Rain!

We had a lovely thunderstorm last night.  Nothing dangerous or severe in our area.  Just some thunder, and lots of rain.

Our poor Pete got so scared, though.  That truly horrendous storm (when we were gone for my birthday back in April) really terrified him, and he freaks out now.  It's very sad to see.  He spent the whole night cowering in the bathroom, even after the storm moved on.

We got to use our hot tub (which we have turned down to 90 degrees for the summer) before the storm, and watched the sky change and the wind come up while we were out there.

Dave is doing great (see my post from Tuesday).  He feels SO much better without the high doses of BP lowering medications.

His BP readings have been right around normal every time he has used the cuff, too.

He will get his blood draw done tomorrow morning.

We went to Kohl's yesterday, which we do a couple of times a year (IF I get a good coupon in the mail).  We rarely purchase new clothing, but once in a while, it's nice to do so.

Oklahoma has a sales tax free weekend every year around the beginning of the school year, to help families save a little money on clothes and shoes for back to school.

We took advantage of that, as well as using a 30% off coupon that I got in the mail.

We bought socks and underwear, jeans, tops, and pants, and the receipt showed that we SAVED $240 and SPENT $140.

Not bad.  This is why I have a Kohl's credit card!

All of the laundry is done, and I cleaned and vacuumed yesterday, so today should be nice and free-flowing.

I am planning to grill a chicken for dinner and left overs, and will make a broccoli slaw.  If it's raining, we an put the grill under the car port.

There's more rain in the forecast for the whole week, which is HIGHLY unusual for August.  We are supposed to see temperatures in the 80s!  It was 100 yesterday before the sun went down.

I am loving this break from the heat!  Yesterday was actually the worst day since the week before last.

I've been able to get out and walk more this past week, and I've lost 2 of those pesky 10 pounds I have gained (and can't seem to get rid of, no matter how carefully I eat) from my meds.

I did an experiment with my hair yesterday.  There's finally enough of it to dust off my old flat iron to straighten it!  I couldn't get it completely straight, but it worked pretty well.  Now, this morning, after sleeping on it, it looks good!

Now I know what to do.... iron it at bed time for the next day when I want to wear it straight.

It will be nice to have options as it continues to grow out.

I'm totally not used to NOT washing my hair every day, either, but my "new" hair is different from my pre-chemo hair in many ways.

I can go a day without shampooing it now.  I never could before, because it would look dirty.

Anyway, I'm off to make breakfast.  Have a good Sunday!

An extra post this week....

I am so relieved that Dave finally went back to our GP, after spending a couple of years going to his company-sponsored clinic, and being seen by a PA.

Sure, no copay....but also, no real doctor.

For the past month or so (including when we were on vacation), Dave has been having a REALLY hard time doing anything like yard work, or taking his walks, or doing his morning work outs.

This is new since he was in the hospital in April, and his BP meds were changed.

This past Sunday, he got really light headed and winded, and could not recover. I made him come inside and sit down (bringing a chair into the kitchen so he didn't have to walk far), and I had him take his BP. It was 72 over 41.

72 over 41.

Once he convinced me that he did NOT want to go to the hospital, and that I was NOT to call 9-1-1, I looked up the meds he was on.

I am not a pharmacist or a doctor, but it seemed to me that he was being HIGHLY over medicated.

Once he recovered enough to focus, he looked at the information on line as well, and decided NOT to take his evening BP pill.

I suggested he call first thing Monday, and make an appointment with the cardiologist who saw him at the hospital (since that Dr. has all of the records of the tests that were done that weekend in the hospital, AND he was the one who prescribed a DOUBLING of one of the med dosages), OR go back to our GP. Either way, though, I insisted that he call and get an appointment with a REAL doctor.

He had already been thinking of going, but this made it clear, he needed to make a decision.

He chose the GP, called first thing yesterday, and got an appointment for this morning!

She had him stop BOTH meds-- cold turkey. She was amazed that he had not been passing out on a regular basis with that much medication in his system.

For a month, he will take his BP every day at the same time, and keep a spread sheet.
He will get labs drawn some time in the next week or so, and between the labs and the BP spread sheet, she will be able to determine a SAFE level of the meds for Dave, and start over.

