HITS
- It was a joy to get to celebrate another birthday with Mom on Monday. Since I learned that I had been telling everyone she was older than she actually was (oops!), let me set the record straight. Mom turned 78 years old on Monday. There wasn't a big celebration planned since she was still feeling less than perky, but I wanted to make sure that she had some sort of celebration. I knew she needed a cake, but I needed to find something yummy that didn't include chocolate -- her favorite treat, but a nightmare for her heart palpitations at the moment. I visited Nothing Bundt Cake and sampled the strawberries and cream mini-bundt.....and I knew I had found the cake! It was moist and simply scrumptious! Mom and I both enjoyed our small treats so much that we ordered ANOTHER cake for our upcoming family Memorial Day gathering. On a whim, Dad decided to treat the Geriatric Ward plus my older brother and his wife to dinner that evening. It was a great ending to a day devoted to honoring Mom.
- On Tuesday morning, I accompanied Dad to the kidney specialist after the latest blood labs came back with less than favorable results. The doctor we saw was Dr. Deogaygay -- I loved getting to say her name a few times! She was a delightfully charming doctor who immediately put our minds at ease. Why is this a hit? Basically, she said that she could find nothing in her examination that would suggest the cause of the lab results. Her suggestion was to hydrate vigorously for the next week before returning to the doctor for a new round of blood work. I was thrilled to have a doctor who actually listened to her patient and took into account the fact that things can simply be strange sometimes when dealing with older patients. She didn't sound the alarm of panic; instead, she wanted to make sure that we were doing a thorough investigation before doing something more drastic.
- By the end of the week, I had developed a case of cabin fever and needed to get out of the house for a bit. I decided to give geocaching a try....and it was actually rather fun! I've been aware of geocaching for quite some time, but never took the step to give it a try. What is it? The easiest way to explain it is as an updated version of hide and seek. People hide "treasures" at various locations and mark the coordinates on a map. Seekers go to the marked site and try to find the treasure. My first adventure took me to a local bank on Sunday afternoon. I followed the coordinates to a light in the middle of the yard. I started looking around the concrete base and kept checking the location on my phone. I thought I was at the right spot, but I didn't see anything! That's when I put my hands on the cover at the base of the light to discover that it was loose.....so I tried to move it up the pole and that was when I saw the little treasure! Like most geocaching treasures, it was a small 35 mm film canister that held a small trinket and a written log of the people and dates that the item was found. It was quite cool.....and I plan to experiment with the adventure a bit more while I'm in the safety of my home town in the coming weeks.
- Somehow, I decided it would be a good idea to return to the gym this week. After all, I had some good results when I worked with Spencer a few years ago and felt better than I had in quite some time. I set up the appointment and made my way to the gym. When the session started, I thought I was going to die! I had forgotten what it felt like to move. Since I'm having problems with my hands right now (although that seems to be improving with each passing day!), I couldn't do any weight training. That meant 45 minutes of cardio. I HATE THE TREADMILL! As my time in the gym continued, I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't need to sit down as frequently as I had expected and I was actually pretty happy with the experience....until the very end. As I was getting off the treadmill to end the final circuit of the day, I guess I twisted just right and wrenched my back. I thought a massage and hot shower would take care of the problem, but my back decided to rebel a bit more than I had hoped since I put it through the torture of the gym. So I haven't been back in to do any of my "off day" cardio....instead, I've been nursing a bad back on the couch. That just means that I'll get to start all over again when I climb back on the treadmill this week.
- As part of the process of allowing my hands to rest and heal, I have not been practicing or doing much of anything that requires repetitive movement of my hands. There are only so many hours one can fill with reading novels and watching television before boredom hits with a vengeance....and it's only May! I may be running for the hills before August returns.
- It wouldn't be summer in eastern Arkansas without at least one round of powerful storms rolling through the region. On Saturday night, heavy rain and strong winds pounded the Geriatric Ward. Trees all over town were damaged, but we escaped. Just across the bridge in Memphis, thousands are without power at the moment; the current projection says it will take at least a week to restore service to the entire region. I'm really thankful that we didn't get hit that hard.....and hope that this is the only storm I have to weather this summer!
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