He's my heartbeat

Larry had his ablation Monday.  We got there at 6:00 AM and they took him back at 8:00 sharp. They had told us the procedure would last anywhere from two to four hours.  I went to the family waiting room with our overnight bag, my pillow and my new Nordstrom blanket and I laid down on a small couch in there, watched a little of the morning national news and snoozed a bit.  I had zero anxiety over this procedure.  I was completely at peace.  Oh, I prayed, don't get me wrong, but I just had peace about it.  I knew he'd be okay.  The patient rep lets you know what's going on every hour so at 8:17, she came and told me they had started, at 9:15, he was doing great and at 9:45, he was done!  I grabbed our stuff and went to the recovery room where they were bringing him back to.  He was coming off the anesthesia while I talked to the doctor and found out that everything went great, the area that was causing all the trouble was located and frozen and hopefully, there would be no more AFib.  Larry's had an irregular heartbeat as long as he can remember, since he was a little boy, but as he's gotten older, it's gotten worse and a recent monitoring session we did through the VA showed that he was in AFib 70% of the time.  No wonder he felt so bad!  He wasn't getting very much of that really good oxygen-filled blood flow.  We got to a room around 12:00 and we just spent the night.  My sweet friend, Debbie, came twice to check on the boys and let Banjo out to potty.  (I am so very grateful for my friends.  They have been amazing, through all that's gone on the past year, always there to help out and bring food and coffee or whatever.)  I took a few pictures while we were camping out in the "Heart Tower".  We got NO sleep.  You know you can't sleep in a hospital!  It wasn't bad at all, though.  I slept on a pullout sofa next to Larry's bed with my blanket and pillow.  He was in a lot of pain at first, chest pain from the procedure and having to lay flat for four hours. The AFib showed back up Tuesday morning and his heart rate zoomed to scary levels!  It brought all the nurses in our room.  They told us that was to be expected, though, at first, and it should calm down but they still monitored him very closely over the next several hours.  They put Larry on another med to help with that and sent us home around 2:00.  All in all, I think we both received excellent care at the Luce Heart Institute.  Couldn't ask for better!  They should add my mama's name to a wing in that heart center.  She had two open heart surgeries and countless heart caths and angioplasties there.  Long before the "Heart Tower" came to be.  

I posted this pic on Instagram and commented that I don't have any tattoos but if I was to get one someday, it'll be Larry's heartbeat over my left breast.  His heartbeat over mine.  There's no other tattoo I'd want.

This picture made me laugh so hard.  This boy was ready to GO!

Thank you, Lord, for modern medical technology, that allows doctors to know how to fix things and help us when our bodies fail.  

August

And the foot saga continues.  

I had an MRI last Friday because I'm still in pain and my foot is swelling.  I went for my last (I hope!) appointment at the Wound Care Center yesterday and my wound has finally closed up and healed, just a couple of tiny scabbies but I think it's going to be okay now.  It's scarred so badly that the doctor said yesterday when she looked at it, "Look at your poor little foot".  

I was supposed to get the PICC line out yesterday, too, but the doc decided to wait until I see my foot doctor (tomorrow) as the MRI showed fluid still in the joint AND a torn ligament.  The same ligament that was repaired in November.  The repair didn't work.  He put in two corkscrew anchors and sutured the tear but the ligament just didn't attach.  I guess we knew that was a possibility but after everything I've been through, ending up with the same torn ligament was not what I expected.  I'll see the doctor tomorrow and we'll talk about my options.  I think it's time for another set of eyes to look at me and my MRI.  We'll see.

Larry's having a cardiac ablation next week, Monday, I hope.  We were set to go last week but there was a hiccup with the insurance and the VA and the doctor's office so we had to reschedule.  I cannot tell y'all how irritated that made me.  I cannot STAND incompetence.  Don't schedule a procedure until you have all your little ducks lined up.  Just me??

School started back here today.  That's just crazy early to me.  We always went back at the end of August.  Oh well, no back to school at our house!  Except the kids who wait at the bus stop Larry made for them.  Our house is a neighborhood bus stop and Larry made a little bench for the kids to wait on.  And the bus actually stops there!  Soooo cute.

It's still summer here!  I hope we get to the beach this month or at least by the time I start lighting pumpkin candles.  I need some vitamin SEA!!

***UPDATE***  I have TWO completely torn ligaments and a torn tendon.  The same ones that were repaired in November.  The repairs did not take.  Or hold.  Or what-the-hell-ever.  I'm DONE.  Doc says he did everything that could be done and I'm going to start physical therapy and pray that helps.  Six weeks of it did not help seven years ago when I first broke my foot but I'm willing to try again.  Maybe there's different care now.  Different things they can do.  I'm going back to work next month and we reserved a villa at the beach for later this month.  Life is gonna go on around here.

Call me a porch cat but just don't call me late for supper

Here are two of our porch cats, having their supper.

I love Daisy's face!  Sweet girl.  And her mama, Clemmie, who just hangs out here with us all day every day.  We haven't been able to catch her yet.  She's too smart! She's letting me get awfully close lately so maybe I can grab her soon.  I don't know what I'll do with her when I do, though!  I gotta come up with a plan.

My summer haul

So THIS is what I've been up to these past few months (aside from building a family tree for Larry and me on ancestry.com, where I've taken us back on both sides of the family to the 1500's!  That has been so much fun.  I've found out some really cool things about our families!  But that's a whole 'nother blog post.)

Yes, I've been bored but I didn't buy one thing that I can't and won't use and haven't worn or used.  I love everything I've gotten!

Let's start with Amazon, shall we??

Cute little lemon yellow sundress

One of my two bathing suits (I don't look like THAT in it, obviously, but Larry let out a whistle when I tried it on and that's ALL that counts)

THE most comfy pajamas ever!  I bought another pair in the pink and yellow tie dye but they're too big.  I sized down one and this set was perfect!

Drybar Prep Rally detangler.  I really like this stuff!  I don't use conditioner in the summer but I still need something light to spray on and detangle.  This does the trick!

Lilly Pulitzer market bag

Cat eye heart sunglasses.  Squeeeee!

I found these all on my own.  I needed a sticky bra for all these cute summer clothes and these work great!  And it looks like a bunny rabbit!

This stuff has changed my makeup game!

On to Target...

These shorts are AMAZING!!!  I got them in both the medium and dark wash.  They are sooooo comfortable!!  And stretchy.  And they're on sale this week!

I have a couple of these spaghetti strap tops.  Larry got me this one for my birthday.  Cute as a button!

And I got this one the other day when I was in there.

This dress is THE summer dress!!  It just came out last week and it sold out in stores in two days and today, it's not online so I'm guessing it completely sold out.  It's a baby doll style, leopard print (obsessed!) and it is so super soft and comfortable.  I wore mine to church last Sunday.  Soooo comfy.

Larry got me this sweet little dress for my birthday, too.  LOVE my t-shirt dresses!

I ordered this one online.  And the camo one.  In love!!  They're identical in style, just two different colors.

At Walmart, I got this adorable blue bathing suit and skort to wear as a cover.

I got this gray t-shirt dress, too.

I picked up three of these vintage cotton v-neck tees from J. Crew in the spring.  I got them 3 for $30 (on sale!  They're $30 EACH usually, um, hell no) and I love the fit and how they look and all but the gray one has holes at the bottom so now it gets slept in.  I got white, gray and pink.  I hope the other two hold up better.  The gray was my favorite!

Before I heard about Nordstrom's BIG Anniversary Sale, I got these super cute sunglasses.  I LOVE them.  I wear 'em every Wednesday when I go to the doctor.  That's the extent of my gettin' out.  Ha!

So that's my haul.  Most of it, anyway.  I've gotten shampoo and makeup, jewelry, bras and panties and stuff like that, too.  Just livin' my best life, shopping and collecting boxes and bags off the porch.

I gotta get back to work.

What I bought at the BIG Nordstrom Anniversary Sale!

Y'all.  I need to go back to work.  Like, this afternoon.  I have spent all spring and summer following a bunch of influencers on Instagram and they have talked me into all sorts of trouble purchases.

My go-to for summer lounging clothes has been Target and Walmart.  They've had THE cutest t-shirt dresses this year!  I know 'cause I have FIVE now.  Plus sunglasses, hair care, skin care, pjs, shorts, summer tops and bathing suits, omg, I have bought TWO new bathing suits.

Because we ARE going to the beach.  Eventually.  They cute, too.  I'll have to do another blog about my summer haul!  That's what they call it.  A haul.  I'm a Hall, too, so I'm just over here living my TRUTH.  

But the BIG Nordstrom Anniversary Sale???  You ain't an influencer if you don't cover Nordstrom's summer sale!!  First time I've EVER heard of it.  It actually starts today for everybody, you don't even have to be a cardholder.  Well, I didn't wait for today.  I got me a card!  Two weeks ago.  Shhhh.  And for my trouble me becoming a new customer, they gave me $40 to spend.  And spend it I did.

This is what I got!

Halogen V-Neck Tunic Tee 

It's a super-soft modal knit that is a little longer in the back to cover you if you were amply blessed in that area.  And I was.  It's sold out now, though.

Ab-solution Ripped High-Waist Ankle Skinny Jeans 

These jeans are LIFE!!  They are sooooo comfortable and nice and stretchy, just how I like jeans.  And I don't look like a busted can of biscuits in them.  Yay!  They are regularly $88 (I'D NEVER PAY THAT), on sale for $58 and they are in stock.  I used my $40 Nordstrom bonus for these and got 'em for $18.  That's what I'm talking 'bout! 

Benassi JDI Slide Sandal by Nike

I'm trying to get back into the whole wearing-shoes thing.  These are great!  I got the white and metallic bronze ones.

