Sunday, Oct 26
CPAP Report. Lots of sleep, and low AHI. 8 hrs 35 min AHI = 0.00.
I left about 10:00 a.m. Sunday morning for Diamond Lake, SW of Newport, WA. It was a very windy trip, with white caps on Sprague Lake.
I made it to Spokane to Costco and on to the party / family reunion at Sonja & Kevin’s lakefront house, arriving about 2:00 so I could help with dinner preparations. Here is a lake scene taken from their deck. (Click to make bigger.)
We had a wonderful dinner with wine, enjoyed a gorgeous sunset, after other views of Mergansers and Canada geese on the lake. While I took many pictures of family too (a few I had known since the 1980s), I failed to get one of me with our hosts and the two Brittany pups from our lines. Sonja and I began our friendship in 1977 in Moscow/Troy, ID when she bought a Brittany puppy from us. She was 18 at the time. We traveled all over the PNW to dog shows and field trials with our dogs and horses. Today, I carried along some wine I thought they would like for dinner and we managed only to drink 3 bottles, but also I took along a box of huge carrots, from the Columbia Basin, our own sweet onions, and with basin potatoes beneath.
The photo above is 10-month old Cameron, who enjoyed a piece of the large carrot. When he was through teething on it, he gave it to the Brittanys.
I also carried a large butternut squash, pecans, brown sugar, from which Sonja created a wonderful dish for our dinner. As well, I took along tomatoes (cherry, yellow pear, and regular size), and I stopped at Costco in Spokane, where I filled my gasoline tank for only $2.99/gal !! and bought two pies for dinner: Pumpkin and Lattice Apple. We had a lovely dinner, with more food brought potluck by others: rolls, green salad, radishes, mashed potatoes, potato salad, green beans, baked beans, deviled eggs with cut up olives on top to resemble spiders (with only 6 legs).
(Click for better view.)
To the left is Ruth in blue in front of the food island, where the appetizers were first put and later the buffet choices of the main meal. The red, green, and white pieces on a slice of dried bread, directly in front of her on a platter, are described below the pictures. Risteen and Jacquie are behind.
Below the spiders is my plate of colorful food. Wow!
Sonja had bought two pre-sliced rolls of mozzarella cheese, a package of dried bread, and of fresh basil. She had me assemble two large platters of hors d’oeurves for the table. Kevin helped by topping my pyramids with cut basil leaves. I started with the dry toast, then added the cheese, put our sliced tomatoes on top of the cheese, and then the basil went on top. We also had a large dish of cherry & yellow pear tomatoes on the table. I had already washed them, but a couple of people destemmed them for presentation and ate most of them as appetizers before dinner. The main meat dish was presented by Sonja & Kevin — Tri-tip roasts. All 16 of us managed to sit around two large tables.
Here’s the family photo I took, after dinner. It was cool to see members I had not seen in 35 years, and meet or see pix of other grandchildren and great grandchildren I had never met.
The two people in white shirts are Sonja and Kevin Willitts, our hosts. Her sister Jacquie is behind her. Her older brother Mike is in the light blue shirt beside Jacquie.
I skipped using the CPAP machine tonight so there will be no CPAP report tomorrow morning.
Monday, Oct 27
We had a nice breakfast that Sonja put together, including some of the potatoes I took (from which she made hash browns), and a scrambled egg concoction using our smaller tomatoes and onions, with her cheese and eggs. Scrumptious.
Before leaving, I got a tour of the loft and upstairs rooms from Sonja and two of our Cedaridge Brittany lines pups, Tug and Kip (his father).
From last night, here is a cute short video of the two of them playing. Kip and Tug playing
One thing I noticed while there, was that both of them were always wagging their tails, just like their dad and granddad (Dan) here in Ellensburg. Dan and his daughter Annie are always wagging their tails. Must be in the genes.
Yesterday, Jeri Conklin was at a trial in California and sent a photo of Tug’s sister/ Kip’s daughter, Daisy, our co-owned Brittany, with her trainer, Paul Doiron, and Jeri holding all her recent ribbons. The blues are for her Open Puppy and Open Derby points toward her field championship. Sorry for the low resolution of the photo, but I think Facebook reduces resolution.
