Getting out - and getting GOOD NEWS!!!

Thursday, April 17, 2014

I got up early today because of that doctor appointment.  I managed to get up with the alarm and was up (folding the towels that I had washed the other day) when Jean and Corgan got here.  I got done with the towels, got them put away, and off we went.

After a stop at Walgreen's on the way down the road (hey, why cross traffic if you don't have to?), we got to the doctor's.  As luck would have it, we got there almost a half hour early, so we just sat in her truck and talked for a while before going in.
In the doctor's office, I had to fill out the annual paperwork (ugh!  I only go every six months...) and they finally called me back.  First stop, of course, is the scale.  The nurse did a double-take!  She started enthusing about how great I had done in just six months, and asked what I had done, and kept saying things like "good job" and "keep it up."  She just kept going back to it the whole time she was getting my vitals, and it really made me feel good to hear it from a total stranger!  She took my blood pressure, and it was 100/50, which is very much on the low side (normal is 120/80), and she was a little concerned about that, and told me to ask the doctor.
When the doctor came in, he didn't say anything about the weight loss, but did ask if I was getting any exercise outside the house.  I really think he didn't even notice the difference in my weight - but then, he is a busy, busy doctor (sigh).  He was really concerned that I do not take a baby aspirin every day, and questioned me about that quite intensely, about when I quit taking that and why.  (Nosebleed Week from Hell...)  He insisted that I start taking it again, for preventative reasons, even though it's been well over a year and it's not been mentioned.  I told him I didn't particularly want to take another pill every day, he told me he didn't particularly want me having another heart attack.  I just kinda looked at him - I've lost almost fifty pounds, I am eating SO much better, I am certainly making better food choices, and I have NOT taken the baby aspirin for over a year, and now - now - it's essential that I take them?  I quit protesting to him, but I still am not a happy camper about it.  Seems ludicrous to me, but okay.  He did say that if I have a nosebleed (or anything like that) to stop taking them again.  How generous of him, I'm thinking, but by now, I'm a little discouraged by that.  He was mildly concerned about the blood pressure, and told me to cut my water pill in half - not cut back on, or cut out, the pill I was prescribed after the heart attack, but the water pill.  What?
My head just can't around the way this doctor is thinking, but, okay - he's the doctor.  If I get to feeling too weird or something, I'll call in and/or go in and we'll discuss all this again.  Or maybe just talk to Dr. Ward about it and see what he says.  I do know that the heart is the ultimate thing to worry about, but - c'mon, man!

When we left the doctor's office, we stopped at Olive Garden for our lunch.  I got the Fettuccine Alfredo, and brought home a meal for Ron - I LOVE that 2-meals-for-$13!!!  Jean got Rosemary Chicken, and Corgan got the Soup, Salad, and Breadsticks.  Of course, as with all OG meals, Jean and I got salads and breadsticks, also.  We were there probably about an hour, and it was quite enjoyable.
As we came on back up 125, we stopped for more errands, the last being doing grocery shopping at WalMart.  It's only Thursday, and it was already crazy in there!  I'm so glad I am done with all my holiday shopping and this was only groceries and we got out of there relatively quickly.

When we got back here, I had Corgan help me go through the drawers in 'his' room, to weed out the clothes here that don't fit him anymore.  Of course - the boy gets his pack-rat-ness honestly - he didn't want to give up any of them, and some were size 5s!  He will be 10 this year, and, trust me, the 5s don't fit him any more!  I am glad to get that job done, though.  I've been meaning to do it for quite a while now.
Then Jean and he took off for home, and I could finally have some pute time!  I emptied my pockets, and I had taken my pedometer (I had forgotten) and I had walked almost 3800 steps!  A mile is 2000 steps, so that is well over a mile and a half.  I figured when I do MFP tonight, I'll claim a mile and half walk as well as my WalMart Walk (which is half a mile).  The pedometer takes 10 steps to kick in, so every time I stop, it takes 10 steps to kick back in, so I figure I came pretty darn close to that 2 miles doing all my errands.

Being Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday to some), I was hoping Ron would get home and I'd be able to make some calls and we'd maybe be able to make it to church tonight for the Mass of the Lord's Supper.  It wasn't meant to be, though, and he didn't come home and didn't come home and didn't come home.
FINALLY, almost right at 7, he pulled in - in his truck!!!  In.  His. Truck.   Oh, Hallelujah!!  When I first heard the truck at the end of Hoover, I thought it was him, but I hadn't heard from him (and I hear many trucks all day long that sound like his) and thought "nahhhhh" but then he pulled into the driveway!  I could have done cartwheels!  What a thrilling sight and sound that was today, let me tell you!  I practically ran out to the driveway to greet Ron and as we were talking about it, he told me the part cost $215.00!!!   OUCH!  We expected it to cost around $40. and ... damn.  But the truck is fixed, and that is one obstacle overcome this week!
It also wasn't quite the part we thought it was - when we checked the pute (and the codes the mechanic gave us), everything said Throttle Position Sensor, but it ended up being the Throttle Body.  The sensor is on the side of the Body, and the Body (in his model) is all one piece, not two pieces as the pute was telling us (oops), and thus - more money for the part.   Sucks, but it is fixed, and running, and that's what matters in the long run.  The mechanic had brought his $1000 computer in to check the codes (actually tell the exact problem, not just codes), which is how they discovered/found out what Ron needed to buy.  Thank God for good friends who will go that little extra step for you!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We fried hamburger patties for our supper, and I fried an egg to put on my sandwich, which I cooked right there in the skillet with the hamburgers.  Why I decided to have a sandwich instead of just eating the hamburger, I don't know, but I did.  I also added two slices of cheese, too - one on each bread.  I guess I was hungry again.

We played mini-golf as we were eating, then he went on to bed - yes, it takes that long to play a whole game of mini-golf - and I got back on the pute.
As I put my food and exercise in MFP, I ended up only 9 calories short for the day!!  NINE!  Very, very close, but still under.  Closest I've been without going over in a long time - thank God for that evil E word today.

No plans tomorrow until the evening.  Just Happy Homemaker stuff - boiling eggs for us to dye Saturday morning, and generally cleaning the house so the Easter Bunny will be able to hide eggs without going through an obstacle course.
I am certainly hoping and praying that Ron gets home in time to go to church tomorrow night - it IS Good Friday.  We shall see, though.  We shall see.  God has helped us to overcome this obstacle the devil threw into our path this week, so I'm hoping He can help us here, too.