Ski Day Deux

7:45 AM: I am just getting ready for my second ski day of the season. It looks to be a nice, clear day. Here’s a shot from the Mt Spokane Webcam.

One of my criteria for skiing now is “No Fog”. So today meets that requirement.

However, I’m a little worried about the temperature. The mountains thermometer looks like it says 10°. It’s supposed to warm up to 25° by mid day, so we’ll see how we do.

I’m properly equipped with all my cold weather gear and accoutrements, so I think I’ll be okay. I shall update you in the next paragraph.

4:39PM: Well, it was certainly cold up on the ol’ mountain today but it didn’t stop us from having a great day. I got in 9 runs for $40.00 which works out to about $4.45 a run. That’s cheap entertainment in my book.

It was kind of tough skiing because of the cold. The wind on your face would give you an ice cream headache. But it was such a beautiful, sunny day, it took the sting away from the headache.

Overall, I’m thrilled with the day and now I’m going to take a nap!

January BP

 

Dermatology Report

 About a week and a half ago when I saw Dr. Mooney, she noticed a rash on my chest just below my neck. The spot is a small indentation right at my clavicle that I've noticed since the 70's. It used to get a little light brownish discolormentation that made me think it was Ringworm or something. I do not recall if I ever had it looked at.

On Mooney's encouragement, I made an appointment with Advanced Dermatology to have it looked at. Yesterday, was that day.

I met Dr. Keith Parker. He had me remove my shirt and looked me all over. He said he saw nothing that concerned him. He decided we should freeze the rash off which I agreed to.

It was just a matter of spraying some liquid nitrogen on the rash. It kind of stung but was no big deal.

Later in the day, I felt around the rash and the scabby skin that was there fell away and exposed this red oozing sore.

I followed the instruction they gave me and dabbed a little Vaseline on it and covered it with a bandage.

It continues to ooze a bit but other than that, I'm just letting it heal.

Anyway, that's another piece of good news that I don't have skin cancer.

Transplant List Update

If I am reading the notes correctly from Dr. Reddy, who is my Kidney Specialist, he seems to feel that my kidney issues are caused by my deteriorating heart and I would therefore benefit from a heart transplant. My kidneys are not failing because they are going bad. They are going bad, because of my heart.

This is good news for advocating my getting on the Heart Transplant list.   

Kidney Doctor

We saw a kidney doctor yesterday. This was the next step in my looooooong journey to get on the list for a heart transplant. The thing they are trying to figure out is are my kidneys going bad, or are my kidneys going bad because of my weakening heart.

Dr. Reddy seemed to feel that it is the latter, my heart is making problems for my kidneys. They were going to do a kidney biopsy on me but that would require me going off my daily aspirin for seven days. Apparently, that's not a good idea. They decided against that.

Instead, I am on a 24 hour Urine Study. So, since after my first pee this morning, I have been peeing into a jug until my first pee tomorrow morning. Then I can return the jug to the lab and some poor technician gets to deal with it then.

Hopefully, the results of this rather large collection of urine will help to get me on the list.

Breaking the Fast

Susan and I just finished a 12 day fast. It was something that a local church offered up as a way to commune with God. 

The deal was to not eat anything all day until sundown. Then you could have a normal meal.

I have to say that I did pretty good during the fast. I had a few moments of weakness, but a little prayer to build my resolve and I cruised on towards dinner time. And besides, the point was to get closer to God.

In the course of doing the fast, I lost five pounds. For that reason, I think I’m going to continue to eat just one meal a day. I really want to lose 30 pounds. That would get me close to an even 200. 

It’s going to require some good discipline and some walking. I’ve been going to Northtown to walk and the last two times I went, I did three miles. I haven’t done three miles in ages.

I’m not going to fool myself. There will be snacking. But I’m going to try and make it healthy stuff and stay away from the Reeces peanut butter cups.

Excuse me now while I go and scarf!

Reprieve

Yesterday, I had my monthly appointment with one of the doctors on the Transplant team. This time, we met with Dr. Mooney. I brought up how disappointed I’ve been with not being allowed to ski. She thought about it for a while and at the end of the appointment, she said it would be okay if I skied. She said to take it easy and listen to my body.

I can do that. I can hear my body right now. It’s saying, “Let’s go skiing!”