The "The Fun is in the Discovery!", edition.

Good Friday morning!  We are constantly discovering things out here. But to be honest, we were always discovering things in Detroit and in Michigan. But. We're not in Michigan. And you're gonna think " What?  That's what you discovered?" And shake your head. But understand, sometimes...most times I look at life expecting to be pleasantly surprised. Lol. Some days I'm pleasantly surprised to wake up!

The most recent surprise came in the supermarket. Several months ago we wanted some ground beef. I found the package and moved on. Then I passed the butcher area. The ground beef in the display case was $1.00 a pound less!!?!!? I put the packaged meat back talked with the butcher.  We started doing the same when we wanted cooked shrimp.  It was cheaper and we didn't have to wait for it to thaw. So on Wednesday I went to get pork chops. It was buy one get one free (!). I wanted 3, instead I bought 6 and froze 3. But wait, there's more.  Right next to the pork chops were steaks. Brian moseyed up to the counter and laser beamed right on the steaks...buy one, get two free (!!). He got 3 bone in rib eyes. And they were huge!  They're sitting in the freezer...just waiting.  And how fortuitous was it that during last night's treatment, we're watch Alton Brown and it's about cooking rib eye steaks!  :-D  And the other day the ground beef was $2.00 a pound less!!! And watching Hubert Keller on PBS, I discovered tomahawk cut of steak. Of course Brian knew about. I also discovered that it's quite pricey at restaurants. It's large, so I'll never order it, but it sure looks impressive. 

Yesterday we went looking for Las Vegas Democrats office to register for the Las Vegas caucus. We discovered the Hustler strip club.  Lol. We also discovered once you got on Dean Martin Drive near Tropicana, we couldn't get back across the freeway until Warm Springs Road...about 3-4 miles.  Lol. And yeah, the Hustler club is on Dean Martin Drive. We were also surprised by the lady on the street behind the strip wearing only a shirt.....no pants..just a shirt.....

On the dialysis front, my nurse came the condo on Wednesday. We discovered everything was just fine. And we discovered that she wants to raise my dry weight because of the low blood pressure, almost passing out episodes. That didn't make me happy, but I get it. And it has been a year doing home hemo!  Happy anniversary to us. It's been mostly non eventful and that's the way it should be!  And for the record, last night's treatment was wonderfully mundane.  Yeah!!!  

It's also time to start planning our trip to visit Shawn. It looks like she'll be doing field work in South Carolina. The closest city for us is August GA. We'll be doing a James Brown tour. :-)  I've checked hotel rates. They're wonderfully low. We considered New York City. Oh my goodness. Rooms seem to start at $275 per night. And you just know that doesn't include fees and taxes. Ugh. 

Well that's it for today. We chuckle at the news people commenting that they need hats, gloves and scarves. Heh vthey don't know what cold really is. A handful do, but surprisingly many if them were born on the west coast and have never left. And on that note rake care. Have a wonderful weekend!!!

The "I've Written 400 Entries!", edition.

Good Wednesday morning!  I've written 400 entries of this blog. That's a lot of writing, a lot of information and a lot of whining!  I make no apologies for my whining. I've enjoyed taking you on this journey with me.  The blog is also a wonderful journey of memories for me. Thanks to Facebook putting up my memories, I get to read old entrie. Many I've forgotten (well, it's been 400!). I can see where I've been, how I've felt, what I've gone though, how I've handled issues and outcomes.  It's also helped on odd things.  Like I'd read about how the dialysis techs in Detroit used an alcohol pad on the back of the gauze when the needles were removed. This is an additional step in infection control. So we started using the pads.  Or I get to relive certain events. Some good, some not so good. By the way, there have almost 20,000 page views of the blog since its inception. It may sound like a lot, but it's not.  The blog tends to average 20-25 readers with some odd spikes up and odd low hits. I especially like it when I get the hits from Russia or China. :-/

So. On my comfort food kick, in addition to the smothered potatoes I wanted some French onion soup.   I'd tried making it from scratch a while ago. And that was right after Shawn left for Howard University, fall 2008. You know I'm a Food Network addict. Well, I watched Tyler Florence make the soup and he made it sound sooooo easy. (Yeah I was duped). I went to Westborn Market and got my ingredients, then to Pier Zone to get the ramekins (fancy little bowls -lol!). It came out ok, but Tyler was a bit off in how long it takes to cook the onions.  Fast forward to now, 2016. I used a different recipe, but the ingredients were pretty much the same.  We got everything, although I passed in the brandy reopened by Julia Childs. Brian and Dad said we should include it the next time.  Yes. There will be a next time.  

Brian prepped 4 giant onions and 2 cloves of garlic. We proceeded to start the process of carmelization of the onions. It took 90 minutes. It was worth the wait. Once that's done, we added the wine, broth and seasonings. Then it had to simmer for a while.   Finally Brian sliced and toasted the baguette slices, then added the Gruyere and Parmesan reggiano. The recipe said to make sure the entire top of the bowl was covered with the cheese. Put the bowls in the oven and broiled until bubbly. Jackpot!!!  Successful French onion soup!!!  Dad and Brian pronounced it was restaurant quality! And one bowl was quite enough for the meal.  Although when I went into the kitchen later, I caught Dad downing a cup of soup while he was putting up the food!  Lol. Busted!!!! We have some left over, so it got frozen. It's there for another chilly day!  

On the dialysis front, it's been a year of home hemodialysis. Yes it's better than incenter and I'm doing better on the whole, but it's still dialysis. I have to continually remind myself that as much as I hate this, and I really, really hate this, it could be so much worse. And even though it can be so much worse, I'm entitled to a release of my emotions. Eh. Last night I had another spike in low blood pressure needing an infusion of saline during treatment. I can't stress enough on how much I hate how it feels when my blood pressure is dropping. And now that I know what it is, in addition to knowing my blood pressure is dropping, I have to fight the panic that comes with it.  I am able to alert Brian and he does what needs to get done. And we get through it. But I hate it.  

Today my nurse is coming by for the yearly inspection. She'll check the equipment and test the water. She'll also chuckle at how we somehow managed to have wild surpluses of all the equipment. We replenish every month based on an inventory with suggested amounts of equipment. It tends to be maybe too much?  Boxes upon boxes of syringes, alcohol pads, gauze. Lots of Purel and examination gloves.  Some of this stuff we do go through pretty quickly. Others, not so much. We've learned that we don't need to replenish everything each month. Took a year to figure that out! 

Anyway. That's it for today. I'm thinking pork chops for dinner.  Have a great day!  

The "My Dad Amazes Me", edition.

Good Monday morning!  Saturday the blizzard on the east coast made me want some comfort food. I guess I was commiserating or something. I wanted some smothered potatoes with onions.   I also decided I wanted to make French onion soup. The soup requires Gruyere cheese. That requires a trip to one of the few places in town that we've found so far that sells it. The only cheese store I've found is way over in Henderson.  The market similar to Westborn is in the far southwest. The closest store is Whole Paycheck...er .. Whole Foods. Anyway. We did some errands and were near a Whole Foods so we stopped in to get the cheese. We left with the cheese, a baguette, some truffled cheddar, parmasan reggiano, 3 bottles of wine, toffee cookies and chocolate shortbread cookies that surprised Brian with a Hersey kiss in the middle. $70.00. Whole Paycheck indeed!  Oh and I made a note of the cost of a 5 pound bag of russet potatoes..$3.99.  We chuckled as we left and said we made our biannual trip lol.  

Next stop was Smiths. Also known as Krogers to my Michigan folks. The russets there were like $1.50. Ha!  More stuff, less cost. And. That Smiths sells Gruyere. And it cost less. We've found that we can find certain items in different parts of town. For the record, we were at a Smiths in Summerlin, and Summerlin could remind one of Birmingham, Michigan. 

Saturday morning, on the way to our weekly one hour casino visit , "It Takes 2", Rob Base and DJ Eazy Rock comes on. Dad comments that parts of the song sounds familiar. We tell him about sampling and the use of James Brown music.  And he recalls seeing MCs doing the  turntable thing. He then asks us about the girl who says "somebody slap me" in Klymaxx, "Meeting in the Ladies Room". !!!!    !!!!!  He then says he pulled the video up on YouTube to see if it made sense. !!!!!!!!  !!!!!!   !!!!!!!!!! Lol. My dad listens to old school R and B on the Bose radio he bought, uses Shazam oh his phone and looks up songs on YouTube!  He'll be 90 in April!  He continues to amaze me!   Anyway. We told him the slap me phrase was just her catchphrase. It meant nothing. 

On the dialysis front, we forgot to administer the heparin last night.  Heparin reduces blood clots.  And sure enough, an hour in, the machine stats to holler about a blood clot. Unfortunately when that error happens, treatment has to stop... now. Do not pass go do not collect $200.  Brian wants to blame himself, but it's always a partnership.  I was to busy watching America's Funniest Videos and caught it too late. What do I mean by too late?  The administering of the heparin comes after I've cannulated...stuck the needles into myself. The heparin goes into the venous needle tubing..the needle that has the blood flow going into me. By the time I looked up, I was already attached to the cartridge (machine) tubing. You say, well unattach and administer that heparin. And I say,  well no. The sterilization of all the items have been compromised. Once I'm connected to anything it needs to stay that way, opening up anything at that point compromises the sterility of the equipment and makes me susceptible to infection. Brian would have had to take down the entire apparatus and start all over again.  We agreed to go ahead. And well. We should have restarted. Lesson learned. Clotting ensued and session ended. I did get 1kg of fluid ad toxins removed. We'll do treatment tonight. 

We're getting rid of clothes we don't wear and I'm giving up my wool coat. And as if to underscore my decision, the temp is going into to mid to upper 60s this week. I'm also tossing a beloved purse. I won't use it anymore. We're going to go to Target to get grooming items to put in the purse before we donate it. 

That's it for today.  Enjoy your day! 

The "Friday Salmagundi", edition.

Good Friday morning!  Ah. Detroiters of a certain age, who watched the local PBS station, WTVS, especially  the auctions, know the word salmagundi!  No, I don't know why I watched the auctions as I could never afford the items I wanted, but a girl can dream!!!  As an aside, I volunteered to work the auction with the sorority one year.  I was in the back where people came to pick up their "winnings". I had some interesting experiences volunteering for the sorority. Remind me to tell you about the time I worked an HBCU telethon at the house of a Black businessman in Detroit. Let's just say caviar was served.  

Ok. On to my "mixture or assortment of things". ;-)  Let's start with the pottery or ceramics class. Wheel spinning, I think thats what it's called. Brian had taken classes at Pewabic in Detroit and became fairly adept at making things.  Do you see a pattern here for Brian?  He found something similar here through UNLV and signed us both up.  The day didn't start off well.  I was fighting lightheadedness, but I pushed.  We arrived at the gallery, got our supplies and class started. I received a big ass block of clay and some tools. The instructor, Tom,  gave a tour of the gallery, had us cut and wedge the clay,  and then sat us down at the wheels.  Also known as pottery wheel thingies (thank you, Brian). Tom showed us how to use the wheel and do stuff to the clay and then we were on our own. 

Watching Tom do stuff, I realized I'd get muddy and dusty. I watched Brian, he'd done this before.  I started out ok, but I managed to get clay, mud, all over me, in spite of wearing an apron. The good news it was just mud.  Lol. Anyway. I was a dismal failure. And I didn't particularly like it. I bailed. I cleaned up and went and sat in the car since my back was hurting. You hunch over the wheel and that wasn't fun.  I apologized but I won't be back. I much prefer watercolor.  I may try jewelry making again, but I'm not a crafty person. I don't have the patience.  I may try a cooking class.  I saw one where you learn how to make eggs Benedict.....yum.  

On Thursday we went to see The Revenant. I didn't like it. I don't understand how it's Oscar worthy. For a period of time during the movie there was no dialogue....like Arnold Schwazeneggars Predator. And was that Osacr material?  Yes, the cinematography was great but....anyway.  I read a review that said it was Leonardo Dicaprio on a bad vacation. I guess this is why I'm not a movie critic. Oh yeah. Wednesday is senior day at the movies at several theaters out here. $4.00 and a discount on concessions. Yeah!

When drove to Primm, we encountered a dust storm.  It was worse than any fog I've experienced, but it blew away just as quickly as it appeared.  We also passed a casino parking lot that had charging stations for electric cars. I'd never seen that before.   We see a lot of electric cars out here, especially Teslas. 

I'm still having bouts of low blood pressure. It sucks. I need rise up slowly when I stand up. And I need to learn to quit trying to fight through it.  Other than that I'm pretty ok. I still get pissed about having ESRD and sometimes wonder what's the point. So much time, money and effort spent to stay alive. And burdensome on my family. Ugh.  

Anyway. I'm glad to be out here. I feel for people on the east coast. Stay warm and safe.  My dialysis warriors have to prepare for emergencies. If we have no electricity we can't do lifesaving hemodialysis. We're vulnerable like that. A disaster can mean death for us.  Kinda makes stuff futile, eh? 

Oops didn't mean to sound maudlin. Haven't made plans for the weekend, but I'm sure we'll find something to get in to.  Have a good weekend.  If you're in the winter storm area, make some warm soup, stew or chili and snuggle on in. I did like watching it snow while I was warm and cozy inside.  

Not for me!!

The "Surviving a Pink and Green Weekend, Finale", edition.

TGood Wednesday morning!  Let's start with Saturday morning. We were told to arrive back at the hotel at 9 AM for the rededication ceremony.  This was the day we had to wear black dresses and pearls....for the ceremony.  The lunch would be held afterwards. I arrived a little before 9. A few sorors were there. And then more started trickling in.  While waiting I met sorors I hadn't met before. And some were from out of town. Lots of photos and social media stuff. I got lightly judged several times for not having Facebook on my smartphone.  Lol.  

Eventually we move into the room  for the ceremony. I won't go into details, but the ceremony was led by the Supreme Basileus Dorothy Buckhanan Wilson. This was an honor!  I did get light headed during the ceremony and standing behind the Soror who insisted on flinging her cape periodically didn't help. I digress. I survived. Prior to starting, an announcement was made to accomodate anyone who needed to sit down during the ceremony. I wasn't going to do it, dammit!  And I didn't, but I sure got out of there as soon as it was finished and sat down on one of those comfy leather couches in the hallway!  Immediately after the ceremony, we had group photos taken with the Supreme Basileus. I was in the Silver Star group, 25+ years as a member. This will be my 40th (!) year. At 50 years, I become a Golden Soror. 

Once we finished all of that, we moved into the ballroom for the Founders Day Lunch. I had the pleasure of sitting with sorors from Los Angels. And because our speaker was the Supreme Basileus, we had sorors visiting from the western states.  How cool was that!!  Once we go through all of the introductions, Soror Dorothy spoke. She is dynamic!  I was duly impressed.  She stayed to eat a bit, but she had to get back to the Midwest.  She was scheduled to leave for Dubai the next day. A very busy lady!  

I enjoyed the conversation with my sorors from California. We exchanged numbers, emails and Facebook names. We were served lunch. Chicken. Eh. I passed. I later met Brian at the casino restaurant.  He'd spent the entire time in the casino. Long enough to get comped several meals, including a steak and lobster meal!  I had a long day.  A great day, but a long day.  I survived!!  

Now I did have a few bouts of light headedness the past week or 2.  And it persisted through Tuesday. Sunday, Brian, Dad and I went to PF Changs for brunch. I experienced the wooziness on leaving the restaurant, specifically when I hit the sunlight. It happened again on Monday. We drove to Primm for lottery tickets. We experienced a dust storm!!  That was pretty funky. Anyway. On the way back the sunlight just messed with me. I had to recline and not focus on the road..almost like motion sickness. WTH?  

So on Tuesday I have my monthly team meeting with my health care team. My blood pressure is low. Well. It's been low for a few weeks. And when I say low I mean numbers like 86/65.  Sometimes the cuff would continuously error out and it would take a while to get a reading. Nurse takes my blood pressure and sure enough, it's stupid low. Doc is informed, they conclude I'm dehydrated. I'm given 100 ml of saline and bam!  BP goes up to 109/89 and I feel better. Duh. So I need to make a few adjustments to treatment. Remember a few months ago I had too much fluid.  Now I do t have enough. Lol. I need to walk that fine line to be healthy. I have to make sure I drink water. And I need to not take so much off during treatment. My dry weight has been increased by .5 kg. 

That's it for today. It rained most of the day yesterday. I've been helping Dad navigate the Medicare web site while he decides on a new Advantage plan. And Brian has signed us up for ceramics class and that starts today. And no, we haven't stopped painting. :)  Stay war and enjoy your day!  

Lol this is how I feel when my blood pressure is low!!!

AKA Supreme Basileus Dorothy Buckhanan Wilson. 

The "Surviving a Pink and Green Weekend", edition.

Good Monday morning!  Hope you had a nice weekend. Talked with the kid in Illinois and Brian's mom in Detroit yesterday. Yes, at the same time. Apparently while Brian and I were in different rooms we initiated calls.  Lol. I called Shawn and he called his mother....and neither of us were aware that we made the phone calls.  Yay cell phones!!!  So when I asked Brian if he wanted to talk to Shawn, he walks in the room and we exchange phones.  :-)   Anyway. Everyone is doing fine. Both Shawn and her grandmother mentioned how cold it is. 

This weekend was an exciting weekend for my chapter of my sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. First a real brief history.  The sorority was founded in 1908 at Howard University. It is the first and oldest Black Greek sorority. It is first and foremost a service organization. And it is an international organization. So. This past weekend, the sorority celebrated its 108th Founders Day, January 15.  We were honored to celebrate Founders Day with the Supreme Basileus Dororthy Buckhanan Wilson. Understand that there are 922 chapters worldwide with over 282,000 members....with a new chapter being chartered in Dubai this week!  So the idea that Soror Dorothy would spend it with the Las Vegas chapter was a great honor. And I wanted to be a part of that. 

Several activities were planned, but I needed to pace myself and adjust my schedule. I also had the stupid wild card of feeling light headed periodically. Bleah. As I mentioned earlier, we were asked to were certain colors and items for certain events. And protocol dictated what to wear at other events. Anyway. Friday a reception was held for Soror Dorothy at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino. What? You never heard of it?  Lol. Lots of places exist that are not on the strip. This one is in Summerlin.  I digress.  

I adjusted my treatment schedule so I could attend the reception Friday evening.  While getting ready, I realized I was...tired. No other way to explain it. Plus it was dark and I didn't want to drive. I asked Brian if he would drive me. He agreed, understanding he'd have to spend time wandering around the casino while I attended the event. Poor Brian (yeah, right!  Lol). After wandering around the casino we finally found where the reception was being held....a suite in the hotel. After walking around the casino and finding the meeting rooms, the reception was in a hotel room at the end of a really long, long, long hall.  By the time I got there I knew I'd need to sit down. And I knew the room would be ridiculously crowded. And I was correct.  I found a seat. I knew it was someone else's, but I must have looked...not well. I sat for a few minutes, had a few sips of water and realized that I didn't want to stay. The suite was crowded, which was fine. My problem was me. I text Brian and we met at a restaurant and had dinner instead. Well. That was day one. And I still consider it a success. Look I arrived around 7:15 and  stayed about 15 minutes. I was told that Soror Dorothy didn't arrive until later anyway. So it was all good. 

At the restaurant, I felt lightheaded. I sort of reclined in the booth for a few moments. The light headedness subsides.  My back still hurts, but Tylenol helps that. We finish eating, get to car, I turn on the heated seat for my back and because it is cold by Las Vegas standards.  We get home and I need to prepare to Saturday back at the Suncoast. The day will start at 9:00 in the morning. And it will be long day. I ask Brian to drive me again. And again he agreed. Understanding he will spend a significant time at the casino. But it he did. I love him. I'm keeping him!! 

That's it for today. One day I'll figure out to shorten my story telling. I'll write about my AKA Saturday on Wednesday. Let's just say I had a great weekend in spite of me and the stupid ESRD. I fight it even I probably shouldn't. I can't help myself.  And sometimes it knocks me out. Ugh. Anyway. Have a great day. Stay warm if you're in a cold place. This is the time of year is really start thinking about March. March may still be cold, but it's closer to warmer weather!  

Suncoast. 

The "Do Not Resuscitate", edition.

Good Friday morning!  I usually wake up around 6. It's still dark. Yesterday I woke up at 7. That's sleeping in!  Yesterday I needed to finish getting items I need for this Alpha Kappa Weekend. Earlier last week I found a pink sweater dress.  It's really flattering. I'll include a photo later.  I also purchased knee high suede low heel boots...they're pretty nice.  I also needed green accessories.  And pearls. And panty hose and/or tights.  I got everything yesterday.  Hopefully I'll remember to take a photo of the final product.  However, I'm especially enamored with the boots!!!

On the cooking front, Brian made shrimp fried rice from a recipe floating around on Facebook. It was delicious. It goes on the rotation.  While at the grocery store I picked up a rotisserie chicken to make chicken salad. I didn't realize until the chicken was in that cart that I picked up lemon pepper rotisserie chicken!!  That sounds like tasty chicken salad!  I'm also going to make sriracha deviled eggs and finally some dip using fresh herbs and Greek yogurt. I'll let you know how that goes.  

On the dialysis front, last evening's treatment was not good. I'm doing good keeping the excess fluid off, but I am crazy aware and scared of hitting that point where too much fluid is removed during treatment. Well. Last night started out fine. The needles went in fine, no alarms, blood pressure is stable.  I fell asleep during the second hour.  I woke up feeling ok, then in about 5 minutes I got light headed, warm, clammy, nauseous and to add something new, my chest was hurting.  Geez.  I asked Brian for saline...the salty solution usually helps bring up the blood pressure.  And it worked. I'm trying not to panic and just practice breathing and relaxation techniques.  I did throw up.  Which is rare, but whatever.  And eventually my chest stopped hurting. Brian asked if I was having a heart attack.  I didn't know. It was over in about 15 minutes.  And within 30 minutes, treatment was complete. And then I felt better. 

So this brings us back to a Do Not Rescusitate order.  Over a year ago, a dear friend if mine died from complications of dialysis treatment. And now, an online friend is dying from complications of dialysis treatments. Both of these men had to use feeding tubes. And my friend had breathing tube. And was confined to the hospital or a rehab location for almost 8 months. For 8 months he wasted away.  His family and him agreed on a do not Rescusitate order after a while.  The other young man has horrific side effects and it is heartbreaking reading about his struggles and suffering. His mom is his caregiver and she's pretty much given up all hope now. And she did every single thing she could to get him better. But now she's resigned to the do not Rescusitate and it appears it's at the request of her son. I'm heartbroken. 

Brian and I have talked about this. I watched Mom waste away for 13 months. I watched Wendell  for 8 months. I don't want that quality of life. I cannot fathom being confined not only to a bed, but a bed in a medical favility for an extended period of time. With a feeding tube. Not being able to get out of bed....and endure dialysis?  No thank you. Brian says he's greedy and wants me around as long as possible.  But a line has to be drawn. And after last night I thought about do not Rescusitate. When those episodes happen, I am dying. My blood pressure can only drop so low and then.....

Ok moving on. I'm ok today and I'm sure my nurse will call once we send in the flow sheets.  Finally I told you I'm going to get on the transplant list here.  But since I don't have a secondary insurance, thank you State of Michigan Emergency manger and Rick Snyder, I will gave to pay an additional $15,000+ for the surgery. Yay?  And let's not talk about the 3 year limit financial assistance on anti-rejection drugs.  It's more visit effective to die slowly on dialysis. Heh. 

Ok. It sounds depressing, but I'm moving on. I have plans for the weekend and then I'm thinking about seeing the Cirque de Soleil Michael Jackson show.  And Brian wants to see Blue Man Group.  Tickets are either half price or buy one, get on free for locals! ;-)   That's it for today. Time to start boiling the eggs!  Have a great weekend.  And Happy AKA Founders day, today.  108 years!!! Proud to be pink and green!!   

My boots!! <3