Succah is up.

Despite Mark's leg problems last week, he was able to put the succah up this morning.  Last year the wind knocked it down and bent several poles.  He wasn't sure it would go up, but it did.  I have to say the wind is kicking up, so we are hoping it stays up!

We had a lovely time at the Tampa Bay History Museum yesterday. One of our NARFE friends, in fact the President of the Florida Federation of NARFE, was there as a docent and even ate lunch with us.  How cool!  We also went to a harp concert at the end of the day which was not only beautiful and musical but also educational. I learned a lot about both lever harps and pedal harps.  She played both.

Us is with docent and President of NARFE Florida, Terry Zitek.

With Susie and Ed waiting for a show about a Seminole chief and the Seminole wars to start.

Many great exhibits about various elements of the Tampa Bay area history.

What an amazing harp concert!

Tampa Bay History Museum and down a pound.

We had a super busy day yesterday of driving around doing errands like shopping and picking up Mark's car  It took FOREVER.  We didn't even get to the library.  Fortunately, our "boss" at the library was okay with that.  I sent him a note around 11 a.m. saying it looked like we might not make it until 2 instead of 1.  At 2 I told him we wouldn't make it at all.  By then, Mark's leg was really hurting a lot. I knew that once he got home, he would need to prop that leg up and ice it.  Mark got home at 3ish.  I didn't get home until after 4.  I never did even eat lunch yesterday.  When we were shopping at Winn Dixie, we picked up two packages of the birthday cake flavor special Mickey's 90th birthday Oreos, so I ate two cookies in the car driving to get Mark's car from the shop.  Mark then drove home while I finished the shopping at Publix, including getting his prescription NSAID.. I also went to Walgreen's to get him a compression stocking to wear today when we go to the museum.  Just shopping for an hour at WinnDixie made his leg swell and throb.  He was miserable.  We are wondering how he's going to get through the museum.  He says he's going to do what I do, sit down periodically.

I made the dinner and cleaned up everything last night so that he could stay in the recliner with his leg elevated and iced.  He took his first dose of the NSAID after dinner.  He'll take the second dose after breakfast this morning.  I hope by the time the 30 day course of it is up the whole thing is resolved.  The antibiotic should come in the mail by Wednesday, we hope, so that might help, too.  The swelling is less this morning, but if he puts pressure on the back of the calf,. there is still pain.

Meanwhile, I did drop a pound yesterday to 264.  I ate 1350 calories.  It was a good day of calories and lots of walking, 6500 steps, in three different stores and around the house.

Today we will be eating lunch in the Columbia Restaurant inside the museum.  Mark and are I are going to split the sandwich and I'm probably going to get the vegetarian black bean soup to go with my half sandwich.  That will be kind of high in calories, but it's the only meal this week that will be outside the house.  I think this will be a great week, and I'm looking forward to hitting 260 before I have to go in that MRI machine next Friday for for the brain scan.

Thursday I moved up to 50 mg at night of the Topamax. I have not noticed more queasiness, but this morning I got the very common side effect of tingling in the right hand. It was more like prickles. I reached for my toothbrush this morning and it felt like the toothbrush was covered with needles.  I realized it was in my hand.  It only lasted about 10 minutes because it's already gone.  It will be interesting to see if that's something that will be coming and going or if it's just a one shot.

Did I mention that I'm very happy to be 264 this morning?

Good weigh in after all. News about Mark.

After a week of eating out, I did have a little loss.  My weight this morning is an even 265, so that's a loss of a few tenths for the week and a maintenance since the last report on Tuesday morning. I am very happy to be down about half a pound after the six days of eating out every day. It's a relief.

We have had some lovely meals out, too.  The restaurant last night at Loew's Royal Pacific at Universal Resort was spectacular.  We would definitely go back there in the future to try some other things from their menu.  We also really enjoyed the two kiosks at the Food and Wine Festival on Monday, Olive Garden on Tuesday, and the Break the Fast at the synagogue Wednesday.

Before and after Yom Kippur on Wednesday, Mark had to go to the doctor.  On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, Mark had leg pain in the evening. I mentioned that in the previous blog.  We went to the doctor Tuesday because we were concerned he had a clot.  There was swelling in the calf and pain when he touched a certain spot.  At the office, the PA asked him to take his shoes and socks off, and we were stunned to see how huge his ankle was on that side.  She sent him for an immediate ultrasound, sure there was a clot.  Well, there was no clot.

