a bad day and then a pretty good one

Today, Tuesday was not a good day, mainly because I went crazy eating and I feel so fat and I think that has affected the swollenness in my legs. I got up early and did some household tasks (only a few remain) and practiced a lot of piano, which felt really good. I tried to take a hike but I could only get to the second resting spot and I struggled to get back to the house. I had to nap and got up just in time to head to lunch with Jeff Saperstein (just a decent salad and a piece of pita) and that went quite well although my legs were pretty swollen. I then went and got the chain saw chain sharpened, then went to Lowes, where they don’t carry the Anderson closer, then to Home Depot, where I ordered two of the closers, but they didn’t have the adhesive screen patches so I had to head back to Lowes, but I stopped at Kentucky Fried Chicken for mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and two biscuits. Lowes had the adhesive patches so I headed home and stopped for a big bag of mixed snacks and devoured that and knew immediately that was a big mistake. I took a nap, then got up and rode my stationary bike hard for 30 minutes and did my knee exercises, then showered, and headed into O’Charley’s for tea and eventually a side of broccoli to take my medicine with (I ended up not taking the third prednisone) and having a good chat with Dave. Wednesday was a good day overall but I really didn’t get to sleep until almost 7 so that wasn’t much fun. I have been off the sleeping pills for a few days, but I think I might take one tonight. When I got up at 9:00, I did a few things and then Sam came to treat the house and I went back to be until almost 12:00. I did my biking for 30 minutes and my knee exercises and with raising my legs a lot, the swelling was down some and that made me feel more comfortable. I did some good piano playing, put the old closer back on the front storm door (the new ones should come in a couple of weeks), and organized almost all my photos (which I need to put on my computer, instead of just on the thumb drive). Rob called just as I was getting up from a nap and he wanted to walk so that was fine with me and I met him around 4:45 and we had a very nice walk. He wants me to go on the Lasix tomorrow to cut down on the swelling. After the walk I drove to china inn and had my broccoli and eggplant mix and ate less than half. I took the rest of the veggies with me but tossed them later because I really want to eat less. I drove to Dick’s and dropped off my clubs to be regripped and that should help. Then it was off to Panera for a bagel and blueberry cream cheese. I heard from Gabes and we are looking at the first weekend in March for a NY trip since I really can’t drive a long distance with swollen legs.

the branch is gone

Monday ended up being a good day but I had trouble breathing early on and it wasn’t until my walk to the orchard that my lungs opened up. I was very slow but I got there and did three times down to the bottom of the orchard and back so that helped. I did my stationary bike for 30 minutes, all my leg exercises, fixed the broken humidifier, and played some piano. After my second nap, I got up and was able to cut the branch overhanging the road to the tractor barn so that is now safe. It was not too bad after I got up on the back of the truck so I had a much better angle on the cut. I also checked the batteries and they were 8 1268 4 1250 and 1 1227. I also added water again although it could have waited. My 500 gallon tank is down to 39 percent and with the 54 percent in the 100 gallon, I should have enough till the mid-summer. My legs are still swollen and I must have raised them 20 times today. I am hoping with my low protein diet to have better results soon and on the 10th I go down to 50mg of prednisone. I still have a tentative feel at points, but my days in the hollow are very comfortable. I am at O’Charley’s where I had a vegetable dinner and did my lumosity training and my blog. John left me a very kind message in response to my message and I was very touched by it. He did play a crucial role in my life.

catchup

Friday turned out to be a good day, particularly after I spoke with Trivedi’s office and she said that the swelling in my legs was probably due to the prednisone. She thought that if the swelling starts to hurt then she might prescribe something. My other problem, the high protein in my urine, may be partially my fault. I have actually been eating a high protein diet (although with a lot of salad and veggies) and I have stopped that. Tonight just vegetable fajitas at Gran Rodeo. I think that should help. My day went very well. I got up and did a little more vacuuming (I am moving slowly around the living room, doing the walls and the moldings and up by the ceiling. I did some good practicing on the piano, and then back for a nap. When I got up, it was time for finishing the orchard road and with the new chainsaw blade on the cutting was very easy if very slow (a couple cuts and I needed to sit to get my breath back). I moved on to the small fallen tree in the left corner of the orchard then tackled the hardest job, the tree that was loaded with vines and was interlocked with one of the cherries. I had to cut and cut at the vines but eventually I got everything cut up and thrown to the side. I got back and had a bite to eat then went back to nap. After that it was time to do my stationary bike and then get ready to head into Radford to drop off my tax stuff for Will. Then it was off to my office to do my lumosity training and chat with Moira and then off to dinner. Saturday was another good day although it started off a little shaky. I was coughing a bit and I thought I might be catching something but by the middle of the day I felt fine and even got a nice slow hike down to the second resting place near the gate. I did more vacuuming and got over past the air conditioner and I should be done with the whole house in a few weeks. I did my knee exercises, a lot of piano, watched Duke beat Pitt in a pretty close game, washed the sheet I am using for my exercises (so I won’t ruin another one), charged the chain saw battery, equalized the batteries for over 2 hours (I must check the numbers soon), exchanged a couple of emails with my kayak friend (and I hope to send her a very funny one shortly), tried to figure out why the humidifier is leaking (not sure yet), and organized the house even more. I drove down to the pasture to look at some of the houses that Darbi sent me, and the idea of buying a brand new one level house with about 1500 square feet, is becoming appealing. According to Ryan, the loan officer, my credit is over 800, my finances are sterling and I could purchase a 250K house with a mortgage, HOA fees, taxes and insurance for 1200 per month, close to what I would be paying for a 800 square foot apartment in Copper Croft. Of course, all of this is just to keep my mind a little busy. My health is the great determinant and then whether I can stay in the hollow. After that it is all just entertainment. I am sticking to my new low protein diet and I hope that my protein level will go down when I go for bloodwork. I feel pretty good although I do get very cold at points, particularly toward the evening and I have to assume that is because of the anemia or the kidneys. I had hoped to have dinner with Cathy Gallo but they have the norovirus so that wasn’t going to work. When I go to bed, I do ask to make it through the night because I do feel somewhat tentative, and I think that is the jittery effect of the prednisone. I am finishing my veggie dinner at Red Lobster (that is a bit ironic, I realize but I like some of their new veggie offerings. Sunday has proven another good day. I didn’t sleep that well being pretty cold all night (I checked the temp in the room and it was 67; later when it got up to 70 I warmed up and was able to go back to sleep). I did some practicing, my leg exercises, and my weights and yoga. I got a call from Rob and we agreed to go for a walk at 2 and that was a lot of fun catching up. He still is a little worried about my swollen legs and the high protein but I wasn’t too worried so we spent a few minutes on health and a lot more on politics and family. After our walk I raised my legs some and then headed for the golf course where I played quite well up to the last two holes (I hit a nice shot on 17 that rolled way back down the hill and then I four putted for an 8) and then on last hole I was on on 4 and I made a good putt about 4 feet away but missed for a 50. Then it was time to head to Macado’s to watch the Super Bowl and have dinner and where I met Jake’s baby and his wife. Very cute baby.

Too much protein

Thursday was a little problematic as I got the blood test and urine test results and the protein in the urine is still too high, thus the swelling in my legs. Rob is going to talk to Trivedi and try to come up with plan, but my hike to the orchard (twice back to the top) was slightly less fun because I was worried about the swelling and if something bad might happen on the hike (I raised my legs up at the orchard several times). When I got back from the hike, I raised them again for 25 minutes and that seemed to help. I also did 30 hard minutes of stationary bike, weights, yoga, and all my knee exercises. I did more things around the house and my list gets shorter and shorter. Then after two good naps I headed in to have an early dinner with Claire and that was fun. Then it was off to my office where I ran into Don and Moira and had nice chats with both of them. I e-mailed Hung-Ling to see if she needed some help but she didn’t respond so I will be leaving shortly. Good day.

Helping Maddie

Wednesday and I slept a little better. I got up and I had a painful iirritation near my groin so that put an end to my ambitious plans to cut up the rest of the two fallen trees on the orchard road. I did change the chain saw blade and that only took about twenty minutes (I worked on it inside on newspaper and gave the whole saw a good cleaning. I straightened up around the house, putting the stuff away from my trip and cleaning out the truck, getting the bike broom fixed so it won’t slide up front, spraying the bike lock, doing a wash, napping some, then getting ready to head in for my blood work. As I got to the pasture, I had a message from Maddie about a slight screwup with one of her transcripts so I called all five universities and got things straightened out at three and left messages at the other two. She was very appreciative as she always is. The bloodwork was done with one stick and I gave Valarie the gift card from Target. Rob looked at my rash and when I told him I had put Cortisone 10 on it, he said that was exactly the wrong thing to put on it and wrote me a prescription for a fungal medicine which should solve the problem. I joked about how I am not a doctor and he is not a lawyer. He also looked at my swollen legs and wasn’t particularly happy but didn’t prescribe anything but agreed that I should keep raising them. I then picked up my sneakers, drove to Our Daily Bread for an almond croissant treat and coffee, which I did my lumosity training and most of today’s blog. I hope I can get back to my normal exercises very soon. I am going to do a short walk at Tech later I think before I head to Walmart for my meds. I also left John a message (which was more emotional than I thought it would be) about the act of kindness we talked about and I told him the greatest act of his kindness to me was letting me live with Karen and him for the year I did my Masters at Boston University. This was after Jim’s short stay was a disaster and I was nervous about finding a place to live, scared about going back to school at 27, feeling nowhere in life, and John treated me as a dear friend, in ways as a younger brother, as a peer, even though he was already an amazing success. That may have been the most important year in my life for it allowed me to study harder than I ever did (often 8 hours a day) and then join John for some beers on the drive home and develop a close relationship with Karen. It is something I have never forgotten.

A fine ending to a very nice trip

Tuesday proved another encouraging day. I slept terribly, finally getting up at 6:30 for breakfast and with a waffle in me and eggs, I got back to sleep and got up at 9:30, packed up my stuff and headed off for a walk in downtown Charlotte. However, I really had to struggle even to get to Discovery Place. So on a whim, I went in and the Ocean Futures was playing so I watched that and enjoyed it quite a bit. Very small scale stuff but wonderfully photographed. I walked up a few stairs and had to sit down. This was not going well so I went to the café, got a protein bar and a diet coke and after finishing them I was able to walk up to trade street and back. I then drove for over an hour and decided to try my luck at Cedarbrook, since the weather was so nice (just wearing t-shirt and a long sleeve shirt). However, my putting remained terrible and on the two par fives I shot a 10 and a 9, making a terrible decision on the second par five (the 10) and ending up with a 57 (I was hoping for a 56) and I would have gotten it on the last hole when my third shot from about 35 yards in the rough landed perfectly, not ten feet from the cup—and I watched it stop and hold on that very tricky green—but when I drove up and got out of my cart the ball had rolled all the way down, about 30 feet away and I three putted from there. Then I drove to my office, napped, then rode my bike down at the Armstrong center for 40 minutes before heading to O’Charley’s for a veggie dinner, lumosity and blogging. I sent my kayak friend a couple of funny emails and she responded in kind. I touched base with Gyorgyi, Cathy and Claire.

A bit of catchup

Friday seemed to be a very good day. I slept okay, got up and since it was too cold to go out and work or walk, I did my knee exercises, my stationary bike for 20 minutes, a good deal of piano and then it was time to nap. I got up around 10:30 and decided to take it easy and get ready to leave by 12 to meet Claire for lunch at Nagoya at 1. We had a fun lunch and since I was very free, I offered to drive her around to see some of the houses she had found online. We saw a nice house over in Fairlawn in a nice development but it was much too steep. The two in Cburg were decent looking but were much too close together. Then we drove way out on Mt. Tabor and found a decent house out there but the people were mean to Claire when she knocked and we just left. The last house on Mount Tabor was by far the nicest (and the most expensive) but though it had an acre of land, it was very close to a lot of other houses and right off Mt. Tabor and another road. I doubt Luke would like the property although the house was very, very nice. After dropping Claire off in Radford, I went to my office for a nap and then a walk around the building and I had a nice chat with Kim and she told me her adventures with Patty up at the Women’s March, much too crowded for someone of my solitary nature. I walked some more and then there was an Asian student working on her computer so I asked her if she needed any help since I was a professor. She was very happy for the help and I explained very carefully what neoconservatism is and some of the basic beliefs. She seemed really glad for the help. More walking and then off to Olive Garden for a late dinner and writing my blog. A very calm day by any standard and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I didn’t sleep too well, so at 7:30 I decided to pack and head to Charlotte to play some golf in the much warmer weather. It was a good plan, with light traffic and I drove to Statesville where I rode my bike in Lakeshore Park, small but adequate. My legs were swollen so I raised and rested them on the truck door for 10 minutes and that seemed to help. After that I stopped for a nap, then decided to stop and check out the Larkin Golf Club and had a lot of fun even though I shot a nine on a difficult par 5 and 4 putted a couple of times. I shot what I tried for, a 54, but I was so tired the last two holes. Now I drove to the Wingate and napped again, then did my leg exercises, chatted with Gyorgyi about mad man Trump and then showered and went out to P.F. Chang’s and had eggplant and broccoli and soup, leaving out the tempting shrimp dumplings. I have been raising my feet all day and that does seem to help. Sunday proved quite a good day also. I got up at 5 then had breakfast at six after doing my knee exercises, and then weights in the exercise room and then finally fell back to sleep and woke up at nearly 10. I decided to drive down to Congaree and when I got there I was pretty tired so I took a nap and then headed out on the boardway. There were at least a dozen dogs on leashes along the way and on a four foot wide boardwalk there is no way to keep the dogs away from the people passing by. This was ruining my walk so I called the visitor center, really gave it to them and told them that I was going to walk up the Sims trail and then walk back near the Learning Center (which obviously is used by the public at points) as I used to bike back. The ranger told me that someone might stop me and question me about why I was there, but that I wouldn’t be arrested and I told them I didn’t really care. That if you were going to arrest a sick, handicapped man with a cane for trying to avoid getting bitten by dogs, then go arrest me and see what a publicity nightmare you would create. No one appeared so I raised my legs for twenty minutes then went inside and furthered my complaints, and found out that that bully Tracy Stakely is still in charge (the moron who wouldn’t take down the misleading bicycle sign, which took my months to finally get taken out after having to write to his superiors). I think I will find out who his boss is and simply copy Stakely. I then finished my biking and on the way back I stopped to talk to a fellow cutting wood about fishing the big lake, but he said it had no fish since it had been totally flooded out but he called his boss and Clark offered to let me fish one of his private ponds tomorrow at 8:30. I was excited and I drove to Walmart to get a license and a pair of size 40 pants after I broke the buckle on my North Face pants. I had a chicken breast at Hush’s near the Comfort Inn and it was wonderful (prednisone speaking?) then I went for a nap, did my knee exercises, the did my blog which I will have to post later since my laptop, after getting updated, is not connecting to the internet. Monday was another positive day on my road to recovery. I slept horribly, probably worried about meeting Clay Chappell at 8:30 to fish one of his ponds. He was late but very cordial and put me on an acre or so pond, where I got two nice fish, one over two pounds. I then drove some and napped for over an hour then did my Target shopping, then went to play golf at Northwoods, where I hoped for a 54 and ended with a 53. My putting is very jittery and that’s the drugs, I think. Then I drove to the comfort inn at Tyvola (saving 25 dollars over the wingate) and took a long nap. I did my exercises and yoga and then went to wolfgang puck’s for a wonderful Caesar salad and mushroom pizza.