Another ER Visit for Mom

On one of the last few days of our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter's visit with us we were sitting down to a leisurely breakfast. Mom has her breakfast at 4:00 AM, gets on her treadmill for a morning exercise and heads out the door to pick up fallen leaves around the yard and tend to her small garden and lemon trees. 

On that Sunday morning we heard what sounded like a crash. We figured it was mom just dropping her stand up trash pan again.

However, Tiffany went to the window to look out and saw that her grandmother had fallen on the concrete walkway and unable to get up.

We ran outside and saw that her hand had ripped open. 

Luckily, we have a lightweight wheelchair we keep for just this sort of emergencies. We carefully helped her sit on it and took her to Kaiser's ER.

We were very lucky that the ER was not too busy. 

Mom got her wrist X-rayed and her head CAT scanned. 

The doctor said nothing was broken internally. That was a huge relief.

The nurse then used Sodium Chloride to clean her wound. (Isn't that just salt water?) Hmmm.... I asked the nurse if they weren't worried about flesh eating bacteria. She said, "No." Really? I thought they'd use something like hydrogen peroxide. I know Tripler Army Hospital won't use alcohol because it can cause tissue damage and inhibit healing. 

Don't they often show people using alcohol to treat gun shot or knife wounds in action movies? It would hurt like the dickens, I'm sure. But I know they used to disinfect wounds with hydrogen peroxide when our kids were growing up. No longer.

We have added sodium chloride to our first aid kit since it looks like we'll need it more often now.

The very competent nurse used these steri-strips to close the wound and applied some kind of sealant on top of it. She then bandaged mom's hand and we were good to go. 

Friends and my cousin stopped by with mangoes, desserts and even a wonderful soba salad to cheer mom up. 

Bruising where her face hit the concrete prevented her from smiling fully, but she was feeling much better two days later and was back on her morning treadmill. 

She had one day when I had to give her some Tylenol for muscle pain, but after that she was up and around with no pain at all.

In fact, she started mopping the kitchen before I took the mop away and told her to rest for a few more days. 

My brother said, "Wouldn't it have been great if we had inherited her genes?"

POSTSCRIPT: 

After 2.5 weeks where I changed her bandage every other day and bathed her so she wouldn't use her hand, we had her first in-person appointment with her new doctor. (I'd chosen someone who could speak Japanese.) 

The doctor removed her bandage and checked the wound. She was surprised! I'd emailed her a photo after the accident so she knew how bad it was.

It had healed! I checked it a couple of days before (while changing the bandage) and didn't like the color, but the doctor said it was great and mom could get it wet now and in a couple of days could resume her yard cleaning, etc. activities.

Art and I have compared the initial wound to how it looked 2.5 weeks later and don't quite believe what we see.

How is this possible? 

When Art and I injure ourselves it takes much longer to heal.

Art chuckled, "Maybe it's all the natto (fermented soybeans) she eats?"

The doctor had laughed during our visit and told her that if she feels like having sweets, feel free and enjoy. It's not like she doesn't. I've got all kinds of snacks and desserts that friends and family have given her.

So.... are her genes giving her the ability to heal quickly and is that the reason for her longevity?

Or... is it the natto? 😄

Peanut Creature

This is just a silly post I wanted to share with you.

A few weeks ago I was boiling peanuts for my daughter who was visiting from Illinois with her family and a stem fell out of the bag of raw peanuts.

As soon as I picked it up, I thought it looked like an alien creature. Do you see it too?

Why Does This Chicken Not Look Like a Chicken?

A few weeks after returning from our Scandinavian cruise, our daughter and family came to visit. We had not seen them in person in almost three years. Having them here was absolutely fabulous! One of the things we had to get used to was our granddaughter who had changed from a child into a 15 almost 16 year old teenager. Good grief! Her shoe size is bigger than mine. 

Anyway, we visited several Hawaiian fun spots during their stay. One place was the Dole Pineapple Plantation. It's not really a plantation exactly. It's just a tourist spot where you can try their (frozen) pineapple Dole Whip, walk through a little maze, ride a little train and check out tourist souvenirs.

Well... while sitting there enjoying our Dole Whip a brood of chickens kept walking by. There were all kinds of chickens or roosters with different coloring which was fun to see.

But then this one showed up. Is he weird looking or what?

I thought he rather looked like the dinosaur he's descended from. Have you ever seen a chicken like him? Or would it be a she?

Infected Puss Filled Finger

Art saw mom bringing in an aloe leaf one morning which is a clue that she's gotten injured. I've told her that it's been advised aloe is helpful for sunburns, but not cuts. However, she still insists on using aloe for anything anyway. 

Well.... Art asked her where she injured herself and she stuck out her finger.

He called me over and I was surprised to see a lot of pus that had formed.

This was not a recent wound or splinter. 

I'm thinking flesh eating bacteria which seems to be in the news quite often in Hawaii.

This happened on the day she usually goes to her day care which she really enjoys.

I told her we'd have to skip the day care and perhaps go to urgent care or ER. 

She was so upset about missing her day with friends that Art felt we (me)  could try opening up the pus sack and irrigating it.

I got one of my glucose monitor lancets and broke the sac open to find the splinter. I know it hurt... a lot... but she refused to flinch for fear I would stop. 

I squeezed out the pus, put some hydrogen peroxide on it and she happily got to go and see her friends.

Incredibly...

Within a few days, it had healed with no ill effects. So amazing!

Checking Your Medication

My daughter and family were here in Hawaii for three weeks this spring and we were so happy and grateful for all the help and advice they gave us during their stay.

My son-in-law, Ed was able to help purchase some kind of booster to make Art's computer a million times faster. Art had  been struggling with a very slow Internet connection. Ed also installed a great app to store our passwords which were driving me crazy. He also taught us to freeze our Experian, Equifax and Transunion accounts so that no one can hack and open up accounts in our name. It's wonderful to have Tiffany, Ed and KC all here in person to check over how we're keeping safe.

But then, the other morning Tiffany showed me something else I appreciated knowing. I had been wondering about the latest cholesterol medication (Atorvastatin) I'd gotten from the hospital. The pills had the same shape but were different in color and had different marks on them in the same bottle.

Tif showed me how to go to a Pill Identifier website: https://www.drugs.com/imprints.php

What a relief! It was good to know that both pills were actually the same drug and the same dosage.

I'm really missing having them here to help us with so many things.

It’s been a busy, happy and wonderful spring with our cruise with friends followed soon after by our daughter and family’s visit.

The house is quiet now. 

Sigh...

OK... So I'm Not a Toilet Genius

A couple of months ago the toilet in my mother's bathroom started a LOUD squeal. I wrote a post about it because I was so proud that I was able to magically stop it by pressing on the Thingamajiggy.

Well... a few weeks later, the toilet in our bathroom started dripping water in the tank. It would turn on at the weirdest time at night and drop water into the tank. 

Well, I figured pressing on that Thingsmajiggy worked before so maybe it'll work again. And it sort of did, but as soon as I turned my back it would turn on the water again even though the tank was full.

Art studied it carefully and said maybe that stem needs to be replaced because there were bubbles coming from it. But fixing that would be a big job.

"We need to call a plumber," I said.

"Let me think about this," said Art. "Maybe it's the flapper no longer being a good enough seal. That would be a cheaper fix."

"Let's call a plumber," I said.

"Let me try replacing the flapper first," he insisted. 

So we went to The Bathroom Store in Mapunapuna and he bought a flapper for $17.80. I figured it might be $17.80 down the drain, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt since my cure-all Thingamajiggy didn't work.

It didn't take him very long to replace it, but by golly! Would you believe the water leakage stopped? 

And he was kind enough not to say, "I told you so." 🙄

Patching a Hole With Love

Art recently showed me how he managed to put a hole in his favorite pair of shorts.

How did he do this anyway?

