Monday, Dec 21
Up at 6:30, then back to sleep without doing much.
Been working on emails and Jacquie Lawson Cards. After my issue with the Potassium spike in my bloodstream John looked at the Ensure® package and saw that it has a high K content. I requested the following this morning:
Ellensburg The Free Box:
My, neighbor, Teri Swedberg, a mile up the road replied back that hubby Ron would drive it down to deliver to our house. Our gate was closed & he left it beside the drive, where John found it the next a.m. We have run it & appreciate the gift.
The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 21=3.
Tuesday, Dec 22
Tuesdays are the days I have to begin with a special pill to swallow with a glass of water, before I can have any food or coffee added to my system. It’s also our day to go to town for shopping and other errands, a blood draw, and now that is going to increase to every two weeks for the next 2 months. I’m going to be poked a lot.
Late afternoon check in call from Gerald; he’s fine.
The total number of robocaller connections: Dec 22=2.
Wednesday, Dec 23
I talked to Nurse Lacey about the things that happened yesterday. Test showed the K level going down. She and (PA) “doc” Chelsea confer and want to keep testing, as mentioned above.
Lacey listened (patiently) while I related my doings. I sat down before supper in my recliner to change my recliner chair’s seat cushion to a smaller level to help raise my height of my feet above my heart. The recliner doesn’t do that, so I tried a pillow and some foam pads. One pad is an egg-carton type on one side and solid on other. I was falling asleep often at the computer laptop from the chair earlier.
So the ramifications of this were that I fell asleep in my chair holding the pillow in the pillowcase. John saw me there, and did nothing when it was time for me to get up and go to supper. I never got out of the chair for supper. I missed any meal. He told me at some point I needed to wake and get up to go to bed. I acknowledged his comment, but did not. I awoke, still sitting in the chair with the pillow & pillow case in my lap, uncompleted. I finally, finished it, reconstructed my pillows, and covers, turned up the heater in the house, and went back to sleep (with my feet up). I awoke a time or two during the night to go ‘pee’, and went back to recliner bed, (next to my ICD reader for 2:00 a.m. every morning.
I woke again at 4:50 a.m. and took my 2 Acetaminophen tabs, pee’d, and lay back down until got up at daylight.
That was a long (very interrupted) sleeping situation last night again.
Now I have to take my morning pills, I had not yet taken with my meal. Took them, but have a question. 2:23 pm.
Still having swelling in my legs and feet. Yesterday when putting on my leather walking shoes to go for the blood draws, I had trouble tying the shoestrings to close & had to do with a small “bow” tie on top, with thin socks. Do I want to alternate Furosemide days yet? Or go back to daily until this swelling is gone? The doctor decided against that.
I have adjusted to putting a pillow on the end of my recliner because just putting the swelled legs down on the recliner HURTS them way too much. The pillow is difficult to manipulate from the table to my right, but I can manage the pillow while using my laptop not to have the severe pain pressure without the pillow. There is still some pain from the swelling in the legs on the pillow.
{A COSTCO book arrived with an ad for the sort of chair that might work – gets feet higher. John tried to find it on the company’s web site, and found nothing. Odd.]
However, Chelsea needs to know I still am having slight instability, most recently at the Medical Arts blood lab yesterday where the better K test was performed. I’ve still some, difficulty moving around the house, some painful muscle movements today, changed from the leather shoes today and now using an open non-lased shoe for walking.
John went out to move some logs but skipped that, and rebuilt a fence near the pasture. Now shorter, better, and looks less hillbilly-like.
Tonight is the first of putting softening drops in John’s ears — to be cleaned out next Wednesday at the Cle Elum Clinic. We are using a form of Carbamide Peroxide that is supposed to add Oxygen to the wax (Cerumen from Latin), and cause it to soften. Some studies have fund little evidence of prior treatment being effective. A few years ago the nurse used hot water in a large syringe – think turkey baster.
Late, but I finally sent Thank-Yous to the folks whose photos I used last time. I must do a better job this week!
I filled in all my medications in my case for the entire week.
Supper: Cornbread with maple syrup; Progresso Soup with chicken, extra cooked chicken breast meat added, carrots, tomatoes, and wild rice, plus Cheez*its crackers for me. For dessert, we each had a piece of heated Apple Pie with Winegar’s special homemade ice cream from Ellensburg, flavor: Kookie Kayla – a Vanilla base with Peanut butter, sea salt cookie and fudge swirl, piled beside it. Kayla is part of the Winegar clan, and clerks at the ice cream counter, thusly explained “her flavor” to me as I shopped for quarts of it.
Number of robocaller connections for Dec 23=1.
Thursday, Dec 24
The Senior Center folks sent a new Zoom link, prior to GAME Day at AAC noon. However, I missed it today. Not enough time.
John will go to White Heron next Tuesday, not today as originally planned in last week’s blog, with a pickup load of horse manure for the Mariposa Vineyard vines. The delay is because the Seattle caretakers of Panic2020 closures, quarantine, and mis-information decided Pike Place Market could open some of the shops, with restrictions. So Cameron is going there to make some sales: Northwest Tastings
Today: 5:25: message to Lacey at portal at KVH medical in Cle Elum . . . long quote . . .
“I have had the going to sleep problem since the Potassium spiked, and then continued after it spiked back down, and just confirmed with John that is correct. Today was another sleeping day, when he saw me sitting in my recliner, feet on pillow on raised base of chair, laptop in lap, cell phone turned on in my lap, and computer and I was asleep for 1/2 hour. I was asleep again, when you called the last time to tell me to check the account for the 11:05 notice, that I never saw because I was expecting a telephone call to tell me around 10:00 that River had proceeded in telling you how to get a me to through getting a message back to your email domain, which we still cannot do, because you do not have one in the system.
