Laura Visit 11/14-11/19

Nadine and I went to Laura's for a girls weekend.  I left home pretty much on time at 9:30.

I should mention that the weirdest thing happened.  I originally packed in my mid size suitcase but then thought it would be too hard to manage going up the stairs to Laura's condo so that morning, kneeling over the suitcase, I transferred everything to my backpack.  When I was done and started walking around my back was hurting but it didn't feel like I pulled anything.  OK - on with the weekend.

Nadine arrived about 1/2 hour before me.  We both got great spots on the street where we left our cars the entire time and Laura chaufferred us around the entire weekend.  According to Nadine, a girls weekend was where you talked about diets, shopped and went out to eat, so that's what we did.  On Friday night we went to Jake and Joe's for dinner but it was going to be an hour wait so we went to Panera's where we sat around and ate and chatted.  From there we went to Marshall's that was in the same plaza searching out a pair of boots for Nadine but came up with nothing so we went home.

On Saturday after a few cups of coffee and a lazy morning we went to DSW and found the boots.  Laura bought a pair of sneakers but I didn't get anything.  I did try on a few pairs, achy back and all.  We had a late, late lunch at Joe's where they didn't rush us so we didn't rush.
On the way back, we stopped at Shaw's where they had Progresso soups for $1 a can - who could pass that up and I bought six bottles of Schweppes Diet Tonic to import across state lines to home where I can never find it any more.

Back at Laura's, everyone was on their electronics of choice or read a book (Nadine) and enjoyed each other's company at the same time.

Sunday we were going to be ambitious.  We went to the gym, Nadine and I did yoga and Laura did Zumba.  After class my back felt really good, it must have been all those forward folds.  But later in the day or the next it wasn't as good so I started bending over a lot whenever I felt the need because that's what made it feel so good from class.  We stopped at Laura's office so she could print out some flyers

and then went back to the house to change.   We went to the newest Wegmans near Laura in Burlington where we had a late lunch on the 2nd floor overlooking the store.

Back at Laura's it was into our PJs to hang out for the evening.

Laura went to work on Monday and it was a day right out of the Carpenter's Song "Rainy Days and Mondays" but it didn't get us down.  We used the occasion to stay in our pajamas all day and not get dressed until we showered at 4PM because we knew we were going out that night.  Nadine even went to the car to get her new boots in her PJs.

At night, after a dinner of Progresso soup,

we went to Laura's womens group meeting which we really liked and near the end everyone wrote nice things about each other on these hearts that were taped on our backs during a break.
This is Laura's.

 This is mine.

Nadine left Tuesday morning and I didn't get a chance to take a picture of hers.  I didn't leave until Wednesday so I went to Wegmans, this time the one in Newton and made dinner for us that night.

Wednesday while I was getting ready to leave for Greta's the carbon monoxide detector starting beeping every 30 seconds.  I thought I had set something off because I was using the hair dryer for so long.  However, it turns out, after some internet searching, that the unit needed to be replaced.  The beeping is a signal that the device is 7 years old and should be replaced.  Good thing it happened before Laura left to come to CT and then NY for Thanksgiving because I could hear the annoying beep outside.

 On my way out of town I stopped to get gas.  A Mobil station for only $2.97!!

TMI Tuesday

I had my colonoscopy today.  The last time I had one was March 2005 but since I turned 70 this year it was time for another one and I didn't need to wait for the 10 year mark.  The colonoscopy was a piece of cake, especially since I slept through the whole thing. Despite my attempt at trying to watch the screen I felt my eyes get heavy and that was the end of it.

The day before is a different story.  The prescription for that day was to take 4 Dulcolax tablets in the afternoon, 2 at 12:00 and the other 2 at 3:00.  Then mix the Miralax with your beverage of choice (from the list) and drink 8 8oz glasses every 15 minutes.  I decided to go to Joann's that morning to buy the fleece that I needed to finish my quilt.  I was late leaving the house so I didn't take my first 2 pills until 1:00.  I took the next 2 at 3 staying on the 3 hour later schedule.  Nothing happened.  At 6:30 I decided I didn't want to wait until 7 to start the Miralax so having mixed them up in the morning I poured my first glass and chugged it.  The instructions were to drink as fast as you can.

