May 7-13, 2025
LW: 131.6
TW: 130.2
Well a little movement in the right direction. This past week was not quite as difficult as the one before, but I'm still struggling a bit. I've been off the antibiotics for 4 full days and the distended belly is a little better, although not back to pre-diverticulitis normal. I never got a response to the email I sent to the gastroenterologist via their portal. I did quickly hear from my nurse navigator at Hopkins regarding the pain in my breast, and she assured me that it's not unusual and that healing simply takes a lot of time. Regarding the skin reaction, she told me I should resume the moisturizing routine I had during treatment and do that for a while longer, but if I continue to have concerns to call her for a skin-check appointment. What a contrast between these two practices!
So for the belly, I'm still mostly eating fish and chicken. I had one burger and that did okay, but I'm not pressing my luck. And I'm not eating the salads that I love and that I had every day almost before this last episode. My appointment with the surgeon is May 20, and that will roll around before I can blink.
My steps this week were actually lower than last week (9,753 vs. 10,206), but my kcals burned were the same (1,665). The count was lower because of that day that I barely hit 7K and another day when I just hit 8K. Although I had a couple of days where I hit 11K, they just didn't make up for the two low-step ones. I think the kcals did not go down because there were several days I was able to trudge my hilly route. Gosh, I wish I had the energy I had a few years ago. I could zip—not trudge—up those hills.
But here's my big news for the week. The noise being made by my well-loved ancient Precor treadmill is getting worse and I know that there's no need to try to fix again, so on Monday, hubby and I went out and shopped for treadmills, came home and did some research on their ratings, and yesterday, we bit the bullet and ordered one. Since we have limited room height-wise due to some enclosed ductwork in the basement, and since I don't like a big dashboard, we had limited choices, but we found one I think will work fine. Of course, I'm still sad to let go the old one. We've been through a lot together, but it's time, and hubby has gotten to where he will not go down and watch a game with me while I walk because of the noise from my Precor. So as my friend Will tells me, "change is constant; change is good."
Lois, I'm so glad to hear that your daughter's surgery went well. And my goodness—that FIL! You're a trooper to check on her and provide her husband with directions on how to change her. Sounds like they need daily help. But it did make me stop and think about how many people now seems to have some form of dementia. Is it because people are just living longer or do we now just have a name for it?
Sheesh, hope your allergies are getting a little better. We are still covered in yellow pollen out here. And Kelly, I'm so hoping that some good things are taking your time and energy, but I hope you can soon pop in and update us.
Well, ladies, I will check back soon. Hope your families are planning something special for you for Mothers' Day. I can't believe we're this far into the year.
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LW: 130.4
TW: 131.2I'm sure the increase is from the two margaritas (with salt and tequila 😅) and Mexican food on Monday for Cinco de Mayo. Now I have to drink a lot more water and concentrate on intake to get it off before Mother's Day. My kids here are taking us out for brunch, and then to the park with a new kite the grands got. Hopefully I'll get some exercise dealing with that, ha ha. Sarah, I agree, I can't believe it's already May. I swear, it feels like the days have sped up. We're flying up to Oregon on the 16th to celebrate birthdays and go see 13 yo in her school play, and 15 yo as coxswain on her rowing crew. I feel like May is plotting against my weight and fitness goals!
Sarah, congratulations on the reduction, and on sticking to your goals throughout belly issues and breast pain and a restricted diet. . so glad that you're improving. I'm really glad you got a good team at Hopkin's caring for your breast surgery recovery. And I agree that those patient portals really suck. They really pressure me to use them, but I refuse to because, like you, I get very delayed responses, especially from my gastro, too. I had a billing problem and it took multiple calls, holding, and just forcing the issue to get it resolved on the telephone. I can't imaging using the portal for getting a problem resolved.
Lois, my gosh, these favors were for your son in law's mother? I can't imagine doing that or even getting asked to. Wow. I guess that's a "woman's job" in his mind? 😆 Older men are so funny and demanding that way. After my MIL died, my FIL expected me to write everyone thank you notes for flowers and coming to her funeral (which I did), and then later to cook for him (which I did a little). Thank goodness he had a cleaning lady! Once he figured out I couldn't do as much as his wife had, he got married again, 10 months after the funeral! I'm so happy your daughter is finished with that surgery, and is on the mend. I'm sure her life will improve. I hope you're feeling better too.
Sarah, there is a lot of pollen here also. We worked in the yard and I had to use all my stuff, including allergy eye drops. The front porch was covered with yellow pollen, so I made hubby blow it off! His allergies aren't as bad as mine.
Speaking of allergies, I'm thinking of you Kelly. Hope you've found a housing option, and that you check in soon. We're here for you.
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Good afternoon ladies,
Sarah - YAY for the new TM!! It is time and I'm sure you'll grow to love it as much, if not more, than your Precor. Keep an eye out for the positives as you use it. :) So sorry the GE hasn't gotten back to you. I've actually had success with my new doc and their portal - so hoping it improves for you!
So yes, the FIL is 81 and I am shocked at what he's been asking me and of me. But he's slowly getting the message. And he's begun to be a wee bit helpful around the house. He has helped me load the dishwasher after dinner twice and he unloaded it solo yesterday. And today, he emptied the trash. My SIL has commented to me that these are the first time he's done any of this, so maybe I'm having a positive impact and he'll continue after I go home.
My daughter's boss sent her a Spoonful of Comfort box and let me tell you, it was amazing. Full of wonderful items she will use. If you've thought about ordering one for anyone else, I'd say go for it. It came well packaged and adorable. She'll have the soup tonight, but the cookies we sampled were delectable.
I'm on dinner duty tonight so ordered my groceries to make Mississippi pot roast in the pressure cooker with potatoes and carrots as well. So yum yum. With my daughter healing, I've actually been able to work my full days, so not yet using PTO, and it gives me something to do when hiding from the inlaws..lol
Sheesh - have a great trip. Stay focused and enjoy those grandkids!!
The weather here has been nice and cool. So I've had my bedroom window open all day/night. Today it got a bit warmer… and then I looked at the weather app…it's gonna get warmer. So I may need to close the window during the day. I just love the fresh air!
May 16 is my daughter's bday, but I'll be heading home on the 17th for a crazy week. Monday and Tuesday evening meeting up with my friend from Oklahoma. Wednesday Rhea graduates kindergarten and Thursday night we head back to Disneyland for Memorial Day weekend. Then no travel planned for June…yet. LOL. The whole year seems to be flying by!
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- April 17 W: 168.7
- TW: 167.6
Sorry, super quick post as I'm at work and have a meeting right away.
Still no news on the house front. We have to be out of our house by June 26. We've looked at a bunch and put offers in on 3, but haven't been successful. Even lost out on one by $5k. So frustrating. We will be putting in an offer on one on Monday in the same area we currently live in. It's more money than we wanted to spend, but it's beautiful and it's crunch time. We don't think we can keep going like this for much longer, as the stress is just too much to handle.
I'll try find some time to post more this weekend, just know I'm thinking of you all.
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I need to come back to vent and ask for some good thoughts to be sent my way.
- The house we put the offer in on yesterday, we didn't get. That's the 4th one now.
- There are none on the market to consider at the moment.
- We have to be out of our house in 43 days.
- Shawn's foot is causing him some major problems so we didn't get to do much this weekend.
- We are dealing with some pretty serious forest fires around our province and just this morning, 1 ignited super close to our cabin. It's so windy out too. Luckily for the moment, the winds are going north instead of east or west, because our cabin has 2 large fires on either side of it. If we lose that, we really will have no where to live.
- The temps are insane here right now. Today it's 37C (98.6 F) and by Saturday it's supposed to drop to 0C (32F)
- Our son got into his 2nd minor car accident in the last month - 1 he was following someone too closely and they slammed on his brakes so he rear ended them and the other 1 he backed into a car when he was pulling out of his parking spot. No one was hurt, but more than likely they will write off his car. Just yet another thing to have to deal with.
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Oh Kelly!!! Serious prayers heading your way!!! I will pray that something in the housing market will work out for you guys and Shawn's foot stops hurting. Wow and the cabin too? EEK. Breathe breathe breathe…. With your son, I can relate…it was my husband our senior year and summer following. We were hit three different times (none were his fault fortunately, but it did still cause his mom some grief with the insurance companies and car repairs). Tasha was a baby and we were going to Disneyland for grad night, and we were rear ended going home from the bank (they didn't have debit cards way back in 1982…so we needed cash). Maybe he's done having his challenges and hopefully you'll get enough to get him another car - I know him driving himself and Ella around is helpful to you guys. Hugs and prayers are heading your way!!!
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Oh my goodness, Kelly. You have more than a right to be anxious and frustrated. That is an awful lot to deal with at once. I'm sending you good thoughts and willing the universe to give you good people a break. I hope that once you get through this time, you'll look back and see something that worked out better because of these set backs. Maybe the perfect house is still coming on the market and you'll be able to bid because the others didn't work out. I so wish difficult times didn't always come in bunches. Those are insane temps, from one extreme to the other. We are under a flood watch here and hoping that the wind stays pretty calm because there so many old, big trees and their roots are not stable in saturated ground. But at least the temps are staying seasonal.
I've been dealing with what is very minor frustrations in comparison. I thought (key word) that I had a follow-up mammogram scheduled for May 27 and a follow-up visit to the surgeon on May 30. But today I got a call asking me if I could reschedule my May 27 appointment with the oncologist. Oncologist?? I did not go through chemo and so would not need an oncology appointment, but somehow that's the type of appointment I was booked for and now there are no openings for the mammogram for many weeks. And there's no sense seeing the surgeon on the 30th if she doesn't have a followup mammo. So the radiology folks who had been doing my regular mammograms are trying to see what they can do to get me in within a few weeks and then I'll have to deal with getting another appointment with the surgeon. To be clear, these are not the Hopkins people who I loved, but the Maryland Oncology Hemotology folks I started out with. I did call my nurse navigator at Hopkins about getting the mammogram done there and she said that unfortunately, since my surgeon was with MOH, I need to work it out on that end. I do have a followup with the Hopkins radiologist in late June that is not dependent on these two other appointments. I just wish I had had Hopkins folks across the board from the start, but the surgery was done before I realized the MOH staffing issues have made them difficult to deal with.
Meantime, hubby's back is getting worse, and you all know how hard it is to deal with a man who is hurting! But we did get an amazing amount of work done on our patio and front yard this weekend, although we've decided no more trying to handle a 2-story ladder and climbing up to the top gutters. Pros will be doing that in the fall. But we have grass again and the flower bed is back in beside the driveway and planted with colorful yellow and red zinnias. Progress.Kelly, the car accidents suck. I know you're concerned about the insurance and possibly needing to replace the car, but thankfully with fender benders you don't have to deal with personal injury issues. When hubby rear ended someone about a year and a half ago because a person walked into the road and the driver ahead of him had to slam on his breaks, I was just holding my breath that the man would not have or claim to have any injuries. Luckily, I think he hit a decent guy who understood what happened was just glad to get his car fixed.
Sending prayers also that Shawn's foot will improve and that the cabin will be okay. Much love my friend. If there's anything I can do from afar, you know I will.0
