Home Again

Vern is home from the hospital. We should know more about what the next step is after a few days when he has more tests and sees the doctor. We know there will be at least one more surgery in the next few weeks and some other issues to deal with in the future, but for now, we hope this is the beginning of the end of this particular problem and that he will be on his feet, back to work, and in full possession of his "happy" in the near future.


Once again, thank you to the same people as usual. Your support is so very much appreciated.


I could say more, but at the moment, I'm just happy to have my husband home and on what we hope is finally the road to recovery.

Ninety

Ninety.

Ninety degrees - the temperature for the past couple of days and the next several days. Too freaking hot for June if you ask me.

Ninety percent - the percent of stone that the doctor thinks he was able to remove today.

The surgery was several hours long, and as of this moment, I haven't gotten to see Vern since the surgery went so long and he was in recovery pretty late into the evening. However, I have spoken to him (if you could call it that - he was pretty drugged up and I doubt he'll remember) and also to the doctor. Vern will still be in the hospital for another day or two at least.

We won't know for sure what the status is until another CT scan is done of his kidney next week, but the doctor felt sure that the largest portion of the stone has been removed and that only a handful of stone remains. He said it was like nothing he has ever seen before.

At this point (at least the doctor's first impression before he sees the CT scan), this will probably end the attempts to remove the stone. He felt that Vern has been through enough (I believe he used the phrase that poor guy several times). There may be an effort to remove the remaining stone through less invasive measures later or he may just monitor it for a while. He's still going to need at least one more surgery to remove all of the hardware and tubes they had to leave in for safety reasons.

There are a few complications we are going to have to deal with, but since I don't know if Vern has been advised of those yet (and for sure he wasn't fully conscious if he was), I'll save those for another day.

But for now, we're going to call this one good news for a change.


Except, you know, for the part about the unending 90 degree days. That part sucks.

Round and Round We Go

Lately our life has been like riding a merry go round. To nowhere. Just a repeat of the same things over and over again.

It was a week of doctor visits, trips to the hospital, blood tests, and the ever increasing list of daily drugs.

Today we return to the hospital for yet another surgery. The surgery that they were actually supposed to complete on March 21. The surgery they were supposed to complete five surgeries ago.

But, here we are two and a half months later and ready to start the sixth surgery to remove what should have been, under normal circumstances, a simple procedure.

But it hasn't been. It has stumped even the best specialist in town. It has held up against the repeated efforts of the special radiologist called in to assist. It hasn't shattered under shock wave and it hasn't budged no matter how much pushing, poking, and prodding.

However, today is a new day. The safety wire is finally in place and hopefully has been secure for the past two weeks. Today is the day that they will finally start to remove the stone piece by piece.

At best, we are hoping for removal of 60% of the stone today. I don't even want to think about what the "at worst" might be. To try to remove any more than that could result in tearing Vern's kidney, which would be a far worse complication than anything so far so they have to proceed slowly and carefully.

Vern will be staying in the hospital for a few days and this is only the first of a series of surgeries to remove this stone.

But for now, we'll just hope that they can get this party started so that we can get off this merry go round. We are both sick of it.

Flat Stanley - The Final Chapter

Flat Stanley has arrived home safely. We received this photo and letter from our niece Scout today. (That's the Flat Stanley book I made for her class project.)

Dear Aunt Carla and Uncle Vern,
Thank you for helping me with my Flat Stanley assignmint. I'm going to show it to my class next year. I can't wait to come to where you live to see all of the things that Flat Stanley got to see. We went for a walk today and we saw a baby ratelsnake when we were driving back to our house. I hope you are feeling better Uncle Vern. I miss you guys so much and Linkon and Jakson to. I love you,

Scout

Now that's what I call a happy ending.

Day 1 of the Urge to Purge

How did I do today?



Vern looked shocked when I told him that we were going to be 300 items lighter by the end of the month. Even when I broke it down into 10 items per day, he still doubted that I could do it. (Little does he know that when I run out of "my" stuff, I'm heading over to "his" stuff.)





Purge:


3 books that I'm sending to Powells for credit on future purchase of books (they pay postage too!)

6 books for the garage sale

6 craft items for the garage sale

1 household item for the garage sale

4 game CDs for the garage sale

6 tubes of toothpaste for the food pantry box



26 items purged 5/1/08



26 total items purged for month of June


I'm ahead of the game!

Conserve:

This was a real eye opener for me today. The predictions aren't always right, so I definitely learned that I need to check out the actual cost if possible before I start something like laundry or the dishwasher. I was headed to do laundry around 9 p.m. when I noticed that the rates went over 15 cents per KWH. All I had to do was wait an hour and they dropped back down to about 3 cents per KWH. So simple to save a little money, but I just never thought to log in and check the actual rates.

