Post Op 10 Days

 My gall bladder was removed 10 days ago and I've had good days & bad days but yesterday was exceptionally bad. I'd been feeling a little off for 2 days then suddenly yesterday at about 11:00, while walking through Costco, I had a ripping feeling inside, it felt like my belly was expelling the alien from the movie.

I could barely get out of the store, it just kept getting worse 

and I told Lan I needed to go to ER RIGHT NOW.

I sat outside while he got the truck and the ER was right next door so we were there in minutes. 

Then everything slowed down. This is a brand new hospital, they're using it but its not even completely finished being built. We had to sit and wait for an hour and the pain had mostly subsided before they finally took me back but 'Didn't have a room available' so I was put in a bed in the hallway, bed #61, and left there. A new guy/student came to do an ECG but he fumbled so much. They had put a privacy screen around me but if I was able to see people all around me then they were able to see me. Stupid kid didn't even bother to lower my shirt when he was finished. This was at 1:20pm

Meanwhile there had been a large car crash on the HWY so there were EMTs, firemen, cops and tons of injured people all over the place.

Doctor Ashley chose right then to finally see me and he didn't listen very well and didn't follow through with any of the things he said about me. He told them I'd need a CT scan and that happened at 1:44pm, then back to the hallway. He also said I should be in a room being monitored, 'ANY ROOM, CLEAR ONE OUT' is what he said. Then he said I'd be given morphine for the pain. I was never put in a room and never received any pain meds.

Doc Ashley returned at about 3:15pm, told me my labs had come back and I might have passed a stone, there is fluid in the area the gall bladder used to be in and my liver has issues so no more Tylenol. He prescribed an antibiotic and said I could go home unless I wanted to stay there. LOL. Hell NO.

We got out of the hospital at 3:45pm.

We came home and I had discomfort from bloating and gas but was so much better than earlier. I took an Oxycodone at 7:30 & at 9:30 realized its Tylenol so SHIT. 

Its the next day, Saturday, 6/28/2025 and I woke up feeling better. I'm only going to eat foods with super low or no fat, as I have been, and be sure to walk for 5-10 minutes every hour. I've got peppermint tea and ginger tea that should help with bloating. The prescription hasn't been filled yet and I've been waiting for them to call. 

I have a doctor appointment with Dr. Pai on Monday morning and I will ask for AT LEAST another week off work. I did say I was going to milk it but geesh, not by being sick the whole time.

5 days post op

 I'm now 5 days post op and feeling better than I had been before the surgery. 

They had me arrive at 10am and said I'd be going back to surgery at noon but the OR was ready at 11:30. The anesthesiologist was just chatting when I went out & then I woke up. 

I think I was home at about 6pm.

Thursday Lan had the day off and I was all drugged up and slept most of it. I did have to have a talk that its HIS JOB to feed me and its NOT OK to leave at 11am and be gone till 4pm. 

Friday I was drugged up and sleeping when he left to take the new truck in for needed work. The appointment was in Issaquah at 1pm. Lan left at 9:30 to catch the 9:55 ferry to West Seattle. Brandan came over for a bit, but I was still sleeping and he left. Lan didn't get home till 6pm.  I had had to fix my own meals and take complete care of myself. I was mad. I was on drugs but still in massive amounts of pain.

Saturday I told Lan he WILL STAY HOME with me all day and he did. Still on drugs but instead of an opioid, I took Tylenol , still pain but not as bad. I took opioid for bed.

Sunday we had free passes to the Summer Comic-Con at the Puyallup Fairgrounds so we borrowed the wheel chair and went there. I wasn't on any drugs, didn't want to be sleepy all day. We saw a lot of costumes, there were about 1/4 of the celebrities there that had booths for signing autographs and getting photos but mostly it was a place for hundreds of vendors to sell their junk. We had vendor passes and found that lady and returned them to her. She said she pays about $2000 for the booth for the duration and will make about $6000-8000.  She sells Pokeman toys.  Its all ridiculous to me what people will spend their money on.  LOTS of costumes including fat assed girls with their asses literally hanging out, cellulite and all. UGH. 

Still Sunday, we left the fair grounds and drove east, to Enumclaw. Lans family was going to have their annual 'Carole birthday party' at Freds place and that was fun.  I sat my butt down & tried not to get up again but I did have to push Severin and Aiden into the pool. There was a BBQ and pot luck and once again, Lans cousin Kendall showed up with no food to share and an extra teenager to feed. Shes notorious for that and I'll never invite her again unless I specifically tell her what to bring. We left the party after the food, a couple hours after arriving. I was tired but really just wanted to go home. 

Monday, today, once again not on drugs. I weigh 175# this morning. I haven't pooped in 6 days and the pain meds have me backed up but hoping I get lucky. LOL. I'm scared to try because that WILL hurt. SHIT, had to go, ran upstairs, almost didn't make it. 

Three More Days

 I've got 3 more days until my Gall Bladder remover surgery and I'm ready for it, mentally and physically.  I will work tomorrow, then I'm off Tuesday and I'll be getting the house ready for me to not be doing much of anything for a while. I'm going to straighten all around my recliner, since I'll be spending a lot of time in it. I've got easy to fix foods ready, like soups and some low fat cereals and yogurt. Veggies, fruits and breads.

My work supervisor told me today that there are several people mad that I have this time off and 1 girl even already got reservations for a vacation. Well, Missy, I'm higher in seniority than you so no matter what, I'd still get it off. Ross is ahead of me in seniority but his wife Cathy isn't. They want to celebrate their 30th anniversary but Cathy hasn't even requested the time off yet. Well, duh!

Today we returned to a 2 boat schedule at work so instead of boats every 2.5 hours, its 1.15 and Im like, they're cutting into my lazy time. lol

One Week Till Surgery

 I've got one week until my gall bladder removal surgery.

The hospital/doctors office keeps sending me texts and emails telling me different things and getting more and more info from me.  For the last week I've been pretty good without pain and being extremely careful eating. Small meals, zero to no fat content, healthy foods. I've lost ten pounds and about 2 inches off my belly.

My last attack was last Wednesday, at work. Bloating and sore back, pain in gall bladder area. Next week I'll have a lot of pain but it will go away as I heal and I'm hoping to do that without any complications or issues. I'll still eat carefully.

Saddle Training

I spent way too much time contacting local horse trainers and waiting for them to reply, and only 1 did out of about a dozen. Last year 1 replied & she costs $1,600 per month, which is utterly ridiculous so that's when I contacted Teresa in Eastern Washington and agreed to have her train Amble to drive. Teresa is a pro, a true pro and so is her husband and I am totally happy with their training of my girl.

This year the cost of $1,100 is the same and they have agreed to take on Amble again but to teach her to ride. 

OR~ carry my fat ass around. LOL

On our Nevada trip in April-May I purchased this tack set for her, it was $350 for headset, reins, breast collar and cinch. And danged if it doesn't match the $900 saddle I had bought her in April and it was just luck that it was a match at all. 

I had to spend another $59 on a bit for her and I've NO CLUE if it will even work for her but Teresa and Will can tell me if its OK or not.

Here's Will driving her and she goes pretty danged well.

They're going to put a month of reminder in driving, then 2 months of riding.

They will also fit MY harness to her so it will always be fit just right.  

I need to take lessons myself in driving because I barely know how to do it.

 

Truck Is Official

We needed to get the new truck licensed and had already decided to do it in Nevada, since we don't want to pay ANY taxes to Washington state if we don't have to.  Lan left home at 6pm Wednesday and headed south, reaching Ely, Nevada at 9am Thursday & went to an insurance guy there and got insurance for the truck.

Then he drove to Pioche, arriving at noon, where he went to the post office and made arrangements for a PO Box for us. After that he went to the county building and after they inspected the truck, saw that we own a house there and have a permanent address and paid them an additional $2,200, our truck now has plates.

At 5pm Thursday Lan left Pioche heading north and got got to Jackpot, Nevada where he got a room for the night at Cactus Jacks Casino. He left in the morning and arrived home at about 10pm Friday night.

In 52 hours he drove over 2,022 miles.

AND he brought home BBQ from 'Get Sauced' in Pioche!

 

Amble Gets A Bath

 Amble hasn't been bathed since last summer and today shes getting one. Its supposed to be 81* so she'll be nice and warm the rest of the day. Tomorrow I'll touch up and brush out her feather and see if I can get some good photos.

OK, got photos. This is right after I started spraying her tail.

Here it is after she was washed.

