I overdid it in the heat while setting up my outdoor bed and had a terrifying bout of SVT Heart rate 160 for a half-hour or more, disoriented, foggy brain, very low o2 sats. Ambulance, emergency room, me explaining that it’s not a heart attack and I just need adenosine, as per usual.
(Pretty funny that the EMTs kept asking if I was sure I wasn’t having chest pain, and I kept tellimg them no, it’s not a heart attack!)
The ER team rebooted my heart with adenosine (which is an utterly terrifying experience but the doc held my hand for comfort) and then I felt fine again. Dave followed us to the hospital because the EMTs told him I was having a massive heart attack (I wasn’t — they’re just not used to my particular brand of fucked-up heart and lungs) and by the time he got here I was fine. And oh so glad to see his sweet loving face!
Now they’re letting me go HOME!!! But we forgot to being my portable o2 concentrator so Dave just drove home to get it. And THEN i get to go home and sleep in my very own bed. Bullet dodged, yet again. *whew*
It was so brutally hot last night that I finally got around to attempting to sleep on the back deck, in the mosquito tent I bought for that purpose. I slept on Dave’s comfy lawn-recliner, and led my oxygen tube out the door so it reached me. It was SO GREAT to sleep outdoors! I’ve always loved to, but for many many years there was just no way to make it happen. The only problem was I got a bit cold at 6:30am and curled up small, which changed my center of gravity and made the lawn chair collapse! Lol! So I went indoors at that point, and slept for two more hours. Tonight I’ll make a more stable bed :D
It was so lovely to watch the stars and listen to the frogs and crickets. And I wasn’t lying there SWEATING and hoping to fall asleep before I can’t bear it and need to get up for yet another cold shower, which is how every night has been lately.
Felt great today (was a bit depressed yesterday). Baked a cherry cake for Dave, and then sat in the cool basement and played Garden Story on my switch.
I had a really great online meeting with Kari the nutritionist/therapist just now. She gave me some very helpful info — mainly, that I’m not getting as much protein as I thought I was. I’ve been counting on a couple spoonfuls of peanut butter or a lump of cheese to give me a bit of protein each day, but while they aren’t bad sources of protein they are more about fat and calories (which I also need, of course).
Since I’m not really into meat, Kari suggested eggs, tofu, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, and protein powder mixed into everything I can mix it with. I can handle that! Eggs are a bit daunting but I can manage a hard boiled egg each day, no problem. I love tofu, even just plain out of the package, and I like cottage cheese and Greek yogurt. I have protein powder which I mix into fruit smoothies, and I’ll increase the amount I use and try to find other things to mix it with. Yogurt and kefir will help with good gut bacteria.
She says one of the reasons I get so bloated and uncomfortable after eating is that my stomach still thinks it’s starving, so it hangs on to everything I eat to try to squeeze every last bit of nutrition out, plus the muscles are out of practice. Should improve over time.
I still weigh 99lbs but now I have hope. I tallied up my food for the past few days and I think I’ve been managing 800-1000 calories a day, which isn’t nearly enough but is much much better than the maybe 500 I was getting a few weeks ago.
So far today I drank an Ensure and several swigs of grapefruit juice, and ate a hard boiled egg, so let’s be generous and call it 400 calories so far, and 15g of protein. Lol not quite there yet. The internet says I need 1600 cal/day to break even, and an extra 500-1000/day to gain weight. So I need a minimum of 2000 calories and 150g protein LOLOLOLOL. In what universe is that going to happen?? Ah well, I am working on it and I have a plan and a good support system.
This morning I made a big pot of Kara-style ratatouille which we’ll eat with polenta for dinner, but there’s no way I can eat enough to bring up my calorie intake to a reasonable level. I’d better eat some ice cream, too. Oh what a hardship.
Big fatigue today. Sat on the sofa and played Garden Story all day :)
What did I eat… strawberries and cream, a few handfuls of Joe’s Os, and some mac n cheese. Honestly probably pretty good, calorie-wise, if a little short of actual nutrition.
Happy 53rd birthday to me!! I had a wonderful day. To begin with, Dave and I both woke up alive. Always a good start, and something we don’t take for granted.
All my friends and family texted me their good wishes — no phone calls! I have them well-trained :D
We tidied up the house a bit so we would seem civilized when Henry and the family came over. Dave’s wonderful mum taught him to do housework when he was a lad. He made the kitchen counters sparkle and did five loads of his laundry (I did one load of mine. He has A LOT of clothes)
Then I zipped down to the good Mexican place and got lunch for everyone. The family showed up and Lulu gave me a lovely collage that she’d made, with letters and numbers all around the edge. I asked her to read it to me, and apparently it says, “Happy Birthday Kaykay, I love you so much and I hope you have a wonderful day”. Sweet sweet child. And Freyja toddled around grinning and shoving things into her mouth, both edible and inedible. Lol.
