Dad's Roses

Years ago, along the edge of the screened in porch, my Father planted roses. Each year he would carefully tend to them, making sure they were fertilized and well protected from the nieces and nephews running around. Dad was always so meticulous with the yard. Every Summer he spent loads of time creating little stone surrounded gardens with flowers, plants and bird feeders. He loved his yard and it showed.

I remember Dad talking occasionally on the phone with my Grandfather about how the roses were doing and they would compare rose notes. They had roses in common. When my Father passed away my Grandfather created a small rose garden in his back yard in Illinois in honor of my Father. In the middle of the garden were some American flags and a bowling ball. This was no ordinary bowling ball, though! My Grandfather has spray painted the ball with metallic red, white and blue paint as if it were a gazing ball. I remember the first time I saw it. I was with my Mom and we both kind of looked at each other and laughed. Dad would have thought it was funny. I'll have to dig up a photo of it!

The other day Robin mentioned to me that Dad's roses were blooming. I could not believe that after 7 years with no one caring for them they were still alive! I went out there today and one of the stems is so long that Robin is thinking of bringing the trellis over so it can vine around it. I carried my camera out back and took a photo of one of the buds to send to my Grandfather to show him a bit of Dad is still around!

Exploring the Forest

For the past couple of weeks I have been emailing back and forth with Patrick, who found me through my Flickr account. He added me as a contact on Flickr and when I got the email notification I checked out his photo sets. It was almost like looking at my own photos! I sent him an email and told him that we must have been following each other around since we have been to most of the same places! That's what started our correspondence.

Both Patrick and I share a love of photographing all the incredible historic places around the Lowcountry. We exchanged stories about the North vs. the South (he is from Massachusetts) and talked about potential places to scope out for photo excursions.

Patrick told me about this place near Bonneau Ferry in the Francis Marion National Forest called Richmond Plantation. I had never heard of it so I did a Google search and saw some photos. Why had I never heard of this incredible place before? Apparently, the Girl Scouts own the plantation now and the property is private.

While doing more research about the plantation I found out that the property is actually in trouble and in desperate need of funding to renovate some of the buildings. There is a group called Friends of Richmond Plantation who are doing things here to help save the buildings from being demolished. When I heard this I had a mild panic about getting out there to take photos before all of this happens. From what I saw online, it didn't seem like the Girl Scouts have been very proactive in raising money to help save their own camp!

Partick told me that he had made several phone calls to the main Girl Scout office in North Charleston to inquire about getting permission to access the property and no one ever answered. Since Robin was going on a motorcycle run on Sunday, I asked Patrick if he wanted to ride out to the forest to check things out. He told me that there were some other sites nearby to check out.

Robin wasn't exactly thrilled that I was going on a photo shoot with a total stranger so I arranged for Patrick to show up just before Robin left for her motorcycle ride so she could meet him. She wanted me to go with her on the ride, but I am so scared of motorcycles! She asked Teresa if she wanted to go in my place, which was more than fine with me!

We headed out to Bonneau Ferry and Patrick pulled out his makeshift map of the forest which was hand drawn, which I found amusing. We found Richmond Plantation with no problem and headed toward the gate. While we were driving up to the gate a car was coming out. We stopped and chatted with the gentleman and asked if it would be possible to go on the property to take photos. He said that they were getting ready to leave and he wasn't sure if "she" would let us. He took out his cell phone and called someone who apparently was still on the property.

After a couple of minutes we saw the woman's car coming up to the gate. The man turned around and drove inside the gate and met the woman who, after a couple of minutes, drove out the gate and stopped at our car. We asked her if we could go on the property to take some photos and she asked "For what purpose?" and we said for our own personal use. She asked if we were Girl Scouts and I said "I used to be!" To this, she was not amused. She said that she had a "very important" ceremony that she had to attend (a pinning ceremony - the man told us!) and that she just couldn't let us walk around the property because she would be liable for anything that may happen. We really tried to talk her into it, but she wasn't budging. In fact, she was pretty rude about it. She gave us a Girl Scout brochure and told us to call her and she "might" be able to meet us one day.

After the man and woman pulled away we thought about going in anyway, but were afraid that they would send someone out to check if we went in. We gave up (for that day, anyway) and decided to move along.

