whoops - been WAY too long..

been a while, again. i do apologize, but.. life got a bit interesting, to say the least.
last time i wrote, i think i had just returned from Sicily, and was well on my way to Sweden... Well, the trip to Sweden wasn't purely for fun, as i had a heart surgery appointment on may 5th. And lemme tell ya - that was no joke. :(
I've had a very minor heart murmur for some 15+ years, u used to go in for check ups every year, or every 2 years, just to make sure it didn't develop into something worse, but.. after moving to Cali and not having been home for quite some time, i just haven't had a check up for.. years? :) so.. when i went home in March, i went in - for what i thought was a routine check up- only to hear my doctor say 'uhm.. this doesn't look good'.. and that's not something you want your HEART doctor EVER to say.. at all.
so.. from ultra sound room, to cat scan, to long talk with the doctor - come to find out my aorta has been expanded to almost 6cm, should be right around 3cm... and the valve problem from before had become more severe, but.. nobody knew HOW severe, it was really hard to see on the ultrasound.
so.. this was monday afternoon.. my flight back to London was tuesday afternoon.. il dottore asks: so.. you're staying here, right? to wait for the surgery? i told him no, that i had to go back to work, and sitting home in my little town, i think i'd have lost my mind - long before the surgery.. :) he says he doesn't think i should go back, as the problem is quite severe.. and IF i do decide to go back, i am not allowed to lift anything heavy, no gym, very light exercise and so on..
so.. i get on the flight the following day, with a 24kilo bag.. not that heavy.. :D

heck, i think i am immortal, and the severity of my problem just isn't affecting me, at all. i can't believe there's something so potentially lethally wrong with me, i am supposed to live forever, no?

back to london i went. try to take it easy, not working to omuch, not lifting, not partying, just acting like an 80 yr old woman, in a 33 yr's body..

and back to sweden again on may 1st.
not until we were in the car on the way to the hospital, did it start to dawn on me that i was going in for a friggin HEART SURGERY.. me?? 33 years old, never been seriously ill, never been hospitalized for anything - heart surgery??? surely someone must have mis read the scans. :(

so.. we get to the town where the hospital is.. get there fairly late on Saturday night, stay with my aunt before going in to register on Sunday am. can't say that i slept too much that night - partially because the bed was horribly uncomfortable (sorry auntie!!), but also because my thought were whirling.
me and mom get to the hospital on sunday am, and met dad there. we get up to the ward, register, sit around and wait just about forever, meet the doctor, meet the anastesiologist (spelling??) and then we escape to pick little sister up from the bus station and head out to dinner.. all 4 of us, for the first time in 10 years. :D so.. nothing bad that doesn't carry something good with it, eh? :)


after dinner back to the hospital to spend 1 night at the patient hotel, before officially being admitted monday am. Monday is a blur of preparations, meeting different people, getting information abt what's to come, but also a lot of waiting around, waiting. and more waiting.

urgh.

so.. tuesday am.. woke up around 6, for surgery time at 7.30.. showered, scrubbed, scrubbed some more, and some more, juuuust to be on the safe side. dress in fancy schmancy hospital gear (my own stuff had already been packed away, locked up in some closet somewhere, potentially never to be seen again. ;)

around 7am was given some kind of calming meds, and that's the last i remember. woke up after surgery, no idea what day it was, no idea of anything pretty much. super groggy, in pain, just uncomfortable, super swollen (gained about 20kilos in pure fluid retention), seeing super cool images behind myclosed eye lids. i think i woke up at some point, to ask what time it was, but.. later was told that i had a breathing thing down my throat, so.. guess that didn't happen. :|
woke up once, somewhat coherent, with dad crying next to the bed. woke up, nurses made me sit up - and that hurt like bloody murder.
woke up, nurses made me walk over to the window - a matter of 20 steps, and i barely made it. first couple of days in the IV was horrible.. or, i shouldn't say that. i was pretty nicely doped up, but.. every breath hurt, the breathing excersices hurt, it hurt to sit up, it hurt to cough. hurt to be awake, hurt to sleep. family came and went, my body was super swollen, little sister wanted to take pics to put on facebook, but.. since i wasn't really coherent at that time, i just gave her the finger.. :(
family came and brought 'fil' and cloudberry jam - sooo good. so so so good. even tho i could only eat a few spoon fulls, it was heavenly.

