Common Redpoll

.






































.

Kotzebue Shore Avenue Project

.

Today was the groundbreaking for the Kotzebue Shore Avenue road project. This is a project that has been over a decade in the planning. Because of where Kotzebue is situated we have erosion problems on the ocean side of town.




The ceremony started with an invocation by Pastor Miller from the Friend's Church. We start everything around here with an invocation.




Kathleen Westlake gave a great acapella performance of the Alaska Flag Song.




These kiddos did an Eskimo dance welcoming all the visitors. The improvements to Shore Avenue is a 38 million dollar project, 6.5 million dollars of which comes from economic stimulus money.




This is...ummm....a guy from the state DOT. I forget his name...a photographer I may be, but journalist not so much, sorry.




I do know who this is. This is Leo von Scheben, state DOT Commissioner.




This is Alaska Lieutenant Governor/Soon To Be Governor Sean Parnell.




Golden Shovels. This project is expected to take about 2.5 years to complete and it scheduled to jump into full swing next summer. If anyone is interested in learning more about the project you can go to the City of Kotzebue's Shore Avenue Project website.

.

Arctic Daisies

.






















.

What a Nice Day

.

What a beautiful day today.




Sunshine and blue sky.




It got to about 66F degrees...




...but with that sun beating down and not much wind it seemed hotter. I took the dogs for a run with the four wheeler up beside cemetery hill.




There was a nice little pool and they jumped in to cool off.




Both Kaija and Rush like to swim but Rush is the one who is more likely to jump in and swim. Kaija is more of a wader, but she will swim when she thinks Rush is trying to upstage her. He's too dumb to show off....he just likes to swim.




Then after the swimming it's time to run around and look for voles. See that in the background?




Yup, it's the runway.




Hey, what's that??




It's the evening jet. Alaska Airlines flight 153.




When you stand in this spot the jet flies RIGHT OVER YOUR HEAD!




And even though you know it's not going to hit you it's so LOW that it is very intimidating. And LOUD.




And then it goes over head and it takes about 5 seconds for the rush of air to hit you. And then about 6 seconds there is this really weird sound that is very hard to describe. Kind of like this wooshing almost sizzling sound that goes through the air. Very strange.




After being buzzed by the 737 it's time for more vole hunting.




Success!




Yummers.

.

Angels

.

When my mother was a little girl, her mother used to tell her that the rays of light that show through the clouds were angels looking down on us from heaven.








.

And Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming...

.

Well, I'm home and I still have the same leg that I left with so that is bonus. The gaping hole in my knee is still painful. The hole is packed with gauze that has to be changed every other day until the wound slowly heals from the inside out. My foot and leg are still quite swollen, especially if I am up walking around. If I keep it elevated the swelling is not too bad. I have another two weeks of antibiotics to take orally.


After being cooped up for 10 days I was dying to take a ride down the beach so I did. I have to take it easy so it wasn't a long ride. It was enough to get a few photos and shake off the cabin fever.




The Iris are out.....and starting to go by already. This is what happens when you miss the whole first two weeks of July. In the arctic two weeks of summer is equal to 5 weeks somewhere else. I feel like I have been shortchanged.




It would have been better if this happened in January. But I suppose I shouldn't complain. I still have my leg, I still have my life, and there are still some iris left for me.




And there is still cottongrass. I love cottongrass. Someone left a comment a while back asking if it felt as fluffy as it looks. It does.

.

Friday Update...Discharged!

.
Today I was released from the hospital. I was there for seven days, almost exactly from the time I was admitted.

I had the MRI on Monday but the radiologist never read it (at least to my knowledge) until Tuesday evening. After the Doctors read the MRI they contacted my knee surgeon, Dr. McGuire. On Wednesday morning they told me that I would be having surgery "sometime" that day. Later in the afternoon Dr McGuire and his nurse Kris came to the hospital to see me. After examining the abscess on my knee Dr. McGuire told the Providence Doctors that he would prefer to do the surgery himself. He is kind of protective of his knee patients and didn't want strange doctors digging around my knee and mucking things up.

So on Wednesday evening I had surgery to drain and clean a fairly large abscess on my knee. Because it was so large they packed it with gauze and left it open. It will have to heal from the inside out. I will have to unpack and then repack the wound with gauze every other day until it heals, which could take 3 to 4 weeks. This morning they changed the gauze and dressings and then discharged me around 5pm. I will stay here in Anchorage until Monday morning when I will go see Dr. McGuire to have the dressing changed and make sure everything is still good. Then I will head home to Kotzebue on the evening flight.

