Honeymoon, Charlie Update, Kelly Health Scare

October 2-10, Sean and Ashley were finally able to go on a real honeymoon. They got married in March and stayed about a week in a hotel here in Greensboro after the wedding. For their actual honeymoon, they went to Southport and the Outer Banks. She had never seen the lighthouses before and, of course, it's the beach. They seemed to really enjoy their time there. Sean sent me pictures every day or two of lighthouses, the beach, etc. He also called me a couple times about places to eat (we've been to the Outer Banks a couple times) and things to do. 

 

The only lighthouses they didn't get to see were Bald Head Island, Ocracoke, and Cape Lookout. Not sure if they saw Price's Creek or not.

 

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Charlie had a doctor's appointment on October 8th. They did a CT scan. Then on November 18th, they did a colonoscopy. Which was scheduled much later after the October 8th appointment than we expected. The colonoscopy showed that the area where he has diverticulitis is still inflamed, but there were no polyps or cancer. Now we're just waiting for them to schedule his surgery.

 

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This past Friday night (technically Saturday morning - it was a little after 12:30 AM), Kelly came into my office/library and said, "Mother, something's wrong." I turned around and she was having what looked like some kind of convulsions. She was bending/twisting to the left and down at the waist and her head was turning to the left and down. Not as fast as a seizure usually looks (not that I know a lot about seizures), but about every second or two. 

 

I jumped up from my chair, terrified. I put my hands on her shoulders and I really don't remember what all I said to her. I remember trying to pray and trying not to cry.

After a minute or two, I opened my bedroom door (right next to the room I was in) and said, "Charlie, something's wrong with Kelly." He jumped out of bed, quickly put on a pair shorts, and came into the room. His face was pale with fear. He had her sit down and asked her some questions. I don't remember what. We both looked at each other like, "What is going on? What do we do?" I was still fighting not to cry.

I said that we should probably take her to the hospital. (Duh.) Of course, he agreed. Then I remembered that only one person can go into a doctor's office or hospital with a patient. (Stupid covid.) And since it was the middle of the night, I figured it would be better if he took her rather than two females in a dark parking lot.

They both got ready quickly and then left for Wesley Long. I sat down in my computer chair shaking and typed a short post on Facebook for everyone to pray for Kelly "right now". I was absolutely terrified. What if it's a brain tumor?

 

I called my mom after they left, but she didn't answer. I then tried Sean. No answer. Then Ashley. I can't remember if she answered or if I called Sean again. I told Sean what was going on and told him to wake up my mom. Then I called her and told her. Sean and Ashley came over for a few hours after I called, but then he started feeling too tired and went back home.

I texted Charlie about every hour for updates. After about 5 hours, they still hadn't put Kelly in a treatment room (she was in whatever area they put people before moving them to a treatment room) or done anything for her. She got tired of waiting and left the area where they had her. Charlie made her go back and demanded the doctor do something.

They finally put her in a room, did an EKG, I think an MRI (or that might have been at Moses Cone - it's kind of a blur), and took blood. The doctor there said that he couldn't find anything physically wrong with her and basically didn't know what to do. He told them to go to Moses Cone. 

 

The doctor at Moses Cone said that whatever it was was in her mind and that she needed a psychologist and/or a neurologist. He had the nurses give her something in an IV to calm her and then sent her home. 

 

It was after 1:00 PM Saturday afternoon when they got home. None of us had slept or eaten. I was still worried sick. I didn't sleep good or eat much for a couple days.

But Kelly is in good spirits. She seems happy and cheerful. The convulsion type movements have stopped, but she has Tourette's symptoms. Twitches, tics, random words and phrases, repeating words she hears on TV or others say, sometimes repeats sounds she hears (like saying "beep" if she hears a beep), woohs, oohs, clicks, the occasional snapping of her fingers, jerky arms usually with a thumbs up, hang loose, or "I love you" gestures, etc.

 

On Monday, I called her regular doctor and the neurologist the hospital recommended. Her doctor said to just call the neurologist. And when I called them, they said they don't treat what she has and recommended a different neurologist. I called them yesterday and they scheduled an appointment for Friday, December 11th.

 

 

It was an exhausting and worrying couple of days. I'm feeling better about it now. I wish she didn't have whatever this is. (I'm assuming Tourette's, but I'm not a neurologist. We'll see what they say.) But it's better than what I was afraid it could be. I'm praying God heals her, but if He chooses not to, I hope the neurologist can help her.

 

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I discovered Poshmark a couple months ago while looking for an embroidered blue corduroy Talbot's skirt I used to own and love years ago. I found the skirt (in blue and brown, but I can't remember if I found one of them on Poshmark or both on eBay) and from there have been able to find lots of cute things that I can't find in stores. 

 

 

 

 

 

Skirts, including army green denim, blue plaid wool, brown corduroy, black tweed, and Ralph Lauren khaki. Vests in colors and/or styles I can't find in stores. (I can only find puffers and quilted ones and some fleece and I don't like those.) Long sleeved T-shirts, mostly Lauren Ralph Lauren, to go with the vests. A camo Sanctuary jacket that I saw at other store websites that were selling it for about $100 more than what I paid. Some sweaters. (Believe it or not, I only had one sweater before this.) A lime green hoodie and an aqua blue hoodie that Kelly liked. Etc.

 

 

 

   

And the prices are great, so I don't feel too guilty about it. lol Though I have "unliked" a lot of things on Poshmark after thinking about them for a while and deciding against purchasing them.

 

I also bought a pair of boots from Famous Footwear's website and a Levi's jacket from Amazon (they had the best price).

 

 

I got these same boots in brown from Poshmark for less than $35 after tax and shipping. The brand is Bare Traps.

 

 

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There are a few more things I wanted to blog about (book stuff and corona stuff), but this is already pretty long. 

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~

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DNA Ethnicity Estimate Update

A couple weeks ago, Ancestry updated ethnicity estimates. As they say, your DNA doesn't change, but the science improves.

 

Here are my updated results, followed by the previous results.

 

I was surprised by how small a percentage of Ireland this estimate shows. My dad's mom's dad was Irish and there's Irish on all sides of my family.

 

My results had shown Norway rather than Sweden for the two previous estimates. Then it changed to Sweden and then back to Norway in the more recent estimate. I joked with my daughter that I always felt more Norwegian than Swedish.

My husband's updated results, followed by his previous results.

 

My mom's updated results, followed by her previous results.

 

 

 

It'll be interesting to see how it will change as the science gets better and better.

 

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~

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Park Pictures

Tuesday, September 22nd, the weather was pretty, so Charlie, Kelly, and I (and our dog Milo) went walking at Hagan-Stone Park and Company Mill Preserve. 

Here are a few of the pictures I took with my cell phone.

 

 

 

 

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~

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Sick Husband

Charlie was diagnosed with diverticulitis a few years ago. About once every month or two, he'd feel a little sore or sick if he ate the wrong thing, but it never gave him too much trouble. 

Around mid to late August, he started complaining more often about hurting a little or not feeling well. Some time between the 7th and the 9th of this month, it seemed to get worse. The night of the 10th, I told him he should probably stay home from work the next day because he just seemed to be hurting too much. He got up on Friday the 11th and got ready for work, but ended up staying home. 

By that afternoon, I told him he needed to call his doctor. It was after 4:00 PM, so when he called them they told him to go to urgent care. The doctor at urgent care prescribed two antibiotics and told him that if he developed a fever or vomited to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital.

The next evening, he was so miserable he knew he needed to go to the hospital. (We didn't call an ambulance.) They admitted him that night after doing a CT scan. The scan showed perforations in his intestines and infection and air pockets in his abdomen.

They hooked him up to an IV to give him antibiotics, fluids, pain medicine, and who knows what else. He wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything. I think it was Monday before they gave him ice chips. He felt like he was dying of thirst before the ice chips and was so hungry he couldn't stand it. But his intestines couldn't handle food yet. (His last big meal had been Thursday night. He'd had an egg sandwich and an apple on Saturday.) Food commercials were torture and there were a lot of them.

