My Vacation - to christine and debs

[Guest guest]

Thanks for asking about my vacation. We had a great time -

looking for rocks as Debs mentioned. We went to Montana and

dug a couple of days in the mountains for quartz crystals. I ended

up finding two that are considered a little rare to find - both in size

and color. Although a " real " rock-hound would probably not be

too impressed, it really made my day! My husband is so mad at

me for finding them without any particular method or effort but

that is how it goes. They fall off the mountain randomly so you

really just get lucky. I suppose a native Montanian would have

more knowledge and would stick up his nose at my rocks but I

think they are special. The prize is about 5-6 inches long, three

inches wide and is purple, Has a few chips and cracks from

rolling around through the eons.....and the backside isn't

completely formed but I love him anyways. The second one is

also amethyst colored and seems to be a part of a " sceptor " '; the

top part anyways (this is a type of quartz crystal that has a squat

amethyst crystal attached to a long clear cyrstal base - looks like

a wand when all together). Unfortunately, this one too is not

complete and has some chips and other flaws. But again, I love

him! If we would have found complete crystals on both then they

would have been a very spectacular and valuable find. Oh well.

We had a ball and hoping to get back there next year for more

digging.

The downside of vacation is that we had car trouble the second

day out and had to get a new radiator...but we met a bunch of

wonderful people. If you ever get to Kimball South Dakota - you

gotta see the tractor museum. Great place, wonderful people!

Then in Buffalo, Wyoming our car got messed with while we

were in the hotel overnight. Only thing taken was a freebie

calculator - they left the walkie-talkies and money, etc...So not

sure what that was about. First time we had our car messed with

in all these years...I told my husband that it was probably a

diabetic that had to calculate his insulin dose and couldn't find a

calculator so took ours (LOL).

When we left home though we had sad news that our friend, the

manager in my husband's lab, was attacked by his son and

ended up in SICU. At the time, he wasn't expected to live - his

skull is cracked like an eggshell and he was unresponsive on

ER admittance. But I just heard a few minutes ago that after a

week of setbacks he is now alert, oriented and able to

communicate!!!! So things are looking good. He is not out of the

woods yet, but he at least is still alive. His son is charged with

attempted murder.......You never know about these things....the

kid comes from a " good " family with everything going for him -

money [mom's a doctor, dad's a lab manager], is smart,

talented, has every opportunity available, etc. I think that there are

drugs involved but I am just wildly speculating..........just very sad

to think that a 21 year old has thrown his life away and will sit in

prison for a very, very long time.

As far as pain management debs, I am not doing anything

new....kinda in a stablization mode, to see what the ups and

downs will be. I think I am evening out with things. I have

occasional bad weeks (the last flare was the end of May) but

seem to have a better handle on things. I still wish I could get

back to my pre-surgical days.......but I guess that will never, ever

happen. I agree with your doctor, based on my experience, that

your surgical scars could be a major factor in your pain. I know

for me that is most likely the biggest component, even after five

years. And I think would agree, but I hasten to assure

you that it does get better....just never as good as it was though.

But that doesn't mean that you can't deal with it......it is just very

depressing at times, that is all. I just wish surgeons understood

better what a lasting handicap / disablity patients have even

when the operation was a " success " . I think it is because they

never treat patients on a long-term basis (only the acute phase

and immediate post-op follow-up in my experience) that they

can't comprehend that surgery is an ongoing insult / trauma to

the body....that a person never completely heals.

I am so happy that both of you are doing better now than when I

left. with your rehab and recovery....sounds like you are

on the right track. I would say, take your meds as you need them

and not be too quick to tough it out. You sure don't want this new

pain to become imprinted or stop you from activity that you need

to keep you on the road to recovery. And you are right, as far as I

am concerned, Ultram is nothing more than a small dose of

tylenol. I don't think the " narcotic " in it is very effective for anyone

really. I think it is a pacifier for doctors more than a real

medicine. And you reminded me: I once got my oxycodone in a

little white pill form.....a long time ago which is why I forgot. It

must be a different manufacturer that the pharmacist used that

one time. For the most part, mine have always come in capsule

form. Both have their advantages and disadvantages I guess.

Other than that nothing new. Hot summer just turned into cold,

cloudy days. I sure hope that summer isn't over for us.

Sometimes once the hot spell is over, we go right into fall. I

hope not this time. To me summer is 90s, humid, sunny with

afternoon thunderstorms! But we really need the rain as we are

in a pretty bad drought this summer. Hope that we got enough

today to revive my garden. I am really starting to hate trucking

water every night!

Laurie