The hole is rather big, but when he wears it, his t-shirt will usually cover it. Still, it was possible that it could get bigger.

He decided that patching it with some sort of custom patch would work. 

I've done this before. A friend of mine gave me a wonderful fleece jacket that she did not need. It belonged to her son when he went to Harvard.

Ummm... I did not go to Harvard and felt funny wearing a Harvard jacket so I ironed on a patch to cover the front logo.

I thought that panda bear was awfully cute.

We went to Walmart's sewing section to see their selection of patches, but nothing appealed to him until I found this.

  

It reminded us of our granddaughter, KC who would leave little messages for us on our whiteboard in the kitchen and my office before she left to return to Illinois with her parents. We could not bring ourselves to erase any of them.

Our granddaughter loved books about loving her family. 

Robert Munsch's book was a favorite. I remember reading this to my first grade class and startling my students when they saw tears forming in my eyes.

When KC was little we'd have this game thinking up how far our love could go.

e.g. 

"I'll love you to the moon and back.

I'll love you to the sun and back.

I'll love you to the universe and back."

I’m sure KC was surprised this summer when she saw her grandpa's patch.

POSTSCRIPT 1:

I was cleaning out the guest bedroom and saw this puzzle our daughter, son-in-law and KC sent Art for his birthday last year. He liked it so much that he framed it after he put it together.

Ahhhh....

That's why the patch appealed to us!

POSTSCRIPT 2:

And before our granddaughter left to return to Illinois earlier this summer, she'd updated her frame in my office with this sign.

What is Happening to Amazon?

Three of the photo albums we made for mom of our trips together to Japan and Canada were deteriorating. It's amazing how certain plastics tend to deteriorate in Hawaii.

I was avoiding going out prior to our overseas trip so I decided to order three new 2 inch Avery binders from Amazon. 

What a shock to receive three much too big 3 inch binders instead a few days later. One of them also had a tiny chip in it.

I chatted with the Amazon helpline person and he told me to just keep/donate or give away the binders and they would send me the correct replacements I ordered.

So I waited and a few days later, I got another big box with binders in it. BUT, again... they were 3 inch binders!!! What the heck!

I chatted with another Helpline person and they told me that the 2 inch binders probably weren't available so they would just send me a refund. So now I had six 3 inch binders. 🙄

Luckily, I have a friend who can use a couple so he will get it. I'll keep a couple for our medical information and I'll find a friend or relative who can use one too.

But now I guess we'll have to go shopping for actual 2 inch binders when we get back from our trip. 

This is the 2nd mistake Amazon has made in just a few days. What is going on?

A Gift from Amazon

We recently received a package from Amazon. I was rather surprised because I didn't order anything in such a small package. I texted my daughter and she said she didn't send it to me. I texted my son and he didn't either.

It was a box of 40 clothespins. Clothespins? Stainless steel?

Who would send me clothespins?

I finally decided to contact Amazon. I always find that Help Chatline really difficult to locate on the Amazon website. However, I finally managed to contact someone named Shubh and he very kindly checked the tracking # and confirmed that it had all been a mistake. He also actually spent the time to wish me a happy day and to keep healthy.

And then he told me I didn't need to send the clothespins back to them and could just keep or donate them. I didn't think they'd be good for us to use in our hot, salty Hawaiian air even though it purports to be anticorrosive/antirust/abrasion resistant. However, Art thought they'd be good for us to use on trips when we wash a few clothes in the room. 😄

And as for Shubh, our Chatline buddy? I gave him TOP marks in everything.

Processing Madness

We've had a very busy spring. First we had that Viking Cruise and a few weeks later, our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter arrived. We hadn't seen them in nearly three years and it was a very, very happy reunion.

This past Sunday, with hugs and tears, they flew the red-eye back to Chicago. And true to form, like her mother, Tiffany didn't get to sleep on the airplane. 

