Denver August 2022 Part 1

Now that the virus-that-shall-not-be-named is sort of controlled we decided to book a vacation to Denver so Dave could get is Denver Rockies baseball hat. Here are my thoughts on that trip. I keep a notebook handy on these trips and jot things down as I go. Then using memory jogged from the notes supplemented with Internet searches I can write this record of the highlights of our trip. I'm not sure how many parts there will be. Likely at least three. Stay tuned. Or not, your choice. 😄

We started out on Sunday, August 21st. First step was Septa regional rail. We took the newly minted Media/Wawa train from Media to 30th Street. The extension from Elwyn to a new station at Wawa was just completed. In fact, the train we took was the inaugural run from Wawa to Center City. And it was three minutes late. LOL. 

In the grand scheme of things (and this trip in particular), three minutes is not significant although it is puzzling since it was a Sunday and the official ribbon cutting had taken place the Friday before. There were a lot of people on the train 6:00 am on a Sunday. I think many, if not all of them, were doing what Dave and I would likely have done had we not had plans. That is, wanting to be one of the first to ride from Wawa to Center City. 

We arrived at 30th Street just before 7 am and we made our way to the Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge to await our 8:15 am train to Chicago. Lounge access is a perk of being a sleeping car passenger. It's a quiet, comfortable space to wait with coffee, tea, water and snacks. About half an hour before departure we were led to an elevator that took us down to the boarding platform. 

On this trip we would be on two different Amtrak trains. The Cardinal, our train from Philadelphia to Chicago, was a Viewliner model and from Chicago to Denver we were on the California Zephyr, a Superliner model. The primary differences are this: 

• Superliner models are double decker trains; Viewliner models are single level trains and are necessary on trains that travel north of Washington DC because of the low clearance tunnels in Baltimore and NYC. 
• Superliner models have formal dining cars with a kitchen and food is mostly cooked to order; Viewliner models have café cars with a modified menu of heat and serve items. 
• Roomettes on the Viewliner models have higher ceilings so the person in the top bunk can sit up in bed. They are also slightly wider. 

Due to the dining differences, Bateman, our sleeping car attendant on the Cardinal, also brought us our meals. There are tables in the café car but when COVID hit, they stopped serving there and haven't resumed yet (at least not on the Cardinal). Here is sample menu for the Cardinal meals. They were really quite good for heat and serve items. 

The Cardinal originates in New York and ends in Chicago. Here is a link to a description with a route map. The daytime hours heading West took us through PA, MD, VA and WVa.  

Most of this first part of the Cardinal trip was cloudy and overcast with occasional showers. It was particularly foggy (yet very pretty) between Charlottesville and Staunton West Virginia. There was a vulture convention near Greenbriar, WV.  Hundreds of vultures, on rooftops and in the fields, yet no roadkill that I could see. According to this Internet find  "vultures are invading West Virginia, having migrated from Central and South America about 45 years ago and now settling up the East Coast." Ok, then. It was spooky. 

Shortly after dinner, we passed through Thurmond, WVa. If you blinked you might miss it. Quaint is a word that easily describes it. Banners hanging from light poles referred to the town as "Historic Thurmond". The buildings were adorable! According to the town website, "Thurmond hosted the Guinness Book of World Record's longest poker game, is one of Travel & Leisure's coolest ghost towns in America". We may have to go back for a visit!! 

Around 8 PM, Bateman turned our room into upper and lower bunks and we settled in for the night. Lights out at 9 pm. It was too dark to see anything and we had been on the move since well before 5 am. Overnight the train travelled through KY, OH, and into Indianapolis, IN. Kentucky must have a lot of road crossings because the train whistle was going most of the night. The ride was comfortable but noisy. 

I woke up at around 5 am to a motionless train in Indianapolis. I'm not sure how long we were there
before I woke up but it was almost an hour after that before we left. Part of that time the train was quiet, shut down. Later, as we were going around a bend where I could see the front of the train, it was obvious we had picked up quite a few cars while we were stopped. I've tried several different variations of Internet searches to discover why and have not found any reason. I wonder if that's a regular thing or a one-off. 

Keep Smiling Keep Moving,

-Paula 

I Will Still Donate Because I Can

For the moment (at least a couple of months) I will be donating whole blood not platelets. It's disappointing and a bit confusing so I share the details here in case any reader has a similar experience. 

