Wine tasting in Salem before surgery. Many wineries were not open because of Winter hours but we did manage to find 3 that were. We had a lot of fun. At one of the wineries the tasting was FREE! Back in the day all tastings were free but these days there is a fee but the fee will be knocked off if you buy something. Of all things we ended up buying 2 dessert wines (ports) at Redhawk and Eola Hills Wineries. My favorite thing to do with dessert wines is to pour them over some really great vanilla ice cream. Once I'm up and at-em I'm going to make a nice vanilla ice cream and try those wonderful purchases. The one from Redhawk is a tempranillo and the one from Eola Hills is RASPBERRY, the two are very yummy!!!!! RoxyAnn sells a wonderful pear dessert wine that is heaven on vanilla ice cream.

Our bedroom
The great room even had a flat big screen!

This is the name of the room we were in.

The front of the house.

Yikes- didn't see that this was upside down - sorry!

Here are a few photos from the "Walton House", the residence we got to stay in (me for 3 nights, Pete a few more) in Salem. What a wonderful service to have available, we were very grateful to be able to take advantage of this.

Pete did alot of this.

This is the nurse you want to have if you are stuck in a hospital. Her name is Robben and I LOVED her!!!!!

My new monkey (didn't know that's what I was having done - lol!)

A big thanks to the "Vegas Babes" who no matter how far I roam they are always in my heart!

Many thanks to my "Camps" building buddies! It's beautiful and will look great in my yard when we start planting. (Camps is one of the buildings at the Festival and the one that I work in).

Well, guys sorry it's been so long but it would mean getting up from bed and sitting in this chair and now I know why I was avoiding it; it's uncomfortable. I still need to ice, the back of my knee is very black and blue and a couple of days ago ballooned way up. I can feel about 2/3 of my thigh now and what I can't feel is VERY tender. My hip on the other hand is pretty good. I was achy yesterday but I think I overdid it a little. I had to get a blood draw and then I thought I would walk around the house a little more. On the other hand I am sleeping, not through the night, but not waking up as much. I guess I'm getting used to sleeping on my back - ugh!
So what have I been doing besides watching TV - yuch! Audrey, I finished the 8th book yesterday morning so now I'm done with the series and missing Sookie and the gang!
I have fixed some jewelry that needed to be fixed and made a few gifts (jewelry) for upcoming birthdays. I also made myself a nice little necklace. I plan on having Pete drag out the scrapbooking stuff when he gets back. He had a Dr. appt. to get a terrible looking spot/boil, ? whatever) that he has had for probably over 6 months! Good news he has another appt. and they are going to cut it out. He is on his way to get my crutches so I can start that new adventure. Things are good but much slower than I thought.
I want to upload pictures but can't bend down to find the right slot, so that might have to happen another day.

Happy Valentines Day to my friends! (a few photos from last year)

Looks like I'm leaving tomorrow around noon. Yesterday was a better day! Got to walk around a little, even got a shower around 5pm. It's been easier and easier everyday. I probably would have gone home today but since I'm traveling he wants me to stay a little longer. The incision looks good but is a little swollen and bruised so we're icing it today. I'm sure Pete is ready since he doesn't like sitting around doing a lot of nothing. The drugs make me a little sleepy so I always have sleep to fall back on. Last night finally after 11:30pm I got to sleep until they came in around 5:3oish to draw more blood, they need to keep checking my blood level since I'm taking the cumadin. Everyone has been so nice here, some better than others. Still am queasy and I don't think that will go away if I keep taking the percoset (sp?). The food is adequate but I'm trying to stick to "simple" since my tummy is bad.

Rocky did well on his night alone and unfortunately will have to do another night alone but he's okay with it (I'm not). I miss him and hopefully will be getting home when he gets home from school. Pretty much my day is snoozing and reading. All is well, got to rest..........

Here I am, back again. Can't wait to get home and get some rest!!!! Everything went well. Bone grafting was done so I will be on crutches for 2 months! Yesterday was not too bad I even had a late "light" lunch and a late dinner. Kept it on the light side since my blood sugar was up (Robin, 146, 149). Sleep? No sleep since they are taking your vitals about every hour or hour and a half! My finger heart monitor liked going off for no reason whatsoever! So just when I had a little nap, off it went!!!! Today has not been too good and I'm feeling a little better right now so here I am. My blood pressure has been low and not going up, going down. They're trying to help me but it's just going to be a bad day. I've got a great nurse, Robben (different sp) and she's been great! Everyone has been really nice and very helpful. My nurse last night, James was pretty good too. My drain was taken out and I got up and put in a chair but after that my pressure dropped more, so I didn't last in the chair. I'm in bed now but I did manage to get in exercises twice today. So all is well. Still don't know if my release is Thurs.? Rocky is having a great time with Uncle Tim.
Audrey, I'm on #6 and would be further if I could have read more today.
We did hit 3 wineries on Saturday and that was a lot of fun. On Sunday we got to see "Slumdog Millionaire" and it was vey good. Had some great chinese food - finally (in Oregon).
Gotta go..........tired.

