Home again although a little blurry....

 photo IMG_2772blog_zpsf5f0fbe9.jpg

Sorry for the long silence here! We made it home safe and sound Monday afternoon from our trip to Florida to say goodbye to a special lady and be with family. I saw my wonderful surgeon in Atlanta on the way home last Thursday and he examined me and found out one of the sources of my continuing pain - ovarian cysts as suspected. He gave me a long acting shot to help ease that left sided pain and he also gave me some new medicine to try. I think it may have been helping a little for pain (spasms) but after the first day my vision started to go and it just got considerably worse. Between the painful dry eyes and blurred vision which had me staggering around and straining really badly, I was a bit of a mess. I stopped the meds yesterday morning. I went into town with Jim in the afternoon and all the people were green, yellow, purple, just a blur of colors and I could barely see what I was doing. Thankfully it's much improved today, although not back to normal yet.

 photo IMG_2796blog_zpsb49384e4.jpg

On the way home we decided to take a drive through the Smoky Mountains which was really nice.... 

 photo IMG_2818blog_zps1ed91dc2.jpg

It's amazing how big the trees are since they have been protected in the park.... 

 photo IMG_2840blog_zpsa35c73cf.jpg

It was very foggy most of the time (as expected!) but it was still, very beautiful. 

 photo IMG_2833blog_zps207c2e73.jpg

We happened to spot something pretty interesting along the road too, a white wild turkey! We thought maybe he was a tame one that escaped but when I looked it up online, apparently it does happen but not very often! Here's an interesting article if anyone is interested.

Yesterday I went up to the barn and helped with chores for the first time in over 4 months since my surgery. I can't lift anything because I'll put myself in more pain and in bed for at least a week, but I can do some things. Jim watered everyone for me and also carried the bales of hay. I was able to feed the rabbits, and let the goats outside, and give some snuggles. It felt good to be able to do something more "normal." I felt like myself again. I needed a lot of rests, whenever I would feel the pain flaring I'd sit down for a while, and it seemed to keep it at bay. I'm pretty limited still as to what I can do, but it's nice I can do a little bit.

This morning we woke up to.. winter.

 photo IMG_2857blog_zpsac539b63.jpg

We got a good amount of heavy wet snow last night...

 photo IMG_2858blog_zps0c62efc0.jpg

Which was pretty....

 photo IMG_2851blog_zpsef08aaeb.jpg

But also hard to walk around in...

 photo IMG_2842blog_zps24fc8163.jpg

 photo IMG_2854blog_zps09c73b17.jpg

 photo IMG_2849blog_zpse01d5294.jpg

The dogs were torn between happy to have the snow to play in, and mad that they were getting wet...

 photo IMG_2855blog_zps7551558e.jpg

At least Rollie had some fun barreling through it....

 photo IMG_2860blog_zps12c330eb.jpg

I plowed my way through the heavy snow up to the barn with the ATV...

 photo IMG_2861blog_zps2a0fa074.jpg

Jackson wasn't sure how he felt about the arrival of our first real snow...

 photo IMG_2864blog_zps56b771c1.jpg

The babies minded less than I expected, I thought maybe they wouldn't be sure of it, but it didn't slow them down a bit.. well maybe Puffin because her legs are short, but we shoveled a path and place for them so she wouldn't have to worry about walking through the snow.

 photo IMG_2866blog_zps89b90bf8.jpg

The goats did not want to come outside when I opened the door and they saw the snow, even though it was a warm and quite beautiful day, but they finally gave in and went outside to face winter.

 photo IMG_2874blog_zps3c2cfe73.jpg

It was a beautiful day outside regardless of having to trudge through the heavy snow and do a lot of shoveling and plowing. And the scenery, it was grand.

So far today I've managed to bake fresh bread, gingerbread's, and get all my work caught up in the kitchen. After a rest, I'm going to put on a big pot of soup for dinner and head up to the barn for evening chores before returning home to snuggle in with the dogs by the fire, pour myself a glass of wine, and be thankful that despite not being pain free, I am in small ways coming back to life, and I'm more than grateful for each one of them.

It's good to be home.

P.S. I am terribly behind on blogs, emails, etc but I promise I will catch up soon! 

Comments

What a beautiful snow! Little Rollie looks like he's up to his neck though haha. What a cutie. I'm glad you're back home! Hopefully you can find a medicine that won't have such crazy side effects. All that vision stuff would be really scary!
The JR said…
That is scary when medicine does that.

A lot of snow. Please keep it that way. I hate taking care of horses in bad weather.

We had cold, hard rain for 2 days and it was awful.

Off the rest of the week for Thanksgiving. Out till Monday.

Take care and don't over do it.
Welcome home! I'm glad to hear you are finally feeling a little better.
jaz@octoberfarm said…
yay and welcome home! so glad you are starting to feel a bit better. uh...that is my snow! could you send it back now? we were supposed to get almost a foot and it missed us. i am so disappointed! i hope you continue to steadily improve!
Mary Ann said…
I am so glad you are home safely.

If you are celebrating American Thanksgiving tomorrow with Kevin... Happy Thanksgiving!
So happy you're home. Sorry to hear about the issues with vision. I hope it all works out soon for you. Hooray for snow! It's so beautiful! Take care and get some rest. Happy Thanksgiving.
Dreaming said…
Welcome home! I love all of your beautiful photos - what a pretty trip!
I hope you feel better and are back to normal soon... no, wait... not back to normal, I'd rather see you totally pain free!
Primitive Stars said…
Glad you are home, scary for you though with the medicine, pray you are ok......Thanksgiving wishes to you all, Francine.
Wow you keep very busy for a lady "taking it easy"
Hope you are pain free soon...Thank you for sharing those gorgeous winter images and the while wild turkey.
Blessings Kelsie
Dewena said…
My goodness, that was scary with all the vision problems. I'm glad you're home safe and have the beautiful snowfall, though it must present difficulties in farm chores for all. Please take care but it does seem like you are back to a lot of the cooking that you love.

Glad to hear you're better now and please don't worry about blog visits, we're just happy to see you post again here!
Kristen Roy said…
Glad you are home. Sorry the meds didn't work and made you sick. Glad you got to see the greatest Doctor ever. I am doing ok just minor setbacks moving wrong ways and such . talk soon. Have a great Thanksgiving

Kristen Roy
Henny Penny said…
I have been sitting reading your older posts. You are such a beautiful person. I love your place and your animals. Welcome home! The snow is beautiful!

Popular Posts