Ahhhh, the relief.......

 

I saw these pretty American Goldfinches in my neighbor's tree (yeah, that poor tree is half dead because none of the renters ever water it).  They aren't a permanent resident of Albuquerque, but they do come through on their migration.  What a nice surprise!!

Ok.  The stitches came out this morning.  It was a little pokey, but really not too bad.  I was glad to have them out, and the relief was very welcome.  This evening I checked the mirror, and the swelling has gone down.  Things look better.  In a week I can use a little makeup to cover up the redness.  The rest of the recuperation is all just plain ol' time.  In 5 weeks I can start massaging the scar to flatten it out.  It looks a little bit bumpy, but not near as bad as I thought based on the way it looked before the stitches were removed.  

 The past week I have been sleeping in the spare room, because I was concerned that the dogs might bump my face.  As it was, I was the one who bumped my nose, which woke me up immediately.  It would only take an hour to fall back asleep!  Truthfully I have been sleeping pretty well, especially since Romeo has some kind of cold or something, and has had coughing fits.  I think I will continue to sleep there for a couple more days.  

The cabin fever is getting ridiculous!  I have got to have something to do.  So, today I painted part of the concrete patio in the back yard.  It has been at least 3 years and it is looking shabby.  There are 4 sections of concrete, so I'm going to do one per day...unless we get more rain, which is on the schedule.   At least I can get one more section done tomorrow.   

But seriously, I have read 3 books, baked cookies, green chile stew, sour cream blueberry waffles, and bacon.  I have also vacuumed and dusted.  I am tired of chores and baking.  I have about 10 more days of self imposed exile, unless I can tolerate a bandage long enough to go to Hobby Lobby.  I can't quite wear my reading glasses yet, so I'm going to relearn crochet.  And eventually knitting.  Sound a bit desperate?  Haha

So the bottom line is: the hellish surgery was really awful for a week, and today I can see the end of the tunnel.  My nose will heal and look ok.  Maybe not exactly like it was before, but not obvious to the mutilation done to remove the cancer.  I can live with it.  The dermatologist/skin cancer specialist said that if I'm not happy with the way it looks, they can do dermabrasion to smooth things out, and that was good to hear.  

Hope all of you have a great upcoming weekend!

Love, 365 

   

Worst cast senario, almost.....

 

I don't recall if I mentioned that I was diagnosed with basal cell skin cancer.  Even worse, it's right on the end of my nose.  I had the surgery on Wednesday, so it's been 5 days, and early next Wednesday I go to have my stitches removed.  

They had to remove more tissue than I thought ~ so that required flap surgery, which is a reconstruction technique.  They took skin from the bridge of my nose and used it to cover the area where the cancer used to be.  

If all I had to do was have mohs surgery,  it would have been bad enough.  Having the flap surgery just made the whole thing worse.  Most of the surgery was pain free, since they numbed the area.  But towards the end when the doc was putting in the stitches, that was uncomfortable due to all the pulling.  By the time I was home, the pain was awful.  

This is when I got a little mad that due to the people who misuse pain drugs made it nearly impossible for Doctors to feel ok about prescribing a few pain killers when they are necessary.  I had to get through it all on "extra" strength tylenol.  Tylenol has never done anything for me.  I always went for asprin or ibuprophen, but couldn't take that because of the bleeding risk.  After day 3 I started taking ibuprophen, and that made a big difference.  

The doctor was recommended to me by my dermatologist.  He was very kind.  I'm sure he was dismayed by the fact that tears were rolling down my cheeks the whole time he was working.  I am a woman ~ we are a bit upset when we know our nose is being disfigured.  Of course I had to have the cancer removed.  He even asked me did I want to go through with it, and of course I did.  You don't just not have cancer removed, although he mentioned some people opt not to have the surgery...at least at that meeting.  I imagine they will go back after thinking it over.  Cancer is one of those things that doesn't go away or get better with time.  

Several times he had a mirror in his hand and asked if I wanted to look.  Both times I said no.  I had to have the dressing on for a full 24 hours, so I saw the damage the next day.  To my credit I did not cry again.  I think I had run out of tears.  It was still an oh shit moment.  I've been taking selfies every day (well, except the first one) so I can see for myself that, indeed, the swelling is going down.   

Ok, well I guess I've whined long enough.  Whatever you do, don't look up the flap surgery.  It's so completely horrifying.  

Have a great fall week!  Love, 365 

The world is truly crazy.....

 We had a really fun and relaxing 3 day getaway, but before I get into that, I need to express the anger and fear we experienced when driving home.  Disclaimer: we live in New Mexico, where there are lots of horrible drivers that take way too many chances with their own lives, along with everyone around them.

We drove the route in our maps that stated "shortest route".  Unfortunately it failed to point out that right in the middle of nowhere the state decided to repave.  Definitely needed it, the roads in our state suck!  It's probably been several decades since those roads have had improvements.  This created red lights and wait times from 10-20 minutes.  Needless to say, some people really lost their nut...and there were three of these delays on our drive home.  

While driving on these 2 lane highways, there are areas where they provide passing lanes for a half a mile or so.  Very handy if you've been stuck behind a semi for miles.  But add road rage to that equation!  I was doing my usual 5 mph over the limit.  I failed to move into the slow lane.  There were 4 vehicles that were all following one another that became very enraged that I didn't immediately move over so that they could blow past at probably 15 or more mph over the speed limit.  They flashed their lights, and blew past us so fast it buffeted the car.   One vehicle, the last one, came so close to our back bumper, that had I tapped my brakes, we would likely experience a horrific crash.  Then he/she came around and pulled right in front before hitting the gas again.  It was bad enough to cause me to have a nightmare about it.  

