Month: December 2023

21 December 2023

Happy winter solstice! Enjoy your short day and long night! I look at it in the sense that summer is on its way after tonight.

I have no appointments today so I am spending the day trying to tie up loose ends. I’m semi-successful.

I have an online request to ADT to have a virtual assistant help me determine if my radiotelephone is communicating with ADT. That was the alarm in the night I referred to previously. I missed the first appointment yesterday when my phone didn’t ring when they called.

My second task was to schedule a physical therapy appointment after my MRI. I have already scheduled one physical therapy appointment with Dr. Wu at the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Center at Holy Cross if warranted by the MRI. My primary encouraged me to make the appointment and cancel if not needed because appointments are so far out on the calendar.

The third task was to make a physical therapy appointment at Rio Vista Physical Therapy (Holy Cross) regardless of the outcome of the MRI. This is just down the street from me and more convenient than driving to their main facility. I suspect I’ll need some rehab. I spent most of the night last night in pain in the left hip. When I stand up, the pain shoots down my leg. I expect a diagnosis of sciatica.

My fourth task was to schedule an appointment with Hollywood Chrysler Jeep. I tried the phone and kept getting shuttled to a loop with no one picking up either in parts or service. At least I didn’t have to talk to high schoolers. Instead, I went to the Mopar (Chrysler/Jeep subsidiary) web site and scheduled an appointment on line.

The list of needs for my jeep keeps growing. There are two recalls. One recall was June 2022 for a high pressure fuel pump. They don’t have a fix for that as of yet. The second recall was June 2023. I was told during an early visit for this recall that a part needed to be ordered. It isn’t a part. It’s a software upgrade to the power train control and, at worse, a replacement of the tone wheel, whatever that is.

In addition, it’s been almost 2 years I’ve been trying to get the driver’s side head rest replaced. You’d think that’s a simple replacement but it is connected to the computer system of the jeep. You have to replace the entire unit. Supposedly it has been ordered and re-ordered. It too should be under warranty.

Next is the replacement of the passenger side head light. That’s the “pull the bumper” to replace a headlight problem. That should run me around $300.

Lastly, the check engine light is on. God only knows what that means but it can’t be good. What’s strange is you can check the “health” of your vehicle at the Mopar web site and it says my check engine light is good to go. It could simply mean that there’s a computer glitch and the light just comes on.

The web site shows you the current pressure in each tire on the vehicle in five categories:

1. Oil & Fluids
   a. Oil Pressure Warning
   b. Hot Oil Warning Message
   c. Oil Change Due
   d. Water in Fuel
   e. Diesel Particulate Filter
   f. Diesel Exhaust Fluid
2. Safety
   a. Air Bag
   b. Tire Pressure Monitor System
   c. Blind Spot Monitor System
3. Powertrain
   a. Malfunction Indicator Light (this is showing on my dash)
   b. Charging System (battery)
   c. Electronic Throttle Control
   d. Transmission Temperature
4. Brakes & Suspension
   a. Antilock Brake System
   b Brake Warning Light
   
   Everything on the web site says my jeep is “No Issues Found.” The other two options are “Action Suggested” and “Immediate Action Needed.” That makes me think it’s not any issue with the check engine light. The real problem is to schedule my visit to the jeep dealer around doctors’ appointments.
   
   Somewhere in here I need to get a nap. I got 3 hours and 38 minutes of sleep last night. Must have anticipated the solstice.
   
   Stay tuned!
   
   

18 December 2023

I got out of bed around 4 am and did some yoga stretches. Not that I necessarily needed them but I knew I didn’t do them yesterday and I need to work on my stamina and stretch those back muscles. After completing a few, I headed back to bad and finished up a book on my iPad. Since I needed to be fasting for my blood, I couldn’t have my coffee. Nor fruit, nor grapefruit, nor second cup of coffee. Fortunately, the phlebotomist is very good and it only took one stick.

I tried calling Hollywood Chrysler Jeep to see about the check engine light. Their phone system kept looping and no one ever picked up the phone. I was tempted to simply drive over there since I was close with the blood draw but decided I needed to get home.

On my return, I crawled into bed and went back to sleep. Around 10:30 I got up and made coffee, ate my fruit and yogurt, grapefruit and second cup of coffee. To be honest, I don’t feel any better than yesterday. I’m still dragging. Walking is getting more difficult.

