Prayers for Healing and Love

I went through and photographed all of the supplements and vitamins that I take on a daily basis. Now I have to write all of this information down in a format that can be easily read, and make sure I take the papers with me to my cancer care meeting tomorrow. I have no intention of not taking my vitamins and supplements, but I also know it is essential that the care team know what I am taking in case there would be anything that would clash with medications they will prescribe. I doubt there would be a conflict, but it's better to be prepared. 

I'm going to fill out a form similar to this for 
all of the different medications and supplements 
that I take. I take very few actual prescription 
medications, but a lot of vitamins and supplements. 
I took photos of the labels of each one yesterday 
so that I could get a listing made. 

For some reason DH took it into his head yesterday to drag me in for some "cleaning of the craft room". Now, I'll be the first to admit that it needs a serious cleaning and that the things that we ended up putting into the trash yesterday probably could have had those things tossed years ago, but we're just at that point where sentimentality has to go "bye-bye" because we simply can't keep everything. That's impossible. We need to cull this house down, and since we're both pack rats in our own ways, it's hard to get things tossed, even when necessary. But we did accomplish some things, so I was grateful for that. Then we relaxed by watching football and an episode of "Sherlock" just for fun. 

Last night's football game was boring, so we decided to 
watch an episode of "Sherlock" instead - always a winner! 

Tomorrow morning, very early, I'll do my swim and I'll tell my gym buddies about my diagnosis., because I'll be missing often and I'm usually as regular as clockwork. If they don't know about my cancer diagnosis, they'll worry more than they should/would. There will be good reasons for me to not be at the pool sometimes over the next few months, and I want them to not worry if I am missing a day here and there. We have the swimmers contact list that we got together a month or so ago. That will also be a help. I don't want to worry anyone unnecessarily, but I also know that some of my possible treatments may have me staying isolated as much as possible. I'll know more after tomorrow's meeting with my care team at the hospital. 

There are a lot of photos out there, I grabbed this one 
off Instagram. The before and after photos like this 
one - same place, just a few hours later - totally numbing. 
The level of destruction is so massive! 

And of course, there's California. The photos of LA are showing complete devastation - certainly not like the Los Angeles I drove through and around when I was acquiring beading products for the shop. I look at the photos and wonder if old contacts of mine have businesses that will still be able to operate. They might have product, their warehouses might have survived, but will there be phone lines? Will there be delivery trucks who can pick up and deliver products? What about simple mail delivery? How many substations were destroyed? How much mail ended up in ashes. What about hospitals and care centers? It's such a huge area that got burned to the ground. So rather than focus on personal problems today, turn your thoughts to those affected by the fires of California. There will be so many homeless people as a result of this blaze, and getting help to those who need it will be extremely difficult. 

With prayers for healing and love, I leave you today. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini/ 

Time is Rushing By - A Fast Post Today

The pool is calling to me, and I actually slept until 2:58 am, so only two minutes early before my alarm was scheduled. That, unfortunately, leaves me with minimal time for my blog. My friend Jack was back in his own car yesterday. They did a GREAT job with the repair. I asked him about the cost, and he said the deer cost him (or rather, cost his insurance) $6700 dollars for repairs! OUCH! Insurance is expensive, but SO worth it. 

Money seems to fly away when major things like auto 
repairs happen unexpectedly. Jack was quite grateful 
for his insurance. He owed very little on this expensive bill. 

I didn't have anything major on my cooking schedule yesterday, so worked on other things - computer things, mostly. I did head to my co-op first thing in the morning, needing one item, and hoping they might have a second one. They did! It was a diet supplement that I'm adding to my pill regime, and it's going to be costing me $2 per pill. OUCH. Still, if it helps and does what I think it will, the cost will be worth it. I picked up two 30-pill bottles of it, at around $60/bottle. Crazy expensive! But probably worth the expense. 

I've added this into my daily vitamin 
regime. Horribly expensive, but there are 
components within it that I can't get easily 
through diet or my other supplements. So, 
I'll give it a 60-day trial and see how I feel 
at the end of that time. At least I got it at 
the co-op, so I got my 10% off. Score! 

In the late afternoon I remembered that I had some Mandarin oranges and two apples that had to be used up. I also had a fresh pineapple that I had picked up at the grocery store earlier in the day. So I quickly got to work, cutting up the pineapple and the apples, and peeling and separating the oranges, tossing them in a small amount of maple syrup, adding some chopped nuts, and putting them into the oven for 25 minutes to cook. I ended up with nine containers of breakfast fruit and can't wait to eat my first one today. I also fed my hummingbirds at the same time, so the end of the afternoon was a bit hectic before I settled down for my weekly "schmooze" with Aearwen. Then, after we had talked, I made the chicken and put it into the oven, then cleaned up the kitchen. I was barely finished when DH walked through the door - in a bad mood, as usual *sigh*. 

This is what all the fuss is about - Lord Stanley's Cup. 
Every team wants to win it, only one will succeed. 
Such a great time to watch hockey! 

But, I refuse to be in a bad mood. We've got lots of hockey to watch - the playoffs are firmly in place and the games are wonderful. We've got Middle Earth to explore in "Lord of the Rings Online", and I've always got "this and that" on my to-do list to keep me busy. Life can be good sometimes - LOL. Have an excellent Thursday, I'm off to the pool. I'll try to catch up with everyone's posts and comments when I set the laptop up at the shop later this morning. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל. 

Building - Shelves and Bone Density

The new storage system is almost completed. Today DH will drill into the concrete blocks behind the paneling and bolt each unit into the concrete wall (the entire room is in the basement - thus the concrete block wall). When that's done, we can start moving items into the new cubbies. I have magazine files, books and materials just waiting for their space. Take a peek at how it looks now from the entryway and the back of the spread. 

Looking down the final spread from the entryway of the craft
room, you can see that I've got a lot of storage available now.
I really need it - I outgrew the last storage units he made me
several years ago. 

I saw my doctor yesterday and we had a good discussion about the pros and cons of Fosamax and other medications recommended for osteoporosis. I used to take Fosamax - in the early 2000's I took it for approximately three years. Then I started hearing about "Large Bone Fracture" and jaw problems linked to the type of medication and I got frightened. I started researching it, and decided to pull back on the meds. I went into my doctor yesterday fully prepared to say "No" to bone density replacement medications. I changed my mind. 

Looking from the back of the room towards the doorway, you can
see the full extent of the new shelving along with a nice cubby at the
back of the credenza for a desk lamp. 

The last time I had a bone density scan was in 2015 - a little more than three years ago. That scan revealed the osteopenia that I knew I had, but no problem areas in my lumbar or hip regions. The scan I had a month or so ago was quite different. I still had no problems in my lumbar region, and my right hip was fine, but I had lost more than 7.1% of my bone density in my left femur top of my hip joint. That led to a diagnosis of osteoporosis and her strong recommendation for bone strengthening and replacement medication. 

My doctor as very pleased that I had mentioned the osteoporosis
diagnosis to my PT and that we had worked that into our
PT regime and exercise choices. I'm using the recommendations
of my PT in more ways than just the original shoulder issue. 

So, I'll try it. Seven-point-one percent is a huge amount of change in three years and that's got me spooked. I live in a four level split, and a hip fracture could force me to move - suddenly and without warning. I don't want to move. So I'll pick up my prescription today and start taking the meds in the hope that any fracture I might have will be far, far in the future. 

Have an excellent weekend. I'll be cleaning (shock! I know) and grilling (country ribs and corn again, along with macaroni salad that I'll make tonight), and hopefully the weather will allow us to enjoy margaritas in the backyard for an afternoon break. I'll be back on Monday, so enjoy your weekend. I'm off to the gym.