We drove around the forest and it was so amazing! I can't believe I have never gone out to that section before! The first place we stopped was Comingtee Plantation, which used to be owned by the very prominent Ball family of South Carolina. The only thing that remained of the plantation were the ruins of the main house and the rice mill.

Comingtee Plantation House

Comingtee Plantation Rice Mill

The land around the plantation was full of high weeds and tall grass and the ENTIRE time I was on snake lookout. It was hot outside so I knew that our "friends" were out and about and I was wearing shorts and sandals! Speaking of hot, I had another of my "flash sweating" episodes during our visit to Comingtee. Ugh. I am so over those!

After Comingtee, we drove around the forest and thankfully we were in my Jeep! The roads were also filled with tall grass and lots of large holes in the ground! There were many roads that had signs saying they were closed to motorized vehicles, but at times you really didn't have a choice but to go down them. I was so amazed that people lived so far out in the middle of this huge forest... then again, I suppose everywhere at that time was a big forest!

We continued our drive and saw some wild turkeys running around. I have never seen wild turkeys!! I wish I could have had time to grab my camera! Who knew that turkeys ran so fast?!

The forest was filled with some really beautiful places! I can't wait to go back!

Remember! A fed gator is a dead gator!

I love visiting places like this. As always, I imagine what life must have been like back when the plantation was alive with activity. How did they live? What did they do for leisure? How did they treat their slaves? I own the book "Slaves in the Family" by Edward Ball, but it's in Ohio with all of my belongings. Visiting Comingtee has renewed my interest in the Ball family so I really need to get another copy of that book since I have yet to read it.

My next mission is to pursue getting access to Richmond Plantation and also get a really good map of Francis Marion National Forest. There's so much to explore! Maybe though, I'll wait until winter when the snakes are in hiding and my "flash sweating" has subsided!

Another thing I am interested in finding is the "ghost tree" of Comingtee Plantation. How cool is that? Again, another winter trek in the woods for me for that one! I promise I won't touch the tree like I did with that dumb grave in Indiana!! We all know what happened after I did that!

Thanks to Patrick for showing me these awesome places!!

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After I published this post I started flipping through the online book Recollections of the Ball family of South Carolina and the Comingtee Plantations that I linked to above and found these awesome photos of what Comingtee used to look like! I searched and searched the internet for photos of the plantation and couldn't find any before! How exciting!!



Circa 1904

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Alex and McKinley Visit!

Last week was a hard one. On Wednesday morning I woke up feeling awful so I called work and told them that I would be a bit late and was going to try to sleep it off. I did make it in and really just dragged myself through the rest of the day.

The next two days weren't any better so I stayed home from work. I would wake up and take a shower but would be so exhausted from that little physical activity. My breathing would get heavier and I could feel the life draining from my body and I would just stand there hoping to make it through the shower while I leaned against the shower wall. When I got out I couldn't even dry myself off. All I could do was crawl back into bed. I'm surprised I even had enough energy to call work.

Friday morning I had my first appointment with Dr. Pugh, the endocrinologist. She was really nice probably asked more questions that any doctor I have seen before! We went over my entire medical history and I told her about my recent episodes of hot flashes and extreme flash sweating. She told me she had no idea why that was happening. I was really hoping I was going to get an answer to that today. Dr. Pugh changed a couple of my meds and told me that MUSC would be contacting me to schedule my dose of radiation.

Earlier in the morning I contacted Dr. Eads office to see if they could work me in since I didn't seem to be getting any better. They told me to come in after my appointment with Dr. Pugh. When I saw Dr. Eads I told him of my extreme exhaustion, excessive flash sweating and overall funk. Unfortunately he had no idea about the sweating, also. He told me that all my labs came back normal and he wasn't really sure what was up with me. He did more lab work that day to see if my B12 was low. At this point I am so over feeling horrible, seeing doctors and paying co-pays!

When I was talking to Robin later on she said that she thinks my body needs to be reconditioned and time to get back on a normal schedule. I sat on the couch or layed in bed for almost a month so I wasn't used to physical activity. We decided that I should start taking a daily vitamin. After my appointment we went home and took a nap.

