Guess who’s in the ER. Again. With a mystery problem that no one can figure out.
Felt great yesterday and sewed for hours! In the afternoon I lay down for a rest as usual. All of a sudden I felt my blood oxygen levels plummet and heart palpitations start up. My o2 was low, scary-low. A normal healthy person will be at 98-100% oxygen saturation. I am typically at 92-95 when my o2 concentrator is giving me three liters per minute. When this started up yesterday I was at 77-82%, which is frightening and can be deadly. I cranked my machine up to 5 lpm and managed to stay in the low 80s. Eek.
Henry et al came over and he moved my livingroom machine closer to the bedroom and cranked it up to 5, and I put both cannulas in my nose for TEN lpm. And managed to hover around 86-90, as long as I stayed still. When I got up and moved around it dropped into the 70s again. Eeeeek.
Took my diltiazem in case it was the beginning of atrial fibrillation. No effect.
Hoping sleep would cure me, we all went to bed. Lulu slept near me on Dave’s side of the bed (he’s still in the Bay Area loading his truck)
This morning I was no better. Argh. So Henry called 911 and a team of majestic EMTs checked me over and loaded me into the ambulance.
Now I’m hanging out in the ER. I’m actually feeling a lot better. No palpitations for a few hours, and my o2 sats are better. Close to normal, even. In the hours I’ve been here they’ve run ALL the tests. They thought it might be an odd heart attack but then ruled that out. They have no idea what’s wrong with me, lol. I am a Scientific Oddity as usual.
They’re talking about sending me to the university hospital (OHSU) where there are specialists who understand PAH, but they didn’t have room earlier when I asked the EMTs to take me there.
Oh! Turns out that hospitals here in Oregon have a garage for ambulances so they don’t need to unload patients in the rain and snow! In California they just pull up to the curb because it almost never rains. It never occurred to me that places with weather might do it differently!
Anyway, I’m alive and feeling much better. Fingers crossed they either send me to OHSU or let me go home, if I remain stable…
Doc just came in and said she’d conferred with multiple specialists and they think it might be acute right heart failure. Argh. So they’re sending me to the ICU at OHSU. I’ll keep you posted when I can.
I actually felt pretty ok today! Much better sleep. I took 10mg of THC last night because I was desperate for a good night of sleep and it worked.
My Featherweight is still in the shop, but today I had enough energy to cut out all the pieces for a beautiful new dressing gown to replace my ancient tattered ugly fleece one. I’m using a thick luscious cobalt-blue cotton/linen waffle weave from fabrics-store.com. It’s going to be so cozy and warm! The pattern is the discontinued Suki Robe from Helen’s Closet. The pattern was discontinued for a very good reason which you can read here: https://helensclosetpatterns.com/2021/03/26/dressing-robe-pattern-update/
I even felt well enough to drive up to the city to meet Henry and family when the Honda’s battery died! I drove Jayla and the littles home and then Henry and I went to buy a new battery and then I took him back to the dead car. He installed the new battery and the car started right up. *whew*
Ran errands in the morning. I love how conveniently-located our house is! Our actual street is a quiet dead-end, but driving about four twisty lomg blocks to the east leads you to a nice main street, McLoughlin, with most of the shops and things I’d ever need — except Trader Joe’s, a fabric store, and a yarn store, all of which are an easy 15 minutes away.
First stop was Fred Meyer, a huge grocery store with a pharmacy and more. Got my prescriptions, some peanut M&Ms, and some black raspberry ice cream, which I love but simply doesn’t exist in California. I remember it from when I lived in the midwest as a toddler, believe it or not.
Then across the street to BofA to pay my credit card bill. Then down the street another block to pick up a burrito from the excellent hole-in-the-wall Rigoberto’s, then another block to drop books at the library, then around the loop and home again. We also have an Ace hardware, a good pizza place, a family ice cream shop, an independent donut place, a Goodwill, a Harbour Freight, and all the little things like tire shops and weed dispensaries and whatever. Easy.
I spent hours watching the birds at my suet feeder. There’s a pair of Northern Flickers that I just adore! They’re unusual and beautiful: tan, with black speckles and a curved black bib. Bright orange cheeks. When they fly you see a flash of cantaloupe-orange from the underside of their wings and tail. They’re rather large woodpeckers— bigger than a jay but smaller than a pigeon — and incredibly shy. If they see me make one tiny move through the glass door they are GONE.
Beautiful Spring day! Gentle sun, pleasant breeze. Right now I’m lying on my bed in the sunshine (we have a south-facing window above our heads) with the door to the back yard open. I smell freshly-mown grass and I hear what sounds like hundreds of birds singing and chirping away, and also Mom playing Bach over FaceTime for me. A brave squirrel has just grabbed a few mouthfuls of the suet-and-seed cake in my bird feeder, which hangs right in front of the door. She had to dangle by her toes to reach it and my presence made her very nervous.
Bugs are flying in through my open bedroom door. I don’t mind, but I’ll ask Dave if he can install a screen door before summer so we can sleep with the door open. I doubt he will approve of wildlife joining us in the night lol.
