a hint of what's to come

Over a week into being 90% Diet Coke free. Trust me, this is NOT by choice. I am no longer 'allowed' to drink dark colored colas, at all. And, diet sodas are apparently horrific for you in general. 😒

Or, perhaps it is the inability of a chronically sick person to more around as much as a healthy person that causes kidney disease, and blaming the victim for getting sick is just 'sick'.

Diet Sodas
Are the Dangers in the Chemicals or the Headlines?

In order to get through the days of fasting and liquid diets before my last test and out patient surgery, I needed to go on completely clear liquids. That is when I discovered Hint water. It is completely clear, slightly, and I do mean slightly, flavored, thus the name Hint, and it has Caffeine! 

Caffeine, YES!!!!!

I swear 20 seconds after I found this on a google search, it was already showing up in my facebook ads, but still, CAFFEINE! I may even refrigerate it sometime and try it cold.

I have to give up Diet Coke, tea, can you believe that? And avocados. I know you don't drink those, but still, the gods are cruel. All so I can eat white bread, which I am not supposed to eat, white rice and cauliflower.

No nuts. All the time I spent learning recipes for almond flour and sunflower seed butter. Now, they are on the no, no, no, no NO! list! Thank goodness, I have gotten better at learning what I really can and cannot get away with getting in these past few years.

Last night, we had the most delicious salmon grilled on the barbecue.  Once I get the marinade tweaked, I will post the recipe up here. Thank goodness for sushi, as well. Plus, I need get get really creative, because chili is one of my favorite meals, so I need to find or create a way to still have some form of chili in my life. Nom, nom, nom. 

Way back in the beginning of time, I began this blog as a food blog due to my allergies. Now that I have been diagnosed with Chronic kidney Disease, trying navigate that roller coaster of of foods cross sectioned with foods my allergy list makes me want to pull my hair out.

Additionally, I have had anemia for so long, I can't remember ever NOT having it. It has just always been a part of my blood work. All the way back to when I was pregnant. No one ever made a big deal about it, just that wasn't allowed to give blood.

Now, reading about it in connection with CKD, it list some of the exact same symptoms I have been struggling with for years.  

Dizziness, loss of concentration

Pale skin

Chest pain

Shortness of breath

Fatigue or weakness

Cold intolerence

https://www.kidneyfund.org/anemia/#symptoms_of_anemia

I pretty much hate doctors. Going to them, talking to them. Trying to get any kind of help at all. It just never seems to make any difference. Back in 2015 or 16 or so, I went in with pain in my side and back. I told the doctor that I thought it was my kidneys.

He said that wasn't possible. He did a bunch of tests. Refilled my prescriptions, and I never heard back from him. When I changed doctors due to insurance changing, I got the paperwork for that previous doctor. It said right on it, 'kidney disease.'

Again, the new doctor did nothing at all except refill prescriptions.

Now, years later, and three doctors in, someone says, "Now that your kidneys are failing, we need to do something."

It is not like I have been in a completely, "until the doctor says something, I am just going to ignore it," mindset. I have lost 60 pounds. My bad cholesterol has been good for years, though the doctor says I need to raise my good cholesterol up more. I don't have diabetes. Nor do I have HIV or any STDs, shockingly😏 

We have been reorganizing our cabinets and refrigerator. Figuring out what goes and what stays. An interesting process inside our little mobile home. We have already baked up a couple of loafs of banana pancake bread, so that recipe will be posted up soon. 

There sill be lots of grilling, some insta-potting and baking, as well. Life in our home sweet rolling home never getting boring, that for sure.

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Neowise

Go out and paint the stars. 

Vincent Van Gogh

Our quest for the comet actually took two separate nights. On the first night, July 20th, I was pretty sure where I was supposed to look for Comet Neowise, but was unable to locate it where I thought it was expected to be. Up in the northwestern sky near the Big Dipper. 

Also, using a new phone, having dropped mine recently, I wasn't quite sure of the settings for the phone's camera. The photos below, look similar to the ones taken just three days later, except you really cannot distinguish any stars in the night sky. That is a definite problem if one is looking for teeny tiny comets in amongst the stars.

Then, once the doubt set in, it was helped along by another star watcher on the hill with us. They told us they had seen the comet the night before, due south. Now that I think about it, and look at our pictures of the comets, I think he most likely saw either a satellite moving though the sky or an airplane. Where they pointed was nowhere near where Neowise was located, and it was not really possible to see the comet without a camera or binoculars.

I went home and did more research on both the comet and how to work my phone camera. I found a graph of the stars and where the comet is placed. And yay! The camera has a night setting! 

July 23rd is when Neowise is closest to the earth. It is also getting dimmer as the crescent moon gets bigger in the sky. The 23rd is another perfectly clear night in the East Bay area. 

From Earthsky:

Location of Comet NEOWISE from July 20 to 26. Face west-northwest, just after sunset. 

https://earthsky.org/space/how-to-see-comet-c2020-f3-neowise

After picking Natalie up from work, we headed out to comet-watch. Okay, first we stopped at Five Guys to pick her up a burger and fries, since she worked well passed dinner. Thank goodness you can still get takeout in this time of COVID.

Then, we headed to one of my very favorite places in the entire area, Rancho Park, San Ramon. Sitting in the park, you get a view of the entire valley, over Dublin to the Pleasanton Ridge skyline.                                

Sitting out on the hillside with cows behind the fence, sand burrs beneath our behinds and mosquitoes in our faces. It was a beautiful summer evening. The crickets were singing, but otherwise it was a much quieter night than just a few weeks ago when the birds and frogs were also joining in with their own night songs.

Just as the sun was setting, a pair of deer came out and walked along the bottom edge of the slough. A couple couple of rabbits with tall as the rest of their bodies kept peering at us from the other side of the barbed wire fence. The dozens of prairie dogs we saw in the spring were no where to be seen.

Thankfully, the rumored tarantulas of Mount Diablo  also were  not part of our comet quest. pretty sure if they had made an appearance, we would have left faster than a speeding comet. 😋

As we waited for the sky to darken and the stars to appear, Natalie put on the soundtrack to Hamilton. The music serenaded us into the darkness. Wrapped up in an odd collection of sweatshirts, we sat on rags that we found in the car. The temperatures dropped quickly from mid 90s in the afternoon to barely holding on to 60 as we sat on the hillside. Bay area weather definitely keeps you on your toes.

I am not throwin' away my shot -- Hamilton

Here are our photos of Neowise the comet. The second photo has an enlargement of the comet with an arrow to where the comet actually is in the sky. Again, all of these photos were taken with a phone camera. 

Even so, when listening to the instructions on how to spot this comet is say, "The best way is to use binoculars first to find it. Don't look at any bright phone screen and expect 15 minutes for your eyes to adjust if you do. 

They claim you can see this with your bare eyes, but that seems to be a great exaggeration. In an area with a lot of miscellaneous light sources, the only way to see this comet was to take the photo in the right direction, and then find the comet on the screen. This is also how I read others were doing it, as well. 

This may have been different for the early morning photos, but  unless you live in an area with super dark nights I don't see how you see this comet unaided. Way back in 1997, when Hale-Bob was visible, I can remember watching it night after night from my bedroom window. This is definitely not the same.

I am very glad we took the time to go out and find it. Well worth the effort.

Below is a photo my cousin Tom took of Neowise up on the north shore area of Minnesota.

“You - you alone will have the stars as no one else has them...”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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Alameda

A trip into downtown Oakland for just the second time in two and a half years came with a few surprises. First, we ended up in the exact same neighborhood as we did the first time. 

In January of 2019, we road the BART into to town to watch Kamala Harris announce her candidacy for President.This is in no way a political blog, but I do talk about the events of MY life so I will occasionally talk about things that may cross lines. 

Before my father passed away, he would put up signs for his Republican friends who were running for office on one side of his front yard and the signs for his Democrat friends who were running for office on the other. He would not understand this world. 

Neither do I.

Walking in downtown Oakland, we were surrounded by over 10,000 people in a non-pandemic world. People were shoulder to shoulder to shoulder and no one thought twice about it.

Today the streets were quiet. Yes, it was 7:00 am, Still, notice there are no cars anywhere on a Wednesday morning. You can also see a mural of George Floyd in the left had side of the photo above. If was one of many we saw painted throughout the city. 

When we heading into town this time, it was cloudy, even a bit dreary. To stay off the freeways, we ended up driving under the Bart for a good portion of the trip. It was a unique perspective having ridden over the top many times on the train into San Francisco. 

We drove past the Oakland International Airport. The Coliseum, home of the Oakland A and the former home of the Oakland Raiders now the Las Vegas Raiders. 

Numerous, numerous homeless encampments, most seemed to be empty. Perhaps due to the pandemic.  Many of the homeless have been moved into local hotels to prevent spread of the coronavirus.

We also drove past Lake Merritt, a tidal lagoon, meaning salt water lake in the center of Oakland. Shocking, a salt water lake just off the San Francisco Bay. The lake was beautiful, even in the gloomy grey fog covered morning. I hope to come back and see it in the sparkling sunshine.

By time we left the doctor it was pushing noon. My scan had turned into outpatient surgery. Bah. The sun was shining brightly as we went past Lake Merritt on our way out of the city. This time, it was my brain that was covered in anesthesia fog, and I don't actually recall going past the lake, at all.

Driving back on Mission, we decided to go out onto Alameda (Island). Greg continued to quote, "There be whales here," from Star Trek, years gone by. 

We drove around in circles for a while. Found a donut shop called, Homemade Donuts, so we will never find that one again. They were delicious. Of course, they were DONUTS, and I had been fasting for FIVE days.

Eventually we found water! On an island! Go us!  It was right at the USS Hornet Museum.  Sadly the museum was closed due to COVID. It would have been closed to us because it was Wednesday, as well. So either way, we were not getting in to see it.

It is planning on re-opening in August, so we will have to go back. We will bring Natalie with us, for sure. There were several planes displayed outside like the one pictured above.

Pictured above: see Mary trying to walk around big rocks on flat beach while still under influence of anesthesia. They warn you about driving machinery or signing important papers, but they don't say anything about ROCKS!

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Three swimmers in the Bay with floaties.

Greg and a crane.

The coolest thing was the three different colored layers of rocks against the water,

 dark green, white and gray.

Greg scallop hunting on the beach. No otter showed up to swap his scallop for some pearls.

We found this sweet heart someone had made out of rocks in the sand.

The beaches of Ballena Isle Bay.

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CKD

It has not been the greatest couple of weeks. 

Now that a finally have a diagnosis of Chronic Kidney Disease, I don't know if I am relieved or terrified. Looking at the list of available foods and cross referencing it with allergy foods doesn't leave a lot of options left. 

Especially, if you cross those lists with the food list for GERD. Looks like I am pretty much left with cardboard and cabbage. 

I did however, find this BMI chart with a much more reasonable body fat ratio than thread thin, spaghetti, stick thin, obese.

When I look in a mirror, I don't see a 'fat' person, and EVERY other chart says overweight. This one says acceptable. I am fine with acceptable.

Activity level	Male body type	Female body type
Athletes	6–13%	14–20%
Fit non-athletes	14–17%	21–24%
Acceptable	18–25%	25–31%
Overweight	26–37%	32–41%
Obesity	38% or more	42% or more

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323446#body-fat

Symptoms Mayo Clinic

Signs and symptoms of chronic kidney disease develop over time if kidney damage progresses slowly. Signs and symptoms of kidney disease may include:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Loss of appetite
• Fatigue and weakness
• Sleep problems
• Changes in how much you urinate
• Decreased mental sharpness!!
• Muscle twitches and cramps
• Swelling of feet and ankles
• Persistent itching
• Chest pain, if fluid builds up around the lining of the heart
• Shortness of breath, if fluid builds up in the lungs
• High blood pressure (hypertension) that's difficult to control

OMG! This has been my whole f%@&ing life for

 the past several years while father keeps telling everyone that I am either faking or just 'dizzy'!

It is mentally and physically exasperating and exhausting to have to prove to the people in your life that you are sick. 

Now, with a battery of tests scheduled, I can get some real answers. Then, I will be meeting with a urologist specialist. Perhaps, after that I will finally have a chance to feel better for the first time in forever. At the very least, it may slow this progression that has left me bedridden almost constantly since March,

Until then, I can look up some new recipes. White bread, white rice, NO avocados. Sigh. Bland days ahead.

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