Three Beautiful Things 05/10/17: Mom's Unstable, Working Out is a Relief, Tilapia -- Mediterranean Style

1. Christy and Everett drove Mom to see a cardiologist in Post Falls. Mom's condition is unstable. As is common with people with congestive heart failure, her heart rate and blood pressure are unstable. Her physical balance is not stable. Her weight fluctuates. It goes down when she takes diuretics, and the excess fluids get flushed, but then she loses too much weight, and must go off the diuretic, and the fluid builds up again. The doctor provided target weights that Mom should not go below and above.  Mom will continue her rehab program.

It was a tough day for Christy. Mom was in pain during the drive down and back. Mom can be cranky. Mom is very fortunate that Christy and Everett are free to take her to the doctor and that Christy is so attentive and takes such good notes while the doctor talks with Mom.  It's all taxing.

2. I returned to the aquatic center today and worked out in the pool for an hour, stretching, jogging in place with water weights, doing other exercises, and spending twenty minutes doing an old football agility drill and then running laps in the pool. Physically, the workout felt really good and, mentally, it helped lift some of the anxiety I'm feeling about various uncertainties -- Mom, the Deke resigning her job, when to go to Kellogg, and other things.

3. I chopped up kalamata olives, halved cherry tomatoes, and measured out a third of a cup of capers. I roasted these in a glass baking pan and then pushed them aside and laid down pieces of tilapia. I covered the fish with the tomato mixture, poured a blend of lemon juice and olive oil over it all, and returned it all to the oven, along with some leftover jasmine rice, until the fish was done cooking. When I took fish out, I covered it and the tomato mixture with basil and feta cheese. It was an excellent Mediterranean style dinner -- and, fortunately, we had some tabouli salad in one container and cucumber lemon yogurt salad in another and each went deliciously with the fish dish. I pretty much followed this recipe in preparing the fish.