Clinic went pretty well Friday. It’s clear that I got out of shape from a few days of not walking due to the constant raining that TS Debby brought us last week. My blood pressure was up to 135/70 (usually 110/60-ish) and my O2 sats were down to 96% after the rushed walk back to the triage room.
Good news: my weight was back up to 123. That, of course does affect the PFT numbers, which came soon after triage.
My first blow was 36%. Then I got a 37%. My 3rd and final blow was a 38%. Bill decided to give me a 4th attempt (I never remember getting 4 tries) and blew another 38%. This is down from 42% in March, but I do weigh more now and definitely don’t feel as good as I did that day, yet I still feel much better than I did at the end of January before Spiriva and walking/running.
Overall, there wasn’t any concern about my stats unless they prove to be a trend, so I have to maintain for my next appointment. I don’t have any intention of not improving. They also gave me some Diflucan for my thrush (nystatin isn’t taking care of it) and a refill of Megace to take a spoon while I’m on a weight-gain kick. Since I don’t want man boobs again, I’m not intending to take more than needed longer than needed just to keep my weight up.
How fostering has affected things
We’ve had several discussions about the wear and tear fostering has on me in the past few weeks since becoming licensed. Between the extra physical and emotional energy it takes to have a toddler around 24/7 and the added scheduling stress ensuring I work enough hours to keep our income up, it’s definitely taken its toll on my body.
Based on how I was losing weight and coughing, Beautiful was even getting iffy on whether I’d need IVs when we returned from our vacation. I’ve fought off 2 colds since May and probably saw a bit of a dip in my performance due to that, but I mostly need to get back into my old walk/run routine and take my camera along again. To not do those fun things from before that really worked for me has started to make me a shell of my former self.
We’ve decided that we’ll need a good month or two off between longer placements like what we have now and a week or so off after the shorter placements, just to recover. We feel that this is the most fair thing to do for a foster in our lives, anyway. If we’re rested and back on a schedule and solid business footing each time, a child is coming into the best possible environment we can offer. Right now, we’re “getting along” just like any other parents of a 2 1/2 year old do.
Right now, we’re preparing for a 2-week vacation, which includes a 1,000-mile car ride each way. Boy got a fantastic donation of a very plush car seat from a friend in town who’s done having kids, so he should be riding in high fashion right behind me. We plan on driving through the night and arrive sometime around lunchtime the next day. Hopefully Atlanta is only “moderately insane” at 10pm, as I plan on hitting the GA/TN line around midnight – our halfway point.