So we had to move on to check into the hotel and go to services.  Services are long, both Tuesday evening and all day Wednesday, but the choir did well and everything was good.  Break the fast was delicious and social with our choir friends from the synagogue.  Then Thursday we went back to the doctor to see what it might be if not a clot.  The decision is that it is either a pulled/strained muscle or tendon.  Treatment is elevation, icing of the ankle, heating of the back of the knee/top of calf area where the immediate pain is, continued walking periodically so as not to be sitting too long, a prescription NSAID, which we haven't picked up yet, and an antibiotic on the off chance that it might be cellulitis.  We don't really believe it's cellulitis, but it's better to be on the safe side, so he's going to take the antibiotic.

Today we are doing some shopping and working in the library.  We are NOT going to a doctor or the synagogue.  LOL!!  How nice!

Tomorrow we are not going to the synagogue either.  We are going to go to the Tampa Bay History Museum and eat out at the Columbia Restaurant inside the museum.  Susie and Ed are doing the driving and treating us to lunch.  Well, we will pay them back for the lunch next week so that we don't have to handle money on Shabbat.  They very nicely volunteered to do that, so we were happy to accept the offer.  Then we have a concert here in Solivita in the evening by a professional harpist.  It's going to be an awesome day!  I'll have to be a little careful with the lunch, but I looked at the menu already.  I'm going to eat a mahi mahi Cuban sandwich that sounds amazing!  I hope it doesn't kill my calories for the whole day.  And the museum was FREE because it's part of a Smithsonian special free museum day if you printed out a coupon, so it was hard to resist going.

Kol NIdre tonight and Yom Kippur tomorrow.

There will be no blog tomorrow because we will be in the synagogue all day.

I am down the weight I put on the last two days and even a smidge more.  This morning I am an even 265, so I'm very happy.  We did eat lunch and dinner out, but I kept it reasonable.  Plus we walked miles and miles in sticky, hot weather. I sweated buckets and drank five giant bottles of water. It was a tough physical day, and my muscles ached all over when we got home at 8 p.m.

Today we will be checking in to the Comfort Inn near our synagogue for the next two nights in order to be close to the shul for the drive to and from the synagogue for the break in Yom Kippur service.  It's just too far to come home, as we found out the first year here in Florida.  We will eat dinner at Olive Garden this year and break the fast at the synagogue.  I hope that does not put any weight back on because I'm really excited for hitting an even 265 this morning.

Mark has been having leg pain in his right calf since last Monday evening.  Sometimes he limps.  Advil helps.  Now the leg looks a little swollen. I'm hoping he will call the doctor and go there today to see if it's anything serious, but I don't know if he will.  He has all day up until about 3 p.m. to have it looked at.  After that, he can't do anything about it until Thursday.  We shall see.

Here are some pictures from yesterday.

Yesterday I rode with my friend Barbara.  She always holds up her arms and encouraged me to do the same!

It was our fourth time at the Food and Wine Festival, so we  got our Mickey cutting boards.

Up two in two days.

Yup.  Two days of eating a meal out and I've gained two pounds.  That's how easy it is.  This morning I'm 267.4 and I'm about to go out and eat two meals out today.  The good news is that they are at WDW, so at least there will be at a lot of walking involved.  That might help.

We had a lovely time at shul on Saturday with the birthday party for one of my choir members. The choir sang very well, too.  Sunday we saw Gypsy at the Garden Theater in Winter Garden.  It was one of the best shows we've seen there.  Then we went to Hemingway's for dinner, which was also amazing.  I kind of did myself in yesterday because we got a bonus coupon at the theater for booking early.  It entitled us to 7 free snacks at the snack bar over the course of the season, so I got a pack of M and Ms and ate them during the show, 420 calories for the pack. UGH.  That surely helped add that extra pound yesterday.

I'm on my fourth day of the 25 mg of Topomax.  Each morning around 9:30 it has made me feel a little queasy to my stomach.  That seems to last about 90 minutes and then I don't notice it any more.  I'm a little concerned about how that's going to increase on Thursday when I double the dose and then next Thursday when it doubles again.  I'm not going to continue this drug if the side effects get bad because smelling the cigarette smoke every few days and getting an occasional ocular migraine is going to be better than feeling sick to my stomach every day.

No loss.

I really thought I'd drop a pound this morning because I was so especially good yesterday, but I did not.  I'm essentially the same at 265.6.

I ate 1299 calories yesterday with the sodium at about 1250 mg, which is excellent. I did my 40 minute water aerobic routine, swam a few laps, and did 13 minutes of weight lifting on the machines in the gym.  Oh, well.

Sadly I am now facing a stretch of six straight days when one or more meals will be eaten out.

Saturday....big catered luncheon at shul today for a choir member's birthday. Choir is singing five songs.

Sunday....dinner at Hemingway's in the Grand Hyatt with Goldbergs for the Magical Dining program.

Monday....lunch at Hollywood Studios and dinner at Epcot Food and Wine with the Nanesses

Tuesday....dinner at Olive Garden before Kol Nidre.

Wednesday...break the fast at the synagogue

Thursday.....dinner at Islands Pacific restaurant in Lowe's Pacific Hotel at Universal Resort with Goldbergs for Magical Dining program.

Friday....finally at home all day!

If I can just stay the same again this week, I'll be very, very happy.

Hurricane Florence and Topomax

So much to talk about today!

First, my weight report.  It was a tough week. I got out of control a bit and gained several pounds.  Then I lost them and just a smidge more, so my report is that I weigh 265.6, which is just a drop of 2/10s of a pound.  That is probably within the margin of error for the scale, so I might have not lost any.  Considering that I know I had gained a bunch, I'm happy if I just stayed the same.

Second, Hurricane Florence is pounding the NC and SC coasts right now. I'm watching GMA on TV and it looks terrible.  On Tuesday, Mark and Carol, who live in north Myrtle Beach, said they were not leaving.  We were all very concerned, but on Wednesday morning they called and said they were indeed packing up the kitties and heading to a friend's house about four hours inland towards the mountains.  Hopefully, their house, which is only about four blocks from the beach with a big pond behind the back yard, will come through.  They do not have hurricane shutters, but they cleared their back yard and are hoping for the best.

Third, I am now on a new medication called Topamax, actually the generic equivalent.  The neurologist prescribed this for me at yesterday's appointment.  I'm having a brain MRI on Sept. 28 and an EEG in early November before having my follow up appointment with them on November 9.

This all came about because of my olfactory hallucinations. I smell nasty cigarette smoke when there isn't any smoke there.  It started back in the mid-1990s, maybe late 1994 or early 1995.  It used to be infrequent and not last long.  Lately it's happening more often, lasting longer, and sometimes so intense that it made me feel nauseous.  I finally told my family doctor in the July appointment, and she recommended the neurologist.  I started a log of the times that I smelled the smoke, beginning on August 2.  I have had 9 episodes in five weeks.  7 of the 9 episodes were in the car.  Most lasted 15-30 minutes, but one day it was on and off most of the day.  The neurologist thought that was a lot.

The neurologist was very kind and very thorough.  She got me talking about a lot of medical history, so I told her about my ocular migraines.  Usually they do not come with pain or nausea, but occasionally they do leave me feeling queasy and tired.  As we talked, I realized they also started in late 1994.  And then I told her about the accident at the Laurel Mall in spring of 1991 when the big wall collapsed and hit me on the top of the head, knocking me to my butt and breaking my tail bone.  My neck wasn't broken, but the muscles were a MESS.  I was taken to the ER.  I left there in pain and in a neck brace and had PT for months.  I was on pain pills, NSAIDS, and muscle relaxers for nearly a year.

Well, she said it was NOT a coicidence that the migraines an hallucinations began a few years later.  She thinks the blow to the head caused a kind of brain injury that triggered those things!

WOW!  I have NEVER connected those three things before.  But it kind of makes sense.

Anyway she has prescribed an anti-epilepsy med that is also used to prevent migraines.  She thinks it will take away the smoke smell, and a happy side effect is weight loss.  That would be nice, but there are also a lot of nasty sounding side effects, too.  I am to start with 25 mg once at bedtime for a week.  On the second week I take 50 mg at bedtime. On week three and thereafter I take 50 mg at the morning and 50 mg at night.  That would basically continue for life.  This is a VERY SMALL dose, a child size dose, so hopefully any bad side effects won't happen.  Haha.  With my luck no weight loss will happen either.  It's suppose to suppress appetite as a side effect, not actually cause weight loss.  I'm not sure anything has EVER suppressed my appetite or desire to eat, even chemo or the flu!  I don't expect this pill to do that either, but it's nice to dream. lol