I did manage to go out for a bit on Thursday evening. I received a phone call from Alex, who is the daughter of my old high school friend, Jennifer. Jennifer and I knew each other way back in the day of my school years in Washington State. We haven't seen each other in 25 years! Jennifer's Mother, Aunt, Alex and her younger sister McKinley were visiting Charleston for the week and Alex and McKinley wanted to touch base since I promised to show them Charleston. I was feeling pretty rested so I asked if they wanted me to pick them up and take them on a night time driving tour of the city. They were game so I woke Robin up and told her we were taking the kids on a tour!

I picked up the girls at their hotel and we were on our way. I wasn't really sure what they were interested in and when I asked they said "The Citadel, cemeteries, history and haunted things" Well, that was right up my alley! We ended up driving around Charleston for a couple of hours and I showed them so much stuff. First off was The Citadel since Alex will be starting her Freshman year there in August. We drove around campus, which is pretty small. We made a stop at the Old City Jail, which is my favorite building in the city. As we walked around the outside of the building I told them the story of Lavinia Fisher, which is my all-time favorite ghost story! I also threw in a little history about Denmark Vesey for good measure.

We drove around the Battery, up and down the major streets of Charleston while I spouted out all the useless facts I knew about Charleston with some history added here and there. Around 9:30 we decided to call it a night and I decided to take the girls over the new Ravenel Bridge for an amazing view. After dropping them off at the hotel we headed down to Waterfront Park to see if we could get a better shot at the full moon. I took a couple of shots and realized that I was just too tired to even mess with camera settings for night photography so we headed back to the car. As soon as we got home it was bed time. Even driving around is a lot of exhausting to me right now!

On Friday evening Alex called asking what I was doing on Saturday. I told her I didn't have any plans so we made arrangements to hang out. Robin and I picked up the girls up in the morning and we headed downtown. Since the girls were interested in cemeteries I decided to take them on the Gateway Walk which connects the most amazing churches, in my opinion, of Charleston.

St. Phillips Cemetery

St. Phillips Church

Unitarian Universalist Cemetery

St. Matthews and Unitarian Universalist Church

Unitarian Universalist Church Interior

I was pretty bummed because the West cemetery of St. Phillips was not open. Because of this we walked around the parking lot to go to the Circular Congregation Church. When we got there that whole churchyard was closed too! What the hell?? Those two church yards are major parts of this walk. It was 10:30am on a Saturday - they should be open!!

We continued our walk through the Gibbes Museum of Art courtyard and I started having one of my flash sweating episodes. The sweat drenched my hair, my clothes, poured down my face and dripped from my arms. I was wearing a skort and t-shirt and it was only about 70 degrees. I should not have been sweating! I kept apologizing to the girls and told them it was like this since my surgery and they said they understood. Still, it didn't make it any better. The girls and I continued our walk to the Unitarian Church and Robin ran to find a pharmacy. I told her we would meet in the Unitarian Churchyard.

The girls and I stood and watched the Unitarian Church members do their monthly churchyard clean-up and I told them about the alleged story of Edgar Allan Poe and Annabelle Lee and their secret meetings in the cemetery. Tour guides love to tell the story of the courtship of Edgar and Annabelle and the legend of Annabelle being buried in the cemetery but I have never found proof of this. I even attend the Unitarian Church (when I can get my lazy butt out of bed!) and have never heard talk of it!

A bit later Robin, again proving she is the best girlfriend in the world, returned to the cemetery with tissues and water from Tellis Pharmacy where she apparently made friends with owner Vera Tellis. Robin dabbed the sweat off of me while I drank the water. After getting cooled off we continued our walk through the churchyard and made our way to Broad Street to The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. We were so fortunate because the church was open and we were free to explore.

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

Alex and McKinley taking confession

Sweaty me (look at my shirt!) and Robin

We walked back through the Gateway Walk to see if the cemeteries were open yet, but no such luck. We headed back to the car and over to Magnolia Cemetery for a little tour.

From there we headed over to Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms which was kind of exciting since the girls had never seen the Atlantic Ocean! Actually, all of this must have been fun for them since they live in chilly Colorado!

Alex and McKinley do the Atlantic Ocean!

