Five for My Fifth Year of Blogging

Walking to His Spot in the Den

I will give you the five most popular blog posts by number of views this fifth year of Plant City Lady and Friends. As usual, you can click on the red to find that post.

September 7, 2013. Hubby walks. I think that having an article in two local newspapers which give mention to this blog bumped up the views to 433.

February 4, 2013. The post on GERD got the second amount of views this year (335). I would have thought that the post on my hearing aids would have gotten more hits. I am not suffering from GERD any longer.

October 16, 2013. Dealing with stress (315 views). Actually I like the part two stress post better on 12/1/13--very practical for me, but it had much less views. 

June 14, 2013. Granddaughter's quilt (278 views). More quilts are coming.

January 7, 2013.  The fourth area of The House That Cleans Itself series was a popular post with 218 views. Shortly after that I had a genuine Southern hissy fit with Google because pictures on blogs were not going to be free. In short, they won. So now I am paying $2.49 a month for the privilege of posting my messes for you all.

As I review 2013, many things happened or haven't happened.  

1. We have a volunteer caregiver, Kenny, to enable me to continue to work.
2. Hubby survived UTIs and was not placed in a nursing home as his doctor expected. 
3. We have a volunteer for yard and home maintenance, Pharis. Essentially he is covering the front and back yards (areas 8 and 9) in the home organizational project I started in 2012. 
4. Hubby is walking thanks to our chiropractor.
5. I did not turn out to have thyroid cancer and I got hearing aids. 
6. We solved my husband's shaving and showering routines.
7. I was put on YouTube as MC AC The Rap Lady. More raps need to be put up, but I am not skilled in doing this. My niece and nephew videotaped me and are producing this YouTube channel. 
8. I kept my weight down, although I need to lose more. 
9. I have not finished two areas (10 and 11) in The House That Cleans Itself as other priorities crept into our lives. The workshop is next. 
10. I started my seminary counseling dissertation on being a dementia caregiver. 

Thanks 
for your prayers, everyone! 

How can I pray for you in 2014? 

Hugs,

Carol

Incidentally, one of the most viewed blog posts ever 

on December 31, 2009 features Southern New Years Recipes. 

A Week in the Wheel Chair

Sunday, September 1

Wheel chair to master bath routine
accompanied by Ziggy

A week ago hubby has a relapse of not being able to walk. We make some progress by Sunday morning. Hubby can use the walker instead of the wheel chair to come to his "Archie Bunker" spot. No longer does he have to be lifted as he can get up, and take a few steps to get in the wheel chair or use the walker. Basically this has been a week in the wheel chair, however, with sweat pants, the urinal and bathroom adventures for Kenny and myself. I wheel him to the door of the master bathroom and he can get out of the wheel chair and on and off the toilet seat. Dog Ziggy often joins for the ride.


Sally and Jake come over before their church with breakfast biscuits from Burger King. Hubby hardly eats any of this and Jake eats half of his.

That morning we sing "Happy Anniversary" to Sally and Jake. Jake couldn't believe it was his 40th anniversary. I had planned a surprise anniversary party for them, but that party totally fell apart. What a bummer! I told Sally about it and she was pleased at all the effort I had gone to. She is always doing things like this for others and it was her turn to be fussed over for her 40 years with Jake.

"I guess 40 good years is not bad," Sally says to me. We both know that the next years will be very hard. We are going into a new normal. Our anniversary in April hadn't been spectacular as I wrote on this blog. When they have Alzheimer's, every day seems the same to these guys--anniversary or not.

Jake and hubby decide that we four need to go to Stone Mountain again. We all have been there, but not the four of us together. Sally and I say under our breath, In your dreams, guys. Sally and Jake go on to their church.

Our church meets in the afternoon and hubby thinks he will go, but that also turned out to be in his dreams. He is back to forgetting he has knee problems and forgetting he uses the wheel chair or the walker.

