What a Nice Day

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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.

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Angels

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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.








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And Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming...

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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.

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Friday Update...Discharged!

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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
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Waiting

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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.


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Wednesday Morning Update

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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.

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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.

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Update

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I'm still here at Providence Hospital in Anchorage. My leg hasn't gotten better but it hasn't gotten worse either, which is great. I assume that after the leg ultrasound it was determined that I do not also have a deep vein thrombosis because no one ran into my room with a fistfull of blood thinners.

The blood cultures they took in Kotzebue haven't come back yet so they do not know for certain that it is MRSA, but that is a definate possibility so that is how they are treating it. I am now going from 2 doses of Vancomycin a day to three. My IV went bad and I had to get another one. That's my fourth IV in four days, not to mention all the other pokes for blood draws. That means I am running out of usable veins so there is talk of inserting a PICC line to make administering antibiotics and drawing blood easier. They will see if my leg has improved tomorrow and then decide what to do.

So I still have no idea how long I will be here, and I am still not supposed to get up and walk around. All the doctors, nurses and PCT's here have been great but it is very, very BORING! I sit here and watch tv, fiddle around on the internet, take naps, stare off into space, watch some more tv. What I really need is a good book.

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Not What I Had in Mind

This was going to be a great weekend. Independence Day in Kotzebue is always a lot of fun. There's the parade and then games and booths and contests at the fairgrounds. Today there was the Beautiful baby contest and the Burger Cook Off. Then on Monday and Tuesday it's the Qatnut Trade Fair with lots of Eskimo dancing and crafts.

I planned to take TONS of photos and blog all about it....BUT NOOOOOOOO......




...instead I am here. Inpatient at Providence Hospital in Anchorage for who knows how long. On Wednesday I developed an infection in my leg from a little break in the skin. Just one of those things that happens I guess. The infection did not respond to the oral or IV antibiotics they gave me in Kotzebue. That means they needed to break out the big guns...Vancomycin. They can't give you that stuff in Kotz so I had to jump on the next jet to ANC and check in at the hospital.



Now I never have had small legs, but my left leg and knee is HUGE. I'm hooked to tubes and hoses and things that beep. I'm not allowed to get up except to go to the potty. More IV antibiotics and an ultrasound of my leg tonight. MRI tomorrow morning if things don't improve overnight. I just received my umpteenth poke in the last three days...this time in the BELLY! Geez.




At least they have wireless internet! Obviously I won't have much to post. Maybe I will look and see what I have for photos on this laptop and post a few.

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Kotzebue- Most Expensive Place in Alaska

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Well, those of us who live here know it's true, but now it is official.

Unalaska second most expensive place in AK

KUCB News (2009-07-01)
UNALASKA, AK (kucb) - According to a recent study commissioned by the state, Unalaska is the second most expensive place to live in Alaska, right behind Kotzebue. The study looked at geographic differentials and compared costs in different communities to costs in Anchorage. The McDowell group surveyed more than 2,500 households, including 51 in Unalaska, to find out the cost of housing, utilities, transportation, food, clothing, and other expenses. They found that Unalaska is 58 percent more expensive than Anchorage. The Aleutian Region as a whole is 50 percent higher. Kotzebue is 61 percent more expensive. Robert Pearson, with the state's Department of Administration in Juneau said that given margins of statistical error, it evens out to be about the same.

"Some communities might have a different mix of things that are really expensive, but it kind of evens out that they end up with one number."

What makes Unalaska so expensive is the cost of transportation. Using Anchorage as a comparison point of 1.0, the study says transportation in Unalaska is 2.35. In state travel is ranked at 3.78. Housing is also expensive with utilities that are more than 3 times those in Anchorage. In comparison, the costs of food, clothing, and household furnishings drive up the overall differential in the Arctic Region. In Kotzebue, everything is expensive, especially food. Their food differential is 1.84 whereas ours is only 1.43.

This is the first geographic cost differentials study the state has completed in 23 years. In 1985, the study was completed by looking at voting districts. Looking at the Aleutians Island region as a whole, prices have gone up by 23 percent since 1985. However, Pearson notes that the survey was done during a period of higher than average oil prices. The state commissioned the study to help set wages for state jobs, but it has not been codified into law. It's available for all public and private use.
© Copyright 2009, kucb
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kial/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1524875/Local.News/Unalaska.second.most.expensive.place.in.AK

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