The latest

My surgery was successful in eradicating the tumors and the autoimmune attack on my poor pituitary. The latest MRI shows no reoccurring inflammation, in fact it was unremarkable, a word I have come to love when reading my brain scans :-).
We will be in Katy aboard Buttercup for the holidays and then hopefully back to the boat to do repairs and a fun trip. Below is a picture of our two homes, we hope to travel many miles in both :-).





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COMET LOVEJOY, A COMET AFTER MY OWN HEART.

Since my surgery I have had a real problem with light sensitivity. Being in the sunlight, even with a hat and sunglasses can be like a spike being driven in my skull. Thus, I've had a love hate relationship with the sun. This comet Lovejoy has captured my heart. Skimming the suns atmosphere, barreling into a place few dare to tread, and thumbing its nose at the great beast ( though he lost his tail). You inspire me to do the same.
Godspeed oh great comet, live long and prosper :-)


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The BIG Wedding :-)

We got married ( again) on November 5th:-). MM asked us where Brian got the engagement ring,The ring is custom. Brian ordered it from Trina at Bauble Patch Jewlers. http://baublepatchjewelers.com/






My dream wedding, saying our vows on the bow of beautiful Rain Dog :-)









Brian as a little bambino....so sweet

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That's me in the middle, ocean girl lovin the Hawaiian waters








My mom bought the beautiful wedding cake.....yum yum









Flower girls, Mimi and and my niece Erika Lily, aren't they adorable!!









My friend Maritza and I at the rehearsal dinner, hosted by Brian's parents, thanks mom and dad Bearden for a lovely night.









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Location:The best day of my life!

Maritza and I , we went to college together :-)

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The Weddding

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More Wedding

He married me twice, to make sure it stuck. :-)


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The Wedding

The ring bearers and flowers girls with the bride and groom :-)


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The Wedding

It was so perfect, so beautiful!



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The dreaded holding tank!!!

Today we are having maritime sanitation instal a holding tank level sensor. It will be so nice not to have to guess all the time, which we usually get wrong :-(.
Still staying in Buttercup (camper), we are in Katy (rv park) to help out with babysitting the niece while my sister and brother-in-law celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary aboard a cruise ship.
:-).

Will be great to get back aboard Rain Dog but we love Buttercup too! Brian and I decided we are pretty spoiled, I agree.

Wedding preparations are going well thanks to help from all our friends and families.


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Surf and Turf

We bought a Casita camper, it will help when I need to be close to my drs downtown, and since I am unable to work, Brian and I may do some light traveling. Not quite ready for the boat, my light sensitivity is crazy bad. Recovering still a little bit day by day. Wedding coming up, Brian and I are so excited, can't believe how I lived 40 years without him, my hero.
The Casita was bought from a friend who gave us a deep discount :-).





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Boys weekend

Kaela and I stayed at my sisters house and had a girls weekend :-). Brian and his friends ( Joe and Chris ) had a guys weekend aboard Rain Dog. It was hotter than hades so they sailed at night and stayed in the cool air conditioned boat during the day


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Kaela ( left) and Stormy ( right). Stormy is a gracious host.

More boat logo ideas

My niece made this during our quest to find the perfect logo.


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Our boat logo! And Getting my health issues outta the way

Our boat logo, we hired a graphics guy to do the logo but it just wasn't right. So I took the silhouette of kaela he made and designed the rest. I found the mermaid silhouette online. This is the one we chose for our boat graphics, boat cards, and we are even using it for our wedding invitations ( nov 5 th save that date!)

My health:
Well I am really starting to find my mojo, still a bit slow and easily tired but all and all feel more like myself...kinda sorta. Been having strange dreams about rescuing animals. Every night my dreams are filled with caring for animals that are in need, one night it's an octopus, the next a squirrel . I think it is my nursing psyche trying to get back into the swing of caring for my patients, gotta start small with animals then work my way up to the humans :-). I've been gone for 5 months! And my brain has been tampered with, I feel a bit unprepared to go back into the stresses of life and death decisions. I definitely want to slow down. I loved working at the heart and vascular institute, the nurses and doctors are just amazing, I still have so much to learn from them, sigh.

Brian and I are going to take a trip and when we get back I will sit down a figure out if I want that high stress but satisfying reward ( and great pay to help the cruising kitty), or if I want to slow it down and take my nursing career in another direction.

We are back aboard! I am now healthy enough to be left alone, I even drove to the store all by myself! Brian has been installing our new alpinglow lights...sweet




For those still in the dark my official diagnosis it is autoimmune lyphocytic Hypophysitis . I did have pituitary tumors which were benign, they were probably causing some of my symptoms, but the big whopper was the ALH.

Head update

Just wanted to post the final results of our head project. We started out with a Groco k ( original factory) then replaced it with another Groco k which was defective, exchanged that head with yet another Groco k which was also defective. We then bought a raritan PHC and LOVE it ( well, as much as you can love a marine head). Anywho, here is the final results, we had maritime sanitation install it ( less than 200 bucks including fabricating the new false floor). We used starboad to extend the floor a couple inches to accommodate the new head footprint.


