This week has been a little more eventful than some, so I’ll just plunge right in sharing the blessing of this week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.
1. Taking Christmas decorations down with Jesse helping. It’s always a little sad yet a relief to get everything packed up and put away. The rooms look a little less cluttered.
Somehow we always miss some decoration until after the boxes have been stored back in the attic. Jesse and I discussed this and looked in places where we’ve left something out before. We couldn’t find anything, but Jesse said, “I just know you’re going to send me a picture of something we forgot.”
And sure enough, when I walked into my bathroom after Jesse left, I saw this:
And I texted him the photo. 🙂
That’s the only Christmas decoration I have in a bathroom, besides a Christmas hand towel. But it makes me happy. 🙂 It’s still there, but I’ll probably whisk it into the storage closet at some point.
2. Easy returns. Some of the clothes we had gotten for Timothy didn’t fit. They had all been ordered online, and I didn’t think to get gift receipts or save packages they came in. They were from two different stores, and I wasn’t looking forward to the ordeal of getting the approval to return and then finding boxes to send them back in. But the online process went amazingly smoothly. Plus, all the items could be taken to a local store without having to mail them. My dear husband took care of that part.
3. Surgery over. I went in Wednesday morning for ablations for atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation. Everything went well except I ended up in afib. 😦 I was told that I’d likely have more afib episodes for three months after the procedures, because the heart is a little sensitive and erratic from all the poking around they did in there. My son did some reading this morning and saw that it’s actually the scarring that develops from the zapped places that blocks the circuits causing afib. So it makes sense it would need some time to heal.
They shocked my heart three times after the ablations, but it wouldn’t convert back to normal. They theorized that once I got back on the medications I’d had to stop before surgery, that would help my heart to convert back to normal. If that doesn’t help, then I am supposed to call them and we’ll see if they want to do another cardioversion or try another medication.
Other than being in afib, I am doing well and feeling good. I had an allergic reaction to some of the adhesive pads that they use during the cardioversion, so I have been using a lot of Benadryl cream on the welts.
But the biggest thing I am thankful for is just that the surgery is over. Plus, last time I had to be on my back for 4-6 hours after the procedure, and then even longer when I started bleeding from the incision the first time they let me stand up. This time, I only had to lay flat for two hours. And I didn’t have any bleeding.
4. Excellent nurses, both the one who took care of me before and after the surgery as well as the one who discussed things with me before the surgery and then took me to the operating room. I don’t think I could ever have been a nurse, but I so appreciate those who are skilled, efficient, kind, and compassionate.
5. Friends who pray and send notes or texts telling me they are thinking about me and praying for me. And then Mittu told me that a number of people asked about me at church on Wednesday. That warms my heart.
And my dear husband has been going the extra mile through all this. He’s a much better caregiver than I am.:)
I hope your week has gone well! Many thanks to those of you who prayed for the surgery.
Stray Thoughts 
lol! about the Christmas decorations! 🙂 I used to do the same thing.
I hope all your heart issues work out. Glad you are feeling well. Will continue to keep you in my prayers.
I’m so relieved that all went well with your ablations. Hopefully things will straighten up when you are back on your medications and no cardioversion needed.
I laughed about the errant Christmas decorations left behind. I made sure this year that I combed the apartment for all the decorations and felt pretty snug about it. And then the next day, lo and behold, there was a small crystal angel sitting right by my laptop on my desk. Sigh.
I’m glad your clothing returns went so easily. I appreciate Amazon for that as well. You can take it to your local UPS store, and they pack it up and it’s gone.
Rest up and we’ll start our monthly lunches at the end of the month. Cracker Barrel is probably wondering what’s happened to us!
We used to have a UPS drop-off place nearby, but they closed it. 😦 One of the stores was WalMart, and they allowed us to return stuff there even though they had been bought online. And Amazon lets us return stuff at Whole Foods without having to package it up beforehand. I personally probably wouldn’t drive that far to return something, but Jim would rather do that than have to package something up for the post office.
Funny about the one angel that was left out. 🙂 I used to keep some of the snowman decorations for Christmas out through January. But I stopped because I didn’t want reminders of cold and snow inside when it was so cold outside. 😀
Thanks so much for your prayers! I am looking forward to a Cracker Barrel excursion!
You’ve been dealing with a lot. I’m praying for you. God bless you and your family.
Thanks so much!
thank you, Lord, for this good report. Please bring Barbara’s heart healing and health. Grace and peace dear sister. Margie Sent from my iPhone
Thank you so much, dear Margie.
I’m so glad that you have the procedures over with and I understand what it’s like to have those who care enough to reach out or ask about you when you are going through a trial. It means SO much to know that people care.
And I also have a husband who is a wonderful caregiver. He’s been doing his share of it these last few weeks.
Take care my friend. xx
I wil continue to pray that you have a full and good recovery! God is so good in how everything turned out for you. Praise God no bleeding!
that little tree is so cute, I’d leave it up all winter…or at least until Valentine’s Day. I had put all my decorations away on 1/1 before we went to MA for a few days and came home late Sunday night only to discover i had left my little wooden vintage st nicholas on the window sill above my sink. It’s now tucked away and just some snowflake/winter decor is out.
Happy weekend, Barbara. Rest up!
Thanks so much, Faith. I am still in afib and scheduled for a cardioversion tomorrow.
I am so glad you’re “on the other side” too and I fully relate–the thrill of just “having it over” is huge to me with things like that, especially medical things. I’ll pray that your heart will settle down and behave normally soon. I had to laugh about finding the tree in the bathroom. I too try to do two or even three extra rounds through the house, looking for things like that, but often I miss something too. I only decorate the “main” floor (nothing upstairs) to keep things easier.
Have a nice week ahead!
I’m glad to hear you got through the procedure ok and hope that things soon settle down back to normal without the need for any more interventions. Also that the returns procedure was smooth. It isn’t always.
Have a relaxing weekend.
I’m glad your surgery is over, but sorry that you ended up in afib. It sounds quite complicated. But if you’re feeling good now, that’s great!
I still have my Christmas decorations out, but I’ll put them up this weekend. I always dread it, even though it never takes as long as I anticipate. And yes, I always have those stray items that I find too. So funny.
I am so glad that your surgery went well and it seems like the afib will go away. And you are right about wonderful nurses (I may be a bit prejudiced on that since my daughter is an ICU nurse).
I haven’t put away my Christmas decorations yet. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow afternoon. You are way ahead of me, even if you left one tree out 🙂
Have a good week! Willow
I’m so glad you’re on this side of your surgery. Nurses are angels, aren’t they? I’m so grateful for them.
Smiling about the leftover Christmas decoration. I took my tree down today and found an ornament after I put all the boxes away.
One day after New Year I was fed up with the Christmas decoration and took off all ornaments. Now they still sit on my box, because I have breathing problems and can’t do any effort. Glad for you that your heart treatment went well.
We were laughing, too, about always something being missed and left out of the Christmas packing away. This year it was a picture on the wall along with a couple candles that go on either side of it. So glad you had caring nurses through every step of your surgery. Praying your heart responds well and that the afib resolves itself.
Oh my. that seems like quite an ordeal. I’m so glad to hear that you are back home and on the mend. Praise God.