Some other things I did to conserve today:

• Washed all laundry in cold water except towels and bedding.


• Stopped laundry when KWH cost went over 7.5 cents.


• Ran dishwasher at off peak time.


• Refused the plastic bag at the store and used my reusable bag instead.

As I said yesterday, reusable bags aren't very popular here in rural eastern Illinois. Even though the store actually sells reusable bags, I doubt that many people use them. The cashier acted like she didn't know what to do when I told her that I would use my own bag for the 6 items I purchased. She actually put them into the plastic bag and looked like she was going to hand it to me to put inside my bag.

I won't kill this blog with the boring details every day, but I will try to give an update from time to time on my purging totals and any major accomplishments in the conservation area.

Off to find more junk I don't need.

Pimp My Ride

Just a quick update on Vern since I know some people are wondering how he's coming along.

He's feeling better than he did a few days ago when he came home from the hospital, but not really good enough to get out of the house. We've managed to get him in the car and take him out for dinner a couple of times, but other than that, he hasn't been out and about. He just can't walk around very much without a lot of pain.

That's all going to change today though. He's leaving this house today if I have to pimp a wheelchair with four wheel drive and slap an International Scout sticker on it.

Ch Ch Ch Changes

It's June 1st and it's time for changes around here.

Life in the past couple of months has been spinning out of control. There hasn't been any sort of routine - - - and anyone who knows me knows that I thrive on routine. I am not a fly by the seat of your pants kind of girl.

Since Vern is going to be out of commission for any sort of projects or work around the house, I figure that now is as good of a time as any to start to get a little bit of routine back into our lives. We definitely need it.

I'm going to focus on a couple of areas this month.

1. Purging.


2. Conserving.

Purging

Since we moved to this more modest much smaller ungodly tiny house almost five years ago, we've been slowly reducing the amount of "stuff" that we have. Let's face it, it's easy to forget how much you have when you live in a 4,000 square foot house, but not so easy when your living space is reduced down to 1,600 square feet. We've had several garage sales and given hundreds of boxes to charity.

However, it's still not enough. I've posted a few times before about purging efforts, but I'm stepping it up a notch in June. I'm vowing to get rid of 300 things this month.

The rules are simple:

• Ten items per day, every day.


• Does not include true trash; only items to go in the garage sale (and won't come back into the house) or charity.

See? Simple. Ten a day is nothing. I can do that with my eyes closed.

Conserve

This one is actually a little harder for me. We've made some efforts to be more green around here and conserve but it's been sort of a half-assed effort. To make it a little more defined, I'm going to divide it into a few categories.

1. Resources - We've been part of a program every summer for the past four years that allows our power company to cycle our air conditioning off and on during high peak times. We get $10 per month off of our bill during the four summer months and honestly, we've noticed no difference in cooling our house. We'll definitely continue with that program.

Last year we also signed up for an experimental program where instead of paying a flat rate for each KWH for our electricity, we pay a "real time" rate. The power company purchases power on an hourly basis and the rates change dramatically over the day, with the lowest rates being early in the morning and late at night. It has actually saved us several hundred dollars over what it would have been on the flat rate program, but we haven't really made much of an effort.

This month, I'm planning on printing out the daily rate prediction and tailoring our usage as much as possible around those rates.

Here's an example of today's predicted rates for the entire day and the actual rates per hour (in red). The flat rate - if we were on that plan - is 7.5 cents per KWH, so you can see that with a little creative juggling, it's not hard to stay below that for most of the day. (It gets a little harder as the summer goes on.)

We're also purchasing our utility gas from a utility company that has guaranteed lower rates than our normal provider for the first year and historically has had lower rates anyway.

Gasoline prices have affected us as much as anyone. We live rurally, so a trip in to the closest grocery store, or even gas station, is 40 miles round trip. That really adds up if you make a trip every day or occasionally more than once a day. Vern also works 120 miles round trip from our house, although that's one positive of him being on sick leave - no trips to work for the past couple of months.

We're going to make an effort to combine our trips into town and purchase gas where we can get a discount. Our jeeps aren't exactly fuel efficient, but they are paid for and we do need the four wheel drive and the space, so we won't be trading them in anytime soon.

2. Going green at the grocery and beyond - I've tried to use reusable bags at the grocery for the past few months, but like all of our other green efforts, it's been sort of hit or miss. I'm definitely going to make a huge effort to ONLY use reusable bags not only at the grocery but also at all other stores. I'm going to make a few more bags (from fabrics I already have - have to recycle and reuse where I can!) and carry them with us all the time. Reusable bags aren't big around here in rural Illinois, but I'm a leader not a follower, so I'm going to make my own push at using them even if the cashiers and baggers look at me like I'm some crazy lady.

3. Money - I plan to get back into playing the Grocery Game. If you don't know what that is, here's an information page that I prepared a couple of years ago explaining it. http://www.playthegrocerygame.blogspot.com/.

It does take some work, but it's totally worth the effort for us. I've learned over the years what we do and don't use, so I don't stock up on items that we will never use. What's the point of having 100 boxes of Hamburger Helper if you don't eat it? But the amount we have saved on food and cleaning items we do use has been huge in the past, so as grocery prices are rising, I need to rededicate myself to making the most of our grocery budget.

So, there you have it. My plan for June. Want to join me?

Here at Uno Acres, when there is grilling to be done, it's a job for the man of the house.

On Memorial Day, we grilled steaks and ate outside on our deck. It was a beautiful day, and it was nice to share one of our first meals on the deck with Jesse since he worked so hard to help us build the deck.

In honor of the master chef here at Uno Acres, I am sharing our special marinade for steaks.

Uno Acres Steak Marinade
Teriyaki sauce
Garlic
Brown Sugar (sometimes I substitute fresh honey)
Cilantro (sometimes I use this and sometimes I don't, so add it if you like)

Directions:Mix together and marinate meat for at least one hour.

Yes, it's really just that easy to turn your steaks into something memorable without all the artificial ingredients that bottled marinade contains.

Oh, and it tastes even better when someone else does the cooking.

Bye Bye Birdies

Yes, I'm almost sad to report that our little hobgoblin robins have flown the coop.

I got up early on Wednesday morning and went outside for a quick check on them. I was lucky enough to find just one little hobgoblin left in the nest, and he was perched on the edge ready to leave. As soon as he saw me, he hunkered back down.



Seconds after I snapped that photo, he popped up, jumped down, and hopped away.

He's been back to visit us a few times though, and we have seen all three baby robins at one time so we know they all made it out of the nest and are flying, even if it is a little unsteady.

Bye Bye Birdies. See you next year.

Except please don't build your nest right on our deck and outside the back door. It was sort of inconvenient.

Who Says Old Dogs Can't Learn New Tricks?

Oh yeah, we know how to work the Internets.

Holy Hole

(Warning: This post does contain a photo involving a surgical incision. It is fairly mild on the scale of surgical photos, but just issuing a warning if you are the squeamish type and don't want to see it. I will post it last in the post and space down a little so that it doesn't catch anyone unexpectedly.)

Note: The opinions expressed below are solely those of the author. Her husband has no comment because he is a way nicer person than she is. Don't take it up with him if you feel guilty or want to defend yourself. Take it up with me. I dare you. This is MY opinion, stated on MY blog. You can agree, disagree, or make all the excuses you want, but it doesn't change the hurt that I feel over the situation.

I've waited to post the results of Vern's surgery for a couple of days, hoping that the family would call to see how he came through, but since they haven't called after this surgery or any of his other surgeries, I will share it with the family and friends who have expressed an interest in knowing. I'm sure something has come up with the rest of the family that they couldn't call to check on him - someone probably had a hangnail or something urgent like that and they just haven't been able to check in with him since this all began.

Oh, did that sound bitchy? Sorry. Good. It's not like we're asking them to come and finish our house or loan us money, but a little bit of moral support would be nice from the people you are supposed to be closest to.

There, now that I have that off my chest, on to the important stuff.

We finally had good news with this surgery. Finally. The one goal, the ONLY goal, of this surgery was to finally get the safety wire into his kidney, around the stone, and down into the ureter so that when they start to break the stone into large pieces they won't go into his ureter and damage it. The doctor just didn't feel like he could safely perform the surgery without it. For those that are keeping track, this was the fifth surgery and third attempt at getting this wire inserted. They just weren't able to do it the conventional way and had to finally resort to a series of larger tubes so that the doctor could work with a scope rather than with an x-ray.

Here's an x-ray that was taken during the surgery.

The larger tube is the nephrostomy tube that drains into an external bag from his left kidney. He's had that pretty much since this all started in March.

The smaller tube/wire is the safety wire that they have had so much trouble getting inserted because of the massive size of his stone. The stone is basically a cast of the inside of his kidney and fills all of the lobes and crevices too.

The circle shows you not only the main stone but also all of the smaller, more hidden stones. The doctor hopes to get about 60% of the large stone out with the next surgery (June 6) and then get the remainder out in one or two more surgeries a few weeks later. They have to proceed slowly with this so that they don't tear the kidney.

In the meantime, he's still off work (since mid-March) and will continue to be for a couple more months at least. He's not able to do anything, especially now since they have finally gotten the safety wire in place. He also isn't physically able to do anything that involves much more than breathing in and breathing out because of the wires, tubes, and bags. He's going to apply for disability coverage from work because his leave is almost over but he is not able to return to work for a while longer.

This has been much more of an ordeal than we ever imagined. It's getting harder and harder to cope physically and emotionally with all of the "side effects" - the pain, the repeated surgeries, and the lack of income. We do appreciate those family members (you know who you are) and friends (you also know who you are) that have given us such moral support during all of this. It will be over at some point, and we will remember the kindnesses and support offered during this time.

And finally, the photo that some of you scrolled right to the bottom to see (you sickos!), I had to change Vern's dressings on his surgery site so I snapped a photo so that he could see what was going on. The larger blue tube drains his kidney into an external bag. The smaller, light blue tube is the safety wire that runs through his kidney and down into the ureter. The black stitches are an attempt to hold it all into place so that we don't have to start all over again. The remaining tape is just securing it all to his leg so that it doesn't dangle - because nobody likes a dangle.

MISSING. Reward Offered.

We're off to the hospital again today for what is the 6th? 7th? 100th? attempt at this stone.

I've known Vern for almost 30 years, and I never thought I would hear him say what he said last night.

"I think I'm losing my happy."

Anyone who knows him knows one thing about him - he's terminally happy. He's so positive and happy that sometimes you want to punch him. But as far as I know, he has never even come close to losing his "happy."

Until now.

I'm sure it's not permanently lost. In fact, I'm pretty sure I know where it is hiding. It's right behind some huge, nasty kidney stone.

So we're off to the hospital again to have yet more tubes and more scopes and more surgery so that he can finally get his happy back.

Let's Play "One of These Things Is Not Like The Other"

Can you spot the intruder?




Someone apparently decided that this was the line for free meals.


And he wasn't happy about being evicted.


Not. Happy. At. All.

It's Probably Not a Good Sign

when your doctor tells you that you have a black cloud hanging over you, is it?

Unfortunately, that's exactly what Vern's doctor told him about this whole kidney boulder situation. The stone is not only so large that his kidney has expanded around it, but it is also seriously impacted in his kidney. They just cannot seem to get a large enough access into the kidney without risk of other serious complications.

He's had a couple more procedures and is getting a series of larger nephrostomy tubes put into his kidney so that the doctor can eventually get a scope into his kidney and use that to manipulate his tools to remove the stone in large pieces. He's so full of drains, tubes, and holes that he looks like a salt shaker.

He's scheduled for more surgery next week and then again following week and will be an inpatient at least part of that time. At this point, I'm not sure whether to run a "Help Wanted" sign for the doctor or a "Most Wanted" sign for the stone.

Hobgoblin Goblers

They are growing so much every day.

A Fond Farewell to Flat Stanley

Our time has come to send Flat Stanley back to his class so that he can be there for the end of the year.

Here are a few more photos from Flat Stanley's stay with us.

We enjoyed having him and even learned a few things ourselves about the area we live in. It's funny how you can live in an area and yet not enjoy the unique things about that area.

Birds of a Feather

Look how the little hobgoblins have grown! Their eyes are open now and they are getting their wing feathers.



Meanwhile, we had some more feathered friends visit us.




And then away they went.




. . . and back down into the creek.


And what, you ask, were my Labrador Retrievers doing while all of these birds were invading our yard?


Good thing we don't hunt with them. One is too lazy to care and the other one would rather play with sticks.

There Goes the Neighborhood

Our good friend Jesse, who helped build our deck last fall, has arrived with all of his worldly possessions. He's moving to Indiana, but he is stopping at our place for a while before he makes the move.

Vern is excited to have a friend to play with while he's off, the dogs are excited to have someone who never tires of throwing the ball, and I'm excited that I may not have to mow the grass while Vern is trying to get through his surgeries.

It's always good to see an old friend, but it's even better to know they will be there to help out when you really need them.

I'm filing this one under "Family" because sometimes "friend" just doesn't cover it all.

Curb Appeal

We spent most of the weekend working on projects outside since the weather was sunny and warm (but not too warm). I may have mentioned . . . I'm not a big fan of outside. Or dirt. And unfortunately, most of the outside projects pretty much require you to actually BE outside to work on them. And a large number of them involve dirt.