Still a lot of recovery for me but we are at least spending the weekends on the boat. Today Brian is installing a wifi antenna.

To Hell And Back. But Back, Thanks To A Few Heroes

OCEAN GIRL AND RAIN DOG DAY BEFORE SURGERY. I DECIDED TO DYE MY HAIR REBEL RED/PURPLE, BUT DONT GET USED TO IT, I MISS BEING A BLONDE ;-)




MY HUSBAND BRIAN, MY SUPERMAN, MY HERO. HE SAT NEXT TO MY BED, IF I SO MUCH AS TWITCHED HE WAS UP AND LEANING OVER ME TO SEE WHAT I NEEDED. ONE NIGHT MY VITALS WENT CRAZY DUE TO ALL THE DAMN MEDS. MY HEART RATE SPIKED, BLOOD PRESSURE GOING CRAZY, MY BODY WAS GETTING OVER LOADED WITH FLUIDS AND ELECTROLYTES UNBALANCED (A COMMON REACTION POST BRAIN SURGERY). THANKFULLY EVERYTHING WAS OK, BUT I WAS SO SCARED! BRIAN, MY WONDERFUL HUSBAND, WAS RIGHT THERE WITH HIS BIG STRONG ARMS WRAPPED AROUND ME, KISSING MY FOREHEAD, AND TELLING ME I WAS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT. MY HERO (SIGH).



ME IN ICU





BRIAN AND I IN THE CAR MAKING A RUN FOR IT. THEY FINALLY DISCHARGED ME AFTER TEN DAYS, 6 OF WHICH WERE IN ICU. I DIDN'T EVEN WAIT TO GET DRESSED.





MY NEPHEW AND HERO WARREN, ALWAYS TRYING TO MAKE ME SMILE. MY NEPHEW CAMERON, AND NIECE ERIKA LILY CAME BY TOO TO CHEER ME UP.






DR HAMILTON AND MY HERO MOM.
WITHOUT MY MOM DEMANDING MY PATHOLOGY REPORT I WOULD PROBABLE STILL BE IN THAT GAWD AWFUL PLACE. DR HAMILTON, WHO PICKED UP THE BALL MY DR DROPPED, FOUND OUT WHY I WASN'T GETTING BETTER. My TUMOR WAS RARE SO IT MADE THE ROUNDS AT THE MEDICAL CENTER, IT EVEN WAS THE STAR OF THE "WHAT THE HECK IS THIS" PATHOLOGY CONFERENCE. SO WHEN THE DECISION WAS FINALLY MADE TO NAME MY DIAGNOSIS, TO DECIDE WHAT THE GROWTH WAS, THE JOB OF TELLING ME AND MY ENDOCRINOLOGIST DR HAMILTON WAS LOST IN TRANSLATION FOR A COUPLE DAYS, UNTIL MY MOM (HERO)STARTED CRACKING HEADS.








MY BROTHER-IN-LAW AND HERO NOEL. HE WAS THERE DURING SOME ROUGH TIMES, READY WITH A COOL WASH CLOTH AND ALL THE FIJI WATER I COULD DRINK. CAME EVERY MORNING TO GIVE BRIAN A BREAK AND BRING A CUP OF MY FAVORITE TEA. PLUS HE WOULD GET BRIAN OUT OF THE HOSPITAL FOR AN HOUR OR TWO EVERY NIGHT FOR A NICE MEAL. IT WAS SUCH A COMFORT THAT SOMEONE WAS LOOKING AFTER BRIAN TOO.






MY SISTER AND HERO ALECIA, SHE WAS ALWAYS READY TO FLUFF MY PILLOW, KEPT THE COLD WATER COMING. MY SWEET GENTLE SIS NEARLY CAME TO BLOWS WHEN A NURSE WHO WAS OVER 45 MINUTES LATE FOR MY PAIN MEDS CHOSE TO TAKE A PHONE CALL RATHER THAN ADDRESS MY UNCONTROLLED PAIN,NEEDLESS TO SAY, I GOT MY PAIN MEDS (MY HERO).





THANKS TO MY BROTHER BILL AND WONDERFUL SISTER-IN-LAW BRENDA FOR VISITING ME, THOUGH THIS IS ALL I REMEMBER (SEE PICTURE ABOVE)






MY MOM AND HERO, WHO DID THE DIGGING TO FIND MY PATHOLOGY FROM SURGERY. WHEN THE FINAL REPORT WAS TRACKED DOWN IT SHOWED THAT I NEEDED FURTHER TREATMENT TO REDUCE SWELLING. WITHIN HOURS OF THE FIRST DOSE OF THE NEW MEDS MY EXTREME HEAD PAIN WAS DOWN TO A SMOOTH AND EASY THUD.






