A Varied Day

In commemoration of the seventh anniversary of 9-11, the first thing Hubbie did this morning was display the flag on the well house. He hoped it wouldn't rain while it was out, because he was scheduled to go to a Master Gardener meeting this morning, and I would be at Cardiac Rehab, so neither of us could bring it in. Fortunately, it did not rain while we were gone.



For the first time since I began Rehab, there were more women than men in the session...five women and one man. For the longest time, I was the only woman among four or five men.





One of the women attending for the first time today is a lady who attends water aerobics with me. One day as we were swimming, she questioned me extensively about what my symptoms were before I had my heart episode. I related my experience and told her to see her doctor if she had any pains that were different from what she'd experienced before. So two weeks ago, when she had what she thought might be a very bad case of indigestion in her upper chest, she remembered what I said and went to see about it. Sure enough, she had an 85% blocked artery and underwent a procedure to have a stent implant.





One of the other new patients said she had a pain between her shoulders that sent her to her doctor. Another said she had pain in her chest with exertion. Mine, of course, felt like an ice cream headache in my left arm, between my wrist and my elbow. So symptoms vary, particularly among women, and we need to be alert to unusual pains in our upper bodies.



Interesting news this morning: one of the Rehab nurses who was pregnant went into labor just after our 9 a.m. workout session last Tuesday. She was three weeks early, but apparently her water broke and there was a scurrying bustle as everyone present came to her aid until she could be wheeled to delivery. She has a healthy 6 lb. baby boy.

Today was my day for visiting the hospital...this morning for Cardic Rehab, and this afternoon for my annual mammograms. The technician commented that lots of women refuse to have this simple screening, because they say it hurts. The test is a bit "squeezie," but I don't find it intolerable at all. As the tech pointed out, these tests are very brief, and don't hurt nearly as much as cancer.

As she said, one in eight women will have breast cancer sometime in her lifetime, and it is best to catch it early and increase chances of survival. "There are around 35 women working in this wing of the hospital," she said, "so probably about four of us will have cancer at some point." I know at least five women with breast cancer...a couple of them have been survivors for several years, one has had two bouts with it but is doing well, one has just recently been diagnosed, and one is terminal.



When I got home from the hospital, I found there was a strange van in the driveway. Presently, my husband and a young woman came walking across the yard. The woman had found a Pomeranian dog lying dead in the road and thought it might be ours. It was not, of course. Our dog is a Shih Tzu that we never allow outdoors without a leash.

After a couple of minutes, another young woman drove into the driveway, asking if the dog might be ours. Hubbie went down the road and got the dog and lovingly laid it alongside our driveway, while one of the young women went across the street to find out if the dog belonged there. It did, and the young woman owner came across the street, picked up the little dog, hugged it and cried as she carried it back to her house. I choked up, too, as I watched her.



After that, Hubbie returned to mowing the lawn, while I prepared a supper of chicken fajitas, served with leftover macaroni and cheese...both recipes are low salt and low fat.



This evening, Hubbie and I went to the community theater building to deliver four glass decanters and several Victorian looking brooches to be used as props in an upcoming production of "Jekyll and Hyde." The play director sent a request for several prop items to the community theater board meeting last Tuesday, and decanters and brooches were two of the things she asked for. Hopefully, someone else has a Victorian looking mantle clock and other items on the list.



On our way home from delivering the props, we stopped by the WDCS to pick up snack crackers and cheese tidbits to take as our contribution to the refreshment table at an artist reception tomorrow evening.



A pleasant thing happened today: we received an unsolicited CD of Mozart music. Inside the CD case is a very nice booklet that contains a biography, a section about Mozart's life and times, and a listener's guide, among other topics. The company who sent the CD hopes that those who receive it will want to subscribe to classical music and booklets monthly. We do not, though we'll certainly enjoy listening to this free one.