We waded in the surf of Sullivans Island for a bit and also witnessed a wedding on the beach

I love the sunbather in the background!!

After having lunch at Poe's Tavern we were trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the day. It was about 4pm and I decided to take a trip over to John's Island to see the Angel Oak. I mean, how often do you get the chance to see a 1500+ year old oak tree?

After the Angel Oak and multiple stops at different Piggly Wiggly's for Robin to find Wickles (she fell in love with Poe's pickles and the waiter suggested she get Wickles!), it was getting late so we headed back to the hotel to drop the girls off. I really had a great time hanging out with them! They are amazing, worldly, intelligent and thoughtful girls - Jennifer did an fabulous job raising them! I really wish she could have been on the trip also, but I will see her when she brings Alex back in August.

I hope I didn't bore them too much with my constant babbling about how great Charleston is! I love showing people our amazing city off and each time I do, I realize how incredibly lucky I am to live here.

Wonder-Dog!

This week has been so exhausting. I wake up each morning feeling horrible and completely exhausted. I come home each day and try not to nap, but end up doing so anyway and then I don't sleep well at night. I worry about money and the huge hospital bills I'm starting to receive. I worry about getting my short term disability payments straightened out. I'm just so tired.

Today I managed to avoid a nap, which is good. Tonight I have the intention of going to bed at 11pm. I HAVE TO get "normal" again. I want to have energy again!

Enough of the Debbie Downer talk!

Tonight I decided today to post something positive and fun!

Check out Lucas, the wonder-dog chasing his baby across the back yard!

His recovery is nothing short of miraculous!

Back to Work

Today was my official first day back at work. After three weeks of total rest you would have thought I would be ready to go back.

Yeah, not so much... Look at this pile that welcomed me back! Ugh!

Initially I was okay, but by 11am I was exhausted. I could barely keep my eyes open and all I wanted to do was go out to my car and take a nap. I did go outside and sat in the car for a while, but it was 88 degrees out and it was just too hot to be comfortable. I was miserable. All I could do was go back to my desk, turn on my iPod, get as much caffeine in me as I could and carry on until 4pm.

Oddly enough, the three weeks I was off I didn't have one drop of coffee, which is really unusual for me. I think it was because I slept such odd hours while off. I really need to get back on a normal sleeping schedule.

In a couple of weeks Robin is going to start working days. I wonder how that change will affect our relationship? It's always been a struggle because I want to spend time with her, but the only time she is at home when I am is when she is sleeping. Unless I take a nap I don't get to spend any time with her. Now she will be getting off at 7pm and will be home by 8pm. Hopefully we can get into a routine of eating dinner when she gets home and going to bed at a decent hour! She will have weekends off so that will be really nice! Sometimes she works weekends and I never get to see her. I can go out with my friends but I really like doing stuff with her! We'll see how all of this works out. I'm being positive about it. I really hope it will add some sort of normalcy to our lives.

I'd better conjure up some kind of energy soon because this is the part of the year when things get busy! I just found out tonight that my friend Noey, from Ohio, will be here this Saturday with a couple of friends. Also, the kids of my old high school friend Jennifer, who now lives in Colorado, will be in town from this Thursday to Next Tuesday - how fun! I really can't wait to meet them! I haven't seen Jennifer since 1985 and I really wish she was coming also! I love showing people around Charleston! It's such an amazing, beautiful city and this really is the perfect time of year to come visit!

In June my cousin Denise, from Illinois, will be coming to visit. She hasn't been to Charleston in several years so it will interesting to see what she thinks of all the changes that have happened around town. Charleston, especially upper King Street, has really been built up since she has been here. Also, a lot of the intersections have changed so navigating for her might be a bit of a challenge at first! I can't wait! I love having visitors!

As for me... well, I'm totally out of PTO time at work. Each year we get 118 hours (or something like that) and I used several days the beginning of the year when I was sick and I also used two days when Lucas was paralyzed. Just before surgery I had about 40 hours left and I had to use that the first week I was out. The rule is that you have to use PTO for the first week before you can use any short term disability. So, that sucked up all of my PTO for the year.

