Luther & Suzie Visit - County Fair - Air Show - August 2014

 

8-20-14 - Luther & Suzie arrived Wednesday afternoon.  Had dinner at home and visited.  Took them to the Oak Table for breakfast Thursday.  Played some pickle ball on Friday then they took us to dinner at Michael's in Port Angeles.  Really had a nice time visiting with them.  Suzie is delightful and fun to be around.  They left at 10 am on Saturday to catch a flight to Spokane.  Hope they both come back to visit again soon.

 

Sat. 8-16-14 - Went to the Clallam County Fair in Port Angeles.  Couldn't resist taking this picture of all the baby piglets.

 

Sat and listened to a really loud band for a bit, then walked around the fair grounds some more.  Wore me out after awhile. :-)

 

Sat. 8-30-14 - Went to the Air Show out at the airport this afternoon.  They also had lots & lots of vintage cars on display.  More walking.  I still tire easily, but I'm working on it.  I've been walking a mile or more most days and playing pickle ball once or twice a week.  Slowly but surely I'm getting my strength & energy back.



Curt & Nola Hovland Visit & Jeffrey Castle Concert, 8-8-14

 

Curt Hovland is a old school friend of Ted's and a co-worker of both of us at Boeing.  He drove over from Seattle to visit us with his wife Nola.  A very nice surprise.  After they left we met Diane & Jerry for dinner then went to a Jeffrey Castle Concert, held behind the library.

Jerry & Diane

Ted

 

You can almost see both of our houses on Bell Hill,

behind Jeffrey Castle.

 

I rescued this little guy after he banged his head against the window.



Concert & Lavender Farm Outings, 7-4 & 7-18-14

 

7-4-14 - Went out for dinner and a "Concert in the Park" with Diane and Jerry.

Nice 1st outing.

 

7-18-14 - Ted and I toured one of the lavender farms during the festival.

 

I caught one of the professional photographers taking some pictures of us, so I asked her to send me a copy.  She did an "artistic edit" on the one below.



Heart 5-Way Bypass Surgery, 5-21-14

5-21-14 - In the ICU after 6 hours on the heart/lung machine for what turned out to be a 5-Way Bypass Open Heart Surgery.  They ran into complications due to a surgery I had in my early 20's to remove a rib; apparently they also removed a large blood vessel that my heart surgeon was going to use for part of the bypass.  Since is wasn't available they had to go elsewhere to retrieve the required blood vessels.  This is a major over-simplification of everything they had to do, but it gives you an idea.  They have you up walking around the ICU a couple of days later!!

 



 

5 days later, 5-26-14, with my "Heart Pillow" (wrapped in a pillowcase) on my chest.  You hug the pillow tightly to your chest so you won't/can't use your arms.  The breathing tube has been removed and I'm much more comfortable.  Six days in the ICU and 3 days in the PCU (Progressive Care Unit).   

 

Thursday, 5-29-14 - Day 9 and I'm all bundled up in the back seat of Ted's car (with the Heart Pillow on my chest) getting set for the 1+ hour drive home.  I was so glad to be going home where I could finally get some rest -- away from the constant wakeups to check my blood pressure, take some pills, do my breathing exercises, walk around the ICU, order breakfast/lunch/dinner, more breathing exercises, more pills, get taught how to give myself a sponge bath, get taught how to shower, walk around the ICU again......  Now, don't get me wrong, the care they gave was excellent, but it was exhausting!  :-)

Now the long, slow journey to a full recovery begins.

 

5-29-14 - Arrived home and settled into the guest bedroom.  Enlarge the picture and you can see the guest bed in the picture below.  My BFF Diane had come down and hung these beautiful hanging baskets beside my hummingbird feeders.  This was my view out the windows every day and I loved it!  Diane also got together with the "Tea Party" ladies and every other day one of them brought a fully cooked dinner to the house.  It was a tremendous help to Ted (who was my only caregiver) and me during that very rough first 2 weeks. 

 

Diane also planted these beautiful flowers in the planters on my front porch.  I couldn't believe how much that meant, and how beautiful that was to come home to.

I took the pictures below on Saturday, June 21, 2014.

Angiogram - 4-28-14

Started playing pickle ball again on 4-1-14.  Noticed a tightness in my chest and was a little short of breath, but it went away.  Figured I was just out of shape from taking the winter off.  Played pb again 4-3-14; same tightness and short of breath; went away again.  On Friday 4-4-14 when I was out working in the yard my chest tightened up so hard I knew there was something seriously wrong.  Called my doctor, made appointment for next Tues.; got a resting EKG and he immediately scheduled me for an angiogram.  Met with Dr. Damron, the cardiologist who was going to perform the procedure on 4-18-14 in Bremerton, WA; procedure scheduled for 4-28-14.

 



 

4-28-14, 6:00 AM, Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton, WA.

Here we are waiting for my angiogram.  Ted's holding a pager so we'll know when it's my turn.  There were a lot of people lined up; amazing how common this is.

 

After the angiogram was completed by Dr. Damron he met with us to say he saw 2, possibly 3 blockages in the arteries of my heart and he recommended by-pass surgery.  I went in expecting a stent or two, but open heart surgery?  No way.  Kind of went into a weird 'state of shock'.  He schedule me for a post op appointment on 5-7-14; I met my heart surgeon Dr. Reed on 5-13-14, and he scheduled the surgery for Wednesday 5-21-14. 



Our Anniversary, 2-14-14 (6th & 34th)

 

Above we had dinner at the Dockside on 2-13-14.

On 2-14-14 we had dinner at Katinka & Dick Nanna's home over in Happy Valley.

Fun evening.

 

Anniversary Flowers and Cards



Acrylic Art Class - 2-7-14

 

This was a new acrylic "wet on wet" technique.  We started out painting clouds, then moved on to mountains, then trees, etc. (using 1/2 a canvas for each lesson).  Mine is on the left and Diane's is on the right.  Not bad for just starting out.  We really didn't have enough class time to complete a full painting at the end. 

 

Diane with our teacher, Carol Yada.

Below are my practice mountains, clouds and trees.  Neither of us managed to finish the final painting, even after we got home.  Maybe next time. :-)

 

The new end tables I got to go with the bench arrived.  They are carved out of one piece of wood and fit nicely on each end of the bench.

2-1-14 - Deer Rescue

 

Took this picture of the deer with an arrow hanging out of his shoulder from our deck.  I reported it to the Wildlife Rescue people and a few days later they managed to dart him (again right below our deck so we got to watch the whole thing).  They did an amazing job of removing the arrow and patching up the wound.

 

 

We saw him in this group a couple of weeks later.

 

And here he is again on 3-16-14.  Enlarge the photo and you can see where the arrow was on his left shoulder.  He seems to be doing just fine. 

Ladies Tea Party & Art Class - January 2014

 

 1-14-14 - Getting set up for the Ladies Lunch tomorrow.  There are 8 of us who host lunch at our homes once a month.  This was my first time hosting and I was really nervous.  It was a little easier the second time in September.  We visit and "solve the worlds problems" before sitting down to eat.   

 

 

My BFF Diane Hayman and myself.

 

 

1-21-14 - Decided to try a Watercolor Painting Class - "Poppies".  Three days, 9 AM to 3 PM.  The teacher is inspecting our work above, and group photo below.  No one was able to finish their painting in the 3 days, but it was a fun experience.  Watercolor is very different than the oil and acrylic I'm used to.