An update

Before I left for the Yard Sale I had seriously been in the Christmas mood.  Bought some Christmas fabric for a quilt (yes, I'm actually sewing a quilt), listened to Christmas music for hours on end and made soup.  Well, maybe soup isn't that Christmas-y but it sure makes me think of Fall!

When I got home I made several batches of soup... lentil and white bean mushroom.  Jeff leaves for New Orleans soon so I need to make sure I have food squirreled away to eat.  I tend to NOT eat when Jeff is gone, and that's not good.  Need to fill my belly with yummy stuff.

I'm so glad I did The World's Longest Yard Sale this year.  It was SO much fun.  Didn't see much "shit on a tarp."  This year's theme was "junk in a barn."  We drove from Michigan to Kentucky.  Ohio has some really beautiful farmland.  And farmhouses.  Really... who hasn't envisioned themselves in some old farmhouse with cozy furniture and a kitchen always filled with baked goods?  Kentucky has beautiful hills and horses, which was a welcome change after flat fields of corn and cow manure smell.  There was a lot of mask-wearing in Ohio :-)  We quickly learned that the best places to stop were churches.  They always had food and bathrooms.  The junk wasn't so great, but the bathrooms made up for that.

I found some awesome treasures.  I paid $1 to $5 for most things... and then paid tons of money to ship everything home.  Still cheaper than buying the stuff on Etsy (at least that's what I told myself).  And I can't find stuff like what I found at most Estate Sales or Thrift Stores.  Well, maybe, if the fortune gods shine on me.  But who has time to wait for that?  I had a blast sorting through tons of junk.  I didn't take pics of the stuff I bought but I'll include pics of the stuff I did NOT buy.  Tee hee.

Actually, the best birthday present I could have gotten was my Dad paying to ship most of my stuff home.  Best birthday present ever.  The second best present will be seeing Jeff's face when he sees all of the packages coming in.  HAHAHAHA!  Why yes, I did need that solid wooden bucket with 3 legs to hold my knitting projects next to the couch.

I am waiting on the insurance approval for my reflux surgery (going on 3 weeks of waiting).  Glad I did my little vacay and didn't hang around hoping the surgery would be scheduled.  Really hoping Tricare is willing to pay for Linx.  That would make me pretty happy (and maybe worth the almost 3 month wait while my breathing just keeps declining).

I was approved to change my Primary Care Doctor to UCSD!!!!  Oh, happy day.  No more military civilian doc who has NO clue about transplant.  Frustrating doesn't even begin to describe it.  I was able to get an Internal Medicine doc.  I see her on Sept 30, so I really hope I like her.  Plus she'll have access to all my UCSD records.  What a concept!

I saw my transplant doc today.  We changed some meds around, talked about the reflux surgery probably not helping too much at this point and then we discussed re-transplant.  I would only need one lung this time (I asked if they would be so kind as to take my left lung since it hasn't really ever felt that great).  There is still hope that my numbers can come back up a bit, but I'm getting pretty low and the breathing is getting very difficult.  It's easier to turn off the re-transplant than start it too late and then I'd be too sick to qualify.  I really hope I don't need to go that route, though.  We are all still holding onto a small glimmer of hope that fixing the reflux, changing my meds and doing the photopheresis will stop my decline and maybe improve my lung function, which is at 40% right now.

But my mantra is "It's still better than PH."  When they get equally as horrible then I'll know I'm really in a shitty situation.  I don't ever want a central IV again.  Ever.  But it's really amazing what I'm willing to let doctors and nurses do to me just so I can stay alive.

I'm a little concerned about Jeff's upcoming 7 month "deployment."  But, in the words of his prior CO, "I can only piss on the fire closest to my boot."  So for now I'll keep fighting for the reflux surgery and hope that helps my breathing.  Then we can worry about the rest of the stuff.  I kind of think the ship and his guys need him more than I do.  I never cease to be amazed at the idiocy of SWOs.  Jeff won't cry then this tour is over, that's for sure.

I'm tired (big surprise) so I'm off to take a nap.  But before I go here are those pics I promised of the stuff I did NOT buy.  Now, you might have some feelings of jealousy as you look at these... wishing you could have seen them in person.  I understand, I understand.  I'm a little jealous of the person who will actually purchase them.

"Palsy Jesus"  His hands and feet were like that, which made it even more funny.  To me anyway.

Sand filled alien.  Don't know why he reminds me of that song "E.T." by Kanye West and Katy Perry.

ACK! WTH?

Ahhh... the buzzard with real feathers.  I really wanted this one.  Haha!

Anne and I stopped by the Buffalo Trace distillery when we were in Kentucky.  Did you know they make Blanton's?  Oh, yes.  Did you also know that all of the horses on top of the Blanton's bottles have letters by the back hoof?  There are 8 different horses, in different positions with the jockey in different positions also.  This reflects the Kentucky Derby.  All 8 horses have a different letter.  They spell Blanton's.  Yup.  Go look at your bottle.  Check the hoof.  Now you know which letters you need.  Did you know that you can buy moonshine in Kentucky?  It's legal.  Maybe you can buy it everywhere... who knows.  But I bought some blackberry.  Meh... I've had better moonshine.  I also bought some Mint Julep Makers Mark.  That's the stuff they serve at the Kentucky Derby.  That shit is delicious.  

Off to the land of slumber and dreams!