Wednesday Reads and It Sold!!

What sold, you ask? Our house. Our old house. We closed on it yesterday. You don’t know how happy we are to no longer have to worry about it!

We were supposed to close on Feb 1^st, but on Jan 30^th, the title company discovered that the original contract loan never removed the lien from the house (and of course the original bank had been sold…twice). This is a house that had been refinanced a couple of times! You’d think they would have caught that. So because of that little SNAFU, we couldn’t close on the 1^st and waited until it got fixed (which took a week). We didn’t want to say anything to anyone until the deal was done, afraid it might jinx it or something.

But it’s done now and we now just own ONE house, which we hope to refinance at a cheaper rate with a big down payment. So glad that’s over with.

I’m also glad my judging is over with, too. Here’s what I finished reading this week:

Book #10

Dates read: February 4-6
Title: ?
Year of publication: 2018
Author: ?
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series:  ?
# of Pages: 219
Paper or plastic: Nook
How obtained: Purchased (couldn’t read PDF)
Blurb from book: ?
My thoughts: Not as bad as I thought it would be. Would recommend to fans of the genre.

Book #11

Dates read: February 6-8
Title: Summoned to Thirteenth Grave
Year of publication: 2018
Author: Darynda Jones
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series:  Charley Davidson #13
# of Pages: 292
Paper or plastic: Hardback
How obtained: Purchased
Blurb from book: Charlie Davidson, grim reaper extraordinaire, is pissed. She’s been kicked off the earthly plane for eternity—which is exactly the amount of time it takes to make a person stark, raving mad. But someone’s looking out for her, and she’s allowed to return after a mere hundred years in exile. Is it too much to hope for that not much has changed? Apparently it is. Bummer.
    She’s missed her daughter. She’s missed Reyes. She’s missed Cookie and Garrett and Uncle Bob. Now that she’s back on earth, it’s time to put to rest the burning questions that need answers. What happened to her mother How did she really die? Who killed her? And are cupcakes or coffee the best medicine for a broken heart? It all comes to a head in an epic showdown between good and evil in this final smart and hilarious novel.
My thoughts: A fitting end to the series, but I’m sad it’s over. This is a great series. And if you love humor, some sexy scenes, and a bunch of supernatural stuff, you have to read these books!

I also got wonderful news from my cardiologist yesterday (yesterday turned out to be a GREAT day!!). My last echocardiogram showed no difference from the one before! Yay! So, since my diagnosis in 2015, there has been no change in my mitral valve regurgitation. Then, I was told to expect surgery in five years. Now, I’m still told to expect surgery in five years, but I’m thinking it might be longer than that. And maybe by the time I need surgery they’ll know how to fix it without cracking open my chest!!

So… Do you have any good news to share? I’m thinking this is a great week!

Happy Reading!

Stacy

Now I Can Say I’ve Done THAT

Well, I had my heart catheterization procedure yesterday. The procedure itself wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was the recovery that stunk.

I was given a sedative during the procedure, so I was awake during it all, just kind of loopy. Not such a bad state to be in when you don’t want to know what’s going on around your groin area.

But then the nurse had to remove the tube from my groin. Even that was painless. It wasn’t until she had to push down with all her might (I swear it felt like it) to keep the artery from bleeding. That hurt. A lot. For 20 minutes.

Then I had to lie on my back, keep my leg straight and still, for FOUR HOURS. Okay, they lifted my head up a little (very little) so I could eat (they provided me dinner, which my husband had to feed to me). I wasn’t allowed to lift my neck or move my leg. You try doing that for four hours and see how you feel. It’s especially bad when you have an itch.

Then you have my husband, who decided to have some fun. I was told I had to drink plenty of water to flush the die out of my system. I asked him for some water. He proceeded to dip his fingers in the cup and flick the water in my face.

Now, is that the sign of a loving husband or what? Of course, I laughed (which he knew I would) and I told him if he even tried that sh*t after my surgery, I would take a baseball bat to him. I don’t know if I want to laugh after the surgery. It’ll probably hurt!

