My wonderful family, Spring Lake, Nico's 13th Birthday Fishing Celebration 11 months as of 9/4/24. Almost to my one year anniversary, or Vadiversary!  This weeks challenges involved dealing with redness, oozing and drainage at my driveline site. So I was put on antibiotics for a week again.  My INR level is also very low again, so my warfarin dose has been increased for the following week until I test again. Thank God I don’t need one of the belly  shots like I sometimes do. And I had more labs again this week to check my thyroid. I'm pleased to say that the test res ..read more

August 4, 2024 10 Month Vadiversary ??? And so much to be grateful for. Life My loves: FAMILY the best friends ever My hobbies: Garden - loads of flowers, strawberries and a great veggy harvest, knitting and fiber fun, baking, sewing, AND… great friends and loads of fun at weekly bocce league Short getaways, camping in our trailer Dreaming of more possible adventures and figuring out the logistics of how to achieve that with an LVAD My overall improved health and plans to make it even better   But don’t be fooled by my happy demeanor. Life is still challenging. And it seems the more tim ..read more

I guess its a good thing that I can't seem to post an update here more often than once a month.  I think it means I am getting on with life and slowly adjusting to my lifestyle changes and limitations.  It's all really pretty good, just a bit different and a slower process.  Clothes are  a challenge. But a girl does like to look her best when she goes out, right?! I'd really love to swim, or kayak, or take a quick spur-of-the-moment shower. But these are just so minor in comparison to the big picture.  But I digress.  For example, recently I came across two of my ..read more

 May 3, 2024   I made it to 7 months since open heart surgery and  LVAD implant.  So happy to report that we  got out again mid April to camp several days at Doran Beach Regional Park at Bodega Bay. It’s our annual camp trip to celebrate Marks Birthday. Both our daughters and families had planned to tent camp near us for the weekend.  But the weather forecast was for considerable rain over the weekend, enough to make tent camping not a fun experience, especially with kids. But we had  a nice Friday evening when Sarah, Jeremy and boys arrived about 4 pm for ..read more

April 2, 2024 Beautiful sunset at Casini Ranch Campground   Games along the river and in the sunshine We’re home after camping three nights at Casini Ranch.  It was a great getaway. Nice weather. Very relaxing with a couple of walks, camp fire, played dominoes in the sun and watched the geese, ducks, and a few teens play in the cold river.  I skipped my warfarin blood thinner one night while camping by mistake so came home to a a low INR. That lead to needing the Lovenox injection in the belly immediately, with 2 more injections the next day, one each in mor ..read more

Today we had lunch with friends, Ed and JoAnn.  Stories, laughter, planning fun stuff -- just what the doctor ordered. Let's do it again real soon! This past Saturday we attended a beautiful Mass and Mass and Memorial for cousin Al Dallara memorial gathering for my Dad's first cousin, Al Dallara. Al was 91 years young and a wonderful man.  The service was very befitting and the setting at St Anselm's Catholic Church in San Anselmo was so beautiful. I had never been to this church before, and it is an architectural beauty.  Might I add the catered lunch was delicious ..read more

5 MONTHS!!!  Or 5.5 months today, March 6, 2024, if you count by weeks. I’ll celebrate with a glass of lemonade for lunch.    I’m thrilled to be regaining some energy and some of my old activities.  Some new steps recently: My first venture into our GE Market (or any market) to shop on my own. Felt like old times. Labs at the lab - I’ve graduated home care. Far fewer sticks since they do this all day long, but I've learned Providence is closing all their labs 3/15/24. They have sold. Hopefully a new lab will reopen in this convenient location.   Showering is becomi ..read more

Enjoying some time in the garden.   St. Valentine's Day came and went this week.  But not without me realizing the connection of hearts, love, and "the heart". I am so thankful for this extended time on our beautiful planet with my amazing family and friends.  You know this is about my 7th life, if I'm not forgetting one.  And I don't take it lightly that I am still here through it all.  But that's a story for another day, or a book titled Lucky the Horse.  Stay tuned, but don't get anxious as I haven't started writing yet, and who knows if I ever will.&n ..read more

4 months, or 18 weeks.  Time is moving on from that fateful moment when I was hanging on for dear life by a string. And I am so grateful!   Some new milestones:     I walked to our mailbox and back this week. . I made it!!! ? And for those that don't know our property, the mailbox is not across the street, or in front of our house.  It is down a long gravel, and this time of year very muddy, driveway. I forgot it was all uphill on the way back till we got started. So I huffed and puffed on the return, and took a few breaks, but I made it!   And I found ..read more

It’s 17 weeks. That’s since Betty became my sidekick.  The days and weeks keep coming and going and I keep getting stronger. This is all so good and welcome.  In my last post, I mentioned that we would be camping soon, that I was a bit anxious about doing so with the new me, and that it would be a good test for future excursions.  Well, I’m happy to say it was a huge success. One of the big challenges was me, and Betty (my LVAD). I have eight large batteries that I live with and there is a pretty good size charger that is required to keep all these batteries charged. The char ..read more