The "Enjoying Family", edition.

Good Friday morning!  We are simultaneously staying busy and doing nothing!  We're just chilling and planning. I always take Shawn on a shopping spree for Christmas and Brian wanted in on the action. Lol. So on Wednesday we headed to the Fashion Show mall on the strip. Why that mall?  It has the largest Macy's in town and that Macy's sells lines that are not in other Macy's stores in the area.  Now I have to add that yes, it's the largest Macy's in the area, but it's small compared to Oakland mall.

While Shawn  and I are shopping, Brian heads out into the mall to use his Art of Shaving gift card and will meet up with us in Dillards. His shop of choice. Surprisingly this was the very first time I'd walked the entirety of the mall. Because of course Macy's was at one end and Dillards was at the complete opposite end. Glad I've been going to the trainer.  Lol. It's a huge mall!!  Huuuuge! I already mentioned it has several anchor stores..Macy's, Saks, Dillards, Nordstrom, Neiman-Marcus and for some odd reason Forever 21 (what??!!). 

After spending quality time in the mall and me drooling over purses and just not willing to pay $300 for a purse (took all my willpower) we headed to Los Tacos for lunch. Well it was about 2:30 but we were hungry. Sooo good as always. They got me liking their green sauce. I got carne asada, the kid got the al pastor and Brian got carnitas. I got the strawberry Fresca, Brian and Shawn got the pineapple. Fresh fruit drinks. While eating we made plans to to go to the light show thingy at the race track. 

Light show thingy is really called Glittering Lights at the Las Vegas Speedway. I'd seen segments about it on tv during the holidays since we've been out here. The first year we had no idea where the speedway was. The following year I just didn't make time because I had treatment in the evenings. This year I was determined to make time. Wednesday and Saturdays are my off days. And of course I can adjust my treatments. So off we went. The speedway is on Las Vegas Blvd across the road from Nellis Air Force base. In other words, we drove north on Las Vegas Blvd until there were no more street lights (!!). There was one of the portable lighted signs telling us to "turn here for light show" down a really dark road. Lol. We could see the lights "over there", but we had to "turn here". And the dark road was a classic Las Vegas road that went from 2 lanes to four lanes and back to 2 without notice. ;-/  in the dark. 

After twisting and turning we made it to the entrance of the speedway. It cost $20 per car...during the week. Price goes up on the weekend. The light show is a charity event. We pay then head to the next stop and are greeted with people from Goodwill and finally Boy Scouts who want to sell us hot chocolate, water and popcorn. Have you ever tried Boy Scout popcorn?  You should!  Anyway. The place is lit up even before we enter the main event. We are instructed to turn off our headlights and head on in. We enter what will the first of several light canopies. So many displays!  We went through a safari, Las Vegas, space, Christmas wonderland and a Hanukkah display and more. Oh yeah, a radio station, 105.5 played Holiday music as we drove through. We drove through the grand stand. I don't think we were ever on the racetrack. Which makes sense. 

I mentioned it was a charity event. Each light display was sponsored by a Las Vegas business..car dealerships, casinos, restaurants, hospitals, tv stations, radio stations, stores, law firms...etc. more sponsors that I can name. We did get a multi page pamphlet which lists all the sponsors. 

As an extra bonus, the speedway sits higher in the valley so we could see the Las Vegas valley, downtown and the strip, all lit up, from the speedway. It was like a reverse view from when we had lunch at the top of the Stratosphere!  The three of us enjoyed the light show and declared it was worth the trip to the edge of Las Vegas. Lol. It was a beautiful end to a beautiful day. 

And oh yeah. Dad says he got a call from my cousin in Ohio. He's on his way to San Diego..that snowbird thing. And is stopping in Las Vegas for a few days. That was yesterday. Soooo.....that's another story for another day!  

On the dialysis front, all,is well. I'm keeping on schedule.  Shawn is in the room with me and Brian during treatment. I'm loving having my family with me!  

That's it for today!  And that's it for the year!  Enjoy the weekend. And stay safe!  See ya' next year! 

<3   

Some photos of the Glittering lights. 

The "We're Still Celebrating!", edition.

Good Wednesday morning!  I like Wednesday. It's usually my day off from treatment. I didn't do treatment on Sunday. But it's not my day off. I'm off on Saturday. But who wants to do dialysis on Christmas Day when you don't have to. And I didn't. Ha!

I left off with Shawn arriving. She arrived early. She'd had a long day. She and her friend left New York City to go to Washington, D.C. And went to the museum. Stayed until it closed. Her friend went back to Newport and Shawn stayed with a friend in DC. The had a 5:30 AM flight to Vegas. By the time she arrived, she was tired. We brought her home and she slept...until dinner. I made her her favorite dinner.  Of course I did. That's what moms do!  At least that's what my mom did!  Once when we arrived in Vegas she fixed us some steaks on her new George Foreman grill!  Lol. 

Thursday we went with Brian to get a haircut..well we dropped him off. Drove down the street to th donut bar and Shawn got a gingerbread donut. And yes, the donuts are still as large as your head. Did some shopping then back to pick up Brian. Friday was finish the grocery shopping. Saturday started cooking. Made the candied sweet potatoes and the greens. OMG, the greens were delicious. And heating up the next day they were even better! You know the recipe except now I add 2 diced chipotles and a teaspoon of adobo. It starts out really spicy but the cooking decreases the spice factor. 

Sunday we finished the meal Brian cooked a ribeye roast to perfection. I made the old school macaroni and cheese and my fancy rice. And I made gravy from the pan dripping of the roast. Next time I'll use less pan drippings. I ended up with almost a quart of gravy..  :-/  But then again I made a lot of rice!  Oh yeah, while we were cooking we were also watching Deadpool. Yes. This movie has catapulted to one of my favorites. 

Monday we went to see Rogue One. The options for the movie was mind boggling. 3D, Real 3D, standard, 3DXD, XD, IMAX. Head spinning. Different options at different theaters. I have no idea what any of that means. We ended up at Real 3D. Yes we enjoyed it. Didn't realize it was a one and done. Or as Brian recalled the line, "We got the plans at great cost". And let's add to this little nugget to raise the hairs on my back. Deadpool loved George Michael and Wham!  And Carrie Fisher was at the end of Rogue One. The reference to both stars at this time was jarring to me. 

Yesterday dad treated Shawn and me to a belated lunch at the Top of the World restaurant on top of the Stratosphere. I think it's the tallest structure in Las Vegas. It's a revolving restaurant. We stopped off the elevator into the restaurant and the view was breath taking! We had seats near the window. Hardly any conversation for looking out the window. We could see the entirety of thr Las Vegas valley. We were also treated to people bungee jumping from the top of the Stratosphere!  Yikes!  Lol. And oh yeah, the food wasn't bad. It wasn't great, but let's be honest. You come for the view, not the food. Lol. 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Shawn joined us at the trainers yesterday. Our trainer, Gaylynn,  talked with Shawn a few days earlier so she could plant workout for her. Our kid wok red out like a champ. And Gaylynn showed no mercy!  And yes, Shawn made me and Brian look...older than her. Lol lol. A good time was had by all. And I yes, the tired bat hit me hard as we were leaving the Stratosphere. I slept during treatment!  

Today we're getting the manicures and pedicures and Shawn gets the rest of her Christmas present, the annual shopping spree.  I'll probably crash and burn again today. But that's ok. Looking forward to more adventures. That's it for today!  Enjoy your day!  

The Stratosphere. The restaurant is somewhere up there! 

Bungee jumping from the top of the tower. No thanks. 

I don't know what this ride is called but I'll pass. And yes, my kid did this ride. 

The "My Holiday Season", edition.

Good Monday morning!  So yeah. My holiday season usually starts in November. Mom's birthday is on Veterans Day. Then we have Thanksgiving Day. Then Shawn's birthday, my birthday, my parents anniversary is December 24. Then Christmas Day followed by New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Whew!  It's one big celebration!  Now that being said, I didn't have the holiday spirit I usually have. I wasn't sad or melancholy, it  just seemed I was too busy doing stuff.   

We've already gone over events in November and Shawn's birthday and my birthday. But! I had a pre birthday gift. A few days before my birthday, my best friend from high school, Sherri, came to town with her two (adult) children!  We hadn't seen each other in decades. And it was an absolute joy to see her!  They were in Las Vegas for the first time, for a very short, too short a time. They flew in on Thursday...and the flight was delayed..ugh..and left Saturday morning. 

We met up Friday morning. Brian and I thought it was chilly, but Sherri and her family explained to us they had just left 17 degrees. Brian and I stood corrected!  Anyway. They were staying downtown. Which I think is a great intro to Vegas. And my favorite part.  We gave them the grand tour. I must add that day, we had extremely high winds. It was so windy that the sand and dust kicked up from those vacant desert fields and made visibility almost impossible. The wind speed was so high that the freeway was closed where there was bridge construction for fear that loose equipment would fall on cars below. Which caused a most impressive Las Vegas traffic jam. 

The good news is that the traffic jam didn't deter us. We just needed to take a detour. So Sherri and her family got a really grand tour of Las Vegas and parts of Henderson!  Parts of Las Vegas that most visitors don't see. They also got a chance to see Wayne Newton's compound and the UNLV campus.  Lol. Yes. Our detour was that deep. We finally made it back downtown and had lunch at Zydecos. Eventually our visit came to end. And they needed to explore more of downtown. Did I mention her children are great?  They hover over their mom like little helicopters and are as sweet as they can be. They will return. Stay longer.  And the son, who made the reservations was eying a strip hotel for the next visit!  I enjoyed the visit and look forward to seeing them again! 

My kid arrived on the 21st. She traveled to New York to visit a friend and then they traveled from New York to Washington DC to visit the Museum of African American History!  Shawn says she wants to go back and we should go also. Then! She left from DC for Vegas. I made the reservation. And belatedly I wondered why I scheduled her flight to leave DC at 5:30 AM and stopover in Charlotte before eventually getting to Las Vegas. Especially when she was sending me texts about her status....3 hour time difference. Lol. Getting texts starting at 2:30 AM my time until she landed at McCarran. :-/  I'm thinking I got the least expensive flight.  Lol. Anyway. She arrived at 9:30 AM Vegas time. And as far I was concerned, this was my Christmas present!  My baby is here!!!!!

On the dialysis front, I altered my schedule so I would not have to do treatment on Christmas Day.  The bonus was having Shawn in the room with us while I was doing treatment. Sometimes we don't have to talk...just being together is wonderful!!  

That's it for today. You know there's more to come!  Have a great day. We're going to the movies today and chilling. We've got a full week ahead!  Take care and enjoy the day!  

Me and Sherri In front of the giant Christmas tree in downtown Las Vegas on Fremont Street. 

The "Starting a New Decade", edition.

Good Sunday morning. The month of celebrations continue!  Yesterday was my 60th birthday!  How about that?  The irony is the funeral of my Aunt Jeanette was on my 60th birthday. Rosie kept me apprised of the details. She also wanted my brother to read my blog entry about Aunt Jeanette at the funeral. My brother agreed to read it. <3. The kidney disease prevented me from attending the funeral. It was in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Sponteniety is not possible. I would not have been able to get the supplies shipped.  I need way to much lead time.  And I don't even know if the travel case would have been available. Even getting to incenter treatment would have been questionable. I'd have been at the mercy of the local dialysis center....like the only time available would have been the same time as the funeral. Ugh. Anyway. I was there in spirit and my cousins have posted photos of cousins afterwards and a few videos were also posted. 

So on with my day. We started with our regular weekly one hour trip to the casino. No, the casino ignored my birthday. Harrumph! Anyway. Brian made reservations for lunch at Benihana. I hadn't been to a teppanyaki restaurant in over 35 years (!). That dates me!!  Lol. Last time was Kyoto near Fairlane in Dearborn.  Hah. Took you back also!  There are 2 Benihanas is Las Vegas and only one was open for lunch. This one was at the Fashion Show Mall on the strip. Reservations were for 1:00.  We left the condo around 12:30. 

The mall is huge. I remembered when it first opened. it was a high end mall. Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada. Brian and I walked into the Louis Vuitton store. None of the items had price tags. We got the hint!  But such nice luggage and purses!!!  Anyway, it's now more consumer friendly. But some high end stores are still there. Anchor stores are Macy's, Dillards, Saks, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. Enough said. Anyway we get there, intending to get valet parking at Macy's and walk on over to the restaurant. Valet was full. Before 1:00. Oh yeah. Christmas season. We drive around to the other side. Nordstrom valet was full. Kept going to the underground parking lot (massive parking lot). Traffic. Jam in the parking lot!  Lol. And we discover valet parking in the underground parking lot. We turn right into it. And oh yeah. They sent the parking info to Brian's phone. Lol. What happens if you don't have a smart phone??

Find our way to the mall entrance. Now we just have to find the way to Benihana. We had to go outside the mall..the entrance was outside.  We enter, Brian says we have a 1:00 reservation, they ask whose birthday is it!  We get seated immediately at a table for 8. We are the last people seated. The other 6 are a family celebrating the mom getting her Masters degree from UNLV. The waitress and service was great. But the best was yet to come. 

Brian and I opted out of appetizers.  Which ended up being a good thing. I got strawberry lemonade and Brian tried an apple sake. Tasty!  Some of the other people got edamame. I actually asked the lady if I could taste one. And she nicely let me. And it was good!  Yes that was my first time. The waitress lets us know that one of the kids has a shellfish allergy and another is vegan and would we mind if their food was prepared first. Of course not!  

After we were served the soup (yum) and the salad with ginger dressing (yum), the chef comes out. Now 35 years ago, the chefs were all Japanese. This time  our chef was a young African American woman!  Chock full of personality and a master of the knives. She put on a show and cooked everything for everybody!  Brian and I had the beef julienne and shrimp.  And the sauces...yum.  Then we all got these massive servings of colossal shrimp.  And then!  The Masters mom and I got ice cream because we were celebrating. And I was full. And the food was good. And Benihana is an experience. We won't be waiting 35 years to visit again! 

We'd planned to walk around the mall afterwards, but we walked straight to the valet area and headed home. Lol. We thought we'd be going out later, but we didn't. We woke up just after 6 that morning. And we just chilled after lunch. So yeah, the reservation was 1:00 but the meal lasts 2 hours or more. We didn't get out until after 3:00. And the traffic in the underground parking lot was still busy. Whoever heard of bumper to bumper traffic in an underground parking lot!  Vegas, baby!! Lol lol. 

No dialysis news. Saturday is my off day. I dialyzed Friday night after spending time with Sherri and her kids, my best friend from high school who was in town. And that's a story for another day. But let's just say we hadn't seen each other in a very long time. And we never missed a beat!  But it sure did make a great birthday present, seeing her!  

That's it for today. And yes it is cold here. Was 30 degrees when I woke up this morning!  And yes it was 70 on Friday. Lol. And yes, it's going to warm back up next week. But even when it's 50 degrees people out here think they are in the frozen tundra. And yes Sherri and her kids laughed at me and Brian when we complained about the "cold". Lol. Enjoy your day. And stay warm!  I do remember what 17 degrees and snow feels like! 

A least Brian looked into the camera. Us at Benihana. 

Our chef at work! 

The " My Random Thoughts About Dialysis", edition.

Good Thursday morning. Yes, I am doing treatment right now. I am in my outrageously comfortable rocker recliner in my bedroom watching the 32 inch flat screen. Brian is on the other side of the bed folding clothes. I went from my bed to my chair to start treatment.  Well, not literally. Brian had to prep the machine and I had to clean clean clean clean.....my arm...the accesses for the needles. Then I needed to weigh myself pre-treatment, take my temperature ( make sure I don't have a fever..that means infection and that's really bad) take my blood pressure sitting, then standing. And record all of this. 

I also record if I've had a medical procedure, if there is an issue with my access and if I've experienced digestive issues. I also have to check my fistula...I place some fingers on my forearm and feel for the buzz.  And the buzz is a good thing. It's my lifeline. If it's not buzzing then my access doesn't work and I'd need an immediate procedure...to either open it up, or to insert a catheter on my chest (boo).  We also enter the lot number of the cartridge and the serial numbers of my machines.  Yep. We do this every.single.time. And even when we travel. 

I normally dialyze in the evening, but a friend is coming to town so I want to get it out of the way.  And doing home hemo gives me this flexibility. Did I mention that I hate dialysis and wouldn't wish this on anyone?  Eh. But sometimes no matter what you do, your kidneys still may not cooperate. My sister in laws kidneys have been fighting her for a while. But she's doing the right things. The blog has helped. Hopefully she and nephrologist can keep her off of dialysis. 

We started prepping at 7:30 this morning. Brian started the treatment at 8:05. Oh yeah. I inserted the needles, then he administers an anticoagulant through the venous (blood in) line, the he administers Epogen...that's for anemia. Because the kidneys don't work, so making good blood doesn't happen. And then I'm hooked up to the machine. Take the blood pressure and we're off. The machine clanks  every 30 minutes or so for a blood pressure reading. Anyway. So at 10:45 (it's 10:50 now) the machine alarm let us know that the requested amount of fluid has been removed. But I still have 45 minutes left.  

But wait!  You say I thought you were done. The amount of fluid is gone. Well yes it is. But we still need to remove toxins. You know kidneys remove toxins. Pat's kidneys don't work.  Ah ha!  The machine will wind down around 11:30. Then we have rinse back the remaining blood in the cartridge that was there when treatment ended. Yes, I want my blood back!!  After I'm no longer hooked to the machine, but I still have needles in my arm, Brian flushes the needles ( which have tubing) with saline. He removes the needles.  I apply pressure to the accesses for about 8 minutes. He then applies triple (?) power antibacterial to the accesses and bandages them. AND THEN we take the final stats. Blood pressure, temperature, Brian checks for the budding in my arm and then the end of treatment questions. Digestive problems? Bruising? Infiltration?( that's where the needle slips out of the vein and the blood goes into the tissue...that hurts...a lot). 

And that's it. Should be all done around noon. And yes Brian has to clean the dialysis machine. So. To put this in perspective. Time wise, it's like a one way trip from Detroit to Las Vegas. Five days a week. So I can stay alive. So.  Yeah. I really like this better than the 3 days a week incenter. It's much better on my heart and body in general.  And I'm not wasted for the rest of the day.  But I am looking forward to nocturnal treatment. Doing treatment at home in my own bed at night. And!  Because I'll be doing treatment even longer at night, treatment goes down to 4 nights a week!  Training starts next month..so more on that later. 

Well that's it for today. The entire blog was dialysis, so there is no "on the dialysis front". Lol. My friends in the Mideast and east coast stay warm. I told Shawn it's getting cold here. She sneered at me! :-(

Lol. 

My comfy chair. And yes Brian uses it also. And my dialysis set up. 

While I wait for a kidney to love, I've got the artificial one above. :-)

The "Aunt Jeanette", edition.

It's Sunday morning. Friday evening we received a call that my Aunt Jeanette had died. Let me tell you about my Aunt Jeanette. She is actually my dad's first cousin, but any adult cousin in my family was referred to as an aunt or uncle. She lived in Yellow Springs, Ohio, my dad's hometown. Heh. Yellow Springs is ground zero for the Perry family. When I was a kid we made many trips there to visit my grandmother...and relatives...and my godparents who lived up the road in Wilberforce, Ohio. 

As soon as we arrived in Yellow Springs, I'd make a beeline to Aunt Jeanette's house. Now I've got to let you know that I had a cartload of relatives there, but it was Aunt Jeanette's house where I was headed.  It was maybe 1/2 mile - mile away. I'd get to the house and walk right on in. She had 5 kids 4 daughters and a son, but I was always welcome. As a matter of fact she started referring to me as her 5th daughter. 

As a young adult I was diagnosed with an inherited genetic disease, acute intermittent porphyria (AIP). Not to long after my diagnoses, Aunt Jeanette was also diagnosed with AIP. Fast forward to 2012. We both were diagnosed with end stage renal disease (ESRD) also known as full on kidney failure. Our diagnoses were weeks apart. Yep. I am the 5th daughter. I had hoped to visit her in Yellow Springs before we moved to Las Vegas, but we weren't able to fit it in. However, I was being kept up to date on her by her daughters and granddaughters. Make no mistake. She was loved very much!!  

So last year, I get a call from one of her daughters. Rosie planned to bring Aunt Jeanette and Uncle George to Las Vegas and she wanted to know a good dialysis center.  And she was researching the centers.  It had to a good one...because some are much better than others.  And she found one that met her standards to care of for Aunt Jeannete.  So let me tell you what it took to get my aunt and uncle out here. And it's all about love. 

My aunt and uncle are both in a nursing home.  And Aunt Jeanette not only did dialysis 3 times a week, she was using oxygen and they both use wheel chairs.  Rosie and her husband flew from Texas(?) to Columbus, Ohio and drove about an hour or so to Yellow Springs to get my aunt and uncle. Drove back to Columbus, took a flight to Las Vegas...and remember both my aunt and uncle are in wheelchairs. And two other of her daughters met them out here. One flew in from Arizona and the other flew in from Atlanta. And one day Aunt Jeanette's sister came from California to visit!  And yes Dad, Brian and I spent a lot of time with them while they were here. 

So imagine my surprise when my Facebook memory for today were photos of the visit. <3. I'm glad Shawn  got to see Aunt Jeanette when she went to the family reunion in September. And I'm so glad I spent time with her and her family last year this time. Aunt Jeanette was indeed one of my moms. When I was with her I felt unconditional love. She was a wonderful person. (And she introduced me to lemon merangue pie!) She will be missed. 

That's it for today. When we went to San Diego, Dad and Uncle Buster were talking about how their children are taking care of them. And yes, Uncle Buster's kids were absolutely doting on him. And the children of Aunt Jeanette and Uncle George dote on them. Aunt Dorothy (96 years old) has her own apartment in her son's house. And of course we're out here with Dad...keeping him out of trouble. We grew up honoring and loving our parents and aunts and uncles. And we knew we were loved. I'm going to miss my Aunt Jeanette.  I've lost another mom. <3. Give your older relatives a call today. They'll love hearing from you and you'll enjoy talking with them. :-). 

Uncle George, Rosie and Aunt Jeanette

Standing, me, 2 of Aunt Jeanette daughters, Dad and Rosie's husband. 

Aunt Jeanette, courtesy of one of her granddaughters. 

The "Random Thoughts and Reflections", edition.

Good Thursday morning. Got the music going this morning. The one thing and the only thing I miss about doing dialysis at the dialysis center. 3 1/2 hours of nonstop music with my Bose headphones. And chair dancing. What's playing now?  I selected "GrapeVyne" by Brownstone. The music shuffle will start after this. I love the song, the voices, the arrangement. It's a song that I've listened to a lot. No shame!  

So random thoughts and reflections.  First of all I'm watching my iPad die a slow death. It locks up.  My keystrokes take a while to show up. It'll do random restarts. I'm feeling cheap but I'll get a replacement soon. Probably a Christmas gift to myself. A little self love!  But even as I type this blog, the keystrokes are lagging behind my typing. Ugh. Oh back to music. A few years ago when I got my replacement phone,  it came with a Harmon Kardon Bluetooth speaker. Yeah, I had to wait for Shawn to get to town to show me how to hook it up. I can't believe how good the sound is from this one speaker. Remember back in the day when we had two speakers that were 3 feet high?  I can blow out the apartment with the little round speaker. And then Dad went and got himself a Bose radio. He can blow out the apartment with that also. Did I mention that Dad likes The Gap Band?  Lol. He continually surprises and amuses me!  

Ah iPad shuffled to the Stylistics, "Stop Look and Listen". One of my favorite groups. Although it's really Russell Thompkins. He is The Stylistics. I love a great falsetto.  And you know I love Ron Banks of the Dramatics. However Russell tops Ron...but he's the only one.  Love me some Ron Banks.  

We go to a personal trainer once a week. It's a actually a pretty cool place.  Our trainer is sweet and a hard taskmaster. I call her mean and evil.and she just smiles. And I'm getting stronger. Lol.  Yes I researched trainers. I liked the reviews I'd read about this place, Tony Cress. One day Brian and stopped by. Tony was there. Very nice guy. I explained my challenges. He said he just the trainer for me. Called her right then and there and she was at the gym within 5 minutes!  Once I started training, Brian would wait while I worked out. Gaylynn (our trainer) said she'd train the both of us for the same cost!!!!!  The next week Brian was getting his training on. Of course Brian and I do totally different workouts. And Gaylynn is working with both of us. And at the same time Tony may be training someone or one of the other 2 trainers may be working with a client. The atmosphere is welcoming and fun, even though the trainers are working our butts off. But the workouts are paying off.  And we all are working our butts off. Weights, kettle bells, suspension training, bikes, jump ropes, ropes, and other equipment I dont know what to call. And movement exercises. 

Lol. "Back in Love Again", LTD is playing and Dad danced his way into the room.  Anyway. Deep Water fitness is not too bad either. Of course three times a week as I get into the (cold water) pool at 9:00 AM I ask myself why am I here?  Jill Scott featuring Eve, "Shame". Anyway. The cold goes away pretty quickly. The instructor, Patti, has us moving nonstop for an hour. We bitch at her also.  Lol the entire class is complaining. As a matter of fact, we get there before the 8:00 class is over and they are complaining!  Lol. We work arms, legs, core and balance. I'm not particularly happy with the arm work. It hurts, but that's making me stronger. Yeah. It really is. Or putting the buoys on our feet and moving forward or backwards.  That'll put your balance to the test. My favorite was when she had us put a noodle under each foot and the move across the width of the (Olympic size) pool. Guess who was the only one who was able to go across and back with no problems?  That would be me!!  But the cannon ball, on my back moving with my legs up and feet out of the water is pure torture. How can almost everyone do this move with ease and it's damn near impossible for me! Lol. I just keep on trying!!

"Ready or,Not", The Delphonics. I bet you like The Delphonics even better now than when they were recording. Ok. On the dialysis front. Tuesday I had a low blood pressure episode. That hadn't  happened in a while. I feel asleep during treatment. I woke up feeling odd. I knew what that odd feeling was. I call it the "life slipping away from me" feeling. What it is, is too much fluid has been taken and my body is bitching. I feel light headed, I get hot.  This time we'll add nausea to the list. And I get extremely restless. I let Brian know I need saline. Yeah, a saline pack is hanging on a pole on the machine. And with all the tubing, all Brian has to do open a clamp which direct the saline right into my veins.  Yes. You know I have two needles in my arm during treatment..a venous (incoming connection) and the arterial (outgoing connection).  During treatment blood goes out into the machine, gets cleaned and then is returned to me. When saline is administered, the saline is a direct path through the venous line. I need to add that Brian handles this like a pro. I asked him if it scars him when I crash. He said yes. I told him it scars me also. He says we are a team and when I let him know I need the saline, he never hesitates. <3

Anyway. After 5 liters of saline I felt better. For the record that is a lot. And about 10 minutes later I needed more. I got 3 more liters before I felt sort of better. At this point we decided I just needed to stop treatment. Anymore saline and I would have negated the treatment. The whole point is to not only remove the toxins in the blood but to remove fluid. And here we are adding fluid. <face palm>. In spite of this, the treatments had been incredibly routine.  Which is how it's supposed to be. We'll recover and continue. 

That's it for today.  It's chilly here, but after seeing what my friends in Denver have to deal with, I'm ok. The sun is shining, the sky is so clear that we can see the mountains behind the mountains!  Signing off with The Dramatics, "Ocean of Thoughts and Dreams". Play this song and just let Ron Banks take you away.. Along with the superb harmonies of the Dramtics. <3. 

See that pole in back of "kidney"?  That's where the saline bag goes. And see those shelves of supplies?  That's just the tip of the iceberg. There's a whole lot you don't see.  :-\

My trainer. 

The "End of the Thanksgiving Weekend", edition.

Good Thursday morning. We left San Diego Saturday morning. My cousin wanted us over for breakfast but it was going to rain and I wanted to make sure we were out of the mountains before that happened. We'd been in the Pennsylvania mountains during the rain. It wasn't pretty. In fact at one point we went from the rain to the being in the clouds to being over the clouds. Ugh. 

We used the GPS is the car. The odd thing was it gave us a different route out of San Diego than the route to San Diego. Silly car. Lol. But we did pass an Air Force base and went through downtown Riverside. And the bonus was the traffic was light. It could be that was because we left town around 7:30 AM. Also the climb up the mountain was much more tolerable than the twisty turny descent.   We stopped in Barstow for breakfast.  I drove to Primm to give Brian a break.  Brian and Dad bought some lottery tickets. So, you know, we could win and buy a place in La Jolla. Primm has an outlet mall that was crowded (I guess Black Friday extended into Saturday)  and the traffic back to California was impressive. It's not often you see bumper to bumper traffic in the middle of the desert...for miles and miles and miles.......and miles....and then some more miles.....Lol. We made it home. Brian shopped for the fresh items that we needed to cook for our Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. 

Woke up Sunday. Put on the sweet potatoes and then started treatment. We decided to get it out of the way so we wouldn't have to do it late in the evening after dinner, while we were tired. I finished treatment just before noon. We now had 4 hours to get the dinner done. The menu was Honeybaked ham and smoked turkey breast. Sausage dressing, green beans with chipotles and adobo (yes yum), candied sweet potatoes., cranberry sauce, gravy and corn if cooked and frozen.  And a couple of pies. And yes, we had 1 guest. And yes, dinner was served at 4. No problem.  After treatment I peeled and prepared the sweet potatoes and cooked them.  Dad snapped the green beans when he came back from church so after I finished the sweet potatoes I cooked the green beans. Brian had done his sous chef thing and had diced the onions, garlic, celery and green pepper for the green beans and dressing. Oh and we some rolls. Tasty meal! 

On the dialysis front, the infusions of iron makes my porphyria react in a bad way. My skin is extremely fragile and tears easily and blisters.   It's always something. Bleah. Currently I get iron infusions every other month. My body can't produce enough iron because I have no kidneys. The doctor is considering iron pills.  We'll see. So anyway if you see me with bandages you know that I have a skin tear. And I'm using the bandages and using antibiotics because I'm susceptible to infection.   Yeah it's always something. But my husband makes me keep on going. And that's not a bad thing!  

That's it for today. I understand it's warmer  in Michigan...for now. than it is out here. But we have no clouds. And the sun makes it feel not as cold. I'm still good out here! Today is December 1st. Let the holiday season begin!! Have a wonderful day!  

Coming down the mountain. That's Primm in the distance. And the Nevada state line. 

A pantry staple!