It turns out my blood sample tested positive for HLA - Human Leukocyte Antigen - antibodies. According to the Red Cross information provided to me "Every individual has a unique combination of HLA on their cells. Your immune system uses HLA to identify which cells belong in your body and which do not – like bacteria and viruses. When you have an immune response, your body forms antibodies against that antigen." 

The danger is that the HLA antibodies could cause a "serious and sometimes fatal transfusion reaction called TRALI (transfusion-related acute lung injury)" in the recipient. 

The donor (in this case ME) is in no danger. The antibodies are produced by our own bodies if we have received blood transfusions in the past or been exposed to fetal blood during a pregnancy. In my case, it it is likely the latter. 

The good news  - "Antibodies are found in the plasma portion of blood, so they are present in highest quantities in plasma products, followed by platelets. Therefore, donors with anti-HLA antibodies are not eligible to donate plasma or platelets. An individual with anti-HLA antibodies can still donate whole blood or red cells because plasma is removed from these products during collection or manufacturing." I have already made my appointment for whole blood later this month. 👍

Additional (potential) good news -  The screening tests are "highly sensitive so as not to miss any true results of “reactive.” The tradeoff is that we will also see false “reactive” results." Therefore, I have also been informed that the red cross will retest my sample in a few months and if they get a negative test at that time, they will clear me to give platelets again. Unfortunately the platelets donated on Friday are already past their useful life so they will not be used. 

Keep Smiling Keep Moving (and Keep Doing What I Can) 

Don't let disappointment of not being able to do exactly what you want to do, get in the way of doing something. 

- Paula 

I Donate Because I Can

 

Today, I donated platelets for the first time. 

Today was my third attempt. I had an appointment about 8 months ago and 'chickened out'. I had another appointment about 6 months ago and was deferred due to an online scheduling glitch that was beyond my control. At the time of this second attempt I still wasn't sure I could go through with it so my fear rationalized that this was a sign I was not supposed to. 

Why the fear? Mostly, I think, it's fear of the unknown. Oh and that the process involves taking blood out of one arm, removing platelets and a bit of plasma and returning what's left in the other arm. It's the retuning part that had me all heebie-jeebied. 

In the final analysis it came down to this: 

A - I am a healthy 62 year old with no history of disease or illness. B - I know (way too many) family and friends who are, or were, dealing with cancer and other situations causing them to need platelets.  

A   +     B    =     I can MUST DO THIS. 

If you are considering this, and have reservations, perhaps I can help. Although as with anything else everyone's experience is going to be different. Which is why my first recommendation - if you are a Facebook participant - is joining the "American Red Cross Platelet Donors Group". It was recommended to me by a friend and I am grateful for that. The group is super supportive and happy to share experiences which really helps alleviate the anxiety. Among other things I learned my anxiety wasn't just me. 

I'm not gonna lie, it was not the most comfortable thing I've ever done. It wasn't horrible though and the discomfort is nothing compared to what patients who need the platelets are going through. That thought helped me power through. 

The process is long. About two hours on the bed. Remember when your parents made you go to the bathroom before the long car ride even though you didn't think you need to? It's like that. Don't turn down any opportunity to pee before getting on the bed. The phlebotomist insisted on it just like your parents would. Going in, I was worried that my mind would fixate on this and cause a problem that didn't exist. Turns out there was way too much going on to even give that a second thought. 

I was also worried about needing to scratch something and having to ask someone else to do it for me since both arms are in use and moving them is a BAD idea. I learned I could tolerate a lot more than I thought I could although I did need help wiping my nose after a sneezing fit. The staff were not fazed by that at all. 

The sneezing was a reaction to the tinging in my nose which was a reaction to the citrate treatment used to keep the blood from clotting in the tubes of the machine. The citrate pulls calcium out of your blood to keep it, the blood, from clotting. It caused my whole body to tingle and feel kind of numb. So I need to increase my calcium intake better before the next donation. I thought I had but obviously not enough. 

The citrate reaction, even though I had been warned about it, made me have a mini panic attack. They offered to stop the process but once they assured me I was fine and the feeling was normal, I calmed down and we kept going. 

The other issue for me was being cold. I brought a blanket as instructed but it was not enough. If you know me, you know I am often cold even in hot weather. Air conditioning and I are not friends. This process seemed to exacerbate that for me. The return arm was especially cold. I was told that was due to the saline solution returning my blood parts to me. Next time, I will wear some layers on my torso and a glove on the hand of my return arm. 

