Not Your Typical Adventure, Part 2

Well, we didn’t travel far this month, but we’ve certainly had some adventures! You may or may not have heard that I had open heart surgery three weeks ago to replace my aortic valve. My surgery was totally successful and am home from the hospital now. I’m walking a bit more each day, healing, and regaining strength.

Recovering from a surgery of this size is a bear. I’ve learned that I retain water after big

surgeries, and this time was no different. My feet often look like marshmallows and my

belly like I am in early pregnancy. Thank goodness for Lasix RX, which are successfully,

albeit slowly, encouraging the excess water to take its leave! 

I am so very grateful for the wonderful medical care I received by Dr Castro and his entire team at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, who are nothing short of amazing.  I needed this heart surgery because my bicuspid aortic valve was no longer working properly. (Most people have tricuspid aortic valves.) Dr Castro also enlarged the space above the aortic valve which was quite small so that once I am healed, I will have more oxygen than ever before, and I couldn’t be more excited! What surgeons can do these

days is truly amazing.

I am so grateful to my entire family and friends so many who have supported me in so carefully and lovingly these last weeks. A special big thank you goes to John for all you have done for me each day!

I’m not a slow mover so these days have been unusual for me. It’s given me time to appreciate the beautiful spring we are all experiencing. Many plants in our yard and neighborhood, and of course the Flower Farm, are showing their spring glory. We had a bald eagle visit our neighborhood yesterday which was nothing short of spectacular.

John has had some fun projects to keep him busy…….Just like everybody else, we've had our share of yard and tree cleanup after our wild winter. We had a very capable and reasonably priced arborist, Joe Lyon Tree Service, take down some damaged trees recently. Joe's crew spotted the bald eagle and our whole neighborhood came out to admire our noble guest.

John has been wanting to graft over some of our citrus trees to more desirable varieties. Last week, John worked with a Sicilian American, Giuseppe Bonfanti, to graft many young trees, and if this goes well, Giuseppe will graft some of our full-sized trees over to better-quality varieties. It was fun to watch Pepe graft and to finally start this exciting project to improve our orchard’s quality and variety.

In closing, all I wanted to say is take time to love whomever you love. We just never know how much time we each have. Sick or well, we could all use a good bit of love each day. Be well my friends and enjoy this beautiful day!

If you have comments or questions, email Annie at amartinbowler@gmail.com.