Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Gone Fishing

I'm visiting the grand kids (oh, and their parents) in beautiful Colorado for a couple of weeks.  So, I won't be writing here for awhile.  Drop back in sometime in August for the latest and greatest.  In the meantime, peace to you.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Monday Musings

Health. Or disease. Sheesh. I have more than my share of disease of late.  I'm doing a lot of medical testing, and the latest Dexa scans show that, in four years, my osteopenia in my lower spine and left hip has morphed into significant osteoporosis.  I have yet to consult with my doctor, I've just received the news today.  I have much research to do.

I had my parathyroid glands scanned again today to pinpoint the size and location of the growth that is on one of them.  It's of significant size and will need to be surgically removed.  It also seems there are growths on my thyroid which will need to be biopsied. 

My weight loss journey continues, and I have worked diligently for 52 days for a mere 6 lbs loss.  Better than nothing, but....

It's all getting to be too much, and boring all at the same time.  Yawn.

I'm getting a two week break this week and flying to Colorado to visit the grand kids.  The doctors will do their consulting and surgery scheduling and I can keep in touch on-line.  Meanwhile, I will hope for good days that are relatively pain free so I can enjoy my family and friends on my vacation.

The husband and I had a good talk today about the shock and denial that can come with serious diagnosis of disease.  I mean, I've had diabetes for 28 years and sometimes I still throw a fit and/or pity party about all the adjustments this disease requires.  He, on the other hand, has been healthy his entire life, and then gets a diagnosis of Parkinson's.  Still trying to wrap his head around that one.  And THAT stupid disease just keeps throwing curve balls at him which require re-evaluation and adjustment.  

So, with all this news, let me say, I'm working on keeping my spirits up.  With movies, books, and silly things like this:



Sometimes the best thing you can do is not think; just believe that everything will work out in the end.

Friday, July 19, 2019

TGIF




Especially now, with the current President's rampant racism. It's important to remember that once upon a time, our President sang "Amazing Grace." Leave it to Joan Baez to bring us such soulful music about very hard times. It's a sad and frightening time, my friends. I weep most every day with the frustration that comes with watching the country you love disintegrate into bedlam. All needless and avoidable if those who hate could somehow come to see the light. I rely upon my friends, and uplifting music, and the arts, and CBW Sunday Morning. No kidding! I'm also reading dystopian science fiction, which suits my mood right now. What keeps your head above the stinking cesspool?

Monday, July 15, 2019

Monday Musings

Saturday my husband and I escaped for a little while and took a drive down Hwy 113.  It's a two lane affair that winds through the little down of Dixon and then south to Rio Vista.  It's the land of cattle and sheep ranches, giant wind turbines (which, I've heard cause cancer!) and at this time of year the rolling hills are the quintessential California gold color.  The last time we took this trip it was spring, bright green fields with poppies covering the hillsides.  This time, it was hearty short sunflowers all along the ditches paralleling the road.  Wish I'd had my pruning shears on me! 

don't know what those yellow flowered things are....a quick 'drive by shooting'

My husband has been having tremendous pain in both ankles for a week.  It's so bad that he can barely walk, and he's fallen three times trying to do so.  So, I sprang into action and bought a shower chair, walker, and borrowed a transport chair from a neighbor.  The transport chair came later because I had hoped he would recover in a few days.  Now, with the chair, we can go to the bistro and have lunch and dinner.

So, I'm chair pusher, house keeper and cook for awhile.  All complicated by the fact that I'm have great joint pain in my legs and hips.  Someday I'll stop groaning and wincing in pain every time I stand up from a chair or couch.  But now is not that time.  The pain should go away once I've had my over active parathyroid glad removed.  That process is going slowly...I finally had my appointment with the ENT surgeon, and he performed an ultra sound which revealed additional nodules on my thyroid gland!  It will have to be biopsied and removed at the same time they remove the parathyroid gland.  I don't know if this means I'll lose my entire thyroid gland, or just the part that has the nodules in it.  Stay tuned.

And, may I say, I could use a goddamn break.  I wonder what happened to that woman who was working out at the gym for 18 mos., steady as clockwork?  I miss her and I want her back.  I did manage to finally go to the 8:00 a.m. water aerobics class here at the Big House.  It was great, and I'm going back for 3x a week sessions.  It was a very good workout and, big plus, it was fun.  I even swam on my own yesterday, and took S. along so he could get some exercise.  He enjoyed it immensely and we'll go back on weekends.  I may even get him to join us at the weekday classes.

I wish you a good week, truly, and joy wherever and whenever you can find it.  Look for it!

White Tara. She offers healing to our wounds, whether it is our bodies or our minds that have been hurt.

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE MAMA AYUH PUNYA JNANA 
PUSTIME KURU SVAHA.

Monday, July 1, 2019

Monday Musings

I listened to a fascinating interview about why and  how we treat some animals like  humans, and others not so much. 
It's a long interview, but some of the points I came away with are 1.) Americans are madly in love with their dogs 2.) many other cultures are revolted at the idea of having animals in the house -- and forget about the bed! To them, having a dog sleep in your bed with you is equivalent to having a rat from the street on your mattress along side of you. 

So many of us are living alone these days and perhaps that it is one reason we are so enamored with our pooches. Or cats, or birds: you get the idea. They are the bright spots in many peoples day -- someone to come home to, a creature to greet you and love you with abandon.

The other big surprise for me: some studies show that people who have pets have a better quality of life and live longer.  That was a bedrock notion for me.  Now, this interview concludes, there are also studies which site the exact opposite.  What?!  All I know is, my dogs give me great joy and great are at times a great inconvenience.  Responding to their need to pee or poo at night, after I'm full from dinner and ready for bed is sometimes a torture.  I don't have a yard that I can let them out into anymore, so I've got to walk them.  The little one will take care of business right outside our back door, while the bigger one needs a good 15 minute walk before he gets busy.  And in the rain?  Please.

On the other hand, I get to wake up next to those big bulgy adoring eyes every morning.  I get to enjoy antics daily.  I laugh.  I admire.  I fawn. 

I do know the joy of first love when your new dog comes home with you, and the incredible anguish when they die.  And they will, and you know it, and you just hope it is years down the line.  When my chihuahua was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago, I fell apart in the waiting room at the vet's office.  I agreed immediately to surgery (whatever the cost) and the surgery went well.  Then, a year later, the same kind of tumor was found in the lip of her mouth.  Another surgery, and I asked them to take as little as they could so as not to disfigure her terribly.  They did a good job, and now she has a little sneer owing to the lopsidedness of her mouth.  They didn't get it all, but they said it was slow growing, and she has not had it since.  Sometimes I imagine the day that the life passes out of her little five pound, three legged body, and I am overcome with grief.  I suppose it's a rehearsal for the inevitable.

A blogging friend's dog, who shares a name with my little one, needed to be euthanized recently, and I can't tell you how very sad I am.  Her readers came to know both her adorable Goldens, and came to love them from afar.  One died many years ago, the other just now.  Funny how I dog I've never met or touched has impacted me so much.  I gave my Golden an extra bit of love this morning.

Because you never know.

Short But Sweet

I took a very short getaway with my daughter and grandkids.  We flew to our old stomping grounds in Santa Cruz, CA.  It was supposed to be t...