visiting Santa Barbara and a cold

Gary and I were able to travel to Santa Barbara to visit our son who lives there.  We absolutely love Santa Barbara.  It has the beach, mountains, and with all of the blooming plants in June, it feels like being in a magnificent botanical garden.  We had a wonderful afternoon of wine tasting in the back country.

It was nice to see our son, Gary and his girlfriend Heather.  Especially since they just had a horrible scare a few weeks ago when Heather, at age 24 suffered a stroke.  It looks like she will be fine, but it was an awful experience for all of us.  For now she is off of her anticoagulants and is just trying to take it easy and hope for no recurrence.  The longer she goes without having another stroke, the less likely she is to have one.   They are being very cautious.

The weather was good and we were able to enjoy many of our favorite activities.  We rode bikes, hiked in the mountains, walked the beach, and ate lots of good seafood.  It is SO much easier to travel west now.  We have skied in the Rockys many times and literally every time, I would have trouble with the time change.  Even knowing in advance and planning on eating an extra meal didn't help.  The time transition was very easy this time.  I had no trouble with blood sugars at all.  It makes such a difference in the whole trip.

The bad news is that I came down with a cold when we got back.  I think it might have come from getting germs while on the flight home.  This is the third time this has happened and it looks like I am going to have to take precautions the next time that I fly.

On top of that, I had a cortisone shot a few weeks ago.  I needed to have a ganglion cyst removed from my wrist.  The Dr tried to remove it by withdrawing it through a syringe and then adding the cortisone to prevent it from coming back.  I thought this would be better than scheduling surgery.  But, I was wrong.  The cortisone is affecting my blood sugars.  So now I am taking about 12 units/ day instead of my normal 8.  I don't like it.  I'm able to stay in pretty good control, but not as good as before.  The cold is hanging on and I'm not sure how long the cortisone will last.

My creatinine was high again last month at 1.0.  If it doesn't come down with the next draw, I might have to consult a nephrologist.  I have been drinking water like crazy.


Dolly is progressing nicely.  I am taking her on some public outings now.  We have been to the library and our little IGA grocery store.  Today, I am taking her to the bank.  She gets very excited at first, but with time and treats, she calms down and does very well.  She fared well with the girls while we were in California.  We are leaving tomorrow for our family reunion trip to Tennessee and she will be placed in foster care through the Assistance Dogs of America.  It will be her first separation from all of us and we hope she does ok with that.  I know that we will all miss her.