The following morning she sent us a jarring text about the Highland Park shooting. We were just sitting down to a late breakfast in Hawaii. She said the neighbors were outdoors stunned at the news. Highland Park is so very close to where they live now and where we used to live. We have friends who live in Highland Park. I could hardly process it all. Once again, it shows you can't control people, but you could have controlled the sale of guns. That very weak bi-partisan gun bill that went through wouldn't have stopped this or Uvalde. I don't think it will stop much at all.

Highland Park has laws on the books banning semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines. However, although Illinois requires background checks on all gun sales it's not enough. And weapons can easily be bought out of neighboring states and brought in.

So here we are. Again.

But this time, it somehow feels more personal. 

4th of July....

A day to celebrate freedom and yet, because Congress cannot/will not pass a law to ban assault/war weapons, we have lost our freedom.

I remember our kids marching in 4th of July parades when they were little.

Do I want our grandkids to go to a crowded celebration?

I remember sitting outside with neighbors enjoying the parade and excitement of the celebration.

And now I'm picturing those families who watched the parade happily in Highland Park, unafraid. 

Some people have told me that you shouldn't ban guns because people then can't protect themselves.

How many shootings have ended because someone had a gun? There were lots of armed policemen at the Highland Park parade. There were armed police at Uvalde.

I'm looking at these young faces of my children decades ago waiting to see the next 4th of July float to go by.

It was a more innocent time.

I'm angry. I can't help it. I'm trying to process why our country cannot seem to stop this madness.

It just goes on and on.

And now Japan…

POSTSCRIPT:

I have a friend who I'm pretty sure is thinking Japan couldn't stop Prime Minister Abe's assassination even with their strict gun laws. Japan has a population of 126 million people. There were 10 gun related criminal cases resulting in ONE death and four injuries last year and no deaths in Tokyo. 

The US has a population of 331 million.

According to The Free Press Journal:

As of December 31, 2021, gun violence (in the US) resulted in 44,750 deaths, including 20,660 homicides and 24,090 suicides, among them 1,533 were children and teens under 17. The number of injured was also a record high of 40,359, including 4,107 under the age of 17.

Final Thoughts About Our Viking Ocean Cruise

We had a super time on the Viking cruise and it was especially wonderful because we journeyed with good friends. We are all happy we went on the cruise. There were lots of glitches, but we all watched each other's backs and were there to help if something went wrong. If someone forgot or needed something, a friend was always there to lend what they had. It really made all the difference.

But.... I do have other thoughts about this.

* Viking made the flight arrangements, but we suspect they pick the cheapest flights and seats and you have to pay to upgrade. Granted, this could all be due to the COVID situation. But that flight thing was AWFUL!  (We've since learned that it's cheaper to get the flights through a travel agent or on your own.)

* It's all (OK, maybe I’m exaggerating) about the food and we did enjoy the decadent amount of variety available for us to enjoy at every meal.

* The Included Tours are pretty much just a bus trip to give you a general look at the towns. Paid tours are better, but both Included Tours and Paid Tours had knowledgeable tour guides.

* All the servers and stewards onboard ship are unfailingly kind, cheerful and accommodating. I'm always amazed at how happy and friendly they all are. It does make the trip that much more enjoyable.

* We loved all the entertainment. The performers on the Viking Star were super talented. (The above photo was called The Beatles Songbook.) 

And the lecturers were quite interesting.

* Two weeks for a cruise is enough. (These ship photos are for Mage of Postcards.) We met someone doing a World tour that started in December. I think she said she'd been on the ship with her husband for 5 months. The cost is astronomical.

* There are all kinds of facilities available for you to enjoy to get your exercise, ie. pools, saunas, a gym, etc. Our Travel Buddies did enjoy them, but I was busy trying to get some sleep and writing in my journal so I could do my blog for you. 😁 That's my excuse and I stand by it.

* Viking is not a Disney Cruise. No children or gambling. I love children, but this was quite relaxing and catered to senior interests.

* When we were younger, Art preferred doing his own travel arrangements and having us explore places on our own. (Actually, I think he still does.) I'm sorry, but I did LOVE not worrying about where to eat, where to go, how to go, etc. and having those things planned for you instead. Still, even with Viking, you have to be on your toes.