Shout out to the Red Cross workers who went out of their way to make things as comfortable as possible. Explaining everything along the way. 

Ok there you have it. If you are able, please donate. Blood, Platelets or Plasma if you qualify for that. If we are able, this is a simple thing we can do to help others. 

Keep Smiling Keep Moving

-Paula 

Family Game Time - Wordle but Not Wordle

If you haven't been introduced to Wordle yet, it is a web-based game where,  as described here in Wikipedia, "players have six attempts to guess a five-letter word; feedback is given for each guess, in the form of colored tiles, indicating when letters match or occupy the correct position." The web-based program allows players to share their results without giving away the answer to others. As such, it has taken social media by storm. 

When I asked family members to help me understand it, my sister compared it to the Jotto game that our grandmother would play with us when we were children. I have to admit that all these years, I thought Grandmom made up the game and the name, Jotto. Turns out I gave her more credit than she deserved about Jotto, but she DOES deserve the credit for all the fond memories of playing the game. 💓  With those memories revived, we set up a family game time playing Jotto via Zoom. 

From top left (and yes I checked it IS left),
Emma, Me, Dave, Jean, Katie

Five players, Three rounds, a lot of laughs and a good time was had by all. 

As we played, Katie reminded us that when we played as kids, we weren't told which letters were in the right place (as Wordle does). 😲

If you'd like to try this with your family or friends, here are the rules we used. Please borrow or alter them to suit your group. We chose to stick with 5 letter words with no repeats. 

Each player is assigned a number. This is critical on Zoom since the order of video squares is not the same from my screen to yours. 

Player #1 has a word in mind. 

Player #2 guesses a word. Using the same scheme as Wordle, player #1 tells all other players which letters are GREEN (in the right place) or YELLOW (in the word but out of place). 

Players continue in order, using the clues previously revealed by others, until one player guesses the word. 

For round 2, Player number 2 has a word in mind and this time Player #3 gets the first guess. 

Looking back on the track of our games today, it was advantageous to be in position #4 as a guesser. The longest round took 7 guesses and a few rounds were made in 3. 

Keep Smiling and Keep Moving
-Paula 

Happy New Year - Let's Move

Hello! Remember me? Wow. I see my last entry here was April 2021. I also see by my draft folder that I visited in June, July and December but never published. Not sure why. I was tempted to look at those drafts to learn why but today, of all days, is not a day for reviewing past failures. Easier said than done but I deleted the drafts without reading them so Yay!! 

Today is a day traditionally filled with making commitments, promises, and resolutions. I have an on- again off-again relationship with New Year resolutions. One side of me knows making them will likely lead to failure and self-loathing and another side of me longs for the structure and self discipline they may provide. The struggle is real. Am I right? 

This year, as I did last year, I have committed to 30 days of Yoga with Adriene to start the year. I don't recall how far I made it last year. I only know that it wasn't the full 30 days. Time to let that thought go and simply try again. I've invited my Facebook Fitness Family to join me. You can too. Just use the "30 days of Yoga with Adriene" link in the first sentence and you are in. For fun and moral support, feel free to join our FB group or message me in the comments of this blog. Or do none of the above. It's all good and I don't presume to know what's best for you. I just make suggestions. 

The welcome email for 30 days of Yoga arrived this morning with a question. "What do I want to move towards?" Honestly, I'm not sure. Ok, I probably am more sure than I want to admit because I am not sure that I am brave enough to put it in writing. (Those drafts I deleted?? They were quite likely thoughts I decided I wasn't brave enough to share). Let me think on this and get back to you. 

I'm back fortified with a cup of coffee (and some breakfast). Let me do this. 

In a word, I want to move toward mindfulness. To be able to know what I'm feeling or thinking in the moment and act appropriately rather than react. And I want to do it all while still being able to function in real time. Right now, that feels like a pair of mountain-sized contradictions. 

I'm going to start by trying to stay in the moment while doing each day of 30 days of yoga. For 30 minutes (or less) for 30 days in a row I'm going to try to stay focused on the movements in the practice.  To type it out like that makes it sound so easy. Yet I know that some days I am going to have to settle for not giving up just because I couldn't stay focused. 

Happy New Year! 

Keep Smiling Keep Moving

-Paula