Forget Me NOT

I just finished reading another inspiring book ~ Forget Me NOT by Jennifer Lowe-Anker. What an incredible journey the author has had thus far ~ her strength and courage have inspired me to live more in the moment and get started on my own memoir. Ever since I picked up Ghosts of Everest I have been spellbound with the mountain and the mountaineers who climb the highest peak on the planet. You know, you've probably read about many other blogs where I have yammered on and on about Everest (29,035 feet) ~ but seriously, I can't help myself. This feeling that wells up inside me when I open up a book about someones journey up the mountain is indescribable.


I have some theories ~ maybe my brain is re-playing some heart memories of some distant relative who climbed Chomolunga-The Goddess Mother of the World. Perhaps I identify with the incredible endurance of the human spirit to keep moving forward even when you have nothing left to give. Anyway, with each Everest book I have read I have learned about the greatest mountaineers on the planet. Their stories are intertwined in the brotherhood of the rope.


One climber in particular I have grown to greatly admire and respect ~ Conrad Anker. Not long after he discovered George Mallory's body on the North side of Everest he was in a deadly avalanche in which he narrowly escaped. His best friend, Alex Lowe, and Dave Bridges lost their lives that day. Since that tragic day, Conrad has gone on several other expeditions, has started a Khumbu Climbing School and married Jennifer Lowe-Anker.

So, this weekend I was up in the Keene Valley with some friends at the 13th Annual Mountainfest ~ both Conrad and Jennifer Lowe-Anker were doing a slide show presentation about her book and Conrad's expeditions. I had both of them sign some books ~ it was amazing meeting them both! I also had a chance to go on a snow-shoeing outing ~ shhhhhh don't tell my surgeons. There wasn't anything on my discharge papers that said 'no snow-shoeing' ~ it just said no vacuuming for 3 months! Despite the bitter cold ~ it was down in the negatives at night and a high of 13 on Saturday ~ I had a great time this weekend relaxing and breathing in the sweet mountain air.

Buttermilk and Strawberries

What a busy weekend. On Saturday we headed north into the Adirondack Mountains (ADK) for a day hike with Hannah's girl scout troop. The weather forecast called for sunny skies, but the minute we started hiking the heavens opened and the rain started pouring down! Despite the rain everyone had a great time ~ we even saw some red salamanders and stood at the base of Buttermilk Falls! After church today we headed out to pick several quarts of strawberries.

Ever since I was a little girl I have been fascinated with the summer Olympics in particular. I absolutely love watching the gymnastics events and follow them pretty closely. This weekend were the Olympic trials for both the men and women gymnasts. The men's team has been announced ~ Joe Hagerty, Morgan Hamm, Paul Hamm, Jonathan Horton, Justin Spring & Kevin Tan. The two top women gymnasts: Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin are already on the team and now 12 Olympic hopefuls will find out if they have made the team after the training camp in mid July.

After watching hours of gymnastic this weekend I am super excited to see them represent the USA at the Olympics starting on 8-8-08. The gymnasts are have mad gymnastic skills and I feel like we have what it takes to take the gold! Looking forward to a more pain free week this week. Enough of the low pressure headaches ~ they are making me lose my personality.

Paradox Lake

The photo above is a view from the campsite from the camping trip this past weekend. There's nothing like spending a couple of nights in the mountains to soothe the soul. Even with the threat of isolated thunder storms in the area the weather was sunny and hot. We even had the chance to go on a hike and dip our toes in the lake.

I had high hopes of hearing some more owl serenades and was thrilled to hear two different owl calls. First I heard an Eastern Screech-Owl. You could easily mistake their call for the whinny of a tiny pony. Saturday night there was a brief Barred Owl serenade ~ their calls sound like "who cooks? who cooks for you?"

The weekend went by so fast, but I feel relaxed and rested. The campground was pretty much empty so we had the freedom to laugh and talk until the Jurassic moths were threatening to take over our campsite. Yin Metal Rooster, Yin Wood Rooster, Yin Metal Snake ~ thanks for the memories and I am looking forward to the next camping adventure. Yang Fire Tiger ~ Out

PS. Next time you play Cranium and you get this question ~ What State flies this flag? Remember that the answer is MARYLAND!!! Also ~ 'flammable' and 'inflammable' mean the exact same thing ~~~

Solo Drive

Funny how I type in 'solo' into Google images and it brings up Han Solo ~ I just couldn't resist ~ I am such a child of the 80's! I digress ~ I have been plagued with insomnia the past couple of nights ~ I am blaming the lunar eclipse. So, since I am currently on disability and busy recovering and resting I rolled out of bed around 10:30 this morning. After grabbing a strong mug of coffee I sat down at the kitchen table and put down on paper the long 'to do list' I had been compiling in my mind while tossing and turning all night long. Ahh ~ instant relief to have dumped all that data.

