Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Wednesday November 30 2016


I had a good night of sleep, wake up ready for my day. This morning the nurse gave me already Tylenol  for my gums as it was hurting.

The morning is always filled with good proposal.

I am full of energy for my day

The flowers at the apartment always offer a good subject . Yes I like to snap pictures of the flowers. I posted it  here. Once in a while I remove it from my  phone as it gets too low in memory availability.




Here is me walking at the park near the apartment.

Breathing fresh hair in the morning and thinking clearly of walking slowly with focusing  on my breath.


It is very similar to perform a walking meditation. Lowering my blood pressure and  staying healthy.



This morning I had a good light breakfast.

Coffee, yogurt,  milk, cereal, whole wheat bread with honey and peanut butter.
Enough for this morning.

Today  Iwent to the Mount Vernon Clinic first.  I  had a follow up appointment at the dentist so I went to Dr Perry Jue in Commerce Drive to check  my night guard. As I was there I mentioned him that I have  been experiencing a pain in my top tooth at the right side of my face.

 He checked it and told me that I should not floss my teeth that hard because I am cutting into the gum.

Here is the manila folder that I returned to Melissa my Nurse at the Mt Vernon Clinic.


It was a very quick follow up appointment. The main purpose was to check on my night guard, that is works well and than it is doing his job.

The secretary at the dentist was quick in stopping the CNS van that otherwise would have  left without me. 
Overall there was not much to do and It was a very fast check.

One thing though it was useful for me is that they explained me to floss in a gentle way.  

At the dentist I was told me see you next year. A card for my next appointment will be sent at the apartment.

On the van there was Miss Mo another patient at CNS. She is suffering from dyslexia.
She is behaving in a very unpleasant way,  she is fixated with me talking about her.

She has become a very  unpleasant person to be around.

Yesterday it was a Tuesday and I took care of the apartment rather than going to the gym.

 Other patient were going at Personal Shopping but I had not signed on for it.

I made sure I ckecked the food that was inside the fridge and that  all the stored  food in the box had been labelled properly.


I clearly have enough to eat. 

I have ben taking  care of the food supply by storing it away properly.

From the top:
- first row frozen bananas, ice cream and a Trader Joe's flat bread.  
- second row:  frozen quinoa oatmeal for breakfast, on the right home made soups, 
 -third row:  a few boxes with home made polpettone
-last at the bottom it is a frozen minestrone soup.

 All labelled and ready to go as needed. 

Clearly I like to cook and to be ready in case I have an emergency and can not do grocery shopping for awhile.

Yesterday I asked maintenance for a new pot.  
The one  I had previously was a black non sticking Teflon covered pan.

 Over time the Teflon got scratched and the coating got ruined.
I realized with each use I was eating a bit of Teflon too.

I went to maintenance to show them the pan status. 

They agreed with me and provided me with a new replacement.

Here is my  brand new stainless steel pan.
I promptly washed with soap with warm water.

Yesterday evening at the apartment I cooked a great minestrone soup.

As alwasy it goes I took care of making a good soffritto first. I sliced carrots, potatoes, celery and onions.

I used Coconut Oil for this base.

Finally I added some previously cooked chicken breast and a defrosted lentil soup.


Here is the minestrone boiling 


At the end I added a bouillon cube, and some Olive Oil with Parmesan cheese.

Cooking has always been a passion of mine I like to cook and I am following my heart and intuition.

I love to eat what I am cooking. Once in a while I like to experiment with some new items as well.

I prize myself of eating healthy and to steer aways from bad and unhelthy food.

Finally some cleaning.



This morning I brought some chocolate here at the Homes of Hope. I had promised it  yesterday and I am trying to stick to my words as much as I can.

It is a matter of coherence and fairness.

During lunch I called my mother in Italy using Skype. She is fine she is battling with a pain in her legs. The other day her doctor gave her some medication and performed a simple procedure on her knee.
Right now my sister Isabella is visiting from Germany where she leaves.

Today she drove to Fano Pesaro where our family summer house is located.

It took her 3 hours driving each way. Tomorrow she will leave and first go back to Spain where she resides for most part of the year. She shares her time between Germany and Spain.

Initially she went to Germany and opened her company. She is now doing well and she has started to share her time with Spain where she has a small home. Over there she has a home office where she remotely works.