I text Kenny that I am going to church without hubby so that maybe he can check on him. The afternoon sermon by our Associate Pastor is awesome. The essence of his sermon is that we will not enter into God's rest before we pass through certain troubles, and we better not complain like the Israelites did! This is our sanctification after faith in Christ by grace alone justifies us believers. This follows my Sunday Daily Audio Bible from Job 42:2, 6, 12.

Then Job answered the LORD and said: "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Your can be withheld from You. . . . Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." The complaining stopped and then we read Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. 

This is my life, folks, and I am blessed each day and cannot complain like Job first did and the Israelites did.

On the way home from church Kenny calls my cell from the hospital where he has been admitted. He has another septic infection. Kenny has planned a sub for himself--his lovely mother Margaret. I tell hubby when I get home that Kenny is back in the hospital and he is motivated to walk better so we can visit Kenny. Oh I can walk, hubby says. He forgets that he hasn't been walking since last Tuesday and has needed the walker or the wheel chair. Even so, every day he does get better.

Sunday night I put a 7.54 pound pork shoulder blade roast (cost $15 at Winn Dixie) in the the crock pot to cook overnight. 

BBQ Pulled Pork and Soup

Monday, Labor Day

Ask me what my Labor Day was like. The short answer is: We had BBQ and I invited guests. In your dreams. 

Labor Day morning before hubby gets up I pull the pork to make the Southern "pulled pork". The fat is so easy to separate.  I pour an 18 oz. jar of Bull's-Eye BBQ Sauce over the shredded pork and stir. With all the fat I could get out of the liquid in the crock pot I started a soup with two diced tomato cans, older vegetables from the refrigerator including that half onion that had been my downfall when I cut my finger. The soup and the BBQ pork all turned out well. 

Note to self: From now on no movies and eating out. Cook what hubby eats at home. Perhaps this is the new normal. Will he be able to walk and go out? 

That morning hubby tries no knee brace, but is wheeled out to his spot in the den with dog Ziggy in his lap riding along through the long hall. On Labor Day Kenny's mother and our goat farmer neighbor Mary are invited for lunch but both cancel. I made Southern Banana Pudding to accompany the pulled pork I made in the crock pot and planned to cook more vegetables had they come.

There are several attempts by my husband to walk. Oh I can walk he pronounces. In your dreams, I think.

I have to go to Staples in Brandon to pick up a set-aside-for-me toner for my home copy machine that will come in handy for my 4 AM lesson plans for the day. Hubby decides he will go with me. Then he realizes again that he can't walk well and it would even be difficult to get into our SUV. However I do manage to get the Staples Labor Day sale on the toner. As usual I call home along the way to check on hubby.

At dinner time on Labor Day hubby wanted to go out to dinner. In his dreams, I thought, but said "sure" if he could get up and shave. He couldn't, so he settled for dinner at home.

Today-- Tuesday, September 3

I take a day off from my long-term sub job for errands. School can keep and there is a sub for the sub. My errands:

1. Back to the endocrinologist for the official word that my thyroid does not have cancer, but will just need monitoring every four months to see if it grows. Furthermore my carotid artery is clear. I loved the informal comment from this doctor:

Endocrinologist in Brandon

You don't need to take expensive pills forever just because some doctor was taken to lunch by a rep! 

This is so true! I had thought that about the pill Aggrenox which I had been taking twice a day for TIAs for ten years but finally challenged because they are so expensive and I really do not believe I have or have ever had mini-strokes. I just need to remember to keep hydrated with water and not coffee. Today's great blood pressure (121/67) and the clear carotid artery confirm my belief. The doctor pointed out that I would need a neurologist to officially confirm no Aggrenox. (I do not want another doctor appointment, folks.)

2. I meet Pharis at Home Depot to purchase supplies he needs for our roof repair. I also purchase a battery and a belt for the riding lawn mower we gave him in exchange for helping us. I get the 12 months interest-free Home Depot rate through September 4th for all the purchases. (Why I need to do this today.)

