Medical Update, Non-Momentous
In the last few days, I do believe the last sore spot on my side has begun to be quiet. When I am swimming, I can feel it sometimes and then I switch to an easier stroke and it settles down. But today I had a very full day of work in Loudoun and I don't feel any surgery effects, only the usual dumb knee.
My radiation series has been put off for a second time after I had a brief checkup yesterday. She said she wanted to postpone for another week because there is still more healing to do. I asked her how she knew and she said she could still see stitches in there. Oh, that's good. I am all for putting it off for another week. When I go see Dr. Singh, I ask all the questions I want to and she answers them. I especially asked more specifics about the "dilator" or the "medical sex toy" because I wondered why it is important. She had a lot of answers, and said that some people are religiously uncomfortable with the whole idea so the medical world has devised an instrument which looks very medical so everyone will feel like it is a treatment. She basically said, you may want to use your vagina someday and it would be best if it were still open, not stuck together. But I will not be expecting to bleed again -- if I do, that is a sign that we should check to see if there is cancer coming back. Good to know.
When I go to the acupuncturist, I ask no questions because I am just not sure what to ask yet. I don't really know where we are headed or how long it will take but I imagine it will not be quick. I believe we are focusing on the knee pain because that is where most of the needles end up. I have had four sessions now and don't really know if anything is different yet, only that I am more accustomed to the routine. It takes a LONG time. First the brief conversation in the office so he can check my pulse and look at my tongue and take notes, then lying on my stomach with needles in my back and shoulders for over half an hour for sure, then flipping to my back (comedic moments when I drop the paper blanket on the floor and try to reach it from the table, flapping my hands over the sides while lying in only my underwear on my back, trying to get back to a decent patient posture before he returns) and having more needles applied in my arms and hands and belly and lots in my knee. Today he attached some wires to the knee needles and turned up the juice until my foot started to bounce around, then he turned it down until I couldn't really feel anything. Luckily I had experienced that once before in Hawaii so I wasn't completely surprised. I am not sure whether lying there very quietly without any distractions at all is part of the treatment -- there is no mention or expectation that I would be allowed to listen to anything. So I think and I breathe and I probably doze. And suddenly 90 minutes has passed. Then I get up and drive to Loudoun and work all day.
Some people say that they are completely exhausted and drained at the end of an acupuncture session. So far this has not been my experience. I feel like I am getting a lot of rest while I lie there.
The high point of the day was the first potluck lunch of the season in Loudoun. Chip and Susan and grandson Julian came and we celebrated Susan's 78th birthday (with a chocolate cake). Susan is the definition of youthful. Her enthusiasm and bounce and passion have not waned. She is curious about everything, listens with a huge wow, and feels grateful about every moment. She was one of three devoted babysitters when our kids were small (Grandma and Maria being the other two), before her grandchildren started to arrive, and she made solid connections with all three kids, teaching them to read, watching them with awe, listening with attention. Now she has six grandchildren of her own to visit.
21 month old Shaia really wishes we could understand her. She knows what she is trying to say and the rest of us are just slow. She told her mama today that she and I used the tractor to water (tractor water). She was completely right. We were pulling a machine with a big tank of water, poking holes and leaving water for the plants to come. She knew just what we were doing. There are 20 year olds who could have watched that operation and not had the words to describe the task. Shaia is always a high point in the day.
The low point of the day was getting on our biggest tractor and discovering that for some reason the PTO is not working. This is such a disappointment. We sent that tractor to the specialist twice last year, sparing no expense, and now it is once again broken at the most critical time of year. It was working fine a week ago. It makes us feel so powerless, having our spading tractor down. In fact, both spading tractors are down at the moment, one on each farm. Luckily we are a couple of weeks ahead of schedule on spading, but we can eat that up pretty fast.
We are filling in the quilt, one patch at a time. By now lettuce, kohlrabi, cabbage, beets, chard, radishes and peas are in the field. And one sacrificial row of squash, just in case. Inside the tunnels we just planted the very first beautiful tomatoes. So far this spring has been so much more friendly than last year, arriving a few weeks earlier and with so much less water and drama.
