Over 60 and still working/ Saturday

[mooselady12]

Not much planned for today. 

DD arrived yesterday, she’s finishing up an on-line exam that is die tomorrow. I may go to the local book store or the garden store. We are expecting thunderstorms later. 

Sending wishes for a peaceful day. Lynn

[maryenne]

Good morning!

It's quite warm here and they are predicting 98. I'm invited to a book reading at 6 by a friend who just took over a local literary press. If I don't go to this one, there's another one on Sunday, July 7, at a garden.

Last night, I finished a book after several weeks of reading it - The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson. It's about the very beginnings of the Civil War at Fort Sumter. Now I need to find another book.

I hope you all are well and staying cool!

[nashville11]

Good morning everyone!

Lynn, enjoy the time with your daughter.

Maryenne, did you enjoy the book about Fort Sumter? I am reading one by Stacey Abram now. It's a legal thriller set around the Supreme Court and I think there is another one which follows this. I'm not sure I'll read the second though. I've got maybe an hour left in this book, and I'd give it a 3 star review. I really had trouble getting into the story in the beginning. I was disappointed that it isn't better as I was expecting more from the author.

I can definitely recommend the last three I read, however. They are a series around the White House and the first woman president. They are written by Nicolle Wallace (MSNBC) who also worked in the White House under both of the Presidents Bush. I thought this series of three was excellent, and I hope she will write other books.

I had trouble sleeping last night. I'm sure it was the steroid injection as that always happens, so about midnight I got up and took an Ambien which put me right to sleep and I slept until almost 8:00. Then we went down to the Farmers' Market. I bought a cantaloupe, some cherry tomatoes to put into salads, and more bread from the lady I had bought from last week. Her breads are delicious! I bought 2 each of Banana Walnut, Zucchini, and Date Nut. All but one loaf is now in my freezer. We really enjoy them with our coffee in the mornings.

I asked questions and understood better when I met with the surgeon yesterday. He does agree that sooner or later I am going to be forced to have surgery on my knee. There's just too much going on inside it to expect I'll be able to avoid surgery completely. However, he feels that with injections he can push the surgery two maybe even three years down the road. I'm certainly not anxious for surgery, so that sounds good. He injected me with a new type of steroid yesterday which is not supposed to raise your blood sugar like the older steroids do. That must be right because I expected to see my fasting blood sugar in the 200s this morning after the injection, and it was only 153. Lynn, I asked him about the gels you mentioned. He said the gels are very good and actually work longer, but for some reason (this part I didn't really understand) with what is going on within my knee he thinks the steroid would be a better option in my case. So I am kicking the can down the road, and will try and put off surgery as long as I can. I go back to see him in a month for him to evaluate how well this injection is working. Even though he feels I definitely will need to have surgery at some point, at no point will he do surgery unless my A1C is no higher than 7.5 because the danger of infection is too great. My last A1C reading on June 6 was 7.7, and I am working to get that down. I would like to get it down to no higher than 7 as I wouldn't want to have surgery being "borderline" and take more of a chance with infection.

Have a lovely day and stay cool!

[maryenne]

Joyce, I did enjoy the book. Have you read anything by Erik Larson? All his books are non-fiction. I'll look for those books you mentioned.