2 days later i am transfered into an interrim room, to share with 3 other patients. i am given some kind of vitamin drink to drink, and they let me try solid foods again.
That drink isn't sitting well with my stomach - at all. first time i have it, i just get really nauseous, and almost throw up. second time i do throw up.. all over mrB's hands.. but.. imagine trying to throw up, with a chest that's recovering from open heart surgery.. you can imagine how that went? so.. i try to throw up, in sooo much pain, that half of it, amongst some phlegm and whatnot get stuck i my throat, so i start to choke. it hurts too much to cough it all up, so i can barely breathe.. must've been a sight for sore eyes, throwing up, choking, crying, coughing. just an all over mess.. and my poor sister bursted out hysterically laughing in the room.
great.

in this room in finally get to shower, even tho it's kind of demeaning to have someone shower you.. but.. it felt great. :D i even walked on my own to the bathroom - a whopping 10 steps of so. had to sleep for a couple of hours after that ordeal, but.. at least i was clean.

then 4th day or so, i get my own room, where i stay for the remainder of the 13 days i am there. sleep, pain killers, hospital food, amazing nurses, meds, more sleep, more amazing nurses, wheel chair trips out to the balcony with mrB and dad. Family visiting on and off, more sleep, food, sleep, sweating my behind off at night due to the hard core pain killers.

then.. came time for physical therapy.

ha. to begin with.. when you have to take oxycontin BEFORE going to the physical therapy, you know it's bad.
we're in a room, maybe 8 of us.. i am easily 30 years younger than the next youngest person in there.. 3 older ladies who had had some kind of lung surgery, and hence were a bit more mobile.. they were all chatting abt walking up and down the stairs that morning for exercise.. and here i had barely managed to walk the 30 steps it took to get to the p.t room..
so.. first exercise was to lift your arms above the head.. that hurt. like nothing i've ever felt before.. imagine trying to lift your arms up, with a ribcage that's been cracked open? you can't? ha, neither could i- until that very day.. after not even 15 min of exercises i was absolutely drenched in sweat, and utterly exhausted.. and this is all while sitting down!!!
meanwhile, the little ladies to my right were chatting away, having a jolly good time.. phahaha!!!


anyways.. 2 weeks pass in a blur of painkillers, super sweet nurses, physical therapy and hospital food, and it's time to go home.. but on the day of travel, i've developed a fever, and they won't let me leave, just incase there's an infection on it's way... so i am stuck in Umea yet another day.. and that one extra day never wanted to end, while you're just sitting around waiting to go home..

so.. next day, i still have a bit of temp, but not high enough to keep me there, and a taxi is ordered for me and another woman who's travelling to Pitea.. i was looking forward to a 4 hr ride, in a comfy car, suitably doped up on my meds, but.. noooo.. the taxi driver was maaaaaadly in love with his car.. and talked abt this car, and all the functions, and the gas mileage, and driving tips and tricks and what-not, for 4 hours straight.. while i was propped up against the door, drooling on myself.. :)

but.. i made it home to dads, and then pretty much passed out, again..

4 weeks in my home town, then down to Crete for another 2 months of relaxation and healing (i've never in my life been so tanned before..) and then back to London in August for work.

and.. now it's 2 days before Christmas, and i am leaving for Sweden in a couple of hours for the holidays, and mrB is meeting me up there.


oh.. big news - that we just went 'public' with.. We're having a little girl, in May.. almost on the year anniversary of the surgery, and almost on mrB's b-day..
so.. i am gonna try to update this blog a bit more often from now on, but.. it might be a bit more baby-directed..



(that pic was at 12 weeks, we're now just abt 21 weeks, and the little girl is super active, kicking up a storm, and making her mom VERY tired.. but happy and super excited!!)

*phew*

alrighty.. part 2 of the April madness is done. :)
left work early last Thursday, dashed over to Gatwick airport (thank goodness for Gatwick express and for double checking departure airport the day before travel.. ;))
Arrived in Catania, Sicily right before 9pm, and was tossed into the driver seat immediately. No rest for the wicked, or something like that. If i thought the streets and roads of Crete were mad, that's nothing compared to Catania and the surrounding areas... Was hard to find our way to the base, even with the GPS and 2 ppl who had spent a week on the base already.
After a bit of a muck-up with the base access for me, we finally managed to stay the night on the base, and pretty much passed out around 11pm, dead tired. Got up early on friday, mrB had an appointment and then class until noon - and then we did some american shopping on the base.. quite nice, indeed. :) even after a small intermezzo with my UK bank stopping my ATM card, due to 'fradulent useage' in the US.. phahaha, not easy when we travel to Europe, but use an american ATM.. ;)

then, after loads of running back and forth like chickens without heads, in pouring rain and thunderstorms, we finally get on the road.. drive for about an hour north, along little mountain roads, absolutely in awe at the way their cities are built, like clusters on the mountaintops. :|
We arrive in Taormina, park the cars, walk some 100 steps, get lost in the city, end up on the right path, find some Gelato - YUM!! (insert slight pause here, with some angelic music, as our mouths were enjoying themselves..) ok, on towards the Greek theater. on the mountainside, with views over mount Etna and the sea, lays this amazing structure.. (read more abt it here: http://www.deliciousitaly.com/Siciliatour18.htm)

i think we walked around here for the better part of a couple of hours, until the sun started setting.. dragged our feet back to the city, found a little outdoors restaurant, where we indulged in pizza and pasta, and some not too exciting house wine. continued our trek thru a darkening city, found another bar/restaurant where we enjoyed some hot chocolate (that was so thick you could almost stand the spoon in it on it's own, but OHHH, so good), some more wine and some really nice Italian music in the background.

