Sunday, October 7, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
A Day of Recovery
Dear Family and Friends,
Today has been a winner and Kallie and Keanna made it so. We picked them up this morning at 8:50 and enjoyed Sabbath School. Then we passed by the Dollar Tree where the kids enjoyed a bit of shopping, very interesting to see them at work and watch them make their choices.
Then it was time for Olive Garden and the food was terrific. Though the meal ran a little long we had fun. Afterwards the girls came home to watch something Keanna wanted to see that she had taped on the DVR. They drew pictures, played on my phone and had a nice time this afternoon. Steve came mid afternoon and took the girls to the track so they could ride the quad and I took a nap.
For dinner tonight we had three kinds of fruits, Strawberries, melon and peaches with a bit of fat free cottage cheese. It was an excellent meal and we ate it outside on the deck as the sun was moving toward the west. The breezes were gently blowing, we could hear children playing on the lake in the distance and it was just nice.
This evening we've enjoyed watching some shows on the DVR, Hawaii 5-0 and such. Now its bed time. Tomorrow will be a long work day and I hope to be mostly caught up by evening.
What a great blessing the Sabbath has been, one downside has been terrible coughing all day, no fun at all. My sides and chest are sore from the coughing, somehow we have to get that stopped. Something to pray about.
How I've appreciated hearing from so many people on Facebook today as I left a little message about my heart issues, so good to hear from so many friends and family.
Love to all
Tim
Today has been a winner and Kallie and Keanna made it so. We picked them up this morning at 8:50 and enjoyed Sabbath School. Then we passed by the Dollar Tree where the kids enjoyed a bit of shopping, very interesting to see them at work and watch them make their choices.
Then it was time for Olive Garden and the food was terrific. Though the meal ran a little long we had fun. Afterwards the girls came home to watch something Keanna wanted to see that she had taped on the DVR. They drew pictures, played on my phone and had a nice time this afternoon. Steve came mid afternoon and took the girls to the track so they could ride the quad and I took a nap.
For dinner tonight we had three kinds of fruits, Strawberries, melon and peaches with a bit of fat free cottage cheese. It was an excellent meal and we ate it outside on the deck as the sun was moving toward the west. The breezes were gently blowing, we could hear children playing on the lake in the distance and it was just nice.
This evening we've enjoyed watching some shows on the DVR, Hawaii 5-0 and such. Now its bed time. Tomorrow will be a long work day and I hope to be mostly caught up by evening.
What a great blessing the Sabbath has been, one downside has been terrible coughing all day, no fun at all. My sides and chest are sore from the coughing, somehow we have to get that stopped. Something to pray about.
How I've appreciated hearing from so many people on Facebook today as I left a little message about my heart issues, so good to hear from so many friends and family.
Love to all
Tim
Friday, October 5, 2012
Winding it down
Today was a work in day and tonight I've finished 3 appraisals. sure it should have been 5 and some clients are not happy but I was so tired this evening that I could hardly stand. My heart just beats away and I get tired.
Keanna came this morning and spent the day. She is a great guest, makes her own popcorn, plays on the laptop, watches TV, has interesting conversations with Marilyn and then her dad arrived to take and Kallie home.
Tomorrow morning we will take her to Sabbath School and then lunch somewhere. Nikki is deep into her twins sale, she worked there half a day today and will be there all day tomorrow. I think she has like 450 items tagged to sell in the sale herself.
This evening we went to IHOP in Tracy, picked up a precious tank of gas in the Civic, we scored for only $4.14 a gallon while in Discovery Bay it is $4.45 for regular. Wow, what a hardship on those commuting to work, well yes even me to as I do have to spend some money for fuel, Diesel is $4.44 right now.
Now its time to rest and I'm so very thankful for the Sabbath hours. Our loving God knew when He created us that we needed a time to refill, to refresh, to get a chance to love and be loved. For me its the Sabbath.
So I send each of you a Sabbath Blessing. I've just taken my second Coumadin dose and as of this morning I had dumped 7 pounds, not that it will all stay off but I'm thankful for each and every breath right now.
Love to all
Tim
Keanna came this morning and spent the day. She is a great guest, makes her own popcorn, plays on the laptop, watches TV, has interesting conversations with Marilyn and then her dad arrived to take and Kallie home.
Tomorrow morning we will take her to Sabbath School and then lunch somewhere. Nikki is deep into her twins sale, she worked there half a day today and will be there all day tomorrow. I think she has like 450 items tagged to sell in the sale herself.
This evening we went to IHOP in Tracy, picked up a precious tank of gas in the Civic, we scored for only $4.14 a gallon while in Discovery Bay it is $4.45 for regular. Wow, what a hardship on those commuting to work, well yes even me to as I do have to spend some money for fuel, Diesel is $4.44 right now.
Now its time to rest and I'm so very thankful for the Sabbath hours. Our loving God knew when He created us that we needed a time to refill, to refresh, to get a chance to love and be loved. For me its the Sabbath.
So I send each of you a Sabbath Blessing. I've just taken my second Coumadin dose and as of this morning I had dumped 7 pounds, not that it will all stay off but I'm thankful for each and every breath right now.
Love to all
Tim
Thursday, October 4, 2012
The Next Step - Coumadin
Dear Blog Followers,
I can't express how grateful I am to those who have communicated with me, your experiences and advice has been so helpful.
I've learned that one can be on Coumadin and still live a pretty normal life, that sometimes people are on it, have the heart process done and then eventually stop taking Coumadin, I've learned to the heart procedure is fairly ordinary, I've also learned that coughing and A-Fib are related, some people can even kick their heart back into normal by coughing and holding their hand firmly on their chest, I've learned from the Coumadin clinic that I start with 4 mg which I did tonight, have a blood test done next Monday morning, they will call in the afternoon to advise me as to dosage.
You have been very helpful, the support from both family, friends and even my business clients has been a great lift.
I've worked today, doing an inspection this morning in Brentwood, then working in the office for the rest of the day, I've written two reports, taken Kallie to swimming tonight and watched her wonderful progress, then come back home and done some more work before relaxing with Marilyn watching back episodes of General Hospital, what a kick, she knows all the story lines and characters, boy do they need to go to church, to surrender their messed up lives to the Lord but that would not sell well so they just stumble from one disaster to the next.
Today I've had steel cut oats for breakfast with a banana, for lunch I've had a slice of hearty bread, avocado and fresh tomatoes and this evening Marilyn whipped up a salad that was great. I was happy to discover this morning that I had dumped 5 pounds already, my friend from the midwest, Karen said I was on the fear diet, she is so right!
For the time being I could be hit with a stroke at any minute so I take it easy, try not to stress and just calmly do my work, the heart meds are already calming my beating heart and as of tonight the Coumadin is starting to thin the blood. Fun stuff!
So wishing a good night and new day for each of us,
Love
tim
ps This is twins sale weekend for Nikki. She will work all day tomorrow helping get everything in order, she has the van full of items to sell, hundreds of items all bar coded and ready. Its an amazing sale held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds where thousands of items for children will be available.
I can't express how grateful I am to those who have communicated with me, your experiences and advice has been so helpful.
I've learned that one can be on Coumadin and still live a pretty normal life, that sometimes people are on it, have the heart process done and then eventually stop taking Coumadin, I've learned to the heart procedure is fairly ordinary, I've also learned that coughing and A-Fib are related, some people can even kick their heart back into normal by coughing and holding their hand firmly on their chest, I've learned from the Coumadin clinic that I start with 4 mg which I did tonight, have a blood test done next Monday morning, they will call in the afternoon to advise me as to dosage.
You have been very helpful, the support from both family, friends and even my business clients has been a great lift.
I've worked today, doing an inspection this morning in Brentwood, then working in the office for the rest of the day, I've written two reports, taken Kallie to swimming tonight and watched her wonderful progress, then come back home and done some more work before relaxing with Marilyn watching back episodes of General Hospital, what a kick, she knows all the story lines and characters, boy do they need to go to church, to surrender their messed up lives to the Lord but that would not sell well so they just stumble from one disaster to the next.
Today I've had steel cut oats for breakfast with a banana, for lunch I've had a slice of hearty bread, avocado and fresh tomatoes and this evening Marilyn whipped up a salad that was great. I was happy to discover this morning that I had dumped 5 pounds already, my friend from the midwest, Karen said I was on the fear diet, she is so right!
For the time being I could be hit with a stroke at any minute so I take it easy, try not to stress and just calmly do my work, the heart meds are already calming my beating heart and as of tonight the Coumadin is starting to thin the blood. Fun stuff!
So wishing a good night and new day for each of us,
Love
tim
ps This is twins sale weekend for Nikki. She will work all day tomorrow helping get everything in order, she has the van full of items to sell, hundreds of items all bar coded and ready. Its an amazing sale held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds where thousands of items for children will be available.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Kaiser comes to the rescue
Good evening
This has been an interesting day. I had a great night of rest and then rose to face the new day. I took my blood pressure and found my resting heart rate ranging from 97 to 116. After working in the office for a bit we drove to a local property located on the golf course. It was beautiful with a direct setting on the 18th fairway. Marilyn was nice enough to carry the ladder in so we could inspect the attic. Once we were through we headed to Danville I was met at the door by a lovely woman holding two CO detectors in her hands. She asked, can you help by installing these. I ended up helping her install the detectors and she was happy, so was I.
Once we were done in Danville we drove to Antioch, went to UNO's and had a salad for lunch. It was great. Then we drove to the hospital and I had increasing anxiety. A lovely young lady took my vitals and found my resting rate ranged from 69 to 129. Soon I met the cardiologist, a middle aged guy who knew his stuff. Simply great care.
So now I'm on Coumadin for the rest of my life and after the trough rate is established in about 4 weeks they will put me in a hospital bed, sedate me and shock my heart in a special way. They say that it will get my heart back on its regular rhythm and stay right afterwards. So once the Coumadin kicks in and the blood thins I'll be on my way to being able to exercise again.
After picking up the meds we drove directly home to a cool home and some rest. I've received messages from family and friends which are a huge boost to me. I've felt pretty lost lately, no energy, sort of no hope, wondering if my next step would be my last. Now at least there is a plan and I'm committed to doing my best to change the course of my life.
So I'm resting easy and will be hard at work tomorrow but with breaks to cool down the stress.
Love to all
Tim
This has been an interesting day. I had a great night of rest and then rose to face the new day. I took my blood pressure and found my resting heart rate ranging from 97 to 116. After working in the office for a bit we drove to a local property located on the golf course. It was beautiful with a direct setting on the 18th fairway. Marilyn was nice enough to carry the ladder in so we could inspect the attic. Once we were through we headed to Danville I was met at the door by a lovely woman holding two CO detectors in her hands. She asked, can you help by installing these. I ended up helping her install the detectors and she was happy, so was I.
Once we were done in Danville we drove to Antioch, went to UNO's and had a salad for lunch. It was great. Then we drove to the hospital and I had increasing anxiety. A lovely young lady took my vitals and found my resting rate ranged from 69 to 129. Soon I met the cardiologist, a middle aged guy who knew his stuff. Simply great care.
So now I'm on Coumadin for the rest of my life and after the trough rate is established in about 4 weeks they will put me in a hospital bed, sedate me and shock my heart in a special way. They say that it will get my heart back on its regular rhythm and stay right afterwards. So once the Coumadin kicks in and the blood thins I'll be on my way to being able to exercise again.
After picking up the meds we drove directly home to a cool home and some rest. I've received messages from family and friends which are a huge boost to me. I've felt pretty lost lately, no energy, sort of no hope, wondering if my next step would be my last. Now at least there is a plan and I'm committed to doing my best to change the course of my life.
So I'm resting easy and will be hard at work tomorrow but with breaks to cool down the stress.
Love to all
Tim
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Bad news
Good evening,
My visit to Kaiser did not go as planned. Upon checking in after a hurried walk from the front door they found my resting heart rate was 137. Once the doctor saw that he sent me for a EKG in the same office. Once that was done it was back to the room to go over the results with Dr. Gee.
I have a heart beat that is more of a flutter than a heart beat at the present time. It explains why I've felt so energy low and down for the past few weeks. My heart does not get a chance to do its normal beat but instead just sort of works in the top part, produces little pressure and is struggling to keep up with my needs. He immediately went to the computer and asked that the cardiology group set up an appointment with me. He further instructed me to avoid any exercise until I'm under the care of the heart doctor. He restarted the generic version of a heart medicine that my old cardiologist had said was great news for a troubled heart. He suggested I start Comidin (spelled wrong I'm sure) but settled for my upping my daily aspirin to 325 from 81. Then he sent me to the lab for a series of tests. My arm, the reason I had gone is, well that is some sort of tennis elbow and will get well on its own, need to rest it but that's a bit of a challenge when I'm seeing 3 properties tomorrow.
So the visit was probably life saving, explains a lot and still really got my attention. After we left we drove to WinCo and purchased steel cut oats, brown rice, lots of stuff for salads and then Marilyn drove me home. I've been in sort of a daze since the hospital processing what is taking place. What is unknown is whether my heart works properly part of the time or is in this fluttering mode all the time.
What I can tell you for sure is this wake up call is being heard loud and clear.
So that is what has been happening around here today. Earlier in the day I had taken the dog to the park, then tried to get work done but was very slow in getting anything done. I had taken a nap or two and just had this really awful chest compression, sore neck, sore elbow and sore lower gut. Oh well we will take things one step at a time.
I would appreciate your prayers that God will continue to guide and protect. He has been very good to me for 64 years and I trust Him now.
Love to all,
Tim
nice to have Marilyn's help with driving, she will drive tomorrow so I can take it easy as I work. We had a delicious salad tonight.
My visit to Kaiser did not go as planned. Upon checking in after a hurried walk from the front door they found my resting heart rate was 137. Once the doctor saw that he sent me for a EKG in the same office. Once that was done it was back to the room to go over the results with Dr. Gee.
I have a heart beat that is more of a flutter than a heart beat at the present time. It explains why I've felt so energy low and down for the past few weeks. My heart does not get a chance to do its normal beat but instead just sort of works in the top part, produces little pressure and is struggling to keep up with my needs. He immediately went to the computer and asked that the cardiology group set up an appointment with me. He further instructed me to avoid any exercise until I'm under the care of the heart doctor. He restarted the generic version of a heart medicine that my old cardiologist had said was great news for a troubled heart. He suggested I start Comidin (spelled wrong I'm sure) but settled for my upping my daily aspirin to 325 from 81. Then he sent me to the lab for a series of tests. My arm, the reason I had gone is, well that is some sort of tennis elbow and will get well on its own, need to rest it but that's a bit of a challenge when I'm seeing 3 properties tomorrow.
So the visit was probably life saving, explains a lot and still really got my attention. After we left we drove to WinCo and purchased steel cut oats, brown rice, lots of stuff for salads and then Marilyn drove me home. I've been in sort of a daze since the hospital processing what is taking place. What is unknown is whether my heart works properly part of the time or is in this fluttering mode all the time.
What I can tell you for sure is this wake up call is being heard loud and clear.
So that is what has been happening around here today. Earlier in the day I had taken the dog to the park, then tried to get work done but was very slow in getting anything done. I had taken a nap or two and just had this really awful chest compression, sore neck, sore elbow and sore lower gut. Oh well we will take things one step at a time.
I would appreciate your prayers that God will continue to guide and protect. He has been very good to me for 64 years and I trust Him now.
Love to all,
Tim
nice to have Marilyn's help with driving, she will drive tomorrow so I can take it easy as I work. We had a delicious salad tonight.
Monday, October 1, 2012
A long one today
Good evening
As I type this evening my left elbow is radiating pain up my arm, not sure what is happening but its been pretty awful today as my work is partly physical, have to reset the measuring wheel dozens of times at each property and my left arm was complaining loudly with pain.
I rolled out at 6:30 this morning, enjoyed a nice long hot shower, that made the arm feel good. Then it was out the door to the garage and an early arrival in Petaluma, great house but I noticed it was hot at 9:45 in the morning, so tempting to fall into their great pool,
Once I left Petaluma I noted that I would be early getting to Alameda so I called but didn't reach anyone. I took a lunch break at Burger King somewhere in Alameda and by then the owner called to say his wife and mother would be there so I could go early. That one went well too but by now it was hot, sweaty hot for sure. Once I was out of Alameda I drove to Dublin and now it was really hot. This one was a new home of about 3,000 sf with a 180 degree view amenity of the valley and distant hills, its selling for more than any home in the entire 2 mile area, $882,000. How I appraise that property is beyond me. I measured the home and my eyes kept filling with salty sweat, really fun!
After Dublin I then waded into traffic and finally arrived in Brentwood at 6 pm to measure yet another large two story home but once I got inside it was great. The AC had been left on! I shot comp photos right into dark and then limped home. Sore from coughing, left arm in pain, neck hurting, I'm in great shape.
Today Marilyn was nice to care for Keanna as Steve had to see properties and she is out of school for two weeks once again. Personally I think the amount of time teachers are away from the classroom is a scandal but then what do I know. At least Keanna is excelling as a student which is very very good.
This evening friend Sylvia called and we had a chance to catch up on your breaking autos, my health challenges and our kids. It was great to talk to a real friend.
So I send love to all, most grateful that I made it home.
Tim
As I type this evening my left elbow is radiating pain up my arm, not sure what is happening but its been pretty awful today as my work is partly physical, have to reset the measuring wheel dozens of times at each property and my left arm was complaining loudly with pain.
I rolled out at 6:30 this morning, enjoyed a nice long hot shower, that made the arm feel good. Then it was out the door to the garage and an early arrival in Petaluma, great house but I noticed it was hot at 9:45 in the morning, so tempting to fall into their great pool,
Once I left Petaluma I noted that I would be early getting to Alameda so I called but didn't reach anyone. I took a lunch break at Burger King somewhere in Alameda and by then the owner called to say his wife and mother would be there so I could go early. That one went well too but by now it was hot, sweaty hot for sure. Once I was out of Alameda I drove to Dublin and now it was really hot. This one was a new home of about 3,000 sf with a 180 degree view amenity of the valley and distant hills, its selling for more than any home in the entire 2 mile area, $882,000. How I appraise that property is beyond me. I measured the home and my eyes kept filling with salty sweat, really fun!
After Dublin I then waded into traffic and finally arrived in Brentwood at 6 pm to measure yet another large two story home but once I got inside it was great. The AC had been left on! I shot comp photos right into dark and then limped home. Sore from coughing, left arm in pain, neck hurting, I'm in great shape.
Today Marilyn was nice to care for Keanna as Steve had to see properties and she is out of school for two weeks once again. Personally I think the amount of time teachers are away from the classroom is a scandal but then what do I know. At least Keanna is excelling as a student which is very very good.
This evening friend Sylvia called and we had a chance to catch up on your breaking autos, my health challenges and our kids. It was great to talk to a real friend.
So I send love to all, most grateful that I made it home.
Tim
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