Yes, this whole process is confusing, and not what I expected. But, I can deal with it this way. Just will not have any contact with anyone there over the weekend, by email.
Thanks for all you have done with what you have access to with the portal and teaching me how to use it for messaging. It’s timing me out now. I’ll sign off. Nancy” …end quote
On another front, regarding the blender: . . . long quote
“I’m sorry, I never got back to respond to this, because when I went to the lab for the blood draw I had such a problematic result that we have been going back and forth to the lab and the doctor and the portal to pass information about my medication condition for which I needed the blender. The condition: extremely high spike of my potassium in my blood for (still this afternoon) unknown reasons. We’re keeping attention to effects over the weekend. I confused the issue by using the words that were “translated” that the blender was broken into pieces. That was not the case. They were only separated, but we had not yet reassembled them & finally did just now, assemble, turn on, and it works fine, even has a smoothie button. We’ve been consumed by the other concerns for the reason as late as 5:30 p.m. today, talking to my doctor in Cle Elum. Thank you for the gift, and thank for the delivery. Now if someone will just fix my medical condition, that would be a nice Christmas present.” . . . end quote
Supper: Chicken thigh roasted, baked apples, potatoes & with gravy.
Fun 53-minute phone call late (for her) with sister Peggy in Parma, OH, about much fun history in the family while they lived in Clarion, PA. She’s beginning to get snow, and may be snowed out of getting her driveway tomorrow, possibly by a foot. She’s supposed to go to church at 9:30 a.m. – does have a snow blower.
The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 24=0.
Friday, Nov Dec 25
First, early morning sunrise from the Kittitas Valley looking across to Badger Pocket, photographed early by Sid Peterson. Badger Pocket (or The Pocket) is a farming and ranch area to the southeast of EBRG. It is shaped like an arrowhead pointing in that direction and runs up to the Army’s Yakima Training Center. 
The lower photo is by Cindi Crawford Ackerman from the Thorp Highway, to our southwest.
Tree Bottles, and Merry Christmas wish !
Area Code 273 is Mexico, can you read words under the number behind the tree? Another possible Area Code is 473 is New Zealand. Not sure where this is located, but it’s neat.
Interesting cultural cuisine.
Left, sent from friend Kathy William-DeVries in Queensland, Australia is a photo of the traditional seafood lunch (contents: Prawns, oysters, smoked salmon and Moreton Bay Bugs.
Our Christmas dinner on the right was Broiled Salmon Fillet, a potato pancake, baked apples & pears. Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream for dessert.
Photo by Christopher Cyrus Peterson at Bar 14 Ranch, 12-25-20
Location is 1.25 miles south of us on Naneum Fan, but another of the distributaries, yet right on the premises of Bar 14 Ranch.
Saturday, Dec 26
Cannot stay awake.
Warm coffee, and go pee, be sure I took diuretic (I did).
We both slept in this morning, John a little longer than I because I had a more interrupted sleep last night caused by a dream/nightmare.
I was waiting to take my pill at the normal time 11:05. My increase potassium in my bloodstream was responsible. It had been putting me to sleep all day, as I sat at my computer trying to work. I had the dream I was talking with a Doctor friend in Kittitas, WA, and she was suggesting I do it now. I dreamed I did, but I did not; instead I fell asleep in my chair, without my legs up on pillows, or blankets on, and no neck pillow on. The dog walked in at 12:13 and awoke me. Then I got up and went to bed, and put my computer away.
Brunch: John has gone out for a half hour to push-broom snow , feed birds, and horses. For lunch he’s going to make a grilled cheese sandwich for me, with a glass of Strawberry-Lemonade PowerAde. Left-overs for him: broiled Salmon from last night in some Progresso soup and heated up, with Corn Chips.
For an afternoon snack, John made some fudge brownies & added roasted walnuts.
Supper: There is some Broiled Salmon Fillet left for my supper tonight to have along with baked apples, and John added a half of a heated baked potato we cut and put Bleu Cheese dressing on.
The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 26=0.
Sunday, Dec 27
We’ve gotten a little snow this week – 5 inches maybe.
Photo by David Standish – Sunrise 12-27-20 from Bowers Road
This is looking SE from where the road crosses an irrigation canal.
Slept in. Potassium or something still bothering me. Tuesday, I’m being re-tested for two different things. I hope I can make it as I have to drive myself. Previously mentioned is John’s manure delivery trip.
Last fall, I would have been involved in a Nick from Home Lecture and operating at full capacity.
One of the mid-morning tasks I had to do this morning was send a PDF file to all in the study group. I’m trying to get a way for members to enlarge images (pdf and jpgs) to get an enlarged font, making the words readable. I think this was successful, but it was also time-consuming. I’ve since sending, many thank you notes, so I must be functioning OK to some degree.
Everything quit working on my laptop, so I finally had to completely restart the computer. At least it fixed it but required a lot of rebuilding things I’m still doing.
Brunch: Strawberries and maple syrup on blueberry pancake, with bacon, my beverage was strawberry-lemonade PowerAde.
Afternoon filled with many inside and outside chores, and I worked almost solely on the blog creation to get posted late tonight.
Supper: Baked Chicken leg/thigh, mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, and cinnamon with brown sugar on baked pears/apples.
The total number of robocaller connections for Dec 27=0.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan