The Saga of My Nose...

Months ago I had a bump develop on the right side of my nose. It dried up and peeled off. When it peeled off it had a hole under it. It seemed to continue to crust up and peel off. I was not really very concerned about it. In the meantime, I had a red spot on my chest that was extremely itchy. It would not go away. Before we left for our Baltic Cruise in May, I made an appointment with Claude dermatologist about the red spot. When we returned home, I went in for the appointment and explained that all the spot needed to heal was a cruise around the Baltic Sea because now that was gone. He asked if I would like to have my entire body examined while I was there to be sure everything was okay. I agreed and told him about my nose. He looked at it first and immediately pronounced it a basal cancer that needed to be removed. Although I have lots of other spots over this aging body, none of them was he concerned about. Dr. Wilson referred me to a surgeon for the spot on my nose. He also did a biopsy of the spot to be sure and to send on to Dr. Pruden, the surgeon. This is how I left Dr. Wilson's office after the biopsy on June 15th. Holy Moly! What a bandage!

I went directly to visit Papa and many found this interesting. 

The next day, June 16th, I took that bandage off and this was my nose at that point.

Finally, July 19th, I had a consult with Dr. Pruden, the surgeon. He looked at it and told me it definitely needed to come off. The surgery for this is called Mohs, named after the doctor who figured it out. Basically you go in and they remove a layer of skin, you hang around while they run tests to see if they got all the margins with any cancer cells. If they got it all the first time they bandage you and send you home. If they didn't, they numb you a little more and remove more skin. This process is repeated until they have clean margins with no cancer cells. Papa had this done of his head and it was only one removal of skin. My sister had it done and I really don't know how many times they removed skin from her nose. But they took a lot and she had to have grafts done. 

The other thing Dr. Pruden explained was basal cell skin cancer of this type comes in two forms. The first grows like a little ball. The second sends out feelers or roots or whatever you want to call them. I had the second kind. Personally, I felt a little ball could come out with a scoop and that would be better. It seemed to me that feelers was not going to be as easy a deal. 

Surgery was schedule for August 21st. I asked if I needed to have my hubby there or if I could come on my own. He suggested Claude come because the bandage over my nose might obstruct my vision to drive. Well that is just a find howdy do!

Tuesday, August 21st, Claude and I were at the doctor's office before 9am. I took this picture before I left home just so I had a 'before' picture. 

Let's just say that those little feelers caused Dr. Pruden to have to cut three times. By the third time he seemed a little frustrated. I believe he really thought it would not be that much. Here are my three bandages in order of their occurrence.

When they called me back the fourth time, we were a mite concerned. As it turns out, they didn't need to cut anymore, they had clean margins after the third cutting. 

After they unbandaged me, I asked to see the wound. I assured the nurse I would function better with a knowledge of what was happening to me. She got a hand mirror and I looked. Well folks, I was looking at a hole in my nose about the size of the end of my little finger under the nail. Clearly I could see cartilage along the top of my nose. Clearly only a thin bit of skin at the bottom of my nose. This was not going to be a few stitches to close.

Dr. Pruden came in and explained they had clear margins and could now determine how to fix me up. His belief was to take a skin and cartilage graft from my ear and use it to try and repair my nose. No prognosis for how I would look after. Will take months to completely heal. But he felt that was what we should do and he would do it right then. The question I was asked was which side I prefer sleeping on. I told him I really preferred sleeping on my right side. That meant the left ear would be the donor of skin and cartilage. An incision was done from the top of my ear to the little part that sticks out in the middle of my ear and the skin and cartilage were then stitched to my nose. Then a piece of yellow gauze was stitched to my skin on the top of all this grafting to add pressure as it all tries to heal together. Goodness. Then, the final bandage.

Claude drove me home with a stop first to get me a Mello Yello. Then a stop at the pharmacy for some powerful medications. A pain killer, an antibiotic capsule and and antibiotic ointment. Then to our home which I was every so grateful to see and be in. I took up residence on the love seat for the rest of the day. Ice bags every 20 minutes out of every hour. 

These bandages were to be left on for 48 hours. Well, I didn't quite make 48 hours but I was close. It seems before these bandages were put over my nose, some gauze with antibiotic ointment was put over the wound. With the movement of my face, the bandage was loose and that gauze finally slipped out about 1:30pm. We got home about 4pm two days prior and that was the time I was aiming for before removing the bandages. I finally gave up as the one over my nose kept popping off. 

WARNING: Ugly photo to follow.

This is what I saw after removal of all these bandages and cleaning up of dried blood.

That is the wad of yellow gauze stitched to my skin. To be frank, it looks like I have a huge booger on the outside of my nose. 

So I go back in two weeks and they take the stitches out and we see where we go from there. Ideally the graft of skin and cartilage will take. I'm being very careful with taking meds, using ice to reduce swelling and covering all this on my nose and ear with the antibiotic ointment. In the meantime, I have sniffles from pollen. Goodness. 

And that is the Saga of My Nose to this point. Prayers appreciated! My children have suggested we search Amazon for nose covers and also that I should have had all this bandaging signed by them like they do on casts. Silly kids!

#ENDALZ and #WALK2ENDALZ

Okay, I never do hash tags. However, this Saturday I made one exception. 

I received an eMail letting me know of an upcoming Walk to End Alzheimer's in Lexington on Saturday, August 26th. I forwarded it to Claude asking if he was interested in doing that with me. He was. He took on registering us on-line and we were set to walk.

Saturday we were supposed to have rain in the morning. As it turned out this made for overcast skies that kept it cool while we walked, but not rain. Yippee!!

Here are some pictures.

We each got a purple flower because we are the relative of someone who died from Alzheimer complications. On our flowers we wrote the names of my mother, Virginia Lawrence "Mimi", Julie's mother (Claude's brother's wife), Ila Hess, and Eric Malizia's mother, Janice Malizia. Eric is Julie's son-in-law. His mother died this week. I have put my flower in the front flower bed and Claude's flower in the hosta bed in the back yard. It was two miles and we walked the entire thing. It is a good cause and one we support every year with a donation. This time we did the donation and the walk.

After we drove to Firehouse Subs and had sandwiches. It was a great morning and we both felt really good about this use of our time and resources.

August in a Nutshell...

Just a few items that happened as the month of August sped past me. This month I have endured two weeks covered in poison ivy and had Moh's surgery. Keeping up with a Blog has not been my priority. So, I'll just do a couple of entries tonight to try and catch up. This one will cover miscellaneous items that happened this month.

Let's start with a cute picture. Wednesday, August 8th. 

See the brown in the picture. That is a little fawn that is still covered in spots. I left our home to mail something at the Sadieville post office before going to visit Papa in Georgetown. As I left the post office, I had a warning light on my car that my tire was low on air. I decided to go back home and put air in my tire before going to Georgetown. As I drove into Eagle Bend, this little fella was standing by the USGS Gauging Station. He stayed perfectly still and looked at me while I stopped my car, rolled down my window and got my cell phone to take this picture. No mother. Just this little guy. It appeared he had not been trained that baby deer are to run from humans. (The Gauging Station is not leaning, I am leaning out of the car window.) I drove home and put air in my tire. I was there no more than 15 minutes. As I left Eagle Bend, this little guy was still in place looking at me. Claude got a home little after I left that second time. He also observed the little guy standing there watching him. The next day he was there in the afternoon again. Haven't seen him since.

Claude has definitely decided not to run for Mayor again. The filing date is past so it very official. He will not run for Mayor. Wednesday, August 8th, the Senate prepared, signed and mailed to Claude a certificate recognizing his good works as Mayor and wishing him well in his retirement. It is signed by Robert Stivers, President of the Kentucky Senate and Damon Thayer, our Senator. How nice is that? Claude was very grateful for that recognition.

Friday, August 10th was a good day. Claude purchased, mounted and hung this adorable door knocker for our home. If you know me, you know I love turtles. My favorite word is turtle. Go ahead, say it several times in a row and see if that word doesn't just roll around in your mouth. It's a fun word. Claude has fixed our door bell many, many, many times. He put one in that works with a battery. The problem, it runs through a battery a day. Suggestions to call an electrician to install a hard-wired one falls on his deaf ears. So, his next solution was to get a door knocker. This presupposes that when I am in my sewing/craft/office room in the basement, I will hear that door knocker. Hmmmm... But it is his solution, so we will go with that thought. Now, what kind of door knocker should we get. Knowing my love of turtles he set to an Internet search of turtle door knockers and we settled on this one. However, it needed to be attached to something and then mounted to the wall, of course. Michael's had these lovely pieces of wood. Purchased one and Claude tried a different stain on each side. Neither was acceptable. Purchased a second and stained it with a natural color. Perfect. This is our new turtle door knocker. Now I need someone to use it while I am in the basement...

They have torn down the car wash by Walmart in Georgetown that we used to go to, Soapy Joe's. This summer they have built a brand new car wash. Their first week or so in business, they gave free car washes. You could go once a day for the entire time they did this and get their top of the line car wash for free, then use the vacuums and mat clearer for free. Excellent. Claude got his car washed and suggested I take time to do that with mine as I left to go sit with Papa. It was very nice getting that done for free. It should be noted that Claude has a little propeller on the trailer hitch of his Jeep. It broke during the car wash. I cannot tell you how many of these we have purchased during these years he has owned Jeeps. Several broke as he drove the Jeep up and down our hill doing yard work. 

Sunday, August 5th, I got to Papa's room at the nursing home and said hello. He said hello back but his voice was about an octave lower than usual. I asked him if he felt okay. He said he felt fine. I explained about the drop in his voice and he was not aware of it. I didn't visit him Monday because I was in La Grange watching the Mini's. Tuesday he was starting to cough and not sounding good. Looked a little red in the eyes. I mentioned it to the nurses and told them I was concerned. By Wednesday the cough was decidedly worse and he had mucous in his eyes, lots of it. I had another talk with the nurses. This time, rather than telling me it was allergies again, she said she would call Dr. Weckman and schedule a chest X-ray, which she did. Dr. Weckman also had them put him on Claritin to help with anything that might be allergy related. Thursday they took the chest X-ray at the nursing home. I got the results Friday. Turns out he had mucous in the sacs in his lungs. I explained to the nurses my concern that, since he lays in a bed all day any cold he gets goes to his chest and I could see that becoming pneumonia. This is not a good thing. They assured me it probably started as allergies. I would protest but alas they are sure since they have medical training that I do not have that they know what is happening. I remember when Evan, Claude's father, was ill and Bonnie, Claude's mother, was his care giver, they finally had to put him in the nursing home at the very end. The doctor told this staff, you listen to her, she has cared for him and knows more that you will about how he reacts and what to anticipate. I loved that. I know that Papa doesn't get many colds and when he does they start just as this one did and then they go to his chest. The last one was several years ago and Dr. Weckman assured us it was almost at the point of hospitalization when we brought him in. I don't think for a minute it was allergy related. So there. That is my non-medical degree opinion and I am sticking with it!!

Sunday, August 12th was our third Self-Reliance Devotional. The attendance was smaller but we have found that a few of our wards that are further from the Lexington area want to hold their own classes at a ward level so they don't come all the way into Lexington for the Devotional. This is fine. As long as we keep having the training, we are happy. 

We had two family events this month. August 13th was Michael's birthday and the next day, August 14th, the Ropers had an anniversary. 

It would appear that Friends of Sadieville is about to end it's life span. This is a non-profit that was formed in 2009 to focus on restoration and beautification of Sadieville. We have had a good run. However, at our August 13th Board Meeting, we determined it was time to end this process. Then we held another meeting on August 20th with enough of the remaining board to qualify making this decision. We will do one more big thing for Sadieville. That is to fix the sign above the flower bed on Main St. and Pike St. The plan is to clear the ground, cover it with plastic so weeds don't grow, then cover that with rocks and some big boulders and maybe a piece of greenery at either end of the sign. We plan to function until December 31st. We'll help with the Polar Express and decorating City Hall. Then the Friends of Sadieville will be no more. Very sad. 

Claude attended the GLIC Conference in Louisville Tuesday, August 14th through Thursday, August 16th. After he left on the 14th, I picked up Papa at the nursing home and we did a nice drive in the country. I was still losing air very slowly in that time and my oil was down to 40%. I called Frank Shoop and got my car in for an oil change and to check that tire on Thursday the 16th. Turns out I had a nail in the tire. Nothing to do but purchase a new tire. Ugh!! My car must be a magnet for nails. That is the second one. 

Our two youngest grandmonsters started school in August 15th. Time speeds by. They are now both in Middle School. Goodness. 

Saturday, August 18th, I arrived at the nursing home with a treat for Papa. I walked down to his door and found this.

I didn't know if I could enter or what happened. I went to the nurses station before entering. It turns out someone entered Papa's room. Don't know who but they were in a wheel chair. They wheeled up to his little rolling table by his bed and was starting to take things off the table. Usually his candy container is on there with his mug of water and his clear plastic shaving kit. Papa tried to tell them to stop and they didn't. Evidently he yelled and started to hit at them. This according to some CNA who 'witnessed' it. The resident in the wheel chair was removed and this sign was put over Papa's door to keep other residents out of his room because he now 'hits people'. Okay, the quotes should indicated to the reader that I take some of this with a grain of salt. I can believe that Papa would yell if someone didn't respond when he told them to stop doing something. I do not believe he was hitting someone. Taking from them what they were taking off the table, yes. Hitting, no. The other thing is, if I were in his room and witnessing someone come in and begin to touch things on his table, I would talk with the resident while wheeling them out into the hallway. I have removed many residents from his room. The nursing home is full of people with various forms of dementia and they just don't know where they are or what they are touching. I would never let it escalate to a yelling and hitting situation. I did have a good talk with Papa and explained that he is nearly deaf, he talks very loudly but he doesn't know it because he is talking so he can hear. That could be construed as yelling to some people, especially another confused resident. I also made sure he understood there is nothing on that table we can't replace very easily if someone took it. He said he couldn't get out of bed to get a nurse because of their wheel chair being in the way. I reminded him there is a call button and he could press that. The only thing that might hurt someone is his disposable razor in his shaving kit. I have seen many residents yell and hit in the year's I have cared for my parents. When they are in that situation and don't have full faculties, it is almost instinctive to lash out like that. There are some who are mean, my father is not one of those as most of the residents are not. This just makes me sad, very, very sad.

Friday, August 24th it was our turn to clean the Church. We are the team leaders. I had surgery that Tuesday and was not in the best shape. As the other wife on our team arrived it was clear she was not well either. She was getting a migraine. Trooper that she was, she helped her four year old with vacuuming the classrooms. That is what they wanted to do so that Matthew could help. Can you imagine doing that noise with a migraine forming in your head. Strong Lady she is. We made it through cleaning but we limped through it.

Those are the miscellaneous items today. We are busy preparing for an onslaught of family for the next couple of weeks. It feels good to get this done before that happens.

Nice Moments...

Came upstairs the other afternoon and found Claude sitting on the love seat. Took this picture and sent it to my kids with the caption, "He is in my spot!" This will only be funny to you if you watch Big Bang Theory. But it was funny to me and to my kids.

I get concerned about Papa not interacting with the other residents. Part of that is his deafness. He doesn't hear what they say or how they respond to what he says. Therefore, it just gets easier not to interact. Yet, we were hoping he would get more interaction with others living in the nursing home. I have had talks with Junie, my sister, about this.

Today, when I arrived at the nursing home, I went to Papa's room. Usually he is done eating by 1pm and goes right back to his room to his bed. No walker and no Papa in his room. So I wandered down to the dining room. I stood in the serving area when I saw Papa. He was standing to leave the table after his lunch but he was talking to another resident. I just stood and grinned and let him talk. I could hear him telling his same stories about Mimi living there till she died, about his singing and playing instruments for years, etc., etc., etc. Jerry was in his usual spot by the heater and he watched me watching Papa and we grinned. I sent this picture to Junie. I know she is concerned and I knew this would bring her as much joy as it did me to see Papa talking to another resident. It did make her happy as well. 

There is a new housekeeper who has taken a liking to Papa. That was also good. She calls him handsome and teases him in a loud voice so he can hear her. Bless her heart. This also makes me happy. 

Two nice moments in my life.

68 Promises to be Great...

Another landmark in my life. Monday was my birthday. This year, Claude made reservations for us and told me I simply needed to leave Sunday evening open, pack one change of clothes and leave Monday open. Okay...

I truly did not know where we would be going. I guessed that Claude might take me to Berea. We love to stay at Boone Tavern & Inn and have dinner there. That was my guess. 

Sunday we went to Church in Georgetown so I could play the organ. Then we hurried to Paris, Kentucky. We had been asked to do a Self-Reliance presentation during the third hour of their meeting block. This went very well. Claude had one more meeting after that. Then we drove the back roads to Sadieville. 

After getting into comfortable clothes, we put our bag in the car and headed out for our evening away. Claude was driving south on I-75 so I was pretty sure my guess of Berea was good. Then we got to where he took the exit off I-75 to I-64 going west. Okay...we were not going to Berea.

Next guess was to Midway to have dinner at Holly Hill Inn. Claude cruised west on I-64 and by passed the exit to Midway. Okay...we were not going to Holly Hill Inn. I assured Claude he now had me totally confused. I had no more guesses. I knew check in time at wherever we were staying was 4pm. We were past that time. Dinner reservations were at 6pm. We didn't have time to get to Louisville in that amount of time. No more guesses on my part.

Claude got to Frankfort and turned south toward Versailles. Now I was totally confused. Enjoying the drive but totally confused. Then he turned back to Lexington from Versailles. The light went on. It was confirmed when he got to the intersection. We were going to The Castle. Claude made us a room reservation and a dinner reservation. This was going to be fun.

We check in to a very beautiful room. When Claude made the reservation he told them it was for my birthday. They upgraded our room to this suite. When you look at the picture above, we were on the second floor. If you see the turret to the left of the second floor balcony, that was our sitting room. Our room was the window to the right. We had a door that opened onto that balcony. Here are a few pictures of our room.

Claude had them place chocolate covered strawberries in our room. We ate a few of them and then decided to walk around outside before dinner. This is our walk. First out on the balcony.

We took the stairs to the roof. 

Back to the room to rest a bit till time for dinner. We left the room with some time prior to dinner for me to take some interior pictures.

Dinner was excellent. All the veggies they grow in their garden boxes and on the hill behind the Castle. They are picked fresh each day. The meats are purchased from local farms. It is a Farm to Table experience. We totally enjoyed our meal. The soup spoon was an interesting shape. We opted for peach gelato for dessert. 

After dinner we roamed around the grounds again and up on the hill where the garden is located. They have chickens and roosters and two of the cutest goats you ever saw. They actually have goat yoga on the roof. Can't even imagine that!

It was such a great evening, the air was cooling down and we just enjoyed the beautiful evening. 

Saturday we slept in and opted not to have breakfast at the Castle. We were still full from dinner. I took these final pictures of the front of the Castle.

We drove home on some back roads I knew that Claude had never been on. When we got home Claude set to planting some day lilies that Andie gave us. I set to doing laundry and paying Papa's bills. I walked down the hill to take him water and had fun taking pictures of a butterfly on the butterfly bush. 

At the end of those chores, Claude drove me in to Georgetown to visit with Papa while he ran some errands. After, we had dinner at Sonic. 

Bluegrass Tomorrow, of which Claude is president this year, will have their Annual Dinner and Fundraiser there in October this year. While Claude was touring the Castle with the planning committee he suddenly realized my birthday was coming up and this would be a great place to go for that. He made the reservations that day.  

This was a great birthday. We both have wanted to go to the Castle and this was a perfect opportunity. This starts the 68th year of my journey off to a great start!