This morning we bought a screen door at Lowe's. Dave is installing it now. Yesterday he planted 2 new rhododendron bushes. Because we have been home so much during my recuperation, we, Dave that is, is getting a lot of home improvement projects done.

Today during my walk I listened to a White Horse Inn podcast. The topic was "Dividing the Word: Law and Gospel." It was very thought-provoking. I wish I had been able to take notes while I was walking. Their website is www.whitehorseinn.org Check it out!

Tonight we were invited to dinner at a friend's house. Yummy, healthy food was prepared for us. We sat outside enjoying the wonderful view from their patio. Good food, good friends, good conversation, good view, nice weather--what more could we ask for? Thank you, Tom and Cindi! We value your friendship!

In order to try and beat the heat, I just finished my mile walk today. One of these days I will have to try and walk more than a mile.

Last night I took a Zyrtec allergy pill and I did NOT have any itching! That made me very happy. I woke up about every 3 hours rather than every hour or two, so that was an improvement, too.

At cardiac rehab today, I used both the recumbent bike and the treadmill for 20 minutes each. I broke a sweat on both machines. They monitor our blood pressure while on the machine and off the machine. My blood pressure readings have been very good. The lecture part of the class was about cholesterol. I talked to the Kaiser medication management team and they are going to call again on Monday afternoon to monitor my blood sugar readings from the weekend. We're still hoping that I don't have to go back on the Lantus insulin. I'm still having trouble with itching during the night. We are off to the store to buy some doctor-recommended Zyrtec to try and help solve that problem.

Not that it's a race, but I'm getting a little speedier on my walk. Dave and I waited until around 8 pm to walk tonight so that it would be cooler. I walked a little over a mile in 30 minutes. I didn't have to stop to rest along the way.

Today was my first day off the insulin which I have had to take since I was in the hospital. The medication management people will call me on Friday to check on my blood sugar numbers. If the numbers stay good, I will be totally done with the insulin shots.

My first cardio rehab session went well. The first hour was a lecture about symptoms of angina and heart attacks. Not exactly relevant to my surgery and recovery, but good knowledge for the future. Then came the hour for exercise which is monitored for heart as well as blood pressure and blood sugars. Today I started slow with 15 minutes on a recumbent bike and 15 minutes on a treadmill. Everyone starts together with a warm-up of stretching exercises. My blood sugar dropped 50 points after the exercise--that's impressive. Before we leave our blood pressure has to come back down to a pre-exercise level, which mine did. The team of two nurses (also a physical therapist whom I haven't met yet) seem to know what they are doing.