The Adelaide Show was on last week. I didn't go, but did catch glimpses of the fireworks at 9pm each evening - a bright spot each night.
On Wednesday I had the appointment with the dietitian my GP had recommended back in March. She was not taking new patients until September, so this was the first appointment I could get. She lived up to my GP's praise in most ways. She listened, gathered data, was supportive and non-judgemental. What I was after was help with how to maintain a reasonable weight in the long term.
It was going great guns until I mentioned that my nephrologist recommended injectables. To my surprise she became excited and enthusiastic. Not what I expected. She showed me the epipen for injectables. It has a sliding dosage measurement. You begin on the lowest dose and only increase if your body isn't responding with weight loss. You need to inject every day, recommended initially for a year. Evidence suggests you can wean yourself off, but weight will gradually go back on. She is very keen. I am not, even before factoring in the cost. I've decided to give myself until I see my GP in November to maintain weight loss sans injectable and discuss with her. Nothing I have read, before or after my appointment, suggests this is what I am looking for.
Thursday was my mole excisions. Two in the middle of my back. The procedure went smoothly. I rested for a day, kept them completely dry for 66 hours and mostly dry thereafter. The stitches come out in a fortnight and someone will be in touch if the analysis raises any problems. So far so good. The stitches pull when I stretch in any direction, so I've cancelled Pilates this week.
I entertained myself on Friday by advancing the Christine Bishop Pulled Thread Mat and reading, in between watching the birds. There was a bit of a competition between a noisy miner and the resident dove for domination of the budding tree. Quiet persistence seemed to win out for the dove.
This evening I had a phone call from a friend in Darwin, who had an encounter with a similar dove at almost the same time and decided this was a message to get in touch. I'm glad he did.
On Saturday, an email from Create in Stitch sent me scurrying to the shop in pursuit of a set of large stretcher bars to make a repository for my earrings - an idea I had been pondering. In my usual madwoman obsession, I had it finished by late afternoon - and was exhausted. The full story is in my stitching blog (although, in the end, there was no stitching required). It is 28" square and hangs on my bedroom wall.
On Friday I bought some chicken livers, mushrooms and parsley to cook with bacon for my dinner - a favourite of mine. There were enough for 2 meals, and I planned to repeat the meal on Sunday but ran out of bacon.
On Sunday morning, I bought more bacon, but when I came to cook the meal, realised I had lost the package of bacon somewhere along the line, probably in asserting my independence by packing my own bag at the checkout. I have been making this for years, never without bacon, which I regarded as an essential ingredient. After searching the car and my shopping bags, my make-do instinct came good, and I made the meal using broccoli and beansprouts instead of bacon. Worked a treat! I'll do it again.
The second alpaca shawl-in-the-round is coming along. It is a 28 row pattern sequence, worked 8 times, increasing by 2 stitches per row. I have begun the third sequence. It is difficult to calculate yarn requirements because of the increase, but it seemed likely to be touch and go. Only the black is still available, so I have ordered some more as backup.
It's an interesting and fairly easy pattern, an 18 stitch repeat with only one colour per row. The trick is in which of the 18 stitches begins each row. One-colour-per-row should make for an easier steek finish than the last shawl.
Five are stitched into bags and 10 folded and ironed, ready to stitch. That’s enough progress for today.
I will sign off my 500th post to return to my knitting.
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