Milagro

Yes, today was see the doctor day. And I did. And my leg has healed 2 cm in one week. And I couldn't believe it. And the word miraculous was used. And I wasn't the one who used it.

Diving

Well, now that I'm a regular at the wound care center, I know the lingo. The people who work there call it diving. That sounds so much better than THE CHAMBER, which is what I've been calling it. They know all about my family and I know everything their kids are getting for Christmas. I've decided to revisit some of my old fav movies, while I'm diving every day for 2 hours. So far, I've seen Devil Wears Prada, Under the Tuscan Sun, Notting Hill, Chocolat, the always entertaining Ya Yas. Today was Sense & Sensibility.

Tomorrow is see the doctor day. And, I'm excited. I know it's working. A friend hadn't seen me in 2 weeks and he couldn't believe the difference in my whole everything. That's how I feel. Aside from the physical healing, a lot of emotional healing is going on, too. There's lots to think about every day while I'm making that 33' dive.

An explosion of Christmas is what I'm calling it.

For sure. No doubt about it. Never in my life have I EVER put so much stuff around my front door. Last year, I thought I was branching out when I put three cream colored wreaths with brown and cream ribbons on them on my doors. Well, I don't know what happened this year. I got carried away and it just kept on carrying me away. It's gaudy and sparkly and bedazzled and everything I'm not. But, oh well.....

Santa will certainly know where to find me.

I See the Moon and the Moon Sees Me

Last night, I was on my way home from a Christmas party and we rounded the corner to see this. A beautiful moon. It's not a great picture, but it was the best I could do out in the middle of the dark street, in the freezing cold. It was a little smushed on the top and had the most peaceful, yellow glow. It looked like it was just looking down on us, kind of protecting us. So amazing! Kind of like an early Christmas gift. The real kind.

Michael and Me

So much for Confucious.

Where to begin? Let me see...

During the first surgery in June when the doctor cut me open, he was shocked to find lots and lots of rice bodies. Hmmmmm. Really??? Rice bodies??? Interesting.

After that surgery, I was left with a "protrusion" on my leg. It continued to grow to be the size of a golf ball, until the doctor finally said OMG it's about to explode. Yep. Another surgery. A "simple" surgery. When he cut me open, once again he was shocked. He only found few rice bodies, but found lots and lots of crisco. Hmmmmm. Really???? Now my body is making fried rice. Pretty amazing.

The doctor stitched me up and covered my leg with gauze I was good as new. Except that it's now been a month and I still have gauze on my leg. He removed the stitches and then my leg got HUGE. Once again, the doctor looked at the incision and saw crisco dripping out of it. So, now I get to have 2 new doctors - wound care and infectious disease- at the wound care clinic. People in there are missing appendages and limbs and many have come from nursing homes, etc. I only have a hole in my leg, but I do get to go into a room with a door versus a room with a wide open curtain. The doctor comes in and I kiddingly tell her that my friends think I'm going to be like Michael Jackson. They think I'm going to be in a hyperbaric chamber. She just smiles....

After digging around in the hole in my leg, she says OMG!!! What is this??? Unwisely, I sit up to see what the excitement is all about, only to see her holding a rice body in her precious tweezers. After calling in another person to witness the extraction, she very carefully places it in a special bag to go to a special place to be cultured. Then with that same smile, she says Well, hello Michael! Yep. For real. I'm going to be in the hyperbaric chamber for 2 hours every day for I don't know how long. It looks like a clear tube with a pillow in it. Are you claustrophobic? she says.

Merry Christmas to me. My friends say it's supposed to be like the Fountain of Youth. You'll be so rested and rejuvenated they all say. You'll get to watch movies or sleep or do whatever you want for 2 hours every day, like going to a very tiny little spa. I just hope I don't come out looking like Michael Jackson!

Another Thanksgiving

The Table

The Bird

The Fam

The End

I wasn't looking forward to it. We've never had a good one. It was off to a really bad start. But it ended up being a great one. A grateful one. A grateful one indeed. Muchas Gracias!