The weekly visit to the Clinic

That's right. We are now in the weekly visit phase of recovery. This means Yvonne is stable enough to go a full week between checkups & lab tests.

We went this morning and met with the usual 3 people:

The PA does the most work. She asks Yvonne a bunch of questions to determine if things are on track and reviews the latest lab results and if medication changes are needed she is the one to communicate that. She was aware of  the "lozenge fight"  from last week as we asked her to settle it.  To do that, she and another PA each popped a table at the same time. One sucked on it while the other allowed it to dissolve.  Sucking was  7 minutes while dissolving was 20.  They realized that in fact it is ambiguous to say "put it in your mouth and don't chew and wait 30 minutes...".  After a good laugh it was agreed that Yvonne should suck it...

The nephrologist comes in next and essentially is there to deal with the new news. Since there wasn't any that was a brief chat.

The lab tech draws the blood and off we go.  Later today we should get a call if the lab results require a medication change or some other discussion.

I know it was 3 days without an update and so many of you were on the edge of your seat.  Well the fact is they were pretty uneventful days. I left for work Monday & Tuesday and came home in the evening. We ate dinner that Yvonne cooked, watched some TV,  discussed the events of the day and went to bed. Pretty boring stuff, right?

Yvonne has been getting out more.  Walking is encouraged and she has been taking walks that are getting longer and longer. Yesterday's walk was to 45th & Vanderbuilt which is just under a mile round trip.

This has led us to raise the question.. what can Yvonne do and what shouldn't she do?

The essential elements of the answer is that she should try to stay in a place where we can control her exposure to sick people or the places sick people have been.  She should avoid bending and anything that will stress out the abdomen.  Generally no exertion.

So how about shopping???  Well yes, if the store isn't crowded. And she doesn't do any cartwheels in the shoe department:)

How about restaurants?  Well yes, if again, the place is not so crowded that you can't help but be in a crowd.  So beer and wings at the bar at Brother Jimmy's BBQ is out.  But a walk to a neighborhood restaurant at off hours should be fine.

Going to the Movies got the thumbs down.

So slowly but surely life is returning to normal.  It will be a new normal and that is a good thing.