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Sunday, August 28, 2016

The "The End of August", edition.

Good Sunday morning!  A lazy Sunday morning. Last week Brian's Mom (Rose), aunt, sister (Sandra) , sister's husband, mom's friend, brother of mom's friend and wife of brother of mom's friend. Did you get all that?  Lol. And the sister of the husband of sister  joined us. I think there were 11-12 of us at Sunday brunch.  Anyway, they were all here for Brian's mom's birthday.  Sandra takes Rose anywhere Rose  wants to go for her birthday. This year it was Las Vegas. It's almost always Las Vegas. Lol. But we did have that year we went to New Orleans. We enjoyed the visit. We enjoyed the company. 

Not much going on here. All of our activities went on hiatus for August. The instructors needed a vacation. and the buildings needed the cleaning and maintenance thing.  We've been relegated to the condo pool and hot tub. The horror!  Lol. A couple of incidents in our condo building this month. Someone disconnected a refrigerator and caused a minor flood. We were sort of affected. At least it was on a higher floor. And a few weeks later an electric meter box exploded. Lots of fire trucks. We were not affected by that. But several units on different stack and floor were out of Commision ..for about a week. Ugh. Oh. And what's a stack?  It's a stack of apartments. Like our apartment number is 123. Building 1, 2nd floor, apartment 3. Other units in our stack are 113, 133, 143, 153. Units in our "stack" are up and down. And yeah, the temps were like 108-109. Some people went to a hotel. We also talked with some people who stayed in their units. That had no electricity. But they could plug the refrigerators up in the hall. And we were fine because the elevators worked. And oh yeah. The HOA payed for the repair. We understand it was in excess of $9000.00. Wow. 

I've been doing doctors appointments this month. I guess it's just that time of year. My favorite so far was meeting with the gastroenterologist  after the colonoscopy. He had me look at the photos of my colon. Explained my colon was fine. And here's the best part. I don't need another colonoscopy for five (5) years!!!!!!  Whoo hoo!  Except I probably will need one sooner as a part of the transplant readiness. Until I get a transplant. But yay anyway!!!

My blood pressure is still scary low. I average about 88/62. Standing up too quickly is scary. A few weeks ago I got up to head toward the front and ended up doing a face plant on the sofa. In other words I made it there just in time. I was thisclose to passing out. Last night I got up, stepped into the hall and then needed to step right back into the bedroom and sit down. The room spinning is not fun. And that shit can happen randomly. Anyway. I finally am seeing the cardiologist on September 8. Which is pissing off my nephrologist. He wanted me to see a cardiologist in June. But I had to schedule an appointment with my primary care physician, then get an approval from the HMO to see a cardilogist, then schedule an appointment with the cardiologist. Hooray for HMO. So yeah. I could die before I get there. Isn't that a fun fact?  

Finally can you believe Shawn is starting her fourth year at University of Illinois (UIUC) in the doctoral program?  She is a TA this year. My child is a night owl. And has never liked waking up early. And this started when she was in pre-K. So her TA class is at 8AM. Lol lol lol. 

That's it for today. Life will start ramping up in a few weeks. Sorority meetings will start. Classes start up again. And next weekend dad is heading to Ohio for a family reunion. And Shawn will drive to Ohio also. They're all looking forward to it!  Enjoy your Sunday!  


Photo of my dad and Brian's mom! 

Sunday, August 14, 2016

The "Easy Like Sunday Morning", edition.

With apologies and acknowledgment to Lionel Richie, Good Sunday morning! Did a mid afternoon treatment yesterday. During treatment 4 fire engines visited the building. One of the electrical boxes arced, blew up and caught on fire. Yikes! Took out 10 units. Fortunately ours was not one of the 10. And yes the affected residents have been relocated.  There are some residents that go out of town. You know. For the hot summer. The home owners association is taking care of the repair, but it is estimated to be completed by Wednesday...no guarantees. Yikes. And it's a 110+ day today. 


 I bet you're wondering what would we have done if the power has gone out while I was in the middle of treatment?  Well. We've been trained for an emergency removal. Heck. I was trained for that when I was a patient in the dialysis center in Detroit. I know how to get the hell off the machine quickly if I need to. Of course I'd be running out of the building with needles still stuck in my arm!  With the tubes clamped. And as a mobile patient I was assigned to assist less mobile patients to safety because the staff would be assisting the totally immobile patients. Yes there were people brought in to the center in gurneys. 

We watched Simone Manuel swim the last leg of the relay last night like she was being chased....  Bad joke!  Lol.  And then we watched the men's relay. Watching Michael Phelphs butterfly from the head on view is a thing of beauty. His wing span is impressive. The butterfly stroke is such a busy stroke. I'm a freestyle girl. And if your old school, you learned it when it was called the Australian crawl!  Learn. To. Swim. 

This morning we headed out to the hot tub. Ahhhh.  I went into the pool first.  Brian went straight to the jacuzzi. My back was hurting. Not a lot.  Just enough that I knew it was there.  Once I got into the pool and moved to the deep end, the buoyancy of the water eased the pressure on my back. Glorious relief!!  Then I moved over to the hot tub. 15 minutes and we're good as gold!  

Today is brunch day. We're headed to Bonefish grill. Grilled fish sounds good. On the dialysis front, I've had my colonoscopy. I've put that sucker off for a while. It was time. It had been 4 years. It's necessary for me to be on the transplant list. The prep was worse than the procedure. But!  The prep was decidedly much better this time than it was 4 years ago. And Brian reminded me of the prep 20+ years ago...the enema. ;-(  So as I complain, I realize it could have much worse. So. Let me tell you the difference. 4 years ago I had to drink a gallon of nastiness starting around 6-8 PM and drink it in an hour..then endure hours of major discomfort. This time I had 2 doses of nastiness. 16 ounces at 2 PM followed by 32 ounces of cold water. Mild discomfort for 2 hours. Then repeat at 7 PM. And that's it. Of course I was on a clear liquid diet all day, but that was it.  The procedure lasted 15 minutes. I arrived at the surgical center at 6:30 AM and was back home by 9:30 AM. 

Finally on Friday we volunteered for the sorority for the Department of Family Services (DFS) annual Back to School event. The event was for children in foster care. Last year we passed out back packs.  This year we manned the thank you banners where the kids and their families signed their thanks. But more AKAs were assigned other tasks.  That was just as much fun as passing out the school supplies! And as last year the event had swag  and swag and more swag. And the obligatory ice cream truck waiting outside!  Lots of social service agencies had tables. We were told that if the organizations wanted to participate, they had to have stuff to give away and had to have at 1000 items.  The kids backpacks were stuffed!!  I loved seeing the kids. They were so excited!  <3.  

That's it for today.  Leaving you with photos of the prickly pear cactus. We have about 10 of them on the grounds. Last year only 2-3 bloomed. This year they all bloomed!!!  And now they're starting to fall off. And a photo of back to school event. I took a photo of the Bikers Against Child Abuse booth. They showed up en mass!  I told Brian I bet they all rode to the building together...because they all came in to the building together!  Stay cool. We're hot out here,but we don't have the humidity. Be careful!  



Monday, August 8, 2016

The "Dad, Brian and Me", edition.

Good Monday morning!  I haven't written because...I guess I've been lazy. And we've been in life's routine. And that's not a bad thing!  My cousin from Ohio was in town for the Omega Psi Phi convention. He's a board member. He was supposed to be in town earlier for special board meetings. However he got caught up with Southwest Airline issues. So he arrived a day and a half late. He wasn't pleased. Anyway. Afterwards he stayed a few days with us. We all enjoyed his visit. When I was a kid we used to visit his family in Cleveland. As a matter of fact, so many families would visit their home in Cleveland it would be like a family reunion. People sleeping in every.single.room. Great times!  And yeah. My cousin and his brother are older than me and would tease me. They called me Rapunzel. Which eventually got shortened to Rap. Lol. Anyway. Dad, Brian and I enjoyed the visit. And oh yeah. Dad took this as an opportunity to take us all to Fogo de Chao. Again. And. We've been there enough now that the server remembers us. :-(  Lol. 

Our workouts are getting better. Getting  better means that The trainer is adding more reps and harder stuff. She has Brian training for TRX level one. He has a circuit has to complete in a certain amount of time. TRX is suspension training. I'm not anywhere near that, but I've started using the TRX equipment. There are 4 trainers at the gym and at any given time they are also working with clients. We are all at different levels. Some of the workouts are impressive to see. And you know what?  I still have to force myself to go and I whine during most of the workout. (I am whining less). But I feel damn good afterwards and am glad I went! 

And the trainer is working with us on nutrition. My dietary needs are different because of the kidney disease. She wants us to eat whole grains. Whole grains are not recommended for me. I don't like whole wheat spaghetti or brown rice anyway. But we're making adjustments. I know she'd rather we eat out less. And we've cut it down. She's also been in touch with my dietician. So all is well. We are looking and feeling healthier. And yes, we're still doing deep water fitness. 

Every Sunday Dad, Brian and I go out to Sunday brunch. We alternate who selects the location..and who pays.  :-)  It started with a rotation of buffets, but that got old. Now we hit restaurants and end up trying new things. My dad was an old school  meat and potatoes guy while I was growing up. He didn't eat barbeque ribs. He didn't eat rice. He didn't eat fresh pork chops. Yada yada yada. And Mom catered to him. When Brian and I moved out here, our meals were more ... varied. And guess who ended up liking the food?  And if we brought food home, guess who'd rummage through the carry out boxes. And then ask about the food and comment that he liked it?  lol. So guess who is adventurous in his eating now?  My 90 year old dad!  Lol. 

We went to Lolo's, a chicken and waffle restaurant. The combination was foreign to him, but he tried it. As an aside, I asked him what he wanted. He said 2 pieces of chicken and and 2 waffles. I told him he wanted one waffle. He was adamant that he wanted 2 waffles. I told home him he was thinking of pancakes. But I think he just wasn't listening. There was no option on the menu for 2 pieces of chicken and 2 waffles. Brian said there was a 3 chicken 2 waffle option. Dad said that was fine. So the food comes. And he realizes.  He was thinking of pancakes. <smack head>. Lol. 

This past Sunday was Dad's turn to select. We'd taken him to the Mexican seafood restaurant before. He decided he wanted to go this week. Before we go to the restaurants he looks up the menu on the web. He discusses his choices with me...and I have to remember what he wants when it's time to order. Lol. He pretty much knows what he wants before we get there. This time he pulled up a photo of a molcajete. Yes I had to look it up. He declared he wanted "that". It has shrimp, chicken and steak - his favorite foods. Lol. I was impressed that he wanted this strange looking dish. He's come a long way!  I'm pretty proud of him. He's a cool dad. <3. 

What I didn't mention was as we left the restaurant and were walking to the car, he tripped and fell. He scraped his hand and hit his head...not hard, but now he has a black eye. :-(    He's doing fine, but we're keeping an eye on him. He likes the attention.  

On the dialysis front, my tests have started. I have a cardiology test to schedule. And the dreaded colonoscopy is this Thursday. { cry }. Although. I've managed to put if off for 4 years. It's time. I picked up the wretched drink Saturday. The pharmacist asked if I had any questions. I asked if it could be less miserable. She laughed and sadly said no.  Lol. 

That's it for today. Watching the Olympics. I didn't think I'd watch it, but I got pulled in by the women's bike race and here I am. And oh yeah. Brian had me watching fencing Sunday morning.  Lol. And we're asking each other how is it scored?  And I mentioned that for a brief moment in the 10th grade we had a fencing class.  En garde!  Have a great day!!!