I have since decided that no matter what, I am moving into the "slow" lane to avoid it in the future.  I am so angry that these people would put our lives in danger like that.  It all happened so fast, we had no time to grab our phone and make a video of it, although I know the police won't do anything based on it.....

**********************

Just outside the very tiny hamlet of Cloudcroft, New Mexico, there is this restored trestle bridge.  Originally part of the Sacramento and Alamogordo Mountain Railway...built in 1899.  It was so cool to see!  

 

Golden Aspen leaves....they always look like gold coins to me....

There were plenty of deer in Cloudcroft, and the dogs went crazy!  I told them they were just big ugly dogs, and to get over it, haha.

There was a great park just a smidge outside the front door of the cabin we stayed at.  

There are probably 40+ cabins built in the area where we stayed.  Most built in the early 1950s.  It did the job, but boy was it tiny.  Plus it had too much furniture in it.  It is "pet friendly", sure, but they still ask for you to pay an extra $25 for each dog.  You could try to cheat and tell them there is only one, but there's a camera mounted on the upper left eave of the cabin.  I get it.  Some people do all kinds of things that cost the owners.  

 

We also visited White Sands National Park.  That white strip is part of a 275 square mile deposit of gypsum.  Gypsum is similar to sand, but has properties that sand does not.  I will not bore those who don't have any interest!  

 

If you ever have an opportunity to go, it is very beautiful and unique.  I had to wear a ton of sunscreen and wear a hat, because like snow, the sun reflects off of the gypsum.  

Haha

 

No matter how enjoyable, it is always great to be home again.  We both slept all night, without the metal expansion/contraction of the wall heater.  Yeah, I bet that wall heater was installed in the 1950s too :-)

Love, 365 

 

And now onto our regularly scheduled program......

 

The Festival is done!  I have been enjoying the ability to schedule my own day's events.  

It was a great event, and I believe we experienced a record breaking turn out.  We sold out of many of our pastries, including the tsoureki (sweet bread).  The items we have left over will be given to our GOYA chapter for a fundraiser they have this coming Sunday.  We made way too much baklava cheesecake, and not enough kourabiedes.  Why do the popular ones have to be the ones that are so darn messy?  There's no getting away from baking those without powdered sugar on your clothes and shoes.  I think we also had chocolate dipped paximadia left over too, which is surprising.   

 

 

This is the scene before the official opening....which doesn't include the variety packs, or the two refrigerators packed with the cheesecake.  

I also had greeting and single baklava sales duty.  Wow, it was really busy on Sunday, when supplies of everything else were running low.  It is a bit exhausting.  

**********

Not sure if it was stress or allergies, but I have had these ugly red splotches on my neck and face.  The dermatologist has theories on what could be causing them, so I had more biopsies this past Monday.  They are tiny punch biopsies, but you should have seen the dressings I walked out with.  Ugh.  In the meantime he gave me an rx for a cream to put on twice a day until they get the results from the lab.    Luckily they disappear if I wear makeup, so I don't look like a plague victim, haha.
 

Of course, we have all the International Balloon Fiesta traffic, and beautiful sights like the splash and dash.  From what I gather, it is not easy to do!  This is not my photo, but it is taken here in Albuquerque.  We are all grateful for the rains we had weeks ahead of the event, as the Rio Grande is not so grand when it's dry, and it has been dry for months.  

 

 

I tried my hand at making Japanese milk bread (named so for the obvious ingredient, haha).  It is, well, different.  You take a small amount of flour, water and milk and put it over a low flame, stirring until it is thickened, and once cooled you add it to the rest of the dough.  It looks like 4 small loaves squished together into a loaf pan, and that is exactly what you do.  Not sure if it's a traditional process, or if it contributes to the structure of the dough, but it's yummy.  Soft on the inside with a thin crispy crust.  I will try again, but this time I'll be more mindful of getting the mini loaves closer to the same size....not that it makes any difference in the taste!  

 

****In today's mail, was a wonderful letter informing me that our current Medicare Advantage plan will end as of December 31st.  Our immediate reaction was panic, but after a few hours of discussion with them, and other Advantage plans, we felt a little better.  I won't be able to see the primary care that has been seeing me for years, but truthfully I was beginning to feel less thrilled in the past couple of years.  The main problem is medications.  Because I just recently refilled the most important ones, I won't be able to refill them toward the end of December.  So, right after my new plan (which I haven't chosen as of yet) goes into effect, I will be scrambling to find a new primary care to have these prescriptions refilled.  I'm contacting my physician to see if there is anything that can be done, but as far as I understand it, the insurance won't refill a prescription if they determine you have at least a week's worth.  And as the stress wears off and my brain starts working again, I think of my hematologist and a couple of other doc's I see occasionally.  The thought of changing all of those physicians makes my skin crawl.  

 

Isn't getting older so thrilling?  I asked the representative from our current plan why they decided to terminate their plans ~ because it isn't just our plan but all their plans.  And of course, it's money.  Not surprising.  

 

Here's hoping I can fall asleep tonight!!

 

Love, 365