Hello and good day to you, where ever in the world you may be. It's Tuesday, August 10, 2021 and you made it to see another day. A week ago, I was getting ready to leave the house to arrive at the surgical center in Palm Springs to have my gall bladder removed. To all the staff at that center, you all ROCK! I must say it was one of the best experiences I have had as a patient. The nurses, the techs and the doctors were all so kind. A special thank you to the anesthesiologist as I hardly remember anything after the first 15 minutes of being there. I checked in last Tuesday morning at 6 AM on the dot and walked out of there a little after 9:30 AM. My first post-op is today and will be by phone. Could life get any easier? By the way, to Kaiser Permanente, please reconsider keeping the Desert Regional Medical as one of the network facilities. The letter that we just received alerting us patients that we will only now have one hospital in network in the CV which is Eisenhower. Big sad face. Our community is growing and getting younger. Surely they need to build a few more medical facilities here.

This was snapped a little before 6 AM.

Seriously, though, the last week has been rough. Although today I feel 100 percent better than I did, I am still achy and sore. There were four puncture sites, that I can see. Personally, I thought the surgery for the C-sections were not as bad and I recovered quickly. (I drove home from the hospital when my youngest was born, two days after a C-section.) Maybe it was easier back then because I was younger and didn't know any better? There have been a few things that I have noticed since surgery. For years I had a horrible taste in my mouth that would never be silenced. I tried everything. Turns out that a bad gall bladder can cause funky taste and breath. Also, food tastes so much better and it is so vibrant! Even though many of the food that I am to stay from are some of my favorites, like anything spicy, I will still still consume them but maybe not as much as in the past. One thing on the list of offending foods and drinks is coffee or anything with caffeine. That is going to be a hard one but will try and have been trying to limit my coffee to two cups a day instead of a pot. I can do it, I know I can.

This was around 6:45 AM.

Hubby took a week of vacation to keep an eye on me while I recovered, even though he did not need to as I had taken care of my self through all those surgeries I mentioned. I let him know how thankful I was and how I appreciated him. You know something, people need to let their spouses or partners know that they are appreciated and loved. I know life is busy but it takes less than 30 seconds to say "Thank you" or to give a hug or touch on the shoulder. It is easy to take someone for granted even though you think you would never do that. It happens and often. So, even though this last surgery was a bit rough, we got through it together and it just makes the healing process so much easier. We did get to watch some cool documentaries and I love having a smart TV so that we can play Youtube on the big screen. We watched many music videos. Here is one from Deep Purple as we a Deep Purple afternoon a few days ago. It was glorious. Below is one of my favorites from the band. At least, just skip ahead to around 8 minutes in when guitarist Richie Blackmore starts his solo. He is a master and was amazed watching his fingers fly up and down the fret board of his guitar during his solos.

Also, I worked on a few paintings and finished the one of guitarist Michael Staertow.

He was so nice and shared this on his social media!

Often when I am working on a painting, I will post progress stories and I tagged him in one of them. He was so gracious and reposted my story. I totally appreciated that as I am always worried that I may offend the person.

Taco Belle enjoyed this cat friendly bouquet of flowers.

My sister Cathy sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers the day of my surgery and I have been enjoying them daily as I love fresh flowers. It has been fun photographing it as I plan on working it into a painting. Here are a few shots that I have been taking in the last few days. I love flowers especially sunflowers. There were also thistles that I love.

I am not usually a rose person but these are so pretty and delicate.

I am hoping to take individual shots of some of the flowers as they are drying to use for future art projects or to make decals. Also, I would like to work on my drawing skills as I am sure it will help with painting.

This scene happened at my nieces wedding in 2018.

The above painting I am doing for my sister. This is my version of a thank you card. My sister Cathy has the biggest heart in our family. She was my protector from my sister Denise when we were growing up. In the past week, I have felt bad because I was mot able to speak with her more than a few minutes as I was in pain and not feeling well. Then a weird thing happened, Hubby had taken me for my first car ride after surgery on Thursday to pick up his dinner. I felt weird but decided to go. A few minutes into the ride I felt the tell tale signs that a seizure was imminent. I tried to slow my breathing and relax. I removed my glasses and put my head back. I said the usual thing before and episode occurs "I do not feel right." Hubby knows exactly what that means. We were almost in the gate to our community when it hit. I don't remember much after we got into the complex until Hubby was trying to wake me up from the best sleep ever. This was the first time I have had a seizure while I was sitting down. Usually, I am standing and fall to the ground. During this whole thing, my sister had called and texted. Maybe she sensed it? I was too out of it to call her back. Anyhow, to my sister, I am sorry for being so weird and distant. Hope I can finish this painting soon and hope she likes it.

That was my week, well, some of it. Time to work on some things. I hope that you had a peaceful and easy week. Thank you, dear reader for visiting! ...light hugs to you and YOU.