First Post

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Birthday Dinner

Dad, Joycelyn and I had a wonderful dinner at Lincoln Square Steaks. We enjoyed celebrating his 15th 56th birthday.

History! Dad's first mobile email!

I got dad a Kindle Fire for Christmas. I spent quite a bit of time setting it up as best I could. 

Slow week

No news to report this week: dad continues to do well, we walk daily, keep up on his fridge, meds and doctors appointments.

Thanks for your support, all!

All goes well!

We had a good week up here. Joycelyn has gotten in the habit of brining dad cooked meals. This week he has gotten mushroom marinara sauce for pasta, stroganoff and two types of casserole.

Despite this, he has kept his weight down. Dad has dropped about fifty pants vs a year ago and it isn't going back up. Eating real, cooked food seems to be better for you than 2,000 calories a day of ethanol. It's gotten to the point we need to look at taking in his shirts, pants and sport coats. His waist is down an easy ten inches.

The new heart medicine that dad's cardiologist prescribed has done wonderful. His arythmia is gone and his blood pressure has dropped about 50 points! 145/90 is his new norm, and this makes me very happy. I was very concerned about vascular issues and stroke when he hovered around 200/150. I would still like his pressure to get down to around 120/70, but it's not terrifying me anymore.

Dinner plans

Today day has dinner scheduled with his friend Catherine. She is working at an opera, and they are going out to eat after the show. Dad's not going to the show; he is meeting up with her afterwords.

We've gone to the store a few times this week and dad had a visit with his cardiologist Monday. We had made this appointment because dad's heart medicine has gotten incredibly expensive. For a medicine where the patent ran out over twenty years ago to cost $400 a month is ridiculous. The doctor put him on another drug and this pill has the side effect of lowering blood pressure! We are quite happy about that.

Dad's blood pressure is still hovering around 170/110, so we are taking steps. His salt has been switched from sodium to potassium. We found potato chips that only have 40mgs of salt and TV Dinners under 300mgs. Tabasco and his preferred salsa are both very low in salt, so that's a plus. If his BP doesn't get better soon, we are heading back to his main doctor and new meds will be incoming!

Love to you all!

Peter

PS. Day counts: Robert 166, Peter 145

Back from the Symphony

Dad went to the Philharmonic today. It was a Mozart piano concerto and Beethoven's 9th Symphony. He had a good time.

Tomorrow we have a shopping trip and we are planning on cooking dinner.

Another week goes by

Not much to report except for Dad hits five months !

Coming up on Five months

Dad and I continue to do well.

We have a visit with his cardiologist next month, and we need to talk to him about his heart medicine and his BP meds. We have stopped his heart meds as his ekg is clear and it's gotten over $400 a month. Problem is, one of his BP meds has some heart side effects (it lowers his heart rate), so we need to reexamine his drug situation.

His strength is returning, but slowly. Around the block twice is doable now, but that has taken ages to achieve. We are about to start training without his cane. I hope this does well. He will only be going out without the cane if I am there, so don't worry.

His blood pressure has gotten very high recently. The new recommendations (http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/RecommendationStatementFinal/high-blood-pressure-in-adults-screening#Pod2)  of aiming for under 140mg systolic (?? Top number) means dad is between 19 and 59 points high constantly. He has never dropped below 159mgs. We have already reduced his sodium intake and are starting a second round of cuts. Table salt is already a thing of the past, but more drastic measures are needed. We want a multifaceted approach, so I'm hoping better meds ate put there.

I hope all is well with everyone.

Day counts, heart pills

Dad is at 109 days and I have reached 88.

At the hospital, they took dad off his heart medicine. He has had an arythmia his entire life, but when they were testing his heart at NYP, they wanted baseline results and never saw a reason to put him back on the meds. After his release, he went back on them because he worried.

We have a cardiologist appointment soon, so we are taking a 24-hour ekg with no meds for his doctor to examine.

Day counts, heart pills

Dad is at 109 days and I have reached 88.

At the hospital, they took dad off his heart medicine. He has had an arythmia his entire life, but when they were testing his heart at NYP, they wanted baseline results and never saw a reason to put him back on the meds. After his release, he went back on them because he worried.

We have a cardiologist appointment soon, so we are taking a 24-hour ekg with no meds for his doctor to examine.

New day counts!

OCD Kicks in

I've been cooking dinner for dad for almost a year now, and my OCD hasn't taken hold....

....until now!

Is it extra bad that I printed it on this?

Rock, I mean Walk around the clock, wait... Block

Today dad and I went on our usual exersize walk. We went further than normal: once around the block and 3/4 of a second rotation. He continues to strengthen and his memory is doing well. We have an ENT test scheduled for friday to check his hearing.

71 days sober for Robert, 50 for Peter.

Bad Pun

What would you call fish, once under a fatwā, who wants to quickly get breast implants for his wife?

Salmon Rush Ds.

42

My mom emailed me, after I posted about my dad's status, asking about my day count. Just an update, if anyone else was wonder.

Two Month

As of today, it has been 61 days (2 months) since dad had his last drink. He has visited his bar, having a club soda, to meet his friends. Joycelyn and I visit almost every day. We make sure his fridge is stocked, his meds are set up for the week and he has a nice meal for dinner.

I usually cook him dinner every day. His favorite entry has turned out to be a teriyaki-sauteed chicken breast. I make a salad and some mashed potatoes as side items to go with the chicken.

The photo is from last week when we walked over to Riverside Park. It's no where near the size of Central Park, but it is a very nice park. There is a large lawn and a plenty of benches. We sat in the sun for about an hour, just chatting and absorbing the UV radiation.

Just two sober guys...

...enjoying some Japanese food. Dad had sushi and I enjoyed teriyaki chicken.

Day 39 for Peter, day 58 for Robert.

Another Day, Another Meeting

Today dad had a visit from the son and daughter-in-law! We came by in the afternoon in time for his podiatrist appointment. Dad's nails need pro-trimming skills, so he has an appointment every other month. His extended medical vacation meant he had to skip a visit.

Yesterday, I filled dad's pill containers and he is doing well on remembering to take them. He wasn't very hungry today, and we are all concerned about that.

He didn't have breakfast or lunch, though he did eat a moderate dinner. I will bring this up with his GP next week.

After dinner we went to A.A. All in all, a good day!

Second Day Home

Today was dad's second day back at the Schwab House. I picked up all of his prescriptions and filled his pill day planners. We went to Fairway to get some groceries. The walk home was testing Robert, but he powered through.

Today was also our second A.A. Meeting together. Dad enjoyed the meeting and picked up some literature. He has stayed sober since coming home and I'm very proud of him.

Day by day! Today is day 18 for me and day 37 for Robert.

Contact info update: call dad's cell phone. 917-975-8151. Feel free to email dad,  even though he hasn't been using his computer. I have been checking his email and will print out any correspondence for him to read.