Looking Good

I was really getting to the point where I was resigned to not making Twenty Mule Team this weekend. Then I got up this morning and, while not feeling perfect, I certainly felt perky enough. I'm still coughing, but while I sound like something that shouldn't come up will, I feel pretty okay. The only icky feeling I have is most likely the side effect of taking a combination of Albuterol inhaler, narcotic cough syrup, and the narcotic to control my hip pain. My hip wasn't particularly bothering me since I started the treatment for the pneumonia, but this morning I started to notice it. I take that as another sign I'm getting better. It can't possibly be just the narcotic cough syrup covering for that, too.

Based on feeling better, and since I haven't ridden in something close to three weeks other than a lesson, I took Hoss out for a ride around the neighborhood. Hoss was so excited when I took him out of the pasture. He was more than ready to get out. Since I've been sick, I haven't been taking walks so he hasn't gotten out at all in several days.

I cleaned Hoss up the best I could, considering how long it had been since he'd had a good grooming. I saddled him up and put a flank cinch on. With the girth gall we've been fighting since June, I decided I needed to try a flank cinch to hold his girth back off the area that keeps getting rubbed open. Having had so long off, it's nearly completely healed and I'd like to keep it that way. The only flank cinch I have is from his old saddle, so I had to pull it off and wrestle it on to the saddle we're now using.

It's amazing how hard it can be to do something so simple. This saddle has slots cut into the leather for a flank cinch but they've clearly never been put to use. I had to get the billets, which are really a smidge too thick for the holes in the saddle, not just through the leather, but through the less-than-fully-cut-through fleece on the bottom of the saddle. I was panting rather hard when I was done, but I got it done. There's another fix I need to do on the saddle, namely the Blevins connectors for my fenders, but I forgot to do it. I did get a new pair, but unfortunately they're too narrow. I will have to pull the ones off of the old saddle and hope they fit. I'm not too keen on riding 100 miles with one bad connector, even if the fix my friend did in Arizona has held for over 400 miles now.

Since the plan was a walking ride, I decided it would be okay to let Roxy come along as well. Despite her age and infirmity, she still wants to go. The past couple of days, my daughter has taken out the mountain bike and done a couple quick laps with the dogs to make up for me not walking. Roxy has been going on one lap, but coming home after that. I was planning to go farther, but walking she should be able to keep up well enough.

Hoss behaved himself very well for a highly fitted up horse who hasn't had a good ride in several weeks. A few times I had to get after him for silly behavior. He was using any barking dog as an excuse to try to spin around and run away. It took a little work, but he was pretty obedient for most of the ride. We only got in about five miles, but it was nice to get out.

The fresh air and stimulation sure seemed to help me. My lungs started to feel clearer about halfway through the ride. It was a warm, dry day, perfect for clearing up yucky, wet lung conditions.

By the time we got back, Hoss had worked up a decent sweat, and we'd hit enough hills to see if my flank cinch was helping keep the girth back. It appears to do the trick, so we'll be using it at Twenty Mule Team this weekend. Yep, we're gonna go.

I gave Hoss a nice bath, which he desperately needed. He even seemed to enjoy the bath. Especially since after the bath he got his beet pulp mush. He was tied to the trailer while I went into the garage to get his beet pulp, and he was quite perked up when I came back out with it. He really wanted that mush!

While Hoss was eating I got DC out. She had run herself into a sweaty mess and had had just as little grooming as Hoss. She, too, was happy to get out of the pasture, if only because Hoss was out. I don't know how much exposure DC has had to bathing, so I didn't tie her off to hose her down. I was hoping she would accept it well enough to get a full shampooing, but she was definitely not going to do well in that department. If I could've run her in an arena before trying to bathe her, I might have been able to get more done. Her response to the water being turned on, however, was to leap sideways and halfway rear. I hadn't even turned it on her. It didn't take a whole lot of effort to get her hosed off, but she acted like she had never been hosed off in her life. I can believe she's never seen the type of hosing device I use, but I imagine if I ask Beth she'll say DC has been hosed off before. I contented myself with getting her well hosed off before tying her to the trailer and getting her beet pulp mush.

While the horses ate I started on getting things ready to go to the ride. Once the horses were dry I brushed them out and applied Laser Sheen liberally to both of them. I contemplated going ahead and trimming DC and shoeing Hoss (he hasn't seen a trimming since I put shoes on him at Death Valley; bad horse mom), but decided against it because I felt it would be just a little bit too much in my condition. I'll do feet tomorrow.

After the horses were put away, I got much of the horse-related loading done and Hoss's saddle pad and cooler in the wash. We'll have nice clean things to use at the ride.

Well, I'm not 100% yet by any means, but I feel well enough to go. Since Hubby Honey is home, he is happy enough to do the lion's share of the driving both to and from the ride, giving me more time to rest and recover. Our plan is to leave late Thursday night, in an effort to arrive at the ride with as close to 24 hours before the ride as possible for Hoss to recover from the trailer ride.

Another wonderful thing, I'm actually feeling tired! I've been having a hard time getting to sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning. Tonight, though, I feel ready to go to bed nice and early. I'm going to get my bag packed or at least started, and go to bed, hopefully to sleep well and peacefully and get up at a decent hour for once.

Reality Check

After being all excited to find my name at the top of the list on National Mileage, I thought I'd better go back and see what past records are.

In the past five years, most winners of the National Mileage award had 2000+ miles. Only one had a little over 1800 miles.

Well. That's not about to happen for us this year. It's only Hoss's third competition year. I'm not prepared to try to get to that many rides this year. I've already selected our rides for the year, and it's double my goal for the year as is.

Add to that, due to this past weekend's Eastern Mojave Scenic ride, at least two riders have surpassed our mileage once those results post to AERC. What has happened nationally, I don't know. Other riders may have already out done us and I won't know it until those results post.

