Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, quickly fell asleep, woke up once during the night but didn’t get up, quickly fell back asleep and woke/got up at 7:45.  Wow!

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show.  I made the mistake of sitting on the couch (somehow incorrectly) and when I got up my back was a little sore.  I took ½ an Excedrin and walked to the gym.  I ran into Marcos and I got his cellphone number and added it to my contacts.  Teresa was leaving with a girlfriend and said they are going to Aymara for coffee.  I completed all my exercises in a little over 90 minutes.

Teresa got a call from the muchacho, Don Miguel, who reported he won’t be finishing the garden today.  Teresa already made herself fish for lunch so I’m on my own today and again tomorrow.

I left the apt at 1pm and walked to Empire’s NY pizza.  There were no customers and I sat down at one of 3 outside tables.  After a 2-minute wait I got up and I noticed a cook back in the kitchen as I walked by.  I walked to Papa John’s where I always enjoy their A/C.  I ordered my usual Pomodoro individual pizza and a large Coke and sat at one of the front tables because the booths in back were just too cold.

Outside I quickly caught a Sabaneta bus to downtown Envigado.  I walked to the ATM where I withdrew some cash.  I stopped in Bancolombia about 2:30 but Chuck wasn’t there.

I went to Cotrafa where I paid the utility bill.  At Todo Drogas I bought a couple more packages of Dexiburofen.

I stopped in the copy center where I printed out a chess page and bought a couple of large plastic storage envelopes for Teresa.

I walked down the hill to the mall where I picked up my old repaired gym shoes for a total of 35mil.

I went into Cine Colombia where I bought a medium café con leche at Juan Valdez.  I spent some time downloading and setting up some apps.  At one point I heard some loud music coming from the next table.  I was thinking “well, at least you could turn it down” when I realized it was coming from my new phone.  It was Teresa, my first call, asking me to pick up a couple apples at Exito on my way back to the apt.

I dropped off an empty pill container and received a coupon good for a 10% discount at Americanino which I later gave to Teresa.

I walked back to the apt.

Teresa is afraid the medicine I continue to take could damage my kidneys.  A little googling found:

The safety of NSAIDs, including ibuprofen, has been reviewed regularly by authorities in the EU over the past few years. Reviews carried out in 2005, 2006, and 2012 confirmed that NSAIDs as a class are associated with a small increase in the risk of arterial thromboembolic events (blood clots in the arteries) especially in patients with underlying heart or circulatory conditions or with certain cardiovascular risk factors, and particularly if used at high doses.

A class warning of this risk is already in place and the product information for all NSAIDs, including ibuprofen, recommends that these medicines be used at the lowest effective dose and for the shortest period of time necessary to control symptoms.

This latest review considered accumulated evidence which clarifies the cardiovascular risk related to ibuprofen taken at high doses and the interaction between ibuprofen at any dose and aspirin.

NSAIDs (Dexibuprofen) are safe for the liver (higado), but can cause a problem with kidney (riñon) function that is reversible if you stop taking them. Generally safe, but worth paying attention to.

I’m going to try to take it once a day instead of twice a day and see how that works.

I watched Season 8, episode 11 of The Walking Dead on Netflix.

I skipped taking a Dexibuprofen this evening so we’ll see how I feel tomorrow.

12,697 steps today.

Joke of the day

Mr. Smith goes to the doctor's office to collect his wife's test results. 

The lab tech says to him, "I'm sorry, sir, but there has been a bit of a mix-up and we have a problem. When we sent the samples from your wife to the lab, the samples from another Mrs. Smith were sent as well and we are now uncertain which one is your wife's. Frankly, that's either bad or terrible." 

"What do you mean?" 

"Well, one Mrs. Smith has tested positive for Alzheimer's disease and the other for AIDS. We can't tell which belongs to your wife." 

"That's terrible! Can we do the test over?" asked Mr. Smith. 

"Normally, yes. But you have an HMO, and they won't pay for these expensive tests more than once." 

"Well, what am I supposed to do now?"

"The HMO recommends you drop your wife off in the middle of town. If she finds her way home, don't sleep with her."