He WILL still need to take both kinds of medication (one is an ACE inhibitor, and one is a BETA blocker--and as a heart attack survivor, he does need them), but he will be on MUCH smaller doses.

SHEESH!

Cool

It's only 74 right now.... only going to be upper 80s today!

That means we have to get the yard work done, NOW.

Nothing much to report from here.

Our friends from Swizerland held another delightful, and educational, Swiss National Day party last night.  That was fun, except that I forgot my pills, including my chemo, so we had to leave earlier than anticipated.

My sister and brother in law were in France this past week.  They had a lovely time, got to see lots of cool stuff, but then had issues with flights coming home.

They won't hit ground at O'Hare until tonight around 7, and he has to work tomorrow.  Ugh.

Okay, breakfast is eaten... First, I'll do the check book and bills while Dave mows the front.
Then, when he's done with the mower,  out I go to do the back.

Have a good Sunday.

Back to the doldrums

The hot weather wears on me pretty badly, and Dave and I are both completely back into the "fed up with work" day to day life.

Sigh.

The good thing about the heat is that the grass isn't growing, since it's too hot to mow anyway.

Dave's son showed up for a visit with us yesterday.  That's the first time he's come to see us in many months.  The only time we've seen him (since some time last summer or fall) was for a couple of hours the day Dave went to the hospital by ambulance in April.

I think that visit did Dave a lot of good.

Back in the spring, you may recall that we had some minor home improvements done with our tax refund.

One of those things was to add a garbage disposal unit to the kitchen sink.

Once we started using said disposal, the sink started clogging all the time.  One time, it clogged so badly that the liquid drain cleaner-laced waste water came out through the dishwasher all over the floor.

When that happened, Dave had me run and get all of the bath towels to clean up the flood in the kitchen....so now, our bath towels are all damaged from the chemical, which is basically bleach gel.

Anyway.... after that particular event, Dave called the contractor we have been using for all home improvements since last year, and had him come out and take a look.

They agreed that what needed to be done was for a plumber to crawl under the house and change out the drain pipe.

It took until this past week for that job to FINALLY take place.  The good part about it taking so long was that we were able to save up some money to pay for it.  He's only charging a few hundred.

I think if we hadn't had him to call upon, a regular plumber out of the yellow pages would have charged us a WHOLE lot more.

We still haven't replaced all of our bath towels.  Too expensive.  They are mostly just discolored, and a couple of them have rough spots.

My new glasses finally came in this past Thursday (they were supposed to be ready in a week, but it took almost 2).  I wore them Friday, and they were hurting my ears and nose.

Fortunately, my eye doctor has Saturday morning hours (which I did not know about until Friday evening), so when we were out for an errand yesterday, we stopped by so I could get them adjusted.

Unfortunately, when the tech adjusted them, she did something that ruined the lenses.  It was good that Dave was driving, because I had to leave the new glasses at the office to be sent back to the lab for new lenses!!

It was extremely aggravating.

Another good thing is that I had taken with me a pair of  much older glasses to donate to Lions Club, so I retrieved them from the donation box so that I could sort of see on the way home.

I also still have my most recent pair, so I am back to wearing those, and not being able to read street signs until I am close to them, which is really not THAT big of a problem.  It's not like I'm going anywhere unfamiliar these days.

The tech didn't say how long it would take this time, but that may be because they were wrong with how long it would take the first time.

This is my chemo-free week, and my appointment next Thursday is just for the monthly injection.  Easy peasy.

My sister and brother in law are en-route to France right now.  I hope we get to join the ranks of international travelers in the family next year!

Dog days

No, we didn't get a dog.

The heat of summer has arrived for good this time, I think.

The good part is that this should allow me time to get back into coloring!  Summer is my "cabin fever" season, and I enjoy getting a cold drink and coloring when it's too hot to go outside on weekends.

Someone sent me a coloring book for my birthday that is meant to be filled in with ink.  I need to get a set of colored pens.

Dave finally got the front yard mowed yesterday.  It had not been done since before vacation, and was looking pretty bad.

I did my part by doing as much of the back as I could before I got overheated.  Dave will finish it today (there is only about an eighth of it left--It's a big back yard).

I got the entire back done last weekend, but it had already grown so much that it had to be done again this week.

