Sonnystone Acres

i feel so much lighter with rightmoon’s surgery in the past…for 6 months i kept my prayers focused on that mission: she will be well–and now she is well, inspiring us all. what do i do next? for today, i will return to the lutheran school, shelve library books and talk with wink’s godmother; i will continue to search out a christmas program for the sunday school at concordia; i will go over to kentucky with my cuzn lana for cigarettes i don’t need; i’ll feed casey before he emcees an Eagle Scout ceremony of a kid he has mentored; i’ll chuckle over how CUTE the winkman is; i’ll just wait quietly for my next assignment.

after dragging in a few groceries for rightmoon, i walked around her sesame street-ish neighborhood, soaking up the sights and sounds. visited the gallery of jaime de la vega, the artist who does a lot of the street art moon exhibits on her site…..just the walls in her ‘hood are art. it is a great atmosphere…what she has dubbed “spaha”…technically Spanish Harlem to the natives. i look forward to visiting soon, minus the hospital drama, but was anxious to return home. caught a 6:30 a.m. flight out on sunday 10/24 and was back to sonnystone by 11 a.m. hallelujah! all the prayers are effective and we’re all on our way back to whatever we call normal!

so rightmoon returned home friday evening, 10/22, which meant she was home for her 5th wedding anniversary…above is the view from my smoking area at the hospital….a view i will never have to see again…unless i’m there for a happy occasion. she is recovering nicely, still “sicky” but on her way!!!

i love rightmoon’s new place…i feel so comfortable there.

it’s been a little difficult for me to get online and i apologize for the delay in details. melissa had her ileostomy closed on tuesday 10/19. i flew here to nyc on monday, so excited to see her new apartment…it is beautiful! i love her new furniture and she has obviously inherited my gift for decorating..ahem. she fixed a delicious spaghetti dinner for us and we walked around her new neighborhood. it’s great. her surgery was scheduled for 3pm and we arrived at mt. sinai around 1pm. dr. kee, the brilliant surgeon, and her sidekick, laura, wheeled her into surgery themselves at 5pm. dr. kee came out to speak with me at 6:30 with this report: the area of bowel she was reconnecting is very crohnish, meaning the tissue is gravely, and she was concerned that there might be some leakage, so she reinforced the sutures with more sutures. she felt everything with the surgery went real well and also affirmed the the previous sphincteroplasty was in working order. now, i’m a nurse, but this mom thing must have warped my mind. i really thought that this surgery would be a piece of cake–hook the bowel back up, poop, go home. i had figured mel would be out of the hospital by thursday and i have a ticket to fly home friday…WHAT WAS I THINKING???? whenever you traumatize the bowel it takes a while for it to restart, even more traumatic to a crohned ileum. she’ll be in the hospital about a week. she did have trouble with urination at first, but it wasn’t bladder/kidney, just dehydration, so they loaded her with i.v. fluids and avoided having a catheter inserted..yay! until she passed gas, she couldn’t have anything but ice chips, but even that made her vomit, so she was pretty miserable for a while. the pain stayed under pretty good control, though. today she passed gas, hallelujah, and this evening was rewarded with some broth and jello…lucky her. i’m still not sure how much longer she’ll be in the hospital, but am prepared to stay until she gets home and settled in. it’s nice to have my own “bedroom” here and her kittens are so sweet…word from sonnystone is that the winker is hanging out with his mr. fishy and mr. string; husband is painting, putting up lights outside, etc. stay in touch and keep us in your prayers.

i returned the cage that wink was delivered in and spoke briefly with ann, the librarian. i could tell that she really misses the winkster and that her husband, dale, was missing him, too. i gave her the url of sonnystone and hope that she and her husband will be checking these new pictures and know how much we love our little kitten. thank-you for giving him to us—keep checking back and watch him grow!!! don’t forget to scroll down for more pictures/text.

the winker-kitten seems concerned that his name is not reflective of his manly attitude and bearing…his great skill in attacking rattling fish…and his diligence in protecting us from feet. he compares himself with zorro, clint eastwood in any role, or, you guessed it…the bishop. boy-child’s kitten, sugar/ambrosia, was staying downstairs over the week-end, so sunday evening was winkman’s first encounter with the downstairs. he has his bell-collar now and that helps me keep track of his curiosity. it feels like he’s always been here!!! today we’re supposed to have his stitches removed and i dread getting him into a cage for the trip to the vet…he’s a loud little guy when you get him upset. i’m a little loud, too, because i’m undergoing various dental procedures….and i hate pain. my dds is good, but this latest work really hurts. so winkle and i are spending time laying around purring.

this guy looks just like Son E. as a kitten, minus an eye. i “lost” him shortly after bringing him home and husband “found” him upstairs under a bed. he’s currently living in the cowboy and rose rooms (plenty of space) with new kitty litter, food and toys. we are charmed.

what, you ask yourself, does aunt jo do all day? how, you wonder, does she spend her time? today i babysat for noah and played with ben. ben will be 2 on 10/22 and noah is 2 months. their mom, ali, is my niece and that makes them my….very special friends.

the old plan: boy-child and fiancee’ arrive friday for engagement pictures, counseling from the marryingman, mashed potatoes and fall festival. i was to ride up to indy sunday to fly to nyc and rightmoon’s final surgery. dr. kee (the brilliant surgeon) took out for the week, however, and rescheduled moon’s procedure until 10/19. new plan: enjoy visit with son/d-i-l but 86 sunday; instead, drive to indy 10/18 for early flight out (wearing my “i vote the bible” button) and return 10/22. insert into the above plan to welcome the new kitten!!!