I'm up to two 20 minute walks per day now, weather permitting (and sometimes this week NOT!). Saturday and Sunday allowed me to get two good walks in each day. My goal this week is to reach three 20 minute walks per day at least once or twice.
I continue to work with my local anti-coagulation clinic to titrate my warfarin levels. My INR (the ratio of my clotting time to an average person's) is supposed to be in the range of 1.5 - 2.5. Last week I dropped to 1.8 and this week it dropped further to 1.6 in spite of an uplift in dosage. The pharmacist says this is normal as activity levels go up and as I've stopped taking pain medicine. This week we up it to 8 mg per day and we will check it again on Wednesday. Based on the pharmacist's calculation, moving up to 8 mg per day should boost my INR by about 1 point, but my activity level continues to climb so I expect to be somewhere over 2.0 at my next check. Diet is also a potential contributor.
Speaking of diet, my appetite does seem to be coming back. I've also started taking Activia and other yogurts with bifidus regularus to see if I can re-prime my digestive system to start working better and to reduce constipation. So far I think it is working and that part of my recovery seems to be improving well. My food intake is up a bit, but my weight is still down a bit more. I'm now registering below 195 pounds some days.
I'm still not sleeping extremely soundly, but I am getting adequate sleep for my activity level it seems. I've got several books to get through, and some puzzle books, and some DVDs to watch, so I've got plenty to distract me. This week I should start putting a dent in the pile. I've also got a raft of thank yous to write and I've been very poor about getting this done.
Today, our good friends on the lake, Dave Karsky and his son Kevin, came by to pull our dock out of the lake. We managed to get enough pulling power with my SUV and once we got everything arranged and tow straps in place, we had it out of the water in about 10 minutes. It took 30-45 minutes of preparation, but it is very nice to have this fall chore out of the way. I think we can handle any kind of weather mother nature throws at us now!
We had several visits from friends and coworkers this week and another of our neighbors delivered lasagna dinner to us on Thursday evening. On a down note, we had our last dinner out at the Log Cabin restaurant with Mom and Dad. They leave on Tuesday morning to drive back to their winter home on Marco Island in Florida. We will miss having them so close by -- they have been a great source of comfort and help to both Deb and I during this journey. We wish them a safe and uneventful trip home. We plan to visit them in January or February and we look forward to their return in the spring! I passed my cane on to my Mom who is having some knee problems that she will have looked at in Florida. I'm doing well enough that I no longer need a cane to get around.
My goals this week are to catch up on my thank you notes, call Stanford to discuss my return to work plan, work up to three walks per day, and to continue to recover as best I can. I'm also trying very hard to avoid the H1N1 flu bug and hopefully I can get a shot from my clinic as soon as they have the virus injections on hand.
The cats are getting very used to having me around all the time and I think I'm becoming one of their favorite napping spots during the afternoons :-)
The recovery continues,
Jon
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