Froth
Grandpa is now in the hospital with a diagnosis of severe diverticulitis. In addition, the CT scan showed a "shadow" on his liver, so a more complete scan of some sort is happening on Monday. They are doing what they can to make him more comfortable and to get things moving inside. Thanks to all of you who have kept him in your best regard and who have conveyed concern and care to me as well. I know I am a fortunate man to be 46 and still have a grandparent alive, but in a way that makes what we are going through that much more difficult. A call from madisonbear was especially welcome...
Anyway, I had to do something to get what is happening in North Carolina off my mind, so I went shopping. I decided I want to put together a seafood chowder, which I will do on Sunday. It will be tomato-based with monkfish, clams, mussels and calamari. I am making it fairly hearty with veggies and hope it turns out well so I can eat it through the week. Grocery shopping for ingredients was definitely on the agenda.
In addition, I trekked up to Frisco north of Dallas and hit Ikea. mrdreamjeans called as I was heading up Dallas North Tollway and it was good to catch up with him. I was only looking for one thing at Ikea - plastic food storage containers that I could also freeze. I got those, in three different sizes, then started having my eye caught by other things (duh - it's Ikea!). I wound up walking out with 4 frames for my photography, a new duvet cover and sham set, sheet set, oat crisp cookies, meatballs and lingonberry preserves. I nearly bought 3 dozen scented tea candles as well, but I do not need any more clutter than what I already have.
While driving around, I decided to see if I could surprise cuboz with a phone call - after everything I have been through the last 24 hours, I thought a nice friendly voice from Australia but with a New Zealand accent would do me a world of good. It certainly did. We did not have a long chat since he had the Bears In The City guys coming over to record a new podcast. Can't wait to hear it because a laugh I could really use.
My newest Netflix movie had arrived as well - Star Trek. Yes, I missed it when it was in the theater so I had to make do with seeing it on the small screen. Nice film. Eric Bana is just plain hot as Nero, but my motto has sort of always been that a shaved head and goatee are always an improvement on looks. They definitely took him from merely another handsome Hollywood actor to smoking hot pretty easily.
Oh, and I had my annual physical on Friday. The fasting blood work was done the previous work - complete chem panel, STD screen, TSH, testosterone and god knows what else since they took 8 tubes of blood - so it was more the poking and prodding this time. As to the lab results, my cholesterol was 139, but the triglycerides were 490. The bad thing was my fasting glucose was 273 which is awful. Also, my TSH was off and closer to needing treatment for the thyroid. IRight now I can not remember if it is high or low, but I will see my endocrinologist next month about all that. I am expecting I will probably have to go back on insulin injections - yuck...
Everything else was good - still negative on all the things I should be negative on, kidney function normal, my reflexes were good and my EKG was normal. BP was 126/62 but my weight is up (duh - I ate my way through the holidays WAY too much). My doctor is having me scheduled for a stress echocardiogram which I will have in the next few weeks (insurance has to approve first yadda, yadda, yadda...} which I know I need but I dread. My knees are shot from the arthritis so I will not be able to do it on a treadmill. I have heard at some places it can be done on an elliptical trainer, but have not idea if that is true or not. I just do not want to have to do it chemically. I have heard horror stories from friends who had to have it that way.
In addition, I have re-visited a nutritionist and am going to follow her recommendations. She suggested I greatly increase cinnamon and turmeric intake as well as 250 MG of magnesium and either fish or flax oil. My doctor also recommended L-Lysine since I get cold sores about 2-3 times a year and it helps to keep the incidence of those down. I am going to do it all with supplements right now as I do not think I can eat enough yellow mustard for the turmeric and rarely cook anything that calls for cinnamon that is not bad for me on some other way (apple pie, cinnamon rolls, etc).
That all helped get my mind off Grandpa temporarily, but I am still quite worried...
Anyway, I had to do something to get what is happening in North Carolina off my mind, so I went shopping. I decided I want to put together a seafood chowder, which I will do on Sunday. It will be tomato-based with monkfish, clams, mussels and calamari. I am making it fairly hearty with veggies and hope it turns out well so I can eat it through the week. Grocery shopping for ingredients was definitely on the agenda.
In addition, I trekked up to Frisco north of Dallas and hit Ikea. mrdreamjeans called as I was heading up Dallas North Tollway and it was good to catch up with him. I was only looking for one thing at Ikea - plastic food storage containers that I could also freeze. I got those, in three different sizes, then started having my eye caught by other things (duh - it's Ikea!). I wound up walking out with 4 frames for my photography, a new duvet cover and sham set, sheet set, oat crisp cookies, meatballs and lingonberry preserves. I nearly bought 3 dozen scented tea candles as well, but I do not need any more clutter than what I already have.
While driving around, I decided to see if I could surprise cuboz with a phone call - after everything I have been through the last 24 hours, I thought a nice friendly voice from Australia but with a New Zealand accent would do me a world of good. It certainly did. We did not have a long chat since he had the Bears In The City guys coming over to record a new podcast. Can't wait to hear it because a laugh I could really use.
My newest Netflix movie had arrived as well - Star Trek. Yes, I missed it when it was in the theater so I had to make do with seeing it on the small screen. Nice film. Eric Bana is just plain hot as Nero, but my motto has sort of always been that a shaved head and goatee are always an improvement on looks. They definitely took him from merely another handsome Hollywood actor to smoking hot pretty easily.
Oh, and I had my annual physical on Friday. The fasting blood work was done the previous work - complete chem panel, STD screen, TSH, testosterone and god knows what else since they took 8 tubes of blood - so it was more the poking and prodding this time. As to the lab results, my cholesterol was 139, but the triglycerides were 490. The bad thing was my fasting glucose was 273 which is awful. Also, my TSH was off and closer to needing treatment for the thyroid. IRight now I can not remember if it is high or low, but I will see my endocrinologist next month about all that. I am expecting I will probably have to go back on insulin injections - yuck...
Everything else was good - still negative on all the things I should be negative on, kidney function normal, my reflexes were good and my EKG was normal. BP was 126/62 but my weight is up (duh - I ate my way through the holidays WAY too much). My doctor is having me scheduled for a stress echocardiogram which I will have in the next few weeks (insurance has to approve first yadda, yadda, yadda...} which I know I need but I dread. My knees are shot from the arthritis so I will not be able to do it on a treadmill. I have heard at some places it can be done on an elliptical trainer, but have not idea if that is true or not. I just do not want to have to do it chemically. I have heard horror stories from friends who had to have it that way.
In addition, I have re-visited a nutritionist and am going to follow her recommendations. She suggested I greatly increase cinnamon and turmeric intake as well as 250 MG of magnesium and either fish or flax oil. My doctor also recommended L-Lysine since I get cold sores about 2-3 times a year and it helps to keep the incidence of those down. I am going to do it all with supplements right now as I do not think I can eat enough yellow mustard for the turmeric and rarely cook anything that calls for cinnamon that is not bad for me on some other way (apple pie, cinnamon rolls, etc).
That all helped get my mind off Grandpa temporarily, but I am still quite worried...