In theory she can do everything from Spain.

Whenever she has to visit customers or attend some trade shows she makes plan to be in Germany.

Sincerely
Giuseppe

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Tuesday November 29

Already, It is a cold day in Bakersfield California.

I had a brief night of sleep. I do not remember what I am dreaming at night. I am using my night guard to sleep. It allows me to byte and chew on a solid piece of plastic.
It is clear and unflavored plastic.

Yesterday evening I went to Trader Joe's as I did not go over the weekend.

I first had dinner with a home made frittata. I diced small potatoes and cooked it a bit beforehand.
Several eggs, seasoning milk and Parmesan cheese. I  cooked  it really well.

The anti sticking pan I am using is giving away its Teflon coating.

Teflon is a non reactive coating. So I guess if I am eating some and it passes trough my body  unaffected.

Ask maintenance as Simona's solution is for everything.... well let's see what they will say.



At 4:30pm I went to Trader Joe's because during the weekend I was busy with other activities.

Jamie was surprised to see me there  on a Monday afternoon

I purchased every thing it was on my list. The NRS that came with me was telling me to move on and be quick...The NRS is Miss M. S. same family name as Laurie S.

As I was in the store I asked Jamie where  I could buy some malt beverage.

She mentioned that they had just run out of it. I asked several of her colleges and they all confirmed Jamie's words.

Next time  I need to get there earlier.

Anyway Jamie is fine. Her two kids Delaney and Logan are doing great.


I purchased all healthy food. As always I brought my bags -brown reusable bags- got everything on the list. As mentioned this time an NRS came with me, she did not wanted to help me in any way but she pressured me constantly as if she was doing the shopping. She bugged me a lot. Obliviously she did not want to be there.

I got some chocolate that I have already started to distribute and give away to other people.

I gave a whole Tablet to Miss A. the plan is for tomorrow to take it here at the Homes of Hope.

I do not buy for myself but as a give away gift.

I spent $73.56 in organic food.

Afterward this very same NRS took me at the reception to give the money back from my grocery shopping.

She obviously did not about the program called money management.

As I am taking part it has never happened me to declare at the reception how much money I had spent on Grocery Shopping.

Personal Shopping has to be declared with the amount.  This is a different source of money.


Miss Amanda at the reception took a copy of the receipt. 
An odd action if you are asking me.
Today I had a quick lunch with chicken broth, brown rice and mixed grapes.

I called my mother in Italy.
She is doing OK. She is battling with a sharp pain in her knee. 
She is struggling to find the right therapy and medication to get over it. 

This morning together with my sister she went to the doctor . My mother  is suffering from  swelling of a knee. The doctor  removed  a whole syringe full of fluid  from her knee. I believe it is called synovial fluid. Afterward he gave her a shot of pain killer.

My sister is visiting from Germany. She is going to stay in town for a couple of day and then head back to wherever she likes to be. She share her time between Germany and Spain.
She has a residence and her company in Germany. She also has a house in Spain where she spend a lot of time. She has a home office here so she can work remotely as well. Don't ask for more this is as much that it will go.

As I was busy with  the Grocery Shopping activity I did not go to the gym.it is OK. It is not a mandatory activity.

Whenever I am busy with other important items I am busy with other things to do.

This morning I had a quick and healthy breakfast.
 Oatmeal, Organic whole milk, coffee, peanut butter and honey on a whole wheat bread.

The morning hours are dark as the winter time is incumbent. I do not like it at all.

 I got some Tylenol as my right tooth is hurting.

This is a bad sign for me. My body is slowly giving in to the inevitable evidence of life.

Beside having a toothache is a bad sign for my health as it all started with a toothache.

Park in the morning for my walk to get the newspaper



I got barely in the van went to the Mount Vernon clinic, read the newspaper of the day enduring the uplifting company of this time.  I have been asked as always What is your name? by the same person that everyday ask me the very same question. The facility at Mt Vernon is overcrowded and under served. Luckily I get off everyday- they called it voluntary job, I called it a breath of plain sanity.

Of course in the van Miss Mo was annoyed at me as always she is being with her injury

I am used to her little spikes of hate directed at me. I am used to her  haste and vitriol comments

They told me she suffers from dyslexia ... it involves her capability of controlling what she says.
Most of the time she sounds ans is  really nasty.

For lunch I had  brought some chicken broth. 

I made it with brown rice.

A good serving  of colorful grapes.

I got a small sip of coffee and brushed my teeth.

It is all OK

The Xmas carol is upon us this is getting into the Xmas time.

It is PC to wish somebody a happy season as you never know if this individual does celebrate Xmas as being the Catholic celebration. 













Monday, November 28, 2016

Monday November 28

Let's review the current information I have available. For your record.


On October 2010 I had a severe hemorrhage secondary to AVM (Arteriovenous Malformation).

I experienced an ischemic stroke secondary to vascular changes because of the hemorrhage.


I have  a shunt since 2010- six years overall.

At the time our youngest son Lapo was 1 year old. Now he is 7 years old. Time goes on for everybody.


The shunt is working well.

However I am prone to headache on a regular basis that CNS is managing by giving me palliative meds such as Tylenol. Thus far it has been working somehow  It isn't fixing the root cause inside my head however.

I was supposed to go at that time... but hey ...perhaps I did something bad in life and I have to purge something.

There is nothing to do about my head. Dr Zoner in Santa Barbara reviewed my chart and did not bulge.

He mentioned the shunt is working well and he would like to leave it inside my head.

I am personally of the opinion that I would like to get this gear out of my brain as soon as possible.

It is as when you are looking forward to removing braces from your mouth.

I am looking forward to remove my brain braces to start to feeling like a human person again...no more about this TBI residual memories...

I am willing to take the risk of having my skull reopened again, this is as far as I am ready to go to feel like a human person again.

I went to La Canada over the weekend. This is the place were I used to enjoy living.

I took my weight: 80.8 kg fully dressed.


In La Canada there are all memory of a former self.

I am fully dependent from my significant other, I am fully dependent from their life.

On November 24  Thursday here are the kids playing at the TV.



Apparently they are constantly playing at the WEE or with the computer, chatting with friends on a virtual reality universe.



we went to eat Sushi at Whole Food in La Canada





who is no  fan and does not  like Sushi ?

In the evening we went to have dinner with the usual kind friends: Stefano, his wife Jen.

At dinner there was Bob his wife Raffaella and son Luca.

Bob in green, Stefano in white


Simona in black and Raffaella in red shirt next to her.

Raffaella is Bob's wife. She is a good friend of  Simona.


As always we had a lot of food. We had a duck for thanksgiving rather than the usual turkey.

There was as well another family attending the dinner.
Their son is a first year student at Berkeley University.

On Friday  November 25 at home the boys have been playing a lot the piano.

Here is Lapo he is doing as well as his brother.



We then went to have a coffee at the Intelligentsia Coffee in Pasadena.
They have a good Coffee.

The boys had a hot chocolate.

We then took the chance of going to Sur La Table to exchange the compressed air canister for my Soda Stream sparkling water maker.

Lapo did receive a box of Ultimate Military Forces as Amazon delivered Black Friday








In the evening we went to Glendale mall  to watch the Fantastic Beast movie that I had already seen the previous week (Repetitat iuvant). Still it remains an obscure movie for me.

In Glendale it was already all shining with Xmas lights and songs.

American people are  jumping from one celebration (Thanksgiving) straight into the Xmas carols and melodies with a stunning continuity of thoughts.





We stopped by Nordstrom Galleria to purchase a new pair of Nike shoes for Chicco

Chicco is wearing the #41 right now and he is an 11 years old boy. Image what  he will be when fully grown.


Dinner was at home. Chicco was buzzing at the computer playing remotely with a friend of his.

In my opinion his perseverance and insistence have a compensating role in his life.

He does not want to stop and think that right now he does not have a father.

I am concerned about his future.

On Saturday morning we had another relaxing day.

The boys played Stratego in the morning





This is the time they spent away from any electronic device, without arguing with each others.
Just playing buddies,

I had another strong headache, It is taking the same side of the shunt, the right hand side of my face.


I do not know what we did in the evening.

On Sunday morning November 27 we went to church at S.Bede in La Canada.

The boys had a good morning they had Sunday school so that they stayed busy in the morning.

Swimming got cancelled as it was a rainy day.

We left early to come to Bakersfield from La Canada. As in Bakersfield I  have been doing my rehabilitation therapy since 2011.

