FRIDAY

Weight report: down 1.6 to 134.2 at home, down a pound at T.O.P.S. to 125.5. I'm not yet back in my comfort zone of 125 to 130, but trust I'm on the way.  

Mary Ann picked me up at 8:00 and we went to leader Lennie's house, instead of meeting at Trinity Lutheran, as Lennie wanted to show us a video on The View with Oprah as guest.  There, Ozempic and other weight loss injections were discussed and the participants agreed that the obese couldn't lose without it because they had a disease which is herniary and blah, blah, blah. How much of it was based on fact, and how much on bull crap is questionable, but it was reasonably interesting. Lennie had a lovely selection of fresh fruits and vegetables, plus good bagels, sour cream, coffee, and tea. I was pleased to see my friends again, especially Katherine, whom I hope to see with Julie one of these days for lunch. Speaking of, Julie called me later to see if I wanted to go to the BCNN meeting next Wednesday and yes, sure I do. 

Home about 10:30 and shortly after, the O.T. came. I told her about my dissatisfaction with the shower and she called Ellen to recommend a holder for it that El can put on the shower wall and I can easily hold. El has ordered that and other things for me, including a new BP machine--this one around the upper arm. 

I then set about the tremendous chore of starting to get in order and record all my various appointments, medical and otherwise. Only about fifteen later, I went down to lunch. Sat with my friends and had what the chef called "fried cod," which was a square. breaded fish patty, clearly frozen since 1882, along with French fries and Cole slaw, which I didn't eat.  My friend, Mary, whose kitty, Willow, is recovering from an anal lesion (UGH!) showed up in this top: 

Yeah, it's all fine at this stage of life--NOT!

After, I sat outside in the lovely sunshine and made several phone calls to family members, and to Muckie (no answer and I left a  message), and Jeanne Painter, who's in Florida at the moment. Doris also called--again--and I'm beginning to wonder whether I should or not have contacted her after all these years. 

Got a get-well note from my niece, Maureen, which was very sweet and which ended with "We need you as our matriarch (fuck the patriarch!)" Presumably, that referred to Trump--I got a kick out of it. 

Had dinner with the usuals and it was actually pretty good: chili with cornbread and I brought my can of Sprite, having given up the good stuff. 

Texted Stella to confirm her coming to lunch today, but she asked if tomorrow was okay, instead, and sure, why not, so I'll see her then.

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I forgot to add this picture yesterday of Ellen, Greg, and me at Lure. As I mentioned, the king salmon was scrumptious: 

                                    

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THURSDAY

Busy day and I'm going to skip all the who-I-ate-with crapola and go straight to the important stuff: El picked me up at 1:00 and we went up to my apartment and prepared for my Primary Medicine visit. Got there at 3:00 and talked to the P.A. She advised me I need to lower my blood pressure and there was other discussion on which I don't want to elaborate, but I'm going to see some other docs. 

After, we met Greg at Lure for dinner--oh, joy!--and had heaven on a plate: king salmon, roasted Brussels sprouts and parmesan potato patties. The food at The Orchard is okay much of the time, but sometimes so-so; this was fresh out of the sea, perfectly cooked, and just superb. Dinner with tip cost me $45.97 and with only water to drink, but it was worth every penny. El took me to Von's after, so I could get soda and Crystal Lite. In light of my BP readings, I am giving up alcohol for the foreseeable future.

T.O.P.S. this morning--Mary Ann will pick me up at 8:00 and we're meeting at leader Lennie's house--I don't remember why. Hope I've lost a few, but we'll see.

WEDNESDAY AND MY BP

It was "scarf day" yesterday, when we were supposed to wear our favorite scarfs  Reminds me of Kindergarten, but I played along with it. Dyan didn't wear a scarf, but she had on one of her many attractive tops:

I did wear one--a sparkly gray , but you can't see it well here: 

Darn, I had trimmed it and for some reason, can't pull that modified pic up.

As scheduled, the nurse, Francis, came after lunch and went through a lot of health questions and so on. He recommended that I buy both a new blood pressure machine and and a new pill cutter. My BP has continued to climb and now I'm determined to take it down. I'm giving up salt and no longer--sob!--will be enjoying alcohol. 

Aside from all that, remarkably, I connected up again with Doris G., whom I hadn't been in touch with for more than twenty years. She now lives year-round in the little resort island of Chincoteague, Virginia. Wild horses roan there and she feeds two of them, along with twelve cats (don't ask). Anyway, we had a great time catching up, although Doris seems to have some cognitive decline. I'm also back in touch with her son, Sherwood, who has had some role or other in Jersey's democratic party for years. 

Niece Carolyn called and she'll be coming here for lunch on Tuesday; I'm looking forward to that with pleasure. Stella is coming for the same on Saturday and that should be interesting. The P.T. and possibly, an O.T. will be coming today, I think, although I haven't heard from either.  

Had dinner with my friends. Settled for a large chicken salad and iced tea and it was very good, unlike some of the kitchen's concoctions. 

BP this morning: 84/48 before coffee. Is that too low? I took it again and incredibly, it came up as 162/111 I must be doing it wrong--how can it fluctuate so much?

TUESDAY

Had brekkie with Keith and Diane, my next-door neighbor. I'm getting to know Diane better and she's an interesting person--never married, no children, and quite attractive in a quiet way. However, she's one of those who seems sad some of the time. She looks to be no older than her sixties and she had been searching for a different place to live--I'm not sure why, as she seems to have no physical difficulties. However, when I mentioned I had had an MRI, she said she had, too; I didn't want to ask why. 