I made several phone calls, crossed off at least half the items on my list. I looked out the window at the sunshine and thought for the first time in three weeks that things are beginning to get back to 'normal'. On a whim, I called to make a hair cut appointment and was elated to secure an appointment 2 hours after I made the call. My first solo driving outing was about to commence.

You see ~ my recovery instructions have been pretty vague. Don't do anything that hurts ~ duh ~ and you can't go back to work until 3 months after your surgery. OK ~ well what about when can I drive? I answered that question this afternoon ~ about three weeks. Backing out of the driveway almost felt like when you are a teenager and you are giddy with the idea of borrowing your parents car to drive around the block! To my surprise, it didn't exactly hurt my back to drive, but I did feel a little tired and slow to react to my surroundings.

So ~ mission accomplished ~ I re-established faith in myself today that I can drive ~ even if it's just a couple of miles down the road. Having that freedom is priceless to me since I have pretty much had to be chauffeured for the past 3 weeks. Also ~ as a bonus had my hair cut for the first time since December. Nothing drastic yet ~ at least not until I am officially cleared by TCI of the potential for brain surgery any time in the near future.

One and Two Weeks Post Op

I have had many a request for pictures of my surgery site ~ so here they are! I have posted the photo towards the bottom of the post for those of you who are squeamish ~ I promise ~ all things considered the pics aren't bad at all! My question is how long is it going to take to wash off the pen mark they made on my back???

Just in case you are not quite sure what you are looking at, the photos are of my mid and lower back. Even after all the links and lengthy info regarding the surgery many of you still thought that the surgery site was in my neck ~ true story! I am amazed how the detethering has alleviated almost all of my symptoms ~ and I am still in awe of the brilliance of the TCI docs. My next step is figuring out how to tactfully write a letter to my four local neuro-surgeons to let them know the outcome of my surgery. Mostly I want to educate them on the correlation between the tethered spine and the brain so that other Chiarians like me might avoid brain surgery!

I am still trying to ease into the whole 'recovery ' mode of resting and relaxing. I am off all pain/muscle relaxant meds and yet every night I am having these uber intense dreams with intricate and complex plots. I wake up exhausted from my dream journeys. At first I attributed the dreams to the Morphine ~ but now that I am not taking it anymore I am perplexed. Maybe since my brain tail has plenty of CSF it's going into overdrive ~ anyone out there have similar experiences?

Camping

I am still brushing the wood smoke from my eyes, a feeling of calm has settled inside, my hurried pace of life has slowed a wee bit. Camping this past weekend was just what I needed ~ sleeping under the stars, sitting around a campfire and laughing with friends, hiking in the mountains ~ I could see fingerprints of God everywhere I looked. What an amazing creator He is ~ the fall foliage is almost at it's peak in the Adirondacks ~ the brilliant red leaves took my breath away! (The picture posted is the view from our campsite ~ I didn't take it myself)

When I drove up to the campsite, the park ranger informed me to be on the look out ~ the camp site was on bear alert ~ black bears had been sited in the camp. I guess my reading up on black bears was not totally fruitless ~ I knew what to do if I happened to run into one of them in the middle of the night. However, nothing prepared me for the incredibly mournful and creepy sound of the loons in the middle of the night! Think about any film where campers in the woods are attacked by some crazed woodsman ~ cue the creepy music ~ and you hear the loon ~ I nearly jumped out of my skin! The loon wail sounds very similar to the call of wolves and coyotes.

All things considered: bacteria water warnings, a blue heron with the wing span of a pterodactyl, scurrying creatures in the middle of the night, sub-zero Arctic temperatures, the assistant to the den-mother, tales of working in factories, headlamps the size of street lights, a couture armadillo purse, out gassing smores, coin-op showers and tons of other tales that will remain unmentioned to protect the innocent ~ I had a relaxing, spirit renewing weekend. BTW ~ no bears were sighted while we were there!