Apparently, it was rainy here while we were gone, so everything grew, and the yard is lush and jungle-like right now.

The hot weather should slow that down a bit now.

There is nothing like taking a vacation, but coming back to work ruins everything.

ALL of my "vacation mojo" was basically gone by the first afternoon back at work.  There are so many things that I do that NO ONE ELSE does, that I was overwhelmed.

The entire week was exhausting.

It was wonderful to see my family, my home territory, and to relax for a couple of days, but, DAMN, it's like it never happened.

OH well, next year, we are planning a MAJOR vacation (and I got the go ahead a year in advance to take three weeks off at once--approved by the VP).

More details on that as the reality of it starts to gel a little.

Have a good Sunday, and stay cool!

Here's why I missed a week...

Dave and I left OKC on July 1st and drove to Illinois, arriving at my sister and brother in law's house in Naperthrill on July 2nd.

I did not blog that Sunday morning because we woke  up in a moderately crappy motel in Springfield, IL, and wanted to get our free, crappy breakfast and get on the road.

During our days on vacation, we got to eat all of the things.... Culver's (on the way up, in Springfield, MO), Italian Beef sandwiches, deep dish pizza, Greek food, and Maid Rite sandwiches (on they way back in Springfield, IL).  Dave says he didn't gain any weight.

I gained three pounds.

We got to see all of my Illinois family, but just a few friends.

We got to go to a Cubs game.

I got to rehearse dance with my original dance troupe, so we can perform together when they come to OKC in October.

It was a much more relaxed trip this time.  After our spring from hell, I decided NOT to try to fit in a visit with EVERYONE.  This time, we needed to just freaking RELAX.

We both really needed to get away, and to NOT stress over anything, for a few days.

There were some low spots.... such as parts of the Cubs game day.

My brother in law had used a service called "Spot hero" to get a parking spot near the ball park.  My sister has arthritis in her knees, and has some trouble walking long distances.

When we pulled into the alley where the spot was located, there was a garbage truck ahead of us, and 2 or 3 cars as well.  We sat there for a good 45 minutes, as the garbage truck slowly moved up.

When we got to our $42 parking spot, there was a car in it.

Jim called Spot Hero's customer service phone number (thank goodness they DO THAT), and they assigned us a new spot somewhere else, farther away.

They refunded him the fee for the filled spot, and charged him a lot less for the replacement spot.

But, by that time, another garbage truck pulled in BEHIND us.  We were now completely trapped in the alley.

I thought Jim was going to blow a gasket.

Fortunately, the second truck pulled back out of the alley after a few minutes, and we were able to back out and change to our new spot.   Thank goodness, no other cars had pulled in behind us.

The new spot was in an empty lot under the EL tracks.  NO ONE was there.... so we pulled right in, and hoofed it to a nearby place with a bathroom (since we'd been sitting in the car for almost 2 hours), then on to Wrigley Field.

We missed batting practice, but we DID get there in time to get our bobble heads!!

It was brutally hot where we were sitting, in direct sun, with little to no breeze, all the way down in the front rows behind the first base line, at the close end of the tarp.

The seats down there are small, and share armrests. Even we, who are reasonably-sized people, could not sit in a seat without being touched by the people on either side of us.

They were GREAT seats!!!  But there was no mercy from the sun and body contact.  It was somewhat claustrophobic.

I thought I was going to pass out a couple of times, and I was literally dripping and soaked with sweat.

We went to the inside-the-park gouge - I mean gift - shop, and bought me a HIGHLY overpriced, white, light weight t shirt to change into....but I still had to miss parts of the game just to get away from the packed seats and the sun.

The forecast had said cooler by the lake, but it was not cooler by the lake.  It was 90 with 90% humidity.

There was a nice breeze inside, for some reason, though, and I was able to avoid passing out by taking frequent breaks, and standing in the tunnel under the next section up.

Dave also had issues with the crowds, but we had some medication with us, and he ended up doing okay.

All in all, it was a great time, and the Cubs won, which is not happening as frequently this season as it did last season, so it was a treat!

The other low spot (at least for me) was that we didn't get to go hiking at Fullersburg Nature Preserve.  I had really wanted to do that, but the day that brought that chance was extremely hot and humid.  I already had a lingering head ache from game day, and didn't want to turn it into a migraine.

So we walked at Herrick Lake, which was a place my dad had liked to fish, way back when.

It was a short walk, and mostly shaded.   

We also tried to go visit the horses at Danada Horse Farm, but they were all eating, and couldn't be bothered to turn around and say "hi."  We got to look at their rear ends.

On they way back down through Illinois, we made an impromptu stop at New Salem.  I had not been there within memory. I know I was there when I was very small...but not since.

Then, a stop in Springfield, IL for Maid Rites and Pease's chocolate, which has almost doubled in price.  These may be the last Pease's I ever buy.  I hope they don't drive themselves out of business.

The motel in Springfield, MO on they way back to Oklahoma wasn't just moderately crappy, it was a HOLE.  The toilet was not attached firmly to the floor, and all of its parts moved... the seat was loose, the handle was loose, the tank was loose..... It felt like the whole thing was going to fall apart every time we used it.

The carpet was damp, and the towels smelled like mildew.  

But it was quiet, despite our room being directly off of the parking lot AND pool, and we did both sleep Friday night.

We got home around 3 yesterday, and unpacked and chilled.

We have spent the last three weekends in the car.  First, the Colorado trip for my Aunt's memorial, then to Chicago, then back from Chicago.

I estimate about 48 road hours, and travel over 6 states. 

Time for a break.

The fridge and freezer are mostly empty, so off to the grocery store we go.

Have a good weekend, and GO CUBS!

Colorado whirlwind

We left at 7:30 Friday morning and drove to Colorado Springs, in order to be there for my Aunt Judy's memorial service.

She passed away a year and a half ago, but her family had her memorial yesterday in her beloved Colorado.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/judith-hassed-obituary?pid=1000000177246480&view=guestbook

I was able to get a day off from work, but no more, so we made the drive.

I am so pleased that I was able to be there.

My Auntie J (as she signed her cards and letters to me) was a hero to me.

One of my first EVER "what I want to be when I grow up" statements was "HORSE BREEDER."  See the obit to understand the significance....

She lost her husband when her four children were all pretty young, in 1962 (when I was 8 months old), but she kept on pursuing her dreams and doing her thing, no matter what.

My dad always described her as "cantankerous," but to me, she was fearless and strong.

She and her husband moved from Illinois to Colorado in 1953, so she raised her kids there, mostly.

In June of 1966, when I was 4, we went on our only BIG family vacation to Colorado and New Mexico.

During that trip, we visited Aunt Judy and the kids in Greeley, Colorado.

I have no idea how many days we were there, but one of the days, when I had been put down for my nap on the living room couch, my Aunt brought the family's Shetland pony, Sonny, INTO the living room to wake me up.

She and my dad put me on the pony, and let me ride him out of the living room, onto the front porch.

There are pictures somewhere, I am sure, but I have not seen them for LITERALLY decades.

That little visit to Greeley started me on the road to being a horse-obsessed adolescent.

In the early 70's, Judy and the kids (and horses and dogs and cats) moved back to Illinois for a few years.

Judy went to the University of Chicago (from which her mother, my grandmother, had graduated) during that time for some graduate studies in Latin and Greek, I think.

She wanted to make herself more employable as a single mother.  Her obituary says she was able to be employed as a school secretary with her higher degree....

All I remember is that she became a successful Rottweiler breeder.

During the few years that they lived a couple of suburbs away from us, I spent a LOT of time at her house, learning how to care for and ride horses from my cousin Anne, and hanging out in my Aunt Judy's kitchen.

I remember one time, when I had been dropped off in her care, she loaded me into her big Suburban or whatever it was, and we took a long, circuitous route down country roads (yes, there were some back then) to go get ice cream.

I wish I could remember what she talked about with me during that trip, but I can't remember specifics, only that it happened, and it made me love her more.

Her kids grew up and she moved back to Colorado, and then eventually lived in Arkansas, and even Oklahoma, but Colorado was where her heart was.

But anyway.... it was really an honor to be there to say that I REMEMBER her, and I always will, and for me to represent the family of her big brother.

After 22 out of the last 72 hours having been spent in the car, I am off to take a bubble bath.  That Monday morning alarm is going to go off WAY too soon.