Pellet heads!! What's up today?

And the "low sodium" or "30% less sodium" tags on labels don't mean anything besides they may be a bit less unhealthy. I swear that there wasn't as much salt (or suger) put into food WIWAK.

I'm not on low sodium, I just don't care for much salt in my food to begin with. Okay, there are certain things I want salt on: french fries and chips (although, most have too much salt for me, even the lower sodium ones). Eateries and prepared foods depend way too much on salt for flavoring and it irritates me that I can't taste the food itself - a lot of the time I just taste salt and maybe a bit of other seasoning.

 

Happy 4th everybody!

 

190 mg Hannaford instant Oatmeal Maple/Brown Sugar
160 mg Hannaford instant Oatmeal Apple/Cinn
75 mg Hannaford instant Oatmeal
20 mg Nathan's Jumbo Crinkle Cut Fries
130 mg Sabra Classic Hummus
0 mg Wyman frozen Blueberres
130 mg Wicked Extra Sharp Cheddar
130 mg Mix chocolate and banana pudding

Read'em and weep.

 

My usual breakfast:
Quaker Original instant oatmeal 75 mg
Bananas 1.5 mg
Light cream 15 mg

My usual dinner (desert)
Cabot Farms 2% Greek yogurt 75 mg
100% cacoa (powder or bars for flaking) 0mg (mix that in with the yogurt instead of pudding

The rest of the day I eat a lot of vegies and lean beef.

Okay, so I eat a lot of cheese thru the day too . And I've been known to make a loaded plate of nachos (corn chips, cheese, salsa, sour cream, cheese, meat or meatless, and sometimes black olives - oh, and more cheese) that probably contain a couple thousand mg of salt (even using "lower salt chips") - sometimes several times per week.

 

What does your salsa say? That stuff is all over the map, so is the cheese.

 

I did in 190 mg yep that maple/brown sugar speaks to me and 75mg instant plain and a heaping helping of 0 mg blueberries I use 0 mg 4 oz, water to cook in.

Me has swallowed my 40 mg of la-six and 81 mg coated aspirin.

That's it so far. I do have 2 thick lamb chops thawing out for dinner.

3 mg sour 70mg moctail 14 oz. liquids 0 mg 6 oz. water

 

2 mg chocolate covered orange jelly and 0 mg 4 oz. of water.

65 mg hummus.

130 mg wick sharp cheddar cheese.

60 mg honey BBQ toasted chips.

135 mg chocolate pudding.

2 mg chocolate covered orange jelly.

 

4 mg (2) chocolate covered orange jellies.
30 mg. (3) reese's
20 mg. Jumbo Crinkle Cut Fries.]

 

265 mg.
75 mg.
392 mg.
4 mg,
30 mg.
20 mg.

786 mg,

 

That is why I said I probably get a couple of thousand when I make nachos - cheese (170 mg), salsa (220mg) and black olives (140) are very high. Surprisingly the chips are lower than any of those at 90m (and the chips I currently have aren't lower salt). But with the amounts I use of all those ingredients (probably 3-4 servings of each - except balck olives I haven't had for a couple of weeks), that really doesn't help.

 

Here's what's been going on -

Spent 5 hours in the ER Saturday 6/21 with abdominal and back pain. After labs and a CT scan, they said I had a UTI and a fragment of the stone in the urethra coming from the right kidney. Put me on antibiotics and sent me home.

Had the stent in the bladder removed on 6/25. Urologist said I didn't really have a UTI, just some bacteria from the stone itself but said to still take the antibiotics anyway. He is very concerned about the area in the kidney where the stone was embedded. Said the tissue doesn't look healthy and he's worried about it scarring the urethra opening out of the kidney closed. So I will be going back every few months for a while to have it monitored.


When I was in the ER back in the beginning of May, the ER doctor mentioned that I could have POTS, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. After reading more about it, I was becoming convinced it's what I have. The 2 prime contributors are being diabetic and having had COVID (which I have tested positive for on 4 occasions in the last 5 years). And I have a lot of the symptoms - extreme fatigue, no energy, dizziness, low BP when standing, rapid heart beat when standing or moving, insomnia, constipation, muscle loss in legs.

Saw the cardiologistthis past Monday. He says because I am male and old , it can't be POTS, but there are other neurological conditions that can cause similar symptoms. So he took me off the cardevilol (was making BP drop too much when standing/moving) and am going on midorine which constricts the blood vessels to keep the BP from dropping when standing and moving. Said my gastritis and the drastic weight loss can also be a factor. Also wants me to get a brain MRI and see a neurologist, of course with me having a pacemaker god knows when and where the MRI will happen.

My pacemaker is MRI compatible, Exeter Hospital put it in but their MRI department won't do MRIs on pacemaker patients. Haven't been given an actual reason why.

80% of POTS patients are female, age 15-50. Never read anything about it never occurring in men or seniors. Rarer, yes but impossible, no. Have been reading on a couple POTS/dysautonomia forums that as Covid is known to trigger dysautonomia ,cases have sharply risen since 2020, noticeably so in men and seniors. He said I need to see a neurologist just not one who specializes in POTS.
Funny thing is what they have me doing (compression garments, increase fluids and salt plus the midorine) and seeing a neurologist , is the usual treatment for POTS.

