On Hold

 On October 14th, my spine doctor and I agreed to schedule a lumbar laminectomy. However, on October 17th, 18th, and 19th I had blood in my stool. My primary care doctor said she would not sign the clearance for surgery form until the cause of blood could be found.

Today I saw a doctor to schedule an upper GI endoscopy. That was the procedure for which the referral was made. However, after reviewing the "symptoms" he said he felt a colonoscopy should be done as well. I had been taking Aleve once a day for about 9 months but have stopped taking any NSAID or aspirin. If at least part of my problem is an ulcer, stopping these meds should help.

The earliest date available is November 22nd. Since both procedures will be done on that day, I have to do the prep for the colonoscopy on November 21st. 

With the Thanksgiving holiday, I am sure the results will not be transmitted to my main doctor until the last week of November. So the earliest any back surgery could be done would be mid-December. That assumes the treatment for the "blood problem" is not complicated.

The back surgery is on hold until my doctor feels confident about signing the clearance form. It is going to be a long wait. I have to trust that this is God's plan; it surely isn't the timing I would plan for myself.

A big downside is that the outdoor walking they want you to do after surgery will not be fun in January. I have no control over speeding things up, though I could put the back surgery off a few more months I guess. Going with the flow, but the flow is slow.

Autumn colors, pottery, loons

 Today we drove to Columbia City which still has a Richards Restaurant similar to the one we liked in Warsaw that shut down. We took Old 30 (Lincoln Highway) until we came to a section shut down by road work. South to Highway 30, but then at Indiana 5 we turned north toward Old 30 again. We wanted to enjoy the fall foliage. Actually Indiana 5 had one of the nicest stretches of colorful trees right off of Highway 30. 

When we arrived home, we noticed that we have some nice color right in our neighborhood. The fothergilla bush has turned yellow just as I predicted last week.

It is 75 degrees and sunny. When I finish this post, I am going to sit on our front porch and read a book. It is windy, but the porch is somewhat sheltered. 

As I looked down at my feet while taking the photo of the above tree, I saw one of the bright red leaves that had fallen from our backyard maple. The wind yesterday and today and probably tomorrow is going to knock more leaves from the limbs.

I moseyed down the west side of our house and was surprised to find a hydrangea bloom and some other colorful leaves with blooms. Since I hardly ever enjoy those plants because I don't walk around out there, I snipped them for a vase inside.

I cut down the Veronica (speedwell) and pulled up the last of the moss roses yesterday. Now the cheddar pinks are all that remain in our patio plot.

One of my neighbors is going from a conventional brick house owned by Grace Village to one of its apartments. She had a moving sale this weekend. I bought a piece of pottery and a book. She has lots of big furniture to get rid of (two dining tables, a stand-alone fireplace, side tables). 

Monterey Jade pottery was made in the Carmel Valley and sold in gift shops in Monterey and Carmel-by-the-Sea mostly from the 1940's to the 1960's. Since it incorporates my favorite color (blue), I paid the $2 and brought it home. I don't know what I am going to do with it. I have some places it could be displayed, but right now I have fall decor out. It does look especially lovely with light coming through the window of the sunporch bringing out its iridescence. 

The other item I bought at the sale was a book about loons. I have never seen nor heard a loon in nature; I have just seen them in movies, etc. This goes through the whole life cycle. I think it will be fun to learn about these intriguing birds.

Changes All Around

 

The cold nights this past week have brought on the fall colors. I don't ever remember my neighbor's hydrangea bush having such bright leaves in the 4 or 5 years since it was planted. 

He is not home right now. He went to Kentucky to propose marriage to his lady friend. They have been burning up the phone lines the past 5-6 months (well figuratively because I think that they use their cell phones). He told us he would be gone 2 weeks, but we have heard that they went ahead and tied the knot. He and his new bride will return around Thanksgiving. I met her this summer when she visited and stayed in a guest apartment. This is marriage two for her (she is a widow) and marriage 3 for him (his previous 2 wives are deceased). He knew her and her husband in the past. She has no children; some of his children live near Winona Lake so they decided to move her to Indiana.

In just one week the fothergilla leaves have put on their red shawls. I think by the end of next week the central leaf will turn yellow. It makes for a pretty contrast.

My backyard maple whose leaves normally turn a dull yellow and brownish red is the brightest since we moved here 11 years ago.

That is my house in the background. This tree is usually vibrant in the fall. It's working on presenting a finished picture. It has been windy today and yesterday. Because the leaves are still firmly attached there have been few falling, but next week will probably start the downward floating.