* HOWEVER, I also have to add that cruises are not the same as land tours. If you want to see and truly experience a country, you really have to do land tours. When we were younger, we traveled everywhere on our own. Now that we are older, I (me, not Art) feels safer with a tour and knowledgeable guide.

But all in all... in my final thoughts, I'm pretty sure what made it most fun and the reason why the Travel Buddies enjoyed it so much is that we were sharing the adventure together.

And yes, we're considering England next... sometime in the future.

POSTSCRIPT:

This is so weird. My scale must be broken. I actually lost 5 pounds. How is that possible?

Day 15: Stockholm to Hawaii

Since we had an early morning flight out of Stockholm, Viking opened the World Cafe at 5:30 AM for breakfast. This was greatly appreciated by everybody leaving the ship early like we were.

Our last breakfast with our travel buddies was really wonderful and we thanked the servers who were so kind to us every single day. It was interesting that out of 600 passengers there were only about a dozen Asian Americans and no other minorities. And out of that dozen Asian Americans, there were only six of us from Hawaii. I imagine most people from Hawaii would also NOT enjoy the long, long travel time.

We boarded the bus that would take us to Stockholm's Arlanda Airport. However, there was a moment of anxiety when our bus driver did not seem to know where departing passengers should be let off. Apparently, it was her first time driving to the airport.

Sigh.... If I hear even one comment about women drivers, I am not going to be happy.

Whatever the case, our travel buddy, Cal intuitively seemed to know what to do and directed our driver to the location where we should be dropped off. That was pretty amazing to me since he'd never been to this airport.

When we checked in, we were asked to present the PCR test (that Viking provided for us) as well as a record of all our vaccinations.

After we boarded our KLM flight to Amsterdam, the pilot informed us that there might be a half hour delay or more due to high winds. 

But... but... but... We had only an hour and a half lay-over in Amsterdam to board our flight to Vancouver. Noooo.... This couldn't be happening again like it did when the flight was cancelled in Hawaii going to San Francisco. Could it? 

Ten minutes later, the pilot notified everyone that the winds had died down and we could take off. Another section of the remaining dark hair on my head had turned white.

We ate a left over cookie from the Viking ship. Food on the KLM flight was full of carbs so I abstained from eating it. Granted if it was gelato, I might not have been so picky. 

We got to Amsterdam without further incident and caught our next 9 hour leg to Vancouver.

I watched: Spiderman: No Way Home (It was OK.), Harriet (I enjoyed this one about Harriet Tubman.), Cats (I can see why they made fun of this movie.), and West Side Story (I enjoyed this remake by Steven Spielberg).

When we got to Vancouver, we had to wait to make sure our luggage was transferred from the KLM jet to West Jet Airlines (to Hawaii). There was a monitor in Vancouver to indicate if our luggage had made the transfer from KLM to West Jet. 

Would you believe my luggage was the ONLY one that SOMEHOW didn't get transferred?!? I swear my suitcase is cursed. This is the 3rd time they almost lost it! Or is it the 4th? Whatever the case, I had to tell them what it looked like so they could find it and transfer it to West Jet. 

Before boarding the plane we had to again show results of our Viking PCR test and a list of our vaccinations.

There were no movies on the West Jet Airlines and the flight was 6 hours long. The masking rules were very strict. If you wanted to eat something, you needed to remove your mask, take a bite, put up your mask and chew. Actually, we were feeling reassured by that.

We sat next to a girl from Germany and I gave her my window seat as we neared Hawaii. She saw us at Honolulu airport and offered to take the last of our Travel Buddies photos. 

It would take most of us over a week to get our circadian sleep cycle regulated to Hawaiian time and feel normal again. Terry and Craig somehow quickly adjusted to their home sleep schedule. I'm so jealous.

We all tested ourselves a few days later and were negative for COVID. Art and I even got PCR tests from CVS just to make sure we were really, really negative. We were. Phew!

