...that we may have to break it into parts.

Might as well get the nastiness out of the way first. Hurricane Helene was in the news a lot starting September 24. Supposedly this monster was due to gather a lot of strength and not lose it after it crossed the Florida/Georgia line. I immediately began gathering every small power supply we had in the house just in case we lost power for more than an hour, as our internet and main computers are already on APC power supplies, as is the television and Roku, but they would be needed for emergencies. On Wednesday it poured and we took the rollator to dialysis because the power chair isn't supposed to get wet. On Thursday we heard that a 15-20 foot storm surge would probably hit Tallahassee when Helene made landfall, and then the damn fool thing was going to come directly up I-75 and hit Atlanta head on with 75 mph winds. These were the conditions predicted when we went to bed on Thursday night. Instead, we slept almost soundlessly until five, when rain lashed at the windows and we could hear the wind raging outside. By the time we got up it was sprinkling, and then partly cloudy, with some very blue sky visible. Just south of us the storm had turned east, so Atlanta and Chattanooga were marked "safe" except for some downed trees around town.

Instead Helene barrelled into western North Carolina like a gigantic watery freight train. All the beautiful towns and villages there were lashed and pounded. The "Rainbow Bridge," a little tribute place where you could fasten a memory of a beloved pet, was washed away. The gatehouse at Biltmore Estates was 2/3 covered in water. The little town of Chimney Rock was completely washed away. Big chunks of the freeway in eastern Tennessee and western NC are gone, as well as smaller roads. The Blue Ridge Parkway has been chewed up in many places. In fact so many roads are out that they cannot bring in supplies to many places and are resorting to helicopters, small planes, and, in one case, a mule train! Mountain Mule Trackers have been using their mules to get supplies into that part of the state. Fall is the time when much of western NC and eastern TN make money due to leaf peepers. They'll have no business this year. Dolly Parton personally donated a million dollars to recover efforts.

James' sister, in Gaffney, South Carolina, lost power, but they are in the country and have a generator. [They only had power restored on October 6, thanks to tree cutters shipped in all the way from St. Louis, Missouri, followed by the local linemen. Electrical linemen are the GOAT. These folks need to be paid more money, not overstuffed politicians and performers.]

So while Nature was doing her damnest, we were able to carry on: I cleaned out under the bathroom sinks and used shelves to get extra storage space; we stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home from James' surgical followup and found lots of fall goodies; Thursday it was cool enough for me to go for a full walk!; on Saturday after Hair Day we drove out to the Costco in Paulding county, gassed up my car, and found more Belgian chocolate mousse in the handy little glass containers as well as lamb chops for $5.99/pound; and stopped at the local Walmart and finally found some of my yogurt! I bought two weeks' worth and need to check the local Wally Worlds for more.

In James news, Dr. Coyle seemed pleased with his fistula so far, even though he complains he cannot feel what they call "the thrill," the buzzing that a successful fistula makes. I can feel it plain as day, it vibrates like a purring cat. The skin around the surgical area has also swollen up like it's supposed to, which the original fistula did not do. Oddly, his blood pressure was rather low on the visit, but she did not seem concerned. And Friday he got lucky and got an early chair at dialysis!

Sunday he got the nicest surprise of all. His best friend J.P. called ... um, from wherever he and his wife are living now; I've totally forgotten. You should have heard them on the phone exchanging their health challenges. Apparently J.P. also twitches in his sleep and has been diagnosed with narcolepsy.

We had some of the lamb chops tonight, in the air fryer, with mint jelly. So good!

Labels: chores, errands, food, friends, health, local, relatives, sadness, shopping, sickness, storms, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:26:00 PM

(1) COMMENTS

So I was back to work last Monday, teleworking except for the afternoon James went to the doctor. I already have an order awarded, two advertised, and three more in progress. I spent the first morning just cleaning 500+ e-mails out of my Outlook box and following up on a delivery that still had not been made (and still hadn't when I logged off on Thursday—grrrr...).

Friday was my compressed day off, and I did my best to sleep late, as even getting up at seven seems exhausting. I will never be a morning person!

We started out the shopping on Friday at Nam Dae Mun, the Asian/exotic grocery on Spring Road. We wanted low sodium teriyaki sauce and none of the grocery stores carry it. We did pick it up there, as well as some tea and Light Asian Sesame Kraft salad dressing, which none of the grocery stores seem to stock, either. James was still looking for little packets of no-salt seasoning. They gave them to him at Northside, so the hospital has to get it from somewhere. We tried a new place on Roswell Road called Restaurant Depot. We had gone to the little restaurant supply store in Smyrna, and it was just supplies, but this place had food, too: big containers of spices and herbs, big bags of shrimp, big cans of veggies, etc. along with cooking implements. Well, they had everything but little no-salt packets: little honey packets, tiny jellies, lemon juice packets, salt and pepper, of course, syrup, sugar substitutes, in short, nada.

If life gives you no Mrs. Dash, go to a bookstore. We did, the Barnes & Noble at Town Center. I'd already ordered the book I wanted with the coupon I had, and James got the new 1632 book with his, plus the recipe book from the Cook's Country television show, which was on remainder, and a magazine. I wanted the new Entertainment Weekly, but they didn't have it out yet. I bought it on Zinio instead.

We had never had lunch, so we went over to Hibachi Grill early enough to get the lunch rate. James chose food as carefully as he could, trying to pick the less salty things, and he mostly had vegetables and some watermelon. I pretty much stuck to chicken and had one shrimp. No scallops in the afternoon, though. Had watermelon instead. He did have a headache later, and figured they had used MSG.

We were in bed early Friday night because James' followup appointment with the cardiac surgeon was at 8:30. Yes, a.m. on a Saturday morning. All the way on the other side of town at the Gwinnett County Kaiser office. We had no trouble with traffic, but when we got there the building was closed and there were two other people waiting outside. However, there was an arrow pointing to the "specialty building," so trundling off we went. Yes, this building was open. We ended up sharing the elevator with James' doctor!

Well, it was a really strange appointment. We thought we would be discussing when James would have the other stent(s) put in. Instead the doctor took an EKG and asked James if he was having any kind of chest pain (running through a checklist). James responded honestly and said he had none, even climbing stairs. The doctor then said he wanted James to continue watching his diet and making sure no edema was returning, and do as much exercising as he can with his arthritis, stay off work until his temp disability payments expire, and then go back to work. He'll have more blood tests on September 1 to monitor the kidney function. But he doesn't want to put the other stent in right away; he said the stents they put in at Piedmont corrected the "ticking time bomb" portion of the event. His analogy was a tree. He fixed James' "trunk" and the other blockage is in a very small branch. He said if there's no trouble (i.e. chest pain, heaviness, breathlessness, etc.) in the next few weeks he isn't going to worry about the "branch" unless the chest pain comes back. Right now our job is the kidney function. Very unexpected.

Anyway, since we were already on that side of town, we stopped at the Buford Highway Farmer's Market. We haven't been able to find cardamom anywhere (it's good for meat), and I wanted frisee if we were going to have salad. We also got some nice pork chops (enough for four meals) and some chicken thighs and ground turkey), plus I stocked up on lupini beans and some peppermint chocolate for desserts. We also stopped on Roswell Road to get James some alternate-salt seasonings at Penzey's Spices, and get a few things at Trader Joe's.

With all this we still got home in time for James to head for his club meeting. I let him go on his own for the first time since the heart attack. It was a bit scary for me at least. Not sure how he felt. I had a headache, so after tidying up the house a little I lay down on the futon until Juanita and Betty arrived. They had let me know they were coming by with a turkey from Honey-Baked Ham as a welcome-home for James and also so we didn't have to stress so much about making a couple of dinners. I was happy to see them; it was nice to have a really good chat with someone about what had happened, and get it all off my chest. James arrived home from the meeting in time to talk for a little while, too.

We had supper at O'Charley's because we had a coupon; they made James' steak with light salt and we both had big salads and plain baked potatoes. Afterwards we stopped at Kroger to finish the shopping.

James was up early this morning to finish thawing the turkey and then warming it up (it was already cooked). His mom and sister were driving up from Warner Robins to join us for dinner. We cleaned off the dining room table so we could actually eat at it (I know! What a concept!) and cleaned off the rocking chair so James mom could have a nice place to sit. They arrived just as James had finished resting the turkey and completed the potatoes and heated the gravy, and we sat down to all that as well as carrots and carrot salad. We had a nice chat at table, and while watching House Hunters, and during dessert (trifle they brought along with our strawberries). It was a great afternoon, and after they left, we dismembered the turkey. We now have four packages of breast meat to eat with salad, two legs for a meal, two big wings for a meal, one bag of thigh meat for a meal, and a carcass to make soup with.

And now we're watching 50 Years of Star Trek to end up the weekend.

Labels: food, friends, relatives, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:19:00 PM

(0) COMMENTS

This is a quick post. It is not good news.

They did the heart catherization yesterday and the result was not good. Despite the successful stress test last year, James has 80 percent blockage in three arteries in his heart. At that point the doctors could have put stents in to open the blockages. However, we were told stents do not do well with diabetics, nor with patients with kidney problems. The advisory from the cardiologist was that bypass surgery would be best for him.

The Kaiser doctor talked to Kaiser and James has been transferred to Piedmont Hospital. A former co-worker has told me that she has heard they are the best for this surgery, which heartens me. But it took a lot of the heart out of me. This, of course, will be more invasive than stents and require a longer recovery. And it's a different hospital to get used to.

James mom and sister came up yesterday, as did Clay and Maggi. Both stayed through the news, and then late in the afternoon Mom and Candy left so the taffic wouldn't be so bad. Clay and Maggi stayed through when they sent the ambulance for James, then helped me get all the stuff that's accumulated in the room for a week out to the car, and took me out to dinner at Longhorn. I have never been so simultaniously hungry and not hungry in my life.

The nurse James talked to at Piedmont said I would have to be in the building by eight p.m., and I wasn't going to make that. So I went home and spent the night there. You know the drill: feed the dog and walk him, and then we sat down and watched an episode of Lassie together. Then I staggered off for the shower and finally slept in a comfortable bed.

James and I connected through Skype, although he says the wifi at Piedmont sucks, so we used 4G. He said I can get a cot in the room to sleep on, and I guess we will talk about my possibly being able to come in at night a little later with the nurse. Anyway, still got to pack the rest of my clothes, hide cookies for Tucker (he's been out on the deck this morning, one of his favorite things, and Snowy has been singing to me), brush my teeth and remember to take hairbrush and toothbrush with me.

James will have ultrasound today to find veins in his legs to use for the grafts.

And that's all I know for now.

Labels: birds, dogs, friends, pets, relatives, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:46:00 AM

(3) COMMENTS