6 October 2023
It was a strange night. I would wake, get up and pee, go back to bed just about every hour – all accompanied by weird dreams. I started out with the comforter and somewhere in the night what little fever I had broke so I threw it off sometime in the morning.
I was completely stuffed up this morning and spent a good part of it getting my nasal passages cleared. I wonder if I just had a bad cold? In any case, I opted out of the morning walk. I feel OK but just don’t think I have the strength for it today.
Along the lines of TMI, I had a major bowel movement this morning. It seems to have cleared the constipation problem. What a relief! So much of our lives seem to revolve around intakes and outflows of our bodies. No wonder our dogs think we are crazy when we follow along behind them and pick up their poop.
I did have enough energy to clean the pool filter and the pool this morning. It’s a beautiful day with low humidity and nice temps. Even the birds were happy.
I made it to the infusion center with plenty of time to spare and they actually took me in a little early. I think the front window is getting to expect my Tootsie Roll miniatures.
Kenyda is my nurse again today and she has a very pleasant and competent way about her. All of the nurses here have been exceptional except the one about a month ago that seemed to be training.
They took blood for analysis and will probably go ahead with a liter of saline and 250 ml of magnesium before the blood work is done.
The CBC with Auto/Differential came back and my white blood cell count is down along with hemoglobin, hematocrit, and red blood cells. My neutrophils relative were high, and lymphocytes absolute were low.
My magnesium, as usual, was low (1.6) and the Comprehensive Metabolic Panel showed glucose high (223), calcium low, AST(SGOT) high, ALT(SGPT) high and total protein low. Both the AST and ALT indicate liver inflammation. I suspect with the low white blood cells, I’ll be back on the injections to boost them three times a week pretty soon.
I finished up around 4:30 pm and then headed to the main hospital to visit my friend Kurt. I didn’t even know he was in the hospital but he had gall bladder surgery and then, on top of that, got an infection. It was a good visit and I think he’s on the way to recovery.
After the hospital visit I stopped at Fresh Market to get some bell peppers and ground sirloin. I want to make Mom’s homemade spaghetti sauce tomorrow. She used to cook that all day long. What made me think of it was Kurt’s dinner tonight which was pasta with tomato sauce. I still don’t care for pure hamburger, steak, pork chops, or any type of whole meat at the moment but can eat stews, and I hope spaghetti sauce.
I brown the ground sirloin and remove. Then I cook the onions and peppers and celery together and at the last minute add garlic (Mom never added garlic because Dad couldn’t stand it). Then I add the meat back to the veggies, add tomato paste, tomato sauce and spices. I then add beef broth and some red wine and let that simmer on low for a few hours. It works out pretty well, freezes well, and goes well with rice or pasta.
I got home after 7 pm so it’s been a long day. I’ll head to bed early tonight.
Stay tuned!