Wednesday

Woke up with a slight headache that is still going on at 10:40AM. Stomach is still a bit queazy this morning.
MonsterMustDie went with me to TJ-Maxx and Target, looking for a new stainless steel thermal cup to have an extra one at the house. He's left two at work now and I think I will never see my red Chill-Out cup again. Since it is Halloween season, I hoped to find a spooky cup but most of Halloween theme stuff is already sold out everywhere. While we were at Target, he decided to buy a plastic retro-style blow mold plastic light. Then he surprised me by deciding to bring down some of the Halloween decorations from the attic today so we spent an enjoyable afternoon setting up the front yard scene. We got about halfway through it and will finish it tomorrow afternoon.

What I ate today:
Rosuvastatin 5mg
Letrozole 2.5mg
2 cups coffee
1 Oatmeal+Walnut+cranberry cookie (150 calories)
1 Orgain 30g protein shake (160 calories) (650 mg calcium)
1 butter croissant (260 calories)
1 plate of tabouli + roasted carrots + broccoli for dinner (98 calories)
4 oz rotisserie chicken (186 calories)

40 oz water
18 oz pomegranate + hibiscus herbal tea

9:00 AM weight: 112.2 lbs

Fit app: evening walk
Heart Points
miles miles

Chilly Tuesday Morning

I spent most of the day hanging out with Karen and trying to get around to practicing painting.
Got home, roasted the veggies the Hatchers left for me, and watched the first Harry Potter movie with MonsterMustDie.

I had a bit of a queazy stomach today. I had a touch in the afternoon after my lunch of toast and again after my quickie dinner of fried chicken and home-cooked veggies.
There was some drama on the street behind us with neighbors outside screaming at each other. The woman next door was frightened and came over to our house for few minutes. The son of another neighbor behind us (kinda a kook himself) called the police, who showed up to calm things down, whatever it was.

What I ate today:
Rosuvastatin 5mg
Letrozole 2.5mg
2 cups coffee
Ocuvite Adult 50+ multivitamin
two 600mg Calcium + D3 10 mcg (400 IU) supplement
toast with almond butter and jelly (310 calories)
KFC 4-piece chicken tender snack
1/2 cup roasted carrots & broccoli

52 oz water

10:00 AM weight: 110.9 lbs

Monday

Today started with a sunny, cool morning after rain late yesterday.
MonsterMustDie is hot on buying a new refridgerator because he believes that means we would never have defrost and clean the fridge again. He brought this up late last night as I was trying to get to bed and he was, somehow, wide awake and excited about spending money. I really could not deal with that.

We had a Zoom conversation with Brian and Laura. Tried to avoid political downer talk and share positive things we were up to or new enjoyable things to discover. Found a short collection of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In clips of Halloween skits to watch together. Those jokes did not age well but the show was still incredibly fun for the style and the characters and cast.

What I ate today:
Rosuvastatin 5mg
Letrozole 2.5mg
2 cups coffee
1 custard filled roll from Hansel & Gretel bakery (150 calories)
1 Oatmeal+Walnut+cranberry cookie (150 calories)
Chicken salad and crackers (300 calories)
1 Acai Berry Boost smoothie (420 calories)

36 oz water

9:00 AM weight: 111.1 lbs

Sunday

The Hatchers left for Asheville after breakfast this morning.

What I ate today:
Rosuvastatin 5mg
Letrozole 2.5mg
2 cups coffee
Yogurt with fresh blueberries and pecans
2 red bean cookies from Hansel & Gretel bakery
1 Oatmeal+Walnut+cranberry cookie (150 calories)
1/2 Grilled chicken panini

48 oz water

9:00 AM weight: 111.6 lbs

I have not been drinking enough water this weekend.

Saturday in the park

We spent today with the Hatchers, walking around a local park in Greensboro in the morning.
We went to Brown Truck Brewing (nothing for me there) and Cohab Space in the afternoon.
I finally got around to picking up my two ceramic pumpkins that were fired and ready. I also picked up the last painting I did at the classes there so Kim could see it.
The evening was spent at Southern Roots, which was a very good choice by Kim, based on a conversation she had with our neighbor at the brewing company. I'm glad we had one more dinner out this weekend. (bad influence) Tonight at dinner, I had my first glass of wine since my medical problems started. I had one glass of the same wine Kim was drinking and did not quite finish that glass but it was a large glass of wine.

What I ate today:
Rosuvastatin 5mg
Letrozole 2.5mg
2 cups coffee
2 Oatmeal+Walnut+cranberry cookie (300 calories)
Dinner at Southern Roots - 1/2 Grilled chicken panini + fresh green salad

Birthday #66

Looking forward to an overnight visit from the Hatchers today.
Based on the Endoscopic UltraSound results, I successfully rescheduled my abdominal MRI to April 2026.

What I ate today:
Rosuvastatin 5mg
Letrozole 2.5mg
2 cups coffee
2 Oatmeal+Walnut+cranberry cookies (300 calories)
1 Teriyaki Salmon filet (310 calories) (26g protein) (20mg calcium) (14.5mcg vitamin D)
1 cup cooked Swiss Chard
Ardens Garden Green Energy Machine juice (130 calories) (2g protein)
Dinner at Sticks+Stones - "Magnolia Mountain" Pizza - Portabella mushrooms, olives, arugula, fresh mozzarella, fresh ricotta, parmesan, fresh herbs, and extra virgin olive oil

48 oz water

9:00 AM weight: 110.9 lbs

Just after Kim and Harris arrived to visit for the weekend, I got a birthday gift from Audrey and Nick - a necklace with tiny bats flying around a large purple crystal.

I'm thankful to Kim for sending back the small pizza I ordered for my birthday dinner that they brought to the table so over-cooked the top was burned and the crust was completely charred black. We tend to be too nice sometimes and never send back anything. I was already very hungry and I would never have had a bite of anything they served to me at first - it was inedible. That's the first time we ever had an order ruined at Sticks and Stones Pizza. It was embarrassing to have that happen at at time we had dinner with friends from out-of-town because we said that was one of our favorite restaurants.

making my way back to normal

Back to normal, almost. Once again, waiting to poop after general anesthesia yesterday. Got a follow-up call from Duke this morning at 9:00 AM asking how I was doing. I think I'm fine this morning, other than the usual poop issues after anesthesia. No problem

What I ate today:
2 cups coffee
Rosuvastatin 5mg
Letrozole 2.5mg
2 Senexon-S 8.6-50 tablets
2 slices of wholegrain toast + almond butter + blueberry preserves
1 Sprouts sushi roll (340 calories) (25g protein)
2 Oatmeal+Walnut+cranberry cookie (300 calories)

48 oz water

9:00 AM weight: 113.8 lbs

Fit app: evening walk
45 Heart Points
3.44 miles miles

Fortunately, the Senexon-S worked a bit around 3:00 pm so I believe I can hold off on the more powerful meds like Miralax.

I resumed my exercises after two days off and got through my entire routine late this afternoon.
Now it's nearly 10:00 PM and time to relax and have a nice glass of prune juice while listening to podcasts.

Finished with my Endoscopic Ultrasound and having coffee & lunch before going home. Everything went as good as possible with the cyst in my pancreas being judged completely benign in the best way. I'll just have MRI every 6 months to monitor things.
I woke up from anesthesia to Karen waiting in the chair next to me in the recovery room with, smiling calmly.
Afterwards, we stopped by Mad Hatter cafe for coffee and lunch before going home. The trip home included a brief stop by Tanger Outlet mall, where I am pleased to say I made no purchases while still recovering a bit. Not a good time to make any decisions or operate large machines.

Tuesday

The first thing I saw on my phone was a health questionair asking me when I stopped eating and drinking. Made me worry for 2 seconds. Then I figured out that I should fill it out with what time I plan to go to bed tonight, thus no longer eating or drinking before my procedure tomorrow morning.

What I ate today:
Rosuvastatin 5mg
Letrozole 2.5mg
2 cups coffee
HC Organic fudge bar (100 calories)
3 oz rotisserie chicken (156 calories) (23g protein)
Pumpkin Stuffed with Onion, Mushrooms, and Chard (258 calories) (4.5 g protein)

60 oz water

9:00 AM weight: 110.0 lbs

Monday

I slept until 8:00AM this morning. Had a slight headache on the right, top to down my neck that was completely gone by 8:30AM.

What I ate today:
Rosuvastatin 5mg
Letrozole 2.5mg
2 cups coffee
2 stacks Trader Joe's pumpkin pancakes (290 calories or 580 calories) the serving size is kinda unclear.
1 Orgain 30g vanilla protein shake (160 calories) (650 mg calcium)
0.82 lb hot bar plate at Whole Foods Market with fried tofu, sesame kale, mashed potatoes, and rice + chicken tikka masala

40 oz water

9:00 AM weight: 108.9 lbs

Fit app: afternoon walk
39 Heart Points
2.83 miles

moist sunday morning

I slept until 8:28AM. I woke up with a very small headache and aches in my lower back and thighs. The body aches are from doing some exercises just before bed, too late, because I felt guilty for not having time to do any of my prescribed exercises earlier in the day between my MeetUp and cooking and the evening walk. Probably should have just stuck to the walk alone but I know I need to keep up the exercises as long as possibe and as completely as I can now.

With my weight being down to 108 this morning, I thought it would be a great idea to go out for a hardy breakfast cooked by someone else in a kitchen full of different ingredients so I got MonsterMustDie to agree to have brunch at First Watch this morning. When we got there, despite the wind and light rain, the host told us there was at least an hour and 15 minute wait, partially because they have a new kitchen staff in-training this week. We decided to skip eating out and just run an errand to Home Depot for a couple of tiny things.
At the last minute on the way home, we decided to go to Stock+Grain food court for lunch. We weren't sure if we wanted anything there until MonsterMustDie spotted the owner of B3, a friend of his. I decided to try the veggie burger at Smash & Sizzle and MonsterMustDie got a good BBQ plate at B3 which was much better than what they have been serving up recently - it's good to know people. The veggie burger I got was not very good but it was filling and I was hungry so it was what I needed.

What I ate today:
2 cups coffee
Rosuvastatin 5mg
Letrozole 2.5mg
Smash & Sizzle veggie delux burger (570 calories)
Bolthouse Protein Plus (290 calories) (30g protein)
Advil Dual Action - Acetaminophen 250mg, Ibuprofen (NSAID) 125mg
Pumpkin Stuffed with Onion, Mushrooms, and Chard (258 calories) (4.5 g protein)
3 oz rotisserie chicken (156 calories) (23g protein)
1 cup hot cocoa (194 calories)
handful of pumpkin seeds roasted with salt and olive oil (80 calories) (4g protein)

60 oz water

1548 calories today

9:00 AM weight: 108.2 lbs

Raining today so no walk outside to record.

Saturday

No headache this morning. I woke up just before 6:00AM.
This morning, the StarTrek fan group I'm a member of had an "away mission" at the Science Center. It was fun to hang out with everyone and see the exhibits there.

This evening, I cooked Mini Pumpkins Stuffed with Onion, Mushrooms, and Chard. I've had the ingredients for a while now and something seemed to come up or last later than I thought it would every day this week, so this evening my time to finally cook this before things went bad. The mini pumpkins were a bit dry this time but the chard and mushroom filling was delicious.

What I ate today:
2 cups coffee
Rosuvastatin 5mg
Letrozole 2.5mg
2 Oatmeal+Walnut+Cranberry cookies (300 calories)
Pumpkin Stuffed with Onion, Mushrooms, and Chard (258 calories) (4.5 g protein)

48 oz water

9:00 AM weight: 111.8 lbs

Fit app: evening walk
43 Heart Points
3.62 miles miles

friday

I woke up with a very tiny headache, stemming from the top of my head, this morning. Might be from the shot a couple of days ago now or it might be the slight change in routine because yesterday was the first day I did not take an Ocuvite multivitamin. I have to avoid taking any products with fish oil for 7 days before my prodedure at Duke on Wednesday.
Having a morning headache reminds me of the daily headaches I had immediately after coming home from lung surgery.
I thought the morning headaches then were possibly some sort of rebound from pain meds in the hospital and the routine of ibuprofen and tylenol.

I had lunch with Karen in Greensboro today at Freeman's Grub & Pub. Then we went to Costco, where I could not resist buying two large pumpkins for just $6.99 each. I think Casa WereMonster is completely gourded up now. I also go a slinky black velour lounge outfit as an impulse buy. We discussed the possibilities for Halloween weekend this year. Casa WereMonster usually has a lot of Trick-or-Treaters on Halloween night, which is on a Friday this year. Karen wants to have a Halloween party. She said she might have her party on Saturday. That would certainly be easiest for me, since I love handing out treats on Halloween night here.

What I ate today:
Rosuvastatin 5mg
Letrozole 2.5mg
two 600mg Calcium + D3 10 mcg (400 IU) supplement
2 cups coffee
2 cups whole milk + Kefir (300 calories) + 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries (40 calories) smoothie
2 Oatmeal+Walnut+cranberry cookies (300 calories)
Amy's Brown Rice + Black-eyed Peas bowl (300 calories) (9g protein)
Orgain 30g vanilla (160 calories) (650mg calcium)
Grilled Chicken BLT (590 calories)
1 cup grilled brussels sprouts (135 calories)

48 oz water

9:00 AM weight: 109.1 lbs

thursday

Fortunately, the only effect I woke up with from the vaccine shot yesterday is a soar upper arm. Yay! I plan to ice it a bit during the day.
I know I need to try very hard to continue my therapeutic exercises and maybe even double up on them, once every morning and once every night, now that my physical therapy has ended.

I had a pre-op phone call from a nurse at Duke this afternoon to get ready for my endoscopic ultrasound a week from today. Among the instructions, I can continue most of my usual meds and supplements except for my multivitamin, because it has fish oil. No fish oil for seven days. I can take my calcium supplement until the day before the procedure. I can continue to take everything else as ususal. Of course, no food or drink of any kind after midnight before the prodedure.

What I ate today:
Rosuvastatin 5mg
Letrozole 2.5mg
2 cups coffee
one 600mg Calcium + D3 10 mcg (400 IU) supplement
toast with almond butter and jelly (310 calories)
Bolthouse Protein Plus (290 calories) (30g protein)
Chobani key lime Greek yogurt (140 calories) (11g protein)
3 Triscuit crackers (60 calories)
1 gimme seaweed snack pack (25 calories) (1 g protein)

52 oz water

9:00 AM weight: 111.3 lbs

Fit app: evening walk
39 Heart Points
2.62 miles miles