we found the cars, and started out trek home again.. by the time we were home, it was past 10pm, and everybody was dead beat.. we had rented a room across the street from the base (in a hotel NOT recommended for anyone ever in the area). yuuuck.. you know it's bad when you can see dirt pattern on a daaark red carpet.. blaaaah. but, it was close, and had to do for the night. :)

got up around 9am on saturday, did some quickie shopping and then drove just over 2 hours down to Arigento, and Valle dei Templi.. Oh, my god. i think my jaw pretty much hit the floor and didn't move for the 3 hours we were walking around there.. absolutely amazing.. pics to come, just haven't had a chance to upload them yet.. but.. imagine climbing around on 2500-2700 year old ruins.. seeing burial chambers, statues, caves, the temple of Hercules - all with a modern city ontop of the cliffs in the background.. absolutely amazing.

we walked, and walked, climbed, jumped, walked, peered, peeked, walked, walked and walked some more.. blaaazing hot, but none of us were really bothered by it. (they had a Gelato stand about half way down the road.. ;) )

and i think we took some 200 photos, just in one day. as i said, i'll post some of them later.

left this wonderful place, continued down the road down to the sea, tried to find an open place to eat, but.. were out of luck, as we tried to find dinner at 5pm, when everything is closed between 4 and 8.. so we had to settle for a place that was a little bit less than we were looking for, but.. whatever, it was food. spent a good 2 hours here, just sitting around, enjoying the sun, people watching, eating, drinking, resting our feet. ended dinner with more Gelato (and mrB dropping his after only a few bites.. aahaha, insta punishment!!) walked thru the market for a while, found nothing of interest, did some more people watching and slowly made our way back to the car.

our 2 friend pretty much passed out in the backseat of the car, 2 minutes after we started driving, and the drive back to the base was pretty uneventful.. unfortunately all our cameras were stone dead by the time we drove beneath mt Etna, it was absolutely surreal - the haze around the mountain, lit by all the lights.. very pretty, but very spooky.

came back to Catania, repacked, passed out, and got up early, early Sunday to make it back to the airport on time. :(

didn't want to leave. at all.

i am sure there's way more to tell, like the way the cities are clustered ontop of the mountains, and they've got tiny little villages with massive apartment buildings, the cool old men in velour track suits, and the cool little kids speaking italian.. the niceness of the ppl working on the base, the smell of the trees, the madness of the roads, the wonderful old aqueducts, the crappy roads, the great food, the people in general, the african street peddlers, the guy without an arm and leg, the car we rented, the GELATO, the language, the brusqueness of the people, the lushness of the whole island and the massive lack of sleep, but.. that's for later. :)

loads goin' on.. :)

alrighty.. yet another month has passed - not quite sure how, but.. here we are, already after easter, April is almost over.. wasn't it just January??

i just spent a week in Crete, on a well needed vacation, after working 7 days a week for god knows how many weeks.. arrived in Crete on Wednesday am, pretty much passed out comatose on the couch at home and slept all day. woke to life just as B was getting home from work, and we cooked together and just enjoyed being in the same country, snoozed away on the couch in front of a movie with the fireplace going in the corner.
B was off on thursday, and lo and behold, we barely left the house at all, all day.. just vegged around the house, cleaned out the closet (my SHOES had molded!!!) damn concrete house. :(

friday while B worked, i re-did my computer and other little things around the house, and saturday we bbq'd and just hung out.. :) sunday started out a bit slow, with us trying to find an open store for some easter food - and lo and behold, everything was closed.. doh.

found an open store on the base, got some food and was gonna go for a little drive, ended up being away ALL day.. drove out to elafonissi, and even though it's only 80km to get there, it still takes about 2.5 hrs to get there, due to the little crazy mountain roads.. but the drive is well worth it. :)