BRIAN'S SISTER REBECCA CAME ALL THE WAY FROM AUSTIN TO HELP OUT THE FIRST COUPLE DAYS, I KNOW SHE WAS A GREAT COMFORT TO BRIAN AND TO ME AS WELL. AND THANKS TO BRIAN'S PARENTS FOR THE BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS AND COMFORTING PHONE CALLS.




MY ICU NURSE AL, WHO CAME BY TO WISH ME WELL ON DISCHARGE DAY. DAMN GOOD NURSE.




THANKS TO FRED AND LINDA FOR THEIR WONDERFUL DAILY EMAILS OF ENCOURAGEMENT, THE DOZEN OR SO CHURCHES PRAYING FOR US, AND ALL THE PRAYER WORRIORS.

AND THANKS TO ALL OUR FRIENDS CALLING AND WRITING WELL WISHES, YOU ALL ARE SUCH A COMFORT. BRAIN AND I SHOOK OUR HEADS IN AMAZEMENT MORE THAN ONCE OF JUST HOW BLESSED WE ARE WITH SUCH AN ABUNDANCE OF WONDERFUL LOVING FRIENDS, THANKS.

ps
sorry for the typos, I had brain surgery after all :-)
PPS
Sorry for the ALL CAPS, I didnt even notice it until Brian pointed it out(very Freudian).

SURGERY MOVED TO JULY 5th

DUE TO A LITTLE GIRL WHO NEEDED MY SURGICAL SLOT, MY SURGERY IS NOW ON THE 5th OF JULY. I WILL BE IN NEURO ICU THE FIRST NIGHT FOR PRECAUTION. HOPEFULLY THE NEXT DAY, I WILL MOVE ON TO MY SISTER'S HOUSE FOR A WEEK OF RECOVERY. THEN IF ALL IS WELL, ONTO OUR BELOVED BOAT, RAIN DOG (WE MISS YOU RD!).
PLEASE PRAY FOR THE LITTLE GIRL AND ME TOO! :-)
HOPE ALL IS WELL,
ERIKA AND BRIAN

Rodney, the pain in my arse.

Well, a week after Brian and I got engaged the docs found a BENIGN growth on my pituitary. The growth, which I named Rodney, is about 9-11 cm and kinda wraps around my pituitary. The cure rate for this is 80-90%. The risk of mortality is only 1%. So this is not a life changer, just a damn big bump in the road.

Brian has been fantastic, taking care of me and making sure the Docs do their job. I will need surgery, which will be on the 6th of July by one of the leading pituitary surgeons in the country (thank God for the Houston Medical Center!). After the surgery and sufficient recovery time Brian and I are going to have a "Rodney is Toast" Party, which includes a burial at sea for the dearly departed Rodney (good riddance to the thug!).

Having said that, Brian and I got married!! :-) We wanted him to have more say in my treatment so we hot footed it down to the local courthouse and declared we were married. It was surprisingly romantic, but everything Brian does seems to be :-).So I am officially Mrs Bearden (hooray!). We will still have a big boat wedding aboard Rain Dog in on November 5th (parr-tay!)

Well that is our life in a nut shell right now. We are deliriously happy to have each other. I will update when I can.

Hope this finds everyone well.

Erika and Brian

BRIAN AND ERIKA ARE ENGAGED!!

Brian proposed and I accepted (of course!), we are so happy! I cant believe what an amazing man Brian is, and I feel so blessed that I will be able to call him my husband :-)! It will be so fun to grow old with this man! He is adventurous, kind, loving, funny, smart, and all around perfect (sigh!)As it turned out he was in China on business when the engagement ring came in, so he proposed via skype videophone :-) I cried (of course), it was so beautiful!



The ring is a white gold mermaid with her arms wrapped around a black pearl, it is amazing! I will try to post pictures, my Internet is spotty and I am on Brian's computer (mine died).

We will be married in the fall, on board Rain Dog at our Marina. Brian has a dear friend that will preform the ceremony and all our family and friends will be invited ;-).
Cheers!
Erika

Nautical Flea Market, a Sailors Paradise

Our booty from the Nauticasl flea market at the Elks Lodge.

Pair of snatch blocks - $25!
2 Sunbrella canvas cockpit chairs - $30
Perko chromed bronze folding step- $20
Winch Handle $5
two blade bronze prop- $1!
Spending $81 for $800 worth of stuff - priceless


Brian mounted the step at the v-berth so I can get in easier(it is a little high).

Damn Head

We bought a new Damnhead, that is what I am calling our new head (toilet) Damnhead. We paid over 800 dollars for it, installed it, then discovered the bolts were not tightened so it leaked. Plus it did not have the inlet hose to pipe fitting (standard on cheaper toilets) so we had to order that from groco (35 bucks!). So far not feeling the love for this head.

Even after adjusting the bolts it still leaked around one bolt (forward left)So I took it apart it appears to have some kind of liquid gasket around the rubber gasket.

Will call groco in the morning to see what they say. Would hate to have to change out the head.

On a brighter note we got our new anchor! Sweeeeeet, check it out.45lb Manson.




45lb manson and our old 35lb CQR.




Fit like a glove ;-)