Heather Shrinks in Houston!

[AllieCat0817]

Please let us know how you are doing!

[Snowman]

Heather ~ Just to let you know I'm thinking of you and praying that you guys are ok!!

[Snowman]

Again........just to let you know that I'm thinking of you!

We had high winds yesterday and it made me think of you and what you must have been through! A branch fell into our yard from a tree in the woods behind our house. DH had to cut it off today. It was minor. My MIL is without power (she's about 2 hrs. N of Pittsburgh) and will be until Tues. or Wed.

Take care! I'll be anxious to hear from you and know that your ok!

[Houston Heather]

You guys are so sweet!

All the prayers WORKED! The house to our left lost a big piece of gutter. It came flying off directly towards our windows, but was caught by my red-tip photina hedge (I let it grow up to 15 feet tall) and landed harmlessly on the ground.

Every house around us but one lost about 1/2 the shingles. I look around the subdivision and I see plastic and tarps on nearly every roof. Our house didn't lose a single shingle! Sorry, I could have resisted .

I was a little bad. I'm the backyard picking up. A neighbor is up on a roof. I pick up a big strip of shingles. "Would you like this back?"

The hurricane itself was wild. At first, no big deal, just some wind. Gusts getting stronger and stronger. Went to bed. Woke up, bigger gusts (about 80 mph), I started seeing "green lightning" which turned out to be exploding transformer stations. I figured, it'll be days before we get power! Only 4 days, btw, NOT bad.

I took another nap. Woke up and huge gusts, very scary, the eye had just passed pretty much over head. It really got hairy then for hours. I played my MP3 player for a while:
Praise you in this storm.
Rock you like a hurricane
Raindrops keep falling on my head
etc.

Big big gusts. The garage door started making alarming noises. I opened the door to the garage and saw the door flexing in and out with each gust. It was fine. Eventually it all tapered off and by 1 PM in the afternoon it was just a regular day.

We have a wonderful, sturdy little house. God did a great job of protecting us.

After the storm the water got contaminated. I have water (except for yesterday), but I can't drink it without boiling it. I have plenty of my "bottled" water that I stored before the hurricane so I'm set.

Now I can even do laundry! Yay!

I can hear someone hammering outside as I type.

Oh, another wonderful thing: God sent us a cool front right after the storm. The temperatures have been very nice and mild 60/80. Otherwise I'm sure people would have died from the heat with no air conditioning.

The worst thing that happened = an attack by fireants as I picked up a shingle in the yard. The bites itch a little but it's not bad.

I ate clean, all I had to eat is low carb food. I have lost 2 pounds as a result!

I still have plenty of perishable food I kept in the cooler with ice, water we can drink, Ron's shakes, cat food, and medication. I figure it will take everything another week or two to get up and running again.

I even have come collard greens out in my garden that survived the storm.

I'm going to take a shower now, I came straight in and got online from my yardwork.

I have hot water and stove because they run on gas. We never lost the gas.

Here's an image for you. I'm stark naked in the morning. I just woke up. I take my wind up flashlight, wind it up, and step onto the scale. I point the light at the display, read the number and note it down. Then I set the flashlight sideways so I'll see the numbers when I measure myself, picking it up again to write the numbers in my book.

[Livywilltim-mom]

God is Good!

Glad all is well

[momacat]

Thanks for checking in Heather. Glad to hear that you and Ron are well. I know that you've been on the minds of a lot of folks on the board.

[Houston Heather]

[Snowman]

BIG

I was really praying for you and Ron!! I can't believe you guys have power already!!

We had bad wind/rain on Sun. evening. NOTHING like you guys had, I'm sure!! My MIL was without power for 1 1/2 days. We were ok.

What a woman.....thinking to weigh and measure when she has no power!!

When will you guys be able to go back to work?

[AllieCat0817]

SO GLAD you are doing good! woohoooooo, very good. I will NEVER FORGET my Hurricane Hugo experience in 1989. 125-135mph winds hit DIRECT at my hometown, eye passed us over, and we are RIGHT ON the coast so we got the brunt like Galveston did. It is NO JOKE. Something you never forget. I still can not bear to hear wind howl, not AT ALL. Be blessed!!!!

[Houston Heather]

We went into work (got a ride from a friend to work, caught a $30 cab home) on Monday. The machines did what they should. The cold food vendors were "down" because they had no power for more than 4 hours. I threw out all the milk and sandwiches. The canned juice, bottled water, etc is fine so I cleared out the error messages and rebooted them.

It helps to me a little bit of a techo-geek when you're in vending. I filled up everything I could. Ron tried to work but ended up collapsing. Not pretty. So I did most of it, no problem, good workout.

I lost half a pound last night! Yeah! It's interesting, I see a nice little whoosh right before my period the last 2 months. I won't complain.

Yesterday we stayed home. Metrolift (our paratransit service) was only running for dialysis. Thank God I don't need THAT.

Today they took us to Walmart and home again. I got more canned foods - I discovered the smoked vienna sausages aren't too revolting and zero carb, so I got a 6-pack. Peanut butter. I know. I am going to dole it out so I don't regain my weight.

I tried to get things for Ron that he thought he might handle. Already cooked rice bowls. Bread. I love him so much I'll even share my PB. Some soups, chicken and rice type things. Not a lot of soups to be found but I found a nice organic veggie soup. If he doesn't eat it I'll put it in the disaster kit.

Oh, I got giant tubs of "Party Peanuts". I had some 1 ounce packets of peanuts I've been doling out over the last week. I only had 24. Today, I got 2 tubs, 2 pounds each. One for eating after the 1 ounce peanuts are gone, one for my disaster kit so I don't go peanut-less.

I don't know whether they had just gotten it in, of if Houstonians hate it that much, but they had plenty of Skippy. All the other brands except for natural style are sold out. I got one Skippy and one Natural. I might get another Skippy for the disaster kit.

I got some generic diet soda. All the name brands were pretty wiped out. No ice but I don't need it since I've got electricity.

No meat, no dairy (it came in right as we were leaving and I wanted to get Ron some skim milk), no perishable veggies. Ron wanted some potatoes so I got him the baby reds.

More bottled water. If the water's off, you really can't have too much. I got some of those fake Crystal light on the go type packets. You put the packet into a 20 ounce bottle of water. They're good and low carb.

I'm waiting to see if the trash pickup comes today as scheduled. I have some stuff out at the curb, other people's tree limbs and shingles.

I was starting to run pretty hyper (manic). I went way up on my lithium dosage. It worked. I'm a little groggy and sick to my stomach but I don't feel so amped anymore. If I let it "go" it could get pretty bad and end up with me suicidal-revved-seeing things that aren't there. I'd do just about anything to prevent that. Including taking more medication. It's OK with my doctor, he knows I am very motivated managing my illness.

I tried to explain a little about caregiver burnout to Ron. He's started something interesting. "So you aren't doing nice things for yourself?" Yeah. "What fun thing are you doing this afternoon?" He asked me later. Uh. Laundry. Bring in the garbage cans. Cook. "That's not fun! What fun thing are you doing?" Uh, some knitting in front of the TV. "OK, that's fun for you." I think I'll ask him to keep doing that.

I'd like to finish this knitted afghan by my birthday on Monday. Oh, yeah, I got myself a sweet potato for my "birthday cake". Somehow I don't see us eating out.

Ron's still really run down. It's hard to watch but he knows I'm there for him when he needs help sitting up in bed or emptying his urinal. I am so glad I got one the last time he went to the hospital.

He's singing in the other room as he listens to his MP3 player. I'm so glad we got it.

Tomorrow I pop him in the wheelchair and take him to work. I started making up candy bags for the drivers. They are under a lot of stress with the clients, their own property damage, gas shortages, etc. The guys I had today just loved their candy so I got more. I bag it up and hand it out.

I never touch it.

[lippi]

Heather, you are a dollface. Absolute dollface.

[Houston Heather]

Aw, thanks Lippi!

The candy was a huge hit today! So glad I started doing it again! I did it last winter and spring but stopped because I was afraid I might be tempted. Not. Our drivers have to tie down Ron's wheelchair, a big hassle, so I'm really glad I'm appreciating them.

I bought 10 (2 ounce) bags off the other vendor (cost $6 but worth it) so I've always got a good legal snack (plus my baggie of beef jerky).

Everyone was eating MRE's today. I had a look. I saw a bag of granola, and a cookie. I handed it back. I don't think I want any MRE's!

Ron was a mostly good boy and stayed in the wheelchair at work. People just gape at him, stocking the vending machine from the wheelchair. For something like the drinks, I put a milk crate on the floor, and put the drinks on top of that.

Snacks were pretty quiet, we had plenty of product, so I focused on helping Ron. We put 6 cases of soda into our #1 seller. I mainly did a lot of lifting of cases of water, soda, and bottled soda. He can't do it. But I can! [Heather growls and flexes her muscles].

We had the repairman out. We need a "flashing kit" for the coffee machine (a good case of planned obsolescence) and a new coin mech for Snack 3. Snack 3 has never needed any major repairs in 7 years so that's not bad. It'll run about $300 or so for everything. Ouch!

Good thing we get reimbursed! It may take years but we get it back.

A friend called us, he is doing OK. I was worried about him, he's a nice guy, going blind, kind of looks up to Ron as his "big brother". Ron's a very good role model if you're going blind because he is fiercely independent.

I was flying today, I ended up taking 4 lithium total. I don't want to go up any more than this. I don't want an icky mixed episode where I'm depressed and manic at the same time. Ew. The good news, I have cycles of about 2 weeks each, so I only have a week and a half worst case.

I got pretty groggy after lunch (2 lithium tablets'll do that to me). It was an excellent lunch. I fried up some turkey spam and it was very good! I ate it with some canned green beans. We don't have any fresh meat available but I always expected this and planned accordingly. I have plenty more canned, but the Turkey Spam is so good I am really hoping they have some more.

Tomorrow we go to the doctor's office, for Ron, because he is getting worse. [big sigh] He has a fantastic attitude considering but we'd both like some answers.

Hopefully he can get a medication that will NOT damage him, so we planned a trip to Walmart afterward. I'm bringing my afghan.

Ron really likes it, I'm going to let him use it. I seldom keep afghans I make.

When I really think about all I'm dealing with Ron, it scares the crap out of me. Is he going to keep getting worse? Does he have MS or something? Am I doing a good job helping him run the business?

But I remind myself, it's just like when I was really, really, sick. I have dealt with many suicidal depressions and I always did the same thing. I'm going to get through the next 5 minutes. No, I won't think about tomorrow. I'm gonig to get through the next 10 minutes. I'm going to hang on until after this show is over on TV. It's served me well.

I'm just going to take one day at a time because that's all I can do! I'm going to spoil Ron, our drivers, and other people. I'm going to work on my knitting, my blogging, and eat the right things. I'm going to listen to all my favorite tunes on my MP3 player. God is making me into a very strong woman. I never thought I'd be able to manage all that I did today, for instance.

I have no idea what I'm doing for my birthday, other than going to work, getting deliveries, and stocking them. Speaking of work some evil person brought in donuts. I wasn't even tempted, partly because I always have some breakfast.

I'm very fond of my slimfast low carb vanillas!

[Houston Heather]

Today I actually forgot to check the slimfast low carb vanillas.

I made up the candy bags, we got a ride to the doctor's office. They had big banners outside "We're open!". The banner people are doing a good business after the storm "We have generators" is another popular banner.

We went in. They're running on a small generator. They barely have lights, much less the computer system. They saw us quickly, though. Ron's doctor wasn't there yet so he saw a new one. He loves her to death and she likes him too! I think he's going to switch.

She said his electrolytes are low, his blood pressure is low, he needs more salt and he needs to be EATING! I told her he won't eat, please tell him he needs to eat. She sat down and explained, thouroughly, why it was important for him to eat. Good. Great, great bedside manner. She gave us a referral to a neurologist, who we're seeing next week. I gave her and her assistants each a candy bag, along with a really stressed out lady in the waiting room.

We left and hardly waited at all before our ride came. We went to Walmart (we figured he might have needed a prescription, but he didn't other than "Eat and drink some Gatorade for your electrolytes").

I parked him, in wheelchair, by the door. I went into the food section first. No ice cream, I wanted some sugar free dutch chocolate for my birthday! Curses! I did get ahold of some heavy whipping cream, and I got Ron a half gallon of milk. He seems to be OK with milk, and actually drank the better part of a glass today.

You would not have believed I was low carbing from the stuff in my cart. White rice (the boil in bag), gatorade, instant potatoes, etc. I got some puffed wheat cereal (the plain puffed wheat) on a whim. I used to love it when I was a kid but everyone else complained it was "tasteless and boring". For Ron, the blander, the better. He actually loved it. Cheerios - also palatable. I also got him some unsalted saltines (a big hit) and stuff like that. It came to about $30.

I loved the coat I got at Walmart last year, but they don't have the ladies' coats in yet. I am looking forward to a much smaller coat than that 2X I wore last winter! I've already given that away.

The Blood Bank is begging people to donate. I told Ron I would donate if he DIDN'T. He made me an appointment tomorrow for after work. I'll just bring my own low-carb snacks for after.

I got a few canned meats, the heavy whipping cream, a little bit of diet soda, a pair of awesome purple leggings, and a few disaster kit foods. I went to Mcdonalds afterward. I got 3 chicken breast fillets, a plain burger for Ron (he ate a few bites), a cheeseburger for Ron, and a tea that was very weak. I did something nice for myself and got a very interesting looking book.

Again, our ride came pretty fast and we had a great ride home. The driver was disappointed to see Ron in the wheelchair but happy to see him signing along with his music on the way home.

I set my bag of cooked food down and prepared a few things for Ron. He was able to eat some plain saltines, about 1 cup of puffed wheat, and a big glass of milk. I was thrilled. He is gagging down the Crystal Light "Hydration" drink I got him. He says it is vile, but less vile than the gatorade. I'm going to make him a few peanut butter sandwiches later. Barely any peanut butter.

I came back into the living room and found the butt end of my black cat hanging out of my McDonald's bag! I yelled at him and he ran off for a while. He loves the chicken breast fillets and was trying to steal one. I got distracted putting away the groceries and he did it again! Bad boy! I did share a few bites with him while I ate.

After all that, I took my lithium (I am back to normal now) and got a nap. Now I'm having fun. I'm going to work on my knitting, watch Judge Judy, drink a diet caffeine free soda (I really do like them for the taste), and have a good time.

Tomorrow we work for a few hours, go to the blood bank, and go home.

[Houston Heather]

Woke up early, went to work. Ron was kind of cranky and we snapped a little. I think he understood my point, though.

Then, off to the blood bank. Every time I have made a trip to the blood bank they take me straight there. Which meant I got there an hour early. We had the driver drop us at the Target next door. They had some great driver candy, Ron ate some breadsticks and a latte, and I got some of my sugarfree icebreakers iced tea mints. They are good!

Off to the blood bank. The lobby was "too cold" so I left Ron outside on the curb. A little bit of a wait (we are really depleted in Houston, which is why I donated right before my birthday instead of right after), but not too bad. I love the new finger stick thing. It is very painless. My hematocrit was 43, ideal. They're good at sticking you, too. Once is all they need.

I sat there in my recliner squeezing my little ball. The plebotomist went out and told Ron I'd be done soon (I'd turned off my cell phone). He said don't worry, they're already over half an hour late. I had plenty of time to rest and eat afterward.

No tshirt but I'm not doing it for a shirt. Some people were horribly injured in a fire, others accidents due to no traffic lights, etc.

I have carefully coddled a 3 pound package of bacon through a hurricane and then 4 days with no power. I doled out 5 slices and cooked them in my baconwave microwave tray. The bacon is so good that way. I really missed using the baconwave more than I missed any other electrical thing.

I haven't seen any bacon at the stores over a week after the hurricane, so I save it for special occasions. Today I had 5 nice crunchy slices after I donated. I'm going to eat some more on my birthday.

I lost half a pound overnight, almost up to 46 pounds total. That's a lot of lard!

Came home, nap. Knock knock. Next door neighbor got my birthday present. Dumb mailman can't read the address! Back to sleep. Knock knock. "Hi I'm here to provide a free estimate on your damage from the hurricane". I glared at her, hair sticking out (I have a no soliciting sign on the door), "We don't have any damage!" and closed the door.

Thank you God for me not having any damage. Back to sleep again, I am always tired after donating. Woke up at 4:30. Happy now.

I have no idea what I'm doing for dinner. I have no idea what I'm doing for my birthday. I'd like to go "out" and "do something" but what? Tomorrow I go to Walmart, Monday (birthday) we go to work and then ____, Tuesday (anniversary) work and then ___, Wednesday we go to the Neurologist.