Earlier I went out to the back deck to pot my pea seedlings (and some that are either zucchini or sunflowers but I forgot to label them) and got ambushed by Talkin’ Jim. He and his wife are the previous owners of our house. We wanted a quick closing date so we said they could live on the property in their RV until Jim had time to clear out the enormous (six-car) workshop. They’re extremely nice people but oh my god do they TALK. So I disappeared into the house until Jim went off to do something else and THEN I planted my seedlings :D
The workshop is finally empty and Dave will be bringing a truckload of woodworking tools back from CA in a couple days, so very soon I hope to be able to enjoy my deck and yard without needing to talk to anyone.
Headache mostly gone but slept badly and felt super-fatigued all day. i never sleep well when Dave is out of town. My subconscious probably misses my Protector Man, plus my RLS comes back when he doesn’t give me a world-class foot rub at night.
The kids came over! Henry made sandwiches: cream cheese, cucumber, and tomatoes on rye bread (inspired by Albert‘s lunch in “Bread and Jam for Frances”) and he made extra sandwiches for me to have handy in the fridge, and he cooked a dish of chicken sausage, broccoli, and noodles and left plenty of leftovers in my fridge. Dearest dearest Henry *heart eyes*. There was much jumping on the trampoline. I discovered that I can lie in my bed and watch them through the door in my room that leads to the back deck!
When they left (3-ish) I went straight back to bed. Watched another episode of the Swedish version of Taskmaster (Bäst i Test) which is really good! And then I put on channel5.com and watched a documentary about Broadmoor and then one about the Great Plague of London (1665-66). Ah yes, a big dose of criminal insanity and pestilence to soothe me to aleep :D
I remembered I had to pick up meds for Dave (he’s out of town) so by the time I did that, picked up a pizza, and dropped off my library books, I was exhausted and done for the day. Not feeling so great the last few days. Still haven’t really shaken that headache all the way. Ah well. I’ve lain here all afternoon and got caught up on The Guilded Age. Fun show, but the costumes are lolwut? A lot of really weird gowns that make me wonder what the costume designer’s brief was. “Make it look sorta a little bit like the late 19th century but be sure not to do any research into what people actually wore” ??
Lying in bed, lazily planning my day. Need to return books to library and pick up holds and maybe get some more seeds from the seed library. As long as I’m out, I’ll pick up something calorific to eat, burrito or pizza — or both! After that, if I have any energy left over, I might plant some seedlings outside or take a scissors out to the back yard and cut down the dead raspberry canes. I’m assuming that’s the right thing to do to keep the live ones healthy but I have no idea. Where’s Ben Weatherstaff when you need him?
Slightly headachy when I woke up but it faded after a few hours yay! My lovely family came over and we enjoyed the warm Spring sunshine in the back yard. Much trampolining occurred. Even I climbed up and sat on it while they bounced me! Freyja sits squarely on her bottom and has learned to wave *heart eyes*
We bought a big super-safe trampoline for Lulu (and Freyja, when she’s bigger) to bounce on when they come to visit. It was delivered and set up today, while they were visiting, and it was a beautiful sunny day too! Henry worked in the quiet of my sewing room, and J and I hung out with the girls in the sun on the deck and watched the man assemble the trampoline at the end of the backyard where it’s flattest. He got it done in time for Lulu (and Henry) to do some good bouncing before they had to go home.
Lulu loves fruit, so we ate blueberries and grapes and raspberries and clementines all day. :D
Good news! At long last I’ve finished recording Over Sea, Under Stone! Man. That took forever. Looks like I started it in October of 2020. Yikes. Well, it’s done now and ready for you to stream or download or subscribe to as a podcast. Enjoy! http://kayray.org/susan-cooper/
Now I can keep working on the next Betsy-Tacy book without the Drew children hanging over my head. :D
I’m eating my way though a 12″ veggie pizza today. Surely that will help me gain a little weight. Lovely gray drizzly day, and I’m cozy on the sofa under a quilt with my pizza and my book.
Bad sleep, woke up too early, felt rotten, did nothing all day except watch Dave unpack his multiple boxes of clothes into his new armoire. The man has a lot of clothes! :D
104 lbs this morning. My goal today is to work my way slowly through another burrito before dinnertime, and then eat some fruit and cheese or a salad or something. Need to ramp up the calories.
Got started on my south-facing deck container garden today! I’m using Gardzen Grow Bags. I have read, on many gardening blogs, that they work much better than pots. I’ve got a lot of ten-gallon ones for smaller veggies and a few 25-gal ones for tomatoes and zucchini. I have some seedlings started indoors to put out when it starts getting warmer, and today I planted spinach seeds and an experimental potato directly outside. For the potato, I cut a very tasty little store-bought organic red one into quarters and planted them in just a few inches of soil. If they come up, I’ll keep heaping more soil around the stalks and hope I end up with a bag of potatoes! My seedlings are cilantro, bell peppers, bush beans, pole beans, peas, about six varieties of tomato, sunflowers, onions, zucchini, and probably some other stuff that I’ve forgotten. I’ll also put some flowers out to attract pollinators. Fingers crossed!
