Saturday and Breakfast Out

I slept really well again last night. I did take a melatonin tablet and I think that helps. It also helps to have one less problem to think about.

I do have the trip to Hutchinson to go through the salt mines in October on the 10th.

I have one doctor's appointment out of the way and won't have another until November 6th. 

In January, I want to get the surgery redone.  That will give me plenty of time to heal before the cruise. Sometime after the first of the year, I will need to get my passport for that cruise in June.

I got up pretty early but had plenty of sleep. I have dressed and got myself ready for the day. I will pick up Bob about 7:00 for breakfast at Eggberts.

He will go to Tulsa today with some of his classmates...to have lunch and a reunion.  That should be fun for him.

I'm not sure what I will do today.  I have cleaned the apartment and raked and bagged leaves. I may just read. I have been working on my book for a week but have been too busy to read very much.

More later...

I ended up calling Karan and we went to Bartlesville and ate out at McCalisters.  Then we shopped at Christopher and Banks. Karan bought several new things.  I couldn't find anything I needed. I tried on some grey jeans but they were too large.

Then we came back home.

I had received my new med in the mail.

I read awhile and then watched Dateline until 9:00 when I took my bath and used my new med. Then Missy and I went to bed.

Friday and Exercises

Another good night of sleep. I did take a melatonin tablet.

This morning I will go to exercise class and afterward we will eat our leftovers from Wednesday noon ....the broccoli cheese chicken casserole. Bob will bring a salad. I only have cookies for dessert.

This afternoon, after lunch, I will go to the church and clean up the mess left there.

More later...

After exercise class several of us went to the Donut Palace for a chance to fellowship.Then Bob A. brought me home to get lunch together. We will eat at noon today. Then I will go out to church to clean up the mess.


Lunch warm ups were fine.

Then I went out to clean the church and what do you know! Someone beat me to it. It was already cleaned.

More even later...

Later, I learned that my daughter, Leslie, had cleaned it up. I should have known. I brought the towels home to wash them.

I took Missy out on the carport for awhile three times today. She loves the outside.  I raked leaves on the east side of my apartment after Bob left after lunch and so she got to go out there too. Generally I make her stay on the carport. But she likes to eat grass when she can and its long enough for her to do that right now.

Bob came over at 5:00 to watch the news and left at 7:00...after we had watched the news and later  Brooks and Shields on PBS. We both like their commentary on the news. I had bought some butter brickle ice cream when I went to Brahms for milk yesterday so we each had a small bowl.

I have taken my bath and washed my hair. I had raked leaves again today and it was 91 degrees out there so I was quite sweaty.

I wrote my boys an e-mail about my trip to Kansas City with Leslie on Monday and then went in the living room to listen to the music on TV and read my book.  I am reading "Long Time Passing"  a Pulitzer Prize winning book about the Vietnam War. It was written after that war was over. I had read it years ago but since I have been watching the PBS series I decided to re-read it.

Missy and I will go to bed sometime around 9:00 or 9:30.

Thursday and a Trip to Bartlesville.

I slept well again last night. Missy woke me up at 5:30 with her little quiet "mew" to tell me she had used the litter box  and wanted me to come clean it up. What a cat!

This morning I will pick up Bob A. and we will go to Bartlesville to get my medical records from Dr. Peaster's office.  I'd almost bet money they are not ready. I am also to get the records that show the procedure he used to do my failed surgery.  I have to sign for them and pay for them anyhow.  Bob and I will eat out while we are there. I have leftovers from yesterday's casserole but maybe we will have that on Friday.

I have fed Missy and myself and am ready for the day. So...more later...

I went to Bartlesville to Dr. Peaster's office to pick up my medical records. They were ready.  Afterward we went out to church for him to check to make sure the lights were all off. There was still plenty of mess from the party. I took my card table home.  I had done quite a bit of cleaning before we left Wednesday night but plenty of people were still there so we left. Evidently everyone else did too. I plan to go back out there tomorrow afternoon and clean up and put everything away. 

Then we went on to Independence and had lunch at Great China. I brought half of mine home for Marilyn.

When I took Bob back to his apartment, I came home and lay down with Missy for a nap.