3. I go to have my finger prints taken again because I flunked the test after I cut my finger. I get there and find out I was supposed to have an appointment since I had checked to see with my employers (I teach occasional classes for DUI offenders) if I needed one. The finger print place gives me the phone number and I book that appointment for Saturday. Saturday for finger prints will work in my busy schedule.

Pray that Kenny gets out of the hospital soon. As I mentioned responsible Kenny had arranged for his delightful mother Margaret to be there for my husband. She comes over today and cheerfully encourages hubby's morning pills (I hadn't been able to get them down hubby this morning). When I get home from my errands, hubby has been eating the lunch she prepared. It is wonderful to have such neighbors.

Shortly after Margaret left, I take over again, wheeling hubby to the bathroom with dog Ziggy on his lap. Back to lesson plans for the special education substitute assignment. You can bet that hubby will want to go out tonight in his dreams. I am making dinner for us. 

Tentative Thyroid Results

I have been anxious about my biopsy, and then I just realized that if it were serious, probably this would not have taken so long. Or else it might be a slow-growing cancer.

Nanci did my blood work on August 7th. I should have had more water the night before, because of the five vials or containers of blood, two had to come from my hand after the three from the crease in my elbow. We talked about the purpose of this test. She knew all the outcomes: cancer where you waited too long; cancer that was arrested; and finally just a cyst.

Usually I take a baby aspirin in the morning. No more for a week until the biopsy.

I have been so anxious about this day. This morning at 11 am I had that dreaded biopsy, but there was a distraction at first. I cut my finger on Chef's Envy while cutting onions for a crock pot dish for dinner. (I hope my blood didn't get in that crock pot because dark red blood was all over.) You are supposed to use a safety device when you use that Chef's Magic, but with a fresh, large onion, I just thought I can cut up half of it without a problem. Wrong and blood started to gush and gush and ooze and ooze. I couldn't stop it. I got ice, a towel and worked to get ready to go.

Hubby was very concerned about my finger and wanted to know who we could get to drive us to urgent care and whom he could call. He called Jake and Sally's home, but their mailbox was full.  Jake didn't answer his cell phone and neither did Sally answer hers. We were out of the house on on the road by then and he decided to not call our neighbor Kenny. We thought we could just make it to the Plant City Urgent Care by the hospital.

With school starting, the Plant City Urgent Care was full. Students were getting their shots for school. We went on to Brandon on HWY 60 where my biopsy was. I didn't want to take I-4 with all of the commuters since I was driving with one hand. I nursed my finger in a bag of ice which a towel wrapped around it while I drove. My jeans started to get wet. On the way hubby called K. D. from church who put out an email prayer request while I was driving us to Brandon.

As we approached the Brandon Hospital area where my appointment was,  I saw a sign for MedExpress on E. Brandon Boulevard and we stopped. Lots of students and their parents there.  They said they take people with blood first. I handed them my Preferred Care Card and my driver's license but they didn't take my card!

"However, we can take you right away for [around $200]," the woman at the desk said. I decided against that amount. At the end of summer we are on a strict budget and I do not want to charge anything anymore if I can help it. (Got to get another insurance by January for hubby and now for me as well.)

Doctoring that finger

Hubby needed help recognizing which key to open the car for me. He was very concerned as we drove off.  It was 10 am and as we drove toward my 11 am biopsy we found Family Medical Express who for $25 took a look at my finger and re-bandaged it. I took a picture with my iPhone and put it on the Facebook LIKE page. The ice had worked and the new bandage was reassuring.

A half an hour later we were at the doctor for my biopsy. We were early for the 11 am appointment. Thanks to you who prayed when you saw the email! While waiting I texted my sister-in-law who wrote back, "Having problems, aren't you!" She kept me busy texting until the nurse called me.

Hubby was not allowed in the room although I had wanted him to hold my hand while I endured a biopsy. The endocrinologist had two attendants. This doctor efficiently got to work and stuck me with two shots of lidocaine 1% to numb my neck. No,  I didn't have pictures taken, but I did tell them this  day was a undoubtedly a blogging post.

"Do not move, cough, sneeze or breathe heavily," I was told. I could put a finger up if I needed to do any of those actions and they would stop.

Five needles dug into one thyroid nodule, and four went into another nodule. It actually wasn't as bad as my cut finger, but sort of weird to have a grinding in my neck as I tried to count all of the jabs.

With great sympathy for my anxiety (I think), the doctor told me that there is liquid in my thyroid, it is soft, and probably not cancer.  He would officially tell me about the biopsy and my carotid artery ultra sound when I saw him at the beginning of September.

It was over. I was told I might rest ten minutes before driving. On the way home we stopped to get Advil because my finger hurt and my neck felt strange.

Late afternoon hubby asked about my finger, "When did you do that?" After I told him he quipped, "Ziggy, we can't let her out of our sight!"

I reminded him that we did have excitement today with our trip to Brandon.

"But Ziggy needs a little excitement now." (Me thinks that hubby does also because he doesn't remember this morning's excitement.)

We decided to go deliver two birthday gifts with Ziggy and then will come home to enjoy the dinner I started this morning.

The Dreaded Thyroid Biopsy Postponed

I had a count-down of days to this biopsy scheduled for today at 9 am. I kept busy each day, or rather life kept me busy as I have been recording on this blog.  I last wrote about this thyroid issue HERE.  Lately I have reminded people to pray about this biopsy and the results of it.

Can you imagine having a really long needle 

stuck in your neck while you watch it happen!!

I had a thyroid biopsy years ago. I was a widow then and so upset that I had no family by my side. But today hubby would be with me.

Of the three things I had to boss him around about (and really the only three things in his simple life), he accomplished one this morning--he took a shower, but standing up I am afraid. He complained about the shower seat in our large shower, but showered with it there standing up. His training for a sit-down shower isn't complete. He did not manage to shave before we left and I took his pills with us and he had them when he was good and ready for them--actually at lunch at Ruby Tuesdays with a lovely coupon from my MN friend Kathy.

It turns out that morning appointment was actually a biopsy consultation with the doctor who would do my biopsy. I told this specialist I have been tired lately. The body is so complex and so at my age he decided to also do a carotid ultrasound on August 14 and the thyroid biopsy will be on August 15th.  I will find out the results on September 3. So the wait is not over, folks. I have to wait more!

I need to keep busy. I came up with this list.

Showing the driver's license
I am stuck with for five years--
me with no eyebrows. 

1. Practice speeches for Toastmasters. Monday on the spur of the moment because the club needed more speeches, I decided to  speak on "The Girl With No Eyebrows" at a Toastmasters speak-a-thon. It turns out this old biddy shown here was funny and was encouraged to enter the club's Humorous Speech Contest on August 19th. See post HERE.  Do you think I should enter it?  Also I am speaking on "The Accidental Rapper" on August 5th--how I became MC AC The Rap Lady. Maybe people will get tired of this old biddy speaking three times in a row. 
2. Tweak The House That Cleans Itself so I can entertain in a month.  Lots of things left to do here. 
3. Work on counseling dissertation. 
4. Continue to enjoy prayer and Bible study--aways refreshing.
5. Write letters to people who actually send mail. Kathy in MN and Joyce in TN. I do not think they read this blog. 
6. And, of course, spend time with hubby. He is just happy if I sit by his side. Me sit? I will have to practice that one. 

What do you do when you are waiting? 

What do you think I should do? 

Senior Health: My Second Thyroid Test

For weeks now I have been waiting. I wrote about my thyroid HERE.  I decided to write daily this week on this post while I waited.

Monday morning I swallowed a radioactive pill at Brandon's Total Imaging. Some people have radioactive iodine injected into a vein, but I only took a pill. The technician explained that there are cold and hot nodules. The cold nodules can contain cancer cells. I would have to return the next day for the actual test. For twenty-four hours I had to limit salt, processed foods and even green vegetables before my test. I ate eggs, carrots, strawberries, a banana, a baked potato and beef without any seasoning. That day our long awaited tax refund came and hubby wanted to go out to dinner, but I said I wouldn't be able to because of my 24 hour diet.

The next morning, Tuesday, I went under the gamma camera at Brandon's Total Imaging. This camera measures the function of the thyroid and can for every other organ of the body exceptt the pancreas. The results would be faxed to my doctor later in the day. She would call me and give me the results.

I then went shopping and bought a lovely white linen skirt and lime green jeans--basics for my wardrobe badly needing updating and both on sale. Lime green is a basic for me; why one time my Alabama niece used to call me the lime green aunt. Now she calls me MC AC The Rap Lady.  

Finally hubby and I took Kenny, our volunteer caregiver to dinner. We told him how much we appreciate his friendship and he said that we enrich his life. Then I finished that quilt Tuesday evening and posted a picture of it on the Facebook LIKE page Wednesday.

Wednesday I put a call into my doctor expecting to have the results of the test, to know if I need my TSH tested before I resume taking thyroid pills. I realized that I am fidgety. The Mayo Clinic says HERE:

Thyroid nodules are solid or fluid-filled lumps that form within your thyroid, a small gland located at the base of your neck, just above your breastbone. The great majority of thyroid nodules aren't serious and don't cause symptoms. Thyroid cancer accounts for a small percentage of thyroid nodules.

By Wednesday night no one had called from the doctor's office and I was on pins and needles waiting to hear about cold nodules and whether or not I would have to have a needle biopsy to determine if it was cancer. It has been five weeks that I have been off of thyroid medicine waiting for test results. I feel tired and weigh myself often and watch what I eat because those pounds I lost last year might come back. The highlight of the day was a call from my Alabama brother in the evening. Another highlight was that my husband prayed an eloquent prayer when we went to bed. He will not remember all that I am feeling, but our LORD does. I need to exercise faith.

Thursday I determined to be useful. Well be assertive. We are going to breakfast, I announced to hubby. He wanted to know if he had to shave. It had been two days since he had shaved and I said no because I really had other motives.

Shortly after they opened I was at the doctor's office with hubby waiting in our air conditioned gas guzzler. I was told that Total Imaging had not faxed the test results yet and Yes, Mrs. Johnson, we do have your call about this issue on the computer and we will let you know when the text results come to our office. I called Total Imaging and they said it had been faxed, but they would send my doctor another fax with the results.

We went to Snellgrove Restaurant across the street from the painted brick building at the top of this blog. Men outside were talking about this car.

This restaurant is the local hangout where I interviewed my husband for this blog HERE.  I usually recognized people at Snellgove and even my husband recognized D.J. from Toastmasters. Now D. J. has survived cancer and I wondered if we would get a chance to talk with him there but we never caught his eye in the crowded place. I ordered the special for hubby--a huge waffle with sugar free syrup, scrambled eggs and bacon. I ordered a veggie omelet and hash browns for myself.

Into the breakfast I got a call on my cell phone. Mrs. Johnson, you will need a thyroid biopsy and you may resume taking your thyroid meds. We will schedule your biopsy. . Total Imaging must have sent them the fax. We took our pills and I had my first thyroid pill since May 14th.

Hubby's many pills  in the background and
my calcium, baby aspirin and LEVOTHROXINE

Then I got another call on my cell phone. Mrs. Johnson, your biopsy is scheduled for July 31st at 9 am in Brandon. So I have another five weeks to wait to know if I have cancer in a "cold" thyroid nodule.

