Time for an Update

We're back! For those who've been asking (and for those who haven't), Suzy is doing very well on her program. It;s been a month and a half since her surgery, and she is very happy. By our bathroom scale, she has lost 47 pounds since a couple of weeks before the surgery. Suzy is finding clothes tucked away that she hasn't been able to wear for quite a while, so it's almost like a new wardrobe all of a sudden.

One of Suzy's goals with this surgery, and there are many of them, was to cut back on the pills she's been taking. It's working, but it's happening with some little bumps along the way. Her primary doctor cut one of her blood pressure medications (Lisinopril) in half, and asked her take her BP daily. It was running pretty low, and Wednesday she began feeling dizzy and lightheaded. A quick call to the doctor's office got instructions to take it easy, feet elevated, drink lots of fluids, cut out the Lisinopril entirely, and call back in the afternoon. That call, with her still lightheaded, sent her to our local hospital's ER to get checked out.

The ER at Benson Hospital is often a quiet place, but Wednesday was an exception. We arrived at 6:00pm, got admitted at 9:15, and the one ER doctor finally came by shortly after 1:00am! Suzy had been on vital signs monitoring all that time, so at least he had a record to look at. When he reviewed her medication list, he advised her to cut in half a different BP med (Diltiazem), and to return to the lowered dose of Linisopril. We were home just before 2:00am.

In the morning we called Suzy's primary physician again to review what the ER doc has said. That doctor agreed to the lower dose of Diltiazem but insisted on cutting out the Lisinopril.

So, we are achieving that goal of reducing the meds, but we can see it's going to involve a lot of close monitoring and regular tweaking. Suzy says it's worth it!

What is she eating these days? Two of her protein shakes daily, plus two ounces or a quarter cup of a wide variety of foods once a day. One day she had some delicious chicken thigh meat, another day cottage cheese, yesterday a quarter cup of refried beans. This regimen will last for another three weeks, and she is having a ball getting into "new" tastes and textures. And she feels completely satisfied with the amount of food.

What else is going on in our lives? I'm in full swing as Secretary of the Board of Directors, and I am totally grateful we have a Recording Secretary as well. Andre doesn't get a vote, but he is a key part of what's going on, taking minutes of the meetings, preparing other routine documents, and so forth. These first few weeks as Secretary have been quite hectic, but I expect it to settle into a more workable pace before long. Yeah, that's what the last Board Secretary said too. It is totally true that the Secretary position is the hardest job on the Board, as I even have to keep the President stirred up. While the President runs the meetings and is the spokesperson, I'm the one who prepares agendas, assembles and distributes all necessary materials to the other Directors, writes the letters, does the filing, does the research. I love it!

And that's the way it is at this stage of ... Our Life on Wheels.,