Have you ever been to Imperial Beach, California? In 2004, we went on a family vacation and really had a wonderful time! You can read about it in my guest post over at Hotelcoupons.com.
Guest Post At Hotelcoupons.com
Gluten Free Chicken Salad Recipe
I have been trying to come up with quick and easy things to make for dinner, as I am still not back to my normal self, and still on pain meds. This chicken salad took less than 30 minutes to prepare using leftover roasted chicken, and it tasted really good.As always, make sure all your ingredients are labeled gluten free.
Gluten Free Chicken Salad
2 cups chopped chicken
1 cup pico de gallo
1 avocado, diced
juice of 1/2 lime
3.4 cup mayonaise
Chop the chicken finely, put into a large bowl. Cut the avocado in half, remove pit, and peel. Dice into small pieces. Squeeze the lime juice over the avocado. Add avocado, pico de gallo, and mayonaise to the chicken, stir to mix well. Refrigerate at least one hour. Serve with tostitos.
The Little Things
When I was still in the hospital, I was desperate for a pony tail holder. My hair was driving me crazy–I couldn’t wash it for almost a month except for a “chemical” wash in a thing like a shower cap. One day a volunteer came in to deliver my mail, and asked if there was anything she could do for me. I told her if she could get me a pony tail holder, I would be forever grateful. And she found one! It was one of the most wonderful moments of my life to be able to put my hair up! Thank you, mam, for your volunteer service at the hospital.
Also while I was in the hospital, I received mail. I got mail every day. When the volunteer came in to deliver my mail, they always said “You get more mail than anyone in this hospital.” In all, I got more than a hundred pieces of mail. There were so many cards and letters, and drawings from the sender’s children. Some days, all the pieces of mail were in yellow envelopes. Some days they were all in purple envelopes. And on one day all the mail I received was from former members of Girl Scout Troop 147, which I was the leader of from 1984 until 1990. I was amazed that those girls still thought of me after all this time.
Getting all that mail meant so much to me. It made me feel less alone, and more loved, than any of you who took the time to write my name on an envelope and stick a stamp on it will ever know. Being in a hospital 2000 miles from your family and friends, and 200 miles from your home, is a very lonely time. Getting all that mail really helped me feel better.
Another small thing was a phone call from Elaine, who I worked with at BellSouth back in the late 1980’s. She is one of my Facebook friends, and we tried to meet up for dinner a couple of years ago before the Zappa Plays Zappa concert in Atlanta, but things got too busy and we were only able to talk for a few minutes at the concert. She called me to tell me that she, too, had a colostomy back in 199o something. She talked about how she coped with it, and gave me some good advice. Mostly, for me, it was something I really needed at the time–to know that I was not alone and that there was someone who I could talk to at any time. Thank you, Elaine!
And last, I received 218 text messages from so many different people. I normally don’t text–I have email and Facebook, and use those almost exclusively to communicate with my family and friends. But when they put the first tube in my throat, I sent out a message that I would not be able to talk so if anyone wanted to say something to me, they should send a text message. And boy did they ever. Those texts, at all hours of the day and night, really helped me feel like people had not forgotten me.
So, yes, all of these are little things, but had huge impact on me. Thank you to everyone who reached out in some way. Every little thing helped me feel better.
A Few Pics From My Recent Travels
Fabgrandpa have been traveling between Flagstaff and the North Rim every week for the last three weeks. I have been taking a few photos here and there, but have not posted many of them. That trip wears me out, and I spend the day after we get back in bed all day resting and recuperating.
I finally felt good enough last night to go through the pics on my camera. So, for your viewing pleasure, here are a few:
Another Trip To Flagstaff
We had to go to Flagstaff again this week for my follow up appointment with the surgeon. They took out more of the stitches but not all. There is one place that is a skin fold that is not healing as quickly as the rest of the incision. I have lost another 3 pounds since last week, for a total of 39 pounds lost since this ordeal began. My doctor wants me to loose about 46 more pounds. I hope I can. We made another appointment in two weeks for them to look at it again. Other than that one place, everything looks great and I am doing quite well, considering the extent of my surgery.
Because Travel Lodge messed up our room reservation last time and were not very accommodating about it, we decided to try a different hotel. This time we chose Springhill Suites by Marriott. I called the location in Flagstaff directly instead of calling the 800 number or reserving online, because I wanted to be sure that I got a handicap accessible room that would sleep three adults, because Becky is here taking care of me. I even spoke to the general manager, and he assured me that we would have a room with grab bars in the bathroom and a shower large enough to fit my shower chair.
When we arrived, the room did have the handicap accessible amenities that I needed, but it only had one king bed. Fabgrandpa was very upset and told them in no uncertain terms that it was not acceptable. They finally did accommodate us, by giving us the adjoining room for Becky at no additional charge. There was a door between the rooms that made it easy to just walk back and forth between the rooms. However, the A/C unit in our room did not work. It was hot and uncomfortable.
Becky went down and talked to the people at the desk, and they offered to move us to another handicap accessible room one floor up. So, Becky kept the room she was given to start with, and Fabgrandpa and I moved up one floor.And we found out that when making a reservation for a specific type of room, you have to ask the clerk you are talking with to “block” the room. If a room is blocked, they can not change you to another room. Personally, I do not understand how a hotel or motel can change your room from a handicap accessible room to a different kind of room. Who is going to specifically ask for a handicap room if they don’t need it? I certainly wouldn’t and never have.
After all that was done, and we were situated, I have to say that it was a very nice room. The bathroom was large, with grab bars by the toilet and in the shower stall.
Their was also a built in shower chair, which was very nice to have. There was a telephone next to the toilet, too. The sleeping room was huge! And what a comfortable bed!
Even with all the hassle at check in and with the non working A/C in the first room, I would stay there again. The regular rate for this hotel is $129 a night, but with a medical discount it came to $84 plus tax, making it $92.
While we were in Flagstaff, we went to New Frontiers for some groceries and supplies. I love that store! They always arrange their produce to be so pretty! I got some chard, which I love, and some basil and fresh mozzarella cheese. I took advantage of their electric cart to get around the store:
Time In ICU
I know I promised a post about my stay in the ICU a while back, but to be perfectly honest–I don’t remember much about those days. It wasn’t until I received a copy of my medical records from the hospital yesterday that I found out what happened during that time.
If you have never heard of ICU Psychosis, Let just tell you a little bit about it. ICU psychosis is a condition that causes patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) or a similar setting to experience serious psychiatric symptoms. ICU psychosis is also a form of delirium, or acute brain failure.
There are a number of reasons why ICU patients develop ICU Psychosis: Sensory Deprivation, Sleep Deprivation, Stress, and Medical Monitoring, are listed among environmental causes. Medical causes add to the list with pain, critical illness, medication reactions and side effects, infection, and dehydration. All of these things added together can cause a patient in ICU to develop serious psychosis responses.
So, you ask, what are the symptoms of ICU Psychosis? They include extreme excitement, anxiety, restlessness, hearing voices, hallucinations, nightmares, paranoia, disorientation, agitation, delusions, and abnormal behaviour.
Although I don’t recall much from my time in ICU, I do remember quite well some of the ridiculous things I did and experienced while there. I can not begin to imagine how much distress and worry I caused my family because of this.
My daughter, Becca, lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I called her in the middle of the night ten times in a row, begging her to come and get me out of the hospital. I was convinced that her dog, Ilex, was sitting right outside the door to my room in ICU, so I was calling her to come and sit with me. Of course, in reality, neither Becca or Ilex were there.
I dreamed that I got a letter from a woman who told me that my husband was her boyfriend. I was so convinced that I got that letter that I was calling my children and step-daughter to tell them about it. I never took into consideration that Fabgrandpa and I live in a 32 foot RV trailer, and spend twenty four hours a day, seven days a week together, so there was no way at all that this could be true. And of course, that “letter” that I supposedly received was never found in the gigantic stack of mail that I did receive.
One of my best friends in the world works as a special agent for Department of Homeland Security. I called her one night, telling her that the hospital staff in ICU was trying to kill me, and that she needed to come to Flagstaff (from Florida) to arrest them all and take them to jail. I was thoroughly convinced that the nurses and doctors on staff were taking bets on what time I would die. Exceptionally crazy? Yes, I think so now, but at the time, I was convinced.I also thought she actually came to the hospital, and I could hear her talking out in the hallway. And of course, she wasn’t there.
I called all my friends and family, begging them to come and get me out of the hospital. Several times. Thinking back on it now, I think they never should have allowed me to have my cellphone with me in ICU, and If I ever wind up there again, they should take my phone until I am over the worst of things.
On the first day that I was out of ICU, I was determined to leave the hospital. I was wearing only a hospital gown and a colostomy bag, had no clothes, no truck, no money, but I was determined to leave. I tried to get up out of the bed, and only succeeded in messing up my colostomy bag and had to have the bed changed and be cleaned up by the nurses on duty.
On the second day, I pulled the NG tube out of my nose. When I did that, I immediately started throwing up all over my bed and myself. Again, the nurses and patient care techs had to change my bed and clean my up. After that ordeal, I got very hot, so I took off my hospital gown and laid in bed naked. IN the morning, a nurse came in and told me that I was being monitored via a camera in the ceiling. She said that they had observed me laying there with no clothes on all night, and she wanted me to know.
After that, I tried my best to behave and cooperate with the doctors and nurses, so I could get better enough to come home.
Your Reputation
How many times have you heard that your reputation is you? Your reputation is one of the most valuable assests you can have. When you are dependable, honest, and keep your promises, your reputation can be impeccable. When you are less than honest, and don’t carry through when you give your word, your reputation becomes tarnished.
Just as your actions in real life can boost or degrade your reputation, things that are being said about you online, whether true or not, can also affect your reputation. Anyone can go online and write anything they want to about you, and often times you won’t even know about it. Maybe someone with a name the same as or similar to yours is a not so honest person. They may write untrue or shady information, and it can be attributed to you because the name is the same.
A new website, Reputation.com, can help you find what is being written or said about you on the internet. When you sign up, you input your profile information, then search for items about you on the internet. Once items are found that the program thinks is you, you can choose an option called “not me” to remove items that are not about you. This looks like a good way to clean up and monitor your reputation online.
One Nurse Who Made A Difference
During my hospital stay that lasted from May 10th thru June 12th, 34 days, I had many many nurses who took care of me. When I came out of ICU into a regular room on the 3rd floor, I was experiencing some depression and anxiety. I was also still on morphine, and was not thinking straight because of it.Of all the nurses and patient care technicians I met, one stood out as exceptional in my mind.
Her name was Karen, same as my name. She took extra time to just talk to me, to soothe my anxiety, to just be a person and not just a nurse. In my drugged state, I know I asked some weird questions, and said some nonsense things, but Karen never laughed or dismissed me. She truly tried to help me in a personal way.
On one particular day, I misread or misunderstood something that was written on my daily agenda. I thought that because I had failed to complete a certain number of exercises on that day, that I had no hope of recovering from my surgery. Isn’t is funny how we can misinterpret things when we are on drugs? Anyway, I was trying to explain to Karen what I was talking about, and trying to ask her if there was anything else I could do to “catch up” or disregard the outcome of the lack of meeting the goal.
Karen took the time to explain that my “failure” was not really a failure to anyone but me in my mind, that the goals written by the doctor were not absolute, just what they would like for me to be able to do by the end of the day. Not reaching the goal did not doom me to being in the hospital forever.
Because she was so friendly, so caring, so human, I want to do something, like maybe send a Interflora gifts for her. I know I felt like I didn’t thank my healthcare providers enough throughout my stay at the hospital, and feel like sending a special thank you to someone who made me feel sane would be in order.