Ron "I didn't want you taking me to a neurologist on our anniversary".

[Houston Heather]

It's only a 2 minute walk to the mailbox, but boy the mosquitoes had a field day with me. Here I am slapping away "Hey, I already gave blood!". When I shaved my legs last night they looked awful, covered in welts. This is AFTER the truck came by and sprayed!

Tomorrow I'm going to spray myself with bug repellent before we go to work. I am so tasty. I can be in a group of 10, and the mosquitoes will all go after me. I told Ron, he tastes like broccoli, and I'm chocolate cake. ITCH! ITCH! I'm so itchy! These mosquitos (anophele or flood mosquitoes) are particularly nasty.

I woke up with a small headache but another 1/2 pound lighter. Yeeees! My period is due in just a matter of days to that makes it even better. I bought another pair of size 12 jeans. So awesome. Not all 12's fit me, even the Walmart ones, but I'm getting there. I am definitely far healthier than I was at 22W.

Today we went to Walmart. I wanted to get some no sugar added chocolate ice cream. The freezer/fridge cases are completely bare. They have a little milk (I got some for Ron) but that's it. I spent a little time being sad, looked for turkey spam, none - got some corned beef in a can and some bacon spam. We'll see, hopefully one of them is palatable enough for dinner. I'm saving my bacon for tomorrow.

I got what I could for me (the aforementioned canned meats, canned green beans). I got some soda. I looked for little bags of Almonds. No. I got some dove soap, a couple of cute bras, and the jeans. Four cases of slimfast low carb vanilla, and a box of clearance atkins bars. I ate a couple I found in a cabinet after the hurricane and they didn't mess me up - good disaster kit food. Batteries and a water holder - it's a big plastic cube that holds 5 gallons. The one I already have has done a good job, so I got it a friend.

I am constantly trying to tempt Ron to eat. He ate some eggs and milk at Walmart today (McDonalds had eggs). I went by the bakery (normally The Forbidden Zone) and got him a whole wheat roll. It's big, almost a football size. It ought to keep Ron busy for a while. I sound like he's a dog. Anyway, I wandered over to the cake section. It's my birthday... happy birthday to me... no treats for me! Sugar, sugar, sugar...

What the? No sugar added cream pies. I like cream pies. Then I saw a cream pie with black crumbles on top of the whipped cream. I pulled it out. CHOCOLATE CREAM, no sugar added pie. You KNOW it went into my cart! I almost cried as I thanked the bakery ladies for having something I could eat on my birthday. They told me "Feliz Cumpleanos" and I left. I won't eat the crust, which'll cut the carbs down even more.

Ron feels like crap, very tired and somewhat cranky. He offered to go somewhere with me after work but I said, no, I'm good. I really am. I'll have my pie! And bacon! YUMMY!

[Houston Heather]

What's for dinner? Cooked beef TVP in beef boullion and canned green beans.

It's not bad, actually. I'm not feeling brave enough to try the canned corned beef or the bacon flavored spam.

[pennylovesdarren]

Heather!

[lippi]

Happy Birthday, Heather!!!
I'm glad you were born.

[Houston Heather]

Awww. Thank you!

I woke up with a killer sore throat in the middle of the night. We overslept, but damnnit, I'm going to have a good day!

I handed out birthday pie to my drivers (wrapped in foil with a spoon). It was a big hit.

Our poor donut man basically lost his house. He has insurance and he is a Christian so he's looking for the silver lining.

Now, I'm about to go to a grocery store that CLAIMS to have sugar free ice cream. Ron is determined to spoil me. He called all over trying to find me some. Our driver today was very worried about Ron, he could barely get out of the cab. He was happy to hear we're seeing a neurologist on Wednesday.

I had a bite of the pie at my Mom's instigation (no crust though) and it was SOOO good. I'm glad I'm handing out slices or I'd be eating the whole thing in one sitting.

My body gave me a nice present, I lost half a pound last night. I'll update more later!

[Houston Heather]

Throat is now worse and accompanied by a dry cough and major fatigue. I'm scared I might have the flu. My temperature is about 99 degrees. UGH. No appetite, either.