Traffic was really bad, apparently people in Southern California do not have a clue on how to drive with poor weather conditions.

There were several accidents along the way to Bakersfield.

Oh by the way then CNS tells me I am not able to drive... dear CNS you should see the individuals that are on the road of Southern California...

We got a pizza along the way... Blaze Pizza all good.



Easy to eat and easy to get in La Canada. A good veggy pizza. Chicco had a pepperoni, sausage, Lapo had some chicken nuggets.

By the way this morning I had money management completed as I was away for the weekend





Enjoy the reading.








Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Tuesday Nov 22

Yesterday evening at the apartment I have been busy cooking a good vegetable soup.
First I made a soffritto with onions, celery and carrot by using Coconut Oil.
I added a butternut squash to the soup.



I carefully sliced the potatoes into cube.

I cooked the soup in a large pot. Since  I had purchased some dry lentils I added it to the mix as well.

 I  seasoned the recipe with  a vegetable bouillon cube and a pinch of  pyramid salt. 

At the end it was time for  raw Olive Oil and Parmesan cheese.

In a separate smaller pot I cooked the brown rice.


Here is the  result of the combination.



I prepared my lunch for today by partitioning  the same soup.

I cleaned everything and as I  had some good reading material I called the evening.

I realized that the remote of the TV was not working. So I left a message for maintenance.
They came this morning to show me that the issue was on the mode the remote was set into.


Mr Pinel from maintenance  showed me the remote was set on record. 
He explained me that it has to be set on TV mode to work properly.

This morning I had the first part of money management. Normally I have it on Wednesday but because of the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday it has been moved by one day.
I am going to pick up the money on Monday evening once I am going to be back

The lunch today is really healthy and in season.

I had the same soup as yesterday evening.

I had a serving of fruit: a pear and a clementine

I drunk a bit of coffee (just a sip) and brushed my teeth.

Today's flower pictures show some water droplets.

It is so unusual to see it in California. 

Hopefully this year it is going to be a bit wetter than last winter.






Here is a great picture for the park near the apartment 

It is a great landscape view of the area.

It shows how well it is maintained and how peaceful it appears in the morning 

I enjoy very much doing a couple of lap each day the weather allows me to. A good exercise in the morning whenever I can.
By walking in the park I can feel my back pain dissipating.

At time it is so intense that it is hard to breath, at time it is gone.





This morning I have not called Simona. I just called Simona later today after lunch. She knows I am OK. Simona let me know the kids are at home playing. After taking with Simona I called at home in La Canada and talked with Chicco and Lapo. They were playing at home and sounded very well.

The plan is that I am going to be gone for the next five days. I have a medical and then I am going at home in La Canada.
My wife Simona is coming to pick me up at 10 am tomorrow morning.
I need to prepare the luggage for five days. My instructions: jeans, a pull and shirts.

At 2pm at the latest  I have an appointment in S. Barbara at the Cottage Hospital with Dr. Zoner.

He knows  very well the family,  Simona and myself.

He is the neurosurgeon that took care of my aneurysm  in  October 2010.  

I experience severe intracranial hemorrhage secondary to my AVM  ArterioVenous Malformation. 
Simply said I had an ischemic stroke secondary to vascular changes because of the hemorrhage. 
It is ischemic because blood flows was cut for a bit following my hemorrhage.

I am struggling to get all the pieces together, and the exact wording of the medical situation.

I am struggling to understand as it is in my nature to make reason to the things that surrounds me.

Monday, November 21, 2016

Monday November 21

It is a cold day today.

It is a rainy day, it started raining last night.

It is all for the best as in this side of the country there is a desperate need of fresh water.

I had  a very busy weekend.

Last Friday November 8 I went to the gym  and had my Zumba session.

In red Caroline the teacher, at her left  Saira,  next to Caroline  and in black shirt is  Lee then Salve in pink shirt finally Arjit in violet.

It is a good cardio exercise at the sound of music. My body automatically goes in Zumba mode at the gym.


Last Friday I  walked by myself at the gym  by signing off at 4:43pm.

I arrived at 5:11 pm.
After Zumba I was ready to go back with the CNS van. I called for  transportation for a  pickup.

I had my evening shower protein snack and I was then ready for bed at 9pm after my night sleeping meds.

Saturday November 19I had a very healthy breakfast. Peanut butter, banana on bread and coffee.


I washed all my clothes in the 500 building washer. It is always hard to find available equipment.
When there is a washer there are no driers available and when there is a drier there are no washers available. I am used to go around the complex looking for a piece of equipment that is available.

Some are reserved only for certain apartment...Washing  is always like playing at the lottery.
Congratulation you are the winner of an available piece of cleaning equipment ... courtesy of the Insurance.

Aside from my usual cleaning  I took the chance of washing the bed cover as it was time.



I washed everything else, changed the bed, washed my bathrobe, the carpet in the bathroom.


I cleaned the kitchen floor and run the carpet cleaner on the whole apartment.


The carpet cleaner as it is 


I cleaned the kitchen floor and washed it with the swifter.



I removed the accumulated dust from my bedroom furniture


I carefully cleaned my bathroom


The kitchen table was taken care of as always.


Before cleaning the whole apartment I had time to go to Grocery Shopping at Trader Joe's  my preferred grocery market.

She is always Jamie. She makes sure I have all I needs, no more no less.


The place was packed as the people from Bakersfield are getting ready for the holidays.
I shopped for some healthy food.
Enjoyed the environment, my total was $97.35.

I do not eat any junk food, nor drink any sodas, nor for that matter eat any candies.

When I came back I  tagged all the food with labels and store it in the appropriate fridge compartment.

For some reason they had run of Prosecco. I asked the different people at the store and they told me they were experiencing  a peak of request during this time of the year.

In the evening I went to the Maya Theater to see an entertaining  movie.

The title is Fantastic Beasts.


I watched it in MPX surround system


The movie is a spin off of the Henry Potter's story.

It was written by the same author J. K. Rowling.

Sunday November 20.

On Sunday morning CNS took the usual clients to church.

Now I was not pleased by the service last Sunday.

CNS was late by 20 minutes. 

Obviously all they had to say it is we are sorry...

On my side all I could do is to fill in a complain form for CNS...


Let me tell you dear CNS what it means to be sorry: it means to be constrained to your service for going to church... for you it is clearly a new experience going to church on Sunday on time.

I am and was extremely irritated by this lack of performance, respect and priority. As a results of the very poor scheduling I felt I had no place to give any charity at church. Clearly the last I feel to do is to give money at church as I am late.

I will be keeping withdrawing my money and give it back to CNS for as long as the CNS service is so poor..


Nevertheless I did my communion and get a sip of wine.. just because I could.

They drove me back to the apartment. I filled a  complaints form. ( see above)

I had a quick lunch, A good salad, warmed up white baguette with brie.




I  got my weights and walked to the gym.



I signed out at 2pm and waked to the gym.
Be careful they told me.

It took me 33 minutes to walk being careful and respecting the pedestrian green light.

At the gym I worked  on my own program. I set level 5  on the stair master . I did  3.47 miles in about 50 minutes.



This is a good machine to improve my walking. A good cardio vascular and fitness run.

Afterward I did  18 minutes of multimode robe trainer at level 5. During this time the cord I am pulling runs for 1 mile. This is good for my shoulders and for my back muscles.


At the gym there are many very big guys. I have no actual aspiration to become a  bulky person . The reason I am going to the gym is fitness. Aerobic and muscle tone.
My legs, my abdominal, my sense of well being.
It is part of my therapy to be improving my body functionality so maybe one day I will be able to run again.

Before leaving I accurately stretched my body.

I  left the gym at 4:10 pm. I walked back to the apartment.

Obviously it takes a bit of time to walk back. At 4:46 pm (after about 25 minutes) I signed back in at the apartments.

I feel my legs getting better and my walking improving. The reality is that I still have a crooked walking and that this will be with me for a long time.

I had a good breakfast this morning.
Cereal with milk, organic medley and cut pieces of apple.

Peanut butter with preserve on rye bread.


Today the local flowers at the apartment are showing droplet of rains.

It is a highly unusual picture of the flowers with the rain.

I could not take a picture of the park as it was raining too hard.






Meanwhile we are here, in Japan something really bad happened.

A 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck Japan today. A tsunami warning has been issued for the local areas.



There is no rain in the forecast for tomorrow 

Only this morning it has been raining a bit 
Enjoy the reading
Giuseppe