A Sunday morning reprieve...

What a great Sunday morning! The reason I say this is because I was fighting a migraine all day Saturday. So, to wake up today without a headache is wonderful.

Now, my migraines today are not like the old ones when I was younger. Those were awful and would sometimes take me to the ER. But these 'in my older years' are more 'ocular migraines'... which affect my sight... zigzag lines that cross my vision and on occasion (like yesterday) leave me headachy all day.

I've often wondered 'why' I get migraines. Wonder if the time I was thrown off a horse and had a concussion (when I was 9) had anything to do with it? They didn't start until I was 23... and pregnant with my 2nd child (so hormones could be the culprit). And I do think stress is the thing that makes most health issues worse.  However, my elderly body seems to be more easily stressed these days... even though my mind (which has an abundance of common sense) tells it to behave and stay calm. 

Oh well, let's let that topic go. I'm headache free today and that's great! Yesterday is gone and today is a new day. My plans are to write a post and make a shepherd's pie for supper - nothing too exciting, but looking forward to it non-the-less. I did text with my daughter this morning about our plans for Easter Sunday dinner. She is making a chicken dish and I'm doing a broccoli and cauliflower casserole... as well as a carrot souffle. We plan on pie for dessert... not sure what kind yet.

And Tom on Sightings over Sixty mentioned simple pleasures we have in retirement - and I have to say that most of these I enjoy are really simple. Friday DH and I went out to a Coffee Shop that I've been meaning to check out for ages. They are a coffee roasting company that recently branched out to open a shop and have taken over an old coffee shop that we used to visit before the pandemic. It was so great to be out and have good drip coffee (and they even offered GF goodies). We also ended up walking the area - which is an open shopping strip with a cute square in the center with trees and benches, etc. I had planned to take pics, but as usual - forgot. But the weather was perfect (cool and overcast) and for such a simple thing, we really enjoyed ourselves.

Life is good...

Enjoy your Sunday! I know I will. 

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

Peter Rabbit and good food finds...

                                    

Looks like one of my daughter's bunnies has become a house pet. I'll have to ask if she's calling him "Peter"...

almond crescents

If you don't recognize these, they are almond crescents... made without flour - so are gluten free. I love these and just found them again at Whole Foods near us. 

I also found that sourdough bread is OK for me to eat even though it is not gluten free. I'm not sure exactly why this is true, but a friend told me this and it seems to work. Since we eat artisan bread with lots of real butter with our coffee or tea most mornings, this has been a revelation. However, I have discovered that there are many versions of sourdough bread... and the one made at Whole Foods is one of my favorites. It is called sourdough boule.

Next is a short video of the kittens coming in to eat in the back.  They are getting big... maybe 6 months plus? 

(Remember to click twice on arrow and then on the little square on right to enlarge video. Then click Esc button to get back.)

That's it for today. Weather is still bouncing back from cold to warm, but hopefully spring is finally here to stay. 

My weird bp problem lasted about a week... and now has subsided again ??  Why?? Don't know... maybe stress (there was a lot going on, but I didn't feel especially stressed). Anyway, sleeping without waking up with the pounding heart and high bp this week. (Hurray!)

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

and the beat goes on...

Hiking around Hot Springs, Arkansas

Another busy week with the kids in town and everyone coming and going at different times. Oldest son and wife flew back in Wednesday morning to have the sutures (or staples) taken out from her hip replacement surgery. They were able to come by after the doctor appointment and have coffee with us before flying out again the same afternoon. 

Then daughter and husband returned that afternoon from their hiking trip around Hot Springs with other family members. They spent the night and took off for home Thursday morning. 

Today (Friday) youngest son and wife both had to work and it's still Spring Break, so youngest granddaughter came and spent the day with us. We had hot chocolate at the Mall, walked the Mall for exercise, and came home to Eataly's Pizza, games, and a movie. 

I didn't go to Hot Springs with them, but they sent lots of pics. Here are a few of the group.

The first pic is a selfie of the whole group (first row: SIL,oldest granddaughter, youngest granddaughter  2nd row: daughter, DIL, and oldest granddaugher's boyfriend) 

2nd pic is daughter and oldest granddaughter and 3rd is oldest granddaughter by herself.

If I haven't commented on your blog, do know that I'm playing catch-up this coming week.  

...and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hugs (virtual), 
Rian

An update on my week... such as it was

Good Morning!

Actually, today is a good day. It's Saturday morning and daughter and hubby will be in soon. They will spend the night here before heading off to Hot Springs to do some hiking during Spring Break. Oldest granddaughter and her boy friend will meet them there.  I thought about going with them, but with this bp spiking and new meds, thought I'd better not... not this time anyway. We are going to visit them in April - and that's not too far off.

Update of bp and Rx Propranolol: Took the pill Thursday night for the first time (before bed at 10pm). Woke up at 5 am with bp spiking to 174/103 bp and heart rate 73.  So, it did lessen the racing heart, but didn't do much for the bp. 

