Cruisin'....

The time here is flying by, although it seems like we just got arrived here. On Monday I had to go for some additional films and an ultra sound on my right breast because something showed up on the mammogram I had done in Virginia Beach that they didn't like the looks of. I was supposed to get it down the previous Wednesday but the films had not arrived yet from Virginia for them to compare things to. Took the additional pics they needed and did the ultra sound and found that everything is fine.

Tuesday we had our friends Vickie and Suzanne over for dinner and we learned how to play Five Crowns, an interesting card game. Linda and I play Skip-O throughout the day but I think we'll buy this game, if we can find it. It makes you think a little more than Skip-o and will make for something different (utilize a different part of our brain perhaps). We had a great time with the girls. They are also staying here at the resort.

Last night we went on our sunset party cruise. We were supposed to go last week but due to the weather system moving through, it was cancelled. We had purchased the tickets on Groupon and essentially got a 2 for 1 deal ($24 for 2 tickets). We had the choice of a dolphin cruise or a sunset party cruise. We set sail at 5:30 and headed out of the harbor. We hadn't gone very far when the captain made the announcement that he was experiencing some engine trouble and needed to go below and change out a propeller. After about 15 minutes or so, he had that taken care of and we were on our way.

We sailed past the yacht club and the area where all the shrimp boats are docked.

 

 

 

 

 

We sailed out to Sanibel Island and sat there till the sun set. We also got to watch several dolphins playing around the boat.

There were only about 16 people on board so we could walk around, to either side of the boat, to check out the sights and not get in anyone's way.

It was a beautiful night for a sunset cruise. It was a little chilly on the warm but a light coat was all that was needed. This weekend the temps are supposed to drop into the 60's so we're glad we went last night instead of this coming Saturday. After the boat docked, we walked over to Nervous Nellie's on the water in Fort Myers Beach and had dinner. They had a guy singing and playing his guitar on the patio and it made for a really nice end to the evening.

As a follow-up to other news, I think I mentioned that Linda and I had blood work done in VA Beach and both of our cholesterol levels are higher than what they should be. In lieu of going to the doctor and getting Linda on a statin drug, we're going to see if using Red Yeast Rice will help. It has the same ingredient in it that statin drugs like Lipitor, etc. have in them but the one we've chosen to take also has CQ-10 and Milk thistle in it. Milk thistle aids the liver in dealing with the active ingredient that is hard on your liver and the CoQ-10 is good overall for cardiovascular health. We're going to try this for a couple months and then get our bloodwork done again and see if her cholesterol has come down. Last week Linda also had a sleep test done, using a home testing kit. Having listened to her breathing, while sleeping, there are times when I can count a significant number of seconds where she isn't breathing. At my urging, she sent for the machine and did the at-home test. A  little computer device straps to your chest and it tests your oxygen saturation, number of respirations, etc throughout the night while you sleep. Here she is after her night of testing before we took the machine off of her. We mailed the machine back and they pulled the data out of it and e-mailed us the results. It's a pretty comprehensive report. She had 17 instances during the night where she quit breathing. Her O2 saturation dropped to 84% at several points when her brain isn't getting as much oxygen as it should cause she quit breathing and it shouldn't drop below 90%. And the number of snoring instances was 1,411. Based on the 17 times that she quits breathing, that puts her in the moderate level of sleep apnea. What happens is that either her tongue drops back in her throat blocking the airway or as we age the skin gets floppy and obstructs or collapses the airway. Since she is always tired, during the day, I suspected that this was due to lack of real, sustained sleep. If I would watch her sleep, when she has one of these snoring episodes, she awakens herself and changes position constantly throughout the night, never getting into a deep REM sleep. My suspicions were confirmed with the test so she ordered a CPAP machine so she can have a restful sleep and the O2 saturation her brain needs throughout the night. It arrived in the mail today and tonight she'll use it for the first time. Since we travel throughout the US, and at so many different elevations, we got an automatic machine that senses what elevation we are at, senses what amount of pressure she needs and will record the data so adjustments can be made in a month or so. She got a nasal pillow mask that has minimal stuff on her face so she shouldn't really know that it's there and not be hard to get used to. I am excited for her to finally get a good nights sleep so that she feels refreshed in the morning instead of still tired. I'll report back in a few days and let you know how it going.