So I guess I fall into the category of having a form of dysautonomia, which are conditions that affect your automatic nervous system response.

Cardiologist sent message to my PCP and he is supposed to do the neurology referral . We'll see how fast it gets done.

If I don't start getting better soon, we won't be running the pellet stove this winter. I can barely move around as it is and cannot handle bags of pellets or stove maintenance.

sam

 

So sorry you are having complications. I'm frustrated for you just reading about it - I know it has to be 20x worse for you going thru it. Hoping they figure it out soon and the right treatment is found for your symptoms. Also hope your kidney doesn't scar up and cause further damage.

 

Too f'cn many chiefs none of which has a clue. Diagnose first treat once. Here I sit because I was on BP meds up the butt.
I have two messed up hips now am on vitamin D and take no BP meds. PCPs are boot hill suppliers.

 

Hope this finds Y'all doing well.
Been busy with rebuilding the deck on the north side of the house.
31 years and it was used up.
Planks were rotted, joists were rotted, siding behind the ledger boards were rotted.
Tear it all off and toss it on the burn pile

Originally we had added the deck when we put the place in in 1993.
We back filled around the basement wall and wanted to let the dirt settle for a year.
County would not give us occupancy unless we had a deck.
I wanted two temporary steps until the ground was done settling.
County said no.....Stupid mistake......
We added a cheap deck (12' x 20') And as soon as the rains came things started settling by the day.

Finally we added a pair of frame rails from a 1970 Peterbilt Log truck anchored to the concrete and the opposite ends anchored on pressure treated posted sunk 8 feet down into solid dirt with concrete....
Then added 4 x 6 timbers across the frames to hold the deck.
Worked great.

31 years in the weather and the deck was shot.
As with many projects it was a bag of worms and just hot uglier the farther we dug in..
With the siding torn off we finally reached a good place..

The OSB under the house wrap was good.....

New siding.....
Realigned the truck frames and got things level and parallel to the concrete wall....

Good to go
Decided to use all pressure treated wood this time.
The deck is not sitting on ledger boards this time.....No more water seeping into the siding.
Everything is anchored to the frame rails..

We don't need a full deck any longer.....NEVER DID
A 6 foot x 10 foot deck by the slider and a 5 foot x 12 foot ramp for the "Front door"
We rarely use the front door.....But access is needed to deal with large appliances...

Plus in case of fire or ?????

Things are progressing well....
The hot weather has put a damper on my time outside after about 11am
The sun just cooks that side of the place...

The aluminum sheet in the piccy ????? A wood Pecker sat on a folded lawn chair and drilled a hole in the side of the house.....The a ground squirrel decided to enlarge the hole.
No easy way to replace the siding without removing the slider door......So with the weather as it was the sheet aluminum was the only quick and secure fix....

Later the kids plan on moving in after us old folks are gone....Fresh siding and other changes will likely be in the offing....

I am at the point of adding a couple fascia boards (2x6) to the front face of the double stack 4x6 to make things look good and provide a way to anchor steps.....

The loading on those truck frames is minuscule compared to what they can hold......
A bit of overkill .....But works sweet.....
After we get the ramp by the front door we are going to shorten the rails by several feet and add concrete piers to support the ends.....More permanent ya know... As if 31 years was a few days......Seems like yesterday.......

More to follow as we get there.....

 

Sounds like a ton of work, but it lasted for 31 years, so I'd call that a good run.

I don't use my front door except a couple times a year. But, definitely want to keep clear/good access to it in case of emergency.

 

Decks are a necessary EVIL
Here in Western Oregon (25 miles south of Portland) and at an elevation of about 1200 Ft we get 40-50 inches of rain per year.

When we have weather systems in we are in the clouds.....SOUP
So the deck on the North side stays wet from fall until summer.

The project is going well.
I got the railing up on the side facing away from the house (North side) and where the steps will be.
Today the plan is to get the posts up on the side facing away from the glass door..
Two posts...Then the 2x6 railing can go on as well as the 2 x 4 that the balustrades fasten to.

By noon to 1 pm its hot on that side of the house.....
I try to choreograph wrl for each day....And then get it done.
If I get more done....Much better....But as long as I get done what I set out to do....I'm happy.

Was planning on a ramp to the front door....Decided to just do a 6 foot wide deck with one step loke it was for years.
Still makes it possible to get appliances or furniture in/out

Even doing this myself is Spendy.
The little 6 x 10 currently underway ....Likely it will finish close to $1000.
New siding and screws
Paint
Heavy 4x6x10' timbers
2x6 deck planks
4X4 posts for the railings.
2x4 to fasten the balustrades
2x2x36" balustrades
Deck screws
3/8 bolts and washers to fasten the support posts
Timber bolts (Like lag screws)
Some simpson brackets
ALL PRESSURE TREATED WOOD

And a lot of patience.......
A couple extra long drills to get through 4x4 and 4x6

Gonna be sweet when it's done

 

Getting close on PHASE 1, 1A, 1B &2
Deck pretty close to complete
I need to get the step into the sliding door built (Tomorrows job)
Need to build concrete block steps up from the ground....
Later this summer/early fall

PHASE 3 will be the section to the front door....Septembers project....May have to finish it next summer.
As long as we have access to the front door....I'm good
We can do the railing next season if we have to....