This and That

I am feeling fat! After my birthday week celebrations which included eating foods I don't normally enjoy in my daily diet, I am now drinking a lot of water and watching every bite. We are beginning to plan another cross country road trip beginning May 1st and I want to be about eight pounds lighter. So with that in mind, I will be contacting the Weight Management Group at my university hospital to begin a month of their liquid/protein diet right after Christmas. That should leave me ten pounds lighter, then I should lose another five pounds the next month as I add food back to my diet. It would be marvelous to begin our trip feeling very slim and full of energy.

The scabs from the freezing of the twenty precancerous spots on my arms and legs are all gone except for one. My toe nails are now so long they hurt when I am wearing certain shoes. I wanted to wait until there were no more open wounds that might become infected before having a pedicure. Today is the day. After the yoga hell class this morning,  I am going to cover the one spot and not allow any water to get near it. So looking forward to it. Afterwards, I will do a quick run through Safeway then rest until orchestra rehearsal tonight.

My Rehab Boys and I were reunited yesterday for the first time in months. We were loud and laughing and talking a lot about recipes and food. It was fun. Sherman's tendon surgery in his hand has fully healed and he just has a few more appointments before that rehab is completed and Dick was back to his old self. He has been traveling and busy and helping his wife. It felt good to be together again.

After mom's pacemaker was installed, the docs told her that she would feel full of energy in six months. Believe me, it has kicked in! She runs around all day then cleans her kitchen cabinets and closets in the evenings. As she keeps losing height, she has completely lost her waist. This woman is 115 pounds and her pants are suddenly too tight. She now realizes that her tight pants are causing her to be very short of breath. TA DA! Her frightening shortness of breath is suddenly not a problem! Loser pants!

My friend Cynthia, who phoned on my birthday, told me a story about her mom. She is 94-years old and lives just outside her hometown in Pennsylvania. She was in an independent living community when she fell. It was recommended that she move to an assisted living environment which this tiny, self educated, brilliant woman hated. She got out of bed on her own to use the bathroom late one night and fell. It was a hard, brutal fall. She lost her eye and was hospitalized with other injuries. It was not looking good and the family was advise to fly to her side. Cynthia was holding her mother's hand while listening to her say that death is just part of life and that she was looking forward to seeing her husband and son who had died. She closed her eyes and died. Within less than a minute, her eyes flew opened and she said, "Now what am I going to do? They sent me back!" She had seen the tunnel and her son who told her she had to return to life. Amazing story. Home is now a lovely skilled nursing facility.