2003-07-15 - 10:37 p.m.
Well, it's official now....I'm having knee surgery on Friday. This will be my 3rd surgery on that knee, my 7th surgery overall. It should be fairly simple compared to some of the other things I've had done......but still, that doesn't make me any less scared! When I was little (my first surgery I was 12), they used to tell me that I was only afraid because of the unknown.....(but now I know too much...Oy!)
Anyway, basically they're just going in to check things out. The tests I had done last week showed a lot of damage, but nothing that would cause the symptoms I've been having.....apparently this happens sometimes. They're figuring I have a loose chip of something floating around in there, and if they can find it they'll take it out....but it is a bit disconcerting that they couldn't see it on the tests.
So tomorrow, we're heading up to Seattle to hang out and be touristy again until Friday's event. Hopefully I'll have some fun things to write about between now and then.....otherwise, think as many good thoughts for me as possible!
(Oh, and by the way, this means I have to cut down my drinking to practically nothing just before the surgery.....and that's when I need it the most! So have a couple of drinks for me too. Thanks!)
comments??? (2 so far...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2003-07-14 - 10:34 p.m.
Finally, I must tell you about the mystical seagull woman. But first let me give you some background: The hotel we were staying at is built out over the water, and the bar is surrounded by floor to ceiling windows so it feels like you are just floating in the bay. On a sunny day, it's almost better than being out on a boat. And there are seagulls everywhere.
So we met up there with some friends just as the sun was going down. Not long after they arrived, a lone seagull perched at our window. And he stayed. He was there until the sun set, then he moved to the water.
All night long that bird was with us, floating just below our window.
As it turns out, our friend, Wendy, has some sort of seagull following. The same seagulls would show up everyday at her office window....then, when her office was moved around the corner, those same seagulls searched her out and found her again. Somehow, everytime her office was moved, those birds would find her!
So it seemed like no cooincidence that a lone seagull was floating outside our window the whole time....she was very excited to see one of her "gulls." But, I guess you had to have been there. I don't really know how to express how cool it was....all of us sitting there in the candle light...the seagull floating with us in the moonlight....it just seemed mystical.
comments??? (1 so far...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2003-07-13 - 9:53 p.m.
So I should tell you about the Russian Submarine. Since we were stuck in Seattle a bit longer that expected, we decided we would be as touristy as possible (even though we both grew up there.) And, as it turned out, the Russian Sub, Cobra, was parked within walking distance of our hotel, so of course we had to go! I mean, how often do you get to go on a submarine?!
I'm not usually into military type stuff...but this was really quite fascinating. To actually climb down into the thing and crawl through its tiny hatches and narrow passage ways, imagining that 78 people actually lived on the thing for 3 months at a time, was really incredible (it seemed crowed to me with just the two of us on board!) The bunks they slept on were too short for even me to stretch out on (and I'm short!). The whole thing was very compact and cramped.....and every inch of every surface was covered with dials and gauges and pipes (as pictured above). But it was very cool! After we had explored the whole thing, I sort of wanted to go back and do it again. If you ever have the chance to go on a sub, you really should do it.
Anyway, that's all for now. Tomorrow I'll give you Part 3.....The Mystical Seagull Woman. So stay tuned......Goodnight everybody!
comments??? (3 so far...) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2003-07-11 - 10:19 p.m.
It's been so darn long since I've blogged.....where to begin?!
I haven't been blogging much since I got to up Oregon because, *to save money*, I changed my phone service to "measured service". But what I didn't realize was, even though it cuts my monthly phone bill in half most of the time......when I'm here and want to blog, it costs 30 cents a minute!! Oy!
So then to complicate things, Alan and I went up to Seattle. I didn't bring my laptop since we were olny going for one night and almost every minute was planned out. I figured there would be no time to blog. Of course, we ended up spending three days there....(Oy!, again)....so my internet usage was limited to the business center at the hotel....not the best for blogging.
Anyway, I went up to see my knee doctor and ended up staying over to have an arthrogram and MRI....and of course that's always fun (not!) I've had this done before, but it's always scary. This time I actually asked for drugs because I was freaking out. And they will give you something to calm you down before a procedure like this.....but now you have to tell them the day before. (I didn't know that!.....in the old days, they'd just hook you up. So I had a few "white knuckle" moments. Oy!) Monday I will get the test results and know if I'm going to have surgery or not.
But I have sooooo many more things to blog about than that! Like the Russian Submarine that we went on (pictured above and below) and a story about the mystical seagull woman. I'm going to have to do this in parts.....so stay tuned eveybody! Part 2 tomorrow!
Of course, you know, all of this is copy right protected. None of this information may be reproduced without my permission.