An Unfortunate Surprise

December 11-15, 2024                                                  Most Recent Posts:
Blue Springs State Park                                     For David, Happy Birthday
AdventHealth Fish Memorial Hospital   Kayaking at Blue Springs State Park
Orange City, Florida

My previous blog was a jump forward from December to honor David’s birthday.  The one before that, links above, was about kayaking on Tuesday December 10.  On that 3 hour kayaking trip I saw a lot of great things but came back unusually tired.

I thought that was because of the 8-10 mph winds on the river.  But that evening, I was coughing and blowing my nose.  When I took my temperature, it was 100.4 and I thought, well no wonder I don’t feel well.

On Wednesday my temperature went up to 102.4 so I took two tylenol and worried I might have covid for the 3rd time which would push back my being able to get the vaccine in January.    At around 7:45pm I was finishing some noodle soup and crackers (thank goodness for my journal) after lying around all day.  When I got up from sitting to put the dishes in the sink, I felt unstable.  Not dizzy exactly…woozy, wobbly, off balance and then sick to my stomach which I NEVER am.   I staggered back from the bathroom to take my blood pressure thinking it might be too low.  But it was 176/104.

I called 911 and vomited until they got here and all the way to the hospital in the ambulance.   My BP soared to over 200 in the ambulance. They started an IV.   I’m thinking now how caring and wonderful they were and how grateful I am.  What would I have done without them. 

I spent 4 nights and days in Adventhealth Fish Memorial Hospital in Orange City while they tried to figure out what had happened.  They did a CT scan, an MRI, EKG and more.  Test after test after test.  No stroke, no heart attack, no covid, no RSV, no diabetes. 

Cardio consults, Nuro consults. I was marked with yellow socks and a yellow wrist band so for those 4 days and nights I could not get out of bed even to go to the bathroom 6 feet from my bed without calling for help.

Eventually they discovered what they said was a “spot of pneumonia” in my left lung and put me on IV antibiotics. They diagnosed the wooziness as Unilateral Vestibular Hypofunction.  Try saying that fast 3 times.   Have any of you ever had this?

I developed laryngitis the day after I got to the hospital. It continued after I was discharged with a continuing oral antibiotic, a steroid, something for the cough, a nazal spray and I can’t remember what else.  My discharge directions came with standing and eye exercises to do daily and directions for a follow up in 4 days.

They also discharged me with plenty of bruises on both arms.

Some drugs still in the bags.

THANKFULLY  friends Loretta and Jack from Moose River in Vermont live nearby and came to the hospital to get me, take me to CVS to get all the meds and return me to Winnona.  This picture is from when I visited their home only a few days prior to my hospitalization.  What wonderful friends to come to my rescue. 

 

To date, I am still doing standing and eye exercises for the UVH.  Mostly because I’m not sure when I can stop them.  The info on the follow up appointment for me 4 days after I was discharged said someone would call that morning to set it up the tela-appointment  and then the doctor would call at 1:00.  Neither of those things happened.  I waited all day. 

The next day I called the discharge doctor, the nurse supervisor and the doctor who was to do the follow up.  Got none of them.  The follow up doctor was on vacation for a week.  I left messages with secretaries and on voice mail for them to call me.  So far in the 3 weeks and 3 days since then not one of them has contacted me.

When I got back, I had 3 days left in Blue Springs.  I’d sadly lost 5 days to this problem.  I was able to walk down and see the manatee but I had to make sure I was strong enough and well enough to pack up and move on Wednesday after getting home from the hospital on Sunday.  

I was, and I moved on December 18th to Alafia River State Park where I was happy to have a pull though. 

Where did this stuff come from?  Will it return?   Is the pneumonia totally gone?  
No idea.  To date, I seem fine and am switching “the exercises” to every other day.
It was all a very shocking surprise.

In my next blog it’s back to normal life and more fun things like my holiday visit to see Carrie and her family.

For David, Happy Birthday

January 8th is a special day.

I miss you every day and especially on your birthday. 
Today is the day to remember the happy times.

                                                         

Wish I could bake you another traditional birthday cake.

Maybe Margaret Mead said it best.

Remember me in your heart,
Your thoughts, and your memories,
Of the times we loved,
The times we cried,
The times we fought,
The times we laughed.
For if you always think of me,
I will never have gone.

I do always think of you.  You are never gone.  

