Where o Where Has Marti Been?

Did you ever get the feeling that you were being tested bysomething/someone out there in the universe? Tweaked just enoughhere and there to make you wonder if you were running some gauntletin life?

This has certainly been a time of trial and tribulation and joy andsuccess in overcoming and a testament to how much Brion loves andcares for me.

Where am I going?

You might want to fasten yourself in for this particular ride folks.

As many of you already know on 3/31/07 I fell in love with Brion andhe with me. It was truly an angel choir of awe moment at theRenaissance faire when a mutual friend introduced us. A moment Ithought would never ever happen to me and one in which I scoffed atin Romance novels and movies. By the end of May we were truly acouple, by the end of June we moved in together and in November wehad to make a decision of moving together to San Francisco. We did ascouting trip and found the PERFECT place. He popped the officialquestion. End of November I quit my job and started packing. On12/15/07 we moved to San Francisco with two cats and a some clothes.The rest of our stuff arrived around the 22nd of December in time forChristmas. We unpacked, explored our new city and then it was off tostart job hunting for me. On 1/17/08 on my way to a job fair I fellas awkward as an ice skater wearing cement skates on a crack in thesidewalk and broke my foot just shy of needing surgery. Stay off thefoot for a few weeks says the Doctor. Great.. more time to Knit!!!(Stash related story another time). But wait.. there's more! That'sright, more. So around 2/8/08 I thought I was getting a chest cold,feverish, taking longer to catch my breath after hobbling around oncrutches, by the 10th in the middle of the day I realized I wasconstantly trying to catch my breath just sitting in a chair. Then IHAD TO GO to the bathroom and on my way there I told myself "Self,its getting dark, you're going to pass...." I woke up on the floorno longer really needing to go to the bathroom other than to cleanup. So, there I was, in the bathroom, trying to catch my breath,dripping sweat and Brion gets home finds me on the toilet unable toget up (glamorous huh?) and according to him, paler than our nearestto white bathroom towel. As he's helping clean me up and trying tocall 911 I pass out again. He's freaking out because apparentlywe're in the worst cell phone reception area in the state ofCalifornia and the call keeps dropping. I'm trying my best to get onsome clean underwear before the paramedics get there and calm himdown. Finally, they arrive, 2 paramedics and an ambulance because ofsome confusion with our address and the numerous calls that weredropped. Quite the scene on our street. Oxygen being force feedthrough a nose thing and a mask. The ambulance has to take a detouraround a movie/docudrama about a local gay activist from the 70'sthey are filming on the major street where the hospital is located.I would have tossed cookies if I had any. (LOL) Believe it or not,in the ER its quiet, hardly anything going on, the DR on call is alung/heart specialist and after telling the story of my broken foodand inactivity for the 20th time that nite he knows right off I'mhaving a pulmonary embolism due to a blood clot or clots having movedfrom my foot to my lungs over the past few days when I startedgetting more active. Lots of tests, blood drawn, more questions,some scan thing and a few hours later I'm more comfortable, breathinga little better, some pink back in my cheeks and off to a criticalcare unit for the next two days. Then to a regular care room for thenext two days. Saturday afternoon, my oxygen is back to normal, onblood thinners and hobbling around, they need my room for a more inneed of attention patient so they move me again. To the roomfurthest from the Nurses station, but its a private room. In fact,its the private room where very high end patients recover fromplastic surgery. That's right. It was like a hotel suite. By thistime all the nurses were doing was giving me my meds and watching megive myself a shot. They even fed Brion and let him stay the night.On Sunday I was released and sent home with orders for lightexercise, shots for the rest of the week and I'll be on a bloodthinner for the next few months. It was quite an experience. I'vebroken my kneecap before (twice in fact in the late 80's but that'sanother story) and had surgery 4x then, even more couch/chair boundand didn't have a problem. Apparently according to the Doctors itwas like an alignment of the planets that only happens once in agreat while to a very "Special" few. I'll have to got to a specialclinic weekly for awhile to check my blood and see my new primarycare physician monthly until the foot and the blood situation is overand done with.

Phew...

Brion was a solid steady rock during this storm. Of incrediblepatience and quick on the draw with his iPhone to make lists ofthings to get and do. He has a wonderful family that has beenemailing, calling, sending cards and flowers. He talked to mysisters who are flying in from Chicago tonite to spend the weekendwith me. He's hung up pictures, gotten rid of empty boxes and madesure I had nice boxes for my stash (26 files boxes oh my!). His office has been wonderfully patient with my recent situations andfortunately he can do most of his stuff from home. He has a BIGmeeting with Sun Microsystems to see if they will work with WikimediaFoundation on some projects. I proudly brag that Brion is the CTO(Chief Technology Officer) of Wikipedia. Valentines was quiet justthe way we wanted actually. He made my favorite breakfast scrambledeggs with salsa and some turkey bacon then he had to go off to work.He came home with a beautiful rose, a wonderful card and cooked ourfavorite dinner and dessert. He's a great cook! Since I couldn'tget out and get anything for him I made up this little notes on postits. Some with just "I love you" others turn this in for somethingspecial and hid them all over the apartment and in his cloths andsocks. So far he's only found a few of them.I have been truly blessed with being fortunate to have this man in mylife, my new family to come, my sisters and my internet communities.

Please take care of yourselves, physically and spiritually and alwaysremember that when you hold out your hand to give, it is then open toreceive.

--Blessed Be and Merry Knitting
-=*§*~Marti~*§*=-

Just Call Me Ginger

Holy Moly... I can't believe it. One month here and getting used to getting around on the Bart and MUNI and the different neighborhoods and whammo. Quite the monkey wrench thrown into the works to really mes things up for a bit.

Here's the scoop.

First lesson learned, double check your addresses when putting them into the trip planner, be specific. Wrong address in the system and I got off at the wrong stop. No problem, a quick call to headquarters and Brion repulls the exact address and lo and behold, another route all together. So, while hoofing it back to the Bart, while in the Mission district I avoided one bubbled up crack in the sidewalk only to bobble on another right next to it with my next step. Then as graceful as a ballerina in sand filled combat boots I teetered this way then that way and then bam, face first on the side walk. My first worry was my bad knee, (another story for another time). But that was fine, popped back up on my feet, brushed off, took a step, felt a slight twinge in my left foot but wasn't too bad. I could walk that off, I'm tough and the job fair was just a few stops away. Erg..

By the time I got off the Bart and climbed up 3 flights of stairs (the healthy thing you know - actually, couldn't find the nearest escalator) I knew something was wrong. I stopped at Burger King, they were selling whoppers there by the way, got a diet coke and called Brion. A little on the nervous side being in a new city and I didn't want him to freak out with the call from the emergency room, I waited for him and we went together. The cabbie was very nice, took us to just the right place and made sure we got in all right.

The wait wasn't that bad, just had to remind them that my name was still in the pile. They have this pre-check in thing to get your basics and get the requests for labs and xrays started as necessary. They gave me a bed, but I opted to stay in the chair since I would have to be wheeled around anyway, it was just easier for me. While we waited I perused through the biggest Vanity Fair issue ever, lamenting that I left the house without my latest book or my knitting. They had a very cool film noir tribute with some of my favorite actors. Oops... meandered a bit. So.. anyway... the xrays were quick and painless and the Doctor saw me very soon after they were completed. Yep.. broke a bone in the bottom of the left side of my left foot. That was most of the bad news. The good news, and trust me from experience this is good, no surgery required. Just time off the foot, special split and non flex shoe, ice it and keep it elevated. It should naturally pull back together in a few weeks.

So here I am, ensconced in the big comfy chair surrounded by my knitting, the cats and Brion's wonderful patient attention. I've already finished a few dishcloths and now I'm venturing out to try to some pattern stitches I've been saving. I've got a whole cone of white cotton I can make up for one of the ladies sending her stuff to Africa via a friend. No more talking about knitting a few cuddles/hugs for animals. I could also work on my PIF projects but no one's signed up yet (hint hint read a few previous posts). Now I can seriously start working on my stash. Oh.. and some pain killers that are dulling the pain, which I only have after hauling myself to the bathroom or bed.

I'm really disappointed that I couldn't visit the future in-laws this weekend. I was really looking forward to seeing everyone and getting out to see some sites. Now I have all the more incentive to get the apartment ready for their upcoming visits. I'm sure Brion will have some glamorous pictures of me and my cast and my knitting. LOL