Low drama is the goal. That is the path we are on. And hoping to be like Susan when we are 78.
My radiation series has been put off for a second time after I had a brief checkup yesterday. She said she wanted to postpone for another week because there is still more healing to do. I asked her how she knew and she said she could still see stitches in there. Oh, that's good. I am all for putting it off for another week. When I go see Dr. Singh, I ask all the questions I want to and she answers them. I especially asked more specifics about the "dilator" or the "medical sex toy" because I wondered why it is important. She had a lot of answers, and said that some people are religiously uncomfortable with the whole idea so the medical world has devised an instrument which looks very medical so everyone will feel like it is a treatment. She basically said, you may want to use your vagina someday and it would be best if it were still open, not stuck together. But I will not be expecting to bleed again -- if I do, that is a sign that we should check to see if there is cancer coming back. Good to know.
When I go to the acupuncturist, I ask no questions because I am just not sure what to ask yet. I don't really know where we are headed or how long it will take but I imagine it will not be quick. I believe we are focusing on the knee pain because that is where most of the needles end up. I have had four sessions now and don't really know if anything is different yet, only that I am more accustomed to the routine. It takes a LONG time. First the brief conversation in the office so he can check my pulse and look at my tongue and take notes, then lying on my stomach with needles in my back and shoulders for over half an hour for sure, then flipping to my back (comedic moments when I drop the paper blanket on the floor and try to reach it from the table, flapping my hands over the sides while lying in only my underwear on my back, trying to get back to a decent patient posture before he returns) and having more needles applied in my arms and hands and belly and lots in my knee. Today he attached some wires to the knee needles and turned up the juice until my foot started to bounce around, then he turned it down until I couldn't really feel anything. Luckily I had experienced that once before in Hawaii so I wasn't completely surprised. I am not sure whether lying there very quietly without any distractions at all is part of the treatment -- there is no mention or expectation that I would be allowed to listen to anything. So I think and I breathe and I probably doze. And suddenly 90 minutes has passed. Then I get up and drive to Loudoun and work all day.
Some people say that they are completely exhausted and drained at the end of an acupuncture session. So far this has not been my experience. I feel like I am getting a lot of rest while I lie there.
The high point of the day was the first potluck lunch of the season in Loudoun. Chip and Susan and grandson Julian came and we celebrated Susan's 78th birthday (with a chocolate cake). Susan is the definition of youthful. Her enthusiasm and bounce and passion have not waned. She is curious about everything, listens with a huge wow, and feels grateful about every moment. She was one of three devoted babysitters when our kids were small (Grandma and Maria being the other two), before her grandchildren started to arrive, and she made solid connections with all three kids, teaching them to read, watching them with awe, listening with attention. Now she has six grandchildren of her own to visit.
21 month old Shaia really wishes we could understand her. She knows what she is trying to say and the rest of us are just slow. She told her mama today that she and I used the tractor to water (tractor water). She was completely right. We were pulling a machine with a big tank of water, poking holes and leaving water for the plants to come. She knew just what we were doing. There are 20 year olds who could have watched that operation and not had the words to describe the task. Shaia is always a high point in the day.
The low point of the day was getting on our biggest tractor and discovering that for some reason the PTO is not working. This is such a disappointment. We sent that tractor to the specialist twice last year, sparing no expense, and now it is once again broken at the most critical time of year. It was working fine a week ago. It makes us feel so powerless, having our spading tractor down. In fact, both spading tractors are down at the moment, one on each farm. Luckily we are a couple of weeks ahead of schedule on spading, but we can eat that up pretty fast.
We are filling in the quilt, one patch at a time. By now lettuce, kohlrabi, cabbage, beets, chard, radishes and peas are in the field. And one sacrificial row of squash, just in case. Inside the tunnels we just planted the very first beautiful tomatoes. So far this spring has been so much more friendly than last year, arriving a few weeks earlier and with so much less water and drama.
Low drama is the goal. That is the path we are on. And hoping to be like Susan when we are 78.
Glad to hear that the farming is doing well and that you are doing so well. Juggling it all and still able to observe the Wonder of the people around you! Incredible! Hugs!
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