by Judy Handley | Dec 19, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 353: Lost Day
Date: Tuesday, December 19, 2023
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 48, Low 30 F; Sunset 4:16 pm (+1)
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Today was just a lost day. The insulation work continued, but today not just the kitchen end of the house was involved. The entire house was under siege. I worked in the dining room as that was the only possibility. I got a few presents wrapped, but I honestly feel further behind tonight than when the day started. Let’s hope I can make up for lost time tomorrow. And speaking of time, we have stopped losing minutes of daylight in the afternoons and actually gained two minutes in the past week. The tide is turning.
by Judy Handley | Dec 18, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 352: Raging Coastal Storm, Surgery Date, Mass Saves
Date: Monday, December 18, 2023
Weather: Torrential Rain; High 58, Low 42 F; Sunset 4:15 pm (+/-0)
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Busy day here. The rain started last night and by this morning there was a full blown raging coastal storm. But despite the wind and the rain, the contractors from Mass Saves came today to begin a two-day project of properly insulating the main house that I live in and the attached studio apartment. I left early to take Shadow for his every 7 weeks grooming appointment and by the time I got back, I could barely get into my house. I snuck into the dining room and then on into the living room where I stayed for the next few hours. I had not planned well for this, but since I needed to spend a lot of time on the phone, it worked out fine. I got the return call from Dr. Papavasiliou’s surgery scheduler, and we set the date for the surgery as January 17, with pre-op and post-op appointments. A great big hurray for finalizing this. This surgery date required the cancellation of some other appointments, but I was not totally successful and will continue that process tomorrow.
My return trip to pick up Shadow allowed me to run a few errands along the way and get home in time to eat dinner and head to Heather and Jed’s to discuss ways they can help me ‘survive’ until the surgery and afterwards. We also talked a little about our upcoming trip to Maine for Christmas. Tomorrow I will wrap Christmas presents and maybe do a little shopping while Mass Saves finishes the work here. Then just take life one day at a time.
I found out today that my sister’s son-in-law had open heart surgery last Friday. He had evidently kept this a secret from most everyone. He is still in the hospital and is doing fine. Hopefully, he will be home for Christmas. And here’s hoping he is feeling good enough to enjoy it.
by Judy Handley | Dec 17, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 351: A Day of Music
Date: Sunday, December 17, 2023
Weather: Overcast, Then Windy and Pouring Rain; High 53, Low 51 F; Sunset 4:15 pm (+/-0)
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
It was a day filled with music. Ollie’s jazz band had another holiday concert at the Steeple Street Music Academy this afternoon. Last week’s concert was outside, but this one was inside with seating. The group consists of Nate on trumpet, Gavin on trombone, Watson on drums, Ollie on alto saxophone, plus their instructor, Andrew, on keyboard. They have named themselves the “Jazzmanian Devils” and today, like last week, they played Christmas music. It is so much fun to watch young jazz musicians in their first attempts at solo improvisations, especially to traditional Christmas music.
I made one stop on the way home to buy an outdoor light timer for my Christmas lights, then hurried home to play outside with Shadow before heading to the theater at Highfield for the Falmouth Theatre Guild performance of “It’s a Wonderful Life—The Musical.” The lead roles of George Bailey Mary and his wife were played by a very talented married couple offstage, as well as on. The production was really well done and certainly put the audience in the holiday spirit. But instead of snow when we exited the theater, we were greeted with pouring rain. It has stopped for now, but rain is in the forecast through tomorrow afternoon.
by Judy Handley | Dec 16, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 350: Shadow Passed the Dog Sitter Test
Date: Saturday, December 16, 2023
Weather: Sunny; High 50, Low 38 F; Sunset 4:15 pm (+1)
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
One decision was made today. Woohoo! Shadow passed the test this afternoon with Ric the dog sitter which means that I will be able to go to Maine to spend Christmas with Heather and family. Actually, Shadow was very well behaved and got along really well with Ric’s 14 year-old dog named Logan who Ric said can be a bit prickly. Shadow deferred and all was well. So, I will leave Shadow here with Ric this coming Friday to go to Revels in Cambridge with the family, spend the night in Cambridge, hopefully stop to have breakfast on Saturday morning with friends Detta and Tom in Greenland, NH, and be in Boothbay, Maine, by early afternoon. If all goes as planned, I will then start the drive home on the morning of December 26. No decision can be made about a surgery date until Monday when I can connect with the scheduling nurse, but I am hoping for Wednesday, January 17. I realize that is putting the surgery off a bit, which means more weeks of pain, but doing it any sooner just seems like a logistical nightmare—literally causing no sleep. But for now, I can focus on making sure I have things ready for Christmas and have the house ready to leave in Ric’s care.
Ollie came over this afternoon to help me with some chores. He played outside with Shadow, carried things to the basement, and then went with me to take bottles to recycling and to return a package to Walmart. I don’t know what I would do without all the help. For whatever reason, I could not sleep at all last night. I finally nodded off sometime after 4:15 am and woke up again at 6:00 am. I eventually went back to bed and slept until 10:00. I am hoping that the sleeplessness was just worry and now that things are a bit more settled, I can sleep tonight.
by Judy Handley | Dec 15, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 349: Holiday Luncheon with Friends
Date: Friday, December 15, 2023
Weather: Sunny and Warmer; High 49, Low 38 F; Sunset 4:14 pm (+/-0)
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
This afternoon I had a delightful holiday luncheon at the Daniel Webster Inn with good friends. We ate and talked and exchanged gifts and just generally had a good time together.
On my way to the luncheon, I dropped an application for a temporary Handicapped Parking placard by my primary care physician’s office. They will get the doctor’s signature and send it on to the DMV, but by the time it is processed, I hope I won’t need it anymore. But I submitted it, just in case. I spent the remainder of my day continuing to weigh the pros and cons of back surgery and when to have it. I am taking the advice of Heather, Justin and Jo, and friends into consideration in making this decision. Most say do it now, as soon as possible. But yesterday, I declined the Dec 20 date, just too soon. And I might have missed the chance at the Dec 27 date that most are in favor of. I will call on Monday to see if that is still available if I decide on that. There are medical reasons for doing this as soon as possible. But disrupting the holidays with a surgery is no fun. I truly appreciate everyone’s advice, but in the end, I will have to make the decision that is the right one for me. This decision keeps my head spinning, but hopefully by Monday I will have it settled.
The other thing that has my head, and probably most of you, is the last minute rush to make sure everything you needed to order for Christmas has been done. I stopped on the way to my luncheon today to buy gift bags for my gifts I was giving and then realized I left the gifts at home. I will have to drive around and make special deliveries once I can get the gifts in the bags. Just too many things to think about right now!
by Judy Handley | Dec 14, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 348: Video Medical Call, Jonah’s Winter Jazz Band Concert
Date: Thursday, December 14, 2023
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High 37, Low 30 F; Sunset 4:14 pm (+0)
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Jed came to walk Shadow this morning and I rushed to continue the research about back surgery prior to my 9:30 am call. The call was with the neurosurgeon’s assistant, Shannon. The doctor is just too busy to fit anyone else into his appointment schedule right now, but Shannon spent almost an hour on Zoom with me answering all of my questions and explaining that the doctor has reviewed my MRI twice and will try to get me into the surgical schedule as soon as possible if that is my choice. We tried the less invasive track of epidural injections of steroids after I met with him last November and that did not work. The next step he is recommending is minimally invasive laminectomy surgery in the lower spine area, L4-L5, for those of you who know what that means. That specific part of my spine is where descending nerve endings are being entrapped and that is the cause of my severe pain. Laminectomies have about a 90 percent success rate. If things go terribly wrong and a nerve is damaged … well, I don’t want to think about that. But if it works and I could walk pain free again, then at this point, I am willing to take the chance. The surgical scheduler called me later in the day and offered surgery next Wednesday, the 20th, or on Wednesday the 27th. I wasn’t expecting something so soon, but I guess no one wants surgery at Christmas time. I was tempted, but it is just too disruptive. So, the schedular is looking for another possibility in January. When the assistant interviewed me about my pain level and my inability to walk or stand for more than 5 minutes without taking a break, she must have decided that doing something before the end of February was a good idea. I have always said I would never have back surgery and now I am saying, “How soon?” Things are moving so fast that I might not be able to get a second opinion, but I will work on that tomorrow.
All of this had my head spinning and I am not sure where the day went. But all of a sudden it was 3:30 pm and time for Jonah and Heather to drop by to help me with some things. And then all of a sudden, it was time to go to Jonah’s Winter Jazz Band Concert at the high school. Heather and Jed wanted me to park in one of the handicapped spaces up close, but I just couldn’t do that. I’m the person who for years, could not walk on the grass if a sign said not to. But I did take the time to fill out a form to get a temporary handicapped placard for a couple of months. It would make life so much easier. I will try to get my primary care to sign the form tomorrow and then get it to the DMV. It takes 30 days to get one, but Jed suggested that I just put a copy of the signed application on my dashboard and hope for the best.
I arrived early to the high school concert so I could get a close parking spot and then waited for it to begin.
The Falmouth High School Chamber Ensemble played first. They had two pianos, a cello, a bass, a guitar, and a xylophone. Not your normal array of instruments for a chamber ensemble, but the music teacher had chosen some interesting pieces that made it all work. I loved their “Blue Ridge Reel.” Then it was time for the Jazz Ensemble.
Jonah plays trombone and bass and, as with all of the musicians, you mostly saw his legs and feet as his music stand covered the upper part of his body and his face. All you could see was the tops of their heads. And Jonah had great hair, but he definitely got my vote for best looking shoes. He was stylin’.
He is the lone trombone player at the end of a row of dynamite saxophone players,
including Sam’s longtime friend, Sebastian. Jonah’s love is the bass and he got to play two of the six songs on bass. The jazz ensemble was a delight to listen to and they were followed by the Falmouth Concert Band. Again, the music teacher, whose name I think is Casey Synder, made some really interesting choices in music pieces and the students were up for the challenge. It was another great evening of showcasing Falmouth’s public school music programs.
I left right after the concert, but as I left, Heather was headed to get a photo of Sam and Jonah with good friends. Later, she sent me a photo I took of Sam and friends on his 5th birthday along with a similar photo from tonight. In the 2012 photo, the boys were dressed as astronauts. Jonah was on the left, then Sebastian, Sam, Harrison, and Alex. Harrison and Alex have been replaced by Robert in tonight’s photo, but it will be another one of my all-time favorites. They are no longer ‘wanna be astronauts. They are handsome young men. It has been a gift to be here to watch them as they have grown through the years.