Of course, I went to the hospital every day. The walk to the entrance from visitors parking is kind of long and is uphill. By the time I'd make it to the door, I'd be out of breath. lol They would check my temperature (96.5° on Wednesday the 16th, 96.7° on Thursday the 17th; don't know what it was the other days) and then let me go up to Charlie's room. I had to wear a mask the whole time I was there. 

The first few days, I didn't eat anything because Charlie couldn't eat and I would've felt bad if I had eaten in front him. (Though he told me to go ahead and eat.) He was on a liquid diet Tuesday (15th) and Wednesday (16th) - broth, Italian ice, juice, gelatin, water, tea, coffee. On Thursday, since the CT scan showed some improvement, they gave him more solid, but easily digestible, foods - beef tips with gravy, chicken with gravy, green beans, peas, bread, plain rice, and even a chocolate chip cookie, which I don't think he ate. Since he could finally eat, I got a Subway sandwich (there's a Subway in the hospital) to eat while he ate his food.

Friday afternoon, September 18th, Charlie was finally allowed to come home. He was so happy to see our kids (I had been the only one allowed to see him in the hospital) and our pets (especially his dog Milo), and to sleep in our bed.

The doctors sent him home with two lists - one of foods he can't eat and one of foods he can eat. Figuring out what to cook for supper has been a little difficult. He can't eat a lot of the foods I normally cook.

Charlie feels better every day. The pain is pretty much gone and he's finally gotten to where he doesn't feel weak after just a little activity. (We went walking at the park on the 22nd and he did fine. I'll post pictures later.) He's still on antibiotics and will need surgery to remove part of his intestine. He wants to wait until the new year so he'll have enough sick days to take off for recovery. 

He went back to work yesterday. I told him no heavy lifting or straining. "Doctor's orders and wife's orders." lol When he got home from work, he said he did fine.

He'll see his doctor October 8th so he can see how Charlie's doing and to schedule surgery.

We check the mail every day dreading the hospital bill. Our deductible is $5000, I think. They say you can't put a price on a human life, but hospitals do. lol Ugh. I mean, I reckon it's better than being in pain or dead, but it's going to be tough to pay.

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~

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New Clothes, Birthdays, Church Changes, Corona Update

Since my last entry, I've bought a few masks, a rug, a couple paintings, and several articles of clothing. 

All three masks are black. One says "Blessed" in blue letters, one says "There is Power in the Name of Jesus" in white letters, and one says "Loki'd" in green letters. I ordered the masks from RedBubble.

 

The rug was supposed to be for my bedroom, but after laying it out in the office, I decided I like how it looks in here.

 

 

****Click on the pictures to see them in full. For some reason the changes Blogger has made have messed up how pictures look in posts. *sigh*

 

                                                                   I have the rug overlapping both of the other rugs in this picture.

 

The first painting I ordered was for the dining room. I bought it to replace a painting I didn't really like anymore because it was kind of dark. I ordered this from Amazon for around $50-60. It's called View to the Amalfi Coast.

 

The second painting is one I saw when I was looking for a final piece of art for the office (I chose a tapestry/wall hanging) and fell in love with. I would search every couple days for a smaller version of it to put on the wall to the left of the master bathroom door (on the bedroom side) and finally found one at Art.com.

 

 

I finally had the bright idea to pay attention to the measurements of clothes. Now that I know what length of dresses and shirts I prefer (I've known for a while that 23-25 inches is the perfect skirt length for me), I've been able to order some things online. 

Of all the shirts I have in my closet, only about four are the right length. I recently took a chance and ordered a couple shirts online. One of them came on Saturday. The length is fine (22 inches), but I think another inch or inch and a half is closer to perfect.

Anyway, in the past 4-5 weeks, I've bought a few dresses, a couple shirts (I'm waiting for three more to be delivered), and a couple skirts. Oh, and a purse. And I'm waiting for a couple cardigans to be delivered. All for really great prices.

I ordered this Calvin Klein dress from Dillard's thinking it was the dress pictured below. When it got here, I was like, "I thought it was more blue than this." lol But I still like it a lot. It was originally $118, but I paid about $41 before tax and shipping.

 I bought this one at Dillard's for about $43. By Calvin Klein.

 

 I bought this Liz Claiborne dress at JC Penney for about $35.

 

I bought this at JC Penney. I don't remember how much I paid. Less than $10. But I didn't try it on and it's too big. I wanted to order it in a small, but they're sold out.

 

I bought this at JC Penney for either $13 or $17. I think it's Liz Claiborne.

 

I bought this Liz Claiborne skirt at JC Penney for either $13 or $17.

 

This was originally $139 at Talbots. I paid about $35. I wasn't sure how it would look on me, but when I tried it on I loved it.

 

Since dresses are easier (don't have to try to find a top to go with a skirt or vice versa) and I'm really loving shirt dresses lately, I ordered this from Saks Off 5th. I paid less than $50 before taxes. By Calvin Klein.

 

I ordered this from Gap. On sale for about $10. I'm thinking green might look nice with the floral skirt above. I have a shirt in a different shade of green on the way.

 

I bought this at Talbots. Originally nearly $40, I paid less than $15 after taxes.

 

Day & Mood purse I bought at Stein Mart. The one I got is a darker brown. Usually goes for $118, I paid less than $44 after tax. Genuine leather. I also looked at a couple tops at Stein Mart (going out of business), but they won't let you try things on or return anything. :-/

 

I'll post pictures of the other shirts and the cardigans after I get them. Now I need to go through my closet and get rid of some things.

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My daughter-in-law Ashley's birthday was July 21st and my mom's was July 25th. I got them each a galaxy light/globe from Amazon. They really liked mine and said they wanted one and since they hadn't gotten themselves one yet, I ordered one for each of them. I also got Ashley two books (Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Where the Crawdads Sing) and I got my mom a Moroccan style lantern. It's black with purple glass and you can put a candle in it.

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Our church is making some changes in the sanctuary. I still vacuum on Saturday evenings for the few people who show up for Sunday services. (Stupid corona.) Anyway, they extended the platform (no more steps on the front), put black carpet on the platform, painted the back wall of the platform black, ripped up the sanctuary carpet, and are trying to save money by dyeing the chairs instead of replacing them. There were pallets/boxes of new carpet in the foyer when I went to the church this past Saturday. I assume it's carpet tiles/squares. I saw a sample of it a few weeks ago - a medium to dark gray.

 I took these pictures on July 25th. The carpet padding on the floor has since been torn up.

 

 A few of the chairs that have been dyed. We'll eventually have to get new chairs though. These are old and some are not in great shape.

They've also started a K-12 school at the church. I don't know if it's because of corona or if the school is something they've been planning for awhile.

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North Carolina corona/covid-19 update:

Completed tests: 2,078,472

Positive cases: 155,113

Currently hospitalized: 898

Deaths: 2,521

Recovered: 127,749, as of last Monday. New numbers will come out today.

Active cases: 27,364, as of last Monday.

My county has/had 6,377 positive cases and 163 deaths. My zip code has/had 764 positive cases and 39 deaths.

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Since my last entry, I've only read the first chapter of The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri and I've read the first two or three chapters of Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer.

 

I've been in kind of a reading slump lately, but it's mostly because I've been falling asleep after only a couple pages, when I even bother to pick up a book to read. I'm trying to get back into it though.

 

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~

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Room Done! (Mostly), Covid-free, Corona Update, Books, and Music

The library/office is mostly done now. I'm thinking about getting curtains and maybe another floor pillow or floor chair, but that's pretty much it.

Since my last entry, the painting Leaves and Vessels was delivered (July 6), I got more lights (July 6), I ordered two more rugs (July 7) and they were delivered on July 13th, the painting Late September Birch was delivered (July 15), I ordered a tapestry/wall hanging for a corner of the room I felt like needed something (July 18) and it was delivered on the 19th, and I bought a floor pillow from World Market on the 20th.

The rug on the right side of the room used to be in front of the bookcases. I put it to the side to put down the other two rugs and just left it there.

Rug by nuloom.

I asked Charlie to build me another, smaller bookcase (he built the two bookcases in this picture) for the books I have on the table and the floor.

Rug by Surya.

Rug by Safavieh.

Some may think the lights are tacky, but I love them. lol I had originally planned on doing a world theme (things representing different countries), but I couldn't decide on a paint color. Then I remembered a beautiful library I had seen pictures of that had dark blue walls and shiny gold stars and other celestial things, so I chose a dark blue paint (blue midnight). Then when I went online rug shopping, I kept being drawn to orange rugs. That surprised me since I've never liked orange that much. When I bought the orange rug that's now on the right side of the room, I then began looking for other orange things, like the poppy painting, the ceiling fan pulls, and the throw. So, the starry/celestial theme was gone, too. lol

These are the paint colors I was trying to decide between when I decided to go with blue walls (all from Lowe's; some Valspar and some Sherwin Williams):

I decided these were too blue (1 & 3) or had too much purple in them (2 & 4).

1 is Bluer Than Blue, 2 is Mountain Lake, 3 is Delft Pottery, 4 is Vital Blue.

6 is the color I chose: Blue Midnight. 5 is Salty Dog.

This one was a little too dark. It's called Naval.

I really liked 8 (Anchors Aweigh), but thought it was probably too dark. I loved 9 (Dark Night), it had a bit of green in it (my favorite color), and had a hard time choosing between it and 6.

I looked at probably hundreds of rugs when shopping for rugs for this room. After getting the ones I wanted for this room, I decided to get one for my bedroom. I had a hard time choosing between two rugs and ended up ordering the second one a week after ordering the first. The second one should be delivered today.

Loki has immediately laid down on each rug as soon as I've put them on the floor. lol This one (by Jonathan Y) and the one in front of the rocking chair in the library seem to be his favorites. The one in front of the rocking chair gets lots of sun when the blinds are up. This rug in my room is not my normal style, but I like the colors for my coastal/beachy bedroom.

And I decided that I don't like one of the paintings in my dining room all that much anymore (I bought it over 10 years ago) and have ordered a new one to replace it. It's called View to the Amalfi Coast. It should be here later this week or early next week.

I think I may have said it in a previous entry, but everything I've bought for the library/office has either been cheap, on sale, or I found a coupon for it. So while I've probably spent quite a bit of money (I haven't done the math yet lol), I haven't spent nearly as much as I could have if I had more money or were rich. lol

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Sometime around June 27 or 28, Charlie's sister Gail and her husband moved to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Gail had lived in Oklahoma for years and raised her daughters there. I think her husband Jim was born and raised in Oklahoma. I can't imagine moving to another country away from my kids and grandkids. (She has grandkids. I don't.) I know people do (I'm a fan of House Hunters International and see it quite a bit), but I couldn't do it. No matter how much a part of me would love to try living in New Zealand or Europe.

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Sean and Ashley have completely recovered from covid. Ashley has gone back to work and Sean will be going back soon.

Speaking of Ashley, she just celebrated her 24th birthday yesterday. I bought her two books (Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Where the Crawdads Sing; she loves reading like I do) and ordered her something from Amazon that should be here at the end of the week. I also got her a card and a balloon.

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On the subject of the corona virus, here are North Carolina's and my county's numbers as of last night:

Completed tests: 1,458,997

Positive cases: 102,861

Currently hospitalized: 1,179

Deaths: 1,668

Recovered: 78,707

Active cases: 24,154

My county has 4,314 (don't know how many have recovered) and 134 deaths. My zip code was in the top three worst for our county on July 10th. We now have 511 cases (again, don't know how many have recovered) and 33 deaths.

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Since my last entry, I finished reading Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris and read The Queen of Nothing (3rd book in a trilogy) by Holly Black. I gave the former 3 stars at GoodReads and gave the latter 4 - 4½ stars.

I started reading The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri yesterday. I've only read the first chapter so far.

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I last posted about buying new music for my iPod on May 5th. Here are the songs I've bought since then:

Psalm 23 is by People and Songs. Speak Those Things: POL Chapter 3 is a Fred Hammond album.

 

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~*~Nocturnal Queen~*~

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