After three days and nights with us, Carol and Mark left a few minutes ago to begin their drive back to Boca Raton, Florida, about four hours away. We had a great time with both of them. After lots of cooking and food prep, having an easy day today will feel good with little to no tasks other than washing sheets, towels, and other laundry.

Last night was enjoyable. After our homemade pizza dinner and salad, we all sat at the table, drank delicious red wine, laughed, and told stories. For the first time since my heart event weeks ago, I drank regular red wine, not low alcohol, and had no ill effects.

I slept enough and felt fine this morning. After sipping a few glasses of the delicious Cabernet Sauvignon over several hours, there was no racing heart or hangover. Now, I know the allergy pill caused the Afib and put me in hospital for three days, four days before we departed South Africa.

There are few foods or drinks that I can consume with my keto way of eating, and red wine has been a favorite. Not one to overindulge, I can allow myself a bit of red wine when socializing.

We have no plans until Thursday when we’ll return to Lake Sumter Landing for another movie night with Linda and Burt. On Saturday, we are going on a river on Burt’s pontoon boat. We’re looking forward to seeing them and others who’ve contacted us about getting together. But it’s amazing how time is slipping away. We’ve been busy with guests the past few weeks and enjoy every moment.

We’ve had many readers write to us commenting about The Villages and how much there is to do here. Having a car for the next nine days will keep us all the more active since, let’s face it, it’s easier to get around in a car than a golf cart. But we couldn’t justify spending thousands of dollars on a rental car when we can use the house’s golf cart.

We have all the time in the world and will plan ahead when getting together with others to ensure we are always on time. So what if it takes a little longer to get where we’re going? In a pinch for directions, we can always use “Maps” to get us to where we want to go. Although tricky and sometimes inaccurate, the app on my phone helps with the golf cart trails.

Yesterday, I placed an order at Amazon and was curious to see if the package will be delivered directly to the house or the nearby mail station. We shall see how that goes.

A short time ago, I started preparing a new online food order from Kroger. The cart stays on their site for two weeks, but each time I think of something we need, I put it into the site’s cart, making it easy when I finally place the order, knowing I haven’t forgotten anything. I have no doubt we’ll need to place another order in the next week after all the company we’ve had.

The buzzer just went off for the washer. It’s time to load everything into the dryer and start another load. It’s a good day; we’re both content and reveling in every moment.

Be well.

 Photo from ten years ago today, May 23, 2013:

I made another exact cake I made a few days ago for Wednesday’s dinner guests. I’d purposely purchased two of everything for the cakes. Tom finished it off last night. It was a busy morning with friends Carol and Mark arriving soon, staying for three nights. They are driving from Boca Raton, Florida, and are expected to arrive around 1:40 pm based on a message I received from Carol a few minutes ago.

Before we headed out to the market this morning for ice and a few more items, the cake was out of the oven cooling for the layers of frosting I just added when it completely cooled. Everything for tonight’s dinner is prepped except last-minute cooking and serving.

We finally know our way to the market without using the Maps app. We’re finally learning our way around, especially now that we have a car for the next ten days. Food is expensive in the US, as I’ve mentioned many times in the past. Every quick trip to the store here ends up costing no less than $100.

Right now, since my heart events, I haven’t been drinking wine, thinking the sulfites in the wine may have been instrumental in precipitating the events, although I only drank low-alcohol wine and small amounts in any one sitting. After extensive research, I found that sulfites in wine may be very high in low-alcohol wine, both white and red.

I’ve always known I was sensitive to sulfites when I had allergy symptoms when eating dried food in my old life, which I haven’t had in the past 12 years. I never had a specific reaction to wine other than knowing that I could only drink a small amount or end up awake all night. I’ve always enjoyed a glass of wine during sundowners or dinner and lately haven’t had any.

Instead, we purchased a bottle of Bombay Gin, and on a few occasions, I’ve had one tablespoon of the gin with a diet tonic and fresh lime. I’ve yet to drink more than two of these gin and tonics for a maximum of two tablespoons in an evening with no ill effect.

You may say, why bother to drink at all? I’m a light-weight social drinker and enjoy a little something when socializing. However, I still don’t know for sure if the sulfites caused the horrible Afib that put me in the hospital less than four weeks ago and occurred again while on the 17-hour flight from Joburg to Atlanta. I hadn’t had any alcohol at the airport or on the four days after getting out of hospital before we flew away.

As I scoured medical reports online for days, I accidentally encountered a scientific report stating that women over 60 may develop Afib from taking an allergy medication I’d been taking for a little over a month when the events occurred. After considerable research, I wondered if sulfites were, in fact, the culprit. But I continued to research, not 100% sure it was the sulfites.

After digging deeper, I am convinced the prescription non-drowsy antihistamine I was taking was causing the cardiac events. Immediately, I stopped taking the drug several days ago and noticed my pulse has reduced considerably along with my blood pressure in the past few days since the drug is now out of my system.

No doctor has the time to research rare side effects for every drug they prescribe to every patient. I don’t blame the doctor or the pharmacist for such a relatively rare occurrence, which is most prevalent in patients who have asthma, are female, are over 60, and have coronary artery disease, all of which applies to me. I am now convinced that the drug was the cause.

However, it’s still vague about the sulfites in wine. As a wine lover, I don’t like giving it up entirely, and there are few sulfite-free wines on the market in the US, let alone in other countries. It may end up being a “trial and errors” process of trying a small amount of wine and seeing what happens. It may have been a combination of the drug with the sulfites. I’ll only know if I try again to drink regular wine in moderation, which I always did anyway.

Do not use my personal experiences as a point of reference. My research found that low-alcohol wine, predominantly white, has more sulfites than regular red wine. If any of this may apply to you, please contact your medical professionals for assistance.

The medical profession doesn’t know everything. Tom always says that’s why they call it “practicing medicine.” We all have the choice to do our own research, not from unreliable non-medical resources and internet chatter but from reliable resources, as mentioned above. Plus, some of us may have a rare reaction to a specific drug resulting in severe consequences.

One only needs to watch the endless commercials for prescription drugs on TV to see the risks many drugs pose to certain people. Most of these warnings are terrifying. And many of these drugs may save lives. It’s up to each person to be their own advocate or, if not possible, to assign this responsibility to a loved one willing to do the work and then present their evidence to their medical professionals, who may or may not agree with the findings.

That’s enough from me today. We’ll be back tomorrow with more and will continue to post with our friends here.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, May 20, 2013: