The "It's 64 Degrees This Morning. I Was Chilly", edition.

Ipad shuffled to Barry White, " Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up".  Hmmm.  The tape on my access doesn't want to stick. When my tech comes back over here, I'll let her know.  Ok. Fixed. Just like that. The tape holds the tubing and needles in place. Putting the needles in is nothing compared to making sure the needles are is a correct place and immovable. I don't think I want a needle slipping out.  When the needles come out, the blood erupts like Mt Vesuvius. It's pretty spectacular, but I'd rather not see my blood spurting 2-3 feet in the air.  :-O   

Ok, in Detroit I described my "crew", the people who were in the same 6 seat module as me. The set up here is different, but what's the same is my area has 6 patients. I wouldn't call it a module.  I don't know what to call it.  Lol. 3 seats on one side facing the 3 seats on the other side..of the aisle?  Any way.  I'm facing north. I'm on the end..the east end. The person in the middle, next to me on the left, is a Hispanic gentleman. Not sure about his age. He doesn't speak much English.  The person on the west side, furthest left of me is a Hispanic lady. She doesn't speak much English, either. I guess they're  about my age. I'm really bad at guessing people's ages. 

 Prince, "Batdance". Across from me is a lady. She has problems every now and then and brings McDonalds breakfast with her in the morning. Not to be judgey, but that's a lot of sodium. Ok. I'll hand slap myself. :-(   The middle seat on that side seems to be reserved for visitors. I can tell not just because there seems to be a different person every session (that should do it, right?), but because they have to sign the encyclopedia of documents they have visitors sign. I know. Been there. Did that. Every single time I visited. Lol.   Visitor there now. The last seat is a Hispanic gentleman. I think he's maybe in his forties?  Has lots of tattoos even on his head. He speaks English.   None are as animated as my crew in Detroit. More subdued?  Lol. I might say the early time explains it, but we were fairly animated in Detroit.  Give me time though, I'll make it a party up in here.  Probably to the chagrin of management. Lol. 

Rick James, "You And I".  Dance time!  One thing that puzzles me is, with all of the Hispanics here, and there are a lot, no one on staff is not only not Hispanic, the only staff member that speaks Spanish is the lady who cleans the floor. WTF?   Well anyway, the clinic employees and patients are quite diverse. Oh yeah, my doctor is East Asian.  And my initial tech is Middle Eastern who keeps her hair covered. I like her, but shifting time gave me a new tech. New tech is fine also.  I was her patient when I visited and she remembered me. :-). 

So yeah, this morning the temperature registered 63 degrees!  I didn't feel it going to the car. The car is in a garage under the building so you don't really feel the extremes of temperatures. I did turn off the air conditioning on my side of the car, but I do that every morning. That cold blast doesn't seem necessary at 4:30 AM.  However, when I arrived at the dialysis center and was walking toward the door, I felt the 63 degrees. I was chilly!!!  It'll warm up to about 80 today and it's supposed be back in the 90s by the weekend. Well. This is the weather I wanted. And I'm not complaining. Just marveling at it. I'm liking where this is going. Lol. I brought my wool coat. I've been told I won't need it. We'll see.  However I did give away all of my winter boots. Now that felt good!!!!!

Signing out with  Jodeci,  "Come and Talk To Me".  I forgot to tell you another detail of the 3 seat set up and another difference between here and Detroit. The person in the middle has their dialysis machine on the right side. That sucks if your access is on the left. The tubing is then draped across your chest. I hated it. See in Detroit, they'd move the machines to go with your access. No draping tubes across our bodies. Yes I complained.  And yes the machine was moved for me. Once I changed times and chairs, they put me on the end with the machine on my left (yay!). But they displaced the Hispanic guy. :-(  I guess I'm a squeaky wheel. But I don't have a blood tube necklace either!  

Have a great Monday. Photo of access. Note the taping of the needles.  Well. The needles are under the tape. 

The "Friday Morning at The Dialysis Center - Las Vegas", edition.

Ipad shuffled to  Michel'le, "Something In My Heart".  Arriving at the dialysis center. Well let's start at home. Our alarms go off at 4:00 AM. 4AM!!!  I never ever got up that early. As a matter of fact waking up that early seems obscene. I guess getting a medical procedure 3 times a week changes your perspective. Your mind set, if you will. I'll go off on that tangent for a moment.  Or just say that I like getting dialysis over with and have the rest of the day to be active and/or productive. Of course that depends on how the treatment went. Usually I can get it over with - out by 8:45AM, go to breakfast. Home no later than 10AM. Take a nap and then good to go around noon. Of course a bad day takes me out for most of the day. Still. Early morning works for me. Any later I feel as if the day is wasted. Especially third shift times. Start at 3:00PM. Out by 7:00PM. Ugh. So ...  Our alarms are set for 4:00AM.  

 Jeffrey Osborne, "Stay With Me Tonight".   We stagger out of bed.  Brian makes coffee. I wash up and get dressed. Gather my dialysis bag. Take inventory. Fleece blanket. Check. Pillow. Check. Smarties. Check. Sometimes I need to refill my Smarties stash. Headphones. Check. Go get the iPad that's been recharging.  Put it in the bag. Bag is set. Put phone in purse.  Take a sip of coffee. Take BP pill. And we're out the door by 4:20AM or so. Lol. No dawdling there. Arrive at the center around 4:35 - 4:40 AM. The first shift patients are there. I'm the new kid in town (literally - lol). I've met most of them now since my time was changed. We are the first of the first shift.  We have to wait for the doors to open. 

Michael Henderson, "Valentine Love". It's  apparent that these people have not only have been Dialyzing a while, they've been the first of the first shift for a while!  They welcomed me warmly. :)  Anyway. The door opens at 4:45. We enter the treatment area.  But first we must weigh ourselves. You know. To see how much fluid we've put on since our last treatment. There can be praying, and wailing and gnashing of teeth when the numbers register. Lol.  Next stop the ice machine. Best little squares of ice!!  Yes, yeah. Dialysis patients love their ice. Since we have fluid restrictions, ice is a wonderful thing!  

Marvin Gaye, "What's Going On". Once we've weighed and got our cup(s) of ice, we meander to our areas and our chairs. I place my stuff in the chair, then head to a sink to wash my access. We were trained to do that in Detroit. I don't see much of that here, but the ability to wash the access is here and I do it. I admit that the techs use considerably more alcohol swabs on us here. As far as I'm concerned you can never make the access too clean. :)  The tech takes a standing and sitting blood pressure. Then the fun begins.  

Santana, "Black Magic Woman". The tech pulls up her stool. Puts a tourniquet on my access arm, the left arm, swabs the hell out of the access holes. Cleans off the scabs formed from the last treatment. Gotta get them out cleanly. Can cause infection. She wipes it some more and now it's time for the needle.  Since its a button hole, the hole is there. Just need to find the right spot in the vein. When the same tech does the stick, he/she know exactly where to place the needle. In addition, on the correct stick, we both "feel" it.  Like a little thud. You've hit the right spot and the blood starts flowing.  They always start with the arterial. And repeat the process for the venous access. 

Stevie Wonder, " Another Star". Once the needles are in, plastic tubing is used to attach me to the dialysis machine and we're off and running. Oh yeah. They flush the tubing for clots. Hey, they happen and can really gunk up the works and cause issues for me and the machine. You know. I think dialysis techs should be paid more. They are, you know, responsible for our lives here. So that's it I walk through the door at 4:45.  I'm on the machine by 5:00. And my tech moves on to her next patients. And I watch the clock. Lol. Hurry up 8:30!!!!   Lol

Signing off with   Al Green, "Call Me".  We took Dad to Texas de Brazil for dinner yesterday. I'll tell you about it later. ;-)  Have a fabulous weekend. People are excited here because no more 100+ degree days are coming. Never mind that today's high is supposed to be 99. Roflmao.  

Photo of me on the machine in Vegas. 

The "Now That The (Encountered) IOS Upgrade Issues Are Addressed....",edition

Ipad shuffled to Heatwave, "All You Do Is Dial". They do nice harmonies on this song.  So. Monday I was going to tell you about our inadvertent adventure. Unfortunately Apple Upgrade gave me an unappreciated adventure. 😒. What happened?  The keyboard defaulted to the new predictive typing mode. That caused several issues with the blog app. The keyboard didn't move.  And because the keyboard didn't move, I couldn't see what I was typing. The cursor placement  defaulted to the beginning of the document. I switched to split keyboard, but then the keyboard got smaller. And I still couldn't see anything I typed on the sides because, well, the keyboard still wouldn't move. As a matter of fact, after fooling around with it, the keyboard moved up and covered more of the screen. 😤. I'd had enough.

The Dramatics, "Be My Girl".  When I got home, I did a search.  I forget what keywords I used. Let's just say I wasn't the only person who experienced the keyboard problems. The problem had a name. Predictive Typing. All I had to do was disable it. Yay!!!  Problem solved. Happy Pat!   Predictive typing affected everything I typed.  I was prepared to chuck the iPad in the trash. But we fixed the Problem. 

So back to the regularly scheduled adventure. Brian and I did find an apple orchard in southern Nevada. Who knew someone tried growing an orchard in the desert. Lol It was located just north of Las Vegas. As we drove out we passed several horse ranches.  I figure we were less than 2 miles from the base of a mountain. The orchard wasn't opened. But it is just a tad early, I guess, for the apples here. Look. We're just a couple of midwestern transplants looking for some apple cider and doughnuts in the fall. :-D  And yes, the website said they were open. ;-(

Brownstone, "Grapevyne".   We turned around and left. I wasn't able to backtrack.  The road I took to get out there ended at a freeway and I didn't know how to get back to it, so I went over the freeway. I knew I was heading south and Las Vegas is mostly a perfect grid. I was pretty sure I'd hit a street I knew before I'd dead end at a mointain. Lol. One problem I might have is the street names change... Apparently on whims. Lol. But I did find a street whose name I was familiar with. Turned on it and headed east.  Doing fine, then the street closes for construction. *sigh*. Lol. We could see the strip way off open the hazy distance. I needed to get to the other side of the strip.  

Michael Jackson, "I Can't Help It". So pretty.  Written by Stevie Wonder.  The street I turned on was a street I was familiar with.  Sort of. I'd passed it on the freeway.  Lol. Anyway it had me going south again. I felt as if I was driving through the largest subdivision ever created. Anyway.  This time we did dead end at the base of a mountain. Lol. At some freeway.  All I could do is make that left turn and get on. Oh look Charleston street exit in 2 miles. I know that will get me home. 

We get off and we're at Red Rock Casino and Resort. Oh my. I knew that Red Rock was out there. And the strip still was a hazy mirage. Lol. We head east on Charleston. As we drive we notice PF Changs. Hey. We were out here last week!!!  Now we're near Suncoast Casino and Resort. No. We didn't go into any of the casinos. Lol. Anyway, we stopped for lunch at PF Changs..not bad. We're feeling pretty ok because we finally know where we are. Lol.  

We finally make it back. Tired of driving. Tired of riding. We've effectively have skirted the north west part of Las Vegas. That wasn't the plan for the day, but now we know. We found some places to visit so the excursion was worthwhile. Tell you what, though. I've had enough of the west and north side of Las Vegas for a while!   Lol. 

The Stylistics, " You Are Everything".  Nothing new in the dialysis front. I guess that's a good thing. I face the windows now. Except the morning sun would blind us so the shades are closed. :-(  We get up at 4AM.  My chair time is 5AM.  I think the doors to the clinic open at 4:30AM. Maybe earlier. I know there's a crew of people when I arrive. The doors for the treatment room open at 4:45AM. However the first shift starts at 5:00AM. And yes, I'm on no later than 5:00. Taken off at 8:30. Out by 8:45. Love it!  And I'm up to 8 lengths swimming and 7 laps of water jogging. I've also moved to 1/2 breaststroke and 1/2 crawl. Feeling good!!

Signing out with  Marvin Gaye, "You Sure Love to Ball".  We're chuckling it's autumn and the high temps are still in the  high 90s. When we to swim yesterday morning, the temp was 74. Felt a little chilly. Perhaps we're becoming acclimated to the weather. :-). 

Random photo. Lol. 

The "We Found an Apple Orchard in the Desert!", edition.

iPad shuffled to Kashif, "Help Yourself to My Love". Hmmmm.  I upgraded the Apple IOS and the blog app is different. I got smileys. 😛.  Whenever there is a new iPhone or iPad, the IOS is changed on both devices. So far (and I'm talking minutes) I've noticed just a few changes. I'm sure Apple will surprise me. 

So now that most of the "moving to another city" stuff has been handled, we can now get into the groove of truly making this our home. We have Nevada drivers licenses. We're registered to vote...although there seems to be a bajillion people running for a quintillion number of offices.  On every piece of vacant land, there are about 100 giant campaign signs. Lol.  Only a handful of televise ads...so far. We have a bank account. We have grocery store card...that's a must!!  Lol. And the Kroger card works at Smiths Grocery Store. Imagine my surprise when I saw Kroger products on the shelves!  The house is sold, so that is done. The health insurances are settled.  It's been almost two months. We can now breathe. 

Ok. Im not happy with this new Blogger interface.  This going to be short.  Exploring.   I got jealous or rather, I liked the idea of some apple cider and donuts. So naturally I googled apple orchard in Nevada. Farms,farm stands and ranches were returned.  Including the Cliven Bundy ranch. Yikes.  😬

A single apple orchard was returned. The Gilcrease Orchard.  It was out there. Near the base of a mountain, but we found it!!!   And it wasn't open yet. /cry.  We figured they need a few more weeks.  We'll be there.  I also wanted to tell you we inadvertently did additional exploring and ended up at anpother mountain, but this interface is pissing me off. So it's gotta wait for another day. 

Signing off with Usher, "Yeah". Happy dance song!!  Have a great day. I'm going to try to figure this out later. Forgive tos. I cannot see some of what I type. Stupid upgrade.

The "We No Longer Own a Home in Detroit!", edition.

iPad shuffled to Chaka Khan, "And The Melody Still Lingers On (A Night in Tunisia)".  Yep. We closed on Wednesday.  We engaged the real estate agent in July. She gave us 2 weeks to prepare the house. We emptied it out!!  She put up the For sale sign on a Wednesday.  She posted almost 100 photos to some real estate site Wednesday evening. On Saturday we had 8 people looking through the house. A few more on Sunday. We get a call on Monday that an offer was made. Whoa!  That happened fast. The offer did have some conditions. The potential buyer wanted the piano, the dinette set in the breakfast room and the 2 desks and the 2 office chairs in the basement. We had had no problem with piano and desks, but the dinette had left over the weekend. When we said we were clearing out furniture, we meant that we were clearing out furniture!!!  By Monday we had a card table and folding chairs in the breakfast room!  It looked sad, but that's what we had to do. ;-)  This happened in July before I left.

Earth, Wind and Fire, "Sun Goddess".  In the end, 3 old mismatched dining chairs, a recliner and a lamp were also left behind. How do I know?  I have photos. Why do I have photos?  Well, the buyer took out an FHA loan. Before his loan was officially approved, he had to pass an FHA inspection. That's what prolonged the sale. The house pretty much the City inspection, but the FHA was more stringent. Since we were selling as is, the buyer had to make the repairs. And he did. And he passed the inspection. Woot!!!  Now the paper signing and moving the documents between Detroit and Las Vegas. 

The O'Jays, "I Love Music". It seems I was getting something once a week in August to sign and it needed to be returned the next day. FedEx and I became good friends. The final packet came the day after the approved FHA inspection in September.  18 pages. Heh. I called my agent and had her walk me through all the documents and signed what I could while talking to her. Oh yeah. Remember we had a 3 hour time difference going on to add to the mix.  Anyway.  There were 2 documents that needed notarization.  And I needed to return the documents this past Monday for a Wednesday closing. I talked to the agent and signed stuff on Saturday evening. But no notaries were open on Sunday. But they all opened bright and early on Monday. Except...and this is the dialysis angle...I dialyze Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 5:00 AM to 8:30 AM and get out around 8:45 AM. And I may or may not feel well afterwards. 

Averge White Band, "A Love of Your Own".  Well I felt ok after dialysis on Monday. Not great, but not knocked out. I'd be able to function for a while. After treatment we went to a legal forms store not too far from the clinic. We're all set to go and they realize I have a limited power of attourney for Dad. They then demand a copy of the power of attourney document. WTF. It's in Detroit. >:-(  This was going to be an issue. And no, they didn't want a copy or a fax. Well damn. Now this is how you know I'd just finish treatment. I didn't argue or tell  them how stupid this was. I was too tired and didn't feel like it. I just collected my papers and walked out. We headed home. I think Brian was more ticked off than me. 

Heatwave, "The Groove Line".  We went back to the condo, I called the agent. Then I got an idea. I called another branch of the forms store. Explained about needing the documents notarized and that I had the power of attourney, but the not that document. I did however have my father. Lol. Why yes.  That's fine. Come on in. I herded up Brian and Dad. It was around 10 AM my time, 1 PM Detroit time. We got to the store, produced the documents, Dad and I had to show our IDs (yay, my Nevada ID came a few days earlier). Documents got notarized. It cost $10.00. Yay!!!   We hightailed it to FedEx.  The titled company sent me a prepaid label. I had a copy made of the 18 page document. Document sent. Due to arrive Tuesday morning. Whew!!

Cameo, "I Just Want to Be".  But wait!  There's more. Wednesday morning during treatment I check my phone. 2 more documents sign. But I can fax these. Ok, I need to get the docs to the ASAP. I'm in the chair. I gotta get home to print the docs and fax them. Done. After breakfast. Lol. Sent them back around 1:00 PM a Detroit time.  Around 3:00 PM my time I get a call from the real estate agent. I'm taking my post dialysis nap. It's a done deal. House closed. Not ours any longer!!  Yeah!! 

Signing off with Rahsaan Patterson, "Feels Good". Lol. How appropriate. :-)  Now on to other stuff !  I found a farm northeast of the city. A Farm!  We're gonna check that out. Lol. Have a great weekend!!  

The "Loose Ends and Stuff", edition.

iPad shuffled to Cream (Eric Clapton), "Sunshine of Your Love". You know the riff. This is entry 259 of Pat's  Adventures. The blog has had over 12,000 views.  I've never taken the time to do more stats.  It required me to go use the desktop computer. Up until the move to Las Vegas, the computer was in the basement and I wasn't interested in going downstairs. All I wanted was a blog app I could use on the iPad. I can use this app but I still need to go to the web version for additional features. I'm sure there is an easier way. I've looked into it, but I'm not willing to out in the effort to change to another app.  Yet.