Still, it's fun to be "in the running," as it were. No, we're not going to win this year. We may not even win next year. But I know we can win, we'll just have to do a whole lot more miles. I might have gone to Eastern Mojave if it weren't so close to Hoss's first 100 miler. Once he's completed a 100 mile ride, I'll probably be more willing to do multi-day rides closer to 100 mile events. It will depend on his performance and how he feels about it afterward.

We're supposed to go to Twenty Mule Team this weekend for our first 100 mile ride. I'm not at all sure we'll make it. It's not Hoss, it's me. I'm still getting my butt kicked pretty hard by this bronchitis/pneumonia thing. I had chest x-rays done today. I should find out later for sure what is going on.

Three days into treatment, I don't feel appreciably better. I'm hoping by tomorrow I'll feel like I'm on the mend. What I'm worried about is I'm not getting the right treatment for the condition I actually have. We'll see. I really, really do not want to have to withdraw from this ride. It really is our only chance this year to do a 100 mile ride.

These days, 100 mile rides are few and far between. It seems I'll have to do a great deal of driving in order to get many 100 mile rides in during Hoss's endurance career. I really wish more managers would put them on, but I understand the dilemma. The 100 mile rider seems to be a dying breed, with the exception of the International riders. International riders want to ride 100 mile events that are sanctioned by the International body, and tend to skip the ones that are strictly AERC sanctioned events. This leaves those of us who want to ride 100 mile rides but have no interest in International competition with few choices for 100 mile rides.

So, I really am holding out to the last minute to make the final decision whether we go to Twenty Mule Team or not. I surely hope I can make it. At this point, I'll take better than I am now and just go!

Oh, and on another note, Mom was checked out and released from the hospital. No new damage on the CT scan. With any luck, this too shall pass and we won't have any further scares.

There Are Days, Part 2

Mom was greatly relieved to be home. We were assured by the neurologist she would be recovered within a week. I was a little skeptical of this prediction, as I have suffered a brain injury (which is, in essence, what a stroke is) and it took me way longer than a week to be recovered. My own brain injury was far less significant than my mother's, so I doubted the doctor's veracity. Still, I was happy to have her out of that place and was content to have her seen by her regular doctor and referred to a neurologist by him.

Tuesday my husband went down and spent the day with Mom. Her roommate, my sister's best friend since high school, was working, and I was supposed to work, so my husband was "it." We talked several times over the course of the day. I reminded Mom to make an appointment with her regular doctor, which she got for Wednesday.

On Wednesday I went down to spend the day with Mom and take her to her doctor's appointment. The appointment went just fine. I did have to correct things she said from time to time, and add stuff she forgot. I'm glad I was able to be there with her, as it's clear she'll need someone with her at appointments to make sure the story is always straight. Her doctor gave her referrals for a neurologist and a vascular surgeon.

Once I got her home, I made sure she called and made appointments with the neurologist and the vascular surgeon. I also made sure she took her meds, as she had forgotten to take them in the morning.

Mom was very keen to go to bells and choir that afternoon/evening. I headed out to pick up a prescription for Mom and some Rimadyl for my dog, Roxy, and made it back just in time to head to the church for bell rehearsal.

During bell rehearsal, Mom had a difficult time finding the measure the director wanted. I was asked to sit in, and was beside Mom, so I pointed out the appropriate measure to her. She couldn't really keep up, and it wasn't until the end of rehearsal that she was confident enough to ring from time to time.

After rehearsal I noticed Mom was having much more difficulty communicating. Everybody wanted to talk to her and my protective mama-bear side came out. I did my best to shield her somewhat so she didn't have to speak more than necessary. I knew from experience the less she had to think, the better. It was clear to me she was over-tired just from that little bit of mental exercise.

We went and had dinner at the local Subway with another member of the bell and vocal choir. Mom was having trouble getting out what she wanted to say, but didn't seem so bad as to make her go home before choir rehearsal.

The surprise when everyone saw Mom at choir rehearsal was priceless. The choir member we went to dinner with said the bar was being set way too high. Since Mom had come back after having a stroke (and I had come back after shoulder surgery, and another member had come back a week after giving birth with baby in tow) the only acceptable excuse for missing choir rehearsal from now on would be death.

After choir we visited with the other members over cookies and juice for a time before heading home. I drove Mom home before heading home myself, getting me home rather late with an early start working in the morning.

On Thursday my husband went back to Mom's to spend the day. It turned out her roommate had the day off, so he didn't need to be there, but they had been experiencing problems with the wireless internet dropping out, so he stayed to put in a new wireless router and do some other "honey-dos" around the house. Mom had a nail appointment that morning.

I called my husband to see how things were going. He told me, quite casually, Mom thought she had had another stroke, as she wasn't any better than she had been the night before. I can only say I freaked just a little bit. Mom's roommate had already taken her for her nail appointment, but they had put a call in to her regular doctor. To which I said, he's only going to tell us to take her to the ER, after which he'll hang up shaking his head. I had my sister call her friend, as I was pretty sure I was just going to end up yelling.

I was right when I said the doctor would say to take Mom to the ER. I later got a call that they were heading out to Sharp Hospital. I was working, so I had to be kept up to speed through texts and phone calls. It made for a tense and stressful day, but if there's one thing horses can do it's keep me from getting too worked up. If I started exhibiting too much stress energy, the horse I was working on let me know it and right now. I had to breathe and let go of my angst in order to get my work done.

By the time I was finishing the last horse, it became clear I was coming down with some creeping crud. My husband was with my mother, so I needed to go home to feed. I was coughing and sniffling like mad. My husband told me not to bother coming down. The hospital staff had kicked out a woman who was exhibiting signs of illness, even though it was her minor child she was there with. Very strict no sick people other than those being treated policy. They let the mother wait in the waiting room but she had to wear a mask.

The neurologist at the new hospital was filled in on what was going on. In the morning my husband called me and gave me the sketch of what the doctor had said. She was very concerned about the medications Mom was on. Indeed, she called it a "Molotov cocktail she won't wake up from one morning." I was a little skeptical of this and asked for further details. It turned out the doctor thought Mom was on a cornucopia of pain drugs. The drugs she thought Mom was taking should have been on the list of drugs Mom is allergic/reactive to.

The neurologist came in to see Mom and my husband called me so I could participate. My sister was at work and unavailable. So it was on me to make sure things were going right. By this time several tests had been done, most of them repeats of the tests done at Alvarado. The neurologist told us she had "no idea what they were talking about" in reference to the degree of blockage in Mom's carotid arteries. According to this doctor, there was little to no blockage, and certainly not enough to be the prime suspect in Mom's stroke. The neurologist wanted more tests. She was determined to discover what had caused Mom's stroke. She set up for Mom to be seen by a cardiologist, speech therapist, occupational therapist, and physical therapist.

I made sure the neurologist knew Mom wasn't on the narcotic medications she had thought Mom was taking. This clearly relieved the doctor. I'm sure she corrected the record. Somewhere along the line, someone had written those drugs in the wrong place.

Further testing came up empty. We still don't know why Mom had a stroke. We expected the neurologist would want to put in arterial filters to help prevent future strokes. This did not turn out to be the case, and once Mom was seen by the various doctors and therapists, she was sprung on Monday.

Unfortunately, as of this morning, Tuesday, Mom was sent back to the hospital by the neurologist because she is experiencing right side numbness. With any luck, it is only a blip and not a new stroke event. The neurologist evidently sent her back more as a precaution than because she thought something was really going awry.

I am far more comfortable with the treatment and attention she is receiving at this hospital.

We have learned a lot of things in this experience. When Mom was first admitted to Alvarado with a suspected stroke, she should not have been given her high blood pressure medications. One of the body's responses to a stroke is to raise blood pressure in an attempt to clear the blood clot/s on its own and increase blood flow to the brain in general. By controlling her blood pressure, the attending doctor made a conscious decision to ignore the ER doctor's concerns. Mom should have been in the MRI within 6 hours of arriving in the hospital. It was well over 24 hours before an image was taken.

My sister asked the neurologist, point blank, if there was any chance of suing Alvarado Hospital over the clear errors they made. The neurologist said it would be very difficult to prove any harm. I suspect if she were able to confidently point to any absolute harm she would be more than happy to testify on Mom's behalf, so I believe her when she says it would be difficult.

I think the biggest lesson I took from this was, never go to Alvarado Hospital!

A Pleasant Surprise

I'm going to break up the whole craziness with Mom with this post. At this point, Mom's situation is not well known. I would like to be able to have a final diagnosis/prognosis before I finish posting about her. So, on to a more endurance-related and fun post.

On a lark I decided to check out the points standings on the AERC website. It is my goal, some day, to take Hoss to win some high-mileage awards. It occurred to me we had done enough miles we might be in the standings.

I went to the AERC website and first pulled up the points standings for Pacific Southwest district. Imagine my surprise when I found Hoss and I are in third place in my division, and tied for first overall!

Another mileage award we would be eligible for is the Pioneer Award, for those riding and completing all days of a multi-day ride three days or longer. So I checked the Pioneer Award, and we are in fifth place, again in my weight division (middleweight). Every rider on the Pioneer Award list has the same number of miles, but because Hoss and I are rather pokey, the other riders have more points than we do. Points are based on where we finish in each day's ride. I only have a dim understanding of points, as I have little hope we'll ever be high-point winners, but rather will win through sheer mileage.

This caused me to investigate further, and I pulled up the National Mileage standings. My eyes just about popped out. We are currently in first place! Now, we're in first place by a mere 50 miles. The ride season is still young. These standings could change from week to week as ride results come in to the AERC office.

This leaves me with a challenge. I went through the ride calendar, and I have another 1035 miles of endurance I want to do this year. I know I said our goal is 750, but that doesn't mean we can't aspire to more. Besides, seeing our names at the top of the National Mileage standings felt good. I'd like to keep us there if we can.

There's a lot of time left in the ride year. Anything can happen. I am encouraged by Hoss's performance in his last 400 miles. I think so long as I am careful and manage him correctly, we have a real shot at winning or at the very least placing in National Mileage, if not in my weight division.

February 25 is our first chance at a 100 miler. It is the only opportunity we'll have this year. It's important to me that Hoss and I complete at least one, preferably two, 100 mile rides before we go to Tevis. We already have enough endurance miles to qualify to enter Tevis. I'd really like for both of us to have experienced riding all day and all night before we hit the Tevis trail.

So, of course there's a complication. Aside from my mother's health, I have taken a turn for the worse in the health department. On Thursday, while I was finishing the last horse of the day, I noticed I was beginning to feel a little off. By the time I was done loading the truck, I had developed a cough and a very mild sore throat.

Friday I was very definitely sick, but still confident I'd get over it in little time. Saturday came, and wow, I was still sick, but felt well enough to take the dogs for a walk. That was, however, all I could do. I spent the rest of the day camped out in my chair. I had hoped to get in a short trail ride, maybe give Hoss a bath, but it wasn't going to happen.

Sunday (today) I was not any better. Overnight I had a difficult time sleeping. I kept coughing and just felt miserable all night long. No medications seemed to be doing me much good.

I had to be at church early to ring in both services, along with my daughter who was standing in for her grandmother in bells. My voice was pretty much gone. Of course, everyone wanted to know how Mom was, so I didn't get much of a break for my vocal chords.

Between services I decided I was bad off enough to head out to the urgent care. My hope was to get some sterner meds into me so by Monday I'll be well enough to work. My daughter took me out to the urgent care. The doctor thought he heard a little pneumonia in one of my lungs, but decided not to go for an x-ray unless I get worse. He gave me prescriptions for antibiotics, steroids, and a rather stern cough medicine.

I've been home a few hours now and have taken the first dose of steroids and antibiotics and the cough medicine. Aside from the cough having quieted down, I don't feel appreciably better. Usually, with plain ol' bronchitis, I'm already feeling better within a few hours of the first dose of steroids. I'm afraid I may have pneumonia, and now I regret not going ahead with the chest x-rays. If it is pneumonia, it's the first time I've ever had it. Monday is a holiday, and I'm worried my doctor's office will be closed. I swear they take the least opportunity to take a day off.

If the doctor's office is closed, I'll have to go back to the urgent care or the hospital. The cough medicine wore off enough for me to start coughing again – it's supposed to last 4 hours, but seems to only be good for 3. My husband is threatening to take me to the ER tonight because the cough is so painful. I may go along, as the sooner I have a diagnosis, the sooner I get appropriate treatment and get over this thing!

The long and short of it is, I need to get better in a hurry. I'm pretty set on going to Twenty Mule Team this weekend and finishing 100 miles. Since it is our only chance to get in a 100 miler this year, it's not like I can toss it aside easily.

There Are Days, and Then There Are Days

I was planning to ride last Saturday after I finished my morning walk with the dogs, horses and the goat. I was contemplating where I would go to further explore the home trails, and what I wanted to do with my saddle, when I saw my husband coming toward us.

It is beyond unusual for my husband to voluntarily come out on a walk. In fact, it's unheard of. So I immediately knew something was up. He handed me his phone (I'd left mine at home) and told me to call my sister, our mother was being transported by ambulance to the hospital.

My husband doesn't have my sister's cell phone number in his phone, so the only number I had available was for her home. I spoke briefly with my brother-in-law. He told me Mom had started showing signs of confusion. She had gone to her volunteer job as a tax preparer and he "boss" quickly realized something wasn't right. He called for an ambulance.

I wasn't overly concerned because Mom has had episodes of confusion in the past related to her blood sugar. She is a Type 2 diabetic. Recently she's been dieting and has lost a significant amount of weight. The result was, one of the drugs she was on for her diabetes was causing her blood sugar levels to tank. She stopped taking that med, but I still felt it was possible her problem was the result of her medications.
My dogs showed me just how much stress I was under. Only Tanner – who is pudgy and unlikely to ever turn down food under any circumstance – ate breakfast. The other three looked like they couldn't think about food.

I started making phone calls to let people know what was going on and make sure things at church would be covered. Mom plays in the Wednesday night bell choir (UUbellation) and they were scheduled to play in both services the next day. I ended up playing her position myself, as I had to be there for both services anyway for Chalice Choir and the new Women's Choir.

My sister called to update me on what was going on with Mom. Mom was unable to communicate clearly. She would start out a sentence well enough but quickly deteriorate into nonsense syllables. She also had trouble understanding what was said to her. The ER doctor had decided Mom had most likely suffered a mild stroke. He admitted her for further diagnostics.

By the time my husband, daughter and I reached the hospital, Mom was being moved into a room. My sister was in the visitor lounge waiting for Mom to be settled in her room. My sister needed to leave to be with her two younger children while her husband and eldest son went to take care of an errand they had to get done that day. So my sister left, and it was me, my husband, my daughter, and my "volunteer sister," who is my sister's best friend from high school and lives with our mother.

Once Mom was in the room, we all went in to see her. The signs all said no more than 2 people at a time, but we promptly ignored them. All of us were in the room when the nurse came in. My first notion we might not be in a hospital we wanted to be in was when that nurse walked in and blanched at our presence. Clearly she did not want us around. And our further experiences with her did nothing to change our original impression of her.

In the ER, my sister was told Mom would receive an MRI, although the CT she had when she first arrived came back negative. The ER doctor clearly still believed Mom had suffered a stroke, even if it didn't show on the CT.

I eventually sent my daughter and husband to retrieve Mom's car from the Kroc Center, where she had driven in order to do her "job." We knew it was safe enough there at least until night, but realized we had to get it out of there.

While we waited – and waited, and waited – for Mom to be seen by any sort of doctor, she improved markedly. She went from "speaking in tongues" to being reasonably understandable. She was able to understand what we said, but she complained she couldn't bring to mind the words she wanted to say. She had the most trouble with her medication names. If she spoke very briefly, she was clear, but the more she spoke the less sense she made. It didn't take me long to figure out what words she meant, and I was able to understand her reasonably well.

The nurse was in several times for various tasks, but still no doctor. At one point I mentioned she was suspected to have had a stroke, at which point the nurse said no, she wouldn't be on that floor if she had had a stroke. Okay, so what the hell's going on? In fact, I learned later from a client who works in that hospital that Mom certainly would have been sent to that floor for a stroke!

Mom's blood pressure was very high, and we were able to discover she had forgotten to take her medications in the morning. More like she had forgotten how. She knew she needed to take something, but couldn't get the steps together to do it. She also was unable to remember how to make her breakfast. Yet she had remembered she needed to go to the tax job and had driven herself there.

Someone (I'm assuming the attending physician) decided – without ever laying eyes on Mom – to give her high blood pressure meds. It was many hours later when the attending finally did come in and do an assessment. I was not impressed with the guy. He kept looking to speak to me rather than my mother, which annoyed me. Mom was able to understand what was going on just fine, and for her own dignity he should have been speaking to her. I rather subtly made that point when he asked a question and I turned to Mom and repeated the question to her.

My daughter left with my sister and her husband and daughter for dinner after she and my husband had retrieved Mom's car. They went out for some dinner, and my husband and I stayed with Mom until her roommate was able to arrive. I needed to get home before too long. While nobody at home would starve, I did want to get them fed before it got very late.

By the time we left, Mom still hadn't had an MRI done. And the neurologist had not been in to see her, either. I was beginning to be more than a little frustrated with the lack of care I felt Mom was receiving. My sister and I discussed moving her if they wanted to keep her for much longer. Hindsight being 20/20, we should have walked her out when she hadn't received an MRI, much less been seen by a doctor, four hours after she had been admitted to the hospital. She was perfectly ambulatory, so taking her to a different hospital would have been no trouble at all. And I'd really like to see them stop me from getting my mother out of there.

My sister went back to the hospital after she had had dinner, and noticed a marked improvement in Mom's condition in the few hours since she had last seen her. Also, the nurse shift had changed, and the new nurse was significantly better than the first one. She asked if Mom knew why she was there, and stated it was believed Mom had suffered a stroke. We decided Mom was safe enough by herself over night, and we all went home.

In the morning I went to church and my sister went to be with Mom. An interesting thing about this hospital. There was no accommodation for visitors. No chair in the room or anything. It was like they expected people to visit and just leave. We felt Mom needed a strong advocate with her at least during the day. So a chair was purloined from the visitor lounge, and one of the nurses' chairs was brought in, so we had a place to sit. No one said anything, but I had the distinct feeling we weren't really welcome.

Mom was finally seen by the neurologist on Sunday morning. He examined her briefly, then informed Mom and my sister that he believed Mom was suffering from a "confusional migraine." My sister being the person she is, she promptly researched the condition and found Mom only had one symptom matching confusional migraine. The neurologist still ordered an MRI, but we were a bit insulted he had given us this sort of pat-on-the-head answer without ruling out more serious conditions.

Mom had an MRI at about noon, and I showed up at the hospital to relieve my sister around 1pm. My sister headed home and I stayed with Mom. I hoped to meet this "neurologist" who had come up with his "diagnosis" before even having an MRI done. My sister told me she felt the neurologist had dismissed her concerns and minimized Mom's condition. Her impression was he thought Mom was just a dotty old lady with a daughter who didn't want to face that her mother was aging. Mom is only 75. The very notion that she has already become "dotty" is laughable. I wondered how many of her friends and associates I'd need to bring in to refute this guy's initial impression. I'm rather glad I never met him. I may have been inclined to shove him out the window. The windows, incidentally, did not open.

Not long after I arrived, the MRI tech came back for Mom. The doctor wanted additional images. This was not good news to me. It meant the doctor was suspicious of something he had seen and wanted to confirm it. I stayed as late as I reasonably could, knowing I needed to be back in the morning, but the neurologist neither called nor showed up.

At 6:30 on Monday morning, I got a call from my sister. The neurologist had finally deigned to let us know what was going on. Mom had had a stroke, but an atypical one. The way he described it was, a blood clot had gone up into Mom's brain but instead of sticking and creating one huge area of damage, it had broken into several pieces and created between ten and fifteen small areas of damage. He wanted two more tests, the results of which would determine if Mom would go home that day or not.

When I got back to the hospital, Mom had been put back on "fall risk" status and was not allowed to get up without the nurse. This was based strictly on the diagnosis of stroke, not on any evidence Mom had somehow lost the ability to get around on her own. The nurse had turned on the bed alarm, so if Mom so much as swung her legs off the bed the alarm would go off. It was very frustrating for her, as she knew perfectly well she was able to get about on her own and didn't need someone to come help her go to the bathroom, five feet from the bed.

After the additional tests had been done, we were (eventually) told Mom had 70% blockage in her right carotid artery and 50% blockage in her left artery. This was not good news. The attending doctor still needed to hear from the neurologist but felt it likely Mom would be staying and having a procedure to clear the blockage in her right artery. Privately, in my own mind, I decided if the neurologist wanted this procedure, I would be bundling Mom out of that godforsaken place and taking her to a real hospital.

A few hours later the attending told us Mom would be released. Mom couldn't have heard better news. Once she had signed the papers, it was all I could do to keep her from walking out under her own power. Indeed, she did end up walking out to the car to go home. I left her in the care of my volunteer sister and headed off to Monday night bell choir rehearsal.

This would seem to be the end of story, and how I wish it were. Stay tuned for the next installment (this has gotten rather too long already). You can read my sister's story of this incident here. Warning: my sister is a romance author, and there is cover art from her books on her blog. Just want to be careful anyone who might be offended or doesn't want their kids seeing these images is forewarned. In my opinion, they are tasteful if a bit racy. Hey, it's romance cover art!

Exploring the New Neighborhood

I've had three chances to get out and ride out of the property to explore. Of course, the first thing I did was figure out where we were going to do the morning walk. Just because we moved doesn't mean the walk stops. Perish the thought! So I had about a mile of trail already explored before I rode Hoss out to check out what else might be available.

At the end of the road we now live on, where it makes a sharp left, there is a sign posted which says "No Motorized Vehicle Activity." Once past this sign, we are in the Cleveland National Forest. This part of the forest is really not meant for much recreational use. Obviously there are some trails/roads through it. The challenge will be to find the trails/roads we can use!

With views like this, who needs to trailer out?

The first time we went out, I rode him to the fork which marks the end of our morning ride and headed to the right. This wide road-like section of trail continued on around to the right until we came to a gate. I thought we'd have to turn around, but realized we'd be able to get around the gate. There was some old cut up brush beside the gate, an obvious attempt to prevent motorized vehicles from accessing the area. Hoss negotiated the cuttings with little trouble and we headed out along a well-traveled dirt road. We were obviously on the regular roads again and back out of the forest area.

After a time riding on this road, we came to a T intersection, and I recognized the cross road we live off of. Uh-oh and Roxy had decided to come with us, which slowed us down. I wanted to ride past our road and check out some further trails I noticed off the next road. Unfortunately it was warm, and Uh-oh was coughing, so I rode back to our street and we went home.

The second time we went out, I ponied DC along with us. This time, she had a great time being ponied. Once again, Uh-oh and Roxy tagged along (we really will have to get the fence finished, so I can leave them safely behind!), slowing us down once more. It was late in the day, so we weren't going to get very far. I'd hoped to get some good trotting in, partly to keep up Hoss's condition and partly to give DC a chance to move out.

This time when we arrived at the fork, we went left. Roxy and Uh-oh were far behind, so we had to stop and wait for them. As a result of them being so slow, we wound up turning around with less distance than I would have liked. We did get a little trotting in, and Hoss did a little cantering as well. While Hoss cantered, though, DC merely extended her trot and never broke. She's gonna run circles around him when she grows up.

Hoss was a little spun up after having cantered some and was difficult on the way home. I hope this doesn't become an issue here as it was at the old place. Riding at home around the old place was unpleasant because Hoss wanted to go fast to get home. I'm hoping to avoid that here, as it appears we will be able to do a considerable amount of our conditioning – the short rides, at any rate – right out of our front gate. We'll only need to trailer out to get in the longer rides we need to do.

The latest time we headed out, I once again had to adjust my plans because of Uh-oh and Roxy. But it was okay, we were heading out earlier in the day, and really it's hard to know how fast we'll be able to go when what we're doing is exploring. So I wasn't too unhappy about being slowed down.

At the fork, we headed to the left. After a time, there was another fork, and I selected the right fork. The trail became less usable, but passable, as we went along. I could see dirt bike tracks in the dirt. So much for that sign, eh? I had been seeing hoof prints, so I was reasonably confident I was on a good trail. Unfortunately this trail teed off at a section of trail which is evidently cut off from any other trail. We headed along It in both directions and found dead ends. So we went back up to where we'd taken the last fork and headed down the other fork.

Going along this trail, we came across an abandoned vehicle, a red pickup truck. It was pretty well stripped. Some of its parts were around. One of the bucket seats was set to the side with the seat slashed open. The axles and wheels were gone. All the glass was gone. Very interesting. I wonder what the insurance company was told happened? Of course it could easily have been stolen and taken off into the wilds to be stripped….

We continued past the junker and followed the trail up toward an abandoned house. This is an old mobile home which has clearly been unoccupied for a number of years. Most of the windows are broken and there is a lot of junk strewn about the yard. The hoof prints I had been seeing went through this property, so I continued on my way, confident we at least weren't the first to violate the property.

Abandoned house, from the road below

We rode off the abandoned property and on down the road. Another road turned off to the left, but there were "No Trespassing" signs, so we stayed on the road we were on. Not far after that, I saw more "No Trespassing" signs, and lost the hoof prints I had been seeing. We seemed to have come to an impasse. There was no way to continue on I could clearly see was okay for us to go. I turned Hoss around and we headed back the way we had come.

By the time we got home we had covered just over 5.5 miles. Not too shabby, considering. I think Roxy and Uh-oh may reconsider going along on trail rides. Both of them were downright beat. The next day, Uh-oh stayed home from the walk. Roxy was limping on one front leg and although she did go on the walk, it was clear she was bushed. She spent the rest of the day lying down very quietly!

There's a lot more to explore around here. I know there are more trails than we have found already. I hope Roxy and Uh-oh have learned their lesson, and the next time we head out, it will only be Mac and Ash coming along. I don't mind having them; they can keep up most days and need the exercise. 

I'm hoping to find between 8 and 12 miles of contiguous trail. It would be nice to have a loop, but I'll settle for out and back. I do have a three mile loop, if we go out to the right at the fork and come back around like we did the first day we went out. I understand there's quite a bit of trail and road connection, but I'll either have to find it all myself or find someone to show me around.

Fire Mountain 2012 Day 2

The night passed quietly enough. It was much cooler and I slept very well. Hoss, too, seemed to have slept reasonably well.

I got up early and fed Hoss, this time able to feed him on the ground as he prefers. He ate pretty well in the couple of hours he had to eat before the ride started.

Fortunately I was feeling pretty good, if not great. When I went to get on, it took several minutes before my muscles gave up protesting enough for me to settle into the saddle.

We set out at the start of the ride, still in the dark, so I couldn't tell who was where. I trusted to the fact that Treasure is faster than Hoss her odds of catching us up if she was behind us. Also at the second day was Rebecca and Misty, who we had ridden with at Coso Junction.

The trail was simply the previous day's loops in the opposite direction. It's amazing how that can make such a difference. It felt like different trail for the most part.

We set out at a good clip, pulled along with the top horses for a time. I knew we couldn't keep up the pace, so I started pulling Hoss down and letting the leaders get away. For some time we were on our own out there, no other horses in sight.

Eventually Rebecca and Misty caught up to us. Hoss was happy to see a familiar face and we rode with them in to the first vet check. Rebecca and Misty trotted in, but, wise to how Hoss is, I walked him in the last half mile. This meant Rebecca and Misty would end up leaving ahead of us. I could only hope they'd leave well enough ahead of us for Hoss not to get locked on to Misty.

The hold was shortened to fifteen minutes. Hoss vetted through nicely, with good CRIs (Cardiac Recovery Index – this is tested by taking the horse's standing pulse, sending it out for a specific trot distance, and taking the heart rate again at a specific amount of time after the first pulse was taken; the heart rate being the same or lower indicates the horse is doing well). After our fifteen minute hold, we headed out again.

Rebecca and Misty were just far enough ahead to be difficult to catch up to, but close enough Hoss knew they were there. During the entire second loop, Hoss could often see Misty up ahead and try to catch up to her. We would get close at water stops, only to arrive just seconds after Rebecca and Misty had left.

This led to a problem. Hoss really wanted to catch up with Misty. He also needed to drink. Because he'd come the closest at water stops, he would duck his head into the water tank and take a token sip, then whip around the follow Misty. I was very much afraid he would get into trouble because of this behavior.

I realized my only hope of getting him through was to let him catch up. We finally did catch up to Rebecca and Misty. Hoss was very proud of himself when he caught up. We stayed with them through the rest of the loop. At the water stop a mile from camp and the vet check, I asked Rebecca not to leave until Hoss had finished drinking. I knew he'd stop to stay with Misty if they left.

Once Hoss was done drinking, we headed back toward camp. I got off to lead the last half mile while Rebecca and Misty trotted in. There was an hour hold, and I hoped Misty and Rebecca would end up far enough ahead of us for Hoss to stop looking for her.

After getting pulsed in I took Hoss to the trailer for lunch and a nice bran mash. He dug right in and ate quite well. I watched him while I heated up a can of soup and munched on some crackers. The vets wanted tack off, so I took off the saddle and put a light sheet over Hoss's back. I took him to the vet with fifteen minutes left in our hold time. Once again he came through well with a good CRI, in fact exactly the same as the first vet check that day. After clearing the vet check, we went back to the trailer and I tacked him back up. I was late getting out on our hold time, so I really hoped Rebecca and Misty would be long enough gone to keep Hoss from obsessing about her.

We were headed out at a pretty slow walk, Hoss preferring to go back to the trailer rather than out on the trail. I got him going and resigned to the fact he was going to have to work.

Another horse and rider caught up. The rider asked if we wanted company, to which I responded, "Only if you're going slow." Well, it didn't take long to figure out the other horse was not going slow. He must have had a trot pace of 10mph or more. They pretty quickly left us in the dust, but now Hoss wanted nothing more than to catch up to them. I had to keep him at a walk – it was a pretty fast walk, which he only does when he wants to catch someone else – for much of the first five miles. I wanted him to let go of catching that other horse before we picked up the pace.

It did not help when the horse's rider, distracted by her new gadgets, missed a turn. This resulted in her heading off course some distance, just long enough for Hoss and me to end up ahead of them on the proper course. Once she realized her mistake and turned around, it did not take long for them to catch us back up and pass us, leaving me to try to get Hoss back in line yet again.

By the time we got to the next water stop, the other horse had disappeared over a ridge and Hoss had pretty much given up any idea of catching up to them. I made him walk to the top of the ridge, then pushed him up to a trot.

The only drawback to not having a horse to "chase" or otherwise motivate Hoss is I end up "pedaling" my horse. He's lost motivation, so I'm working my butt off to keep him moving. I had come up with the idea to keep Hoss's lead rope with us to use as encouragement. The only problem was, it's particularly long, so difficult to manage while riding. I tied it to Hoss's breast collar and made a tail long enough to use as an up and over, but not so long to get caught up in his legs. This turned out to be a rather effective tool. I was able to make him keep up a good pace by whapping him with the leather popper on the end of the lead rope whenever he tried to slow down. By this point I had zero leg. We would've spent the entire last loop walking had it not been for that lead rope.

About halfway through the last loop, Kathy and Treasure caught up to us. This lit the fire under Hoss and he picked up the pace to keep up with Treasure.

I preferred the last loop the way we did it on the second day over the direction on the first day. We were able to trot downhill on the last part, rather than fighting a long uphill at the start. Either way, though, the trails were fine.

I held Hoss back toward the end so he'd come in under criteria. I led hem once we were on the road, what I estimated to be about a half mile back to camp. It's a good thing for me to get off and lead for these brief distances. It gives my hips and knees a chance to relax and recover, and keeps me from developing muscle cramps during the ensuing night.

Hoss came in just under criteria and vetted out just fine. It turned out to be a good ride.

After the awards dinner, I overheard another rider discussing the possibility of a refund for riders who had chosen not to ride on the first day due to the windy conditions. That really caught my ear. I went over and weaseled my way into the conversation. The other rider said she had heard several riders who were "very mad" about having paid for a ride and not been able to do it, then not getting a refund. I pointed out that many others had chosen to ride, had finished and no one was injured. Had ride management decided conditions were too dangerous and had cancelled or postponed the ride, I could see refunds, but when riders make a decision on their own, no, management does not owe them a refund. I was particularly put out by this rider making this complaint as she had been one of those who chose not to ride on day one. Really, if you enter a ride and choose not to participate, you're out your entry fee, too bad! Okay, off my soap box.

This ride put Hoss's lifetime Endurance miles at 1060.

Fire Mountain 2012 Day 1

Sometime during the night, the wind picked up to a howl. It was so bad my tent was being beaten down on top of me. At 4am, when my alarm went off to get up and feed Hoss, the rain started. The ride was scheduled to start at 6:30.

It had been quite warm overnight. I was downright hot in the tent. When the rain started, the temperature dropped and I was glad Hoss had accepted his blanket the prior night.

I got up and fed Hoss in the wind and rain. The wind was so bad I had to put his hay in the feeder, which he hates. He'd much rather eat off the ground, and push his hay up under the trailer where I'll have to fetch it for him later.

The word did not get around camp that the ride had been delayed 15 minutes, so we were ready to go a little before 6:30. We rode over to the start, and I was told about the delay. Hoss did not want to settle down, so I started riding him in laps around the camp. By the time the ride did start, he was well warmed up and ready to go.

Many riders chose not to ride due to the extreme wind. I chose to go ahead and start because I figured if I didn't, by 10am the weather would improve and I'd be ticked off I hadn't gone. As it turned out, the weather never did get better and we struggled through the wind the entire 50 miles.

The ride had a controlled start, with a car leading us out a certain distance before we were turned loose. I was keeping Hoss well in hand, trying to keep him at a walk until we passed the point where the controlled start ended, when another horse, a little grey mare, caught up to us. Her rider, Kathy, asked if she could ride with us, as Hoss was behaving himself. Of course as soon as he was with this little mare, who was misbehaving something fierce, Hoss decided he could do what she was doing, and we had two horses trying to take off at a dead run.

I got Hoss settled well enough to start a decent trot and we were on our way. The first several miles of the first loop was a steady but real uphill climb. It took some time to really notice how much elevation we were gaining. After we had covered some ground, we looked back and realized how much climbing we'd done. We rethought our strategy and slowed down on the climbs.

The wind was brutal. The Weather Channel had predicted 20-25 mph winds with gusts up to 40 mph. Well, it felt more like 40 mph winds constantly. The wind itself was cold, and I stayed in my jacket all day. Without the wind, the day would have gotten up to a rather nice temperature.

Due to the weather, the original plan of two vet checks, the first with a 30 minute hold and the second with a 1 hour hold, was changed. Instead when we came in for the first vet check, we had a "check and go" style. After Hoss had come down, I took him to the vet and we were back out again. Kathy and her horse, Treasure, had ended up ahead of us, partly because Treasure is faster than Hoss, and partly because Kathy and Treasure trotted in while I got off and led Hoss the last half mile or so. So, when we'd cleared the check, I figured they were ahead of us, so we set out at a good clip.

I had forgotten to pack Hoss's regular electrolytes, and hadn't had a chance to order what he usually gets in his syringed doses, so I had to beg some from another rider. I had purchased some syringes locally, but a different brand than I usually use. Now I had three different brands of electrolytes I was using. His regular electrolytes were already in his prepared stuff for his morning mash. I had to use the borrowed stuff in his mid-ride and end-of-day bran mashes.

A group of horses passed us going much faster than we do, and Hoss really wanted to keep up with them. I held him back and kept him from bolting off with them. I saw a grey horse ahead and, thinking it was Treasure and Kathy, started allowing Hoss to go a little faster. When we'd caught up somewhat, I realized it wasn't who I thought it was. The horse was wearing boots, and Treasure was in shoes. I slowed Hoss back down.

Hoss started looking back, and I glanced back to see a couple of horses behind us. Before long, Kathy and Treasure, along with another horse and rider, caught up. Kathy slowed Treasure to stay with us, but the other rider continued on. Hoss was happy to have Treasure to go along with again.

On this loop, we went around the back side of the hills. The wind was blowing fiercely. I saw ahead the clouds and knew we were headed for rain. The trail turned, and sure enough, we were headed straight into the rain, the wind blowing straight in our faces. Hoss seemed unaffected, while I was trying to keep my face from being abraded off by the flying dust.

We finally finished loop two. While I was leading Hoss in to camp for the second check, a particularly stiff gust of wind kicked up and prevented me from moving forward. I looked back at Hoss and saw he was being blown sideways.

We made our way up to the water and then the vets for the check. Hoss cleared the vet check and we headed back to the trailer for a bran mash for him and whatever I could find to eat not requiring heating up on the stove. I rather doubted the stove was going to be any use to me. As it was, some kind person had knocked my tent down and put rocks on it to keep it from blowing away.

I was sitting in the truck to eat when Kathy came over. She was contemplating pulling from the ride due to the conditions. I said as soon as my medications took effect I'd be ready to go. We both decided to continue. We'd come this far and had only one loop left to go. Might as well get it over with.

Kathy and Treasure got out of camp well ahead of us. I got Hoss going, but he really just wanted to stop. He clearly did not feel he'd had enough rest time and wanted more time. Treasure, however, was out and ready to go. She and Kathy were trotting up the trail and rapidly gaining distance on us. Hoss kept them in his sights for a while, but his enthusiasm started to fizzle.

We were riding along the fence line only a couple of miles out of camp when I realized we'd missed a turn somewhere. So I turned Hoss around and we went looking. Except Hoss thought it meant we were headed back to camp. When I found the trail and turned him up it, he was mad! Despite Treasure slowly disappearing in the distance, his drive was gone. We wound up walking much of the way up the hill.

I really had to pedal Hoss on this loop. He was not in any mood to keep going. With the wind continuing to blow like mad, he paid no mind when horses came into sight on the trail back. I kept him going, though it was a struggle, and toward the end decided to just let him walk. We'd make it back in plenty of time even if he dawdled.

By the time we got back, Kathy and Treasure had been in for over an hour. Hoss vetted through nicely with a 48 heart rate. Of course, he walked a good three miles and I led him the last half mile or so. Still, I was happy with his finishing scores. I took him back to the trailer and took care of him, then got some food for myself and sat in the truck to wait out the wind.

The wind finally did die down at about 7:00 and I was able to set my tent back up and go to bed. I was pretty whipped and not sure if I was going to be able to get back in the saddle on Sunday. But the medications started to take effect, and I began to feel well enough to think I'd get up and ride the next day.

Moving!

We got home from Death Valley on January 1^st. I had to hit the ground running. Our move was planned to start on January 2^nd!

Long view from top of driveway

The property manager for the new house called about midday and we set up a time to meet. Up to that point I had been working on making sure the books were correct and getting other stuff taken care of. After the call, however, it was time to get moving.

Hoss, DC and Uh-oh enjoy dinner at the top of the pasture

My husband helped me pull the floor mats out of the horse trailer and we proceeded to start loading with what was ready to go. We met the manager and did the final walk through, and then the work started.
It took the remainder of the week, and the help of a friend with a flat bed truck to move the corral panels, but we had everybody moved to the new place by Friday night.

The bottom of he pasture and side of the house

The funniest part was getting Uh-oh, the semi-feral goat. I had a tube of sedative in the glove box of my truck, and my husband and my friend were headed back to the old place for more stuff. The plan was for them to get the goat moved, and we'd go back for the horses rather than try to move horses and goat together.

It didn't take much work to catch Uh-oh, so the guys gave her the dose of sedative I'd told them to use, and went back to work while waiting for the sedative to take effect. The mistake they made was letting Uh-oh go after giving her the drug. Although she was effectively sedated, sleeping on her feet, as soon as she saw anyone trying to catch her again, she wasn't having it. I explained later sedation is not the same thing as anesthesia!

Our water tank and pump -- 2500 gallons (the neighbor's is 5000)

Later in the day, we went back and tried to get Uh-oh loaded in the trailer again. I took the horses out of the pasture and tied them to the trailer. Uh-oh was having nothing to do with any human being. She did not like the way the sedation made her feel and wasn't taking any chances we'd do that to her again.

Eventually I decided to load the horses in the trailer and see if she'd get in with them. I was at the point where she was spending the night alone if she didn't get her fuzzy butt in the trailer! It took the three of us, and the sight of the horses already in the trailer, but Uh-oh was finally wrangled and she came home with the horses.

The front of the house

There's been lots of work going on at Chalice Ranch's new digs. The horses now have a 100 ft by 175 ft pasture to roam about in. It will be larger soon. We need to complete the fence around the property. Tanner has already discovered the neighbors across the street have a habit of leaving their trash out. This had led to some problems, with my daughter and I having found Tanner digging through the garbage on several occasions.

We're still working on getting everything unpacked and finding "homes" for everything, but we're well and truly moved in. The house is quite nice. The kitchen, despite being physically smaller, somehow has far more storage space and is much easier to use. I even have a separate office.

Celeste's painting hangs above the fireplace

It'll take some time, but we'll be fully settled in before too terribly long.