I still ate some birthday pie and no sugar added chocolate ice cream. It felt so good on my throat! Even Ron could eat it, suprisingly.

I found some Turkey Spam at the grocery store so I've got my dinner, plus 4 extra cans in my disaster kit. It's been a good day. I'll just go to bed early.

Tomorrow I go to the health food store and get some more olive leaf - it is great for fighting things off. I'm a huge fan of it.

[Snowman]

[COLOR="red"]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
HEATHER

[/COLOR]

YOU are one special lady!!

Sorry to hear your not feeling well. I sure hope Ron doesn't get it!!


Take care!!

[Houston Heather]

Thank you, Snow.

Since Ron's older, he probably already had it. He's generally very tough.

Feeling kind of weepy and overwhelmed today. I hope my medication helps.

[Houston Heather]

It's the flu. Medication helped me level out.

I went to work, did what I had to do. Ron's giving me tomorrow off. I'll take it, I feel that bad.

I ate some peanut butter, a slimfast low carb, and some chocolate ice cream for dinner. Then I took my pills. I'm going to stay up, shower, etc, and then go back to bed.

I have some knitting and a good book. I just need to find something good to drink that won't irritate my throat.

Ugh. Haven't I been through enough? Huh? Lord, a break please? Ron gets better? I do? We both?

ACK!

[Houston Heather]

I forgot to mention my jeans today. They were a big hit with everyone who could see me. I had many, many positive comments on my weight loss.

One guy even asked me how much weight I'd lost. I told him "Almost 50 pounds". "I can tell!".

They're black midrise straight leg jeans, with a little bit of elastic. I wasn't too sure about them today but everyone made very positive comments. Walmart, $16

That rocked.

[Snowman]

{{{HUGS}}} I hope your feeling better, Heather!!

I bet you rocked those jeans!! YOU GO GIRL!!

[COLOR="SandyBrown"]HAPPY ANNIVERSARY [/COLOR]to you and Ron!!

[Houston Heather]

Thank you!

I forgot to tell you how I divided up my pie. I cut it into 8 slices. I ate 2 slices, minus a few bites for Ron.

My drivers got 3 slices. One for the guy who took me to work, one for the guy who brought me home, and one for another driver I really like who has the same birthday!

Today I handed out 3 slices - one to the janitor in our area (sweet guy), one for our delivery man, and one for the other blind vendor.

I won't hate myself in the morning, either. Off I go to take cold medicine and flop in bed.

[Houston Heather]

Still sick but I don't feel as crappy as I did yesterday. I had a good LONG sleep.

Ron is curled up under the feather quilt I got him for our last anniversary. I'm feeling warm so I don't know what's going on with him.

We see the neurologist in a few hours. I'm keeping busy by reading a good book and cleaning up my disaster kit.

The mosquitoes are really bad outside, I'm glad I wore my bug repellant.

More later after my visit.

[Houston Heather]

My throat is killing me again. We spent 4 hours at the doctors office getting tests done.

We have to wait until the blood tests come back. We have to schedule and do an MRI. Then wait on those results.

Scared to death of MRI results. Scared to death.

On the plus side, I ate smart and got a lot of knitting done.

[Houston Heather]

Some kind of crud is really making the rounds here in Houston.

I bought some cough and cold pills (no sugar) and took some around 7. They help a lot.

I ate too much peanut butter today. Hopefully my body will forgive me. It's the only thing that looked good.

[Houston Heather]

It seems to be a cold. I have coughing, fatigue, runny nose, congestion. I got some Sudafed Cough & cold, it helped a lot today.

It has tylenol in it so I got a little toxic from my lithium. Mainly more tired and foggier thinking.

Worked my butt off today. People made a lot of comments on how sick Ron is. Yes, I know he's sick. I don't know what they want when they say that. I just say, yes, he's seeing doctors and getting tests.

I also had some idiots making comments like "Your machines are empty!" Yes, I know, that's why I'm STANDING HERE WITH A CART WAITING TO FILL IT WHEN YOU GET OUT OF MY WAY. Ron was lying down in the stockroom "burning feet, so tired".

Tomorrow will be better. I have to get up very early so I'm going to cook some dinner, eat, take my pills, and go to bed early.

More happy comments on my black jeans. If this keeps up I will only wear black jeans from now on!