And 5 minutes later after she'd rolled.

Dirty side

Clean side

And after she had rolled.

I washed her tail with Cowboy Magic Rosewater Shampoo, rinsed, sprayed Vinegar on it and let it sit for a while, rinsed, used Main & Tail conditioner and a final rinse. Then applied Cowboy Magic leave in conditioner to her main, tail and feather. A while after she had rolled, I brushed most of that dirt back off but tomorrow she should look pretty good.

Wifi!!

Joey!!

I'm thinking about finding a local stable with cheap full care that's not too expensive so I can have Amble over there for just one month so I can do some intense training as far as I can and maybe, just maybe, ride her. 

In other news: 

Lan might be leaving tonight to drive down to Pioche with the truck to get it registered there. We've already paid the tax to do it there and DO NOT want to pay the Washington taxes, which would end up being about $10,000. Fucking Washington doesn't need to get one more penny of my money than they're already stealing. 

This Is A Bummer

 Yesterday I didn't feel well, woke up at 2am with my tummy hurting and I couldn't get comfortable for anything. In the morning I called in to cancel todays work shift, at about 2PM Lan and I decided I need to go to the ER.

A gurney never looked so good.

I was hurting pretty bad and of course the doctors were busy with other patients. My nurse, Sophia, was awesome. She couldn't give me any meds until the doctor saw me and it seemed to take foreverrrrrr. In real life it was foreverrrrrr. 

They finally gave me morphine for the pain and that helped a lot.

I was rolled on my bed to the CT Scan room, just a few turns away from the ER.  They inflated the bed I was on and it pillowed me and they just shoved me onto the other bed, easy peasy.

It was sorta like this but puffier.

They put me back on the gurney and took me back to my room where I was left with Lan for who knows how long. 

The doc came in to say I have 2 gall stones

Those little fuckers HURT.

There are 2 different kinds, ones made when the gall bladder isn't working properly and one made from too much cholesterol, or, at least I think thats what they say.

They did an Ultrasound and found two. 

My life will change, for the better. I'll be reading labels when I shop and won't be eating all the fally foods I previously chowed down on.

Today I had tomato soup, 5 saltine crackers and gatoraid for lunch. I used lowfat milk for the soup.

Rear Wall Rebuild

This was the houses back wall when it was listed for sale.

The previous owners were going to flip it and we're saving the old pink insulation to use again. We hauled all of it to the dump.

You can see all the old wires hanging and dangling, everything original to how we bought it.

On previous trips we had rebuilt the worst walls, the front and left side walls in the lower photo.

This wall was an exterior wall before and was difficult to tackle and repair correctly, or, as best we could.

The vertical boards are the same as using plywood now. He had to remove all the 2x2s and broken boards, a lot of nails and wiring.

Lan built this wall in a few hours, since he knows how to do it now.

That table is made of particle board and saw horses, we've had to move it a few times already and man its been handy. At least once a day I'll go through the house and put away all the tools so we have room for others as we need them.

In the photo below is the entire 20' wide wall, its about 9.5 feet tall.

The closet door on the right will be framed for a window and that closet will be gone. 

The door in the middle will ramain and will eventually go into a new bathroom & utility room, with another door out the back to a deck area.

This is the doorway, where you can see the original exterior siding. We *MIGHT* try to save the siding by using linseed oil on it. This wall though is going to be turned into a proper interior wall and IF we can save this siding, it could possibly be used on other exterior walls IF we go that route. I had wanted metal siding but Lan is not interested in that, he wants Hardi board but I think that would look ugly. This siding has a LOT of nails in it but those holes could be filled and with linseed oil it could be beautiful again.

This is the closet that's to be removed. We store all the tools and equipment in it and when we leave its covered by the sheet of particle board that's our table, so it looks like a wall. 

It already had the shelving and it handy for all our needs. I try to put all the similar items together so they're easier to find but Lan just throws things in there sometimes. 

Don't get me wrong, he's always been this way but this project has been frustrating to him in ways he's never experienced before. 

Here he is beginning with some wiring. There had been a useless light switch there before so he removed it and put in a 4 plug outlet. Then he built a small shelf beside it that holds all 4 chargers and the batteries for the tools. The trash can fits below & is easy to throw stuff into, with the shop vac beside it.

