Category: Everything Fred

2 July 2024

Feeling good! I met Chris and Tucker this morning on the walk and followed along with them for 0.9 miles. I asked them to defer movie night from Wednesday to Friday due to a conflict and they agreed. Tucker a little miffed but OK with it.

On the walk, I passed by the night blooming Cereus again.

Here is yesterday’s photo.

Here’s today’s photo.

As you can see, all the flowers are closed up. Since it only blooms one night, the blooms are said to be ephemeral. Hopefully those bees did their job!

I got two medical test results back today. The first was the MRI. In essence, I’ve torn two ligaments (talofibular and calcaneofibular) , torn my peroneus sheath, strained the flexor hallucis longus and the Achilles tendon and have subcutaneous edema (swelling).

In short, my ankle is a mess. I’ll have a follow up with Dr. Mills sometime in the future to determine my treatment.

The second test that came back was the bone density test. The T score was -1.7. Anything between -1 and -2 is considered to be osteopenia which may lead to osteoporosis. There was no Z score that I could discern. The suggestion was active therapy since there was a fragility fracture or unusual risk factors. I predict another drug in my regimen.

I felt good enough to do some yoga stretches this morning. I also worked on my balance with heel-to-toe walking. Shannon wants me to practice that as often as I can to increase my balance. Right now, I have to hold on to something to do the heel-to-toe exercise.

Checking the weather on my trip, Camden, SC is mid 90’s for highs and mid 70’s for lows. Banner Elk, NC is high 70’s for highs and low 60’s for lows. Hawley, PA is mid 80’s for highs and high 60’s for lows. Saint Michaels, MD is highs in the high 80’s and lows in the high 70’s. Summer has arrived except in the mountains. Since I’m not camping, I’m not worried about the rain.

Today is get the suitcase out and start packing. I’ll take my day pack, walking stick, etc. and try to do some short hikes to test my mettle. Not to worry. I’ll have my satellite device to send an SOS if I get in trouble.

Stay tuned!

1 July 2024

I saw flashes of light again this morning but it was actual lightning and not my eye condition. You could hear the storm getting closer and then the rains came. I can always tell when it is raining while I’m in bed because the heliconias next to my bedroom window seem to gather the raindrops and then begin a constant drip, drip, drip against the Bahama shutters. It’s a little like rain on a tin roof – more soothing than annoying.

I have been in some rainstorms that the tin roof effect is annoying. My grandparents on my Dad’s side had a house with a tin roof and if it was really coming down, you couldn’t hear any conversations going on in the house. Of course, the word tin these days probably means aluminum. That was not the case at my grandparents. It was composed mostly of the element tin. The roof alone on that old house is probably worth a fortune.

It was still raining when I finally got out of bed around 8. There will be no walk today. It looks like we are in for a few wet days. I’m in for a few sluggish days. I’ll try to do some exercises in the house to keep my hand in and to try to build my stamina for the trip.

What started out as a rainy day turned into a very sunny one, just in time for thunderheads to start appearing from the west. We’ll probably get another heavenly dew this evening.

I was in plenty of time for my MRI at Holy Cross. They were running a little behind and I was taken back around 1:30 for a 1 pm appointment. All they were to do was an MRI on my left foot to see about the tendons and ligaments. That simple MRI where only my foot went into the machine seemed to last forever. I got out of there around 2:30.

I stopped at J Marks for something to eat. I hadn’t eaten lunch and I wanted something sit down instead of fast food. Mike was my waiter and he was very good at his job which earned him a good tip. I had the walnut shrimp in Thai sauce. Later I had Key lime pie and coffee. It was nice to (1) not have to cook and (2) not rush through a meal. Prices for food have really gone up and I suspect it’s because restaurants are paying more for food and for staff. My little meal was $32.58 without tip and I left him a tip of $8. The food was good and I don’t mind paying for good food and good service.

Since my “lunch” was so late, I’ll probably punt on dinner and maybe eat some fruit before bed.

Tomorrow is dinner with Joel and Keith, Wednesday is dinner with Barbara and Thursday is July 4th at Catherine’s. Friday is a Sears repairman and Sunday is my trip.

Stay tuned!

30 June 2024

I had a scare the past two mornings. Yesterday, I noticed when I was in a darker area of the house what appeared to be flashes of light. At first, I thought it was heat lightning. The flashes eventually went away but when I awoke yesterday, I had a glowing ball of light with a hole in it blocking the vision in my right eye. That eventually went away also.

This morning, the ball of light was back and worse, when on my walk, I stopped to talk to a neighbor and her face was obscured by the light. When I got home I called my ophthalmologist. Fortunately, he answered my phone call and told me to come in immediately. They are open on Sunday since the doctors are mostly observant Jews and are not open on the Sabbath. I was so glad he could see me.

For the last three or four years, he’s told me my vitreous humor was shrinking. It’s going from a jelly stage to a liquid stage – due to old age. The vitreous humor is found in the eye cavity between the lens and the retina and serves to hold the retina in place as well as bend light. As it began to shrink, it began pulling on the retina. If it pulled away incorrectly, it could lead to a detached retina. I was down to one sticking point of the vitreous humor on the retina.

He basically told me I have pulled the vitreous humor away from the retina and there is no danger of retinal detachment. I’ll still see some flashes of light for a few days and the big ball of light will be with me for about a month or more but will eventually go away. It was a real scare and I got lucky when the humor pulled away. That means my trip is still a go.

I recently had a close up photo of a night blooming Cereus. At the time, there was only one bloom open. Today is a different story.

I really enjoy my morning walks (light balls excepted) and always find something new to look at. It was 80°F and 92% humidity. I did the short walk this morning for 0.9 miles.

Stay tuned!

29 June 2024

I know you’ve been waiting to read about my exciting day cleaning house, washing clothes, drying clothes and folding clothes. The excitement began to build after my 1.45 mile walk along Riverland. I was so early on my walk that for the first 10 minutes, only one car came down the road. It was 78°F with 90% humidity. We’re building up heat for our first tropical storm/hurricane in the Caribbean. I hope Beryl stays away.

Yesterday, I took a nap that turned out to be the best nap I’ve ever had. I was out for around 1 1/2 hours but waked refreshed, relaxed and ready for anything. I’ve never had a nap so peaceful. You’d think that I wouldn’t sleep that night but I did. I attribute that to my energy level today. I’ll be forever chasing that nap experience again.

I finally got done with the clothes and then spent some time on the phone catching up with friends. I’m still adjusting to the fact that I no longer am on chemotherapy. Well, at least not infusion therapy. I take enough pills to still consider it chemo but at least I don’t have to go in for the infusion any more.

I’m getting excited about the trip. I need to pull the suitcase down and start packing and also put together my day pack in case I feel up to hiking. As usual, I’ll overpack but the Jeep can take it.

I had groceries delivered from Whole Foods – mostly fruit. Lately, I’ve been eating vegetarian for some reason. It’s partly that hamburgers don’t taste good to me any more. I seem to have had a drastic shift in taste buds.

It’s time to go pee on a ketone strip. Stay tuned!

27 June 2024

June seems to have flown by. For some reason, the state of Florida deposited my retirement check a day early. No complaints.

My day started at 6:30 am when I managed a 1.1 mile walk in the neighborhood. The temp wasn’t too bad and it was a gorgeous morning. After getting back to the house, I had my Cheerios and coffee.

I really debated whether to do yoga and do laps in the pool. I then thought about Shannon giving me a workout at physical therapy and I decided no. I was glad I didn’t. She put me through my paces and I was really tired. You have to show progress or insurance will not pay for sessions so she did some testing on me and came to the conclusion I was progressing. I’ll wait 3 months and then make a decision as to whether to do more physical therapy.

Just before leaving from my last physical therapy session, I called Shannon aside and told her to tell everyone not to bring lunch tomorrow. I provided lunch for the Cancer Center and for the Infusion Center and I would have felt guilty not to do something for Andrea, Carlos, Vanessa, and Shannon. They really take good care of you.

From there, I headed to Winn-Dixie to pick up some cream cheese, cucumbers and fresh dill. Catherine is having a Fourth of July party and I need to bring an appetizer. I thought cucumber sandwiches would be appropriate. I couldn’t find the cucumbers and when I asked an employee about them she said no. I later found them.

I then went over to Walgreens to pick up yet another prescription. After pulling out from their drive through, I realized Winn-Dixie didn’t have the dill but Whole Foods probably would. I headed over there, got the dill and some white bread. Those cucumber sandwiches really taste better on white bread.

On one of my shopping trips, I purchased three large turnips. I knew I needed to do something with them and I wanted something besides boiling them. I found a recipe on the web where you make kind of a dressing from olive oil, Dijon mustard, fresh lemon juice, thyme and rosemary and salt. You toss cubed turnip in that and spread them on a baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes at 400°F, turn them and roast for an additional 10 minutes. I hope it turns out well.

Tomorrow afternoon is a blood draw for Dr. Tepper. I’ve scheduled it at Hollywood Memorial because I know the place and it makes life easier to have the blood draw from the same hospital to which he is affiliated.

I also scheduled the removal of the port today. It’s scheduled for August 5th. Hopefully the removal will not be as painful as the insertion. I have to go in fasting for some reason.

Stay tuned!

25 June 2024

Congratulations to the Florida Panthers for winning the Stanley Cup! What a feat! 🏒🏆

Yesterday at physical therapy, Shannon cut me loose. She said stop for 3 months and if I need it, see my primary care physician and get another prescription for physical therapy. Honestly, I have no idea if it helped but it certainly didn’t hurt and gave me a chance to build up a little endurance.

Jim and Holley picked me up around 5:30 to head to the Secret Garden just off the beach. As always, we stopped in the lobby and had cocktails.

It’s a very cozy lobby and I’ve been in here when the fireplace is going. Unfortunately, there was no harpist last night.

With the rain clouds, we didn’t know if we would be sitting inside or outside. Outside on the intracoastal is always preferred. We took a chance on outside dining.

We drooled over the yachts and multimillion dollar homes across the way.

When we go to the Secret Garden, we always ask for Yelena. She’s been there for several years and we now consider her family.

She’s outgoing, fun, and she puts up with us. Let’s face it, we can get a little rowdy sometimes.

Holly told Yelena about my blog and Yelena volunteered to be interviewed. I plan to get in touch with her and figure out the best way to do that. Look forward to it sometime soon.

I haven’t been drinking lately. For several months. The only time I really do is if someone is driving and we go to a restaurant or movie night with Chris. I don’t know what happened to me last night but I overdid it. I had a martini when we sat in the lobby. I had a glass of wine with dinner, half a glass of champagne with dessert and Elena comped up some Limoncello.

After I got home I knew I was in trouble. I always know when I’m about to vomit because my mouth begins to water. I made it to the toilet and bowed to the thunder jug. After twice making my sacrifice, I made it back to bed and finally got to sleep. I haven’t done that in years and I hope to not do that again in years. I didn’t really drink any more than I usually do at the Secret Garden but maybe I just wasn’t used to alcohol any more. \

Today I headed for a meeting with my oncologist. The front desk heaped praise on me for providing the food last week. Then they sent back to the infusion center. The infusion center didn’t know what to do with me since I wasn’t scheduled for one. Finally Pat took me around to the offices and we got everything figured out.

At first, Dr. Velez misread my chart and thought my left ventricle ejection fraction had recovered to 62% (almost normal) until I told him the last MUGA scan was 40%. The long and short of it is there isn’t really any other good option for me other than Herceptin. However, he agrees with my cardiologist to stop the Herceptin treatments for good. I’m done with chemotherapy! 🥂👏🏻🌈

I’ll still have echocardiograms to check whether or not my heart recovers and I’ll follow up appointments with Dr. Velez for every 3 months, then eventually 6 months and finally yearly appointments. They’ll also continue to do the Signatera tests. He’s scheduled the next echocardiogram for August and also the removal of my port in August.

Before I left, I went and hugged Pat goodby. More often than not, she was my nurse. I also left a full bag of Tootsie Roll mini’s at the nurses station and also with the front desk. From now on, it’s checkups!

Stay tuned!

23 June 2024

I got a good 8 hours of sleep last night and got out of bed around 6:30 to do a morning walk of 0.9 miles. It still tires me out but I need to build that up significantly for my trip on July 7th.

I managed to dodge the rain showers. As soon as I got home it started to sprinkle. Yesterday afternoon and evening we had quite a bit of lightning and thunder in the distance and then we finally got some showers later that night. We are well on our way into the rainy season.

While on the walk this morning, I noticed one of the houses had a night blooming cereus in bloom. Either it didn’t know how to tell time or it was – wait for it – a late bloomer.

I have no idea as to the genus or species. There are as many as 10 genera that are commonly called night blooming cereus. It’s a beautiful flower that gradually opens during the night and when fully open has a heady perfume smell.

I had a large one in my back yard and I stayed up all one night to film the opening. I wasn’t too sharp the next day in the classroom.

Yesterday, I felt good enough to do a little baking. There was a recipe I found in The New York Times (I think) Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins. I had some blueberries that I needed to use and the sour cream. They worked out pretty well.

They aren’t very sweet. The recipe also called for lemon zest so they were a little tart and tangy. I stored some in the freezer and kept some out for noshing.

The recipe is found down below.

I’ve got lunch today with Tom and Kurt at 1 pm and then the Secret Garden with Jim and Holley on Monday. Good food and good companionship!

Stay tuned!

Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Tender, airy, rich, tangy and just sweet enough, these blueberry muffins are great in the morning paired with a hot cup of coffee while you read your favorite novel. They’re also good anytime of the day. If you’re wondering if the batter should be thick like cookie dough, yes it should. If you’re wondering if you can use frozen blueberries instead of fresh, yes you can, just be sure to thoroughly rinse them under cold water until it becomes clear, unless you want the whole muffin to turn purple like the know-it-all character who turns into a giant blueberry in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. If you don’t have demerara sugar for the top, granulated sugar works as well.

2 ½ cups (300 grams) all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

Finely grated zest from 2 lemons

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

½ cup full fat sour cream or yogurt

12 ounces fresh blueberries or thawed and well-rinsed frozen blueberries

Demerara sugar, for topping the muffins, optional

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 350 degrees. Prepare a nonstick or aluminum muffin pan by greasing lightly or lining with paper liners. In a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and lemon zest, then set aside. 

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar over medium speed with a hand-held or stand mixer until light and airy, scraping down sides as you need to. Incorporate 1 egg and then the other egg, and once incorporated stir in the sour cream and mix well, scraping down the sides again if needed. 

On low speed, add the dry ingredients in batches, until you have a batter the consistency of cookie dough. 

In each well of the muffin pan, add a heaping tablespoon of the batter. Then fold the blueberries into the remaining batter. Top each muffin well evenly with the blueberry muffin batter. Sprinkle the demerara sugar over the top and then bake until puffed, firm and lightly golden, about 25 minutes.

22 June 2024

Two days in a row! My energy is good and I feel good. Of course, after washing, drying and folding clothes, changing bed linens, vacuuming the floors, mopping the kitchen floors, and cleaning the tub, basin and toilet, I’m tired. But it’s a good tired.

From a phone call from my cousin Jo, an email from cousin Jimmie and a phone call from Judith and a text from Holley and Jim, I must have made the right decision to go on this trip. Everyone has been encouraging that it’s the right thing to do – get away from doctors, tests, infusions, etc. and get back into the woods, even if I have to drive up to them and look at them from the jeep.

Here’s my itinerary. Feel free to show up for any or all of the stops and keep me company. Just under the name of the inn is the drive time. Click on highlighted areas to see the inns or rooms.

7/7/2024 – 7/9/2024 Home to      
Black Dolphin Inn
3h 19m 2 nights
916 S. Riverside Dr.
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168
386-410-4868
Superior Coastal Room

7/9/2024 – 7/11/2024 New Smyrna to
Four Oaks Inn
5h 58m 2 nights
104 Union Street
Camden, SC 29020
803-572-5838
The Steeplechase Suite

7/11/2024-7/13/2024 Camden, SC to 
Lodge at River Run
3h 31m 2 nights
2981 Banner Elk Way
Banner Elk, NC 28604
828-269-1352
Rainbow Trout Room

7/13/2024-7/15/2024 Banner Elk to 
Waterfront Hambleton Inn
7h 50m 2 nights
202 Cherry St.
Saint Michaels, MD 21663
410-746-3350
Danielle Purple Royalty Room

7/15/2024-7/17/2024 Saint Michaels to 
Ledges Hotel
4h 42m 2 nights
119 Falls Ave
Hawley, PA 18428
570-226-1337
Deluxe One Bedroom Suite

7/17/2024-7/19/2024 Hawley to 
The Richard Johnston Inn
5h 21m 2 nights
711 Caroline Street
528 Caroline Street
Fredericksburg, VA 2240
504-899-7606
The Virginian

7/19/2024-7/22/2024 Fredericksburg to 
Greensboro
3h 52m 3 nights

7/22/2024-7/24/2024 Greensboro to 
The Inn on West Liberty
4h 48m 2 nights
109 W Liberty St
Savannah, GA 31401
912-238-0806
Wright Square Rm

Savannah to Home 6h 26m
Total 17 nights

Of course, with any trip, the biggest pain in the butt is putting together the medications for the trip. I’ll have 34 packets of pills, 17 for mornings and 17 for afternoons.

Dumb me, I didn’t realize the Lyrica I was taking was 2 pills a day. Every pill except that one and Metformin are 1 pill a day. I’ve been on Lyrica for a month and half dosing myself. Ah! Senility, thy name is Fred.

I’ve already started looking for short hikes I can take. Someone may find me dead in the woods but that’s the way I want to go. I should be able to make some mile loops and I’ve read there are some waterfalls close to roads without having to hike down 3 miles and then back up three miles. Can you tell I’m excited?

Stay tuned!