I just wanted to than everyone for their prayers and well wishes. I appreciated every one of them.

And now for those of you who like gory photos here is a photo of my knee with the gauze sticking out. Don't look if you are grossed out by that sort of thing
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.


.

Waiting

.
I'm still waiting to hear when I will have surgery. I don't know if they are just going to drain the abscess or if they are going to explore the joint and the screws as well. So that means I don't know if I am having local or general anesthesia. I'm starting to get hungry and thirsty. Oh well....but here's something that cheered me up. I just got flowers from my mom in Kotzebue and my dad and step mom in New Hampshire. They really brighten up my room. I can't even remember the last time I got flowers...maybe when Uyaana was born.

So pretty. Thanks Dad and Joanne.


I love the balloon and the sunflowers. Thanks mom.


.

Wednesday Morning Update

.
After several days of not really knowing what was going on things seem to be moving along now. Last night they inserted the PICC line so no more IV's for me.



All fluids and antibiotic and whatnot can now be administered through the PICC. They will still have to stick me for Vancomycin levels but not for IV's or any other blood work.

The radiologist read my MRI and I do indeed have an abscess on my knee. They said that it looks like it may be caused by one of the "bio-absorbable" screws from my ACL surgery last September. Seems the screw may not have absorbed. So it probably got infected and I ended up with MRSA or whatever antibiotic resistant bacteria it was and it caused the cellulitis that overtook my lower calf. The cellulitis is slowly receding back towards the site of the growing abscess. Providence has consulted with my knee surgeon and he is going to come here and see me and decide what they want to do.

The good news is that from what they can see on the MRI the abscess does not seem to involve the joint or the bone. If it did that would be a very serious issue and I would probably be sitting in this hospital on IV antibiotics for several weeks. That would have been a bummer to say the least.


So I am now NPO and basically awaiting surgery at some point today to deal with the abscess. As far as I know I will be here at least a few more days.

.

Tuesday Update

People have been asking for an update so here it is.

I am still in Providence Hospital in Anchorage. The blood culture done in Kotzebue came back negative for MRSA however the doctors here at Providence believe that is incorrect. They said because it was totally resistant to Clindomycin, Rosefin and Bactrum and because of how it "acts" they believe that it is MRSA and the culture results were false. I will probably never know how I got it. Most likely I had a little nick or cut or bugbite near my knee that caused a tiny opening in my skin. That's all it takes.

The cellulitis on my leg has receded quite a bit but there is a hot, painful, lump slightly below my kneecap. I am still in a lot of pain. I had an MRI of my knee and calf yesterday. There may be an abscess at my knee. They need to see whether or not it is an abscess and also to see if the infection has spread to the joint of the bone (which would be really bad news). The Radiologist has not yet read the results (of course) so nothing can be done until that happens. If it is an abscess we we will have to start the process of draining it and packing it.

In the meantime my 4th IV infiltrated last night and inserting the new IV was a really hard stick. It took three minutes of digging. Today I expressed my frustration to my doctor about not having the PICC line done on saturday when the IV team first suggested it.




I have had at least 15 pokes in my arms since last Thursday. Last night during my frustration I took a sharpie and circled all the holes in my arms.




I did it just to prove a point to the Dr. I guess they will decide about the picc after the radiologist reads the MRI. In the meantime I will probably blow another IV and have 2 more blood draws to add to the sharpie circles.

I have no idea how long I will be here. At least a few more days. Tomorrow and the next day definitely. It all depends on what the MRI says and what treatment follows.


I'm very bored. I did however go online and search out a book I wanted to read. I called the local Barnes and Noble and purchased it over the phone and my friend went and picked it up for me. It's called "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. It's a good book. So I read, I watch tv, I go on the internet (when it works), and I sleep, and feel sorry for myself stuck in here when the weather is so nice back home in Kotzebue. And I am bummed out because I hurt and because I could be here 3 more days or 3 more weeks. Who knows....but I try to remind myself that in the grand scheme of things I am really quite lucky. I am sure there are many people in this very hospital right now that have it SO MUCH WORSE than me and I should just put my big girl cagliks on and quit whining.

.