Certainly a Day like No Other....

    

My pristine left arm

        As many of you know, I had my fistula surgery last Tuesday, and as many of you might suspect, (if you have been following my blogs for any length of time) things didn't go QUITE as planned. But then, with us Homeland Farmers, do they ever??
        The day started gray and cloudy, as was my humor. I don't do "no food after midnight" well. Actually, it was fine, until around 10 am, when we left to go to the hospital. By then, I was rather 'peckish', and could have eaten about anything, including the bone we fed Annalee the pup before we left. She doesn't like to be left alone, so I have her an extra large bone to keep her busy, so she wouldn't chew my shoes.
       Cliffy and I picked up Mother at her house and off we went to Maine Medical Center. Getting signed in went smoothly, as did going over the paperwork with the nurses. Then, it was time to wait. My sister Kim had planned on coming down with us as well, but she had to get her kids off the bus before I would be done, so she volunteered to go by the house and check on the dogs.
       I was due to go "under the knife" at 12:30. When Brogan came in at 11:00, I knew things weren't "good". She had received a phone call from Kim. Apparently, my pup hadn't just "chewed" something. No, she managed to drag a large over stuffed chair the entire length of the living room, and was headed out into the dining room with it. If it hadn't gotten wedged in the doorway, I think she would have been reclining

Brogan and Cliffy

in the kitchen, by the time we got home. The chair was of course, ruined. Ahh, puppies. Now I remember why I like older dogs.
        Kim barricaded the dogs into the dining room, for fear of my couch would be ruined as well, gave Annalee another bone, and left. The poodle Lacy was merely shaking her head in disappointment, most likely saying " I get in trouble when I pee a little spot on the rug, the puppy gets a bone for ripping apart a chair..Life just isn't fair for us little dogs."
        Once I heard that news, I told Brogan she better head back home, as she was going to stay with the puppy until I got home. But before she could leave, they came to get me.  Everyone kissed me goodbye, and off I went to the Operating Room.

Off to see the Wizard

        The operating room is always a flurry of activity, with nurses running around, and the anesthesiologist and the doctor conferring about what meds to use and how much etc. I remembered the nurse scrubbing my arm with betadine and doing a sponge count, and then that was it. Out went the lights.
         The operation was supposed to take 30 minutes, but as this is me we are talking about, it ended up being 2 hours. Turns out my veins weren't as nice and juicy as the Doctor had thought. Mother and Cliff were both waiting when I was wheeled back to my room.

Dreaming of goats??

