Since I stopped taking the heart/ BP related drug, metropol, I am feeling much better. In fact, today I felt the best in months and accomplished tons. Started off with supply delivery. I did receive four boxes of cassettes with the former 20 foot supply and drain leads which is a silent win for many patients. Also went up to son’s digs and borrowed a 10 inch table saw. Have 85 cedar fence slats in our truck to rip in thirds for the diagonal lattice boards. It’s predicted to be in 60s Saturday so you know what I’ll be doing then. Also recycled about a month’s worth of dialysis recyclables. Lastly, fixed a program problem on son’s tablet and took him out for authentic Mexican lunch. Life is good.
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I watched the Super Bowl with my family yesterday. Our son came early, about 1400, and we worked on installing the stingers for the trellis we are constructing across the long back flower bed for our property. It was in the forties temp-wise, but we worked awhile then went inside to warm up. We completed the job just in time to cook kabobs on the grill for SB treats and watch the game, if you can even call the disaster that. We have 40-8-foot and 45-6-foot cedar fence slats on the back of our truck waiting for the weather to break so I can rip them into thirds for the trellis slats. I’ll install these at a 45-degree angle to finish off the trellis.
We have had a love-hate relationship with the drug Metropol that two doctors insist I take, my cardiologist and nephrologist. The cardiologist’s position is that it is good for my heart and my nephrologist for control of blood pressure. They both blow off the fact that it is driving my pulse through the floor to the point I have passed out and is not doing all that much for my blood pressure. After my last fainting spell a couple of days ago where I was sitting in my chair watching TV and slid out to the floor partially on top of our golden retriever, my wife and I together decided I’m not taking the meds anymore.
Visit with cardiologist went as expected. Normal bios plus ekg all ok. New prescription is old script – 1/2 25 mg metropol iff systolic bp => 115 AND pulse => 60 else nada. Told to lean on kidney dr to either increase hydrochlorizide or prescribed alternatives. We’ll see what happens after my dialysis team meeting next week.
Went to dialysis labs yesterday morning and brought up that pulse running low. Their solution – see my cardiologist. But this is a dual problem. Cardiologist has me on meds to slow heart rate while kidney people employing same med to control blood pressure. Cardiologist instructs me to back off or not to take med if low pulse rate while kidney people advocate even higher dosage to alleviate elevated BP. As the patient, I’m in the middle. So I’ll drive to Ft Worth to see the nurse practicener, but know the outcome. Screwed up my plans big time.
We now have a new water heater installed. The water damage mediation company still has fans running to dry out a place in the heater closet where water got spilled onto the heater base. It never rains but it pours! They are due Thursday for hopefully a final look at their moisture sensors and the next act will take place – restoring all the damage in the drywall from the leak and the mediation effort. Meanwhile, two of my wife’s three sisters are due to fly in from Indiana with a cousin tomorrow for a short visit.
Health-wise I haven’t been feeling all that great. Don’t know if it’s upset routine or what. More on this aspect later.
Our hot water heater sprang a gushing leak . It is located in a closet in the garage and leaked for a couple of days before we noticed. For the past couple of days a remediation team tore apart walls and is in the process of drying things out. Maybe get a new water heater installed tomorrow. Meanwhile lots and lots of other stuff going on. More as have time.
Over the weekend I worked on getting our indoor “greenhouse” up and running. We are closing off a closet section of our main garage with a door, window, and power access to accommodate a cheap greenhouse, for which we are only using the shelving. We have it in front of the window, with 8 heating mats to accommodate tons of plants. I transplanted 5 tomato plants that we started indoors and they appear to be doing well. I bought a wall heater that is completely automatic and is wife enabled from Amazon so I can be anywhere in the world where my phone is on wifi and adjust the heater or see what temperature is bing maintained. Sunday morning I planted forty tomato seeds and have about the same number of pepper seeds to go. I moved our Google interface to the area so I have toons there also. When I get it cleaned up a bit later in the week I’ll post a video of it.
Recall it is my goal to have tomatoes in the ground by mid-February, granted probably under cloches, but still in the ground.
Have two points to discuss today:
- Bright and early yesterday morning I used Perplexity to put together a two-page treatise on Heads Up Display windshields in preparation for my visit to the shop that installed the incorrect windshield in my wife’s BMW. I could have saved my time. When I arrived at the shop and explained the situation, the owner went out and confirmed the installed windshield was NOT Heads Up compatible and assumed all responsibility for replacement, stating it was his error, that he quoted a price to fix the windshield and that price was the price. He would cover the cost of the correct windshield and labor to install it. We have an appointment to have the proper windshield installed next Tuesday.
- My visit to the dermatologist is a different story. I went in with a list of 6 places I wanted him to look at which he did. Along the way, he used what seemed to be a gallon of nitrogen squirting her and there and everywhere. Then the fun really began. With a marker, he outlined seven, yes seven areas from which another dude took samples to send to the lab for analysis, ie, is cancer present? The female attendant informed me in private that five is the usual maximum usually taken and that I was special in getting seven. Take that on board, seven. Just wait for the lab results to come back and we have seven areas that the dermatologists digs into to remove cancer.
- As a sidelight, I’m taking the wife’s BMW in at 1000 this morning to have a chip installed. I’ll let you know what, if anything it does for performance. Her car has the software programming to let us know how it affects performance.
So I reported that we had new windshields put in our truck and BMW. All is good. Ha. Not. My wife drove her BMW yesterday and noted that the HUD (Heads Up Display) is blurry. A search on Perplexity about this defrugality yielded the fact that BMWs with HUD take a special HUD windshield replacement which it appears the installer did not install. So now I have to go through the process of confronting the installer and try to cajole him to remedy the situation.
Yesterday, I underwent the scheduled Carotid Artery Doppler Ultrasound, a noninvasive diagnostic test that uses sound waves to evaluate blood flow in the carotid arteries, which supply blood to the brain. It helps detect blockages, narrowing, or abnormalities caused by conditions like atherosclerosis. Several of my doctors are interested in this so the results should be enlightening and get them off my back. I have a teleconference on 1/28/2025 to discuss the results.
On a more pleasant note, I have tomato seeds that need to be transplanted. Looking forward to that job tomorrow morning. I’m still shooting to have plants in the ground here in North Texas by mid-February under cloches.