Okay, so now Dr. Boyd had done 700 of these and he said there has been a rash of people coming up from Ashland. When we arrived at the Walton House on Friday evening there was one of his patients who just had a "resurfacing" on Monday, the 2nd and was released on the 5th. She decided to stay at the house a couple of extra days since she has a small vehicle and was scared to drive home right after her release. She has her sister who is helping her and they are on the first floor with us. We share a bathroom. The patient (didn't get her name) is from Ashland and lives on Beach St.!! The Walton House was donated by a church (which is across the parking lot) and is an old home that is maintained by a family that lives in the basement apartment and is also maintained by volunteers. It is a regular older home and we get to share the kitchen and all the living spaces. There are 2 bedrooms upstairs but I haven't seen them. It's clean and comfortable. Very lucky to have this option at only a donation of $20.00 per night. There are only twin beds in the bedrooms and I guess that's so the patients don't have to be kicked during their night of trying to sleep. So, I've been able to get first hand info from this woman about what I will be going through, although her hip was in worse shape than mine and she's not in the best of shape either. Apparently she fell 15 ft. and broke her pelvis in her younger days while she was in the Navy. She said everyone in the hospital is great including Doc's nurse. We have private rooms and they maintain your pain so well you are never in pain. She said she really hasn't really felt any pain. She is walking around on crutches and will be for 10 weeks because she had extensive grafting. Oh, he did notice that I will need grafting also, so, now I will have to be on crutches for 5 weeks. I guess I will know more on Monday when I wake up. I should be in my room after 12 noon since the surgery is at 7:20am, I am his first surgery - yeh, gotta like that, nice and fresh in the morning! Well, she looks like she is getting along pretty well and I guess I will be too. Man is that hospital busy, so not like our itty, bitty hospital in Ashland. Actually this town is busy (traffic), I guess we're back in the "big" city!
Oh, guess who passed by our table last night at the restaurant................Dr. Boyd, he stopped and said hi and introduced us to his Mrs.

Hi Gang! I made it, I'm here and I almost had to turn back and go home!!!!! Everything was great until they asked where my EKG was? How the heck do I know? I did it on Jan. 20th and it was supposed to be sent to Dr. Chatroux and to Dr. Boyd, here in Salem, well, neither got it and guess what folks without it no surgery! So I gave the assistant Chatroux's name (didn't have her #, she's a new doc for me) and she was going to call and see if they had received it, hopefully it was a good one. So we left to go find Karen's daughter at Wilamette U to deliver her TV (other story) and lunch at Costco. After driving around in circles we found Victoria and delivered her TV. In the interim, Annette (Dr. Boyd's office) called and said she couldn't find a listing for Chatroux???? I called Karen and she gave me the # and I called their office, guess what, they never got it either! So they were on the hunt for me with a verbal release. Finally made it to my appt. with the "pre-admit" nurse and I called Chatroux's office and they got it and it was a "good" EKG, so all systems are "GO". Had them fax to Boyd's office and the hospital. Had my "nurse chat" and we were on our way to the "Walton House". Did you know that now instead of them bringing you a tray of food in the hospital that you look through an extensive menu and order what you want? Someone finally got smart. I have to do so many pre-things before Monday a.m., did I tell you I have to be there at 6am? Well, I told Dr. Boyd that I was not going to be looking pretty for him at that time and that got a big chuckle. I have this little vial of stuff that I have to swab in each nostril 2x/day (& Monday morning) so I don't get or pass around "mercd" (something like that). I have no idea what that is! On Sunday night I have to bathe with "Hibiclens", some antibacterial cleanser for 3-5 min. all over except for my face and privates and then on Monday morning I have to get up and do it again before I get to the hospital. Well, enough of that. We got everything accomplished yesterday and now it's the waiting game. Had dinner at a very nice spot called "DaVinci's" on the doc's recommendation, a little pricey. Today we're sitting in Starbucks and I'm typing to update you guys and then we are off to a couple of wineries - yipee, I'm drinking today, but first we're going to try and find a matinee. Check the blog tomorrow for an update on the never ending saga of "Janie and the (now- curable) hip curse"!

As you read this I will be on my way to Salem. We are leaving at 7:15 am. I have my pre-op at 11:45 a.m. and my pre-admit at 3:30 p.m. My surgery is Monday at 7:20 a.m. I will have my laptop with me and there is wi-fi in the hospital so I will be reporting from the hospital - lol! Pete and I plan on taking in a couple of movies this weekend so we can catch up on the nominees. We will be staying at a residence called Walton House.

So sorry too much going on with getting the house and family ready and myself. I also had to host a birthday at work (I had to pull the person whose birthday was this week!) so last night I was baking and doing my last load of wash and sewing some little prezzies for a couple of gal pals who have been so great to me through this handicap of mine. I dropped one off to my other half Anita who has been so great whenever we've gone to a crop, she always unloads and loads my car, what a gal! Everyone has been so great. Not too much to report. I've taken the "view from the porch" off until this spring. I was busy training at work today for the gal that is sitting in for me, busy day at work and I only have 2 days to catch up with other stuff before I leave. Want to have everything ready for these guys here at work. Previews start on Feb. 13th and I will be gone so when I get back to work 4 shows will be running. Rocky is meeting me at work so I've got to go and take him home.