The S.O.S Band, "Tell Me If You Still Care". Once I get past the video of this song, it's just fine. The video is cheesy and the lead guy singer poses too much.  Eh. Lol.  Isn't it fun when you don't realize your ear was blocked until it opens up?  Especially when the volume is up on your headphones!  Yikes!    Whoa!!! I can hear!!!  I didn't realize I wasn't hearing at 100%. Ok. What loose ends am I talking about?  I'd make reference to events and the say I'll explain later. But I don't explain later. So here are two. 

Johnny Guitar Watson, "Ain't That a Bitch". The first loose end  is from the New Orleans trip. I was really ticked off about going to a casino. Hell. I barely go to a casino here in Vegas, why the heck would I want to spend time at a casino in New Orleans. The casino with a $40.00 buffett.  That in no way compares with the Bellagio, The Wynn, The Venetian, etc. nor The Orleans or Boulder Station. And I get coupons from The Orleans and Boulder Station!! And just so you know, we go with Dad early Saturday morning to the casino for one hour. Once a week. That's it. I also wanted to spend a little time with Shawn, but with all the other things to do and see in New Orleans, the girls weren't interested in spending time (money) in a casino. I digress. 

The Dramatics, "Oceans of Thoughts and Dreams". I had to suck it up because it was Grandma's birthday and that's what she wanted to do.  I ended up joining Brian and my brother in law in the loud sports bar.  Not only were there a zillion large screen TVs, music is blaring. So DMX, "Party Up (Up in Here)" starts playing. Brian and brother in law proceed to dance around my chair. Roflmao. Beer. Of course they're the only ones dancing in this cavernous bar. Lol. We had a good time. And I quit pouting. ;-)  

The other loose end I'm not ready to write about.  Let's just say I'm really not happy with my new nephrologist. We'll see how this plays out. My social worker knows how I feel.  

Atlantic Starr, "Send For Me". So dad's computer was pretty old and slow. He had it fixed a whole ago and came to the conclusion that he should've purchased a new one rather than spend the money. One day I was in Best Buy. I passed an all in one computer.  I did a double take. Brian had mentioned these to me a while ago.  I guess I just filed it away. Once I saw it, though, I knew that was exactly what dad needed. Plus the price was sooo right. 

Last week we went to get him one. We ended up at Staples because they were on sale. Alas, they were out of stock. Lucky for us, Fry's Electronics was just across the street or driveway or something. We were at the Town Square Mall. I'll have to describe that mall one day. Anyway, Fry's is like Best Buy on steroids. It seems like it sells everything. There was an entire section of "Seen on TV"products. There was a gaming system that came  with a chair and a steering wheel..cost over $8k. Lots of GoPro cameras. Just.So.Much.Stuff. I wouldn't want to get caught there around Christmas. Darn. I digressed again. 

Pharrell, "Happy", We end up at Fry's. They have an absurd amount of all in ones. All we need is a basic  model for an 88 year old guy who checks crossword puzzles, tracks sports, reads news and tracks the songs playing on his stereo ( lol. I have no idea how he found that).  We found and purchased that basic model. Dad was sitting in the living room when we returned. He asks what's in the box. We tell him it's for him. He goes, " For me?"  He's like a kid on Christmas morning. Lol. He opens the box and takes everything out ....Then waits for us to put it together. Lol. Of course it's Microsoft 8. I told him it was up to him to figure it out. Brian and I weren't familiar with it. And he did. :) He's enjoying his new toy. 

Today's dialysis angle. My venous buttonhole acted up this morning so I got a sharp needle stick...on the track, not the buttonhole. That would be bad. Also I had some important errands to run Monday immediately after dialysis. I was wiped out, but much better than last week. Got them done. 

Signing off with Al Green, "Let's Stay Together". <3.  Want grits today. Lol. Have a great Wednesday. Oh yeah.  The really jumbo photos are coming from my phone. And I have to add the photos via the web version of a Blogger. I'm a try to add Dad's photo.  We'll find out if it's jumbo real soon !!  

The "Don't Be a Fooled By My Photos. I Still Have ESRD", edition.

iPad shuffled to Kool and the Gang, "Summer Madness". Some songs stand the test of time. This is one. And oh yeah. I prefer this era of Kool and the gang.  In case you forgot. ESRD = End Stage Renal Disease. My kidneys don't work. I have to go to dialysis 3 days a week to get an artificial kidney to remove a fraction of toxins from my body. Remember your native kidneys work 168 hours per week. My fake kidney works 10.5 hours a week.  Your kidneys work 157.5 more hours than mine. And your's work continuously.

The Main Ingredient, "Spinning Around". My body can't get rid of all the toxins I take in. I take meds to help remove some. I have to watch my intake of potassium ( yes I haven't had a banana or avocado in almost 2 years ). Too much potassium and I can have a heart attack. I have to watch my phosphourous ( chocolate, milk, cheese, beans, ice cream, colas, and nuts). Too much phosphorus and I lose bone health and again, a heart attack.  Oh and the dialysis treatment is quite hard on the heart.  It's not uncommon for patients to have heart attacks during treatment. 

The Doors, "Light My Fire". My past 2 treatments, my blood pressure did the dip dance. I normally run between 120-145/70-90.  Wednesday I went 90/59.  Friday I dropped to 93/68. We got my pressure up enough to leave. The center says 95/70 is within acceptable range. I actually have no argument with that. Except it can't be universal for  all patients. Those numbers are too low for me. But I see patients who stay there. My tech got it though. She went to bat for me with the nurse. :-)   I know when I'm crashing and ask for saline. A little salt brings the pressure back up. Plus I carry salt packs in my purse. 

Aerosmith, "Crazy".  So with all that being said, I savor and enjoy every minute of my life. I may die in 5 minutes. I may live for 30 years. The reality of death walking behind me is quite real. On the days when I crash, those days end up bring lost days. This past Friday was a wash. Got out, went to breakfast. Home by 11:00 AM and slept the rest of the day...and that night. :-(  The photos you see of me come on days I don't have treatment.  I get to enjoy life on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. I have no guarantees for Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But hold up. This should change when I start doing home hemo. Should start training next month. Yay!  See how I brought that back to fairly hopeful?  And no I'm not going down the rabbit hole. Those Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays are damn good days.  And all dialysis days aren't horrific.  :) 

Bel, Biv, Devoe, "Poison". Don't you just want to start dancing when this song starts?  So I start my new chair time today. 5:00 AM. Be at the center at 4:45!!  I have a different tech, but the new one treated me when I was visiting. And my previous tech is right across from me. All is well.  

