Friday Five

TGIF. Time to share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

Turbo (my grandson) is sick with a mild ear infection   He’ll be fine, of course. His parents take excellent care of him, but his grandma is sad for him. I wish I lived closer just so I pop over, hug him, then leave him to rest in his mom’s care.
It’s hot here, and it’s slowing Maggie down. She hasn’t really wanted to go on a second daily walk in the heat. Our girl is getting a little older now. But she drinks plenty of water, eats fine, and plays in the backyard patrolling for lizards. Since I had planned to stop the second daily walk when it got hot anyway, it works out. Now Wizard and I have to negotiate morning walks
I saw my surgeon for another follow-up on Wednesday. It was 90% a great visit. I’m so thrilled that my latest x-ray is showing excellent healing. He was able to put three x-rays I’ve had since the surgery up side by side, and they showed very clear progression of growing bone. I can continue with all that I’m doing now, including the gym, and I can swim if I want to. He said wait three more months for more intense activity, and an example of that would be going in my son’s dune buggy in the desert (I specifically asked that). Which also means I can’t go ziplining in Hawaii Okay I wasn’t going to, but one day, I’d like to try ziplining if my neck can take it. But back on topic: The one thing he’s not happy about is I still have some pain, probably about 30% of what I was having, which means I’ve had a 70% improvement on most days, which is pretty good, right? Of course, it’s his job to worry, and he wants to fix it perfectly. The problem is–my neck isn’t perfect. Two other disks have minor bulging (we knew this), I have some age-related arthritis, and in one place, my spine has a Z in it where it should be straight. All that, coupled with the two years of severely compressed nerves likely causing some permanent damage, is probably causing the pain. I can live with this. So the doctor and I negotiated–he agreed release me from further visits as long as I call him if I have any progression of symptoms. I happily agreed, and I will follow through if that happens. For now, I’m just pleased that my bones are healing so well and I’m living a better quality of life than I was.
We’ve booked two tours for Hawaii. One is a Pearl Harbor Remembered Tour. Unfortunately, the dock to the Arizona Memorial is under repairs, but they’ve replaced that with a boat ride tour of the harbor to see the area. We can still go on the USS Missouri, and a few other things. Since my dad was a fighter pilot in WWII, this is something I really want to do. The second tour is a North Shore tour and I’m really excited about that one. One part of it I’m weirdly thrilled about is going to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. I think it’s going to be a fun trip!
Wizard and I met a friend for dinner this week, which was really nice! Since it was happy hour, we ordered an appetizer and drinks. I tried a mint cucumber martini. I was a little hesitant at first, but the drink was small (yay–I’m a lightweight with mixed drinks, and super duper careful not to trigger a headache), and it was light and delicious. I was totally surprised. I also had a yummy steak salad. I only chose it because it was literally the lightest thing on the menu, and it turned out to be a fabulous choice. I’d go back just to eat that. Sometimes luck is on our side!

So that’s my long-winded five. Saturday we’re going on a secret mission having to do with one of our kids I’ll tell you more in a week or so, once things are more certain. And now I’d love to hear five things about your week!! I hope everyone has a great weekend!