Being that my blood sugar was out of control, I've had incredibly high blood pressure and oh! Cancer - who knows what toll that poison was taking on me - I was sick. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do because the policy at work is that you cannot take a day off if you don't have PTO time. I have FMLA paperwork filled out for doctors appointments so I will be protected for that, but if I want a personal day off I'm stuck. I was thinking of writing a letter to my Manager explaining that my PTO is gone and could they possibly have some leniency on me if would like a personal day? I could not care less if I have to take it without pay. To me, if you are doing your work and are caught up it shouldn't be a problem. If people are abusing the system, then deal with them on an individual basis.

I was going to wait a week or so after coming back to write this letter. I'm not sure how it's going to go over. McKesson is a big corporation, but you know how some people are with making their own rules! All I know is that it will be a miserable existence for me if I can't take a day off for the rest of the year!

It's amazing how word travels throughout the building when something happens to someone. All day I had people that I barely know ask me how I was doing after my surgery! wow! Someone I hardly know started talking to me about her sister-in-law who had thyroid cancer out of the blue! I just stood there going "oh, really?" when I was really thinking "I don't even know you!" Amazing.

Speaking of cancer, I just found out from a classmate that his wife (my age!) just found out she has pancreatic cancer. She is having a tumor removed this week and the doctor is giving her 6-9 months. It makes me so thankful that I got off "easy" with having papillary thyroid cancer. I can't even imagine dealing with a prognosis like that.

Unreal.

Edisto Excursion

I couldn't take it anymore. After another week inside I had to get out and get some fresh air. Robin and I decided to take a trip to Edisto Island, which is about an hour from the house. We first started out at Bessinger's Barbecue but I really didn't enjoy it as much as I normally do. Both Robin and I have had strange appetites over the past couple of weeks. Neither of us really have a taste for anything and when we do eat we rarely finish our meals. Don't you just love medication?

I love the drive through the country to Edisto! There is always some kind of weirdness that you will see along the way! I must say that so much has changed since I last went there almost a decade ago, especially the new housing developments. I was wishing that it was peach season because there is NOTHING like getting a bushel of peaches on the way back from the beach! The only thing we saw was a truck load of icebox watermelons and we weren't really sure if they were in season so we didn't stop.

Along the way we saw a really cool ship figurehead that I think would look fabulous in the front yard...

and we saw a golf ball and tee mailbox...

Here and Beyond by Mary

and a stacked mobile home on stilts

and a mobile home that now has a steeple

and of course, the Mystery Tree of Edisto Island.

It was nice to see that the tree has regrown since it was vandalized! The last time I was there it was a makeshift tree that was rebuilt with lumber. Who would tear down something as awesome as the Mystery Tree? So sad!

We finally arrived at Edisto Island and drove around and did a couple cache's. It was so hot that after two cache's we went to the beach and walked around for a while. I wish we would have been better prepared and brought a blanket or towel with us so we could sit down and enjoy the breeze. I was really thirsty so we decided to go back to the car and head to the gas station for a drink. I was able to take a couple of photos on Edisto Beach.

After cooling down with a drink from the gas station we decided to drive around the island a little more. On the way out we saw a sign that said Botany Bay and we were both a little surprised because we thought Botany Bay was only accessible via boat. I was so glad to find that we were wrong!

We drove down the long dirt road in the convertible under the cover of a canopy of trees. There was swamp land on both sides of the road and so many different bird calls. We finally arrive at the entrance of the wildlife preserve and were met by the volunteer of the day. After giving us a map and tour guide to the preserve he paused for a second and say "Yeah... you're wearing shorts and sandals... you might want to stay on the path." I, of course, asked "why?" The volunteer went on to tell us that it's rattlesnake mating season and the preserve has two venomous rattlers that are considered "ambush rattlesnakes" so they will attack anything that is walking by! Um, yeah. I would be sure to stay on the path!! I was so freaked out after that and was on constant rattlesnake alert!

Before the driving tour we decided to walk the half mile causeway to the beach. The view of the marsh was so gorgeous and I can never get enough of the salty ocean air! On our walk we saw some cute crabs and I'm still wondering why one of their claws is larger than the other. I didn't know if the rattlesnakes ventured out to the causeway, but I was on high alert - not the I had anywhere to run!

We finally reached the entrance to the beach and it was so beautiful!

