Looking Up!

Not only is my outlook brightening, but my body is feeling better too. Mom came home from Paris with guns ablazing and she has been shooting my feet making me exercise, exercise, get outside, treadmill, go anywhere she can think of. She has also been following all my physical symptoms closely and making suggestions. She is very hard to ignore. (Treadmill music - "Gershwin plays Gershwin.")


So the result is I can tell I am gaining strength in my legs, and I've had a few days where my stomach wasn't sour all day. A sour stomach makes it difficult to eat, to move, to do anything. I just want to get comfortable in the recliner and not move. Dad is in his hometown of Winfield for a few days and I've even been cooking for Mom and I!


I can't tell you how great it feels to walk outside. I am still wobbly enough that I have to hold someone's hand for the trek around the cul-de-sac, but a little 15 minute spin really clears my head. I begin to believe I will be able to camp in the wilderness for a few days in the future. Speaking of wilderness, I watched all 12 hours of the National Park film by Ken Burns this week. The history was fascinating. I think of all the people who were personally moved by John Muir and described in the movie, and I wonder how many more people he encountered who didn't go on to become movers and shakers but were still convinced that National Parks were a good idea.


I ended up at the clinic this morning unexpectedly because my blood sugar reached a threshold level. They changed the sliding scale dose for insulin and gave me some more "education" about diabetes. I ask questions sometimes about how I miss these "educations" and the nurses all say "but you're smart--you just know this stuff." Well apparently diabetes, even the temporary kind, dulls one's brain. One thing I did read in the literature that I carted home was that it can cause depression. So I'm blaming the recent long funk on blood sugar, and the more recent uptick on managing it.


The blood sugar should level out post prednisone, which I will be taking through the 1st week of Nov. The high blood pressure is leveling out now with meds, but I think it is caused by Prograf, the immune suppressant I take and will likely take through the end of the year.


One field trip Mom dreamed up this week was to Nebraska Furniture Mart. We got there at the opening bell Friday morning and checked out couches. Hardly anyone around. I found a couch but I have some time to decide if I'm going to buy it. But it was great fun shopping and measuring and sitting. One the way out, we wandered through the lamps and I found a funky floor model marked way down that they marked down more at the register so I felt like that was a steal. (Nothing like the garage sale steals my sisters report every week, but satisfying to me.)


I checked out the Sunday paper ads today looking for a mullet wig since Barry had some trouble with the term. I didn't see that specific description, nor for that matter did I see a mullet wig. But think Elvis. Lump on top + lump in the back= mullet.



For some early trick or treat exposure the doctors at the clinic held a scooter race to raise money for the Light the Night walk, a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. They dressed up, Dr. Abhyankar arrived on the back of motorcycle wearing a bicycle helmet, a black cape and cigarette in his mouth. They raced in heats and Dr. Abhyankar won the crown of Dr. Speed. In this photo, they are left to right Ganguly, Abhyankar, Aljitawi and McGuirk. My team. They are the primo doctors in this field and they believe in me.