Nevertheless, I pitched in. After all, I can't let my ailing husband do all the hard labor.

In addition to the Topsy Turvy Upside Down plants we planted, we also did a little bit of improvement to the front of the house.

We added some geraniums and new mulch to the front of our porch. We had geraniums here last year and they added such nice color to the front of the house.



We also removed all of the rock around one of the trees in the front yard and planted some hostas.

The former owner of this house had a thing for rock. Lots and lots of rock. Everywhere. Removing it is going to be a job. For someone else. I'm pretty sure we'll hire some strong college guy to schlep this rock away from the entire perimeter of the house and around most of the trees.

Lincoln also pitched in and added some moral support.


If only we could actually get him to dig where we want to plant hostas instead of where he wants to plant bones.

It's a Topsy Turvy World

I want a garden.

But there are two problems.

1. I hate dirt.

2. I hate being outdoors.

Not necessarily a good combination if you want to be a master gardener.

Intrigued with the As Seen On TV commercials for the Topsy Turvy, we decided to try our hand at upside down gardening. It eliminates a lot of the "digging in the dirt" aspect of gardening and minimizes the "being outside" aspect since we can virtually put them right on our deck. I barely have to get my hands dirty or leave the house. Awesome.

We did a little research and decided to make our own version of the Topsy Turvy.

You will need:

Plants - We purchased fairly large tomato and pepper plants since I am the kiss of death to anything green it seemed like they had a good start on life. (If I were to do it again, I might get slightly smaller plants since the larger plants were harder to feed through the hole in the container.)

Hanging Containers - We purchased containers that were ready to hang, but you can use anything from a 5 gallon bucket to a fancy pants planter from your garden store.

Coffee Filter or Newspaper - To keep the dirt from falling through the hole in the container.

Step 1 - Drill a hole in the bottom of the container for the plant to grow through. (We drilled a hole 2 1/8" in diameter)

Step 2 - Insert plant upside down through hole (this is where a smaller, more flexible plant would be easier)

Step 3 - Put coffee filters/newspaper around the base of the plant and over the hole so that the dirt doesn't fall through

Step 4 - Break up the roots of the plant a little so that they can grow into the shape of the container

Step 5 - Fill with potting soil. I planted herbs in the top of my containers but you could also plant flowers for a colorful touch.

Step 6 - Hope that the birds, dogs, and bugs don't get to them before you do.

I hardly even had to get myself dirty.

It's a Dog Day Afternoon

The park district in one of our neighboring towns sponsors a special dog event every year in May. We've managed to miss it for one reason or another since we moved to this area, but this year, we took a break from the house, the medical stuff, and life in general and made it a priority.


These pictures don't really convey how many people - and dogs! - attended. I think it may be one of the most well attended events in our area.

There were big dogs, small dogs, fat dogs, skinny dogs, and even a dog that hated dogs (which, if you ask me, wasn't the best choice for that owner to make).

Lincoln and Jackson were well behaved and almost a little overwhelmed with all of the things to see, treats to eat, and display booths to sniff.

And then to top the day off, we all went to Dairy Queen on the way home.





If this is a dog's life, I want it.

Robin's Hood - Growing Like Weeds

The hobgoblin robins are growing like crazy and screaming for food all the time. (You can only clearly identify two of the little hobgoblins in this photo, but all three are healthy, growing, and hungry as heck.)

Robin the robin is spending less and less time sitting on the nest and more and more time finding food for these little monsters.

They are already getting their wing feathers, and it will be only a matter of a week or so before they start to leave the nest.

I'm sure that Robin the robin is looking forward to that as much as I'm looking forward to getting our deck back.

Robin's Hood - Lunch at Red Robin

I'm happy to report that we have three healthy baby robins.

And they are hungry. All the time.

Robin the robin leaves the nest to feed the little hobgoblin robins every 10-15 minutes. The minute she comes back to the nest, they pop right up with their little beaks ready and waiting.

Robert the robin has also been visiting the nest and helping Robin out.

He's a little bit of a nest hog.

But at least he brings food when he comes.

And it's nice to see that he takes a hand (or beak) in helping care for the little hobgoblin robins.

Robin's Hood

I had a thought all ready to post this morning complaining about how Robin the robin has taken over our deck and we can't sit outside and enjoy the nice weather and we can't cook on the grill.

But then this happened.

How can I be mad at a new mother?

Flat Stanley Goes to the Hospital

Monday was a big day for Flat Stanley. He got to go to the hospital with Vern. He even had some x-rays taken and got a cool stethoscope that he's going to bring back to share with the class as a souvenir.