It the 2 weeks we were just there, it was only warm enough to use the fan once. Without any insulation its gets very warm very fast, and same with the cold.

The yellow ladder was gifted to us from Jon. We need to take another, taller, one as well so we can reach that high roof.

Our neighbor Tom has lived here most of his life, he worked in the mines when he was much younger. A few years ago he was able to go to one of them and he found the time books, found his name in some of them and he said he found the name of the guy who lived in our house at the time. He can't remember that guys name now, but I'd REALLY like to know who he was. I'd love to know the history of our home.

Thats it for now on the back wall. I hope you've enjoyed our rebuilding as much as we have.

 

Fabulous Pioche Trip

 We did SO MUCH STUFF on our recent trip to Pioche that I'm going to do this in parts.

First I'll cover the trip, then on future updates, I'll fill you in on each thing we did.

We left home i n Port Orchard on Friday, April 25, 2025 in our Dodge 3500 dually pulling the 23' travel trailer. We headed south, not knowing for sure what route we'd take but we knew we needed to end up in Winnemucca for the Gypsy Horse Fest. It was pretty cool to see a bunch of Gypsy's all in one place, all looking fabulous, but I sincerely thought there would be many more. I also think Ambleside would do really well there because shes got such nice movement compared to some of these horses. Judges asked for extended trot and all they did was speed up a bit while Amble puts on a show all her own.

They were fun to watch but we stayed only about an hour because we had time to make up since we'd had a blow out on the trailer and had to spend time changing it and going 60 moles out of our way to buy a new spare. Plus going to Winnemucca added about 500 miles onto our trip.

We did see wild horses this trip but I got no photos of them.  There were 2 mares near one mine, 3 more not too far out of town and a LOT in the Steens Mountains of Oregon.

We went on Highway 50 again, known as the 'Loneliest road in America' and this time it truly was, there were times we'd drive an hour & only pass 1 car.

We boondocked overnight just west of Austin and it began to snow early in the morning. Not heavy, not unexpected but it weas 12 hours earlier than they said. We had a few mountain passes to go over and they were in the clouds.

Somewhere along the way we passed the 'Shoe Tree' and had to stop for photos. We'd seen one of our youtube channels stopping there so we did too, next time we'll each have a pair of shoes to add to the tree.

It was kinda gross seeing all those shoes.

Finally, we reached Pioche and got the trailer parked. It will be out place to stay whenever we go down there, a place to sleep, pee, cook and have A/C or heat if needed.

This was the first photo of the house, I always like to get one. It looks like a meth house with the reflective car window things in the windows.

Lan finished his Lego Mustang car model Andrea gave him for Christmas.

On our first morning I enjoyed the sunrise through the Lilacs. They are all over town and the whole place smells devine.

We got to see friends, this is Jon, he's one reason we bought in Pioche. He is 85, a grieving widower and inventor.

And this is Maynard who lives across the street but is now our Pioche pup.

We replaced this window

with this one.

Lan built this wall, reinforcing the wall that's an exterior wall but the kitchen is on the other side now.

He added 2 walls to form the bedroom. If you look closely you'll notice the spot we saved for the fridge so we can have the classic triangle of sink-stove-fridge. 

More on walls later.

We also went into a few mines on our trip, more on those later.

We tried to take a hike somewhere every day, on this day we hiked around town then up to the Cross on top of the hill.

Here Lan is pointing to our house.

We also had to shower but not i n the teensy trailer bathroom so we'd go out to Cathedral Gorge state park and hike around and go into the slot canyons, then use the facilities there.  That is one place we definitely want to take Soren.

I'll skil to coming home. We left Thursday afternoon, May 8th and drove all the way to Jackpot, right at the border of Idaho. Stayed at Cactus Jacks hotel. Left at 9am after a yummy breakfast in their buffet.

We drove to Twin Falls and watched Base Jumpers jump off this bridge, the only place its legal in the USA. Way fun.

Then as the day got hotter I started bitching about no a/c in the truck.  We stopped in Mountain Home at the McDonalds for lunch and started staring at the new ford trucks.

And we bought this one:

Its in our backyard now, they let us drive it away without us paying a dime. We left the old truck there and felt a teensy bit bad because it took us a LOT of places but it never had A/C and I'm getting too old for that bullshit.

2025 F-350 4 door, 4x4, diesel with 20 miles on it.