(i'll post some pictures when i get back home tonight. :))

monday again was spent doing absolutely nada.. catching up on laundry, sleeping on the couch and so on. :) de-molded the shower curtain and a tool bag, but.. that was pretty much it. i REALLY didn't exhaust myself this time around.. at all. :) think i even developed some cob webs. :)

b came home from work around 5'ish, and we stopped by a couple of friends of his for dinner (tacos!) and tried to bbq a large steak we had marinated from the day before.. unfortunately the meat would've been better off in a stew i think, as it turned insta-shoe leather as soon as it touched the bbq.. a shame, really, since the seasoning was great. :)

ah well.. met up with a friend for a quick second in downtown on tuesday before i left, and then drove down to Heraklion in record time.. only took 1.40 or so.. phahahaha, yeees, i've got a really heavy foot at times.. flight left ALMOST on time from Heraklion, was in Athens on time, but.. 2 hours late leaving again, due to 'technical difficulties'. no fun at all. :( wasn't back in the flat here until after midnight, and wasn't asleep until 1.30 or so.. :)

so.. not i am back here for a week, then off for sicily for a few days, back in London for 4 days and then Sweden for a while. :)

crazy.

hope you all are well!

.the globetrotters. :)

time for an update - again.

just got back from my home town, oh what a joy. way too brief, but so nice. snowy, quiet - and home.
Flew in to Oulu, had mom pick me up, and started at the trees for almost 2 hours back to their town. so quiet, so empty, so peaceful.

mom said that it might be a bit noisy in the room where i slept, but.. compared to London - it was dead quiet. got up way too early on saturday am, after going to bed around 3.30am, ran around in mom's town most of the day, and had lunch with extended family on that side, before taking the bus to dad's (and mine) town. Arrived at 5pm, after a short bus ride, almost broke my thumb and cracking my skull open while getting off the bus, and arrived at the same moment as my aunt, her husband, their grandkids and my uncle, for a 'surstrommings' dinner at Dad's. YUM!!! Ate until i couldn't breathe, had some (okok, like half a box of..) AfterEights for dessert, half slept on the couch for a while and then we went on a sightseeing back home. was amusing to see that almost nothing has changed, except for the new large shopping centre, and the addition of a huge orange sphere down by the highway.. it's said to be either a fish egg, or a 'bandy boll'. don't know if i like either one, but.. it certainly stands out.

woke up late on sunday, and went over to one of my cousins house, to meet her husband and kids. was nice to meet them all, even tho it's a trip that family members have kids that are of speaking age.. :) hung out there for a good while, then we took a trip to the shopping centre for a bit, to check out the new stores, and then picked up pizza for dinner.. ohh.. Pizza from home. nothing like it. :)

after dinner i stopped by another of my cousin's house, they had just returned from Stockholm, and one of their sons ran around with superman undies on his head - utterly adorable. :) their kids are super cute, the younger one looks JUST like my cousin.. such a trip.
hung out there for a bit, then onto an old, old friend of mine, who i've known since i was 10 or so... it's crazy, even tho we haven't lived in the same town for many, many years, it feels like we've never been a part, as we spent the better part of 2 hours just laughing like little girls. :)

monday was spent in and out of the hospital and 'vardcentralen', and in an impromptu meeting with a department of my old high school. was supposed to have met yet another old, old friend of mine, but due to delays and unexpected turn of events, the monday plans were altered, and i just ended up staying in my town.

woke up early on tuesday, called the friend i was supposed to meet on monday, spent the better part of an hour on the phone with her, and messed about at home until i almost missed the bus to mom's town.. :) like a moron.

made the bus with 2 minutes to spare, arrived at mom's and spent a few hours there while she was in class, and then she drove me the 1.5 hrs to the airport..

felt utterly hollow leaving. spent way too little time back there.

but fortunately (or however you want to look at it) i am going back in a fairly short amt of time. hopefully in the summertime.


so.. that's all for this time.

until then.
.me

various pics, from Sweden and London.

and. yet more:

..and more:

more..

more

mixed pics

alrighty, it's been a while again.. here's an assortment of pictures, from new years and onwards. :)
some snow, some chinese new years, some football, some assorted.. :)

enjoy!

mrB just left after a week here.. was supposed to leave yesterday, but changed the flight 'til today instead.. almost missed the flight out of London, but made it last minute after a mad dash to the gate.. and get to Chania, only to not have his bags arrive with him.. think it might be time to switch airlines from now on.. :)

nothing new to report..

have been buried in work as of lately, and not had much time to do much but working, period. am in one of those 'working-7-days' a week periods again, and that doesn't leave much time for anything but sleep, unfortunately.

but. mrB is coming out here in a week - am very much looking forward to that, we've managed to get tickets to Italy vs Brazil in football.. hopefully it won't be as freezing cold as when we went to the Arsenal game, 'cause that was almost unbearable. and this time we'll remember to bring cash TO the stadium, as they don't have any kind of ATM's there.. boooh.

what else - i think we've got 5 weeks left of the show, and i am looking forward to some kind of more mellow pace afterwards, this schedule is just a wee bit too hectic.

but.. that's it for now.


letah!
.c (& b - remotely)

more:

some pictures: