What did you do today? 2016 version

[highlow65]

Ran a marathon. Drank some beer. Ate pizza. Now watching tv with icepacks on my knees.

Congrats on marathon, i would be in the morgue.

 

[Nemo2]

Ran a marathon. Drank some beer. Ate pizza. Now watching tv with icepacks on my knees.

Well done!!

 

[Gumby]

Drove from Annapolis, Maryland home to Connecticut. It was the conclusion of my 35th reunion at the US Naval Academy. It was great to see old friends, and we celebrated a big win over Memphis yesterday.

 

[aja8888]

Ran a marathon. Drank some beer. Ate pizza. Now watching tv with icepacks on my knees.

Nice work, Ron!

 

[retiredtuna1]

Today, Oct 23rd, my family & I went to church (gasp!, for some; ditto for other ER members) where we worshipped God in fellowship with others. The choir had a potluck. I took the boys home. We cleaned up the house before their mother (in the choir) also returned. She was pleased when she saw the result. My wife & I took a Sunday siesta. We went over to her mother's where I cleaned the porch (just love the new electric leaf blowers). Had dinner with the boys; I am now about the grade some online school assignments and catch up on emails. Online course facilitating is a pleasant at-home job.

 

[hesperus]

Celebrated the Cubs getting to the World Series after 71 years. I grew up going to wrigley field, and I only wish my dad and my granddad were still around to enjoy it!

 

[ivinsfan]

Saw The Book of Mormon in London last evening.
I have to say I haven't laughed so hard and so long in years. What a fabulous show and the entire cast was magnificent.

DW and I have been trading lines from it all day.

I'd be interested in this on my trip to London next month, how did you get your tickets? BOM is very popular and tickets can be hard to come by

 

[braumeister]

Ordered the tickets online back in August. And yes, it was a full house.

https://tickets.delfontmackintosh.co.uk/index.asp?shoId=1085

 

[HFWR]

My house has a name. "Money Pit".

Indeed...

 

[Lisa99]

Sitting here contemplating life and it's many twists and turns.

I landed myself in the ER on Thursday night. My BP was 200/110 and I don't have high blood pressure. After an EKG, blood work and one chest Xray (to the tune of $2,094) diagnosis was stress.

Mid-January I lost my dad, two weeks later lost one of our dogs, in April mom had quadruple by-pass, on September 20 she passed, 4 days later we lost our last dog (she was 15). Oh yea, and I got laid off on the day that dad died (that was actually a blessing since I was planning to retire anyway, but it was still weird being told I was being released).

The silver lining is that I love being retired. The 6 years of planning that this forum helped me with is working like a charm. We're going to come in about $8k under budget for the year (knock on wood). We're super busy which we like, but after the high blood pressure incident I have to figure out how to slow down a bit and relax.

But can't relax today... headed to Phoenix in a few minutes to help run the pickleball Nationals tournament.

Lots of loss this year, but life is still very good.

 

[W2R]

I landed myself in the ER on Thursday night. My BP was 200/110 and I don't have high blood pressure. After an EKG, blood work and one chest Xray (to the tune of $2,094) diagnosis was stress.

I hope you saw your regular doctor as a follow up, and that you are keeping track of your BP frequently to make sure you don't get spikes like that too often. The Omron BP monitors that they sell on Amazon are highly rated.

Even one BP measurement like that would worry me, stress or not. If you want, you can easily and immediately "put a lid on" BP levels with one of the very cheap generic medications that your doctor may prescribe, instead of trying to lower your BP by working on stress issues.

My doctor put me on BP meds at age 61 after he measured something like 140/80 (I think?) just once at his office. It had been close to that for a couple of years, I admit, and it was the week before my daughter's wedding and just a couple of weeks before my retirement, so I was definitely stressed out with all those life changes going on. Anyway, the BP meds are magic, have given me the BP of a healthy 20 year old, and they are cheap generics at only a few bucks a month so I think they are definitely worth looking into unless you are against taking them for some reason.

 

[Lisa99]

ER doc put me on a low dose BP med (just a diuretic) since I was in stroke territory. It's already brought my BP back down to normal.

And I made an appt with my regular doc today but can't see her until December. She's VERY popular. And since the med is working it's fine.

 

[Meadbh]

ER doc put me on a low dose BP med (just a diuretic) since I was in stroke territory. It's already brought my BP back down to normal.

And I made an appt with my regular doc today but can't see her until December. She's VERY popular. And since the med is working it's fine.

Good decision by the ER physician, Lisa99. Something like this cannot safely wait till December. (I'm shocked to hear you have to wait that long to see your own doctor. I can usually see mine within a day). When you do see your doctor, ask about 24 hour blood pressure monitoring. Meanwhile, think about lowering your salt intake and using stress-relieving techniques like walking, yoga, and meditation.

 

[Lisa99]

Thanks Mead, I probably could have pushed it on the appt but I'm leaving today for Phoenix and will be gone for a month. The med started working the next day and I check my BP 2x/day and it is staying stable.

I've stopped drinking alcohol, cut way back on salt and am eating whole foods (instead of eating out constantly). All stuff I should have been doing already but my stress fallback position is to let the healthy side of my life fall apart.

 

[Meadbh]

Thanks Mead, I probably could have pushed it on the appt but I'm leaving today for Phoenix and will be gone for a month. The med started working the next day and I check my BP 2x/day and it is staying stable.

I've stopped drinking alcohol, cut way back on salt and am eating whole foods (instead of eating out constantly). All stuff I should have been doing already but my stress fallback position is to let the healthy side of my life fall apart.

Sounds good!

 

[MRG]

Thanks Mead, I probably could have pushed it on the appt but I'm leaving today for Phoenix and will be gone for a month. The med started working the next day and I check my BP 2x/day and it is staying stable.

I've stopped drinking alcohol, cut way back on salt and am eating whole foods (instead of eating out constantly). All stuff I should have been doing already but my stress fallback position is to let the healthy side of my life fall apart.

Good luck. I dealt with hypertension for years and it stunk.

One tool that helped greatly was myfitnesspal. Logging your food and being able to see the amount of sodium can be a real eye opener. Obviously it's a little work, but it gives visibility into nutrition.

 

[Lisa99]

Thanks for the tip MRG!

I've never had high BP so I should be able to get this back under control using diet and changing my response to stress. I've downloaded some audiobooks that I'm positive will help.

In the past I've used a tracker called Cron-o-meter. It's online and tracks all micronutrients as well as the usual protein, fat, carbs. I started using it again yesterday and have a goal to not miss a day in the next 30 days.

I know I was eating way too much sodium because my sodium level in my blood work was at the very top of normal. It's usually in the middle of the scale so for me it was different.

 

[Walt34]

I was at the hospital at 6:30 this morning for a nuclear stress test after calling my doctor last week about shortness of breath at the gym and while walking. The EKG looked fine he said but they have to wait for the images to be read by the cardiologist. I've had stress tests before (they used to do them on us annually at work) but this one involves injecting something that makes the heart vessels show up better on an x-ray and taking two sets of images an hour apart. That part was way different. They also said that I'm mildly radioactive and should stay away from small children for 48 hours.

The tech who was there said she was impressed by the way I could get to the heart rate I did, but then she just HAD to throw in that qualifier "for a man your age".

And I got so wrapped up in all that that both of us totally forgot my dentist appointment. That'll teach me not to make two appointments on the same day.

 

[aja8888]

Got the 2003 Jetta inspected today. Tech was impressed that it has 303,000 on it and runs like a fine tuned Swiss watch (right ). Paid my $7 then went to DPS to get the yearly sticker for $70.25.

Then filled up with diesel and calculated MPG and it came in at 46.5. Not bad for mostly city driving since the last fill up 660 miles ago.

Actually started the day at Burger King with my ROMEO group. Just had coffee.

 

[Philliefan33]

In the mail today were two "congratulations" letters from companies trying to sell me patent plaques. So that means the patent my group filed a few years ago was granted recently (looks like it was granted 10/18). I have a plaque for my first patent (supplied by my employer). I'm not going to buy a plaque for the latest-- who cares?!

 

[Khan]

The nurse told me the culture results: MRSA. I've been in the hospital since Saturday noon and am already going stir crazy.
Now I'm sort of quarantined and can't even walk the halls.
There goes my health routine.
Wonder how long I'll be here.
I'm getting my laptop here.

 

[ERD50]

The nurse told me the culture results: MRSA. I've been in the hospital since Saturday noon and am already going stir crazy.
Now I'm sort of quarantined and can't even walk the halls.
There goes my health routine.
Wonder how long I'll be here.
I'm getting my laptop here.
View attachment 24840

Get well soon! Yes, the hospitals go nuts when they detect MRSA (for good reason, you don't want that to spread).

Apparently, the MRSA detection is very sensitive. During my Mom's recovery from surgery, she was in skilled nursing and then assisted living, and had a couple setbacks that sent her back to the hospital. Each time they put her in a form of quarantine in the hospital (no walking the halls, we had to 'gown up' every time we went in/out of her room, as did the nurses).

I asked, and they said pretty much everyone coming from a skilled nursing or assisted living place is going to be carrying the germs on them and get this treatment. Not sure how risky that really is, but the hospitals take it very seriously. But it makes a hospital stay even less pleasant.

-ERD50

 

[harley]

The nurse told me the culture results: MRSA. I've been in the hospital since Saturday noon and am already going stir crazy.
Now I'm sort of quarantined and can't even walk the halls.
There goes my health routine.
Wonder how long I'll be here.
I'm getting my laptop here.

Jeez, Khan! Sorry to hear that. I'm sure they'll get the infection cleared up soon, but the quarantine sucks. I went through that with my Mom a couple of years ago. Gowns and gloves and masks and all. PITA. My advice is always plenty of alcohol to make the body an inhospitable place for the virus, but you might want to get a second opinion. Good luck on a quick recovery, and keep us posted.

 

[NW-Bound]

Got the 2003 Jetta inspected today. Tech was impressed that it has 303,000 on it and runs like a fine tuned Swiss watch (right )...

Well, the world knows VW spent a lot of effort to get the software "just right" for the engine controller.

 

[harley]

Got the 2003 Jetta inspected today. Tech was impressed that it has 303,000 on it and runs like a fine tuned Swiss watch (right ).

Well, the world knows VW spent a lot of effort to get the software "just right" for the engine controller.

Aja's Jetta, like my 2002 Beetle, was pre-software controller. I get 45-50 mpg on my TDI. It's currently up on jack stands in our garage in FL. I'm curious to see how (or if) it runs after being garaged for 6 months. It will probably slow our hitting 250K miles to be only driving it half a year at a time.