like to cook them is the smell while they are cooking. It is a smell that evokes memories of past years and those lovely buns, hot and streaming with butter on a Good Friday morning.

One of the simple pleasures of life.

This year was no different. I followed a real English recipe. I had to convert all the metric measurements to fit my cups and ounces and even to change them a bit . I don't think you can get caster sugar here and even the regular sugar is different in a slight way. I put the mix in the bread machine to form the dough and when it was 3/4^th the way through, horror of horrors, I looked in the machine and it was a thick puddle of liquid not a solid mass of dough. I quickly added a cup more flour and prayed. At the end of the dough cycle, the mass that came out was, shall we say, rather fluid ,so I added more flour and kneeded the whole thing in my very sticky hands until it adhered together. I formed the buns , let the whole thing rise , cooked them and got “okay” buns just not RIGHT buns.

 You will also notice , NO crosses. That's because you are supposed to put icing crosses on after they cool off but then they wouldn't be HOT would they and if you heat them, the icing would melt.

So I prefer “hot” rather than “cross”.

But they taste fine especially with a big pat of butter.

A Lovely Surprise

A Lovely Surprise

Bouquet no 1

I'm not one much for surprises especially the one's where friends think you will love a special event or present and then all you are feel is really embarrassed. I've had a few of those in my life. Best to be forgotten.

The other day I had a really nice surprise and one I really appreciated. A lovely box was delivered to our house and even before I had opened it I could tell it was probably flowers of some kind.

Yes I had been ill and maybe that's why someone was sending me flowers.

But who could be sending me flowers? A few names flashed through my brain. I had already talked with many of the friends and they had already wished me well.

I ripped open the box and saw just a lovely mass of multicolored spring blooms.

Just wonderful!

These are the irises who will open up in a few days.

However it was the card that gave me the surprise.The card read “To Shirley & Mike. Thinking of you, love Joan and Ron”.

 It was from my old college roommate Joan. It was she who had sent the flowers and certainly brightened our day.

 Joan and I roomed together throughout college in England with all the teen delights and sorrows that go along with that lifetime in the 60s .We had lots of fun , shared life and got on very well. We both married and even though we moved away from each other, we kept in touch, although it is was hard to do when you live so far apart. Understandably life trends to crowd friends out with present day happenings.

Joan and I have kept in touch with phone calls and the occasional email and when I called her back to thank her for the wonderful flowers, it was just like being back from a weekend away from college, with Joan being her upbeat self and her telling me all her latest news. I felt like I was 19 again which is a very pleasant way to feel.

So thanks Joan for the wonderful flowers. Mike and I both appreciate them but even more we treasure your friendship.

Thank you.

Purple takes the First Prize!

Purple takes the First prize!

If you remember seeing any of my blogs from last year you will remember that the iris es in my garden were truly spectacular. Much better than any other year since we have lived here.

This year I thought they would not be good and in fact all the plants in mid March looked just horrible and who can blame them when we had a winter that had very little rain or moisture falling and we had freezes on an almost constant basis.

 Since April the weather has changed . It is now getting to about 80 degrees most of the time and the sun has returned . We have had a few cloudy days and even a pretty heavy rainfall.Good growing weather!

 As I walked the other morning I glanced at the irises and saw to my surprise that at least some of them were forming buds and the leaves had gone a very healthy green color again. Then this morning I saw the purple iris had bloomed so that one has been given the First bloom of the season award!!

I shall make a plaque for it.

I just love irises.

Computers -always problems

Computers -always problems

Photo to promote anti stress

Problem No 2 setting up a new computer.

My old ancient lap top which in true sense of the word, was really a desk top as I never moved it from the table where it sat. I took it once when I went traveling and found it just too heavy to cart around. It has had a good life but like me , some of the parts are now unreliable or just don't work. It is very difficult typing anything on a keyboard that will miss out “S” some of the time. I am sure lots of people got an email from hirley in the last few months. Even more so. poor old lap top liked to go to sleep and didn't want to wake up, also sometimes a bit like me. If I turned it off , just to get it up and going again involved a lot of wiggling the lid back and forth and pressing all kinds of keys to wake it.