We’ve got our new housecleaning team booked for April 6th. Very exciting! They are https://theshinerscc.com/ if you live in Portland and want an eco-friendly, family-tun cleaning service.
Nice long sleep. Keeping up my anti-nausea slow-eating campaign, I worked my way through another big veggie burrito all day and it went well — no nausea!
My beautiful Singer Featherweight has been having a stalling issue (won’t start sewing a seam until I crank the handwheel around to get it started) and since I’m currently between projects i googled for a good sewing machine mechanic with Featherweight experience (never take a Featherweight to a run-of-the-mill mechanic) and found Pam of PDX Vintage Sewing Machines, less than 2 miles away! She works out of her garage right in my neighborhood. Her garage is filled with vintage sewing machines of all descriptions and she clearly Knows Her Stuff! She diagnosed the problem right away: though my belt is new, Featherweights are finicky about belts. She tried a different belt and the problem went away. Lol. As long as I was there anyway I asked her to look it all over and give it a polish and wax. She says my machine is in excellent condition! She seemed really impressed. My Grandma treasured it (she bought it new in 1951) and I do too, so it should last forever. What 71yo machines do you use daily? It’s pretty special!
Then I picked up a big bag of drugs at the pharmacy and a stack of bathroom remodeling books from the library for Dave. We have an unfinished (just studs and plumbing) little master bath for him to work on.
Something funny — ever since I started eating little bites all day, I feel less fatigued in the afternoon. I’m still tired but I don’t CRASH. It’s almost like the human body requires a steady intake of fuel instead of waiting till I’m ravenous and eating one meal a day. *eyeroll at self*
Good news, everyone! I am continuing my grazing routine and have not experienced a speck of nausea all day. I started by eating a cherry tomato and a 1/4 slice of bread every half-hour. When Dave went to the good Mexican place for a lunchtime burrito I asked him to bring one home for me, and I’ve been eating one big bite every half-hour all afternoon. Genuine calories and nutrition! I guess my stomach prefers it this way. Fine with me — I’d rather eat bites all day while doing things than need to spend time just sitting and eating. Ho hum. Maybe I’ll start putting weight back on soon. 103 lbs this morning yikes. I’m practically transparent.
I finished sewing my green silk March Dress! I hemmed the skirt by hand, gathered it by hand, attached it to the bodice, attached the sleeve cuffs by hand, and it’s done! Well, I need to sew a care/size tag in but that can wait. I love it! So comfy and floaty and beautiful. I hope to get Dave to take a pic of me modeling it soon, but for now here it is:
Just right to wear if it’s ever again safe for us to go out to dinner :D I plan to make an every-day version in cotton next. I think seersucker or gingham would be super-cute! Pro tip that I just discovered: after gathering an edge, iron those gathers flat before you sew the gathered edge to another piece. Flattened gathers are SO much easier to sew. I can’t believe I never thought of it before.
We had the owner of a local cleaning company do a walkthrough and estimate for us today, and we’ll be setting up our first cleaning appointment soon. It’s a small, family-run, local company and they make their own eco cleaning products with vinegar and baking soda and other harmless things. Super-excited to get the counters and floors scrubbed soon.
No nausea when I woke up thank goodness. I decided to try something new: set a timer and eat one bite of something simple and nutritious every 15 minutes all day. I started with grapes, then later in the day I switched to cherry tomatoes for variety. In the evening I took a chance on a bite of string cheese with each tomato, and I ate a couple of clementines as well. It worked: no nausea all day. Of course, I probably didn’t ingest more than a few hundred calories but I also don’t feel like puking, so yay? Weighed 103 this morning. Argh. Yes, I’ll go to the doc if I can get an appointment. I was so sure that going off the carb/levo would fix me!
Eating tiny bites all day did seem to give me more energy than my usual system, which is to forget to eat all day and then have a somewhat substantial dinner. Or maybe it was just luck. Anyway, I was able to put in a few hours at my sewing machine working on my new dress before I got too tired. Finished the bodice; gathered and set in the sleeves; gathered the sleeves into their cuffs; created pockets; attached pockets to skirt. Lots of handsewing to do tomorrow!
Last night I had a little meltdown and sobbed all over Dave. Sometimes I just get so frustrated at my inabilty to do all the things I want to do and it really gets me down. Every day I wale up wanting to create and make and cook and do all the things, but I gwt so terribly fatigued after even the smallest exertion. Like yesterday just ironing a few yards of cloth made me fatigued enough to need a lie-down. ARGH.
Today I managed to finish cutting out the pieces for my new dress and I even got some of the bodice construction done. Tomorrow I’ll hand-sew the neckband and maybe get the sleeves gathered and pinned in place. That’s the plan, anyway.
Weighed 104 this morning. Still waiting for my appetite to return completely. It’s much better than it was but still not “normal”. Today I ate: an apple with goat cheese and a salad, my favorite Trader Joe’s salad with lots of greens, onions, tomatoes, mozzarella balls, and pine nuts. Some good nutrition there but still not enough calories to keep a mouse alive. Oh I just remembered that I also ate some ice cream, so there’s some more calories and fat and calcium.
