Staying the Course -- 12-26-2016

Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Valve Replacement Forums

Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Superbob

Superbob

Steely Resolve!
Supporting Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2005
Messages
8,481
Location
Coastal Carolina
Greetings, seasonal and otherwise! Hope the courses you all are staying are filled with much joy as we prepare to begin a New Year.

We will be heading to the Tennessee/Nebraska Music City Bowl game in Nashville (family members not going will keep Ellie and grand-dog Dasher).....Go Vols! After rooting for them ever since I listened to their games on radio with my dear old dad back in the early '50s, I will be seeing them from a stadium seat (as opposed to TV couch) for the very first time -- so this is special! Just hope we find our way to seating at the game okay, before kickoff -- it's at an NFL stadium and there is a tight lid on security (for understandable reasons). You cant just drive up and hop out. Hopefully we will find good shuttle service -- my wife walks with much difficulty with a cane so we need to get as close to the correct entrance for drop-off as possible.

Ellie and I have started walking at a big youth baseball complex that is pretty quiet this time of year. This morning I paused mid-walk (there is a six-tenths of a mile track around the complex) to go inside a field (enclosed by fence) and threw ball to her to fetch while off-leash. She loved it! That will add more pep to our walks -- I especially will need it; been unable to resist all the rich holiday foods -- tried to exercise some moderation, but, well, will start dealing with weight creep next week.

On our walk today, I spotted two bluebirds -- such a pretty little bird. They aren't rare around these parts, but they don't usually show up at a ballpark. Guess they are too gentle to have the naming rights for any sports team. lol

Well, cheerio to all/ Love to hear from y'all when you have a free minute,

Cheers,

Superbob
 
And a very happy holiday to you, SB! Mine was stress-free but expensive because I took my youngest granddaughter (age 8) for a day out with grandma on Friday. Plan was to see a movie at Star Cinema (which we did) then head to the discount store Five Below (where everything is $5) and let her buy about 10 things for $50. Because the movie theater was in a mall, guess where we went shopping. Items are much more expensive at a mall LOL! But she told me at one point that it was "the best day ever" so I done good :)

Feeling a bit winded this past week. I know it's because of the excess weight. My echo and other tests a month ago were hunky dory. Trying to avoid sugar but having problems with that goal. Didn't help that my brother and daughter both gave me cookies as Christmas gifts!

I had a Monarch butterfly flutter across my backyard this weekend. That's winter in Texas for you~!
 
Hi, gang!

We here in the frozen Chicago area even had our day of spring yesterday! The temp went up to 55* F, but it was so windy it felt like low 40's. We'll take it, though. DW and I went out for the day to an outdoor mall (yes, we still have a couple of those up here). We really didn't have any shopping that we had to do, so we just wandered, looked, did some people-watching, and finished our low-key holiday weekend. Our daughter, son-in-law and grandson were out east visiting his family, so we treated ourselves to a very quiet weekend, just the two of us. We're planning another quiet weekend for New Year's, too. This, I think, will become our "new normal." We will probably have family in town every other year, with the "off" years as quiet time for ourselves. At this point in life, it will be a good balance for us.

I, too, will have a bit of a struggle maintaining my weight this year. Partly because the older I get, the more I enjoy eating (go figure that one out), and this year partly from the impact of a new medication I'm taking for a non-heart-related condition. The initial plan is for this med to be taken for a couple of months, then discontinued. I'm about one month into it, and really do hope I can end it on schedule. It reduces my stamina/exercise tolerance and almost makes me short of breath. These are published side effects, though, so I am not worried about anything new going wrong. It is just the meds.

We won't see many birds here until spring. In winter we usually see sparrows and, downtown, pigeons. Out in our area, though, we still see rabbits well into the winter before they hibernate/hide away.

I hope everyone else is doing well, and wish you all more great holidays before we put away all the party goods until next year!

Stayin' the course.
 
Blue birds and butterflies.....Oh how I wish! We had a quiet Christmas as my kids and Grands live in ND and both here and there we had a blizzard weekend with the interstate closed even :(

We are used to the quiet as in AZ we would be alone or with our neighbors sitting in the shade as the turkey cooked................oh I sure do miss it.

Sounds like this staying the course group is a good place for us! (hope a few more join too)

My weight is still fluctuating from the three surgeries I had and now my hair has started to fall out (warfarin?), but I know I am going to have to lose some after I heal. They told me 15 lbs at Mayo.
Ugg.....it is easy to gain and hard to lose but............I am staying the course.
 
Jwinter, if your hair is falling out, check your iron. I thought mine falling out was due to a switch to Jantoven but it turns out my iron level was 7 - supposed to be 100-200. I now take iron supplements.
 
Thanks DachsieMom but I take iron daily. I have been transfused many times and had every test there is. Had a full work up (and I mean FULL) at Mayo this last October( no bleeding found) and AVR in November. Iron was decent then but still had transfusion 5 days post surgery. Maybe my hair falling out is just a post anesthesia thing.

Sorry about moving off topic Superbob.
 
Last edited:
No problem, JWinter -- no such thing as "off topic" here. Hope you solve the mystery of the hair falling out.

Not going to write more tonight -- got to catch an early flight tomorrow.

Cheers....
 
jwinter - Your hair loss could be from warfarin. My mother took warfarin for many years, and her hair became very thin. We thought it was age, but when I took warfarin for a few months after my valve surgery, my hair thinned noticeably. Could be. . .

SB - If you read this from your travels, be safe, be well, and . . . GO VOLS!
 
Possibly the warfarin, but could be the bodily shock of the surgery itself. if this is the case, it should grow back. It happened to me.

As an aside, I'm taking Niacin to lower my trigs and lipoprotein (a). I had fine whispy hair on my arms and now it's noticeably thicker. Don't know whether that's reflected on the back of my head. I'll need a mirror to check.
 
I had a co-worker friend to developed alopecia post heart surgery for a heart attack. No warfarin. Just a thing that happened that he never got a good explanation for. Heart surgery is hard on the body and we all react differently.

He had a massive heart attack during a run, and was fortunate to be running with a couple of medical professionals that started CPR right away. Saved his life.

His hair came back eventually. I don't remember how long that all took.
 
jwinter;n871393 said:
Thanks DachsieMom but I take iron daily. I have been transfused many times and had every test there is. Had a full work up (and I mean FULL) at Mayo this last October( no bleeding found) and AVR in November. Iron was decent then but still had transfusion 5 days post surgery. Maybe my hair falling out is just a post anesthesia thing.

Sorry about moving off topic Superbob.
Click to expand...

Mrs Winter, you might try taking a B Complex vitamin and Rogaine, which is used topically for hair loss.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top