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Published: April 6th 2021
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I was hoping to share only a minuscule amount of medical talk with you this time around.....but that’s just not meant to be. Hmmmm.....I see your puzzled and bored looks....oh, what’s in store now? YAWN! The first scenario doesn’t deal with me! Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! The second one does, however. Snicker!
Let’s start with number 1....and who might that be? Cory....yes, Cory......he’s #1. Long story short: he payed a visit to my bone doctor and guess what? Yup! Mr. Buckaroo needs a total knee replacement! Just like me.....we are truly keeping it all in the family. We have both had cataract surgery....why not knee surgery?
The doctor asked Cory how long his left knee has been bothering him......his answer: since age 14! OMG. Of course, of recent, it has acted up and become more painful with no relief from simple measures. His X-ray showed bone on bone on one side of his knee but some cartilage on the other. He’s going for a total replacement rather than just a partial. Dr. Johnston gave him a cortisone injection in his knee to hold him over until October when we will be back here at Tropical Palms. Our lives will become
deja vu except Cory and I will be reversing roles. Be prepared: more grueling photos! Of course, Lulu will be there to assist me in caring for Cory. I’ll need all the help I can get. He calls me Nurse Ratched!
Moving now onto me.....oh, yeh. Remember when I was in the hospital with hypertension and electrolyte imbalance? Oh, dear....I’m trying to block that memory out. After my discharge, I kept a record of my blood pressures to take with me when I followed up with my two doctors. The first doctor I saw was the nephrologist. A very nice doctor. Of course, my B/P was elevated in his office....not uncommon. He only glanced at my flow sheet record of B/P’s that I gave to him. He didn’t recheck my B/P. He decided I needed to be on another B/P medication! This would make four B/P meds I was on! I may as well just be embalmed! Guess what he ordered for me? MINOXIDIL! Sound familiar? Maybe to folks with hair loss it will. Tick-Tock-Tick Tock ....Buzzzz. Time’s Up! It’s the drug given to bald men for hair growth! YES! My hair is thinning but my B/P is the
issue. I guess a side effect of this hair growth medication is to lower blood pressure but.....I just didn’t want to take any more medication. He ordered more lab work for me in a month. My current labs were all normal except my now liver enzymes were elevated! He didn’t bother looking at them....not the right part of the body, I guess. I took the Rx copy of Minoxidil with me knowing I wasn’t going to fill it......unless someone wants it for hair growth! I didn’t want a big confrontation with this nice doctor.
The next day, I had my appointment with my internist down here. I like him a lot. My B/P was good in his office as they were on the flow sheet I gave to him. I told him I had too many doctors and too much medication! Some had to go! First off, he agreed I shouldn’t take the Minoxidil and I didn’t need to go back to that doctor. Good! That was my plan anyway. He looked at my liver labs....I told him they were normal until switching and starting all these new medications. He could see that! So, we discontinued one and went
to every other day on another. I’m still on 2 B/P meds and a fluid pill that works with them and won’t lower my potassium. He told me not to eat any more fruits high in potassium cause now it was more on the higher side than being too low. Oh, boy! I miss my banana on my cereal. I did put myself back on my OTC Milk Thistle pills that was never renewed....doctor didn’t think they did much (his opinion)....it’s for a healthy liver. He gave me a slip for repeat lab work so we’ll see where I end up in a couple weeks. Good Grief! My blood pressures have been very good.....I’ve never had such a good blood pressure except when I was younger and thinner (mega years ago). Hallelujah for that! Enough medical prattle for now.....yawn, Zzzzzzzzz.
Onto some fun experiences. Our son’s, Cory, three grown children and Fox’s girlfriend came down to Florida and stayed in our timeshare located near SeaWorld. It was great seeing and being with them. Over the years, we have not seen them as much as our other Grands because they live in N.C. We appreciated this opportunity to spend some
good times with them. You have already met our granddaughter, Rachael, through our Facebook announcements. She just obtained her doctorate from the University of Alabama in cancer research. Yahoo! Our grandson, Fox, brought his girlfriend, Sam, with him. They live together in N.C. They make such a cute couple. Fox has so many traits that resemble his father’s. Shenen has a birthday coming up on Thursday! He’ll be 20 years old. Where, oh, where, has the time gone? He’s attending (virtually) college in N.C.
We took them out to eat at some of our favorites places: Bar Harbor, Cheddar’s, Manny’s. They went to Clearwater Beach one day and Disney Springs another. They checked out Old Town and rode the new, wooden roller coaster at Fun Spot....scream! All the big parks were already booked up so that was off their list. This pandemic has changed so much that we just took for granted before it hit.
Besides Shenen having a birthday, Newmie (my new name for Cory) had his birthday on March 30th. Happy Birthday to yooooouuu....yodel, yodel! I said to Cory: we have to stop adding all these birthdays up.....we are getting OLD! Even though we have some
medical issues and increased years on ourselves, we really aren’t nursing home material yet! I hope not, anyway. Cory had a free coupon for a birthday dessert at Cheddars, so with five spoons, we managed to put it away with the help of our Grands. Tasty treat! Cory struggled to get his presents. He called and texted the lobby office asking if he had any packages. Nope....none. Because of tracking, we knew at least one had been delivered the day before. He asked again....nope...no packages for you! Finally, Venessa (helpful employee in the office) checked for Cory and WOW......he had five packages waiting for him. Hmmmmm.....and none were found by anyone else in the office??
Cory and I took a golf cart ride around the park. Near our RV, we heard sirens coming closer. They were coming into our park and headed towards the swimming pool. Rescue trucks, a fire engine and many police cars zoomed by us. A toddler was seen floating in the pool when someone noticed her and got her out doing some resuscitation. The child quickly came around. So fortunate this had a good ending. On top of that, in the later afternoon, another toddler
fell into the pool. The mother jumped in, clothes and all, and rescued this child. The rescue squad was not called because the child was okay...just scared. What a frightful day!
We still have a few alligators in the pond at our park. I took a couple photos for you. A fellow camper came by with his young parrot so I took his photo, too. His name is Skittles. Cute!
We want to end this blog with something we know you will thoroughly enjoy. Our Easter was made special when we received photos of our two, new great grandsons: Henry and Luke. Just look what the Easter bunny brought! Awwww. There are 20 photos for you to see.
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