Signing out with The Dramatics, "Welcome Back Home. Photos are of the condo complex and maybe more of us swimming. I am a water baby.  Love swimming. Brian and I used to be lifeguards for the Detroit Recreation Department. He was at Rouge Park with the Olympic size pool and 5 meter platform. I was at neighborhood centers. Max depth of 5 feet, but always chock full of kids.  :-)  And we started Shawn's lessons when she was 2. We were at a pool party. My diaper clad toddler saw us in the pool and jumped right on in!!  Yikes!!!  Lol. We got her out and said,  "No" or something. She laughed and jumped right back in.  Lessons at the Y started that next Saturday!!  Lol. Have a great day. 

Oh yeah. It's kinda odd sweltering here, high today is 102 and being told the temp in Detroit was in the 40s. I'm so sorry. ;-).  Oh guess what just started playing?  " Hot in Herre", Nelly!!!  Roflmoa. Erm. 6AM. 81 degrees. 

The "The Other Triple D Restaurant and Other Stuff", edition.

iPad shuffled to  James Brown, "Please, Please, Please".  We're still in the afterglow of the James Brown movie.  We saw a documentary on him a few years ago. More in depth than the movie, but the movie brought him to life. So while the refrigerator was out, we did more eating out and carry out than we would have liked. But whatcha gonna do?  We were tired of eating out. Remember we just came back from 3 days of eating out in New Orleans. Now we had 4 more days of that in Las Vegas. It did get tiresome.

Whodini, "Five Minutes of Funk". One of those days I searched for another "Food TV" restaurant. I found Lola's, featured on "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives". It really wasn't a diner, drive-in nor a dive. But it was a small restaurant. We pondered about how the show was even filmed in there.  Seating was inside and out. We sat inside. Too hot for outside.  Lola's full name is Lola's Louisiana Kitchen.  Yes, we went to a restaurant that served food like the food we had in New Orleans. I had gumbo and a po' boy.  Yes, I like po' boys. I am not ashamed. Brian had Bronzed Shrimp and grits. Both were good. Neither of us had the dish featured on Triple D. That was called Roast Beef D'Brees. You can check it out on the menu link.  And yeah, The Saints and Drew Brees are like gods in New Orleans. You're inundated with Saints stuff as soon as you exit the airplane. Yes, yes, the food was tasty. Another Triple D success. 

Al Green, "Can't Get Next To You". Once the refrigerator was delivered, we went grocery shopping and have been having home cooked meals ever since. Roast beef with fresh green beans and corn, Texas chili, scrambled eggs with cheese and ham, a Hudson's like Maurice salad, spaghetti. Tonight will be chicken enchiladas. And yes, we do more than eat out here. Lol.  

Tears For Fears, "Everybody Wants To Rule The World".  We're settling into routines. One huge task was getting those drivers licenses and the new license plates for the car. The IDs were necessary for getting the checking account. Mission accomplished. DMV desecrated my Michigan drivers license. I have a temp license. Just waiting for the permanent one to arrive. I got my new Medicare Part D plan. My meds went from $800/month to just over $100/month.  Whoo hoo!  The house closes next week. Another Whoo hoo!  

Bobby Womack, "Looking For a Love". We've finally got into an exercise routine. I swim 4 days a week, increasing my stamina and strength.  We'll also start using the exercise room. Probably next week. We've met a few people in our building and in the complex. The staff at the clinic are pretty ok. I'm not enamored with my new nephrologist. The jury is still out on that. Oh yeah, my chair time is being changed to 5AM. I like that!  :-)

Signing off with Aretha Franklin, "I Say a Little Prayer". We bought dad an All in One" computer. He was like a kid on Christmas Day.  Lol. The news people are saying it feels like fall. Fall apparently equals temps under 100 degrees. Ok......   Have a wonderful weekend!  

Lola's Las Vegas Menu

The "Finding The Triple D Restaurants", edition.

IiPad shuffled to "Play That Funky Music". Shawn asked me if we'd found any restaurants that had been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I told her we hadn't, but we did pass by a bar featured on Bar Rehab, or whatever it was called. And the bar was closed after all that work. Lol. And so begins the story.

We returned from New Orleans on Sunday.  Monday was Labor Day. And dialysis day. Yet I was going to try and fix something for the holiday. Well the point became moot. We called Dad from Houston to let him know when our flight landed. He informs me that the refrigerator died. He will be going to Sears on Monday to buy a new refrigerator. He does, but it won't be delivered until Thursday. :-(  Ok. Fine. Now what to do about dinner. Well. It just so happens I'd just seen an episode of DDD that featured Las Vegas places. One of those places featured barbeque. Score!  I didn't remember the entire name, but I did remember it had Road Kill in it. So I googled "Road Kill restaurant Las Vegas". I got a hit. We were going to visit "John Mulls Road Kill Grill". 

Blue Magic, "What's Come a Over Me". Now that I have a name I peruse the menu. Looks good. Ok. Where is this place located?  Naturally I've never heard of the street it's on. Next step, Google maps.  Ahh.  Its near the North Las Vegas airport. We don't venture that far out, unless it's to the Texas Station casino, but it's been years since we'd been there. Road trip to Road Kill Grill!  

The Sugarhill Gang, "Rapper's Delight". Remember the first time you heard it?  I do. :)    We head out. Pass the the airport.  Turn on the correct street. Hey. This is a residential area....   Turn on the street for the address. Still residential. And Boom!  There it is. It's a meat market and more. The actual "restaurant"  is a grill covered by a tent across from a cinder block building. Seating is picnic tables, also covered by a tent. Parking is kinda haphazard on the gravel parking lot. Oh yeah. There's also a line.  

Nicole Henry, "Waters of March". We get out of our air conditioned car to 100+ degree sun to most wonderful smell you could imagine.  Makes me smile just thinking about it. We discovered barbeque Heaven in a North Las Vegas. *sigh*. The people in line waited patiently in that hot sun. We put on our hats.  I eventually sat down at a picnic table under a tent. The sun after dialysis wasn't the best combination.  Yes, other wives sat down while our husbands braved the sun. ;-)   At some point I ventured over to the cinderblock building. All I can say is OMG. They sell every cut from just about every animal. Apparently the entire animal is edible except for the hair, fur or festhers.  Lol. And cheese. And people were walking out with trays of 3 dozen eggs. Heh. I know where to go to find my cube steaks. :-D

Isaac Hayes, "Joy, Pt 1". Back to Brian in line.  Since I pulled up the menu online, we knew what we wanted. Dad wanted barbeque chicken. Brian wanted brisket and I wanted rib tips. The meals came with 2 sides. We got baked beans, cole slaw, green beans, macaroni salad and macaroni and cheese. The meals also came with cornbread.  But they were out so we got rolls. They were also out of mild barbeque sauce. We got spicy. 

What we really got was so much food (meat) that all of us could have probably eaten from a single dinner. But you ask, "Pat but was it good?"   OMG. It was delicious!!!  The meat was smoky and tender and didn't really need the sauce.  The sauce came on the side anyway. The sides were all fresh.  We're sitting at the table eating, the only sounds are us sighing and going "mmmmm ". Lol. We couldn't finish our meals.  And we didn't have a refrigerator. But we did have a cooler with ice. Hah!  And microwave. 

The Dramatics, "Welcome Back Home". This was the first Diners Drive-ins and Dives we visited.  (Yes, Brian and I hit up one on Thursday for lunch.  Hey. We still didn't have a refrigerator. Delivery was between 3-5. ). I must say, say what you will about Guy Fieri, if John Mull's Road Kill Grill is indicative of the places he visited, we're in for a treat on other Triple D restaurants.  We will definitely revisit the Road Kill Grill and I will visit John Mull's Meats. 

The dialysis angle?  I got my labs back. My protein level dropped. Really?  After that meat-a-palooza I had?  Lol. Now they've got me adding even more. :-(  More eggs, fish, beef and poultry. *sigh*. I really do get full, guys. Lol. Oh and I finally am back to my dry weight after today's run. From all the fluid gain from New Orleans. No more missing treatment for 4 days for me.  

Signing off with The Whispers, "Just Gets Better With Time".  The high out here today is 95!  Whoo hoo. Although it rained almost all day on Monday. Part the interstate north of here washed out.  People can't get to Salt Lake City. And we watched the street in front of the condo become a river. We stayed inside. Links and photos are from the Road Kill Grill. Have a wonderful day. And yes we watched the Lions play on Monday.....at 5:00 PM.  Lol. 

http://www.johnmullsmeats.com

The "Touring New Orleans", edition.

iPad shuffled to James Brown,  "Get Up Offa That Thing".  Yes we finally saw "Get on Up" this weekend. Whenever any of the songs played, there we were, dancing and singing in the theater.  Couldn't help ourselves. Lol.  So.  Cassandra scheduled a  three hour tour for all of us. The bus picked us up from the hotels at 9:15 AM. The Windsor Court thoughtfully had cold bottles of water in silver bowls, apples in silver bowls and hand towels near the front door for us to grab on the way out.  We board the bus. The next stop were the young ladies who were in another hotel. And then we were off.

Incognito, "Nights Over Egypt". A few of the highlights included stopping at the warehouse where the floats and stuff for Mardi Gras are stored. There is also a gift store where you could buy multi colored tutus and beads of all sorts.  We passed the oldest cemetery in New Orleans. I now know why the cemeteries are all crypts. I noticed that on the ride from the airport. No headstones, just a crapload of crypts.  We went through the lower ninth ward. Saw new construction, but also saw areas that are still messed up, even after 9 years.  Did I mention we were there for the 9th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina?  We stopped by Dave's house. He's turned his house into a museum of Katrina and New Orleans. The tour guide delivers a bottle of Crown Royal and we, the tourists can see his museum. Lots of photos and artifacts. And whatever he was cooking smelled delicious!!!  Lol. 

Friends of Distinction, "Love or Let Me Be Lonely".  We drove through historic districts. We stopped at a casino ( like the Belle Isle Casino, not a gambling casino) in a really nice huge park. It'd starting raining, but we went inside the casino.  We got beignets and gumbo. Yum. We drove through the Tulane area. The driver pointed out the hotspots for our young ladies.  And of course they'd already hit those spots. Lol. How did they already know?  At the end, the tour driver dropped us off anyplace we wanted.  The girls wanted to go back to their hotel. A 9:30 AM pick up time was much too early after reveling the previous night. I asked what time the got in the previous night.  No one knew. Ah. To be in my early 20s again. ;-)  The rest of us ended up at Dooky Chase's Restaurant. I had crab bisque and crab nachos. Sooo good. Corell had fried oysters.  She came for air when she got full. Maurice had his 3rd bowl of gumbo for the day.  Lol. 

Michael Jackson, "Butterflies". It was still raining pretty hard when we left. We were able to hail a van cab. You'd be proud of a bunch of people older than 55 run to that cab and clear that step and leap in the cab. Lol. I got in first and ended up catching the seniors as they jumped in. Lol.  We got to the hotel. The valets greeted us with umbrellas and we never got wet while entering the hotel. Next group outing was at 7PM. 

After a little rest and the weather cleared, Brian and I took a cab to the French Market. I'd seen it during our travels. A big ole outdoor market spanning a couple of blocks. Food, clothes, drinks, jewelry, luggage and other stuff. There were musicians all over playing pretty good music. We made it back to the hotel for the next event. Grandma wanted to go the real casino, Harrahs. I wasn't into it because I, um, live in Las Vegas. :-/  I ended up hanging out in the bar with Brian and my brother in law. The girls ended up on Bourbon Street and witnessed some of the Decadence event. A good time was had by all.  

The Stylistics, "People Make The World Go Round".  Shawn met us the next morning for breakfast at The Ruby Slipper cafe. There was a line, but it moved pretty good. Food was delicious. We went back to the room after breakfast and spent time with Shawn. Finally. Lol. I won't see her again until Christmas. {sad face}. Too soon it was time for her to back to her hotel and for all of us to finish packing.  We left before Shawn.  We get to the airport.  Our flight took us from New Orleans to Houston. Short flight. Too much turbulence to get our pop and peanuts. Lol. Next flight, Houston to Las Vegas. I call dad from Houston to give him our pick up info. He tells me the refrigerator has died. Lol. Alrighty then.  And the next day was Labor Day. Apparently my adventures aren't ending!!

So what was the dialysis angle?  I didn't want to dialyze in New Orleans. So I doubled up before I left. Treatment on Wednesday and Thursday.  But that meant 4 days without dialysis. That's pretty dicey. I'd never been 4 days without treatment before. I needed to watch my fluid intake. And I did inspite  of the stifling weather. I'm still getting fluid removed, but I'm getting there. Also the walking. Lots of walking in that miserable weather. I did it though. Yay!!!

Signing off with The Dramatics, "Be My Girl". Excuse me while I get lost in Ron Banks voice. /Swoon.  Ok. I'm good now.  I've been getting flood warnings on my phone since Friday. The rain (thunderstorms? Yeah, sure) started yesterday and are to continue through tomorrow.  And the temps dropped. High today is 84!  Somebody bring me a sweater!!  Lol. Make your Monday a good  day. Sorry for the really long entry.  

http://www.southerndecadence.net

The "I Gotta Get Back to New Orleans. Just Not in August!", edition.

iPad shuffled to Steely Dan, "FM". "No static at all". But now I listen to satellite. I digress. The Juju Bag Restaurant and Barber Shop. We enter the building. It is a house remoded into a restaurant. I notice I guy with a keyboard setting up right in the front.  The owner welcomes us warmly and gives us a tour. It's not big. We pass tables and the kitchen and head to the backyard. The backyard has more seating and is huge.  We find the girls, er, young ladies out there with their drinks. Shawn has a Jolly Rancher.  And they're all wearing 3 inch heels!  And towering over me. Lol.

Tevin Campbell, "Can We Talk". We return to our seats. Order food and settle in for a good time.  The party consisted of 12 people. We came from Detroit, Champaign/Urbana, Illinois, Houston and Dallas, Texas and Las Vegas, Nevada to celebrate Rose's 80th birthday. Feel the love!  :-)  OMG. My dialysis access site is itching. :-(  Aargh.  As we start to eat, the keyboard guy starts playing and a lady who sounds like Nancy Wilson starts singing!!  A keyboard and a vocalist!!  Right by the front door!! Who knew it could sound so good!!  And she engaged the customers.  More and more people came in. Shawn noticed the Zagat designation on the door. We had a great time and the food was good. No I didn't have "New Orleans" food. I was trying to stick to my renal diet. I had a turkey wrap and it was good!  But ask about the next day! 

The Persuaders, "Thin Line Between Love and Hate". I found my brother's twin. We asked dad about that when we returned home.  Lol. The girls left before us as they planned to enjoy the New Orleans nightlife...in 3 inch heels.  Lol. Whatever. The 4th young lady came with her dad, who lives in town. He dropped them off somewhere near Bourbon Street. In the meantime the owner called for a cab (van) for the rest of us. That turned out badly. The cab passed us by, then lied to their dispatcher. But you know what?  The owner and one of her employees drove us back to the hotel. Which was pretty nice considering the owner lived 3 blocks from her restaurant and our hotel was downtown!  

Vanessa Williams, "Dreamin'". We head to our rooms. Cassandra reminds us she's scheduled a 3 hour tour tomorrow. The bus will pick us up at 9:15. See, the birthday honoree wanted to some sites in New Orleans, including Brad and Angelina's house. :)  Uh oh. I lied. I need another entry to finish!  

The Jackson 5, "Maybe Tommorrow". On the local news front, I finally successfully got my Nevada drivers license. I had to request a copy of my marriage license from Wayne County.  It could not be a copy, it had to have an official seal. All because I changed my name when I got married. ;-/    And Brian got the license plate for the car. We're official!  Hey. The last time I mentioned the visit to the DMV I mentioned we were there the first day they changed their system and were calling us by the last 4 digits of our cell phone numbers. We thought that dumb. But now we know why. Youre sent a text  when it's time go to a window for service. The initial text tells you how many people are ahead of you and your approximate wait.  For me it 79 people and 100 minutes. *sigh*.  You can actually get in line from home. You have the ability to see your place in line.  I got a text 20 minutes before my number would called , to head to the DMV. You can also message back if you need more time.  Very cool. 

Signing off with Jamie Foxx, "I Don't Need It". Nothing much on the dialysis front. I got my flu shot on Wednesday. I'm still trying to get the rest of the fluid off from last weekend. :-(  And finally, there are windows here. I can see the mountains to the northwest. Remember in Detroit we were in the lower level. Like a dungeon. But the week I leave they break ground for a new clinic. On the ground floor.  Lol. Of course. Today may be last of triple digit temps out here!  Lol. Have a great weekend. :-) 

The "New Orleans. Oh The Humidity!!", edition.

iPad shuffled to Rachelle Ferrell, "Love Has Never Felt Like This". By the time we left Las Vegas, Shawn was already in New Orleans. She left Champaign around 3:30 AM to get to St. Louis for her 7:30 AM flight. Her cousin and the rest of the party had arrived Thursday, so Shawn just needed to get to the hotel. Cassandra got a room (suite) for the girls in another hotel, not too far from where the "grown-ups" were staying.

Back in Las Vegas, Brian and I get prodded onto the Southwest flight and ease into the 3 1/2 hour flight. 2 hour time difference. We leave at 9AM Pacific Time.  We arrive around 2:30 Central Time. As we step out of the airport, the humidity slams us. OMG. I swear I'd never felt it like this before. Brian reminds me of Florida. I'm still skeptical. Lol. I was all in when my glasses started flogging up when I'd go from air conditioned inside to 99% humidity outside.  Yes, I was familiar with that. :-(  Anyway, we get the cab to to go to the hotel. We pass Xavier University, Tulane University, and the "Mercedes Benz" Superdome (brought back sad memories). 

We finally arrive at the Windsor Court Hotel. First thing I notice is it directly across the street from Harrah's Casino. :-p  I know what that means. I'll go into that later. The taxi pulls up, a guy opens the the door, another guy gets the luggage from the taxi. Another young man is opening the door of the hotel for us. Every employee we pass greets us.  We check in and get our card keys. Oh yeah, the lobby is all shiny and marble and flowers and someone is playing a harp. We take the elevator to the 15th floor. 

We open the door and step into the foyer(!). Marble table on the right, a fully stocked bar with a sink, refrigerator and coffee machine on the left. Step into the living took with a 50 go it high def tv, and a balcony. We discover a vanity area with a sink, marble of course, another marble sink area, and a another room with the rest of the bathroom.  Lol. 3 rooms for getting ready. 42 in flat screen, 2 queens in the bedroom. Closest with a safe, robes and slippers. And enough outlets for all of our gadgets!  That's always important!!! 

Michel'le, "Something In My Heart". Well we're hungry and need to find a drug store.  I had a cold and was congested. The airplane descending and my right ear were a bad combination and Brian needed some stuff.  It took almost the entire for my ear to open up. And I had trouble hearing.  :-/   We find out the closest drug store was four blocks away on Canal Street.  Ok. Except the humidity. We get to going and realize it was Decadence Weekend. ;-)  Walking in that humidity. Ugh. We get our stuff. Head back, stop at a restaurant. I ordered my first Po'Boy ever.  Sandwich goodness!!! Yum,  We eat, go back to the hotel, I take a shower and a nap. Grandma's birthday was at 7 at The Juju Bag. 

Cassandra requests a van to take us to Juju Bag.  Me, Brian, Cassandra, her husband, Rose's friend, Rose's sister and the honoree, Rose. It's her 80th birthday, y'all!!! The girls were already there. The cab takes us out of downtown, we eventually arrive. The best looking juke joint you'd ever find. Oh yeah, it's directly across the street from the school Louis Armstrong was sent to as a young boy.  We had arrived at The Juju Bag Restaurant and Barber Shop!

Terry Callier, "Ordinary Joe". Not much on the dialysis front. I'm seething about the arrogant ass nephrologist I've been assigned. I'll explain another day.  That being said, the techs are nice, the nurses are nice, my social worker is very cool and my dietician is especially cool. My drugs are delivered to the center. The cost dropped dramatically. I guess I'm out of the donut hole. BUT. I'm no longer eligible for Blue Cross of Michigan Medicare Advantage. Lol. They kicked me off as soon as I made the address change. I'm not eligible for Medicare Advantage in Nevada. I'll explain why one day. But I did get a Medicare Part D plan. There's still more, but that's for another day.  And the dialysis center has an ice machine!  We dialysis patients like our ice!!!  Lol

Signing off with Steely Dan, "Babylon Sisters".  Link for The Juju Bag. A "Decadence" is forthcoming. Photos of the birthday honoree, 2 of her children, 2 of her granddaughters and a few friends of granddaughter.  Still on track to finish thus on Friday.  Just long entries. Have a great day.  It looks like one more week of triple digit weather. But I'm not complying after the triple digit humidity in N'awlins. Ugh.  ;-DJuju Bag - Urban Spoon

The "Why Didn't You Tell Me About New Orleans Sooner?", edition.

iPad volume was on max!  Yikes. iPad shuffled to Steely Dan, "Do it Again". I think the volume was on high to cut through the noise on the airplane. Sometimes I didn't think the music was loud enough.  That's what happens on long flights, I guess. Lol. Yep, New Orleans this past weekend. And yeah, I'm gonna start how we got there.

Sometime in late June/early July I get a note in the mail from my sister in law, Cassandra, announcing that we'll be celebrating my mother in law's, Rose,  birthday in New Orleans this year. It's her 80th birthday. Ok. We've never celebrated the birthday anywhere but Detroit before, but when asked what she wanted to do for her birthday, Rose said she wanted to go to New Orleans. You know that Brian and I don't need to be convinced to travel.  And we'd never been to New Orleans. We were all in. 

DMX, "Party Up (All in Here). And yes, I have a story about this song in New Orleans. Later. Lol. So anyway. The letter from Cassandra had the dates, the hotel, a tour and an itinerary. I called her the conductor as she orchestrated the trip. :-)  Anyway I had just finalized our reservations for the Denver trip. I looked at my credit card and apologized profusely. My credit card gave me the stink eye.  Remember, we are trying to finish up the moving and selling of the house. And yes, we had to get Shawn there from Champaign, Illinois.  She was in the process of finishing her job in Springfield and was moving into a new apartment in Champaign and had to complete a paper and presentation about the discoveries at the site in Springfield. Oh yeah. And her classes started that last week in August. Whew. Somehow everything got done. But no more travel for a while. Lol. 

Ramsay Lewis, Earth, Wind and Fire, "Sun Goddess".  Two weeks after we return from Denver, we're heading for New Orleans. Southwest again. We're getting used to open seating. As they move the customers in using cattle prods. "Moooooo". I got a non-stop flight there, but no non stops on the way back.  What's up with that?  Lol. We stop in Houston, the flight is less than an hour. Layover about an hour. It's good. Look. Whatever anxieties I've had about flying are null and void now lol. Yay!!!  

Shawn's flight was not as easy. She can fly out of Chicago,Indianapolis, or St. Louis. The distance is pretty much the same for all three cities to Champaign Urbana. Champaign has a shuttle to O'Hare, but timing was an issue. Who wants to get there and have to wait 6 or more hours before a flight. We went the least expensive which was St. Louis. She drove there and caught the plane. Her flight was in the morning.  She made it!!!  Geez. My kid is grown. Lol. And yes, she is back safe and sound in Champaign now.  :). 

The birthday festivities started on Thursday. My family arrived on Friday. Shawn because of school and Brian and I because of dialysis. Eh, what are you gonna do. I dialyzed on my normal day, Wednesday, the went back on Thursday. I'm back today. 4 days without treat. The longest I've ever gone. 4 days!!!  I actually felt ok.  I watched my fluid intake, even though the humidity was hellish. I gained 5 kilograms over the 4 day period. That's 11 pounds of fluid gain. Now don't panic. That's less than 1.5 kg per day which is pretty good. It's just it was so long before treatment. 

Signing off with Kashif, "Help Yourself to My Love".  I had a bad night. I'm not sure why. I feel better, but sure was looking forward to dialysis.  Lol. Who says that?  Rofl. More coming and I think I finish it up in a week. We have lots of adventures and photos.  And oh yeah, when we called dad from Houston he infers us the refrigerator died. We're spending Labor Day refrigerator shopping!  Lol. Have a great holiday. I'm going to look for ribs.  I have an idea where I'm going thanks to " Diners, Drive-ins and Dives"   ;-)

Road Kill Grill