I have to say the taste and texture weren't as nauseating as the GoLYTELY I took 9 years earlier.  The GoLYTELY was salty and sort of thick.  Even though I chose the lemon flavor and even added additional Crystal Light to hide the flavor all it did was make it impossible for me to drink lemonade to this day.  So the first glass went well as did the next three.  After that it became more difficult.  The taste wasn't good anymore, even though I chose two different flavors so I could alternate them.  Plus the bloating from drinking so much in such a short time wasn't fun either.  It said if you experienced discomfort you could slow it down.  It took me 1 1/2 hours to finish the rest.  My last dose only had 6 oz since I had drunk some of it earlier in the day before mixing it.  As fast as it went down it came up plus more.  "Oh, oh," I thought.  Since I still hadn't hit the toilet and it was already 9:30 my biggest fear was that they wouldn't be able to do the colonoscopy because I wasn't cleaned out enough and I would have to drink that stuff all over again on another day.

Finally at 11:30 PM it worked.  I won't go into the gory details but I didn't have to sit on the toilet all night.  Just then and I got up a couple of times during the night.  I started to drink a lot of water between bathroom visits since I read that a lot of liquids helped the cleansing process.  The plain water tasted great but I was still worried about not being clean enough for my 8:30 AM appointment.  However, all's well that ends well and I was good enough to pass the test.

The people at the Wilson Health Center couldn't have been nicer.  I was able to sit in my bed, with a heated blanket, how wonderful, using my iPhone to listen to a book and take some pictures until it was my turn.
This is me before they moved  my bed to a sitting position and after I got my IV.

 The whole procedure didn't take very long because before I knew it I was wheeled back into my cubicle space, awakened by the nurse and Larry joined me.  The best part was that it was just like giving blood, juice and cookies after.  I was still pretty out of it because I didn't remember about the cookies and juice until I was looking at my pictures.

Things to remember for the next time, which for some reason is in 5 years.  Do I have something that needs watching?  Start drinking liquids a few days earlier and also start everything earlier than they say so in case I'm slow it won't start so late.

T-shirt Quilt

On Thursday I finally got my t-shirt quilt put together.  Now I'm going to buy some fleece to use for the backing.  Can't wait to finish this so I can move on to the memoir I've been talking about writing for at least 7 years.

Haircut

I got my hair cut almost 3 weeks ago and I took a before picture from the back.  I finally got around to taking an after picture from the back and one from the front too.
Only two people have mentioned that they noticed I got my hair cut.   Much more noticeable from the back in that style.

NYC Marathon

Congratulations to Greta!!!  She completed the NYC Marathon under windy conditions that the elite runners complained about.

Got these pics and video from Charles

I posted this on Facebook today (11/3/14) after posting the above yesterday and wanted to save it here.

I forgot to mention the reason I was even more proud of Greta's accomplishment. She raised $6,525 for Memorial Sloan Kettering as part of their Fred's Team program.
This is what she wrote on her donation page.
"My Mom reminded me the other day that at the finish line in 2000 I said "I will never do this again." But here I am, 14 years later, training to run the NYC marathon. In 2000 I was fit, young, and determined to make a certain time. Well now... I'm no longer (as) young, I'm not nearly as fit, and I'm just looking to finish. I'm blessed to have a healthy husband and sons and everyday I reflect and give my thanks for this. I will not take it for granted. That's why I've joined the fight against cancer by running the NYC Marathon AGAIN. This time I'm doing it with Fred’s Team - Memorial Sloan Kettering’s (MSK) marathon program. The program raises money to fund lifesaving research at MSK—and I’m proud to be part of the team! I can imagine a world without cancer."
Love you Greta!
Mom