Washed two loads in the morning--sheets and regular--in the morning, then took lunch with the regulars. After, I my book and sat outside next to what's called the clubhouse (it's just a regular, rather nice bungalow where special events are held) to read it.  Residents Leslie and Susan, the girlfriend of another resident came out and I chatted with them. Had lunch with the four, then went back to the laundry room to dry my wash.  

While I was waiting, I strolled around and came across the name of Penny Something. Lorraine had called me about Penny from So-Fi coming to live at The Orchard on February 6. Now I can't remember what the name was or what floor (of three) it was, but I'll find it. I talked to Loraine later and she said it was Banfield, so I'll check again.

Dinner with Keith, Kathie, and Mary; Cheryl came later and sat elsewhere. Speaking of, I requested Facebook friendship with Cheryl, now that I know her last name.  

The nurse called and he'll be here this afternoon. He'll look over my meds and I'll ask him to advise me if I'l doing the BP cuff right, among other things. Called Ellen and told her he was coming; I'll see her tomorrow. 

I called the picture hanger who regularly charges $175 per hour; I bargained him down to $100 and am hoping it won't take more than an hour to hang my two six-foot or so  long pictures over the sofa. Okay, I'll El to take me to the bank and I'll get cash to give him so I don't feel so guilty--he's the nice guy who hung the same pics years ago when I moved into SO-FI.

All that doesn't sound like a busy day, but it really seemed to be. 

MONDAY

Brother Larry called and we had a good chat. He recommended that I skip Vivian's graduation in May from Hawaii U. and I may take his advice. I joined Keith for breakfast and he welcomed me back; Diane sat with us, too. 

At lunch, Kathie, Cheryl and Mary joined us and they each gave me a hug to welcome me back. I told them about my experience in the hospital and I felt well welcomed. 

Ellen came about 1:00 and we got a few things cleared up, including making an appointment for me at Primary Medical and arranging for a nurse to come on Thursday. I then took a shower and washed my hair, but I want some changes in the shower. El left about 3:30 and I tried to take a nap, but didn't drop off. Went down to dinner and had spaghetti, which was pretty good and had some lively talk with the others.

I had posted on Facebook about my hospital stay and boy, I got a lot of good wishes after. I like to answer each one with at least a thank-you and I spent some time on that.  

Slept well, I'm glad to write, and now it's 7.00 am and all's right wit the world. 

FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY, AND ALL THE DAYS BETWEEN...

 ...never mind, there are no days between. I was in the Community Memorial Hospital for those those three days. I'm still pretty tired, so I'm just going to to sketch out the details: I was having breakfast as usual with the my friend, Keith, when my right arm became numb, as it had six months or so ago. Then I couldn't control my fingers to grip my spoon. Finally, I tried to say something to Keith and I couldn't articulate the words. I got up and went to Director Tiffany's office. She immediately recognized the problem and called the fire department, who came, it seemed, as they had been waiting outside. 

Anyway, long story sort of short: They took me to the hospital, I was admitted and examined and given all kinds of tests, Ellen was called, she came and was remarkably calm and kind. Considering I was still fumbling with words, you'd think she'd be alarmed and horrified, which she probably was, was she showed spirit she did when when she was a third-grade teacher for thirty years. 

After the brain scan and other tests, the verdict was that there's no evidence of a stroke. Coincidentally, I a already had an appointment with a neurologist next week because my shaking made me fear I was getting Parkinson's, but that's subsided. 

Ellen released me yesterday and we went to Two Trees for dinner. She had called Tia, Tiffany's assistant to tell her all was okay as far as we knew, but of course, I'll be seeing my own doctor shortly.

Anyway, that's all for now and I'm going down to breakfast.         

THURSDAY

Had breakfast with Keith and Mary--happily, Willow, her kitty, is recovering well. While we were sitting there, van driver Rick asked if it was okay to leave for Dargan's at 10:45 instead of later. Oops, I had forgotten I had already requested the van, but recovered quickly and said sure. That's two hours earlier than when I'm meeting Suzy but no prob, I figured I'll just visit some of the shops. Here was the big problem: I called the Access Van to cancel and was on hold for fifty minutes total. It seems they put in a new system that doesn't work as well as the old one. I'll love to ask why the hell they did it, then--but I finally got through.

On the way, I decided to tell Rick to deviate to the museum and I'd walk Main Street to Dargan's from there. He was taken aback, because it was "such a long way." Good grief, I looked it up and it's .07 of a mile or a bit more than half a mile--hardly a long way. I walked at a leisurely pace, but was still early.

Suzy got there at 12:30 and we fell into each other's arms. We ordered lunch (both had a Reuban and an IPA) and talked and talked and talked. Her show, Women of the Night (I thought it was about prostitutes, but no, that's not the idea) opens February 13 and runs into March. Can't wait to see it, and I'm hoping Mindy might want to, but I don't think Suzy sings in it. 

Anyway, we didn't leave for almost three hours (well, there was a lot to say), then Suzy drove me to the museum and insisted on waiting until Rick came. Back at The Orchard, I quickly put in a load of wash. When it was finished drying, I retreived it, dumped it on the bed, and went down to dinner, sitting with the usual four, then went upstairs to finish packing.

Today: San Jose.