After they left I had a good session of Garden Story on my Switch, then we watched an Only Connect and an episode of Survivor, and now it’s time for a chapter of The Martian and sleep. A most excellent birthday indeed! I ate an entire veggie burrito and a small dish of ice cream. I still weigh 99lbs.
Drove Dave to his optometrist this morning because we thought they were going to dilate his pupils, but they didn’t so we just had a nice little drive together and stopped at the sporting goods store for new stainless steel water bottles. My ten year old plastic Britta sport bottle has become impossible to clean so it was time for a new one, and I already bought spiffy little GoPure pod filters to go in them, one for each of us. They work GREAT. The water tastes so clean and good.
Pretty tired today so I didn’t do much except a few chores and a lot of drawing. I ate: one Ensure, one bowl of strawberries and cream, and a big dish of steamed green beans and potatoes. And I’ll have a few spoonfuls of peanut butter before I go to sleep.
Lulu FaceTimed me a few times today so I could keep her company while she played. Lovely little soul.
We finished watching Thirteen Lives tonight. Oh man it was good. Beautifully shot, great acting even from the extras, amazing set design, good writing, great storytelling. We were not surprised to find that it was directed by Ron Howard! Talent, talent, talent. The actors communicated so much simply with facial expressions and body language. Remarkable.
Humans can be so horrible to each other, but also so wonderful and kind and selfless.
I had to google what to do with the tomatillos we got in our produce box. Most recipes are for salsa, but I did find one person who makes them into quick pockles, same as I do with beets and cucumbers. Not ACTUALLY pickled (fermented) but merely brined and fridge-stable for a month or so. We love pickled things so that’s what I did. The brine is just 1:1 water and white vinegar with a spoonfull of salt. They’re brining now, and we’ll try them in salad tomorrow.
Trying to remember what I ate today… oh right I had a cardiology appointment this morning (a quick check-in). Just remembered that. Well yeah I guess I ate a little handful of homegrown strawberries this morning but then I didn’t eat again till dinnertime, when I had a Big Salad with lots of cheese. Dammit. That’s like 400 calories total all day, MAYBE. Sigh. I’ll try to do better tomorrow.
Just read the first chapter of The Martian to Dave for our bedtime story! Poor Mark Watney is, indeed, fucked. :D
Ooo we started watching 13 Lives tonight, the story of the cave rescue in Thailand. (Amazon Prime, sorry) We watched about a third so far (it’s long) and it’s really good. Excellent cinematography. You really feel the peril of those narrow underwater caves, ugh. We’re both a bit claustrophobic and it was mighty uncomfortable. Dave doesn’t remember the event, which is odd. He does remember the rescue of the Chilean miners.
We sat around for hours this afternoon just talking. Dave’s a big talker, but everything he says is interesting so it’s ok, hahahaha. Also I know he’s feeling better when he’s talkative so I love it when he is! Anyway he mentioned a British prog band called Caravan, which reminded me of the jazz standard so I went to YouTube to play it for him. The first one I found was Duke Ellington’s band, which was dry and boring, but then I searched for Benny Goodman and MAN it’s so good!
We got our veggie box and milk delivery today, from https://organicstoyou.org/. If you live in the Portland area, I recommend them highly! Last week they accidentally sent something on our “dislike” list, so this week they gave us some extra stuff to make up for it. Really generous. What does one do with tomatillos? Gotta do some recipe googling! I do enjoy a bit of randomness. We also got a huge head of romaine lettuce, three big bell peppers, a big ginger root, several big beautiful tomatoes, a lime, a couple lemons, a basket of blackberries, a bunch of beets, a bunch of chard, the aforementioned tomatillos, a few plums, and a few nectarines. And this is the smallest box they offer, the “Box For One”!
We just finished Project Hail Mary — had to read the final three chapters in one go. Dave is so sweet. He burst into tears when I read the final sentence, and who can blame him? *heart eyes*
Therapy session today. Suzanne is (rightly) concerned by how thin I am and is hooking me up with a colleague who is a therapist AND nutritionist. Maybe she can help me gain some weight back.
Woke up feeling fine byt then a huge wave of tiredness hit me about 11am so I just lay in bed and drew and listened to audiobooks allllll day. It’s still quite hot, which is probably contributing to my exhaustion. Summer has been swell but I’m ready for autumn now, thank you very much.
Funny thing I noticed: when I read a paper book (as opposed to Kindle) I often catch myself trying to turn the page by tapping it, or long-pressing an unfamiliar word to get a definition. And when I draw in my iPad app, I catch myself blowing on the “paper” to get rid of nonexistent eraser crumbs! :D
Oh lordy I forgot to do the NYT crossword today! I’ll do it after I finish writing this post.
