Monday, Sept 24
We did get the blog finished today at 12:40 p.m. and published it, before leaving for the day in Yakima. I drove both ways, returning late (after 5:00 p.m.) to bring John home, change hats – and went down the road again.
A review of my Yakima Heart Center visit: It started at 1:45 with a device check on my ICD, and the good news, everything was fine from 6 months ago, and the nicest news was that I have a battery life left of 12 years. My ICD has not had to use much power to adjust my pulse because it has been working fine on its own. My first one only lasted 5 years, but it was replaced with one of a higher technology.
Then we changed to the waiting room for the cardiologists, instead of imaging, and didn’t wait too much longer until we were called in. I weighed in at the lowest weight I have had there in quite awhile. I was 30 pounds down from my May visit of 2017 (and this was with my clothes on); I did remove my shoes. I was checked in by a technician, and we had to wait about 20 minutes for the doctor to appear. I did not have a preliminary ECG (which my former cardiologist always had done every visit). But he retired, and I guess that is not a priority of his replacement.
I didn’t have more than 20 minutes with my cardiologist. He was pleased at my condition, and only ordered an echocardiogram (in the next few weeks) to see if my heart has improved (the ejection fraction). He assumes by the sound of what he can hear that it has, but he also knows all the stuff I’ve been doing, and he acknowledged John’s comments that he sees no symptoms of my having any troubles.
He asked for a follow-up appointment in four months. I guess I would like to have it before the end of the year because my deductible has already been met. We’ll see if my request is approved. First things first. Get my echocardiogram.
I brought John home because he had many things to do, to set up for multiple trips this week (and he was gone Sunday). He is to go T/W/T and Saturday. He will leave at 4 AM, be just inside Idaho at 7 for gas, and to the trailhead by 7:25. Saturday will be closer and of a shorter duration.
So, I turned around and went back to town to dinner alone with two other couples, another fellow I know who is a musician (piano & keyboard), and a fellow who just lost his wife. I knew her better than I knew him, but he was the Director, Financial Services at CWU for many years. Cancer took her away, but they had a nice last 6 months traveling all over the world to places she wanted to visit. They had even previously spent time in Antarctica and South Africa. He was also a farmer in the valley in the 70s before going to work at CWU. Neat guy. He was at dinner because of being friends with our friends originally, I think, through Search and Rescue.
I carried my violin and a bottle of wine. Three people had been playing (Piano, flute, violin) before I got there; I played two songs, and took my violin back to the car and picked up a bag of goodies for Haley and Amy. We had a sort of homemade Shepherd’s Pie (with pastry instead of mashed potatoes on top) for dinner, rhubarb cherry cake heated, ice cream, and wine (I took a bottle of Malbec, and that’s all I drank of the 3 different ones there (all reds). I left about 7:30 and it’s now 8:25 and I’m going to bed soon. I am tired.
Tuesday, Sept 25
Up early with John at 3:30 a.m., went back to bed after he left at 4:00 a.m. for another day at Liberty Lake. I slept in until 9:50, realizing I truly needed the rest, and after a few organizational chores, I finally got my first coffee at 10:50.
Jeez, 12:45 p.m. medical update for Tues, 9/25/18 this week. Regarding our history of shots for Prevnar 13 (PPSV-13) and Pneumovax 23 (PPV-23) from the day before, my PCP’s nurse checked and found I had the PPV-23 in 2010 and then in 2015, I had the PCV-13. John had the 23 in 2009 and the 13 in 2015. Current recommendations from my Primary Care Physician (PCP)’s research is for this year 2018, get the PPSV-23 again, but not follow up a year later with the 13 (Reason: we have both had both shots, but the original 23 was not given a year later). Today, I called, talked to our Pharmacist Leslie, who said last week she would order PPSV-13 for both of us, when she gave us our flu shots. I wanted to tell her my doctor’s decision, and request she order instead the PPSV-23 for both of us. She searched her cooler, not finding any, she tried to order the PPSV-23 for us. The system would not allow it. So, she is going to look into it further, and then I will report back to my PCP’s triage nurse, Lacey. As of the end of the week, she had not gotten back to me. She said she was really busy. But, I would like to get the protection ASAP, so I will call the pharmacy again Monday.
Another medical issue for me (right eye laser surgery for future):
This is information provided by my friend (a PA) who just had her surgery yesterday while I was going to my medical appointments. Her name is Roberta Buum, and she is my friend from the SAIL exercise class, the IAF Geology lectures & Field trips, plus a member of the Kittitas Audubon chapter. Here is her information for my future needs, when my right eye starts showing the symptoms of needing lasered to remove the film over my retina that appears after my having intraocular eye replacement surgery in 1997. My left eye was done last year, and the right one will need to be done when the symptoms appear. My last visit this year still did not show it in the Optimap yet, as being within my vision field. Roberta’s surgery was done at Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute in Yakima. I asked her for their complete information, because I wish to continue with my second eye at a different facility. My original surgery was done in 1997 in Yakima, but that doctor has retired. This group comes highly recommended by others. Here are her provided details. Their address is: 3900 Kern Road. It is right off 40th, just past North Star. Ph: 509-966-1356 or 800-888-9902. They basically repeated the exam done by Valley Vision a week before the surgery so you could probably bypass Valley Vision altogether. A Dr. Gibb did the pre-op exam and Dr. Ford did the procedure. (Her report to me this morning, made me request the details, because she had reported in the following statement (we had been discussing this surgery recently in our exercise class). She said, The surgery was a success! The world is a much brighter, clearer place this morning!
I added 5 people to the jobs list. That requires logging off all my Gmail accounts and initializing with the one used to manage my database on Google Groups: jobsnancy@gmail.com . Normally, our joint account has precedence for administrative duties.
Wednesday, Sept 26
I awakened at 3:20, to John’s alarm. I stayed up until he left at 4:00 a.m. and went back to bed, but could not sleep, so I got up for 1 hr+, took 2 Tylenol, and went back to bed until 9:10 !
Fixed my salad for today’s lunch at the Food Bank, and packed a birthday present (green water bottle) for Carolyn but she did not show up for SAIL exercise. So, I’ll take it next Monday.
Here is a blast from the past for a WTA trip to Talapus Lake John made. These are the finished photos (from crew leader, LeeAnne). John will describe them.
These were taken on a wet day when I was not there. Note the umbrella over the backpack – upper left, right photo. The 2 pictures are from the same spot but in opposite directions. This is a new section of trail I and others carved out of the forest in a wet section. I helped clean out plants and rocks, leaving a sunken path. Others “rocked in” the sides and filled it. The top is gravel, brought up 1.8 miles in 50 pound sacks by pack animals.
Thursday, Sept 27
I called into Hearthstone for 9 chairs for our music group.
We had a good turnout, players and audience: Tim, Roberta, Amy, Sandy, Nancy, Dean, Gerald, Kevin, Sharon, but we had trouble with our hearing each other and our timing was messed up in a couple of cases. Most of the audience I’m sure didn’t realize it.
We stayed for cake for a celebration of life and had a fire drill rudely interrupt us, so I carried my cake home and shared with John. It was a strange day all around.
In order to cheer myself, I will share some great bird photos from my friend from 6th grade, Nancy Johnson (now Maude Buszek, in Michigan), where all these photos were taken.
Great Egrets and adult Sandhill Crane with juvenile meets Egret
Wonderful reflections to soothe the soul:
Roseate Spoonbill with Sandhill Crane poses 
In the middle photo, the bird dropped a leaf and scared himself; right image: preening.
Friday, Sept 28
I went to scholarship luncheon at 204 Bouillon with my $60 Ruth Harrington donation check to the CWU Foundation. We were served Lasagna Crockpot casserole, salad, and apple crisp w/ ice cream. Did not make it out of there in time to go by AAC for tail end of Friday activity event pictures, because a few of us had an interesting discussion in progress.
Went on to Kittitas to deliver clothes and yellow summer squash to the Neighborhood Food Pantry and Clothing bank. On back by an intersection about 3 miles from my home, to leave a box with packing plastics in it for a woman to use for shipping.
I came home to tackle more projects. John was home today and caught up on both in and out chores.
Saturday, Sept 29
John left about 5:15 a.m. for Fish Trap Lake Trail, 30 miles SW of Spokane. It was on a BLM site, for National Public Lands Day (NPLD). This WTA work day had an early start at 8:00 a.m. (usually 8:30), and they ended early because of celebrations with NPLD T-shirts from 2017 and 2018 given out, along with sandwiches, chips, various other snacks, and drinks. John said the new trail construction through the shrub-steppe was relatively easy, but the wind was whipping up the exposed ground, and the working conditions were very dusty. We think they were digging down into the deposits of volcanic ash from Mt. St. Helens’ 1980 eruption. This area received more of the stuff than we did in Troy, ID. They worked through a wooded section and John used a saw (18″ pruning) to clear downed limbs and small trees. He de-limbed a larger tree but left it for a BLM worker with a chainsaw.
I took the left-side photo by propping the two shirts on the back of my recliner, not the best picture, but you get the idea. They are nice T-shirts. Right side is from the web.
I slept in after feeding the outside cats. Now busy with chores, and the first is related to gifts from people current & past. I put a request in for John for a long-sleeved T-shirt to wear under a short-sleeved 2018 WTA Logo shirt this coming Tuesday at a special work party event with WTA and REI staffs at Suncadia. An offer came from a woman who in 2017 donated a bunch of Low Calorie Recipe books and weight-loss materials to me when I was trying to lose the weight for my heart’s health. It was nice to touch bases again so I could thank her for her donation, and explain that I had lost the weight needed and passed along (loaned) the books to a friend in need.
John picked ~1.5# blackberries yesterday, and today I will rinse, drain, and pack into a bag for the freezer. Need to do the same with tomatoes and peaches, but clean and cut them first. I also washed dishes, worked on the blog, put off updates on music plans for next week’s KV F&F group, and accomplished a few more things, during cleanup in our den & kitchen.
John stopped at Ritzville for gas and called after getting back on I-90. The call was at 3:22. He may be home by 5:30, but will call again. John did not call when I anticipated, so I called him. He was driving by Kittitas High School, about 10 miles south. He got home at 5:07. He holds his speed to below 75. About 85% of the traffic is going 80 mph.
I managed to put in all my meds for the week, and need to arrange to get some Allopurinal (which is from Costco), so that means a trip down toward the end of the 2nd week. But the price is right, no coupon needed and it costs $16 vs. $24 in Ellensburg for 180 tablets (I take twice daily). We always seem to need a few things from the store, and their gas is the least expensive. We take the car with the greatest need for fuel.
We had a salad for supper. John went to bed early, and I stayed up too late.
Sunday, Sept 30
John will be home today for a change, and he slept in. I couldn’t, after first time up early, and not being able to return to sleep, I just got up and washed a load of dishes, and started on things needing tackled and hopefully finished today. I figured I could take a nap later on.
It’s cold outside (in the 50s) and he came in complaining that winter has arrived. He checked the garden and the Butternut squash, hoping that they will ripen before the frost gets them. We need them to be able to store for future use.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .{Shown smaller than actual size.}
The hat is 12 inches, stem to stern. They need to be tan/brown, and they are not. Some smaller ones are tan. There are several this big or larger, and they should have stopped growing sooner. Something to investigate.
I canceled the Emeriti meeting set for Oct 10 because too many of the regulars had conflicts. We’ll try for Nov.
Our new Medicare cards came in yesterday’s mail, and John is making scans of them with our Kaiser Permanente cards, and our WA State driver’s license. The Medicare cards have a new non-SS number. You likely got a new one, or will soon.
Hope your week was fine.
Nancy and John
Still on the Naneum Fan