Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Alameda Farmers’ Market
Ron (the egg guy) told me that their main supplier, a family poultry farm for generations (Great Valley), is going out of business at the end of October. But he said he has found another farm with pasture-raised poultry where he can get the eggs.
Pain Group Online
Francis had the entire hour today as Julie Whitehead is on vacation for two weeks.
At the end, he did this “gentle movement” exercise:
Feldenkrais Therapeutic Head Turning
Thursday, October 7, 2021
Linda’s cataract surgery follow-up appointment with Batra Vision. Everything looks fine. Made next appointment for one year from now.
Friday, October 8, 2021
Scott and I exchanged birthday gifts today, both bought on Amazon from each other’s wish list. Scott got me a cute little rice cooker made by Mini-Dash so I can fix 3 cups of rice at a time for Linda (and a forkful for Emily). I got him a book (with a gift space LEGO man) on the history of LEGO.
Sabbath, October 9, 2021
Since I no longer “attend” Adventist Today Sabbath Seminar or the Green Lake Church, I was free to visit Loma Linda University Church and Kettering Adventist Church. I feel like I’ve had a full day of “church”! Somewhere along the way, I picked up this nice collection of meditations:
Stanford Health Library – Guided Imagery Meditations
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Pain Group Online
Francis had the entire hour again today. He started with a meditation, then discussed ideas for how to send off Dr. Julie Whitehead with good wishes next week. For the “gentle movement,” he presented a simple choreograph of “What a Wonderful World” and did a “dress rehearsal” of how we’ll do it next week. The group decided that each of us should make a “poster” to present online to Julie (so I think I’ll do a nice picture from my Celtic A to Z coloring book).
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Linda’s appointment at Stanford, consult only.
Friday, October 15, 2021
Scott’s birthday.
Also, Linda’s MRI at Stanford.
Scott called me in the evening and we talked for an hour. I asked him about his cholesterol and if he was still taking the statin drugs. That’s when he told me he is pre-diabetic! I felt just about as devastated at that news as I was in September 2000 when I got my diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. I cried a lot tonight.
Sunday, October 17, 2021
75th birthday for Mom J.
Aaron and Lisa stopped by to bring me birthday brisket but Aaron and Alex did not come in because Alex is sick with a cold. They were driving their “ambulance” and were on their way to the marina for a picnic lunch and playing board games, all inside the vehicle. They did not get out.
Monday, October 18, 2021
23rd wedding anniversary for Scott and Naomi McDonald.
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Alameda Farmers’ Market
Ron was not at the egg kiosk today, and his mother told me they had only one dozen of the pastured eggs left, so I bought it, along with just regular organic jumbo eggs. She told me about their new egg supplier and seemed very optimistic that they would be good.
Shopped at Trader Joe’s and Safeway. For the first time in many months, Safeway did not have Almond Breeze unsweetened chocolate almond milk. Grr!
Pain Group Online – LAST ONE!
We knew that today would be Dr. Julie Whitehead’s last day before her moving up in her career path to a managerial position on the Oakland campus. What we did not know was that it was also the last online Pain Group we would be having! Long story short: the Kaiser Pain Management Program has a staffing shortage. Francis told us he plans to retire in August of 2022, when he will be 60, the youngest age when he is allowed to retire from Kaiser.
Francis gave us this link as a “resource.” I messaged in the chat that the best resource of all has been this community!
It was a very emotional session, with several of the group members in tears before it was over. Francis stayed online as long as anyone wanted to talk, but I logged out at about 5:10 p.m. I really want to send a message to both Julie and Francis, to let them each know how and why I have appreciated them in my pain journey.
Locked Out of Adventist Vegetarian Diabetics Facebook group
When I tried to access the group, it gave me an error message. I Googled for a fix and tried everything on a long list of things to do. I did everything, multiple times, and nothing worked! Then I noticed one thing I had not done: to log out of Facebook and log back in! I had logged out of Chrome and logged back in. Multiple times. I rebooted the computer. Multiple times. So now I tried logging out of Facebook and back in, and voila! It fixed it!
Meanwhile, I decided to create a Page called “Adventist Vegetarian Diabetics Resources” and sent invitations to over 30 people on my Friends list. A few responded and “Liked” the Page.
https://www.facebook.com/Adventist-Vegetarian-Diabetics-Resources-106871865120319/
Thursday, October 21, 2021
Individual Acupuncture #10 with Sophie Tu. I told her about Linda’s process for getting a hip replacement at Stanford, so she talked a lot about what her mother had to do with her hip replacement at Kaiser. Made next acupuncture appointment for December 16.
I also had made an appointment for a blood draw at the Union City Laboratory for an A1C test. I have resigned myself to just giving up on getting a c-peptide or fasting insulin (though Dr. Prabaharan will not be back in the office until after 10/24/2021).
I got my flu shot on my way to the Union City clinical laboratory. I was very chatty! They gave me a free mask with the Kaiser imprint.
Friday, October 22, 2021
First rain of the season.
Linda’s appointment at Stanford for pain relief injection. It took 3 hours, but she said she was amazed at the amount of pain relief it gave her!
UPDATE: Got A1C test results back. 6.3%. Very depressing!
Sunday, October 24, 2021
Hard rain now, predicted to last until Monday night. I was not able to go for my walk with Emily.
I sent messages to Julie Whitehead and to Francis:
From: Jacqueline Hegarty V
Sent: 10/24/2021 1:28 PM PDT
To: Julie K Whitehead, PsyD
Subject: Best wishes in your new position!
Just wanted to send you a short message to wish you all the best for the next chapter in your career! You have been such an integral part of my pain journey since January 2018 when you allowed me to enter the Level 3 Pain Management Program at Union City. You taught me Prioritizing, Planning, and Pacing, and most importantly how to “belly breathe” and meditate. Thank you for all of it!
*****
From: Jacqueline Hegarty V
Sent: 10/24/2021 1:39 PM PDT
To: Francis Alarico Tanjuatco, PT
Subject: The next chapter
Just wanted to say thank you for being such an integral part of my pain journey since January 2018 when I entered the Level 3 Pain Management Program in Union City. I’m especially grateful that I was able to see you for individual care after that time–until January 2020.
Now I’m also grateful for the past 17 months of the weekly “Calm Mind, Calm Body” sessions with you and Julie Whitehead. It was really a sudden and overwhelming loss that Kaiser does not have the necessary staff to continue. You know that, even though I didn’t “say” much during the sessions, the weekly class became a real community for all of us! I’m hoping, as are many of the group members, that Kaiser might be willing to have another format, perhaps just 30-45 minutes of “gentle movement” practices. Cora had it right that you have been a “godsend”!
Are you seeing patients individually in your office yet? I’m hoping I will be able to have individual appointments with you in 2022.
Thank you, again, for all your help!
Tuesday, October 25, 2021
Julie K Whitehead, PsyD
Received:10/25/2021
To Jacqueline Hegarty V
Message body:
HI, Jackie.
Thank you so much for the kind words. I really appreciate your note and having an opportunity to get to know you over the past few years. I’m glad that those skills stuck and you are very welcome!
Take care,
Julie Whitehead, Psy.D.
*****
Rachel Oribello White, RN
Received:10/25/2021
To Jacqueline Hegarty V
Dear Ms. Hegarty,
My name is Rachel White, a Diabetes nurse working with Doctor Velummylum Prabaharan MD.
Congratulations! Your diabetes A1C test is at your goal of 7%.
Lab Results
Hgb A1c % 6.3 (H) 10/21/2021
Your diabetes is under control with your current medications. Continue eating appropriate carbohydrate portions and exercising regularly. Please e-mail or call 510-248-3998 if you notice changes in your blood sugar control. Thank you and take care!
Rachel White, Diabetes Nurse
*****
This message was expected but totally meaningless. My goal is not 7%—it’s 5.6% (or less)!
Alameda
Safeway had the unsweetened chocolate almond milk, but no mandarin gels for Linda, and no Chinet dinner plates.
It seemed really strange to not have Pain Group online. So I decided to take Emily for a walk since the sun was shining. There were no ducks at the pond and very few fish.
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Francis Alarico Tanjuatco, PT
Received: 10/27/2021
To Jacqueline Hegarty V
Message body:
Hi Jackie,
Thank you for the kind feedback.
And you’re right, the Tuesday group became a real community of support and encouragement for everyone who made the commitment to attend every week. I was expecting to facilitate the group on my own for a while but management wanted to move in another direction.
I’ve been seeing patients in person for office visits for a while now. Just let me know when you’re ready to come in and I can book something convenient for you.
All the best,
Francis
*****
My response to Francis:
Thanks for your response. It really seemed strange yesterday to not have the online pain group. I actually took another walk since the sun was shining. I’ve been walking every day except Tuesday for a while now, taking my little dog Emily. You may recall I had such a struggle with that! I don’t know what changed. I was mostly motivated by feeling that our senior Chihuahua needed more exercise.
At the present time, my partner needs hip replacement surgery (she’s not with Kaiser), and she has been having preliminary appointments with Stanford where her doctor referred her to. But she won’t know when the actual surgery will be until the day before! They have assured her that it will be “by the end of the year.”
I have been fortunate to still have individual acupuncture appointments with Sophie. The next one is December, so I’m thinking January 2022 might be a good time to see you again. Let me know when you know your schedule.
Thanks again for everything!
Friday, October 29, 2021
When we woke up, the power was off. I wondered how long it had been off and when it would come back on. It came back on about 20 minutes later; we were still in bed. So I set the bedroom alarm clock and got up to turn on the coffee. I knew Linda would have to re-program the coffee pot.
When I checked email, I found this message from Francis:
Francis Alarico Tanjuatco, PT
Received: 10/29/2021
To Jacqueline Hegarty V
Message body:
Hi Jacquie (got the spelling right this time!)
Yes, January 2022 sounds good. My January schedule isn’t open yet and subject to change at this point. Send me a message in December – it should be open by then and I can find a convenient appointment for you.
I’m happy to hear that you and Emily are both getting more exercise – keep it up!
Have a good weekend.
Francis
Saturday, October 30, 2021
It was cold and windy but not raining, so Emily and I went to the duck pond. However, it would not have been pleasant to sit outside, so we went into the clubhouse and found “our” chair by the window. There was a private party going on in the main hall, with people coming and going, and Emily enjoyed watching them, especially the children.