        I don't recall much arm pain initially, but I knew my legs were really sore. I am plagued by leg cramps, and I assume laying flat on my back caused me to have a few while in surgery. I of course, had a logical explanation for why my legs hurt. Apparently, the first words out of my mouth were, "Owww..my legs hurt. The darn goats kicked me." Yeah, sure, in the operating room. Goats are everywhere in there.
      I remember Cliffy rubbing my legs and that of course made me all better. He is a very talented fella. Then, my arm pain kicked in, and it was pain medicine time. My arm was really swollen and black and blue, but it didn't look too bad. The nurse got me right up, and into the bedside chair.
      I sat for awhile, and I think dozed off and on. I don't really remember much about leaving the hospital, and I certainly don't remember the ride home. I think I remembered it being dark outside, but that was it.
      Cameron came home with us from the hospital, as he lives in Portland and walked over after class. Liam, Brogan and the dogs were all happy to see us arrive home, but not as happy as I was to GET home!
       I went right to bed, and the dogs were right beside me every minute. They are very attached to their "mother". I was feeling pretty good, and was pleased to not be in excruciating pain. I hadn't known what to expect, but I have had a lot worse pain then that.
      I fell right asleep, and was so comfortable, I didn't move for a couple hours. When Cliffy came to bed, I went to roll off my right side and noticed my arm was kind of stuck to my side. I asked Cliffy to turn on the light so I could see.
       He turned on the light, and I could see my dressing was blood soaked, and it was leaking out. I said "Crap! What do I do? I am supposed to leave the dressing on for two days."
        Cliffy is full of wisdom, and suggested I call the doctor to ask what to do, since I had been sent home with very little after surgery care instructions. I decided I had better do that.
        I paged the doctor, and was lying in bed waiting for the call back. I could hear the wind picking up outside, and wondered if it was raining out. The phone rang, and it was the doctor. As near as I can remember, this is how the phone conversation went.
        "Hello", said Doc.
        "Yes, hi," said patient, that would be me. "I had surgery today and I was wondering....there is quite a bit of blood on my bandage and SHIT! SHIT SHIT! SHIT!!!"
         CRACK!! CRASH!!!! went the huge maple tree, as it CRASHED TO THE GROUND OUTSIDE MY WINDOW! Dogs were barking! Cameron thundered downstairs bellowing, the cats scrambled to far points in the house, Cliffy hollered bloody murder and ran outside, and I jumped up and swore into the phone, with yes indeedy, my loudest 'outside voice.'
         I heard a startled silence..then I think the doc said something??? I really don't have a clue. I said something along the lines of, "Sorry, a huge tree fell on my house..thank you., bye."
         I leaped out of bed, threw on a jacket, and realized our outside floodlight had burned out and I couldn't see a thing. So, naturally, I hopped in the car, got the dog inside, (Annalee, poor abandoned Lacy was still under the covers) hollered to Cameron to go get his brother (and Lacy), and turned the lights on bright to see what had happened.

Poor old Tree

        There was a 120 plus year old Maple tree standing about 15 feet off the corner of our front porch. She has been looking sad for a lot of years, and we had planned on taking it down this fall, as the tree was aimed right for our house. Well, let me tell you..that chunk of tree fell and landed approximately 2 feet from the truck, 3 feet from the car, and directly in front of the porch.The only damage was a small hole in the porch ceiling, the vehicles are both fine. If the tree fell where it should have fallen, it would have crushed the entire porch. We were all amazed. Mother and Daddy came down from next door, and marveled at the miracle of the tree placement.
       The problem was the remaining tree was still blowing, and the last big part of it was directly over our house. Liam and I sat in the car and watched gust after gust shake the tree, blowing it this way and that. I sat in the car probably an hour, and then realized I now had blood running down my arm. Time to go in.

Close!

       We said one last prayer to my Guardian Angel, that I KNEW had been with me in the operating room, and also there when that tree crashed down. Liam and I prayed it would stay up, and not come down on the house, during the storm.
       We went inside and Liam slept on the couch, Cliffy and I cleaned up my arm, and went to bed, and Cameron stayed up until the wind died down, then slept upstairs. The wind blew HARD, all night, but...the tree stayed up.
       Cliffy and I were awake off and on, the rest of the night.  I was off and on in pain, and still thinking about the tree, and how lucky and blessed we were to have been spared. I told Cliffy I thought my guardian angel was certainly on over time, and I bet that it was because we had so many people praying for me.
         At 5:00 am, I woke up and went to the bathroom, came back and snuggled under my covers. I rolled over, and got ready to go to sleep.
         "Carmen."
          I was like.."Huh?" What Cliffy?"
          "What?" He said..
          "Did you say my name?" I asked.

The next day

           "No, I didn't say anything."
           I said, "Who said my name?"
           He said, " I didn't hear anything."
            I did. I heard, what I swear, was a mans voice, calm, and serene, saying my name. I wasn't asleep, or on pain meds, as I hadn't taken any all night.
           I laid there awake, trying to decide if it was the same voice that I had heard say my name many years ago. In that situation, a tree was about to crash down, instead of having already crashed down. I think it was my Guardian Angel, letting me know everything was going to be fine, and that he was (again?) there for me.
          PS..I told Cliffy we need to move to Kansas..NO TREES!

         

Goat on clean up duty!