Anyway, you should have seen the way he fed me dinner. Kind of hard to eat while laughing AND lying on your back.

Oh, and by the way, the catheterization went well. I have no blockage anywhere. My arteries are AWESOME! It’s just my valve that’s broken. It was nice to hear how HEALTHY I am otherwise. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it, though (allergies, knee, feet).

Today I get to see my surgeon and then get cleared for surgery. We’re hoping to get out of here in time to see the football game, but it’ll be cutting it close. My last appointment is with admitting at 2pm. We’ve got a 3+ hour drive ahead of us. Our luck, we’ll hit rush hour traffic!

Have a great weekend. I’m certainly going to try. J

Stacy

Can You be Sick and Not Know? Yep.

I’d like to think I wasn’t sick, but I am, even though I feel fine (well, except for my knee, but that doesn’t count). I’ve had mitral valve prolapse since I was a kid (I remember going through all the tests at the UCLA Medical Center). I was always told my heart murmur was just an extra heartbeat, so I never worried about it. Heck, the U.S. Army let me in with it. Then back in April I went to the doctor because of my cough (which turned out to be allergies, remember that?). I even mentioned HERE that he’d heard my heart murmur and suggested I have another EKG -- which turned into an echocardiogram -- and that I wasn’t worried one bit!

Except… Those tests determined that the valve is leaking, and in the severe range. I didn’t even know I’d been in a mild range. So when the doctor said the only way to fix it was through open heart surgery, and that I would need it within the next 5 years, I went into shock a little.

This news tanked my writing a bit. Okay, maybe a lot. I went to a retreat, RT, and RAGT with this weighing on me. I didn’t want to tell anyone until I had all the information.

I needed some questions answered and my cardiologist on base suggested I get another opinion up at the Cleveland Clinic (because they do these surgeries all the time). He said if they could fix it, I should have the surgery now. If they thought it was beyond fixing and needed to be replaced, then I should wait until I start having symptoms. That’s because replacement valves only last 10-15 years, requiring another surgery in my future. Plus, I’d be on blood thinners the rest of my life. Yeah, I don’t want that!

Turns out they feel it can be fixed. I’m scheduled to have surgery on November 2nd. Talk about motivation to get my novella finished this month. I have no idea what kind of shape I’ll be in after. They’re gonna have to break my breast bone. That can’t feel good!

I should be in intensive care for a couple of days after the surgery, but should (SHOULD) be released in 5 days. Yeah, that shocked me, too. But I sure hope that’s the case. I don’t want to stay in the hospital any longer than I need to. In any case, my daughter will have access to my blog and Facebook page and will post the results of the surgery (since I’m pretty sure I won’t feel like blogging for the first couple of days after).

And this is why I feel I won’t be continuing with my exercise routine this fall/winter. I’ll be on cardiac physical therapy (hubby will have to take me—I won’t be allowed to drive for about 8 weeks), but I’m sure it won’t include weight lifting (at least what I’m used to). Heck, I was told I shouldn’t lift anything heavier than 10 lbs for several weeks after. It’s a bummer, but I sure hope all this exercise I’m doing now will help in the healing process.

I hope you don’t mind me sharing all this with you. Hubby doesn’t like to talk about it so much (can’t blame him; sometimes I think he’s freaking out inside more than I am) and sometimes it makes me feel better if I can rant (and I have some pre-surgery appointments coming up that I might want to discuss).

One thing I was surprised when informing some people, was finding others who have the same condition I do. I’m letting them know not to ignore it like I did. That they should get tested regularly. Maybe they won’t need surgery, but if they do it’s better to find out sooner than later.

Hopefully I haven’t bummed out your weekend. I plan on having fun watching my daughter play Footy in the USAFL Nationals in Austin, TX. I hope she wins some games and doesn’t end up with another broken foot (yeah, she did that last year!).

Thanks for reading. See you on Monday.

Stacy