I made a lovely stirfry with some of the organic veggies that came last week. Really tasty. And then I drew and drew and drew! I finished the knot that I started yesterday. My drawing app (Sketchclub) says I worked on it for 9.2 hours all together. I’m so pleased with it! http://app.sketchclub.com/sketch/5711702358360064
We are 90% finished with Project Hail Mary. They’ve bred enough nitrogen-resistant Taumoeba to save both of their planets and have said goodbye and gone their separate ways… for now…
Definitely had more appetite today. Ate approximately four choux buns, a dish of leftover mashed potatoes, and half a serving of Trader Joe’s lasagna. Still weigh only 99lbs. *eyeroll*
Did nothing but draw all day — working on a big Celtic knot. So tired. Time for Hail Mary and sleep!
Hey look you juat learned to say “Friday” in German.
I finished the little purple shirt and made choux buns today. I filled half with whipped cream and lemon curd, and half with whipped cream and chopped fresh strawberries. Dave is such an appreciative recipient of my baking and cooking, which is so nice because I’d rather bake than eat, lol!
I cleared out some unwanted frozen food (why did Dave buy so much Costco ravioli when neither of us likes it? Lol) and drove it over to Henry’s house. So nice to see them! Weird weather today — warm, gray, and humid. Hope it rains soon.
Stopped at Burgerville on the way home for a seasonal Marianberry milkshake, yum.
Pretty tired so just drew, listened to my audiobook (The Devil in the White City), and sewed a long-sleeve t-shirt for the doll. Just need to hem the sleeves tomorrow and then I’ll post a pic.
We’ve been watching old seasons of Survivor at night for the past couple of months, and just finished up Tocantines a few days ago — great season! Taj, Steven, and JT, but also… Coach. Lol. DELUSIONAL. Anyway last night we started the next season, Samoa, but after a couple episodes I decided I simply cannot deal with Russell Hantz. Just.. Can. Not. Cope. So we switched to an old season of Bake Off (Briony! Rahul! Kim Joy!) and oh it was such a relief to see lovely English people being kind to each other.
We’ll start a different season of Survivor soon. I just need to find one that doesn’t have anyone truly unbearable in it.
Bad sleep last night, too hot. But this morning I got right up and went to the bakery and Trader Joe’s. Got home, put everything away, and then rested and read and drew for the rest of the day.
Dave had back-to-back meetings almost all day, then a dinner break, and another meeting NOW (10pm) with some folks in India, so we read a chapter and a half of Project Hail Mary between dinner and this late meeting. Good good good. I’m already thinking about what to read to him next… The Martian, obviously, but what after that? I can’t remember Artemis very well, but I have a feeling it wasn’t quite up to par. Hmm.
I just read chapter 19 to Dave — Rocky and Ryland used their ten-kilometer chain to collect an air sample from the planet (I had to explain the Adrian joke to Dave) but now they’re in big trouble… tomorrow night can’t get here soon enough! Such an excellent story!
I lazed in bed for ages this morning. So good to have another long lie-in. Hmm what else. In the morning Imade a stir fry with the beautiful snow peas, cabbage, onion, and garlic that came in last week’s veg box, and a little pot of rice to eat it on. Dave loves it that I like to cook and am a GOOD cook! After lunch I went to the grocery store for sugar and a variety of spices to round out our collection, and bought a jar of Garbage Peanut Butter (Jif) for a treat.
An HVAC company came to diagnose our non-functional AC and discovered that, like the gas lines, it all needs to be replaced — furnace, too. So that’ll happen in September, most likely, and then next summer we’ll be more comfy on the 100° days.
I’m working on a little rainbow t-shirt for the doll. A closely-worked blanket stitch makes a good hand-sewn stretchy seam.
I refined my pattern so it’s perfect. I taped the front to the back at the side, which eliminates the two side seams, and cut a waist-length facing that goes all the way around. After attaching the facing to the bodice, I hem the bottom and sew it down, creating a casing along the back and enclosing the elastic as I go. Super slick and beautifully finished.
Made some polenta tonight to eat with the chunky veggie pasta sauce I made a few days ago. God it’s good, way better than actual pasta.
Time to read another chapter to Dave! *heart eyes*
Omg so tired. I did not get the 12 hours of sleep that I needed. Poor Dave was in pain from his angioplasty and woke me up at 4am moaning and in need of Tylenol and water. Then I switched to the guest bedroom so he could moan as much as he needed but I never really slept soundly after that. Ugh.
We’ve been slumped on the couch together all day. He watched many episodes of some custom car show on Netflix while I listened to my audiobook through earbuds and sewed, and then we switched to the Bake Off.
I drafted a pattern for little overalls and got them all sewn up:
