Lazy Sunday

I was semi productive for about 2hours today. The rest was trying to figure out what to do. 

I sent Kent to the grocery store.  Still no pumpkin seeds. But I got Navy beans.  Those are high in magnesium. (And low in potassium!). I'll make those tomorrow when I have all day to cook them. Hopefully they will turn out well. I have not had good luck in the past. I guess I have some homework to do tonight.

One highlight of my day was doggie play time. It lasted over an hour.  

Kent went to work. It's so sweet how worried he is leaving me alone. I have plenty of neighbors who can rush me to the hospital. It won't be needed. Maybe we shouldn't have watched that movie last night about the cancer patient. Oops. It was Sweet November. By the time I realized she had cancer and stopped treatments, it was too late to turn it. Oh well.

And I have pretty good health. At least on the way to being cured. We will know more after the day 100 testing.

Big Pink Goes For A Ride

We have a friend with a collection of fun cars: a viper, a cobra, and this.

A 2009 Ferrari F430. After the owner gave Kent a check out, I got a ride. Too bad I am not allowed to drive. This car really scoots!

The rest of the day paled in comparison. Just hanging around, picking up a little and doing laundry.

Even though kent stayed in bed until 9:40, he got everything done in the hangar. Amazing since he even went out to lunch and drove the Ferrari. 

It Worked

Clinic was busy today. Not only was it a 1 pm appt, but they were full. So I had to wait in the lobby for a chair to open up.  Our ride home was square in Atlanta traffic on a Friday. Luckily Dave is good company and the time went by quickly. Thanks for the ride!

Next week I am down to one visit on Tuesday only. I asked about getting fluids, and my P.A. agreed that we can try no fluids. That's great news since it will make my visit about 1 hour long.  The important thing is to keep eating magnesium rich foods. The lab results today showed I had high potassium, so I have to avoid those foods.  Luckily I have a list.

In consulting the list, I found the culprit. Spinach. I have been sautéing a handful for dinner, and adding some to eggs in the morning. Every day. Oops. Got rid of that. I have a fine tolerance in blood chemistry, and I have to be aware of what I eat. What a chore.

Jill and Jim made lasagna for us with bread and two types of dessert. Yum! Thank you guys! Kent added some wine and here is the result. Food coma at 8 pm. Dexter is cheating on me. Maybe he knows I am ok, and Kent needed attention.

So, I am really looking forward to once a week. My appointment is 7:15 am on Tuesday, so I will ask Buffy for a ride in.  Then when Kent gets done with his trip, he can pick me up. Perfect!

The thing I will need to do is drink lots of water each day. Check. Already doing that. The second thing is I will need to flush my own lines with saline, then heparin, to be sure they keep working. It's a simple screw on syringe and push the pre measured amount in. Easy. Well worth not coming in for an office visit.

My numbers were slightly up except for the white blood cells. I'm sad about that, but still, nothing to do about it. (I thought eating some leafy greens would help. Again, oops!) All I can do is concentrate on the magnesium. More nuts, artichokes, and avocados. Mmmm....

It's Big Pink Cold

Big pink is my winter coat. It's an 3/4 length LL Bean with wind check rated to way below zero. It's not glamorous or stylish, but it keeps me warm and makes me think it's not that cold out.

But it is cold out there. Well... Cold for us.  There are a lot more areas of the US colder than Georgia.  It's all what you get used to.

I had a visitor today. Dave came over and had a cup of tea after running some errands for us. Thanks, Dave.

No other big news. It's late and not much to report. No news is good news.

Road Trip

We went to Birmingham today. Kent bought some airplane pieces and we had to pick them up.

By we, I mean everyone.

Chip found a Frito under the seat. It was the highlight of his trip. No one, except me, napped. Since we left at 6:30 am, I was undercooked and took about an hour nap. It was about a 3 hour drive, hour load up, and 3 hours back. I was just so relieved we made the round trip without incident. I worry about the van breaking down. It's no Spring chicken. But we made it! Thank goodness for $2 gas prices!

When we got home the dogs zoomed the yard a bit. Then they went down for their naps.

Then I got the best phone call. Glenda had made some homemade soup and brought it over with all the trimmings and treats for the dogs. (Thank you! It was delicious!!)

Now we huddle inside trying to stay warm. Very windy tonight and cold. Then it will just be cold the next few days.  Maybe we will play ball in the house. Or maybe just attack the vacuum cleaner. That's always fun.

That's my Dexter. (Except he always comes to me.)

Good Enough

Clinic wasn't super long today. Just got fluids. My numbers are still not as high as they have been. I don't get it. Why?

And no one is worried but me. I know there is nothing I can do, so I trust that I am doing ok.  I feel good.  

We went for a walk today. A nice long one.  It was somewhat chilly in the wind, but mostly a nice walk. That's the last one for a while, since I refuse to go when the arctic blast gets here. Tomorrow and Thursday will be mostly inside days.  We should be back in the fifties by Friday and then rain over the weekend. We will walk when we can.

I have clinic on Friday at 1. Then the next one is Tuesday. I was told next week I will be down to Tuesdays only. Just one day a week. Yay. Maybe we can skip the fluids. Obviously I am drinking enough to keep my kidneys lubricated 5 days a week (soon to be 6). Is sitting there captive for 4 hours really necessary?? I will ask on Friday.

Nothing New

I guess no news is good news.  I have clinic tomorrow.  I really hope my numbers are up and we can see some upward trend.  Today is day 80.  I'm nervously awaiting day 100. I hope numbers will be good enough then to get my line removed.  

I doubt they will remove it if I will still need blood or plateletes or magnesium.  Maybe I had better have someone buy some pumpkin seeds. Unfortunately, Linda just went to the store for me. (Thank you!) Maybe next time.

So far I have been lucky not to get sick. Here we are in January in the middle of flu season. Lucky lucky lucky.

It's been kind of warm too. I know the cold is coming Thursday. I hope we don't have any snow or ice. It literally shuts down the city. We can't get caught in traffic for 36 hours like some people did last year.

The hardest part of my day is planning eating around pills. I cannot eat 2 hours before and 1 hour after taking pills. It has to do with how the prograf is absorbed.  Must be consistent. So dinner is 6 pm, pills are 8 pm, and snack is sometime after 9 pm.  Usually 10 pm, and asleep at 11 pm.  The morning is easy. Pills at 8 am, breakfast after 9 am. So I have to be sure to bring something to clinic tomorrow both for breakfast and lunch.

I had better go get that ready.