Bob came over at 5:00 to watch the news and after he left I took my bath and watched another episode of "Vietnam War" on PBS.  It's pretty grizzly.

At 10:20, Missy and I went to bed.

Wednesday and Exercises

I slept well again last night. I feel like a new person.

I will go to exercise class this morning and then after lunch I will go to Bunco out at Asbury Village.

For lunch we will have a chicken broccoli casserole. Bob will bring a salad.

Later this evening I will go to game day at the church and will take my Wahoo game and trail mix for my treat. Leslie picked up my card table yesterday afternoon after we got home from Kansas City. I have invited Rick and Carmen but I don't know whether they will be able to come. Rick works 70 hours a week.

There's another hurricane hitting Puerto Rico. Irma had already devastated the island two weeks ago. The PHD weatherman said the ocean was 88 degrees and that's what fueled these latest hurricanes. It used to be when the storms hit the gulf they strengthened. Now the ocean is very warm so they strengthen out there.

Lunch turned out fine. I am now baking cookies.  Rick came home for lunch and he said they were planning on attending the game day.


I went to Bunco at 2:00 and played until 4:00. I won "most wins" and got a nice candle and a plaque.  It's always fun to play out there.

More even later...

This evening Bob A. came by and we went to pick up Phyllis F. to go to game evening at church . We had a good attendance and lots of food.

I got home and stayed up later to watch the latest episode of Vietnam War, Ken Burns latest documentary.  It's riveting! I went to bed at 10:30.

Tuesday and Cake Day

I slept very well last night...for the first time in weeks.

I got up at 5:00 as usual.  I got myself ready for the day and went on up to Independence with the cakes. Then I got my hair done. Bob did not go. He had a committee meeting. When I got home I learned that his meeting had suddenly been cancelled.

I fixed hamburgers and shoestrings for lunch. After lunch Marilyn R. came over and I told her about my appointment yesterday.

After Bob left from lunch, I laid down with Missy and watched TV for awhile.

The compounding pharmacy called and I gave them my credit card number for my prescription. I had learned at Walgreen's that the  prescription Dr. P. wanted me to use would cost $371. I knew I couldn't afford that med. I called them and they asked me to check on the second one they wanted me to use in it's place.  It was $467. I couldn't afford that either. So I called them back again and after six tries, I finally got them again on the phone. They will have a compounding pharmacy in Lenexa make it up for me. That will be $75.00 each time it must be filled. The antibiotic I am to take before my next appointment on November 6th was $11 and change.

What a mess.

Then Bob came to watch the news. He left at 6:15.

I will take my bath later. I want to watch episode three of the Vietnam War on PBS. I will get back to this later. I went to bed at 9:15.

Monday and My Kansas City Trip

Another bad night's sleep last night. I awoke at 3:00AM this morning and that was all of my sleep. I had gone to bed at 9:30 after watching the first episode of the Vietnam War on PBS. 

One thing I learned yesterday though is why my memory is getting so bad. I had remembered reading an article in my Consumers Report Health magazine some time ago about the effects of antihistamines on the brain. I looked it up on the internet and found it.

The article said one of the side effects of Benadryl and other antihistamines is that they are able to cross the blood-brain barrier and antagonize histamine-1 (H1) receptors in the brain and produce impairment of cognitive functions, including attention, memory, sensorimotor coordination, information processing, and psychomotor performance. Histamine has been widely reported to play an important role in maintaining central nervous system (CNS) arousal and alertness.

These are related to the information processing demands of all human day-to-day activities and functions, and therefore, administration of agents that cross the blood-brain barrier and impair central nervous system functions may lead to serious issues  of patient safety as well as affect the quality of life of patients. For example, central nervous system (CNS) impairment will not only impair the ability to drive and operate machinery, but will affect activities such as classroom learning, causing patients to feel tired, sleepy, and unable to concentrate.

Evidence from epidemiologic studies has begun to determine a relationship between an increased incidence of automobile accidents and the administration of antihistaminergic agents. 3% of patients involved in fatal road traffic accidents were found to have previously taken an antihistamine.

Furthermore, 72% of patients who have used an antihistamine and subsequently been involved in a fatal road traffic accident have been determined to be culpable, compared with 86% of those who had consumed alcohol.

It has also been suggested that, cerebral H1 blockade is associated with falls in the elderly.

