Let Them Eat ..... Pie

 Lacking the energy to do much, I decided to try to download the pictures from my phone .... again. I was not successful. I ended up stressed, so I just stopped.

My 6-month check-up with the cardiologist happened last Thursday. The Tuesday before was my husband's 6-month check-up with the same doctor. His was uneventful, other than a slight elevation in his blood pressure. She changed one of his drugs and I am now responsible to check his BP and record it. He is pretty cavalier about his health and his medications, leaving all the details to me. Pretty normal for him. Whenever he goes on My Chart, he will ask me the same questions. Such as, "What is hyperlipidemia?" Not like that, he will sound out the word like it is a foreign language, then spell it when I stare at him. I will then speak as if to a grade school person. Telling him the answer is right there in the word: Hyper referring to "a whole lot, more than is recommended; and lipid referring to fat, in this case cholesterol." He will accept my explanation until the next time he gets curious about his My Chart entries.

My visit wasn't so routine, despite my primary nurse practitioner being very pleased with my blood analysis. My cardiologist does not like my borderline cholesterol levels and added another drug to my daily regimen. Then she listened to my heart, and she was not pleased at its performance either. This led to an interrogation about missed beats and a few runs of tachycardia I had been experiencing. I left with a Holter monitor applied to my chest by an assistant with an eye to detail. I have worn this apparatus before, and it had come in the mail with instructions for application and use. I did what was asked and then at the end of my time sent everything back. Apparently, some patients do not follow instruction well and now she applies the apparatus before the patient leaves the office.

While I did everything the instructions indicated, it was without the vigor she employed in using the disc of sandpaper, followed by alcohol to prep the skin upon which the apparatus was to be applied. I am now hoping everything will be sufficient and I won't be having my skin sanded again!!

Next Tuesday morning I will present myself at 7:45 am for a chemical stress test that should last an hour or more. We will need to leave home at 7 to arrive on time. The most difficult thing about this will be rousing the man who likes to sleep long into the am hours. Then, early next month I will have another ultrasound of my heart and carotid arteries. I just had that 6 months ago. She will be looking for any changes in my heart valves that are apparently "floppy". Just writing all this down makes me weary.

Under interrogation I was forced to admit just how tired I have been lately. Some days I will nap late in the day, then still want to return to my bed at 7 pm. If I try to wait until a later hour, I will spend a restless night with insomnia. So, I should be well rested but am not. A lot of take-out has been consumed of late. Unless I get dinner planned and started quite early in the day, I can't seem to put a meal together.

While in the doctor's treatment room waiting my baby girl called and invited us for Thanksgiving. I accepted before even consulting my husband. Just like that I can make a decision! I am to bake apple pies. That's it. I usually make monster amounts of mac and cheese so some can be frozen for my grandson who has deemed mine to be the best in the land. Growing up, we never had so many starches as will be on my daughter's menu. There will be dressing, mashed potatoes, and mac and cheese. My child is a potato connoisseur. She loves those starchy tubers. There was a time when she was much younger that she considered the three sides that came with a meal to be fried, mashed and baked. She could tell you where to order potatoes and where to avoid the dish at all costs.

Today I will bake an apple pie. Have to test the recipe I landed upon, don't I? Apple Slab Pie. I will make a half recipe to test it. I even have whipped cream in a can to top it and caramel syrup to drizzle atop the whole shebang. We can have it for supper. Yes, I mean for the main course! Kidding, of course. But if I lived alone, it would definitely be a possibility!