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Carla’s Niche
Camelot Journal
Copyright © 2012 Carla L. Rueckert
2011-05-31
June 1, 2011 7:14am.
Carla had a big day yesterday that kind of wore her out and she goes in to see her family doctor tomorrow, so she is going to take it easy for a day or so. She got her staples out and that is a landmark occasion. There was some drainage from one portion of the incision after the staples were taken out and we are a little concerned about that because that could mean infection once again. And infection could mean more corrective surgery and stay in the hospital. We definitely are hoping that we can avoid that.
My day was filled with sweat. It is in the 90s now for the whole week, just a little too early for those kind of temperatures but that’s what we have to work with, so I’ve been getting some color on my skin and have managed to complete my work in good shape. The key is to stay hydrated and to take some short breaks now and then.
Gary is busy working the L/L email, sending out books, and getting ready to move into his new apartment. It will be his first place of his own and he is excited.
L. spent the day with Carla doing all kinds of little jobs, one after the other and generally making everything better wherever she goes. Carla and I spent the evening together and got to watch new episodes of NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation.
2011-05-30
May 31, 2011 4:04pm.
Mick had a 90-degree day to work in today and when he finally made it home at 5:30 he was fuzzy of throat, having drunk a couple of gallons of the ice water he carries – clearly you cannot keep up with a Louisville Heat Wave. But he was a happy man and fell to bathing, playing with Dan D and sweet-talking me with great enthusiasm.
L. came by around 8, took me through all the nurse had in store, and discussed some problems with the “pick line” that morning. Then she had a few million chores and duties and I relaxed and slept the day away except for being up for my half-hour.
Chloe was at her best today, hanging right by my feet or waist all day and all evening except for conveniences stops, which I certainly understand! I wish the people to whom she is NOT very sweet could see her with me for a day, cheering me and loving me half to death.
The near future starts to shape up: I will get my staples out, all forty of them, from the lumbar back operation tomorrow. The pick line will be repaired. And “trough” tests of my blood will be taken for Dr. Milo, king of healing infections, to see. On June 15th I see the two surgeons. That should be a tough day! But an important one. Hopefully we will find that they think all is well.
Romi stopped by to work on Mick’s computer, which he thankfully did, then stopped by and we chatted for a while before he left. I am so glad he had a fine time visiting his Mom in Cheska! He looked tanned and healthy and supremely glad to be back, as well.
He and Gary went out for something to eat after Romi saw me, and Mick and I enjoyed a quiet evening. I offered the Gaia Meditation prayer tonight.
2011-05-29
May 30, 2011 2:32pm.
When I was in hospital, any of the four or five recent visits to them, I would treasure up the promise of a half-hour in my Mama-chair, starting only six weeks after the date of the original surgery, April 15th. I pictured resting up for the required hour, then going back to it, and again, and so forth.
In fact, I slept most of this morning, and am only brave enough to get myself in here in the afternoon! It’s a laugh, my ambitions, yet I suppose they are part of what makes me moi. And we are going in the right direction!
It has settled on very hot for the past few days and for the next week, so Mick is out mowing and gardening and turning that hickory brown color he gets every summer on his arms and face. Gary is at the L/L helm working away on e-mail.
On June 16th I’ll be in an interview with web host Brad Johnson at www.areyouselfempowered.com for thirty minutes. I figured it would be a good test to see if I am free enough of changes from pain pills to work in this way on Monica’s and my Q&A show.
We’ve heard again from the Aaron-Quo Material editing team. They want me to take a final look at all of Q’uo’s text. So Gary and I have made an agreement to work on it a couple of hours a day, beginning when I am finally out of my staples, over antibiotic testing and like things.
Spanish translator Pilar R has sent in the first forty-five fragments in The Ra Material, Book V! What an intrepid woman, and how blessed her work shall be to those of Hispanic language who cannot yet read that material. Many thanks, Pilar, and all who labor at making this material available for seekers in other languages than English.
L. has been such a signal aid to me during this time. She has nursed me, cleaned me, washed me, fixed me food I could eat – my stomach goes somewhere way south of here when I have to take pain pills – and in general been part Florence Nightingale, part Saint Teresa.
Gary too has done so much. And my beloved Mick, well, what can I say after I say he’s the best. I am so very lucky. Even the cats surround me with love, especially Chloe, who has learned just how close to get and be allowed to stay with me on the bed.
My time is flowing out shortly, and I have so much more to say, so many thank-yous to give you for your cards and letters, Wynn’s lovely crystal, all those things. Maybe tomorrow. For now, I share this blessed day with you in joy and thanksgiving.
2011-05-28
May 29, 2011 11:38am.
This is my first day back on the computer for what seems like ages and a day! Huge thanks to Mick, who stopped up to the plate and let you all keep up with L/L Research doings while I did the Hospital Thing. My spirits are high, as always, although the stuffing is fairly well out of me right now.
First of all, the original lower-back surgery went beautifully. The nerve pain that had me at a standstill is no longer there. Because of all the complications after that first surgery, this easy asset to forget, but never do it! Once all the infections and their surgeries fade, my legs should be able to move, my hips too, without the deadening nerve pain.
That last little gallop through the Emergency Room and into a breathing machine really took the physical energy I had to my name and spent it all. So I am sleeping a lot, and enjoying the days as I look for a new “sweet spot” to rest the surgical incisions that are healing from my waist to my legs.
I was allowed up for the first half hour yesterday but did not get as far as the computer but only made it to this sweet, sweet Mama-chair. It is so wonderful to sit in what has been my office for this last year, and rejoice for so many blessings given.
L. has hung cards from well-wishers all around the house so that when I do laps, I can see them all through the walk. Our house has a service core- stairs, utilities and things – so I go around that for one lap. I am currently up to three laps. Yay!
Gary has just found an apartment and will move to the edge of Cherokee Road, where Don and I lived for 12 years, starting this Wednesday. It seems to be a perfect fit for him and I wish him the very best of housewarmings.
Fatigue is the most obvious of my symptoms. I must close now for today, and have told you very little. But every day it will be a bit better!
Rejoice with me! How I love you all!
2011-05-27
May 28, 2011 12:01pm.
Jim: Gary and I got started early because we had one large carryover job from Thursday that I had to delay because of rain. He and I work as a well-oiled unit and we were able to get all our jobs done in good time and finish the week with a flourish. Fridays are definitely my favorite day of the week. Especially late Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile Carla and L. were busy with all kinds of projects. L. made Carla a little drawer for her bedside table to put all those little things like pens, combs, and eye drops in. L. also found time to make a great meal of mashed potatoes, green beans, and meatloaf. She changed Carla’s dressing, gave her the IV antibiotic, rearranged some oils and creams and generally was in motion the whole day long. Carla has been able to increase her walking around the core of our house from one lap to four laps now and hopes to keep increasing as days go on.
Gary reported that there was a problem with the bring4th site in that the site providers decided to change some parameters without warning and without the proper procedure so our site was down for a while. There was some information temporarily lost but it should be able to be recovered. In a day or so Gary will have the Camelot Journal re-entered in the proper location and then Carla will start using her half hour a day in her recliner chair to begin writing her journal herself once again.
Carla and I spent a most enjoyable evening watching Nicholas Cage in National Treasure. It was a great way to spend an evening. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-05-26
May 28, 2011 11:58am.
Jim: Today was rainy off and on and I didn’t get much grass cut, but I was able to do a few odd jobs. There were plenty of limbs to pick up and haul away as a result of the storms last night. Then I put down some wood chips in a rutted portion of one customer’s driveway. Did a little weeding and trimming for another customer and then did get one job cut at the end of the day. It is a good thing that I cut ahead each day this week. Now I just have one big job to carry over to Friday when I have Gary to help me get done.
Carla continues to work at walking a little more each day. L. made a drawer for Carla’s bedside table and that was very helpful. She has done so much to make Carla’s life better. We really couldn’t have a better nurse looking out for Carla.
Bethany came by from Absolutely Salon to cut Carla’s hair and do her nails. That really made Carla feel good because she knows that she looks as good as she can.
Gary spent the day in the L/L office once again getting loads of email answered and books sent out. Carla and I spent the evening watching another block of NCIS and enjoyed ourselves a great deal. We have kind of made the ensemble of the show our friends and we always enjoy seeing what is going on with them. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation.
2011-05-25
May 28, 2011 11:57am.
Jim: I began my day by helping Carla with her breakfast and dressing. We are getting a nice little routine developed now that she is home and it is such a blessing to have her home. L. was up early and ready to take over for me when I left to begin my lawn service day. I went over to our friend and neighbor across the street to do a little gardening for her and then I was off to cut my Wednesday jobs and to cut ahead for a couple of Thursday jobs since we are due to get some severe storms tonight and I may need to be moving tree limbs tomorrow.
Carla and L. spent their day getting medicines in order, getting Carla’s hair washed for the first time in a long time, and getting a little physical therapy done as well. They find plenty to do in that little bedroom and Carla was happy and clean when I got home in the evening.
Gary had a day off and was busy making plans to move into his new apartment that is located in the younger hipper part of town, more towards the downtown where he will have access to all kinds of shops and parks. He met the landlord and had a good conversation with him. He and Valerie went to a Waterfront concert that had to be cut short because of the coming storms, but they had a good time anyway.
Carla and I spent the evening watching a block of NCIS and had a good time for the whole evening. The storms came through and the wind blew and I am sure that I will be finding tree limbs in all my yards for the next week. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-05-24
May 28, 2011 10:58am.
Carla spent her first full day at home since the first homecoming last Thursday and the drug reaction return to the hospital. It is such a joy to have her home with a real shot at staying home. The Visiting nurse came by and changed the bandage on her incision and said that it looked very good, with no sign of infection. Carla and L. spent the day together getting medications together and doing a little walking for Carla’s physical therapy. I continued cutting a little grass ahead as we have rain forecast for nearly every day, but this day turned out to be a dry one and another blessing. All my jobs went well and I was a happy camper when I returned home even a little early. Gary was his usual busy self working in the L/L office and answering the usual mountain of email and getting books sent out. He was also successful in securing his own apartment in the part of town where he wanted to be. He will be close to Cherokee Park where he can run and bike and he will be close to some of the hip shops on Bardstown Road. So we decided to celebrate Carla’s return home and Gary’ new apartment by ordering take out from Ruby Tuesday’s. We ate and talked for over an hour and had a very good time together. This is something that we haven’t done since Carla’s surgery nearly six weeks ago now. It is beginning to look like the hardest part of the healing journey is over and that Carla has a chance now for a complete recovery. We are so grateful to everyone who has sent healing love and light and prayers. It all helps tremendously and our love and light is sent right back. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-05-23
May 28, 2011 10:40am.
We got Carla home again today from her recovery from the adverse reaction to the drug baclofen. It is so good to have her home. This time we will try to hold onto her. L. came into town around 8 am and shortly thereafter headed down to the hospital to be with Carla the whole day long as it turned out. The checkout procedure didn’t start till the late afternoon and it was after 7 pm when Carla and L. drove up in a driving rain. Carla certainly knows how to make an entrance.
I spent my day getting my yards cut and even got one big job for tomorrow done since there is a really good chance of rain every day this week and some of the storms are predicted to be severe. This may turn out to be another week where I have to let some of my yards go a week if too much rain falls to be able to get a big mower into the yards without leaving ruts.
Gary spent his day working away in the office answering numerous emails and sending out book orders. He also got his car repaired at Big O Tires and L. took him down to pick up his car after she and Carla got home.
Carla and I spent our evening watching recorded episodes of NCIS and relished being in each other’s company at home once again. We have had that opportunity only three nights in the last six or so weeks and it is a pleasure for sure.
2011-05-22
May 23, 2011 7:27am.
This is Carla’s second day back at Norton’s Hospital due to an adverse reaction to a new medication that caused confusion and personality change which at first presented as a stroke. I spent the morning doing my usual Sunday morning chores: a little work around the house and then I went out to the garage and changed out the blades in two of my mowers. I finished my outside work after buying some impatiens and planting them in the various flower pots in front of our house and around our side fish pond. Impatiens come in a variety of colors and always do well in our mostly shaded yard and I hope they will be a cheery welcome home for Carla as she is due to be released from the hospital tomorrow.
After having lunch and a short nap I went down to spend the afternoon with Carla. She was doing better than the day before but was still not her normally sharp and alert self. It is amazing what the reaction to a drug can do to a personality. The doctor who was evaluating her said that she has never liked the muscle relaxant, baclofen, and has never prescribed it. She asked Carla some questions that would reveal how Carla’s orientation was and said that she thought Monday would be the day she would be able to go home.
Carla and I spent most of our time together holding hands and getting a little sleep. The nurse who had come in to take her vital signs that morning had told Carla that her high blood pressure readings and low blood oxygen readings could be improved if she took some long slow deep breaths gave Carla the idea to keep doing this type of breathing, so this became an obsession of Carla’s for most of the day. It is just another example of how the drug reaction can affect the personality as Carla was determined to get better and better by doing this breathing long after the nurse said that she could stop.
I left around 6 pm and came home to have some of L.’s delicious stew and relax for the evening with the cats and some contemplation. The upcoming week has rain forecast for some time during almost every day this week, so I will have to cut as much grass each day as I can and hopefully be able to keep up with the jobs. Before I left Carla’s room we did the Gaia Meditation and I said the prayer.
2011-05-21
May 22, 2011 8:56am.
The world didn’t end on Saturday but it definitely got a lot stranger for Carla. She spent a restless and confused night and awoke unable to speak clearly or recognize familiar friends or know exactly what date it was. So with these signals of a stroke in mind I dialed 911 and quickly the EMS guys were whisking Carla back to Norton’s Hospital to be evaluated.
She had a CAT scan, blood tests, and urine analysis which all came back negative for a stroke. That was great news. The culprit, it now seems, was a new drug called Baclofen which is a muscle relaxant that she had begun taking for muscle spasms in her back and stomach. She had taken it for the previous two days and apparently the cumulative effect produced confusion similar to what a stroke produces.
So we spent all of the morning and most of the afternoon in the emergency room waiting for a bed for her so she could be evaluated overnight. Everyone there was most helpful and finally a room became available back up on the 5th floor. She has had a number of rooms on that floor since her surgery on April 15 and we have gotten to know a number of nurses who work there.
I spent the day with her and assured her that she would be much better in the morning when the drug had worked its way out of her system. She took that encouragement on faith and determined to make it through yet another setback. Her faith and eternal optimism have served her well during this whole recovery process. She and I both would like to thank all of you in her extended spiritual family for your prayers, cards, and healing thoughts. In her meditative states she says that she is aware of this great glow of love and light that comes to her and surrounds her from all over the globe. We send our love and light back to you with gratitude.
2011-05-19
May 20, 2011 7:11am.
Carla came home today five weeks after having her surgery. What a blessing to have her back here. L. came in from Avalon around 8 am anticipating an early release but nothing happens quickly at a hospital and it was around 5pm when they finally arrived home. They were shortly followed by the first of the visiting nurses who gave Carla her prescriptions for pain medication, anti-spasmodic, and antibiotic. We got the bedside commode raised to its fullest height to make use easiest and she was able to settle down in her own hospital bed that we have had in my room for over a year now, since her first back surgery in March of 2010.
Meanwhile I was busy mowing grass for seven customers. My 72” mower broke down within half an hour as the blades stopped working. I took it to the shop for a repair and the folks there amazed me by getting the mower back to me the same day. The main drive belt that runs the three blades was so shredded that they said it must have been held together by love. I finally got done around 6 pm and it turned out to be a great day all around.
It was pretty easy to visit Carla tonight. For the first time in five weeks I didn’t have to go anywhere to visit her and there were no nurses to interrupt our visit! We enjoyed an evening of conversation, watching television, and a little napping.
We heard from Gary that Carla has two IMU students now. IMU is the International Metaphysical University that offers courses via the internet. Carla uses her Law of One 101 book as the text as there are twelve classes and twelve chapters in the book. She gets $125 for each student so this new endeavor could be a long-term income stream if it becomes popular.
Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight and then we both fell rapidly to sleep.
2011-05-18
May 19, 2011 7:19am.
The catheter came out today and Carla was able to manage her bathroom trips pretty well thanks to the IC not flaring up too much. The really good news is that she will come home tomorrow. The surgeon will enlist the aid of visiting nurses to care for her wound and administer IV antibiotics. L., Gary, and I will gang up on Carla’s other needs and for the first time in five weeks Carla will be home! What a joy!
