SATURDAY SUNSHINE?

[Twins' Mom]

Dee, I'm glad Mr Dee is home - both of you will be able to rest and recover better. Hoping that Kathryn has found some relief by now also.

DMacs did well at PT - some treadmill water walking and swimming. He seems tired but not overly so.

I took an afternoon mega nap while dh and ds went to the pool. Dh "reminded" me earlier that we are going to the local music festival this evening; I don't think I ever knew that we were going tonight....knew we would go next week. I really need to work on dh's "calendaring" skills.

[Harriet]

Actually looking around for word from Kathryn. HRH was asking if she has someone with her, and yet we are both sure she will.

What a fun activity for Macs in the pool. Yea.

HRH, his brother and dstepson are all at the Rehab place with my dfil. Anxious to hear their report because the reports have really been varied lately and we need to hear good news for him, poor thing. Nurses said he "fell" but he says he only slid down a wall off-balance and was not alarmed, which sounds more logical. I tend to listen to him. There are no bruises, but then this is an entire family who do not bruise.

I look at people who are at their correct weight and seem to do it so effortlessly...

Apologies, but I have to dive in to that chat and probably talk too much.

OKay, studies (U.S.) have shown that only ten percent of people are able to eat freely, without restraint, and control their weight. Another 25 percent are presumably restraining successfully at any given time, and controlling their weight with that effort. That leaves the 65 percent who are trying less successfully or perhaps have stopped trying. In 2007, we reached the level of 1 in every 3 persons in the U.S. trying to lose weight at any given time, and that was constantly rotating between people, but remaining at 1 in 3. If genetics were the only factor, then we would find that the majority of the population have a wayward or rouge fat gene affecting them, but that's not the case.

What is the case is that we eat for survival, and therefore eat when we have the chance. The doubling of the obesity rate between 1980 and 2002 - a tiny space of time - coincided with restaurants and other food-abundance moving into most areas of the U.S., which has given us the chance. Not taking the chance goes against our grain, literally. There are other factors like hormones in animal products and changes in grains, toxins, but we can't ignore the restaurant-on-every-corner phenomenon. Dr. James Johnson says that actually, this should make us somewhat relieved because we can see we're not alone and we do have something tangible that we can face and figure out how, personally, to counter. We don't have to run from the restaurants and supermarkets, we just have to out-think their influence on us.

[Harmony]

No sunshine here today. Grey and cloudy. Nice rain just happened. It's very humid and I have 1 LOL out on the back porch trying to dry, unsuccessfully, even though under a roof.

Kathryn, sorry about the GB flair up. Why are they making you wait so long to have it out?

Dee, happy that DH is home already. How is the fluid build-up?

A little busy today. Out and about with DH. Also got the house whipped up into shape, sort-of; mopped the floors, got rest of laundry folded / hung up / and a few pieces ironed. Some work in the kitchen done.

I even got desk cleared up and couple statements/ checks mailed out. Some of the garbage already emptied.

Tomorrow I must go set out refreshments at church for a function...I got roped into it by gal in charge who was having company..and her backup has family issues. Not really happy, as we have small group and I will need to go early to set up church and then go to group and hope and pray I can find someone who will clean up for me...

Waiting for dfil to come by with mangoes from his tree. Everybody who has them has told me they all fell off in the recent storm. Not sure what I'm going to do with them... DH is out somewhere working I guess. He's not a happy camper today. Oh, well, that's how it goes sometimes.

[CathyS]

Her dh is home right now isn't he? Her son is living at home. If I didn't know her son was there, I would be phoning her. (IF it was the same number from when we had a chance to visit her at home in 2006.)

I've popped in numerous times today to see if she updated.

[OKay]

LO team lost their 2nd ballgame which put them into the loser bracket. That meant they were scheduled to play AGAIN at 5pm Thankfully the other team forfeited. Three ballgames in one day is too much for 4-5 year old age to play. Who ever made up the tournament schedule was obviously not a parent of little ones! His next ballgame is Tuesday night.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Home from hospital again. Ds had called to say there was no lineup and so we should come in since it wouldn't take as long. And he stayed with us since we got there after his shift was done. Dh is out right now doing a church audit but ds is here at my beck and call. Not that I need as much now.

Today they gave me an ultrasound since the pain wasn't going away. They needed to check for infection. As well my liver enzymes are up again, although not as dramatically as last year, only 3x normal right now, not 25x normal. The ultrasound confirmed gall stones. And no infection.

The reason for the long wait for surgery is that GB attacks won't kill you so they are low on the priority list unless there is an infection. But I'm further ahead on the list now since I don't have to get an appointment with my family doctor (1 - 3 days), get an ultrasound done (1 - 3 days) and then get a referral from my doctor to a surgeon (2 - 4 weeks.) The referral to the surgeon will be done by the ER and therefore I should hear from him in a week or so.

Needless to say, on Monday I'll cancel the cruise. We have trip insurance. The doctor last night said we could go if we wanted and could control my diet. I was willing to put up with an attack if it only lasted a matter of hours but I'm not willing to weather one of these without medical care if they last days.

Harriet, you can tell HRH that they don't use nitro here. It makes sense although dd pointed out with my blood pressure being 105/60, perhaps it would have caused greater issues than helping. The nurse took it twice because she couldn't believe it. (That's normal for me, not the 135/80 it was at triage both days. I suspect the triage machine is not calibrated properly although a bit high was to be expected due to the pain.)

The drugs are working since I managed a longish phone call with dd. Ds listened in and said I was obviously better because my voice was much stronger. Last night the morphine made me really stupid (and the room scrolled downwards instead of spinning.)

Ds had called dd and left a message when I first went in today. Dh wasn't sure she should be told until we knew more but he said he would want to know even if there was no diagnosis. Dh had emailed her this morning about last night but she inadvertently marked it as read. So ds' comment "Mom is in the hospital, again" took her by surprise. She texted him just as we were leaving so he was able to call her then with the diagnosis.

I've eaten 2 oz of applesauce and some more water and gingerale and there's no additional pain. In fact, I'm feeling pretty good right now. Who knows, maybe this attack will end soon. Now I know I'm to keep pushing myself to take liquids. Will start reading the diet restriction later tonight or tomorrow. I had dh pick up broth at the drug store along with the pills and the applesauce. So I can have some broth later, too.

[helia]

So glad to see you're OK, Kathryn! So, will you go ahead and have the surgery in a week?

We're getting ready to watch O Brother Where Art Thou. With their Latin and Greek mythology background, we think the kids, especially ds, will enjoy the funky Odyssey references. . . . . Vacuuming is going to happen first. That means I'll spiff the main bathroom and dust the living areas.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Helia: not how things work here. I'm not dying. Therefore, I'll get told, within a week, when the appointment will be with the surgeon (likely a month or more from now.) Then if he and I decide surgery is the way to go, I'll get a date for surgery another few months or more down the road. My only hope is that it will be before our next cruise in January.

The pill has worn off. Still an hour to go until my next one and I'm awfully uncomfortable again. Sigh...

[CathyS]

Kathryn I'm glad you posted.

[helia]

Ah, OK. I thought maybe your surgery would be in 1 week. I surely hope you won't be in such pain until your surgery. . . . ((HUGS))