You know what! Now I do not have fear of gaining back weight. I can lose the next five pounds more easily. And, good gracious gravy, I am going to get a tattoo! I have such light eyebrows that I always have to add eyebrow pencil to them. If I have to be in the hospital again, God forbid, at least my eyebrows ought to look like I am awake.

Beyond good eyebrows, however, the world needs cures for cancer and Alzheimer's. I consider it a privliege to trust our LORD for the outcome and am grateful I can have those thyroid pills again which a person needs if they need them.

_________________________________________________________
Added June 27, 2013 when the written report came in my mail.
Technique: the patient received 278 microcuries I-123 by oral capsule.
Findings: There is a relative photopenia in the mid pole of the right thyroid lobe indicating the dominant nodule seen here on ultrasound is cold. Normal uptake seen in the left love. 24 hour uptake is low normal measuring 8%.
IMPRESSION: Dominant mass in the right thyroid lobe is cold on nuclear sutyd. Biopsy of this nodule recommended.

Does Medicine Always Work for Us?

My husband had been on the Exelon patch when he was first diagnosed with dementia. He was working then. Hubby did more yard work and he could sweat off this patch. I felt the Exelon pill was easier to take with DH's other pills and he would not sweat it off.

Coconut Oil Fudge, Pills and Whatever
We Can Manage Have Hubby Eat

For several years now he has had Exelon or Rivastigmine pill morning and evening. At one time my husband experienced nausea with it when he didn't eat and had that pill in the morning. How he eats a small breakfast with the pill (if we are lucky here), but can get diarrhea several hours later. In April I wrote about one sort of humorous incident HERE. So I have not been giving him his Exelon morning pill some days such as Tuesday when he goes to the senior center and Sunday when we go to church. But I think we need to return to the patch and so does Canada.

Canada is going for the Excelon or Rivastigmine patch as reported HERE.  Two pills are not needed and the patch can be applied once a day.

My carpal tunnel syndrome seemed to have gone away and so I wasn't taking MSM. Bad idea. Hands are showing signs I need it. Will buy more of it to take.

Currently I am off of my thyroid medicine because I am undergoing another test on June 17 and need to be off of the medicine for that test and also no fish--bummer. I have been so careful to not gain weight and do get hungry without that thyroid medicine. I have a small twinge in one eye that I used to get when I taught in the stressful public school system full-time. I wonder if this stress is because my system needs that thyroid medicine.

To save money I have been taking one of my medicines only at night with my doctor's knowledge. She may let me get off of it entirely.

My husband also takes a full strength aspirin instead of Plavix in the mornings. This suggestion came from a comment on this blog and his doctor has always approved.

What do you do to evaluate or save money on your medications?

Senior Health: Thyroid Nodule

In the 1980s I had Graves Disease, or hypothyroidism. I was treated with radioactive iodine and too much of my thyroid was taken out. Consequently I have had to have thyroid pills, currently 100 MCG of Levothyroxine for some thirty years. Maybe 15 years ago I had to have a thyroid biopsy for the nodule and it was benign. That nodule has shown up last fall in a hospital visit, and May 7th when I also took two other tests. Good news is that my bone density is good, although I am shorter than I used to be. No problems on my mammogram either. But the thyroid needs further testing.

Since May 14th I have not been taking thyroid medicine. June 17th I will have my second test on the thyroid to determine what the nodule is and I was told  that in addition to not take the thyroid pills, to not take fish oil tablets, and to not consume fish.

Before May 14th I would blog several times a week. I would work on the house and write on blogs and attend to hubby.  I do not have the energy to write this up as I usually would do. I am very tired. Now I see myself slowing down and hoping that I do not gain back weight I was happy I lost. My blood pressure seems good, but my stamina is gone. I need those pills, apparently, but the doctors want to see what else is going on and so for over a month I will not have thyroid medicine until we see what is going on with my thyroid and with that nodule. I have nine more days of substitute teaching booked through June 7th and three Saturdays teaching a class for DUI offenders. I know this is a small problem, but do appreciate your prayers.

Carol