It was a misty, drizzly day so I began it by spreading pine straw over the landscape area for one of my customers that I have been working on for over a month when I had time. That finished the job and is also a great relief. It turned out well and I am very proud of it. I was only able to mow one large job as it was a little wet but this job needed to be done because the house is for sale and there is to be a showing of it tomorrow and I wouldn’t have time to mow it then.
Gary reported that he and our bring4th web guy, Steve, have been debating whether or not to leave the banner up on bring4th that announces the availability of the mp3 downloads of the Ra sessions with Carla’s and my comments at the end. It seems to have been decided that it has been up long enough to be an announcement and to leave it up longer would be over the top advertising, so it shall come down. It can be put up again when we have more sessions ready for download.
I went to visit Carla around 6:30 and we were lucky enough to have a block of NCIS to watch. I observed how Carla was able to get up and down to use the bathroom and was pleased especially that she doesn’t seem to need to go as often as we had feared she would. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight and then returned home for a later dinner of stew that L. had made. It was quite good.
2011-05-17
May 18, 2011 7:27am.
We just got the word that tomorrow Carla will have the catheter taken out and then she will be having to deal with the frequency of bathroom trips that her interstitial cystitis will require of her. She is not looking forward to that, but we have hatched a plan to make it as palatable as possible. We will bring her home and Gary, L., a visiting nurse, and I will take care of her here. The rehab center is a very nice place and new and such, but the nurses and aids there are very relaxed (slow) in answering the nurses call button, and when Carla needs help getting up to go to the bathroom she needs it right away. So she and I feel very good about her coming home. We will just need the surgeon to call for some home nursing help for a couple of weeks.
I decided to mow all my Tuesday jobs and a couple of Wednesday jobs today because tomorrow there is some early morning rain forecast that will make mowing impossible but I can do the mulching on a large landscaping project that I have been nursing along for over a month now. So it was a very good day for getting work done.
When I got home at the end of my mowing day there was a new shipment of 101 on the front porch. Carla’s latest book seems to be selling fairly well. That’s good to see. I have also heard that Lynn Fischel is helping Lorena with the prisoners’ newsletter project by typing up prisoner’s letters for her. That is a big help when it comes to putting the newsletter together. Thanks Lynn!
I visited Carla from a little after 7 pm until 10 pm, but this evening I brought in takeout food from Ruby Tuesday’s. Carla was ready for something other than hospital food, so she ordered shrimp and pasta with a cream sauce and I had bar-b-que ribs. We had a good time talking, sleeping, and watching a little NCIS on television. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation. I got home late and watched a little Colbert Report.
2011-05-16
May 17, 2011 7:28am.
Another Monday to begin cutting grass. All went well in this regard but I was waiting most of the day to hear how Carla’s latest corrective surgery went. She left a message on the phone machine that she was going down to surgery around 2 pm, so I worked on knowing that she would be out of surgery and out of the recovery room and back in her hospital room about the time I finished all my work, got cleaned up, and went down to the hospital.
L. came into town today to visit Carla and help in any way she could when Carla came out of surgery. L. also brought all the official papers that describe the drilling of the water well on Avalon. We found a gusher at 80 ft. down, after going through 6 ft. of soil and limestone bedrock the rest of the way. We have 40 gal. of water per minute available from the well and, wonder of wonders, the water is drinkable without needing any chemicals to purify it. That is extremely rare! About 1 % of the wells in Kentucky fall into the potable category. People and cattle have been here too long and have polluted most ground water with e-coli bacteria. So we are thrilled with the water. Now we just have to get a pump to be able to pump the water to the garden.
Carla’s surgery was short this time, about 45 minutes and consisted in removing the remaining tissue that was infected. The surgeon believes that he got it all this time, so now we shall see how long he keeps Carla in the hospital before sending her back to the rehab center and, more importantly, how long he allows Carla to keep the catheter. She has the new left hip injury along with current back pain that keeps her from being able to get up and down as much as the IC will require her to use the bathroom. Our fingers are crossed.
I visited Carla from 5:30 till 9 pm. We enjoyed some television and talking. Just being together is a real treat. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation and returned home for a late dinner and some reflective time.
2011-05-15
May 16, 2011 7:24am.
Today is the one month anniversary of Carla’s surgery. We had both hoped that she would be further along in her recovery by now than she is. The infections have been a nagging hindrance to her recovery although we are sure the original surgery was successful.
I spent my morning doing all kinds of little job s around the house and with my mowers. All was successfully done and I was just about to have lunch when Carla called to say that Dr. Campbell’s office had contacted the rehab center and wanted to have Carla transported back to Norton’s Hospital, so I drove to the rehab center and began to pack Carla’s things just as the ambulance drivers arrived. Carla asked the two ladies to be careful with her because the last ambulance ride had caused her some hip pain when she was bumped down a curb.
We got her moved into her latest room at Norton’s and the ambulance ride seemed to have gone reasonably well although all roads have bumps that hurt if you have just had back surgery. The nurses at the hospital are much more attentive than the ones at the rehab center. They quickly got Carla registered and down for an X-ray of her damaged hip. We’ll find out tomorrow if there was an observable damage to her hip.
Sometime tomorrow Dr. Campbell is scheduled to perform another debreeding surgery on Carla where he will remove any infected tissue in the incision and continue to give her antibiotics to fight the infection. This will be her fourth overall surgery and I hope the last one.
I stayed the afternoon with Carla and said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation.
2011-05-14
May 15, 2011 8:17am.
I began my Saturday morning with a little house cleaning and followed that with running some errands in Middletown. After lunch I took my traditional Saturday afternoon nap and then went outside to continue my weeding of a portion of the yard so I don’t get behind in that category. I got almost half the back yard done so I should be able to finish my first weed around the yard next week.
When I went to visit Carla I found out that her incision site is draining again. That is what got her sent back to the hospital a couple of weeks ago for two more corrective surgeries. The nurse said that she had a call into the surgeon to see if he wanted to send her back to the hospital again but by the time I left four hours later the surgeon had not returned her call. I imagine that we will hear from him sometime this weekend and that she will have to return to the hospital.
We talked about the situation where additional problems have cropped up in Carla’s recovery. The drainage problems, the infections, how the ambulance people had bounced her gurney hard on a curb and injured her left hip and knee, and the swelling to her arms and legs. It is all quite challenging when you add it to the basic back surgery and the interstitial cystitis but Carla continues to keep a positive attitude and is working as hard as she can to get back to her life.
Gary visited us in the later portion of the evening and had lots of good energy to share. He mentioned that he had been working on the Gatherings Newsletter and was even beginning to plan the next Homecoming. He and some good friends of L/L have decided that the topic for this year will be using one’s discrimination. That sounds like a good topic and one which we haven’t delved deeply into as yet.
Carla said the prayer at tonight’s Gaia Meditation. I returned home, had some late dinner, played with the cats and danced a little to the album by the Refugees called Unbound. They are two wonderful ladies who sing and play and write beautifully. It was a very rejuvenating experience.
2011-05-13
May 14, 2011 8:36am.
So today dawned Friday the 13th. Most people think it is bad luck but I think that it is more likely a number of power that people don’t understand. Jesus and His twelve disciples made a total of 13 and I have a hunch that He knew this power well. Anyway, it turned out to be a very good day for Gary and me to get our grass-cutting done. Our biggest job, which we haven’t been able to cut in its entirety before today because of standing water from recent heavy rains, yielded to our mowers today. Everything seemed to go well and quickly.
It was Carla’s third day back at the rehab facility and though we are still very glad to have her there it does seem that the country club atmosphere breeds a kind of slowness to response when she has a need. She has waited over an hour for things like her pain pills, having her bandages change and so forth. That is not a real problem now but when the catheter is removed she will need lots of help and that rather more quickly.
Gary says that Tobey Wheelock has not only gotten the six sessions of the Ra contact with Carla’s and my commentary ready for MP3 downloads but he also has gotten a protocol in place for people who want to check the sessions against his relistening project for discrepancies. There has already been one listener who has found minor discrepancies and Tobey has been able to incorporate these corrections into the final copy of sessions so that future listeners won’t find the same errors again.
I went to see Carla a little early today and we spent most of our time conscious with only a moment or two of napping. She is somewhat concerned about the slowness of response by the nursing staff but has taken the position that she needs to treat them with great love and respect rather than ragging on them about their tardiness because she will reap what she sows. If she complains too much they would be more likely to add anger to their lateness. Heart choices are always the best choices.
I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight and left around 9:30 to have a late dinner and spend some time in contemplation. I have discovered that time slows down and gets more interesting when you turn off the television. It’s a nice little gift to the self.
2011-05-1
May 13, 2011 7:15am.
Thursday is a big mowing day for me and I got an early start because this week I am ending my days with time spent at a customer’s where I have been planning a landscape project for about a month now. The mowing went well with no mechanical problems and I was able to get the last of the nursery stock transplanted. Now I will have to wait until I have a block of time next Tuesday to get about 45 bales of pine straw with which to mulch the project. Then I will add a few bird feeders and bird houses to the mix and when the customer finds the right bench to put in the middle she will be able to enjoy the beauty of the flowering stock as well as the aerial antics of various kinds of birds that should be attracted to the area.
Carla spent her first day back at the rehab center getting a little physical therapy and going through the various routines of getting to know the nursing staff. Some of the staff she had in her previous stay but she is in a new wing of the rehab center this time and a lot of the staff is new to her. The physical therapist is the same one as before and he noted that she had lost a great deal of the strength that she had built up in the first two weeks that she was there before having to go back to the hospital and have corrective surgeries on her incision. She is going to have to work hard in these next few days to build that strength up because the surgeon said that he would OK the catheter for only 3 or 4 more days. We hope he forgets about her and her catheter for a little longer than that.
Since Gary has been back from his hike in the Smokies he has been working very hard in the office to catch up on all the email. There is a mountain of it. One of his projects now is to work on the Gatherings Newsletter and that also entails getting some ideas from good L/L friends about what topic to have as the focus for our Homecoming next Labor Day weekend. He has enlisted their ideas since we have covered most of the obvious topics in previous Homecomings.
I visited Carla around 6 pm and this evening we both were able to stay awake long enough to have some good conversation and watch a block of NCIS, our favorite television program. She is enjoying her private room and the great view she has of the outdoors from it. The nurses that came and went while I was there were very helpful and competent. Carla said the prayer at our Gaia Meditation. I left about 9 pm and came home to eat and talk a while with Gary about L/L projects.
2011-05-11
May 12, 2011 7:26am.
The great news today is that Carla is now free of all four infections that she had in her body and that she was transferred back to the Sam Swope Care Center for further physical therapy. L. was such a help today. She came in from Avalon and got Carla’s things all packed up at the hospital and then went to the Care Center and got Carla’s room all prepared for her arrival. It took all day to get Carla discharged from Norton’s Hospital so L. was leaving notes all around the room in case the procedure took so long that she did not end up seeing either Carla or me. But as it turned out the transfer occurred around 6 pm as I was arriving at the Care Center to see Carla, so the three of us got to rendezvous after all.
I spent my day gardening for a customer to begin, then cutting three jobs, and then ending it with more transplanting for another customer for whom I am making a back yard shade garden complete with bench, bird feeders, bird bath, and a little patio. I have been working at this last project for quite a while now or, I should say, waiting to get caught up from all the rain to be able to work on it.
Carla’s day was spent waiting to get discharged from the hospital and all the little details that go with that. The surgeon wanted to take the catheter out before the transfer, but Carla pleaded with him for a few more days since she lost some of her strength in this last hospital stay and very badly needs to regain it before losing the catheter because once it is gone she will have to yield to the interstitial cystitis and urinate 4 or 5 times per hour. That will be very wearing on her and she needs that catheter for as long as she can have it.
I went to visit her around 6 pm and most of our evening was spent sleeping since we both wore ourselves out. But I was able to talk to her a little and help her with things before I left around 9:30. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-05-10
May 11, 2011 7:16am.
When I woke up this morning I discovered that it was my birthday! I had seen it coming for a while but it is always a surprise when it finally gets here. This one is what I call my John Lennon birthday. Remember the lines “Will you still need me? Will you still feed me when I’m 64?” 64. Somehow seems a lot older than 63.
Carla called me early this morning and said that the surgeon had given his OK to have her transferred back to the Sam Swope Care Center since the second corrective surgery had been for the purpose of going into the incision with a microscope and removing any infected tissue and he felt confident that he had gotten all of the infection. Later in the morning Carla found out that the infection specialist that the surgeon had called for a consultation also must sign off on her transfer if all testing shows that there is no infection anywhere in her body. So we must wait until tomorrow to know if that is the case and the transfer will take place.
L. is set to come in from Avalon tomorrow to help pack up Carla’s things in the hospital room and take them to the care center and get Carla settled in there. So we are ready if the news is a go.
I began my mowing day with a couple of small jobs and then went to Steve Ferguson’s three acre estate in Shelby County and mowed some very tall grass since I cut it every two weeks. Then I went to my landscaping job that has lagged behind in attention with all the recent rains and got the four large hemlock tree transplanted. I hope to go there at the end of each work day this week and complete that job by early next week.
Then I bathed and went down to see Carla. She was in good spirits although in a pretty high level of pain just having had two surgeries in the last few days. But we took a walk together and I could see that she had begun to make up some of the ground that she had lost since being transferred back to the hospital last week. She is a hard worker and is determined to “get back to her life”. She lives to write and to serve people through what she writes. We watched a little television and then I left about 9:30 and had hoped to get a piece of carrot cake from a local restaurant but they were closed, so I’ll have to have my birthday cake tomorrow night.
Carla said the prayer tonight at the Gaia Meditation.
2011-05-09
May 10, 2011 7:32am.
Another week of cutting grass has rolled around. I quickly got my Monday jobs done because I did the biggest one last Friday so my customer could have her Derby Party Saturday night. That meant that I could cut ahead for Tuesday and get ready for any rain that might fall in our new late afternoon stray shower pattern that will apparently be in place all week. I even added a small tree removal job for another customer who was tired of the mimosa tree dropping its blooms and seed pods into her swimming pool. That meant a late work day and visiting Carla late in the day as well.
Carla had her third surgery at 1 pm today. Dr. Campbell wanted to go into the incision with a microscope and remove any infected tissue that he could find. And if that surgery is successful then Carla will be sent back to the Sam Swope Care Center in the Masonic Homes. That is our great hope now so she can get back to physical therapy and getting stronger. These last few days in the hospital have been lost to physical therapy and have been concentrated on solving the problems that have cropped up in her incision.
I got down visiting Carla at about 8 pm and finding her quite disoriented by the lingering effects of the anesthetic. I have previously noticed that it makes her much more sensitive. She noted this herself with the experience of being in the recovery room with a nurse right beside her who was so busy recording data on a clipboard that she didn’t have time to help Carla. Carla’s first response was anger at not being helped. Then she felt the desire to get revenge by saying something nasty or even complaining to the nursing managers. Then she felt what it was like to walk in the nurses’ shoes and see pain and suffering every day all day long. It seemed to be a transformative experience and one Carla says she will use in the Law of One 102 book that is next on her list.
Gary should be half way through his hike by now and is probably having the time of his life, except for the dozen or so crossings of a small creek that he will have to make. He will have to take off his hiking boots for each crossing and put on crocs to wade the creek and then put the boots back on after each crossing.
I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight and returned home around 10 pm for a late dinner and some time playing with the cats and doing a little more dancing.
2011-05-08
May 9, 2011 7:04am.
Sunday mornings are wonderfully lazy affairs. I love sleeping late and arose at 8 am this morning. After reading the paper I set about doing a few household chores and then did a little maintenance work on my mowers. I got newly sharpened blades on the two mowers I will be using most of this week and then did a little more weeding in the side and front yards. If I keep doing a little yard work each weekend I should be able to have our yard looking good by the time Homecoming comes around the first weekend in September.
Gary should have completed his first day of hiking in the Great Smokies National Park. He had planned to hike about 13 miles the first day and will have ascended over 3,000 in elevation which sounds like a very demanding day of work. He will be gone until Wednesday evening and should be back to work in the L/L office by Thursday morning. Then he said that he will be putting together the Gatherings Newsletter and even begin soliciting ideas from Tiffany, Steve E., and Steve M. for topics for this Homecoming since Carla isn’t likely to be ready by then to be a full participant.
I visited Carla after lunch and spent the afternoon with her talking over little things in her world like how the new drains for her incision are doing, the side effects of the new antibiotic she is taking, and when she gets the next dose of pain medication. We watched a couple of old Bruce Willis movies that the USA network was running. He is one of our favorites and we always enjoy watching him go.
Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation and I left her around 6 pm. I returned home and made my usual call to my mom and got all the same news she usually has which isn’t much since she doesn’t go out any more except to keep the occasional doctor’s appointment. She is doing pretty well for 93 years old but she seems to be losing a little weight, so her doctor has her drinking a lot of Ensure which is full of sugar and stuff that can put weight on. I wished her a happy Mother's Day and that seemed to please her a lot. I had my dinner and spent time playing with our cats before going to bed.
2011-05-07
May 8, 2011 8:01am.
Derby Day dawned kind of grey and looking like rain, but since this is a Saturday I’m not so concerned with the weather since I’ll be cleaning house and running errands. Gary was a big help with vacuuming before he works for L/L in the office and then heads to the Smokies later this afternoon for his big solo hike. I ran my errands and got a haircut while I was out.
In the early afternoon I cleaned up the broken glass from the broken window on my truck’s topper. One of my mowers threw a rock through the side window last Thursday and shattered it. I finally got all the glass out of the back of the truck and since I couldn’t find anyone who repairs topper windows I went to Home Depot and bought a sheet of Plexiglas, cut it to size, and glued it around the window frame. It looks almost good as new.
I went down to visit Carla in the late afternoon and found that she was doing well in her new room. It is the second room that she has been in since she was transferred from the Care Center last Thursday. The nurses on this floor remember her from her original surgery on April 15 though this is a different unit which specializes in heart monitoring and not just spinal surgeries. We watched the Kentucky Derby together and were amazed to see Animal Kingdom take the race by a couple of lengths. The Derby is such a grand event for Louisville. For a few minutes on the first Saturday in May the eyes of the world are on Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky and people get to see the beauty of the horses and the ladies’ hats. It’s a big party and everyone seems to have a good time.
I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation and left Carla about 9 pm.
2011-05-06
May 7, 2011 8:06am.
It was 6 am and the phone rang. Carla was calling from Norton’s Hospital to let me know that the nurses were coming soon to take her to the operating room to have her incision repaired. We talked briefly and said the Lord’s Prayer which we always do to begin our day. I apologized for not being able to be there but Gary and I had a full day’s work to do cutting grass that in some cases hadn’t been cut in two weeks due to recent heavy rains. Then we hung up and began our separate days.
Gary and I had a great day cutting grass since there was no rain forecast and the temperature was in the 60s. All of our eight jobs went well as we got people’s yards looking good for the Kentucky Derby weekend. This is the culmination of two weeks’ preparation and celebration for the people of Louisville and many Derby parties will be had in the next two days.
When we finished around 4 pm I gave Carla a call and she was back from surgery, but only recently since the repair surgery had taken five hours, an hour and a half more than the original surgery exactly three weeks ago. It apparently has gone very well and a faulty drain was blamed for the problem of infection and even for the stitches coming out. Now she has two drains for her incision and she was moved to another floor and room in the hospital since they want to be able to monitor her heart more carefully. She has had a heart murmur for decades but they want to be sure that there is no more than that going on.
Judy Romine wrote that she has the first chapter of the Wanderer’s Handbook, e-version, completed as to the adding back in footnotes that I removed over a decade ago in order to edit the book down from 1,000 pages to about 650 pages. I only removed footnotes where there were five or six given to illustrate a point and I would remove two or three and leave the rest. But most of those footnotes were channeled material so perhaps people will appreciate being able to read them too in the web edition of the book.
I went down to visit Carla around 6 pm and we spent the next three hours snoozing, watching a little TV, and talking as the new nursing staff became familiar with their new patient. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation.
2011-05-05
May 6, 2011 7:22am.
I got through with my first two big jobs for the day and came back home to switch mowers for the last two jobs and decided to check the phone machine. There was a message from Carla’s Care Facility that she was going to be transferred back to Norton’s Hospital because during physical therapy it was discovered that her incision was draining fluids quite heavily and that a couple of stitches had come loose. So I went to Carla’s room and packed her up for the trip to the hospital. We waited for the ambulance for nearly an hour before I decided to go down to the hospital and get her things placed into her room and ready for her so I could get back to work and finish my jobs for the day.
The traffic was bumper to bumper for much of the journey to the hospital because there had been an accident further down the line and because this was the day for the Pegasus Parade in downtown Louisville as part of the Derby Week celebration. This made for a very slow trip but I got her stuff into her room and headed back to finish my jobs by 7 pm. Then I bathed and went down to visit Carla.
Her ambulance ride had also been very slow because she was caught in the same traffic. But she was settling into her new room when I got there and was being interviewed by the nurse in charge. They always need to get lots of background information on new patients and this process was just finishing when I got there. As it turned out no food had been ordered for Carla and by now she was quite hungry. So after waiting for the doctor to call back and OK solid food for her I went across the street to the McDonald’s to get her a Big Mac, fries, and diet Pepsi. She was most grateful and gobbled all of it down.
I said the prayer tonight for the Gaia Meditation and got home a little after 11pm. Tomorrow morning Dr. Campbell will take a look at her incision and make some kind of surgical repair.
2011-05-04
May 5, 2011 7:19am.
Today dawned dry, cool, and cloudy, and Gary and I set out to catch me up on grass-cutting jobs. We had eight jobs from Tuesday and Wednesday to complete by day’s end and so we did without making too many wet black tracks due to the recent rains. For the first time in two weeks I am now caught up with a couple of days of sunny weather to finish out the week. Can’t ever thank Gary enough for his willingness to help me out in a pinch.
L. visited Carla for most of the afternoon and got her room organized with chairs, tables in the right places for Carla while she is in bed and when she sits up to have her breakfast. She also gave Carla one of her famous facials that leaves Carla’s face clean and smooth.. L. is also a blessing in all her desire to be of service. It is such a blessing to have friends like these. Carla’s day was much like all the others recently, full of physical therapy, pills, pretty good food, and helpful nurses for the most part. There is one nurse that has had a couple of bad days in a row and who wants just to get the job done and move on because she has so much to do, so Carla supports her by quietly doing what is asked of her and trying not to ask much of the nurse.
Gary said that Baykal in Turkey wrote to say that the Turkish translation of the Law of One books is up on the archive site. Baykal also made an astute observation about L/L’s mailing address. Our box number is 5195 and to graduate in the positive sense you must be 51% in service to others. To graduate in the negative sense you must be 95% in service to self, and we have both those numbers in our box number. We had never noticed that simple fact in the 30 or so years that we have had that box number since the Ra contact. One of those interesting little coincidences.
I visited Carla after the day’s work was over and she noted that she has been extra sleepy lately but she finds that she takes little minute naps complete with dreams that include her present hospital surroundings to some degree. Then she wakes up and discovers that she had just dreamed and she is so glad that it was a dream. An unusual reality blending for sure! Carla said the prayer tonight at the Gaia Meditation. I came back home and after eating dinner got inspired to do a little dancing. I danced to four Rolling Stones favorites and found once again that dancing inspires me to the core of my being. I should dance more.
2011-05-02
May 4, 2011 7:24am.
Another day starting off with rain. It lasted for the morning and then cleared off with the forecast being a couple of days of no rain. Time for celebration and a little getting back to work. However, this rain not only kept me from working for most of the day but it also allowed me to attend the meeting in Carla’s room to discuss her plan for rehabilitation with the staff. We both were glad that I was able to be there for that meeting.
Basically everyone is pleased with Carla’s progress and the physical therapist says that he foresees another couple of weeks of intense therapy. Carla has this pre-existing condition of tiring out very quickly after a few minutes of exercise and he noticed this but is working with it by having Carla do what she can do and then resting. Still she is making progress. Everyone was most supportive and listened carefully to Carla’s concerns. Her basic concern is that she is able to keep the catheter in for a couple more weeks and everyone there supported her. The doctor for the facility was not there so we are unsure of his support at this time but we are optimistic.
I returned home after the meeting and was able to work for a couple of hours doing some gardening for a customer and then completed one mowing job before coming back home and getting cleaned up to go back to visit Carla for the evening.
Gary reported that the lady in Seville, Spain who is translating the Law of One into Spanish is now working on Book 5. It is so good to have such wonderful volunteers around the world who are willing to take a project like this on and complete it. We have the best volunteers in the world.
Carla and I spent our evening as we usually do, talking, sleeping now and then, and watching a little television. I said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.
2011-05-2
May 3, 2011 8:10am.
The rains seem to keep coming. We are now 15 inches above normal rainfall thus far this year. However, there was a lull in the rain from late morning to late afternoon and I was able to get most of my Monday jobs done. Normally I probably wouldn’t have tried to cut grass in these conditions but since I was forced to let my Monday jobs go last week because it was even wetter I decided that I needed to get that grass cut before it got away from me. And the yards looked good afterwards.
Carla continues to do well, but she has developed an infection in the drain site which is right next to the incision. She is being treated with antibiotics for the infection which should take care of it. We really don’t want the infection to get into the incision. She continues to be grateful for the presence of the catheter because it takes care of her need to go to the bathroom so often due to the interstitial cystitis. She is aware that the catheter will have to come out at some point but is hopeful that that point is further down the line so she doesn’t have to deal with it until she is strong enough to get herself up from bed and go to the bathroom by herself.
Gary visited Carla again today and shared a lot of L/L news with her that she was most glad to hear. The Portuguese translation of 101 is up on site now and joins a growing list of languages that it and the Law of One books can be read in. It is always such a joyous occasion when another language is added and we can feel like a whole new group of people can read the material and hopefully benefit from it.
I visited Carla in the early evening as usual and we continued our very comfortable ritual of lazy talking about things interspersed with some of our favorite television programming. We talked over the killing of Osama bin Laden and couldn’t really feel the great rejoicing that so many have expressed at his death. Obviously he was responsible for the deaths of many people but he also is a human being, our other self as Ra would say, so I guess relief and regret were mixed together at this news. Carla said the prayer at the Gaia Meditation.
2011-05-01
May 2, 2011 7:25am.
Sundays are my favorite day because there is a lot of rest and just a little work programmed into this day. I spent the morning reading the paper and puttering around with little jobs around the house. I wrote the Camelot Journal and noticed in Carla’s email that there was word from the publisher for the Aaron/Q’uo book that the book was scheduled for final editing and artwork for this fall with the publication date the first week of December. It should be available for Christmas presents this year. It will be such a joy to see that book out in print. It was a great series of workshops done back in 1996 and 1997 during which this material came to life.
Gary spent most of his day on another practice hike in southern Indiana. He is putting the final touches on his readiness for his week-long solo hike in the Smokies starting Derby Day, May 7th. I think he has one more scheduled practice hike scheduled for Wednesday this week.
I spent the afternoon with Carla and she continues to work hard to get herself stronger and more able to do for herself. We enjoyed the afternoon talking and watching a little television. Romi came by for a visit in midafternoon. It was good to see him. He will be leaving this week for the Czech Republic to visit his mom and dad. His mom is getting older and will one day need his help as a caretaker and he wants to be ready for that eventuality.
We did the Gaia Meditation early today and I said the prayer before returning home for dinner and an evening with our cats.
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