Hi Everyone!

All this snake talk is just creeping me out. Of course, I would take a snake over a rodent any day! I am not a fan of rodents at ALL!

I haven't melted yet but it sure is hot outside. DD26's pool water temp is 82 degrees! That's too warm for me to actually swim laps or anything. Swimming is out for me this summer.

I've been dealing with some rapid weight gain and I am so down about it. When I say rapid, I mean over 35 pounds in 4 - 5 months. I do have a large nodule on my thyroid that I will be getting a biopsy of at some point. I see the surgeon next month. I went to the doctor yesterday and I am so swollen with fluid. I don't have pitting edema but I do have edema all over. She said that is probably a huge percentage of the weight I have put on. I have to get some blood tests and once I do she wants me to start on a very low dose of a diuretic. This is so difficult for me because I have never been overweight before. I have had to get new clothes which I can't really afford. I have really been trying to work on accepting this as part of age, a thyroid disease, and possibly kidney issues (which is a whole different story that I don't know the answer to just yet). I am not overeating and am not eating unhealthy foods. I keep my calories in the 1200 to 1500 range and walk about 1 to 3 miles a day plus I do stretching exercises every morning. It's been hot outside so I have been walking around my house, at stores, mall, etc. and track my steps daily. This truly is upsetting me. Yesterday, I broke down at my doctor's office as since June 3rd I have put on another 5 pounds. I need to stop now. I didn't mean to whine and complain. I'm just having a tough time with.

On to happier things...Today, DD26's friend is having a birthday party for her little girl. We are going to go to the party. It will be fun to do something different for a change. I'm not sure if DD24 and my DGS will be going but I'm hoping they will.

I hope you all have a great day!!!

I have been dealing with a variety of insect critters at my new place, and had to have them come out and spray inside and out. The workers hired by the contractors are such slobs. They just leave their garbage everywhere, and then I guess they just bulldose over it. But luckily, I haven't spotted any snakes.

My sister is back in the hospital. She has been in and out three times since being released after her surgery. They finally decided to remove her feeding tube on Friday; it was causing her a great deal of pain and she was throwing up everything. Now she is on iv nutrients and just allowed tiny sips of water. They dilated the opening between her esophagus and stomach during one of her stays. so the plan now is that when they relaese her she will still be on TPN and a clear liquid diet. She does better in the hospital when she is on iv meds and then ends up in the hospital when she is taking meds by mouth or the feeding tube. So now they will not release her until she is doing ok in the hospital on exactly the same meds she will take by mouth at home. The goal is to move from clear liquid to liquid to soft foods and then tiny amounts of other foods. Praying that this works.

You are all in my thoughts even though I do not have the opportunity to check in too often.

Barb - I will keep your sister in my prayers. Please keep us posted.

Barb, will continue to keep you and sister in my thoughts and prayers. I hope she is getting frequent and good visits from a good home health care. TPN isn't something to take lightly, especially at home.

trik, hope they can find out why you are gaining your weight. I am on Lasix now and hate it. You are glued to your house for about 4 hours until you know you don't have to go potty anymore. I did have pitting edema, took my Lasix for a month and then didn't go pick it up on a Saturday night when I should have. Sam's Club is closed on Sunday. So we go pick it up on a Monday evening since that is when we do our errands. You can't take Lasix at that time of night so I take it again on Tuesday. So that is 3 days without it. I still have the pitting edema 5 days later. I have an appointment with my doctor's nurse practitioner on Thursday. I don't want to be taking the medicine anyway. My cardiologist said I should never take a diuretic and here I am taking it. Ad I am getting dizzy just like I knew I would be. So I see a visit to my cardiologist soon.

My husband is wanting to see the new Independence Day movie. Well I couldn't remember the old one so I tried to find it on Netflix, Red Box, etc. Couldn't find it. Then my daughter was moving some of our furniture around in our living room and the door on our entertainment center came open and she was looking through our movies and there it was!!! So we had date night tonight. About half way through it I could even remember the ending but i was enjoying the date night so I didn't say anything.

Tomorrow I go to the dentist and hopefully my partial plate will be done. When my husband had his done, he went back for many fittings. I hope it isn't that way for me.

Hi Everyone!

Barb - Said some extra prayers for your sister. I hope the plans the doctors/nurses have made will work for you and she will be able to go home soon. Hopefully she doesn't have to be on TPN for long.

Doydie - Edema is not fun. It's almost like I'm pregnant with this swelling. It does fluctuate but most days it's there and very uncomfortable. I hope they can come up with a solution for your edema other than Lasix. I'm glad you had a good date night with your honey. Date nights are important! Good luck at the dentist today.

Not much going on in my little world. I spent Saturday night at my DDs' house. Yesterday, we just hung out and I played with my grandson. I'm so glad he loves to be read to as getting up off the floor is such a challenge for me. We read for quite a while yesterday. It was the same couple of books over and over and over and over. It was fun and I enjoyed doing that with him.

I have no big plans for the day - just routine stuff like cleaning my bedroom, some laundry, and things like that. It's funny how it takes me so much longer to do things. A few years ago, I could knock out cleaning this whole house in 1 day. Now, I have to break it down in to rooms and some days, just areas of a room. I remember being able to deep clean my house in a matter of a couple of hours, baseboards and windows included. Of course, that was in an 1,100 sq. ft. apartment but still it didn't take long at all. I could never do that now; although, I have made that a goal of mine. I would like to have that strength and endurance back.

I hope you all have a good day!

Went to the dentist and got my teeth!!!!! You can't see them from the front but if I have a big wide grin you can. They sure feel weird. They are flexible and the connections to my other teeth aren't metal like my husbands and others I have seen. I have been tense today, Tkrik knows why, and I find myself putting my tongue up against the roof of my mouth on the upper portion of the partial. Since it is flexible, it makes it flatten against the top. I want to stop that since I think it will end up a nervous habit. What I need to stop is the tense moments that make me do that.

I can never see me clean an entire house in one day. I am not a house cleaner, never have been. I would be embarressed to hire a house cleaner. I know they have seen it all but I just don't want her to see mine.

tkrik,
doydie,

Not sure this will be helpful; but I have been taking Spironolactone every morning for my edema for the past 6 years. It it is a potassium sparring diuretic. As an unintended consequence, I have been able to lower my blood pressure medication (Lisinopril) which is a good thing.

I don't notice too much of a "potty" problem; unless I knowingly keep putting off going because I just want to finish something I am in the middle of which at times; causes me to be in a bit of a rush to get to the "potty".

doydie,
once you get use to the partial, you'll probably stop putting your tongue against the roof of your mouth. I had my permanent partial of 5 teeth in front replaced in March. The middle tooth is completely missing and the others attached are capped/crowned. The down side is if I get a decay; in the root/gum area, then I need the whole bridge replaced. There definitely is an upside to the flexible metal.


Gerry

Spironolactone was discussed and can't remember why Lasix was ordered instead. My appointment is Thursday with the nurse practitioner.

I will be glad when the whole tongue against the partial is over. There isn't any metal to this, It is all flexible and I don't know what it is made of. It also makes me salivate more. While I am eating, I just want to go in the bathroom and take this thing out and clean it but I know I have to get used to it. After supper tonight i did take it out and there wasn't anything under it. Don't know why it felt like it.

I originally had been prescribed Lasix by my PC doctor; but when I went to the cardiologist, he switched me to the Spironolactone. I've been on it ever since.

Don't know if you are on a blood pressure med; but in my case that needed lowering because the Spironolactone had really helped getting the pressure down.

I wonder if the partial needs a bit of adjustment.?


Gerry

Thanks Gerry. I do have a follow up appointment with the dentist in 2 weeks. I am getting used to it. One weird thing weird about it is that when I drink water, it goes behind my teeth and goes between the partial and the roof of my mouth. I don't mind it at all, it's like getting a second drink of water and I think it cleans the top of the partail some.