What to do while waiting for surgery.

Our good friends Lee and Joan Hanson live half the time here on the island. They have a cabin down on Gordon's Beach. The night before last they invited us down for Otter Point Mussels that they had harvested that day. There were so many uncooked mussels left over that we got to bring some of them home.

Last night was my turn to cook. Since I had a piece of Salmon already thawed out, I decided to make a Seafood Soup. Merete created a Great Cheesy Garlic Bread to go along with the soup.

I sauteed onions and garlic. Then added canned chopped tomatoes, wine, chicken broth, a shot of Chinese hot sauce and finally the Salmon and Mussels.






Here's the finished product.
Add a little pepper and a pinch of Parmesan Cheese.

You can never have enough cheese.






Add the Garlic Bread and you can't move for a few hours.

Makes you hungry doesn't it!.

Went mad and the Pigs ate him.

I just got back from seeing Doctor Pocock this morning. No news is good news as they say. Apparently my blood work is good. I have to increase my Spironlactone from 12.5 mg to 25mg per day. This also means I have to have blood tests every two weeks to check my potassium level.

I have to watch my intake of raisins, bananas and all things containing potassium. Dr. P also wants me to start doing more exercise. I told him I would start doing laps around the yard. He is hoping this will stem my loss of muscle and build up my energy by pumping more oxygen into my system.

Doctor Novak has yet to indicate a possible surgery date, this will be effected by the Spironactone increase.

Just maybe we'll have an answer within a couple of weeks. As you know I am not a good at waiting. Luckily for me I have been painting basically 7 days a week for 5 to 6 hours which has kept me as sane as I can possibly be.

I have no doubt that I will get the call for surgery when some large family event is slated or when we find out we will be getting a special visit.

Let's just hope in the meantime that when and if anyone phones Merete won't say 'Sorry he can't come to the phone, John went mad and the Pigs ate Him!'

Sometimes You gotta.....

First, this picture of Brando my main man has nothing to do with this post. Well maybe it does, I wish I could be that relaxed.




Sometimes you gotta wonder how exact a science medicine is when things unfold in a bizarre manner. I was going to say stupid but maybe I'm too harsh.

Here's what happened during the last week. I have had to go in for two blood tests, one for my INR (Warfarin) and the second for my Potassium level on the new drug. It unfolded like this, I tract my INR and for the past 3 weeks it has been steadily climbing back to a decent level. This means it was going to be between 2.0 to 3.0 and bingo I hit exactly 2.5! This is good, however it was steadily climbing up. My thought was I better drop my Warfarin just slightly so I didn't excede the target.

It didn't work, last Wednesday I tested 4.5, too high. The doctor's office told me to skip a dose and retest on Monday. Now, I have to say that Dr. Pocock had somebody covering for him because he was away.

Monday I retested and the INR was 1.5 too low. Dr. Pocock is now back and the question his office asked was......wait for it......."Did I miss a dose?"

Duuh! You gotta wonder sometimes do they communicate within the same office? You gotta wonder maybe with this kind of medication if it is really up to you to monitor yourself!

One thing I do know is I'm getting really sick of being a pin cushion. Once again I have to go visit my friends at the lab before the end of the week and get yet another bruise.

Yes I am still waiting for my surgery and I will let you all know when it's going to happen.

Sometimes a Dogs' Life looks pretty good, just ask Brando or Molly.
But maybe that's just my opinion.