BP Cozy Joggers

These here things are my FAVORITE!!!  They're sold out in the leopard (another obsession I've got lately!) but they still have them in dark and light gray.  Oh my goodness, I can't even say enough about these pants.  They're so soft and so cozy and I cannot even wait for that first crisp fall Saturday that Larry and I get up, grab coffee and hit an estate sale!  I'll be wearing these babies ON THAT DAY.  I love 'em!!

And last but not least, the Kennebunk Bliss Plush Throw, like we needed another throw blanket but hey, I'll give one away to make room for this one!  It had great reviews and they had a pink one.  Meant to be!  It's always cold in the theater and this 50x60 throw will be perfect for that.  Or napping.  Or watching tv in my recliner.  Or wrapping Tabbie Hoffman up in just to piss him off.  We NEEDED it.

So that's what I got at my very first Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.  I have a feeling it'll be a summer occurence from now on.  It was fun and the prices were incredible.  And the best part??  I got to do it in my t-shirt dress, in the A/C, didn't have to fight the crowds or drive around for thirty minutes looking for a parking spot.  The perfect sale!

She wears her scars like a warrior...

...for they remind her that SHE SURVIVED.

The final cast came off my foot yesterday.  Thank you, Jesus!  It feels so good to be free of that thing.  My foot is still so jacked up and I don't know if it'll ever be "normal".  I still have pain in the joint and burning in my toes.  It's also popping and snapping like crazy and feels wobbly.  I am done, though.  It's just gonna have to get better on its own or get to some point where I can manage it and live a normal life.  

It's ugly.  Horribly scarred.  Red.  Still has a tiny opening.  But it looks SO MUCH BETTER than it did.  I'm using a vitamin E, coconut oil salve on it every day and I read that aloe helps fade scars, too.  We have a massive aloe plant out on the patio.  I don't know how much better it'll get but I'm going to help it all I can.  My skin graft scar is probably as good as it's going to get but I rub that salve on it every day, too.

My scars are my battle wounds, beautiful in their own way.  They show what I've been through and what I GOT THROUGH.  All the nights I told Larry, "I'm not going to survive this" and the pain, oh my God, the pain.  There were times, very dark scary nights, that I believed that I would not survive these wounds but I prayed so hard that I would.  And it looks like I did.  Or I'm going to!  God is so good to us.  

Here's my poor little war-torn foot.  It's been through so much trauma and I'm not putting it through any more.  No more cutting, no more messing with it.  It is what it is.  Whatever that turns out to be.

I'll wear these scars forever, as proof that our God HEALS.

Bonaire Porch Cats

There are a few houses in our neighborhood where feral kitties can find food, shelter, a kind word, a comfy pad or rug to nap on and safety.  Ours is one of them.

Currently, we are feeding and caring for five.  The first, a girl we call Clementine (Clemmie), started it all about three years ago.  She took up here and we started feeding her.  Before long, she brought her kittens and we fed them.  Life on the outside is hard on kitties and some of her babies have not survived.  We hope that some have moved on to other neighborhoods, been rescued and are still alive but we have no way of knowing that.  We take care of the ones who come to us and nobody goes hungry around here.  And you can always nap, no matter your species.

I've started taking pictures of them out on the porch and posting them on Instagram.  Bonaire Porch Cats is what I'm calling them.

Clemmie is getting old.  She's in rough shape with a mangled ear from various tom cats and she keeps pink eye.  We are attempting to catch her tomorrow and our neighbor has arranged for her to be spayed and her ear and eyes seen about.  Our neighbor also intends to rehome her to a family in the country.  I will miss her immensely but I want her to be happy.  I want her to live out her last days comfortable and safe.  No more toms and no more babies.

This is the best picture I've been able to get of her.  She just looks so sad.  Hang on, Clementine Ruby, help is on the way, baby.

Clemmie has one set of kittens who are almost a year old that still come around.  Daisy May and Delilah Jane.  They are identical so I have no idea which one this is.

And the wee babies, Lucky Joe and Lily Belle, who hitched a ride with us to the movies a couple of Sunday afternoons ago.  They were in the tire well of the truck, just chillin'.  Lily jumped down, jumped back up in there and was seen by a group of teenagers who waited beside the truck until we came out of the theater.  We were too afraid to try to force them out, for fear they'd run and we'd never catch them, so we left them in there and drove home, me frantically looking in the rearview mirror for one of them to fall out and get run over.  That caused me SO MUCH stress and anxiety!

I have become such a softy where these cats are concerned.  Larry, too.  He goes out in the mornings before leaving for work to feed them and I refresh their water bowls with cold water throughout the day.  And then we feed them again before bedtime.  There are several ladies in the neighborhood who also feed them but evil thrives everywhere and we've had people threaten the kitties, too.  We haven't seen a tom in months, just Clemmie and her four babies.

Anyway, here's Lucky, looking up at me from the flower bed.

He had just pooped and was saying, "why are you watching me potty?"  :)