So eventually I gave in and Just a few days before my thyroid operation we went out and bought a new Dell”all in one” computer. I can't think why they call it that as everything on it is separate, the monitor, mouse and key board. We went to browse but ended up buying a computer which if very fast , the screen is huge, almost bigger than my old TV and the keyboard is a wireless key board. I suppose if I wanted to ( and could figure it out) I could sit across the room and type. But of course unless I had first class eyes I wouldn't be able to see the screen then to know what I was typing.

Would I have chosen some of these things? No. It came as a package with a hefty discount so it seems like a good buy and I am sure it is.

The problem came with getting it all set up. It is a combined touch and mouse screen etc so first I had to get used to all the waving of fingers across the board and figuring our where things kept disappearing to.The other big problem was it was a Windows 8 which led to all kinds of problems for a few days. Plus a lot of choice words on my part directed at the new toy.

Then just as I think I had most stuff set up what happens -it automatically downloaded 8.1, changed all my passwords and settings and I had to do the whole learning thing again.

I guess the good point is it kept me sitting down while I recovered from the surgery and kept my mind of other things .

I hate to say this but I still have old faithful lap top sitting on the same desk because even now I find I have to use it when I can't find something or things just don't work on this new Dell.

This too will pass.

Time Out

Baylor hospital

Time Out is what I have been taking for the past two weeks to deal with a few problems that had to be attended to .
Problem no 1
As many of my blog readers know from either me chatting with them or otherwise,  I developed a small "lump" under my ear lobe shortly after Christmas. I know that isn't right.  My family doctor put the fear of God into me by insisting that I go the same day to get a CT scan done to find out just what it was. The scan revealed a nodule ( fancy word for lump) on the parotid gland. No, I didn't know I had one of those and the times I had to tell people not carotid or parrot gland , I guess lots of other people don't know about parotid glands either. Just so you know, it's a gland under the jawbone and stretches into the cheek and under the ear.It helps make saliva inside your mouth .
After discussion with the ear , nose and throat surgeon, Dr D.( a very tall , handsome doctor,who easy could appear in one of the TV series)  it was decided that the nodule had to be removed as these often turn cancerous especially in older people.
Did you know I was older??I really have never thought that but NOW I do.

The biopsy on the nodule hadn't shown signs of cancer but best to be on the safe side, get it out before it got larger or decided to mutate into cancer.
"Oh yes and by the way. we also found a nodule on your right thyroid as well, which also is seeming non cancerous but just in case, we better take that out as well." Just as well the whole body wasn't scanned. All sorts of odd nodules etc might have been found that had to be taken out !!
 That I wasn't so sure about but after a lot of reading on my part and especially as this doctor is so highly recommended by everyone you talk with and because it would only be day surgery, I agreed I would go for the 2 surgeries.
I was nervous about having this done. I am one of those rare people who at 76 years old have never had a surgery done and never even been in hospital .I even had both of my babies at home; those were the good old days !!!
So last week I went into the Baylor hospital in Fort Worth and had my right thyroid complete with the nodule taken out.The hospital staff were excellent, very well coordinated and organized and in  no time at all I was on my way home  minus my right thyroid and nodule. This was followed by a painful couple of days with a drain tube from the very small incision but helped with the aid of some very potent pain killers which made me very woozy. I had the best of nurses , Mike, who made sure I did what I was supposed to do, took the right medicines,cooked great  nourishing meals and kept me from overdoing anything.
So now tomorrow I go back to the doctor to make sure problem no 1 is fixed.
Problem no 2 the removal of the parotid gland will be done at the end of this month so that gives me a good 2 weeks to worry some more....
but I can have a glass of sherry at least during the the first week!