Category: Wellness Wednesday

Ghost

My ghostlike reflection in my idle Mac monitor. My personal computer sits unused while I work on the adjacent “work” computer. Day after day after day I see my reflection hard at work.

The more time I spend at home, the less I want to rejoin the “real” world. It remains to be seen when that may happen. New York State is reopening in phases. Phase 1 went back May 15. Law firms are a Phase 2 business, and they are spacing the phases two weeks apart. So maybe beginning of June? My work place has asked many, many questions about whether or not we have reasons to remain at home. I have two – age and pre-existing health concerns. So I’m not sure when I might go back.

Such strange times.

More Belly Woes

Virtual colonoscopy? I don’t recommend it. It’s uncomfortable and embarrassing.

I had an unsuccessful/failed regular colonoscopy in April. My doctor was trying to investigate what he called “thickening” where I’d had the diverticulitis on my last CT scan. I woke up from that colonoscopy to hear he hadn’t been able to scope me.  The internal scarring from the diverticulitis was so bad he couldn’t advance the scope. He then ordered a virtual colonoscopy.

I had heard virtual wasn’t bad, just an x-ray of sorts and I could drive myself home afterwards because they weren’t knocking me out. None of that was true. My son ended up driving me because I was so sick.

The prep was a disaster. I have never been that sick. I won’t go into details, but I had an overpowering, intense nausea and violent diarrhea. I got three hours of sleep and was up and visiting the bathroom again at 4:20 a.m. I was dehydrated, had a migraine and the chills. A step on the scale showed I was down seven pounds just from last Friday! That was all water weight lost.

The test itself was fairly fast once they took me in. Waiting is always the worst part for any sort of procedure. I was awake the entire test and that was the stuff of nightmares. A rubber catheter with a balloon attached was inserted in a place it shouldn’t ever go. Then it was inflated and air pumped through the entire colon. Yuck and ouch.

Images lying on my back and images lying on my stomach, and they removed the torture device and I was free to go.

I get the results from my doctor in a few days. I’m home resting today, and I think my belly is finally calming down after 24 hours of extreme upset.

Wellness Wednesday #1

As I drafted this post on Tuesday morning, I was of the opinion that maybe I should have decided to make sleep more of a priority in 2018. That should have been one of my New Year’s resolutions!

My Fitbit indicated that I slept a grand total of 4 hours and 54 minutes last night (Monday night). I was awake 3 times, restless 11 times, and awake/restless for 34 minutes.

I went to bed late (midnight), and I planned to get up at 6:00. There were three reasons why I was awake for good at 5:00 instead.

One – My elderly cat woke me with a loud, plaintive meow. She’s so old I can’t yell at her. I could shut her out of the bedroom, but I’m a light sleeper. A meow in the hallway would wake me up just as easily.She wanted to go into my youngest son’s room so she woke me up instead (HIS door was closed).

Two – Something seemed to be wrong with the furnace. The heat was on full bore and hadn’t cycled off. I was lying there with just the covers across my waist, arms and legs sticking out, in January! What’s wrong with this picture? I remembered seeing the low battery message on the thermostat screen so maybe that was the problem. It was too HOT to sleep! Note to self: Replace those batteries today. Of course the heat could also be running nonstop because it has been in the single digits outside.

Three – I had a hamburger for dinner last night. It was a good hamburger, and I truly enjoyed it. However, I hadn’t had red meat in weeks. I hadn’t had a burger in at least three months. I (predictably) had an upset stomach. It figures.

And, as a result, here I was drafting a post instead of sleeping.

Numerous studies have proven that chronic sleep deprivation causes health issues. I believe the reverse to be true – health issues cause chronic sleep deprivation. It’s a Catch 22 situation. It’s hard to make more sleep happen most nights.

Once I wake up, I’m awake, and I can’t shut my brain off. I like sleeping. I just don’t think it likes me very much anymore.