One last word for October ...

Domestic violence and abuse can happen in ANY relationship.  Not just between married couples.  But inside of families too.  Parents to children.  Children to parents.  Between siblings.  Between couples that are dating.  Couples that are living together.  Between co-workers.  Supervisors to subordinates.  Subordinates to supervisors.  

Any of the behaviors listed below are ABUSIVE and should not be tolerated.

Get help.  Whether you are the abused, or the abuser.  Get help.

October has been Domestic Violence Awareness month.  Violence and abuse are not always visible, and often the unseen bruises and scars (words, emotions, psychological) are the deepest.  

If you or someone you know is experiencing any type of abuse, there is help.  Please visit the [National Coalition Against Domestic Violence resources page].

Surfacing ...

    Death can sometimes draw families closer together.  But not always, and not all family members.  It can bring out the ugliness that we've chosen to ignore until there is no choice but to confront it and end it.  For our own safety and peace of mind.

    The last twelve days have been mind-boggling in the amount of unnecessary anger and hatred coming from one such family member.  And overwhelmingly sad in how much that person, and immediate family, will miss out on because of ties being severed as a result.

  Life is short.  Unmercifully so at times.  Fortunately, a family doesn't always have to be who we are born into, but who we choose to surround ourselves with.  For that, we can make healthier choices.

  I have to go back to my photos to remember what I've been doing lately.  Most of it has not been photo-worthy.  The weather has gotten cold, trees are changing color and losing their leaves.  On a recent cold, windy, and rainy day Lucy (birthday girl turned 5 on the 1st of October) had the fuzzy snuggle plan down pat.

   Last night at Bible Study I got some gorgeous green tomatoes, and plan on making fried green tomatoes as soon as I can get some breadcrumbs ... or may make some of my own with the last few pieces of whole grain bread I have.  I've never had fried green tomatoes, but remember that my Uncle Ron when he came to visit in Florida before my father died would want to go to a specific "hole-in-the-wall" local restaurant for theirs because they were the best he'd ever had.  I will think of him when making mine.

  A few weeks ago (before the recent drama llama) I went to a Farmer's Market in Lewisburg with a friend and got a beautiful pint of "Lion's Mane" mushrooms, and fresh basil.  The mushrooms I sliced, sauteed in butter, and devoured.  They had the taste and texture of lobster ... and much less expensive.  The basil I chopped and froze with olive oil to use later.

  With the colder weather, I'm keeping my toes warmer, running the thermostat a little lower to keep the bill down, and snuggling with the furkids on the sofa and in bed.  Now that my office has been moved upstairs, I think that it will be a much better winter for me and my toes.

   I did get some mums and Halloween decor put up, but not much.  This will be my first Halloween here, so I'm hoping for lots of little costumed trick-or-treaters to share photos of on Sunday.

   I'm also transitioning some of my plants from the kitchen window (coldest room in the house during the winter) to the office upstairs, and have been working on a mini signpost for my succulent garden.

   Healthwise ... I'm doing better.  I still need to get a new CT scan to check my lymph nodes before anyone says I'm cancer-free.  There were a few miscommunications on getting that done this month, but I'm claiming that by the end of the year I will be healthier than when I started the year, and cancer-free.

   I've made many new friends/family lately at church and with a creative artist group of people.  I'm so blessed by all of them.  I had signed up for a watercolor class before Mom passed with the intention of sending her the cards I made for Christmas, but instead just used the time to get out of my box and laugh.  November, however, will be some keeper projects including alcohol ink Christmas baubles, and another watercolor class.

Sibyl ...

   She was born 28 Sept 1941 in Detroit, Michigan area, the third daughter of Edward & Ruth.

   After she graduated high school, she married Rodger and began the life of a military officer's wife, moving about every two to four years.

    Her first daughter, (me!), was born in May 1962 when she was 21 years old, followed a year and a half later by her only son, Ken, in December 1963.

   She loved the years they spent in Germany, from 1969 to 1972.  In those years, she traveled to other countries with the Officer's Wives Club, and as a family to places like Nice, France where she was able to meet a high school pen pal, Genevieve, and her family.  Salzburg, Austria.  Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

   Sibyl loved painting, taking watercolor, pastels, and charcoal classes.  Every year she would paint the front window of their apartment in Germany for Halloween and Christmas.  She also loved to sew, and would often sew clothes for me, and matching dresses for the two of us.  She loved volksmarches and the opportunities they offered to see more towns and countrysides in Germany, and German wine and food.

  In 1977, she and Rodger divorced in Florida, and later that year, she married Eric, becoming a stepmother to Heather, and in January 1980, mother to a second daughter, Kat.

  She, Eric, and Kat moved to Scotland in 1984 where she began another love of hers ... cooking and entertaining.  Sibyl ran the Old Bridge Inn pub, and later a fish farm shop at a privately owned estate in Aviemore with fresh and smoked fish for sale and an assortment of gifts.  After they moved to Poolewe, she ran the Corriness Pub & Restaurant for several years where she made some of her "American" favorite meals to serve the unsuspecting Scots.

  Sibyl and Kat returned to the United States in 1994 following her divorce from Eric.  Eventually, they settled in Mocksville, North Carolina where she remained until her death on 16 October 2021.

   She became active with a church and loved sending thoughtful greeting cards to her family, friends, and church members.  She had a kind heart with a smile that would brighten any dark day, a hearty laugh, a good sense of humor, and was loved by everyone.  She never met a stranger who didn't quickly become a friend.  More than once when she lived in Scotland, she would entrust a traveling tourist with gifts to mail to me once they returned to the states.

   Waiting to greet her upon her arrival in Heaven were her parents, an older sister Sue, younger brother Brian, and many people she loved in her life.

   She is survived by her companion kitty Pepper; her sister, Nancy; me and my furkids; Ken, his wife Jo, and granddaughters Tammy (mother is Sandra) and Abi (mother is Jo); Kat, her hubs Luke, grandsons Ethan and Jordon; Heather, her hubs Robert, granddaughter Isabella; grandson Dan (mother is Joanne), a great-granddaughter Aura; and too many nieces and nephews to list.  

   Mom will be missed greatly by everyone who knew her, and by those who hadn't yet been blessed by her presence.  A small memorial will be planned for her birthday in 2022 to scatter her ashes.  If you wish to honor her memory before then, please donate to a local cat rescue organization.

Snug as a Bug in a Rug

   I use, and highly recommend, an app on my phone called [Snug Safe] that is free to use, although they do have a paid plan if you want additional options.

   Essentially, it works to give seniors (actually anyone can use it) and their loved ones a sense of security.  I would also highly recommend it for any person who lives in a potentially dangerous situation ~ like someone in a domestic violence situation.  It's also perfect for someone who may be disabled and is alone for part of the day, for example, if their significant other works during the day or at night.  

    There are so many different scenarios where it can be used.  College students away from home and living in a dorm.  People who work in a building where they are the only ones on the floor or in the building.  Any time or place where someone feels they need that extra sense of security either for themselves or someone they care about. I use it mostly because of my health issues this year, and the fact that I have diabetes.

   You set the time you want to check-in, and if you miss that check-in time, they will (free) send an email to your emergency contact letting them know you've missed your check-in.  They can also (paid) give you a call to make sure you are okay, and send someone to check on you if you need it, or don't respond to the call.

   You can pause it for a time if you are going on to be away from your phone, or with other people who can help if you need it.

    We've determined that my mom died sometime Saturday based on where she was found and what she was wearing.  She last spoke to her friend, Judy, on Friday night around 11p.  While Judy tried to call her several times during the day with no response, she didn't actually report her concerns to the senior living center's management until late Saturday night (no blame here, just facts).  

    I do not believe that she could have been saved if she had been found earlier.  But I do believe that if she had used Snug and missed her check-in, we would have been notified sooner and some of her end-of-life wishes could have been carried out as she had arranged them.  Instead, we had a last-minute scramble to find another body donation organization that was willing to take her because EMS (in error) reported her time of death as Friday night at 11p.  Pretty sure that if Judy heard her die while they were talking, she would not have waited 24 hours to get someone to check on her.

   Give yourself and the ones you care about a little extra hug ... and Snug.  You can download it from Google Play or any other app store you use.  This has not been a paid advertisement.  I'm just a very satisfied client.

Sunday & memories ...

 It has been a very difficult 72 hours.

Saturday morning I experienced the most intense pain I've ever felt in my life.  Ever.  on a 1-10 scale, probably a 50, tho I told people 20.  Curl up in a ball, scream, and ugly cry pain.  Who knew dehydration could be so painful.  I had lost 4.6# in fluids and night sweats Friday night and Saturday morning.  Leg and foot cramps.  Intestinal cramps.  Not something I would wish on even the universe's worst enemy.  When it finally dawned on me that drinking tap water wasn't helping, I had a friend take me to the pharmacy to pick up some electrolyte powders to replenish what my body had lost.  After 10 hours of drinking the mix in water, I was finally beginning to feel like I might survive late last night.

Then I got the call from my sister saying my mom had passed sometime Saturday of what they believe were natural causes.  Now I'm emotionally numb and still in physical pain.

These are some photos of my mom in no particular order.  She was the 3rd of four children, the youngest girl, with her little brother, Brian being the last.  The oldest and youngest of the four predeceased her, leaving just my Aunt Nancy now.  The last time I saw mom was in 2014 when I drove up to the Michigan Upper Peninsula.  We were better at writing than talking, and it had been several weeks since I had spoken to her.  I got a card from her for Halloween on Friday.  Bittersweet.

Above is from 2001 with my sister, Kat, at my brother's wedding weekend.

Words on Wednesday ~ 10/13

This Writing Challenge was started by Delores a long time ago. Computer issues led her to bow out for a while, and now Words for/on Wednesday is provided by a number of people around the world and has become a movable feast, with [Elephant's Child in Australia] acting both as moderator, and this month providing the prompts.

Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write. Each Tuesday or Wednesday (depending on time zones and hemispheres) we are given a choice of prompts: which can be words, phrases, music, or an image. What we do with those prompts is up to us: a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or ignoring them. We can use some or all of the prompts.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month and my Words on Wednesday this month will center around that theme.  DV is not always visible, and often the unseen bruises and scars are the deepest.  

If you or someone you love is experiencing any type of domestic violence, there is help.  Please visit the [National Coalition Against Domestic Violence resources page].

~*~*~

   The voice from her answering machine startled her.  How many years had it been since she'd heard from him?  Enough to have relaxed and forgotten that he was still out there.  When she had moved this last time, she had forgotten to keep her telephone number unlisted.

   There were times when she thought about her past as if it was a fiction novel.  A woman meets a handsome man who seems delightfully charming and attentive, unlike other men she had met.  He was more interested in getting to know her, than getting inside her pants.  But his words and charms had just been a trap he had laid to lure her into trusting him.  Skulduggery had worked on her for nearly six months before she realized he had been lying to her all along.

   She groaned with the realization that she would once again have to move, and go back to just using an unlisted cell phone service and number.  Glancing at the television before clicking it off, she saw that rain was in the forecast and grabbed her umbrella from the stand by the door before stepping out on the deck shared by three other upstairs apartments.

   Work today was going to be difficult now because her mind was fertile with old fears and insecurities.  Naturally, it was the end of the month, when she most needed to be able to focus on the reports she had to run and create for the project manager and home office.  Watching her feet as she walked down the stairs, she didn't see him right away.  When she finally looked up, he was there, leaning on the corner of her car, and she had nowhere to run.

   "Hello, Cindi.  It's been a long time."

   "Gary.  Not long enough actually."   

   As she stood there, waiting for him to move, he told her he had taken a job on the construction site right next door and was looking forward to seeing her every day now.  He proceeded to tell her everything he had learned about her in the years since he had last seen her.  Every job.  Every move.  Every boyfriend, even that she had tried to join the Army Reserves and why she had not been successful.  Everything, and yet nothing that one single person would have been able to tell him.  He would have had to speak to friends, co-workers, even her father and she knew her father would not have told him anything.

   She remembered what an off-duty police officer had told her years before when he first began stalking her.  There had been no stalker laws on the books in Florida then, and he would have had to have physically harmed her in order for her to even call the police on him.  Until then, he had every right to sit on the curb across the street from her father's house or follow her around her job where she first met Gary.

  "Don't let him see your fear.  Be brave, act bold, even when you don't feel it.  Don't watch your feet when you walk.  Be aware of your surroundings.  Park under lights if you are working nights.  Look under your car before you get close, and in it before you open the door.  If there is a larger vehicle blocking your view, walk to where you can see your car before you get close.  Ask someone to walk with you at night.  Always be aware of your surroundings.  Keep your keys pointed out in your fist as you walk and don't be afraid to strike him in the face or eyes.  Drive your knee into his groin if you get a chance.  This is not the time to fight like a little girl with slaps and pulled hair.  Be an Amazon Warrior."

    Deftly she stepped around him and proceeded to unlock her car and get in.  It was time to make new selection on where and how she was going to live.  Was it going to always be in fear?  Or was she going to put on her armor and live the life she wanted for herself?

Friday ... and a timeline ...

 First, the good stuff.

Some of the flowers from my front garden.  Of the 200ish bulbs I planted in this area, not many came up.  Some gladiolas earlier in the summer and these.  I'm hopeful that next spring, summer, and fall more will come up.  Some of these look like there is a tiny hair-dresser that comes at night to nibble off the ends, like trimming off the split ends.  I have not seen anything on them during the day to tell me who the stylist is.

Next is the finished lamp for my dresser. 

This rocking chair was a gift and was handmade by the friend of the giver.  It was an apprenticeship project by her friend to see if he would be accepted into the program by the craftsman, and surprisinginly was not because one of the finger spaces on the armrests was one finger wider than the other.  A "flaw" no one would even notice if not pointed out.  Regardless, it is exquisite in my eyes, and wonderful in my living room!

I've been embellishing this hoodie to wear for Halloween with glow-in-the-dark fabric paints.

Last up, fall colors so far from yesterday evening at the bridge.  I can't wait for the mountains to be in full glory.

So, my timeline is of the medical adventures I've had this summer, and it comes with a request at the end of it for any physicians who read this, friends of physicians, and just anyone, in general, facing medical adventures which is pretty much all of us at some point in our lives whether it be our own adventures or those of someone we care about.

• 8 April 2021:  Diagnosed with diabetes.
• 22-26 April: Four-night stay in hospital for pancreatitis = $30,000 in hospital, ambulance & physician bills.  I'm overwhelmed.
• May-early July:  I've lost 30 unexpected and unplanned pounds.  My clothes are hanging off me.
• 13 July:  Had the first CT scan of my entire abdomen.
• 16 July:  Dr. K calls to tell me I have enlarged lymph nodes in my abdomen and he suspects cancer, wants me to see my gynecologist as soon as possible for a pelvic exam since the radiologist asked if I had a history of cancer in that area.
• 19 July: Dr. K calls again and now wants an MRI of the liver after talking further with the radiologist and a mass is detected larger than the hemangioma I've been aware of for decades.
• 26 July: See Dr. P for a pelvic exam.  The very first words she says to me upon entering the room, even before examining me, are "Radiation will give you the best chance for survival."  When I stated that I wasn't sure I wanted to go that route without more information, she said that she could leave right then without doing my exam if that was my choice.  I ask her to proceed with the exam.  [Made a mental note to never see her again.]  Biopsies taken during the exam do not show signs of cancer or other malignancy.
• 6 August: MRI done of the liver shows two masses, including the one I've been aware of.  The new one was not there on the last ultrasound of my liver in 2019. 
• 16 August: Referral to cancer center on 27th for possible liver cancer.
• 26/27 August: Oncologist calls evening prior to seeing him, to find out when I am having a colonoscopy.  He tells me that he believes I have "Stage 4 colon cancer that has spread to liver and lymph nodes."  I was very upset.  Colonoscopy was scheduled, also a liver biopsy.  Pastor and church members lay hands and pray over me the evening of the 26th that there will be no cancer.
• 14 September: After multiple cancellations and reschedules, colonoscopy is finally done.  Biopsies taken do NOT show any cancer or malignancies but show ulcerative colitis.  GOD is great!  Delay in getting the liver biopsy done because I need to be off arthritis medication for at least 10 days first.
• 30 September:  Liver biopsy is done finally.  Five biopsies were taken through the right side between ribs instead of the abdomen as previously told I would need.  All five come back negative for cancer or any malignancy.  More prayers answered, GOD is so amazing!
• 4 October: Find out that the 21.3k hospital bill from April has been reduced by 19.7k after a "financial assistance" charity reduced the amount of the hospital bill.  I'm overwhelmed but for a different reason.  GOD is so good.

This is my request to providers and healthcare workers.  Please, please, PLEASE don't speak a diagnosis without having some evidence first.  Twice I was told things based ONLY on what the physician saw on the CT, not on any definitive testing results.

My request to everyone else is to NOT embrace, welcome, or accept negative words spoken over you or someone you care about.  Man does NOT have the final answer.

Mindset is everything.  I believe that if I had embraced the negative words spoken over me by the gynecologist and oncologist, all of this could have had a different outcome.  But even more than a mindset, I believe that my FAITH in GOD is more powerful than any negative words spoken over me.  Even if what they had first said was proven true in the biopsies, I was not going to be afraid because of my faith, and the knowledge that this world is not my home.

Words on Wednesday ...

This Writing Challenge was started by Delores a long time ago. Computer issues led her to bow out for a while, and now Words for/on Wednesday is provided by a number of people around the world and has become a movable feast, with [Elephant's Child in Australia] acting both as moderator, and this month providing the prompts.

Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write. Each Tuesday or Wednesday (depending on time zones and hemispheres) we are given a choice of prompts: which can be words, phrases, music, or an image. What we do with those prompts is up to us: a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or ignoring them. We can use some or all of the prompts.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month and my Words on Wednesday this month will center around that theme since I have twice now been married to men who were abusers in very different ways.  DV is not always visible, and often the unseen bruises and scars are the deepest.  I hope to empower other women with my words this month.

If you or someone you love is experiencing any type of domestic violence, there is help.  Please visit the [National Coalition Against Domestic Violence resources page].

~*~*~

On the surface, he never seemed like her family would find him unsuitable when they were still dating.  In truth, even after they married they never did dislike him for any reason.  He knew all the right words to make the ladies trust him, and all the men like him.  All of which made it harder, twelve years later when she finally left him for good.  They didn't believe her when she told them about the verbal, emotional, psychological, and sometimes sexual abuse.  It had started so slowly, so subtly that she wasn't even aware that she had lost control of her life until it was too late to make an easy end of their life together.

That's how narcissists and manipulators work.  They trick you into thinking they have your best interests at heart.  They make you feel crazy for even thinking that they would ever say or do anything to hurt you.  They tell you that whatever they did do that hurt you physically or emotionally was because of something YOU did.  It was your fault.  You made them, because if you hadn't done this or done that, they never, ever would have done it.  And you believe them.

That's called gaslighting.

Oh, he cried big crocodile tears when she ran.  Told everyone how much he loved her, missed her, and wanted her to come back home.  He would go out to her job, or her new apartment, and leave cards on her windshield telling her how much he needed her.

But never once did he say he was sorry.  Never once did he apologize for the things he had called her, or the ways he had belittled and demeaned her.  He never believed there was anything wrong with the times he had woken her in the middle of the night by forcing himself on her, essentially raping her since she had woken to the act in progress.   She would close her eyes, face the wall, and pray that God would just let her die right then and there.

She was "his" wife: a possession to be taken, used, abused, or treated however he chose.  He believed that where the Bible stated "and two shall become one" meant that she ceased to exist as an individual.  Her life was to become a mirror image of his own.  She was not allowed to have separate interests, hobbies, and likes or dislikes.

On the surface, their life together appeared to be perfect.  They had his friends.  They had his family.  They even occasionally went to see her cousins that lived in the same state, and once even they both went to Scotland to see her mother and sister.  But she was never allowed to have friends he didn't know about, especially men friends.  If she ever mentioned a male co-worker, even casually, he would become angry and jealous.  She wasn't allowed to have phone conversations with her family away from where he could listen to what she was telling them.  She couldn't have her own bank account or credit card.

Her voice had been silenced for a very long time.

The final straw came after he had "allowed" her to go to her 20-year high school reunion without him.  For the first time in ten years, she spoke and people listened.  They respected and admired her and told her things about herself that she had forgotten.  They didn't know or need to know, all of her truth.  But they had given her back something she had lost.

Self-respect.

~*~

Leaving him had been scary, and hard because she had to walk away with only what she brought into the relationship in order to avoid an ugly court fight.  But she knew that if she fought for what she deserved, all she would get would have been killed.  

Once when he had made a side comment once that if she ever tried to leave him, and if they'd had kids at the time, he would kill her rather than argue over custody, it was a comment she knew had more truth in it than not.  She made sure to never miss one of her birth control pills and when she knew there was a chance of her ovulating and getting pregnant while on the pills, she would say or do something to make him angry enough to give her the silent, cold shoulder treatment.  Even if it lasted months, his silence was golden.

Stepping out onto the serenity deck she created at her new townhome, she eased into a hammock chair and kicked off her slippers, rocking back and forth as she watched the sun come up over the bay.

Life was good, and getting better every day.

Sunday ... but first ...

   I am cautiously optimistic about the preliminary biopsy results that I received yesterday afternoon.  It appears that the larger liver mass (now known as Dr. Evil Mass) is a hemangioma (cluster of blood vessels) like the smaller hemangioma (now known as Mini Mass).   The pathology report has not been reviewed by any of my doctors yet, but the fact that it came back so quickly and was released to me is a positive indication of no cancer or malignant growth.

  Yesterday was a busy day in Covington, VA with a friend.  She was there to pick up prescriptions, I rode with her to get groceries and hit up the Goodwill for jeans that will fit and a few long-sleeved shirts.  While we were gone, the mail came with several project items I'd been waiting on.

  The first to be done was getting the roots planted for several lilies-of-the-valley in my small angel garden.  I had planted several in the front yard where I thought it was shaded enough, but none of them took, and I'm not sure if it was too much sun.  They are my birth flower so have always been my favorite, but I did not see them in the wild until I moved north.  It is cold enough here that they will also do well.

  The Egyptian cartouche reads "Always and Forever" and was a gift that came with a [Once Upon a Book Club] subscription that I tried last year.  The book was "The Book of Two Ways" by Jodi Picoult and was really quite good.  I love history, archeology, and the possibility of second chances. 

 

The next project was the last piece of the dresser upcycle.  As a reminder, here is an image of the original.  After repainting, and adding a mandala decal, the final bit was the handles to match.  

  Naturally, I "assumed" they had arrived without the necessary screws, and so the two requisite trips to the hardware store were done before I found the screws late last night in the side of the sofa where I had opened the package.  

  By that time I had also improvised attaching them since the screws I selected were too small and slid through the holes, and the washers I went back to get made the screws two short.  By that time, the hardware store was closed until Monday and so I improvised.  The handles will now NEVER come off.  

  Fortunately, the screws that came with it would have been too long for the width of the wood and would have stuck out on the inside of the drawer, making my improvisation necessary after all to keep them from being wobbly.  It all worked out for the best.

  They now sort of resemble bats, however, I'm sure it is because it 'tis the season.

  Next to arrive was a small lamp I'd been waiting on for the top of the dress since it sits in a dark corner of the bedroom even with the overhead ceiling fan light on behind me.  I wanted to find something I could hang my dangle earrings off of, and still provide enough light to see when putting them in.

  My solution was a lamp with a chicken wire shade that I could weave fabric through so it wouldn't be blindingly bright, but still, leave an open layer to hang the earrings.  This is only partial completion of the fabric weave.  It was time-consuming between ripping the fabric and getting it woven with the printed side out, and before I knew it I was about 45 minutes overdue for my last meal and meds of the day.

  The "cup" is actually a mercury glass candle holder.  The jar is my "turn it over" to God jar for prayers, hurts, and regrets.  I will use the pieces of sticky notes then burn them at the end of the year in a bonfire.  Praises, such as a clean pathology report, will be (has been) shouted to the heavens immediately and continuously.  The small bowl is actually made of concrete and painted on the inside.  I'm using it as a catch-all for smaller stud earrings.

  One other project not yet started is getting my tools organized in a bag I was finally able to find at the hardware store.  Nails, screws, and unused washers will be sorted by size into old medicine pill bottles.  My "tool tub" became a "tool drawer" in the kitchen when the tub became too heavy to take down from the top of the refrigerator without risking getting clunked on the head by something falling out of it (like my hammer).  It will be a sitting down project to do while watching television ... perhaps during football tonight.

quick update ...

 Yesterday was a very long day.  I would say it started when I climbed into my friend's vehicle at 345a, but in reality, it started about 1a when I woke to acid rolling fire in my throat.  I'm not sure if it was nerves or the late afternoon meds to help me sleep some, but it kept me awake until my alarm went off to get up anyway at 230a.

  It was a 3-hour drive to the WVU hospital in Morgantown, and I'm embarrassed to say there were moments when I caught myself waking up with my mouth hanging open.  No drooling as far as I know.  I was checked in and on a gurney by 730a, but am not sure exactly what time the procedure started.  There was not a clock within my line of sight, and they said that the procedure prior to mine was running late.

  When they did start my procedure, I was given meds for the pain and a mild sedative to make me comfortable.  An ultrasound was done of the area on my abdomen when the other hospital said the mass was located, however (and hip-hip-hooray) the procedure was not done via my abdomen, but through my ribs on my right side.  It felt as if three biopsies were taken, however, I only have one hole in my side, so think that they must have just used one bore needle for the extractions.

  Results will be back in 5-7 days.  Until then, I'm living my best life.