Saturday, June 20, 2009

An Update

Things are looking up a bit - at least some things. We're gradually losing our "lake front" property. The water is receding very slowly and the forecast is for a whole day of sunshine and no rain today. Our driveway is no longer under water so it's easier to get in and out now.

You can't imagine how nerve wracking it is to watch that water come so fast and there's nothing you can do about it. And then there's all the politics that go along with it - "they" won't allow us a dike because it's not "practical." I'd love to know what their definition of "practical" is. It's especially difficult to watch this governmental body dishing out all their rules and regulations and making decisions that allow other households that aren't in the floodway getting all kinds of help and we, who suffer from this every time there is a heavy rain or spring runoff get nothing. Legally, we can't even build a dike at our own expense because of our proximity to the river. Why did we build here, you may ask? When we bought this property back in 1972 it had never been under water. In the last 10 years there have been 3 major floods and our house has been a little island. Fortunately, our house has stayed dry, but you can't imagine the mess we have to clean up every time this happens. Oh well, griping doesn't do any good so I'll quit.

I had my second mammogram yesterday. I was brought back to the radiologist's office and offered a big long explanation that involved words like "biopsies" and "tumors" and "cancer" and all those scary words. Then they did a second series of x-rays and I sat and waited for the results. After an hour of all kinds of horrible things going through my mind I was called back again and the word "calcification" was explained to me. Apparently calcifications can range anywhere from malignant to benign and anywhere in between. So that's the latest word - I have some calcifications that they want to watch very closely and will be going back for another x-ray in 6 months.

Okay then. I guess I have to spend the next 6 months with "that" thought hanging in the back of my mind.

On the Big Brother front - I talked to him several times yesterday. The doctor has postponed surgery until next Tuesday due to all the swelling still around his eye. His broken shoulder still has not been casted - I suppose they're waiting for decreased swelling there also. His son arrived in El Paso yesterday and will stay through the surgery. I'm so glad there is someone there with him. After my experience with Ole in the hospital twice last summer, I know that you need some kind of a patient advocate in order to survive in a hospital these days. Someone who can ride herd on what's going on and look out for the patient's best interests - not the hospital's. Nephew sent me a picture via cell phone yesterday. I was horrified at how awful Big Brother looked. He looked like he'd been put through a meat grinder and then someone beat the tar out of him afterwards. Look out for those 10-foot ladders, Folks.

Since the water decided to recede Ole headed out for the Back to the 50s weekend at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds last night. He had intended to leave on Thursday and not come back until Sunday. But due to the water factor he'll be back tonight. I, on the other hand, stayed home doing the sump pump watch, etc. Lovely Daughter and Lars had intended to go with him if he had gone for the weekend, but due to the short trip they decided to stay home. So Lars and Lovely Daughter came out last night and Lars made pizza for supper. He's quite a pizza aficionado - it was SOOO good. Then we watched the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It wasn't at all what I expected. It was a very long movie, and one of those that I'm glad I didn't spend my money going to a theater to see.

Speaking of movies, have any of you watched Slumdog Millionaire yet? I watched it a few weeks ago and thought it was TERRIBLE. Whoever voted that in as best picture of the year - well, their taste is most definitely only in their mouth!!

A few entries ago I promised you some pictures of my backyard this year because the peonies and irises were outdoing themselves. They hadn't been this beautiful in years despite the horrible winter we had. Unfortunately the heavy rain beat me to it and kind of messed up the flowers. Lots of them are on the ground, etc., but I did take a few shots this morning to share with you. Please keep in mind they aren't as spectacular as they were a week ago.

In this picture you can kind of see the "lake shore" behind the flowers. Under normal conditions you wouldn't be able to see any water in this picture at all.






Well, People, I had better get my backside off this computer chair if I'm going to accomplish anything today. My project for today is to get some carpets cleaned and then it will be a contest to see which cat urps up on them first. Seems every time I clean carpets somebody vomits within 24 hours. I really want to replace my living room and dining room carpet with laminated flooring like I have in my kitchen. Then it would be a piece of cake to keep things a bit cleaner with all these animals in the house. So far I haven't been able to talk Ole into doing that though. It would be so nice to just have some large area rugs that could be washed.
Enjoy this lovely day, everyone.
Love Lena


5 comments:

harrietv said...

Two things I thought I'd mention (you probably know them):

1. Some of the best support I found was from women friends online who had the same experience.

2. The one time I had a calcification, the treatment was easy -- almost fun.

Marge said...

You certainly have been blessed with some trying times this spring! I can't imagine going through all those floods this year. And what a horrible accident your brother had. I sure hope he'll be doing better real soon.


Thanks for showing us those beautiful pictures of your yard and the flowers. I absolutely love the old fashioned flowers like peonies and iris, and lilacs and lilies. Your yard is so lovely!

And here's hoping Ole gets home from his adventure with no mishaps! You've had enough! Take care, friend.

~ Sil in Corea said...

Calcifications, been walking around with them for 40 years, no problem. I'm sure it will turn out all right, dear. If they are letting you go 6 months before the next checkup, they don't think there's any cancer. They can't afford to be wrong on that; it would jack up their malpractice insurance premium enormously.

Beautiful flowers!! Your yard is really lovely.

My prayers go out to your brother. Mizzable Ladders!!

Hugs from Asia, ~ Sil in Corea

StitchinByTheLake said...

Lena I'll be praying about your mammogram results. Your irises are so beautiful - mine are under a tree and just don't do as well there but I don't have any sunny flower beds in my yard. :( blessings, marlene

Capitolady said...

I have Calcification's too. We call them lumpy bumpies in my family. One of them in caused me to have a hysterectomy. I suppose there isn't a need to worry about osteoporosis then?