So... I sent a message to my PCP as well as my Cardiologist and the PCP called me back Friday morning telling me to continue with it. Take the pill at bedtime or in the morning. So... since my bp was 94/57 and heart rate 77 on Friday night, I didn't take the pill. It woke me up at about 5am Saturday morning with a bp of 150/85 heart rate 85 so, I took it then. That seems to work out better... 

Sorry to bore you with all this, but some of you did mention things that were helpful last time. Thank you. One interesting fact was that this particular meds is also sometimes used for migraines. Since I get those, it would be great if this also helped keep those at bay. 

Sunday morning:  As it turned out, daughter, son-in-law, as well as youngest son, daughter-in-law, and youngest granddaughter were all here yesterday. We ordered pizza, and had salad, and cheesecake for supper - easy peasy.  And we all retired by 10 pm since they were getting up at 6 in order to leave for Hot Springs. But first DH and I made them bacon, eggs, biscuits, and coffee for breakfast (and some home-made banana nut bread and granola). 

Now it is 10:30 Sunday morning  and DH and I are both exhausted... as we don't normally get up that early... and we forgot about the time change. But we did enjoy having them here! (and most likely both of us will nap this afternoon)

Also... on one of the blogs I read, the person asked what/where would we like to live if we had our druthers... our dream house or place? 

It didn't take me long to say that I would choose  an old 2-3 story house with a widow's walk or cupola (or both) on a cliff overlooking the ocean...  (this of course would be if neither money nor other people's choices were involved). This is where I go in my minds eye. (It might also be filled with books and cats) Where would you go?

Hugs (virtual) 

Rian

semi-serious post...

this is how I feel in the morning
 after a bp occurrence

I'm posting this because I've noticed that sometimes fellow bloggers have interesting and helpful information in their comments. I wouldn't put this on Facebook, but I think because most of my blog readers are 50+, that this would be a safer and more accurate demographic. 

Those of you that read my posts may remember that a while back I posted about occasionally having strange occurrences... I would wake up during the night or early morning with my heart pounding, headachy, and high bp. I was tested for sleep apnea and that was negative, I wore a heart monitor for a month and outside of a few quirky readings, the Cardiologist found nothing serious. I do have what they call Grade 1 Diastolic Dysfunction, but apparently that's not unusual for someone my age (77). And I have a few leaky valves, but they do an Echocardiogram every 6 months or so to keep an eye on them.

Well, these occurrences have started happening again with more frequency. Last night I decided to check my bp before bed (around 10pm) and it was 118/68 heartrate 74 (normal).  When I woke up between 5 and 7am, it was 170/99 heart rate 107. I got up, made a cup of tea, and did my breathing exercises (breathe in through nose to the count of 5, then hold breath to the count of 24, breathe out long breath through mouth) This usually lowers both my bp and my heart rate. 

So I got up around 8 am, took bp again around 9:30 and it was down to 130/79  heart rate 77.  Later at 12:30 it was up again to 151/83 heart rate 76, but down at 1:30 pm to 120/77 heartrate 80. My normal bp runs low-normal to normal (94 - 118). 

Anyway, I'm thinking nocturnal hypertension? The Cardiologist gave me some Rx Propranolol 10 mg to take in 2021, but I've never taken any as my breathing exercises seem to control it. I'm not into meds unless absolutely needed (due to the fact that I've had some strange reactions to many). I do intend to call him tomorrow. He will probably tell me to take the Rx Propranolol, but if it lowers bp, I wouldn't want to take it at night when my bp is normal, but possibly just in the morning when it spikes??

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions or comments, I'd love to hear them.

Sorry this is such a bummer of a post.

Hugs (still virtual),

Rian

Thursday, March 2nd... Tornado Watch Alert!

We just got a "Tornado Watch Alert!" for our area. It's weird as although they have been predicting severe weather all day, it's been unusually quiet, no winds, very still... and very warm (80 F). 

We were supposed to go have dinner at a friend's house this evening, but with all the warnings (even schools cancelled all after school activities), we rescheduled our get-together for tomorrow.

Our daughter-in-law had her hip replacement surgery Tuesday and was discharged from the hospital yesterday. She did well, but is having a bit of pain (which I guess is to be expected).

If I remember correctly, when I was growing up in New Orleans, whenever a hurricane was coming, I remember the sky turned a strange green color before it hit. Don't know if that's real or something I just saw in my child's eye... (but look at 1st sign here!)

and lastly:

Nature can be scary. When lives are lost, it's nothing to joke about. But I find that it does help to lighten the worry when things get tense. Hopefully nothing too severe will happen, but it's been a long stressful day. I hope the weathermen/women are just over-reacting. Signing off at 4 PM.

Hugs (virtual),

Rian 

(Something else noticed: Feral cats seem to have disappeared. Haven't seen any all day...???)

March 1, 2023 Rabbit! Rabbit! White Rabbit!

 

Rabbit! Rabbit! White Rabbit!




Hugs (still virtual),

Rian

Hugs