Assessment of the CNS effects produced by various drugs, such as antidepressants. hypnotics, and anxiolytics, using objective psychometrics has been a common practice since the late 1960s. However, the rigorous testing of antihistamines to ensure the central nervous system (CNS) safety of these agents is a relatively more recent development.

In order to evaluate properly, there is a need for objective assessments and pharmacologic evidence that is not solely reliant on a patient's subjective perception of tiredness and sleepiness. Penetration into the central nervous system (CNS) can be measured objectively using psychometric tests, developed specifically to assess the central effects of drugs, and also by positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging. It is important that objective assessments include placebo and positive (verum) controls. Placebo is used to control the measured effects of the experimental drug treatment and the verum to validate the sensitivity of the psychometric assessments.

This explains the memory impairment I have suffered. I have taken antihistamines off and on since the 1960's. This same article suggests use of antihistamines actually causes allergies to worsen.

I also copied this information for the benefit of the readers of my blog.  The information is not generally known by the public who take antihistamines. Many doctors are not even aware of these studies and side effects and continue to advise use of them to control allergies.

More later...after my trip. It's 4:40 AM now.  

Leslie came by about 8:00 and we left for Kansas City. We ran into a lot of rain on the way up. We ate at a Mexican restaurant and then went on over to the hospital for my appointment.

There I met Dr. Priya Padmanabhan MD, MRM, who is also an assistant professor at Kansas University Medical School and she explained the needs of my body to retain the bladder where it needs to be. (You can see why everyone calls her Dr. P.)

She drew us a diagram of what my body looks like and how the series of muscles are supposed to   work. She also had me do some exercises to see where the failure had happened. I could immediately see where Dr. Peaster went wrong with his surgery.  There are three groups of muscles that hold the bladder in it's place.  The upper group is what held the uterus when I had a uterus. Those muscles have to be utilized to hold the bladder up where it needs to be. He did nothing about those important muscles.... consequently the bladder did not stay up where it belongs.

I have an appointment on November 6th for a series of tests prior to an appointment to have the surgery done over.  It may be January before I can get the surgery scheduled. They are very busy.

I am to go back to Bartlesville on Thursday and sign for copies of my medical records at Dr. Peaster's office and also get copies of the procedure he used with his surgery.

Then Leslie and I came on back home. I really trust this Dr. P.  She explained the entire procedure for me.

Bob was here when we got home. I told him about my experience and after we watched the news, he left and went home.

I took my bath and watched the second edition of the Vietnam War on PBS.  It's 9:00 now and Missy and I will go to bed.

Sunday and a Rainstorm

I slept better then I had in weeks last night. I had no drainage to keep me awake. Benadryl really works.

I read the paper and also placed a note on Rick and Carmen's windshield  to invite them to church. They may not c0me today if it is still raining at 11:00.  But I invited them anyhow.

I have fed Missy and myself, read the paper and swept the leaves off our carport. I took her out briefly but it was thundering and she hates the thunder. So we came back in. I notice I forgot to put our church brief in the Saturday Journal. It was a terribly busy week so I'm not surprised I forgot something. I got next week's sent in this morning. It comes out in next Saturday's Journal.

This is our speaker from the retreat Barbara Carter.:

She is an Apostle in our church. One of the few women in that position.

So More later...

My neighbors came again to church and just now sent me a piece a special cake. I am saving it to share with Bob A.  We had a very good service this morning and a good sized congregation too even though it had been raining. When your church is in the country, it's not as handy to invite people.

Afterward  Phyllis and I and Bob went over to Cherryvale to Just Us for lunch. Then we came back to Coffeyville and Bob took Phyllis and me home and then went on home himself.

I worked up the newsletter and even sent out a correction. Leslie reminded me that she and Johnna had traded so she and John could go to Roaring River to fish next weekend. Then I baked the cake that we will take to Independence on Tuesday along with Phyllis' and Bob's and Karan's.

I still need to ice it when it cools.

More even later...

I worked on my cake and tried to balance my checkbook. I failed that last job. Then Bob came and I gave it up and watched 60 Minutes. After that, Bob left. I started watching the PBS special on the Vietnam War.

Afterward, I took my bath and Missy and I went to bed.