Author: searcyf@mac.com

5 August 2024

I finally checked out of Holy Cross a little after noon yesterday. Joel picked me up and dropped me at home. I crawled into bed and apparently slept the evening, night, and much of the morning away. I even forgot to take a shower even though I haven’t bathed in 4 days. I didn’t even think about lunch or dinner. I kept looking at the clock thinking my iPhone clock went bad. It hadn’t, I slept almost 24 hours.

I was scheduled to have my port removed today. I have stopped my aspirin intake and didn’t have anything to eat or drink after midnight. I did take my pills with a swallow of water.

Barbara picked me up a little before 9:30. She had taken my white polo home with her to get rid of the blood stains all over it. We then set out for Holy Cross, got our ID’s and proceeded to the third floor only to be told I was not on the schedule. No explanation other than I had been canceled.

The thing is Holy Cross will drive you crazy with notifications: emails, texts and their MyChart. Yet no one notified me of the cancellation. I’ve been rescheduled for Tuesday of next week.

Barb and I headed to Mom’s Kitchen for breakfast. I wanted to treat Barb for her willingness to pick me up and return me home after the procedure but she would not hear of it. She had pastrami on rye and I had 2 eggs, 2 sausage links, 2 bacon slices and 2 French toast. That was my first meal since breakfast yesterday.

Back home today, I slept the rest of the morning away. Finally forcing myself up, I texted Stacey I was home and she brought over a FedEx package she picked up from my front porch so it wouldn’t get stolen. Trevor and Stacey did the same for another package, I just haven’t gotten to them yet.

I haven’t had a bowel movement since August 1st. I finally broke down and took 2 Dulcolax that were a 100 years old. I hope they work. Then again, laxatives and I have a love hate relationship. Hopefully, it won’t put me in the emergency room again.

Tomorrow, Jim, Holly and Barb come over for a truffle tasting. I’m providing the truffles and they are providing the wine. It should be loads of fun.

Stay tuned!

3 August 2024

It’s been a moving day – literally. Initially I was in 5 West. Today, I was moved to 5 East. I was sent next to my current location on the 4th floor, Room 407. It’s been a dizzying three days with diarrhea, two falls, hospitalization, procedures, pokes, doctors, students of doctors, changes of nurses (all great by the way) and literally moves from one wing to the next and one floor to the next.

That’s exactly what I was trying to get away from!

I thought I might get to go home today but the chief cardiologist wanted me to get another liter of saline – this makes 4 1/2 total.

Unfortunately, the IV line failed today and I had to get another put in. The first nurse couldn’t get it in the vein. She either saw the vein and couldn’t feel it or she couldn’t see it but could feel it. The result is I’m floating away on a saline sea.

Even more astounding is for the three moves, I’ve had an incredible streak of luck and have private rooms for all three moves. That like playing the slot machine and see three cherries in a row pop up.

The doctors here at Holy Cross really do stop by and see you. This morning was the cardiology group who gave me a clean bill of health. The echocardiogram came back at 50-55% ejection fraction which is considered low/normal.

I challenged the nurses today. It seemed everywhere I turned I screwed up. I spilled water on my hospital bed and they had to change sheets. I set off an alarm on my hospital bed. Who knew beds had alarm systems.

All in all, all the nurses assured me I was an easy patient to take care of. Add to that, seeing a faculty of doctors leads me to think superior healthcare at Holy Cross or they simply like my insurance plan and are milking it. Hopefully, it’s the first.

Anyway, for some reason I have a room with a view.

Barb came to visit today and brought me bananas, biscotti, and coffee. We had a nice chat and she showed me the rag papers she made at a workshop in Miami. She didn’t even stop at home first but came directly to the hospital.

Even though they haven’t found anything wrong with my heart, they keep a monitor on me that I continuously manage to dislodge the leads. I can’t take a shower while it is on me and that makes 3 days in a row without a shower.

To Michel and Nancy, safe voyage and to Holley and Jim, come back in one piece.

Stay tuned for tomorrow is another day. OK, no more movie references.

2 August 2024

More poking, prodding blood tests, echocardiogram, and X-rays today. I might glow in the dark tonight.

I needed another X-ray for my knee which ballooned up. The echocardiogram was to see if my left ventricle ejection fraction improved. It depends on who you talk to. The echocardiogram specialist explained the some tissues in the heart may read 50 and some 40. He suggested it would be midway – 45 which would show an improvement but not much of one.

The hospital plans to keep me another night. Hopefully I’ll sleep better than last night. It wasn’t noisy, I was just in so much pain. The pain is a little better today but still nags. I had a faculty of doctors come in today to check up on me. I also had a physical therapist suit me up with some brace armor. It’s really difficult to put on and I have to wear it for 10-15 weeks. Thankfully, I don’t have to wear it to bed some I may stay in bed for the next 15 weeks so I don’t have to wear it.

My blood tests show me high in some things and low in others, so I guess it balances out. I took 3 liters of saline today as well as magnesium (always low).

Michel came by and visited with me for a while and brought me coffee and bananas, then Joel and Keith came to bring me a change of clothes. I’ve still not showered for 3 days. Ripe doesn’t describe it.

As far a hospital food, Holy Cross is a cut above the others. You order off a menu and the food actually tastes good.

Tomorrow I’ll have a verdict on my passing out. The trend of thought among the cardiologist, internal medicine specialist and the neurologist is that it was due to dehyration. If that’s the case, why didn’t I get diarrhea during the trip?

Stay tuned!

2 August 2024

Well, yesterday was a bust! Wednesday’s wake up was 1:30 AM with diarrhea. I alternated with the bed and the bathroom. As I headed to the bathroom at 3 AM, I fainted in the hallway. My iPhone asked me if I had fallen and if I was OK. Thank goodness for Steve Jobs looking or for me.

I managed to eat a few bananas and kept pouring liquids into me but as fast as I added the liquid, it would come out the other end. I finally realized I needed to go to the emergency room. I called Keith and he came over. While waiting for Keith, I decided to check the mail and as soon as I opened the door, I fainted a second time. I’ve never fainted in my life and yet I did twice in one day.

Keith thought I was just waiting for him outside. I had lost consciousness and didn’t realize I was leaning back against a metal pole that holds the roof up. Keith thought it peculiar that I had not gotten up. He had to help me and off we went to Holy Cross emergency.

When we walked in, there were only two people ahead of me so they fit me in quickly. After preliminary vitals, they wished me to ER7. Zachary was my doctor and I swear he looked like a teenager. Be that as it may, he asked some very probing questions. They did a CT scan and X-rays. I don’t have a concussion, nor do I have any neck entry. My chest X-ray was clear. They also checked my abdomen and my pelvic region. The one finding was my Thoracic 12 vertebra is now compressed. Add that to L1, L2, L3, L4, L5 and C1 being in bad shape, you can see why I have extreme lower back pain. Oh yeah, when I fell, I also opened a deep womb on the back of my head. You know how head injuries bleed. The ER put 3 staples in my head and gave me a tetanus shot.

Sadly, Keith will have to clean some blood from his car.

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They kept doing blood draws and additional tests so they waited for the results to figure where to place me in the hospital. I ended up on the 5th floor, Room 572.

Michel waited with me in the ER and by the time my room was ready, I made Michel go home because Holley and Jim arrived. Once in the room, more tests and blood draws. Holy Cross provided me with a private room.

They’ve tried tramadol and one other pain medicine but neither worked. I think the next thing they will try will be morphine. Just call me a drug addict!

The doctors have an idea as to the falling. They. think it is dehydration. However, to be sure it’s not my heart, they’ve scheduled another echocardiogram. I’ve seen a lot of doctors since yesterday including an ER doctor, and internal medicine specailist and the head of cardiology at Holy Cross. Everyone has been great. All the nurses are very competent and, as you know, they run the place.

Jim and Holley stuck around and brought me two bananas, a cookie and some coffee. They really brought me more but I had no appetite. After they left, Holy Cross brought me a dinner: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. I ate a little of that but didn’t do it justice.

I still get dizzy spells and I’m curious what the doctors say today. I didn’t get any sleep last night. Turning in the bed was extremely painful. I also didn’t realize I hurt my left knee until I tried to sleep in my normal position with one knee atop the other.

I have asked for a strong pain killer. I’m sure I have more blood draws today as well as the echocardiogram.

Everyone has been great and a lot of you asked about me because they didn’t see my blog. That makes me feel very good that people are reading it.

Breakfast will be one pancake, fresh fruit, orange juice and regular coffee.

Stay tuned!

30 July 2024

Pay day! The Florida Retirement System deposited my check a day early and with a $122.46 increase (our 3% annual increase mandated by state law which, after taxes is really 2.5%). Let’s face it, Florida doesn’t pay teachers well. Our community college in Broward was paid less than K-12 teachers in the same county. The one thing Florida had going for it was the state retirement system and it’s nice to get an inflation raise every year.

I was a little lazy getting out of bed this morning – around 7 am. My morning walk was a shorter route than normal which I do occasionally to see what’s going on down a street I usually miss. In this case, I walked 1.16 miles. Along the way, I saw a very pretty shrub I used to have in my yard but eventually died out.

You might be able to tell from the specific epithet that it is native to the Philippines. A red variety is known as Bangkok Rose. It’s a member of the coffee family (Rubiaceae). What’s unusual about this flower is the very large, showy sepals. Normally, you think petals are the showy part of a flower or bracts, not the sepals.

Last night’s dinner with Joel, Keith and Barbara was fun. We shared a huge chopped salad and ordered 20 wings (10 original with caramelized onions and 10 garlic Romano). We decided not to order a pizza after stuffing ourselves with salad and wings. It was a very cost effective meal at $12 per person before tip. It was good to catch up with everyone and Barb and I had to regale Joel and Keith with tales from our trips.

I managed my yoga stretches this morning. It took a great deal of thinking to remember the order I usually do and I could tell that it had been a while since I last did yoga. There was some real muscle burn. I count that as a good thing.

In for a penny…. I decided to try my hand at swimming laps. I managed to get through three sets of warmups when I realized I was getting some pretty sharp pains in my right thumb. Looks like I might be at another watershed moment and have to start doing water aerobics instead of laps. Both thumbs have arthritis and it’s strange the right one is the one giving me pain and not any pain in the left.

I could do without some of these watersheds. If I’m not careful, I’m gonna watershed out of existence.

Stay tuned!

29 July 2024

Around 5 am my iPhone alerted me to low blood sugar from the continuous glucose monitor. It read 53 mg/dL and anything below 70 is considered low. I popped two Tootsie Roll minis and got out of bed and started my day.

After overnight oatmeal with peaches, blueberries, and strawberries and my first cup of coffee, I set out on my walk along Riverland Road – in the dark.

I met a few joggers and a few dog walkers to and from. The temperature was bearable but the humidity was 90%.

Next to a yard with a lot of Areca palms, tree frogs were going nuts. There must have been 30 of the little buggers singing their hearts out for a mate. I started to record them but the traffic along Riverland had picked up significantly and it would have been a wasted effort.

Sunrise was a nice affair, particularly along the canals.

Looks like dock space is at a premium. If that low pressure system develops eventually into a hurricane, this area will be loaded with boats trying to get shelter. Hopefully, that will not happen.

My glucose is stubbornly low. It’s now up to 58 and that’s after the overnight oatmeal, coffee with sugar, pony Gatorade, grapefruit, and coffee with sugar again. I’ll certainly need to keep an eye on it today.

On the glucose front, I finally found my old test kit with test strips and lancets. When I tested it this morning after breakfast, it was 149. Later after I got back from the doctor’s appointment, it was 94 with the test strip. There’s something wrong with the sensor so I called Abbott Labs and they will send me a replacement and I have to send them the bad sensor. I run into this problem frequently. This is the third sensor they’ve had to replace.

As far as the doctor’s appointment, he was an hour late in seeing me. He showed me the MRI and carefully explained what I was seeing. In essence, he said there was no need for surgery and he recommended a solid AFO brace. His office would be happy to have one form fitted to me for $800 or I could order one off the internet for $43 but it wouldn’t be form fitting. My insurance would not cover it unless I contested the wrong size boot I was given. I doubt I’ll do either. I’ll just rest it and let it heal on its own. This happened to me several years ago and it took months for it to heal even though I was hiking every day. This doctor said it would be 3-4 months if I didn’t stress it. I’ve got to figure out a new way to tuck in the sheets on the bed since sitting on my heels is now a no-no.

Tonight is dinner with Joel, Keith and Barbara at Antony’s Coal Fired Pizza. According to Barb, it’s National Wing Day and Anthony’s is known for their wings. We’ve had a couple of rain storms today and we will probably have a couple of more tonight. My yard could use the water.

Stay tuned!

28 July 2024

Three in a row! I feel like I’m on a roll. This morning I was a little lazy getting out of bed and it was past 8 when I started my morning walk. I managed 1.5 miles. Along the way, I found out one of the neighbors was having to put their dog down today and another neighbor hates picking up trash in his yard (he has a corner lot at a busy intersection). I found 4 houses for sale on the stretch I walked which could be either bad or good. Morning walks are very informative.

For those of you who are tired of my plant photos, I thought I would show you some of the animals in the hood.

I had just finished a finger isle when this popped into my view.

The owners pulled up just as I was walking away and I turned around to make sure they saw him. I reminded the driver they did not carry rabies. Normally, I see these walking across the cable lines in my backyard at night. The O’p0ssum was the first animal I learned the tracks of in the field. I still don’t want to cuddle one – those needle like teeth!

Day before yesterday I was visited by a lone ibis. Normally, they run in small groups or as many as 15.

There are two species in Florida: white ibis and glossy (sometimes called a black ibis). The immature white ibis is not white but brown and grey. The ibis is the mascot of the University of Miami, probably because we have so many down here. I’ve seen the glossy ibis in the Everglades.

Once home today, I noticed something really unusual.

When I moved to Florida in 1985, these were a lot more common. They are native to the southeastern U.S. However, invasive species out competed the population of green anoles and they became difficult to find. I’m glad to see this one back, however, he/she needs to be careful.

The black spiny-tailed lizard is omnivorous and that little green anole would make a tasty snack.

After cleaning up breakfast and making the bed, I headed to the pool. The temperature is a balmy 89°F. Any warmer and it would be like a hot tub. It was very relaxing. I have an outdoor shower set up that I used and then headed inside for lunch.

This afternoon I plan to read a little and nap a little. Dinner will probably be left over pizza.

Stay tuned!

27 July 2024

Another good day! Two days in a row where I feel great! I haven’t had that in a while. I managed 1.48 miles today and had short conversations with four neighbors on my walk. As I passed my favorite sidewalk, a tropical red sage called to me.

That’s one of the deepest reds I’ve seen in flowers. Red is difficult for humans to produce. Some of the rarest glass in the world is Venetian red glass. The Venetians seem to have found a secret. Red beach glass is the rarest of the rare and when you see someone selling red beach glass, it’s probably not from the see but some red glass that was polished to look like sea glass.

After my second breakfast, I cleaned the bathroom, changed bed linen and began to wash. It took me most of the day because my washer kept getting unbalanced. I guess it’s good that it shuts down and tries to rebalance the clothes but it does take a long time.

I finally took a towel out and let the spin finish. I then put the towel back in on its own. I got through about 4 pm.

After folding the clothes and putting them away, I jumped in the pool and listened to music from my iPhone connected to outdoor speakers. I’m sure my neighbors think I’m uncool with my play selection but they are the classics from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. You can’t beat Skeeter Davis, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Whitney Houston, Crosby Stills and Nash, etc.

Next was cookie time. I was hungry for some type of cookie and I found a recipe for ginger cookies. They turned out more like ginger cakes and not ginger snaps but boy are they good! I scarfed down 5 before they cooled off. I now weight 4 pounds more than yesterday.

I’ve continued to make overnight oatmeal. I add flax seed, chia seed, pipitas, and Italian farro. Then I doctor it with blueberries, peaches and strawberries. I have no idea of the caloric intake but the taste is worth it.

I think tomorrow is going to be a pool day, nap day, read a book day and all round goof off day. I’ll probably talk to my cousin Jimmie in the afternoon but otherwise, nothing on the agenda.

Monday I meet again with Dr. Mills about my ankle. He’ll interpret the MRI and let me know if surgery is needed. He’ll be upset I’m not wearing a boot but that think is a tripping hazard.

Stay tuned!

26 July 2024

I feel great! The only way to describe it is exhilarating! I haven’t feel this good in 1 1/2 years. I have no idea why other than the trip did me more good than I thought – or the antidepressant is just now kicking in. Regardless of the answer, I’ll take it.

I managed 1.3 miles on the route this morning and could have gone further. Tomorrow’s walk is longer so I ‘ll find out if that is true.

On the way back, I passed an autograph tree (Claudia rosea). I’ve shown a picture of this plant before when it was in bloom but this one had fruit.

Clusia is native to the Caribbean and Florida and the Bahamas. It’s called autograph tree because if you “write” on the leaves, your writing will stay on the leaf until the leaf drops and decomposes. The leaves stay on for a very long time. It develops into a tree but some people train them into hedges.

When the fruit ripens (it’s poisonous!) the capsule opens and birds often eat the seeds and further distribute the plant. When the seeds germinate, it behaves similar to the strangler fig until it gets established.

As you can see, the capsule is very woody. This one has dried up but when it was open, you can image what it would look like – a sunburst.

I did have one unfortunate surprise this morning. There was a great deal of blood in my stool. I texted my oncologist and he wanted to know if it was black or red and I told him red. I asked if it was possible the ferrous sulfate he wanted me to take to bring up my iron levels was the cause. I haven’t had another response from him yet. This is a side effect of ferrous sulfate that you are to immediately contact a physician. I’ll find out more tomorrow.

I felt energetic and got to the Friday chores. The first thing was to rake leaves since it had been two weeks between ratings. I had a bumper crop.

I admit to having to rest several times and make Gatorade breaks but I got them into the yard waste bin eventually.

Next it was cleaning the pool filter, watering the plants, washing down the pool deck and patio. After all that, I was a sweaty mess and jumped into the pool to cool off. The water temperature was a balmy 86°F. I had a quick outdoor shower and an indoor shave and headed to Walgreens to pick up 4 prescriptions.

I gave Judith and Chris a call to see if I could drop off some chocolate from the trip and I got a yes. It was really good to visit with them. Judith is having significant eye trouble and Chris is hale and hearty and playing golf again. We, of course, talked medical conditions like our grandparents used to bore us with.

It’s good to be home. It’s good to visit with friends. It was even good to go to Walgreens where the staff recognize me and wave at me. Life is good.

Stay tuned!

25 July 2024

I slept 9 hours and 50 minutes last night. Seems like I need a little R and R from my R and R.

It’s funny how quickly you get back into your routine. There were a few times this morning that I had to think “What’s next?” but I got coffee brewed and overnight oatmeal eaten. Normally, I would walk after that and have a second breakfast but I had a lot of chores to do this morning.

First up was to fold the clothes I failed to take out of the dryer last night. What are a few wrinkles between friends? I even ironed my bluejeans.

From clothes it was to picking up palm fronds in the back yard. That took a while. There were only two fronds – one very small and one very, very large (Royal Palm frond) and then tons of little pieces of fronds all over the yard. I decided to do that before the sun got too high in the sky. Tomorrow is yard waste day and garbage pickup so I needed to get that done.

After a second breakfast of half a grapefruit and a second cup of coffee (and the Thursday crossword puzzle which I solved!) I started unpacking the gifts I purchased for friends and started organizing that. There’s nothing expensive in the gifts – just enough to let them know I was thinking about them and thanking them for all their support this year.

From there it was the mail. Apparently Florida Power and Light is going to put our power lines in the Flamingo Park neigborhood underground. I had several questions and I called the person listed on the packet. I will incur no costs. It seems I’ve already paid for it with an additional few dollars to my electric bill over the years. I don’t even have to pay for the power line to my house. I questioned him about my pool, my palms along the pool and the fence. From what I gathered, it’ll be done from the front yard not the backyard and they will be tunneling, not digging trenches. I also asked about my generator and he told me that would be rewired without cost to me. Yea!

Then there was a new credit card (United Airlines Visa). I called the number on the letter and got disconnected. I called the number on the card and got disconnected. I went to the website and got shifted around and had to log in twice. It was finally activated.

I also received my ballot for the August 20th primary. I knew who I would vote for the larger offices but when it came to all the judges, I had to dig it out from the internet. I really take this seriously and review all their bios and with whom they do service. That took about two hours.

For dinner tonight, I wanted some beans. I chose green beans and used a recipe I found on YouTube. You empty three quarters of the liquid in the can and then put everything left in a pot and start to slowly cook them down after adding a pinch of sugar. You evaporate all the liquid and when you begin to hear the beans pop, they are done.

I caramelized some onions and then added that to the green beans. I’ve gotten addicted to caramelized anything and the two worked well together. My major professor, Dr. Pullen, hated green beans. He grew up in the depression era and green beans were a bountiful crop for his family and they had them every day. He refused to eat another after he left to go to college.

Tomorrow, I need to go pick up three different medications from Walgreens. Apparently, the automatic filling system works well with them while I was away.

It’s good to be home, back in a routine, and in my own bed.

Stay tuned!