I hope that those who read this will remember to hold their loved ones a little closer, a little tighter and be very grateful for that love.

Kayaking at Blue Springs State Park

December 9-11, 2024                                                   Most Recent Posts:
Blue Spring State Park                       Blue Spring State Park – the Manatee
Orange City, Florida                                             Walking in Old Towne

My last post was mostly about arriving at Blue Springs and my morning and evening walks to see the manatee and in one case an armadillo.  If you didn’t see it, the link is under Most Recent Posts.

This one is about kayaking at Blue Springs where the concessionaire who runs the tour boats on the St John’s River and rents kayaks and canoes from the dock area was nice enough to allow me to lock up my kayak to their rack so I could come out every morning without having to take the boat on and off the car each day.  Really really kind.

The photo above is from the kayak/canoe launch space.  Just the kind I like, no dock to have to deal with stepping down into your boar.  Just pull it out into the water and slide in.  Assuming you do not mind walking in the water.  I saw some pretty hilarious attempts here to get in canoes without stepping in the water.  wish I could have filmed them.

I spent every weekday morning from December 5 through 10 on the water.  Too many people on week-ends.    Wonderful mornings with many birds to watch

                                                    Double Crested Cormorant

                                                  Black Crowned Night Heron

At this point, I took a side trail for as far as it would go.

                                        Snowy Egret with his Golden Slippers

                             A limpkin blending in with the epiphytes

                                                            Red Tailed Hawk

                                                              Tricolored Heron

If you’d like to see a short video of this Little Blue Heron looking for lunch, click this link.   Not sure what is wrong with the focus on my Canon.  Does anyone know if a camera shop will look it over and possibly find what’s wrong or is this another case of can’t repair and into the landfill.  Don’t get me started on that.

This is the first of the many gators I saw on my paddles.   I know how much Pam Sprouse loves to see them.

Does he look relaxed?

It was a really beautiful side water trail off the Saint John’s River until….

…there was no way to paddle through all the water hyacinth,  water lettuce and hydrilla clogging the water way.    This is a real problem in  Florida where public lakes are connected by creeks, rivers or constructed canals that ultimately lead to the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. Some of the largest pumps in the world are used to manage storm runoff and keep the surrounding areas from flooding when a hurricane roars in. But these invasive plants and weeds overgrow the waterways, wreak havoc and promote flooding by jamming pumps and blocking water flow.   And of course they block folks like me as well.

                                        American White Ibis.  Remember him for later

                                     An Eastern Kingbird?   Anyone know for sure?

  I am sure that this is the lovely male Anhinga.

Ready for flight.

The White Ibis often travel in flocks.

Obviously a couple of  Egrets have joined the Ibis.

At sunset I often see them flying in packs to roost in the trees.

This was the only Wood Stork I’ve seen yet this year and he was not posing for pictures today.  I almost missed him on the top branch with this group.

Standing on one foot.  Can you do that?

On my way back to the dock I would always go by the end of the spring run which is blocked off to boats with these buoys.  Often there were manatee hanging around inside and outside the buoys.

On one day I was surprised by a manatee going under my boat and surfacing, lifting me a bit out of the water.

Had I known he was there, I would have moved away.  Luckily he was just playing with me and didn’t dump me out.   But a serious surprise.

And then there were more alligators but not near the spring run.  I like this reflection picture.

They always appear to be smiling.

Black Crowned Night Heron.

Not much of a toothy grin.

Great Blue Heron.  I saw many of them each day.

Alligators I see on the banks and in the water.

To me they really have an ancient look.  And no wonder, as a species they are over 150 million years old.  The oldest known alligator fossils in the southeastern United States are from Florida, and date back to about 28–26 million years ago.

They can be cruising along just barely out of the water, sometimes with just their eyes and then they slowly sink down under the water and are disappear.

The Belted Kingfisher is very hard to catch sitting in one place.

The brown neck feathers of the female Anhinga look like velvet.

They were everywhere.

Here’s a sort of toothy grin…bit of an overbite.

Back out in the river, headed for home.

I’ll take my sitIN kayak rather than a craft like this given the gators thank you.
I am definitely not afraid of them but this was pretty brave or fool hardly I thought.

Hmmmm……who is he looking for?

I’m only half way through my two week stay at Blue Spring when I get side tracked so to speak.  More on that in my next post.