You can walk forever on this beach and there are millions of seashells! The rule of the beach is that you cannot take any seashell home with you. I love that!

There is driftwood everywhere and someone (or many!) have taken the time to lovingly decorate the driftwood with seashells.

you can even decorate your girlfriend!

I stopped for a bit and talked to one of the preserve volunteers who was picking up trash on the beach. She has only lived here a couple of years and fell in love with Botany Bay. I can see why! She was telling me about all of the people that come to the beach and try to sneak out shells. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Some guy actually argued with her and told her that the sand was going to cover most of the shells throughout time anyway so why not let people take them. He called her an "environmentalist wacko" Wow! Some people just don't get it!

After my chat I finally caught up to Robin who was taking part in the shell/driftwood decorating.

Isn't she cute??

We stopped for a bit to take a couple of photos and then headed back to the other side of the beach, which had the most amazing trees!

The tide was coming in and it was getting late so we decided to head back to the car to do a quick tour of the rest of the preserve. I know there is so much that we missed on our quick drive so I can't wait to go back to this magical place that I'm so glad to have discovered!

Today I'm paying for the amount of walking I did so we just had a lazy day at home. Still, I'm so glad we ventured out because it felt so good to feel the sun on my face again. My camera had not been used in weeks and my body was pale and in great need of exercise!

I can't wait to get out again!

My Fabulous Idea

So, here's my fabulous idea...

I've been pondering hard about all of this paint and other craft stuff that my Mom has. I think I'm going to do something that will benefit myself as well as some other people. My idea is to gather my friends who have kids and tell them that they can have as much paint and whatever else stuff that I have (within reason, of course) as long as they take it home and create something for me, preferably a picture that I can frame and put in our eventual office/craft room in the house, which is Mom's former painting room. Of course if my adult friends want some paint, they are more than welcome. Same rules apply!

The thought of nit-picking over all of this paint, or giving it to one person just didn't sit well with me. I thought about buying some cheap brushes, paper and canvas for the art project as well. First I'm going to see how much canvas Mom has in there as well as paper. We have a bunch, but I'm not sure how much we have to go around. Now the task is to figure out how to handle the task of giving this out to the kids without mass hysteria and people grabbing and pushing. I don't want this to be an ugly thing so I think I'm going to do it kid by kid and person by person. I just don't to have another yard sale fiasco on my hands! Maybe Robin and I can divide it up based on how many people we have. I just want to avoid people being greedy over my Mom's things. Some of the little bottles of paint are $2 and when you multiply that by 1,000... well, you do the math.

As far as Mom's painting ladies that contacted me at the yard sale about Mom's other things, I think once the paint and stuff are gone I will contact them and tell them what I have left are the brushes, books, magazines, other weird painting supplies and my Mom's massive painting palette collectibles. I still have a lot of things to bring to the Red Cross as far as thread, fabric and sewing supplies. I will probably do that this week.

Speaking of this week, I was supposed to go back to work today and when I got up and took a shower it totally exhausted me. For the past few days I've been feeling horrible - extremely tired, face flushed, bouts of sweating when the room is totally cool... We have been following my blood pressure, which has been really high, since Wednesday. Last night Robin kept telling me that I really needed to stay home and make a doctors appointment and after my shower, that's what I did.

I saw Dr. Eads at 2pm and told him about how I was feeling. I also told him that Dr. McNellis gave me a bunch of Mucinex that has helped a little but hasn't really cured me of my nightly fits of coughing. After doing the normal listening to my lungs, etc he ordered a chest x-ray, more labs and another round of antibiotics. He then said he wanted me to take another week off work because he wants to make sure it's not pneumonia. Ugh. I am so tired of being sick. I haven't even been able to enjoy all of this time off! I even missed the Grits Festival and the annual rolling-in-the-grits contest in St. George!

All I want to do is go for a walk downtown to see the beautiful flowers in bloom without having to cough, wheeze, sneeze or sit down for a break because I'm tired! Charleston is so gorgeous this time of year and if I sit on the couch any longer I'm going to miss it all!

The Perils of Pollen

My allergies in South Carolina are a MILLION times worse than they ever were in Ohio. I never had allergies before I moved to Ohio and people would always tell me that once you live there for a year, you are bound to develop them because it's a valley region. Whatever that means. When I started sniffling during different seasons I chose to believe "them", I mean who am I to challenge the people that live there and are in the know?

When I moved back to South Carolina all allergy hell broke loose. For the past year I have gone through several bottles of Visine and have tried every over the counter medication to no avail. I can never remember what I blog about so I'm not sure if I wrote about my allergy testing recently in which I tested positive for every category and multiple sub-categories. Robin recently told me that Charleston is one of the top three cities IN THE WORLD for allergies and pollen. People in Ohio can suck it with their little allergy problems.

I was finally given Singulair and am now on two nasal sprays on top of my (which seems like hundreds of) other medications. Can you believe I actually have to get a BIGGER pill case because all of my pills won't fit into it??

Today is probably the worst allergy day I have had in Pam history. I am really suffering. My head feels like it's about to explode or fall off. Being that there is a huge gash in my throat it just might do that if it gets any worse. My nose won't stop running and I have a headache from hell. I don't think there is enough medication in the world to combat Charleston pollen. My Jeep is continually green from all the pollen.

At least I have somewhat avoided the worst couple of weeks for pollen. Most of the time I have had off since surgery have been spent on the couch or in bed. The first time I left the house for an official social situation was on Wednesday evening. My friend Carol posted a link on her Facebook page for a local photography group and asked if anyone wanted to go. I checked out the link and saw that there were some amateurs in the group so that made me feel a bit better. I also saw that Joan, my favorite blogger, was going to be speaking about photography blogging. It sounded like fun, so I told Carol I would go. Besides, it was at North Towne and I LOVE Greek food! I was able to make it through the meeting and even delivered some food to Robin that night at the hospital but by the time I got home I was exhausted!

Today I was scheduled for another post-surgical follow up with Dr. McNellis and when I woke up I could barely move. I felt so awful that I kept re-setting the alarm. At one point I got out of bed, turned on the shower and stood there for a moment until I decided that I needed to lay down again more than I needed a shower. I finally got out of bed with just enough time to get dressed, brush my teeth, wash my face and head out for my appointment.

My wait to be seen at Charleston ENT (as always) was an hour an a half. You know, that REALLY pisses me off. How is it that the wait (especially just after lunch) is that long? As I sat in the chair I could feel my body getting clammy and my face getting hot. I was becoming more and more nauseated as I waited. When I left the house I grabbed a Diet Coke and some plain graham crackers but apparently that wasn't enough to keep me from getting sick. When Dr. McNellis finally came in the room I was standing at the sink drinking water and trying not to vomit.

Dr. McNellis told me that my calcium is still a bit low and he wants me to add another dose during the day and he also informed me that the cancer was in both my left and right thyroid but not in my lymph nodes. That's good news! I told him that I have suffered with an INSANE amount of mucus in the last couple of days to the point of vomiting (sorry!) and he gave me a huge box of Mucinex samples. Thank God! Maybe I can sleep now instead of staying up all night - like last night - coughing! During my coughing bout last night I did manage to catch this awesome photo of my girl and our gimpy little dog! Soooo sweet!

After my appointment I couldn't get out of Dr. McNellis's office fast enough. I drove quickly to the closest fast food restaurant and got a grilled chicken sandwich and a fruit cup. It didn't make me feel great, but I stopped shaking and felt somewhat normal again. I went home and went straight to bed and waited for Robin to get home - she was working day shift today.

When Robin came home she brought me a goody bag from Publix! I love presents!

How sweet is she??

My get well bag included a stuffed hippo, apples, Lindt chocolates, Twizzlers, face scrub stuff (I was out), Kleenex (now I can stop using all of the the toilet paper!), scar gel (to help my scar go away!) and a big ass brand new pill container. I'm not sure it really needed to be THAT big, but oh well! What I forgot to put in the picture was the Ticketmaster envelope that has our Lady Gaga tickets in it for September in Charlotte! She could have just gotten me the bag (which I really like) and I would have been perfectly happy.

I have the sweetest girlfriend EVER! Oh! And I just wanted to mention how proud I am of her for getting nominated for Nurse of the Year at East Cooper Medical Center!

Robin rocks!