I’m composing a list of things I want to ask Dr. Velez. So far I have the following:

• when is my next echocardiogram,
• can I have an MRI with a port in my chest,
• is there a better pain medication for my neuropathy or should I take a higher dosage of gabapentin,
• what’s with my lack of energy,
• what is the result of my Signatera test (to determine if my cancer has recurred),
• is there anything that can be done about my neuropathy that I haven’t already done?
  
  I just know I can’t go on the way I am. Everything is an effort to accomplish. Most of my week is spent with either doctors or infusions.
  
  My journey started in January of 2023 when I discovered a tenderness in my left breast and the nipple was inverted. It took a while to get to my primary who immediately recommended a mammogram (14 April). A week later I had a biopsy with Dr. Burgers. It was decided to go with chemo treatment with Taxotere, Perjeta, Carboplatin, and Herceptin. That put me in the hospital with dehydration and temporary kidney damage.
  
  I fired that hematologist/oncologist and went with Dr. Velez. On 13 July I had the mastectomy and started my up close and personal association with a drain for four weeks. The drain worked but there were complications. On 7 August I had a second surgery to relieve fluid and tissue build up (thank God for Holley and Barbara!) and had another personal association with a drain for three weeks.
  
  On 21 August I started my first infusion with just Taxol and Herceptin. That meant 9 weeks in a row of Taxol and every 3 weeks of Herceptin. The Herceptin will run for a year, so I’ll finish the Herceptin treatment in August 2024. The Taxol led to bouts of diarrhea, hair loss in very unusual places, painful neuropathy, nose bleeds, and virtually every possible side effect of chemotherapy.
  
  On top of that, to ease the Taxol delivery, they gave me corticosteroids which caused me to have adrenal insufficiency which caused my endocrinologist to start me on prednisone and then start weaning me off.
  
  I attribute, in part, my fall on Thanksgiving to the neuropathy in my feet. So now I have an acupuncturist, a chiropractor, a surgeon, a hematologist/oncologist, an endocrinologist, a cardiologist, and a GP. All require visits and check ups.
  
  I haven’t felt decent since the second surgery. I have some good days but most of the time I drag myself around the house. Any chore around the house wipes me out. I’m constantly canceling on invitations with friends because I can’t drag myself out of the house.
  
  Life’s events wear me down. For example, I’m now on the phone with ADT about the missing key fob (I’m typing this in between holds). I was supposed to be shipped two fobs as a replacement and only received one. I just spent 30 minutes on the phone and being transferred three times with a fourth time in the works trying to get things straightened out. On a positive note, as a loyal customer to ADT (12 years) they reduced my monthly payment from $80/month to $55/month for five years. I still have to have a 2:30-3 pm appointment to get the key fob activated, so no telling how that will go.

My next terror is to contact Hollywood Chrysler Jeep and set up an appointment to see what the check engine light is about. I might as well get them to change the headlight while they check that out (they have to pull the bumper). I’m still waiting for the part for the recall to arrive and the new driver’s side headrest.

It’s hard to stay positive. The one thing I really enjoyed in life was getting out on the trails and hiking. I can only hope that someday I can do that again.

Stay tuned!

16 December 2023

After 8 1/2 hours sleep last night, I got out of bed feeling pretty good with yesterday’s infusion and all. I should have realized that’s a danger sign. I overdid it this morning. I started with cleaning the pool filter. Normally, that’s an easy chore but for some reason, it took a lot out of me. Then it was house cleaning and laundry.

I’m officially old as of today. I have five rugs in the house: two in the bedroom, one in the living room, one in the guest room and one in the bathroom. The two in my bedroom are gone. I rolled them up and slipped them under the bed. I’ve begun tripping on them too often.

When I fill out the pre-check with Holy Cross, they often ask if I have any throw rugs in the house. I now know why. They are dangerous with me dragging my feet with my walking. Maybe one day I’ll be able to drag them out and use them again. I like getting out of bed and putting my feet on a rug. The floor is too cold.

I received a key fob from ADT for my alarm system today. The only problem is I ordered two. The invoice even says two were shipped. Now I’ll have to get them to remove the charges for the second key fob. They shipped a key fob that is actually smaller than the fob for the jeep in a box that was at least 8″x8″. What a waste of space. Next up is finding time to contact ADT and work with their “virtual assistant” to program the fob.

It looks like I may have to send the TENS unit back to the manufacturer. I can’t seem to get it to charge. It may be charged and only works with the electrodes attached. That’s the only thing I haven’t tried as of yet. I’ll try that tomorrow to see if I can get it to work. I still haven’t gotten the gloves or socks yet that work with the unit.

It’s a good thing they called off the Fort Lauderdale boat parade. The wind and rain hasn’t really stopped. I read in today’s paper that it is only the second time in its history it has been called off. Twenty-twenty was the only other year and that was due to Covid. Most of the other parades all up and down the coast of Florida have either been canceled or rescheduled.

Jim and Holley are stopping by tonight and bringing me ribs from Flanigan’s. It’ll be good to see them. I’m just too wiped out to go out anywhere. I wonder what Jim thinks about the Tesla recall?

Stay tuned!

15 December 2023

Another day, another two medical appointments. The first was with the chiropractor. He spent more time with me this time than ever before. However, it could be due to getting him onto the topic of college football. I’ll take it. Our consensus is that college football is a far cry from the intercollegiate sport it started out as. It’s more either semi-pro or pro-football.

Later, I had a hydration infusion at the cancer center. Everything was late because the nurses had a Christmas party with Secret Santa and food and they apparently lost tract of the time. Good for them! They need some downtime. They work incredibly hard. Some of the patients were angry but it didn’t bother me. Of course, I’m retired and don’t need to be anywhere.

Pat was my nurse but I ‘ll have someone different next week for the Herceptin infusion on Tuesday and the hydration infusion on Friday. She’s taking the week off for the holidays. She also is doing Christmas dinner for the family. That makes two – Thanksgiving and Christmas. The woman never stops.

On another note, the engine light came on as I drove home from the infusion. Usually when it is something serious, the dash screams at me telling me of eminent destruction so I decided it wasn’t too serious and could wait for the recall appointment. Whatever it is, it’ll probably be expensive.

Just as I was going in to the infusion, my watch notified me of a weather warning. High winds and heavy rain were forecast for today and tomorrow and Sunday. Apparently it is serious enough they canceled the Fort Lauderdale boat parade. It has to be serious to do that since the event is sponsored by the Hard Rock Casino and sub-sponsored by everyone under the sun. I can’t ever remember the boat parade being canceled and I’ve lived here 39 years. Everyone else I’ve asked has said the same.

I didn’t get a nap this afternoon so I may be heading to bed early. I watched the first episode of the British tv series last night on Cary Grant called Archie (his real name was Archibald Leach). The first episode was certainly dark. If you are interested, it’s on Britbox. Jason Isaacs plays the adult Grant and he has a little bit of the look and a little bit of the speech cadence. Tonight will determine whether or not I finish the series.

On the other hand, if you have Max (HBO Max) there’s a series of Julia Child that is excellent (Julia). Sarah Lancashire (you may know her from her role on Last Tango in Halifax) plays Julia and David Hyde Pierce plays her husband Paul. It’s very entertaining and I highly recommend it.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned!

14 December 2023

Sorry about the delay in yesterday’s post. I thought I posted it but didn’t. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately – forgetting things like appointment times.

Yesterday’s massage was very relaxing. My back felt better than it has in a long time. Tom also does some leg exercises with me and I was surprised at my flexibility. I usually have pretty good flexibility but since I’ve been laid low with chemo, I haven’t been exercising.

The weather last night was windy and wild. You could hear it beating against the house. Looks like we are in for tropical force winds sometime around Saturday. Rain is forecast for the rest of the week.

Today I visit the dermatologist. Hopefully, I’ll get a clean bill of health. This will be the first time he’s seen me since my surgery. I hope the scar doesn’t scare him.

12:48 pm
Back from the dermatologist with a clean bill of health. His waiting room is a hoot. It’s full of junk art by Al Wadzinski of Minneapolis.

All of Wadzinski’s work is from scrap heaps. In addition, he has sets from Jim Shores from Rome, Georgia that is similar in nature. I remember having a conversation with him years ago how much he liked the stuff and how he thought he would try his hand at it. He was working on a piece with a saw and his hand slipped. He realized he made his living with his hands and that ended his artistic expression.

My dermatologist has quite the background. Summa cum laude from Yale, Yale Medical School, Harvard Medical School Residency, and numerous awards and publications. It’s always nice to know your doctor knows what they are doing.

It’s a hot chocolate kind of day – wet, windy, cool. When I got settled at home, I made a batch of home made hot chocolate. It’s the recipe on the Hershey’s Powdered Cocoa can, the same recipe Mother used to make for me and Archie.

Mother put marshmallows in ours but I use whipped cream. It hits the spot on a day like today.

Here’s the recipe.

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Hershey’s Powdered Cocoa
pinch of salt
1/3 cup hot water
4 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix the cocoa and sugar and salt together in a pot large enough to hold 4 cups of milk. Slowly add the 1/3 cup hot water while stirring (I use a whisk) to form a slurry (this keeps down lumps). Then add the milk and heat until warm. Add the vanilla extract and continue to heat until you reach your desired temperature.

Enjoy!

Stay tuned!

13 December 2023

Overcast, windy, and raining – everything you expect for a December day – in Mississippi. This is South Florida, our dry season. Normally, I would be adding water to the pool now. I’ve done it only once so far this “dry” season. Looks like we have four more days of this.

Christmas in Mississippi when I was growing up was either cold and wet or sunny and warm. Mostly cold and wet. I can’t ever remember a white Christmas. Perhaps some were ice Christmases – they were more likely.

I made the chiropractor’s appointment just in time. About 30 minutes before the appointment, I foolishly called ADT about obtaining a new key fob to allow me to turn the alarm on or off from outside the house. My old one gave up the ghost upon a spin in the washing machine. I understand they need to be super careful about sending a fob out (I opted for two in case the washing machine eats another) but it took forever to (1) get to the right person and (2) get the clearance. I had to hang up just to make the appointment with the chiropractor.

They will send the fobs and then I’ll have to contact them again to enable them. All for the low, low price of $64.20 (a discount buying two).

The chiropractor did a couple of manipulations to my back. I don’t know if it is working but I haven’t had nearly the pain. I go back again Friday. There’s definitely something peculiar about their reservation process. I had already scheduled a Friday session for 10:40 am but when I went to check out, I was not on the schedule – yet the appointment time was open. Who knows?

I left there and headed to Walgreens to pick up some lancets and test strips for my glucose meter. Medicare will only pay for the lancets and test strips three days before the subscription is done and even stranger, you have to go into the store to obtain the prescription – no drive thru for you.

After the pharmacy, I headed to Winn-Dixie to buy some fresh fruit for my breakfast. Of course, I forgot to add yogurt to go with the fruit.

While I was stretched out on the Cox table at the chiropractor, my watch notified me of an incoming call. My phone was on silent but apparently my watch wasn’t. It was Tom, the massage therapist calling. After I left the chiropractor office, I noticed he left a message. The last time he called me was a butt dial. He wanted to know if I could shift from a 1:30 appointment to 2:30. Not a problem.

After I leave the massage, I’ll stop at Publix on the way back and pick up some yogurt for tomorrow’s breakfast. I do try to eat healthy but my sweet taste buds have really dominated lately. Add that to the season where they go into overdrive producing sweet things and my sugar level is red lining.

It’s these type of days that I crave comfort food. I still have some beef stew left over so that may be my dinner tonight. It’s a good probability I’ll curl up with a book tonight.

Stay tuned!

12 December 2023

I have no idea what to do with myself today. I have zero appointments today. It’s like I’m playing hooky. I just wish I felt better. The neuropathy is sticking close and I can’t seem to shake it. As a result, it’s difficult to walk. The good news is I got 8 hours of sleep last night – the first time in a long, long time. I should be full of energy, but….

Michel snuck a Christmas present in my mailbox during my breakfast this morning. It was a fruitcake from Das Dutchman Essenhaus, a famous company in Amish Indiana. Nancy brought it back from her recent visit. In addition, they gave me a TENS unit. I can’t wait to try it. Just what I needed for my back, my feet and my hands! You can not only use the pads on your back – like a real chiropractor – but you can purchase gloves and socks to provide stimulation there.

I did order the gloves and the socks. Hopefully they will give me some relief from the neuropathy! Probably stupid given I need to charge the unit for 10 hours before use and haven’t yet tried it but hope springs eternal.

I would have loved to walked this morning. The temperature was 57°F with overcast skies. It was perfect walking weather. Alas, I just couldn’t get up the energy. I plan to do a few reps of the exercise the chiropractor showed me today and then just plan to vegetate with the bed and a book. I stocked up enough on supplies at Publix so I won’t need to leave the house.

Tomorrow and pretty much the rest of the week we are due for some heavy downpours. We need the rain but hopefully the gods that be will distribute it over periods of time so there’s no flooding.

Stay tuned!