I love autumn. We are in the middle of all its glory now.

This morning my spine doctor and I agreed to schedule surgery. No date picked yet. I have to get clearance from my primary care doctor, have an EKG and some labs done, and get authorization from my insurance company. Probably by the end of next week I will know more. He at one time mentioned doing some fusion with rods and screws, but on this visit he said a simple laminectomy would suffice. That makes for a shorter less complicated operation though it will probably still include 2-3 levels. He will remove bone spurs and do cleanup besides removing the back layer of lamina to decompress the nerves. 

 Because I had quite a bit less pain in my legs after the steroid injections, he seemed encouraged there would be a good outcome. He said the back pain itself may or may not get better. Of course, the surgery will do nothing for the spinal arthritis and there will be more degeneration down the road. But for now I am going to focus on the potential for standing longer and walking farther. I have missed out on so many activities this past year. 

Before our first hard freeze this past week, I clipped the last rose on my front bush. It has a little stem coming out the side with a tightly closed bud. The main flower started dropping petals Wednesday; the bud has opened; it truly is the last rose of the season.

Bits and Pieces of Past Roles

 As I am sorting through and disposing of "clutter", I have come across things that were useful to me at one time, but which I haven't used for years.

At our Dallas church I created flyers to publicize the ladies' Bible study. The church installed plexiglass holders on the inside of the women's bathroom stalls as well as having a central bulletin board. I tried to tie the theme to the season or the subject matter of the study. I never used the entire packet of decorative paper; sometimes I would use the same paper again during my two-year stint. Having been gone from Dallas for 15 years now, I find I rarely have a need for these papers. I am taking them to give-and-take table at Grace Village tomorrow. If I had timed it better, they could have been part of the swap shop, but I didn't sort these until this weekend. I did keep some solid-colored paper in various hues.

For a while as I managed the Grace Village library, I had somebody helping me with the hall bulletin board. However, for most of the almost 8 years of serving in this role, I decorated it. I used some of the paper above for poems or announcements or lists, photocopied book covers (the front desk receptionist was kind enough to copy them in color at no charge), or added seasonal/holiday decor. The framed corkboard was maybe 5 x 5 feet. It had a plexiglass "ledge" at the bottom where books could be displayed as well. Time to get rid of the bits still stored in my home. I do not foresee doing bulletin boards anywhere. They are good candidates for decluttering.

October Surprises

 When my husband returned from the Robin Hood workshop, he brought a stained-glass autumn leaf suncatcher made by one of the shop guys. The gift was totally unexpected.

We are having really nice autumn weather: days are sunny 65-70 degrees, nights are in the 40's. This should last through Wednesday re the forecasts. It does make it difficult to know what kind of blanket to have on the bed. I have my electric blanket on my bed, but I didn't turn it on last night at all. In fact, I had it folded down by my feet until about 6 this morning. Too heavy. The sun warms up the house nicely, and we don't need the furnace. Apparently, I don't need an electric blanket right now either.

I still read Ann Voskamp's blog regularly. She has guest posters, especially if they have a new book to publicize. A few days ago, she had Clutter Fix by Shannon Acheson. I decided to search Hoopla, but I didn't really expect to see it there as the book was published mid-September. Surprise! Not only the e-book but an audio edition was available.

 This is written by a Christian lady with a Biblical perspective. In the introduction she says that "sparking joy" does not work for everybody. (Guess we know she is not a fan of Marie Kondo). I am quite sure she won't be asking me to say goodbye to my stuff and wish it a happy new life so its feelings are not hurt. 

Do I really need to read another book on decluttering? Actually, my condo looks good, but when/if we move into an apartment in 4-5 years, all of my things won't fit. They will be clutter. Even some of my furniture will have to be replaced by smaller pieces, e.g., the dining table and chairs. I am fortunate that we have "swap shop" two times a year and the give-and-take table at Grace Village. It makes it easier to discard items. Also, the Robin Hood garage sale in June where GV paid the ad. I did take some unsold items to Goodwill. Working with the future in view motivates current action.

Mrs. Acheson has some lists and exercises to identify why an individual hangs onto clutter and what kind of organizing works for a particular kind of person. I have just started the book so will have to share more later; I just wanted to share the surprise that such a new book was available free to me on Hoopla. The book also gives an address to a blog that has the lists to print out since I cannot photocopy from my Galaxy Tablet. I am looking forward to seeing what the author has to share.