Don Pelham's Weblog

Waiting for January 19th

dpelham — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 20:59:30 +0000

I went to the hospital yesterday. After 6 assorted medical persons poked, prodded, and zapped me it was determined I was a good enough specimen to operated on. I am now starting to get a little worried. These doctors are children. Some look like they come in during 4th period Science Class. One doctor explained the whole procedure to me, then informed me of the perils that could happen. It’s one thing to read about it online, and quite another to have some little girl, who has watched way too many horror movies, explain it to me. She just used an awful lot of verbs, adverbs and adjectives.
My operation is called a parotidectomy. Essentially they are going to rip my face off and remove a parotid. The practical nurse who was doing the anesthetic interview said I would most likely have a sedative and local anesthesia for the operation. Now there’s a warm and fuzzy feeling. I screamed at him that I do not want to be there … just wake me when it’s over.
Anyhow the deed is to be done on Jan. 18th, unless it is moved again, and I have to stay at least 1 day in the hospital. For some reason they won’t tell what time to come in until the day before. Oh, and I can’t have anything to eat or drink (except my meds) the morning of the operation. Now that is cruel and unusual punishment. I mean what if they don’t operate until the afternoon? I read online “The procedure typically takes from two to five hours to complete, depending on the extent of surgery and the skill of the surgeon.” What does that mean? Somewhere between a quick job where they forget a step or two, or a drawn out affair where they kinda fumble through it.

This and That

dpelham — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 01:13:42 +0000

I was scheduled for a “perotidectomy” on Dec. 28, but it has been moved to Jan. 18. They are going to rip open my face, remove a tumor (99% chance it is benign) and then put my face back together. I may look years younger … or not.
I am trying to decide if I want to do the Northwest Paper Chase or wait and go to the CKC in Portland later in March. I have done the Paper Chase for the past 3 years, but there are big changes this year I’m not too thrilled with. Maybe it is just a guy thing, but I really don’t want a charm bracelet.
This has been a tough year for store closings in Left WA. We lost Lasting Memories in Lynnwood, Crafts Cottage in Port Townsend, Treasury of Memories in Bellingham, Friends & Co. in West Seattle (Issaquah store still there), The Squeaky Page in Olympia, Scrap That in Tacoma, and Scrapbooks Etc. in Puyallup.

Best Laid Plans

dpelham — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 03:45:53 +0000

2010 Christmas Card

I have sent out all of my Christmas cards to my scrapping friends. The Queen still has to send hers out to family and friends. I am now planning for next years cards. One of my New Years resolutions to break is to send at least one card a week to my scrappy/stampy friends.
Today was a day to play in my studio, but I am not the sole decider of my daily agenda.
Here is a pic of my 2010 Christmas card.

Ctrl – Alt – Delete

dpelham — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 05:13:48 +0000

I had some trouble with pictures in my blog. Somehow, I managed to delete them all at one time. Without the pics the site felt unbalanced so I deleted everything to start over. In the year I haven’t posted I have actually been doing papercrafting stuff. I went to the CKC in November and the Scrapbook Expo in July. I have been active on my scrap forums, and I have been doing an ATC swap each month at Urban Scrapbooker in Edmonds WA. If you go there be sure to tell Brooke I sent you.
Sad to say the stores closing have out-numbered the stores opening. And how is it the largest city in the state does not have a scrapbook store?