I made an uneventful trip back from Diamond Lake in 4 hours, but with stops at several rest stops to put gel ointment in my scratchy right eye. I took a photo of a truck carrying 3 very large basalt columns, probably for someone’s expensive landscaping project. I had enjoyed all the basalt columns around the Spokane area on my trip over. Here is a link about the basalt and how it is used in landscapes.Basalt & Landscaping
Tuesday, Oct 28
CPAP report. I got a lot of sleep last night: 8 hrs 32 min with AHI = 0.47.
We left for Yakima a little before noon, after a nice omelet and toast, by John. I had called in the morning to arrange to leave my SD card from my CPAP machine with the Memorial Sleep Center for a report of the past 13 days activity (since the new more accommodating Swift Fx mask). I dropped it off before going downstairs for an echocardiogram with Angie B., at the Yakima Heart Center. We both went in at 1:00. It was a very good and thorough examination. We both were able to watch the monitor and ask questions. The results will be in within a week, but I shall just wait to see my cardiologist on Nov 14, and then I can actually request a CD of the images. From there, back upstairs, where I picked up my CPAP report from their software, Encore. My Average AHI = 0.2 for the previous 13 days.
After that, we went to Costco and on to Howard’s Medical Supply to see about an oxygen monitor that can be synchronized with the CPAP results. Both doctors sent prescriptions for the oximeter but insurance gurus don’t think one is necessary and so, if I want one I have to pay for it. First, I will have to determine the appropriate one for my software tracking of my CPAP machine daily statistics. We found this oximeter, named Blue Finger model CMS 50 d+ and costing $42; supposedly it worked in 2012 on the SleepyHead software, but we cannot find any detailed recent information on it. I’m searching the web with a friend’s suggestions to find the correct one to buy before I do. I definitely think it is important to find out if this contraption is lowering my events of lowering my oxygen blood saturation below the approved percentage. I want a separate unit I can wear when the machine is operating and wear when it is not. When the machine is on overnight, then I can upload the oximetry data the next morning to coincide with my graphic representations of the sleep parameters measured as I slept — such as the events (apnea, hypopnea – [a partially obstructed airway causing shallow breathing], obstructive apnea, respiratory effort related arousal (RERA), snores, & several other recorded measurements), flow rate, respiratory rate, rate pressure (set by machine), AHI, and more. I have never had anything occur (since Oct 4 when I started using the machine), other than a small amount of hypopnea and some RERAs). No apnea (paused breathing) or snoring.
Wednesday, Oct 29
CPAP report. I got a lot of sleep last night: 8 hrs 11 min with AHI = 0.37.
I started my busy day by finally giving John a much-needed haircut. It took about a half hour.
I left for town about 11:00 after loading the car (John helped) with produce to give out a couple of places. I had to clean up some tomatoes and sort through to be sure none was inedible. With John’s help, I packed a few apples, tomatoes, and some potatoes & large carrots. I gave some away at the Food Bank (just to people I knew), and then off to deliver some produce and groceries to a gal who ask on the Buy Nothing Ellensburg Facebook page for help. Everything transferred on the site is freely given. From there on to my SAIL exercise class where I gave away more produce (carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, and apples).
Thursday, Oct 30
CPAP report. Last night I slept: 7 hrs 33 min with AHI = 0.13.
The events of the day started earlier than usual for a Thursday. I had to be at the courthouse at noon to meet a friend from Thorp who was willing to take two boxes of groceries (mostly produce) — some onions, and all the things mentioned above on Wednesday to drop off west of town to a couple. She came out to her truck parked a block away and I met her there. We transferred the goodies from mine to hers, plus I gave her an Acorn & a Butternut squash and some nice large onions for her effort in delivering to the people on her way home. It saved me at least a 13-mile trip out of my way. From there to the hospital for my routine INR blood draw. Got a call on my way home from my family physician’s nurse that it was only 2.5, a perfect number. I had worn my fancy pumpkins in love shirt that cheers up people when they see it.
Our play date today was a place we don’t often get to because there are only about 3 to 4 months / year where there is a 5th Thursday. We have too many assisting living homes to play our music, for the normal number of Thursdays. In 2015, we will have January, April, July, & October. It was pretty cool yesterday. There’s a fellow named Jay, 86, on oxygen, blind in one eye and cannot see out of the other (very well), with arthritis in his fingers, but he is a great honky-tonk piano player. I encouraged him to play for us before we were on at 2:00. Our 93 yr old guitar player walked over and joined him, and then I (71) went over and joined them. We did several songs, and repeated the first, his favorite, “You are My Sunshine,” and another musician, Roberta took a video on her phone. I hope she can figure how to get it off. I will put a link to it on You Tube for inclusion in a future blog, if possible.
John has cooked the Tri-Tip roast tonight we bought at Costco Tuesday. It was the same type (Morton of Omaha Tri Tip and is marinated with spices). It was identical to the one I had eaten at the lake house-dinner party. John added some baked potatoes and a baked Acorn squash. I cut up some of our tomatoes and the last of our pears.
Friday, Oct 31 Happy Halloween
John and I are going to a lunch party with games afterwards at the Adult Activity Center where they provide the food and fun, and we are encouraged to dress up in a costume. I will wear my pumpkins-in-love sweatshirt, orange beads (amber necklace), black mask over my nose and eyes, and an orange/green top hat. John will wear his new orange shirt I bought for him a couple weeks ago that was just delivered yesterday, in time for the party. I also found a nice bolo tie in a drawer that has a dark orange pendant of a skull. Here is a photo of us there (sorry about the focus).
After lunch (chili dogs, butternut squash & black bean dish, spinach salad with pecans and cranberries, Cheez-It crackers (yellow & white cheddar), and desserts, we played games using monopoly money they gave us with which we could win more play money to use in an auction for prizes at the end of the party. I did best in throwing beanbags into a leaning board with little nets and with tossing darts at balloons. We stayed for the auction and I got John a nice new XL sweatshirt advertising a local lumber business. I got myself an Anytime Fitness tee shirt with a month’s free membership, but on my way home, I gave the gym access away to a friend who goes their regularly (the tee shirt wouldn’t fit him). Then I bid (blindly) on something I didn’t know what except that it was for the kitchen. It was a local restaurant’s bottle of special spices for rubbing on steaks (or roasts). The restaurant is one we have gone to a couple of times over the years, The Yellow Church Cafe. The center gave everyone a bag with candy, some free coupons for a McDonald’s Big Mac and an English Muffin, including an envelope with $2000 of play money we returned for the next games day. John didn’t want to play any games (he just visited), so I got to spend his money, to win more. I thought we would leave early, so I had given $2000 away to two friends. Instead, we stayed and I still had enough to buy some gifts.
We are back, it took 4 hours out of our day, but it rained most of the time, so John couldn’t have done much around the property outside. We dropped some of our remaining tomatoes off at Briarwood for the people there (a retirement community), and went home by way of the friend who videoed the honky-tonk music yesterday. We dropped off a flash drive for her and two of our winter squash (a butternut and an acorn), and left the fitness certificate for her husband. He plays the mandolin with our group and she normally plays the guitar, but at Christmas, she will play an autoharp.
Saturday, Nov 1
CPAP Report. Strange one. I slept 6 hrs 29 min with AHI = 0.15, and had my first ever vibratory snore recorded, just one, a little after 5:00. Starting at 5:30 my respiratory rate increased from 16 to 22 just before awakening. I attribute that to a crazy dream I was having before awakening. I was in a strange city, driving my old ’35 Ford, with a female passenger whom I let off somewhere and left to drive across town to another place, where I actually stopped in a room in the building to eat some food at a dinner gathering of an organization I was crashing. They invited me to stay. I was running late returning, because I got in traffic and I did not have her phone number to call and tell her I was okay and would be back to get her. The other strange thing was my guitar case was attached to the car outside on the running board. Once up, I did not replace my mask and slept another 3 hours without it. I have recently been replacing it after getting up, but did not this morning. This mask is much friendlier than the two I started with. This one goes on easy and comes off easy. The others were a real challenge.
John must upload the pictures for use in the blog so we are not set back tonight trying to post the blog, as has frustratingly happened for the past couple of weeks. John has been out in the sun (and wind) moving stuff he piled into the truck in previous days. Now he is back in creating a brunch for us: bacon, pancake, and tomatoes. He’s back out again, this time trying to start his chainsaw. If it starts, he will come back in and put on his heavy duty pants for sawing [Husqvarna Pro Forest Wrap Chaps (Blue)], steel-toed boots, and Stihl helmet with face screen and hearing muffs.
The small bushes with red leaves are Hawthorns — emphasis on the thorns. See the red berries here (LINK that all manner of birds, deer, and horses (others?) will eat. They do not become big trees but the wood is strong and very hard.
So to end, here is a link to John cutting the (waste) wood that he has been gathering from around out place. Making Firewood We store a little just in case the electricity goes off in the winter but almost all of this will go to someone that has a need for firewood.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan