What a happy day! I now officially have permission to drive. It's been six weeks since my surgery. I met with the Kaiser dietician again and got some more questions answered. I am on a strict program of no more than 2-3 carbs (each carb is 15 grams) for each meal, along with 1-2 meat allotments and 1-2 fat allotments. Basically no food is a "bad" food, but it all has to fit into my dietary "budget". I also have to be aware to get the nutrition that I need. This program has been very workable for me and I will need to follow something similar for the rest of my life in order to have good control over my diabetes. I hope to continue to lose at least 1-2 pounds each week until I have lost what I need to lose, and then be able to maintain that weight for the rest of my life.

The next two weeks look very busy. Today's busy day started with an appointment with Dr. Williams, my primary care physician. Everything checked out okay with him and he got up-to-date with all that's going on with me. He checked out my feet as requested by the other Kaiser professionals, and nothing was numb, which was good news.

I was able to switch to the afternoon cardiac rehab program because of my morning appointment today. That went well, and since I stayed on the same programs as on Friday, both machines felt easier today. I took my iPod along and listened to Christian praise music the whole time I was exercising. The music held my attention and the time felt uplifting and prayerful instead of just tedious as usual.

Tomorrow will be my 6th week after the surgery. I am feeling better each week. Tomorrow I meet again with the dietician, Janet Hodge.

Yesterday we decided to make a one-night camping trip to Paradise Point State Park. We wanted to see how I did in the RV, and we also wanted to see how the RV did. Well, we're back home now, and I did better than the RV. I am ready to go on the next trip, but the RV needs to go in for service because it won't shift into park. Dave refereed a scrimmage at Ridgefield High School this morning, and I went for a walk around the park and watched a movie in the motorhome. We had a grand time during our one-night trip and I am eager to do more camping.

Now about my nights...When I take a Zyrtec or a Benadryl, I sleep okay, not great, but okay. I wake up every few hours. There has been no more problems with itching, thank you, God. I have a lot of chest discomfort at night, especially when I change sleeping positions. Last night I experimented by not taking a pill. I didn't have cardiac rehab, or any appointments, or any meetings this morning. At around 1:30 am this morning, I gave in and took a Tylenol, after which I was finally able to get some sleep. I still woke up every few hours. In the mornings I generally feel like someone punched me in the chest. (No, it wasn't Dave.) The more restless I am at night, the more sore I am in the morning. It takes a while for the soreness to go away but it does go away as the day goes on. As a result, I'm usually fairly slow moving and in the mornings.

Yesterday and today were both really good days--both health-wise and attitude-wise. It's been five weeks since my surgery and I feel so much better than I did at first and I can do so much more than I could at first.

This morning we read in the newspaper about the new Steigerwald Lake walking path in Washougal which has a grand opening on June 14. We decided to go see if it was already open. No, it wasn't, so we explored and walked at the fairly-new William Clark Park at Cottonwood Beach which is along the dike path in Washougal. We had a nice walk with glimpses of the Columbia River through the trees. Once I am able to ride my bicycle again, we plan to bring the bikes to the dike trail and ride from there to Steigerwald Lake. We used to go on many fun bike rides around this area and it will be great to be able to do those again. In the meantime, I still can't drive, so it was nice of Dave to drive me over to Washougal and to walk with me.

I got word yesterday that I am officially off all insulin for good now. My blood sugars have been pretty good with the exception of an occasional anomally. I still have to take metformin pills for the diabetes. As of today, I am off the Lasix and potassium and the Pepcid pills. And now I only have to do my Pro-Time (blood thinner) tests once each week. So things are progressing in the right direction. I still get chest discomfort at night, but I can sleep in a regular bed now and I haven't had any more itching as long as I take a Zyrtec or a Benadryl pill before I go to sleep.

I'm enjoying cardio rehab more than I thought I would. The lectures don't amount to much, but it's a helpful reminder of things we should know about. Today's topic was "Making Changes". It's also helpful when class members give their testimonies and opinions about what has worked or not worked for them.

The machines are a bit tedious to do, but I have a real sense of accomplishment when I am done with each of them. Today I did 20 minutes on the recumbent bike and 23 minutes on the treadmill, with a top speed of 1.8 and an elevation of 2.0 for only about 4 minutes. I also enjoy it when the classes are over at 12:30 pm each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!