We were all together at tai chi recently and Terry said, "I'd love to go to England."

Day 14: Stockholm, Sweden (Vasa Museum)

Wow! It was already Day #14. We would be leaving the following morning. The time had flown. It was melancholy to thank and say goodbye to our cabin steward, Tedy. Whenever we needed anything we could always count on Tedy. Tedy is from Indonesia. He told us he was so proud that the section he took care of had NO COVID infections. It had been fun to meet Viking workers from around the world. 

We asked him one evening how the heck did he manage to fix our bedsheets every night so they looked so crisp and wrinkle free. (We didn't think he was changing the sheets every night.) He smiled and demonstrated. He took out his spray bottle with plain water from his supply basket and misted the top of the bedsheet. He then smoothed it out and like magic, the sheets were perfect. Hotels must do the same thing. 

Art and Craig were looking forward to this excursion to see the Swedish battleship, Vasa that sank during its maiden voyage.

Annette was our tour guide. Being a retired teacher, I was immediately happy to hear that she was a high school history teacher.

Vasa or Wasa is a Swedish warship built between 1626 and 1628. The ship sank after sailing roughly 1,300 m (1,400 yd) into her maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. She fell into obscurity after most of her valuable bronze cannon were salvaged in the 17th century, until she was located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping area in Stockholm harbour. The ship was salvaged with a largely intact hull in 1961.

         --Wikipedia  

The top photo is the original Vasa after it was pulled out of the seawater. Annette said that 98% of the ship is original. It was underwater for 333 years.

The bottom photo shows a model of what it once looked like.

You can see what amazing condition it is in (on the left) even after spending so many centuries underwater. The photo on the right shows what it must have looked like 333 years ago.

It was the King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus who ordered the ship to be built as part of a military expansion he started in a war with Poland-Lithuania (1621-1629). It was extravagantly decorated as a symbol of the king's ambition for Sweden and himself. When it was completed, she was the most powerfully armed vessel in the world. However, it was very unstable with too much weight in the upper structure of the hull. Despite that, she was ordered out to sea and sunk within a few minutes after it encountered winds that were stronger than a breeze.

There was an inquest and they looked for someone to blame. In the end, they decided it was the ship builder's fault. However, he couldn't be punished because he'd died the year before.

It really was pretty darn impressive to look at. Sadly, 30 people did die from this calamity while crowds watched from the shore. They found the remains of 15 people in and around the hull of the ship.

OK, you might think I'm crazy but I needed to take a photo of this bathroom in Sweden. 

Each toilet has solid doors. When you shut that door, you have complete privacy. Really complete privacy. It's almost claustrophobic. 

(OH NUTS! Art just saw this and said I forgot that this was a UNISEX bathroom. That's why the doors are solid. Men and women could use the same bathroom.)

Lunch was next.

There were mashed potatoes, a roll and Swedish meatballs. It reminded me of Ikea.

The lunch was fine, BUT I have to tell you the dessert was the smoothest hunk of chocolate EVER! 

Annette gave some facts about Sweden.

* Between 1860-1920 Sweden was so poor that 1/5 of the population moved to the U.S. 

*Sweden is expecting 200,000 refugees from Ukraine.

* Sweden and Finland would like to join NATO now.

* Although once poor, Sweden is now quite wealthy. (IKEA, Volvo, etc.)

* Sweden just elected their first female prime minister.

* Sweden is the 5th largest country in Europe. They have wanted to stay neutral since 1810, but the invasion of Ukraine has changed that.

* There are 96,000 lakes in Sweden.

* Skype, Spotify, Minecraft, Candy Crush were all invented in Sweden.

After lunch, we had a boat ride of the riverway. We saw what looked like a magpie. It wasn't easy to get this shot.

Once back on the ship, we had a lovely dinner together with our travel buddies at Manfredi's and returned to our room to pack our luggage and put them out in the hallway to be ready for delivery to the airport.

The trip had been wonderful and we enjoyed seeing a part of the world we'd never thought of visiting but we were ready to go home.