Tag Archives: Health

2017 – Not a Good Year (so far)

30 Saturday Sep 2017

Posted by in #sitsblogging, Animals, bird feeder, Blogging, Challenges, Eastern gray squirrel, Health, Humor, Inspiration, Me, Nature, Photography, Random Thoughts

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One of my squirrel friends this morning, sniffing a peanut I had just tossed out. He has nothing to do with this post. I just thought he was cute.

In my family, usually when we arrive at year-end, we tend to look back on the year that has passed and ask whether or not we are sad to see it go or glad that it is finally over.  So far, for me personally, 2017 has been a “stinker” of a year. I will be ecstatic to see it end.

April was particularly bad. March wasn’t that great either. I visited the Dentist early in the year for a cleaning, and I was told that the one tooth I had that was mostly filling and little tooth finally had deteriorated to the point that I had to deal with it. It needed to be crowned.  The first crown appointment was scheduled for March, and when I arrived and told the dentist that the tooth was hot and cold sensitive and generally a huge, aching pain in the ass, he said I needed a root canal. Getting in to see a specialist that didn’t demand thousands of dollars up front even though my insurance eventually covered the procedure in full proved to be a hassle. I did end up with a wonderful endodontist who made the root canal procedure simple and easy. The end result was a crowned tooth that no longer bothers me.

Six days after the root canal procedure I had my car accident. Actually, it was the little, old lady driving into me incident. I was minding my own business, mostly past her on her left, when she decided to drive into my rear passenger side door. That little fiasco ended up with me having to repair my car and replace a door, and while I wasn’t ticketed, I was listed by the police officer as a “contributing factor”. Why? Because she couldn’t stay in her own lane and decided to share mine? 

My poor baby (in April)

June brought me a jury duty summons for three months of Federal Jury duty service from mid-July to mid-October. I got out of it until September when I was called to appear. I then got excused when I showed them my doctor’s note asking to be excused for health reasons.

Which brings me to August and September. Anyone who follows me knows what happened in August. I ended up in the Emergency Room on August 16.  I had a colonoscopy on August 25. I had an upper endoscopy on August 28. I had a CT scan on August 30. I had a repeat CT scan on September 22. I was admitted to the hospital and spent five nights there from September 22 to September 27. All of this was thanks to diverticulitis.  I am on disability at the moment, and I have paperwork that needs to be completed and signed by the doctor before I can return to work.  I saw both my gastroenterologist and my primary doctor this week. I am on a low fiber, low residue and lactose free diet. Go ahead and Google that. There’s not much I can eat right now. I have been told that diverticulitis messes with IBS big-time, and it may be months before I am back to normal (for me).

Me, tucked comfortably into my hospital bed, with my best friend, the combination remote control-light switch-nurse call button on my shoulder

Unless I win the lottery in October and really, really great things start happening in November and December, I can safely say that 2017 sucked big-time. I will be more than excited to kick it out the door on December 31st. I am also hoping that by year end I will feel more like myself again. Fingers crossed, guys.

Lost

29 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Education, Fitness, Health, Inspiration, Me, School

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lostThey say it takes three weeks to make a habit. Twenty-one days of consistently doing something, and it becomes part of your routine. They told us that at Weight Watchers years ago, and I’ve found it to be generally true. If you do something regularly on a daily basis, it becomes part of your day. You do it almost without thinking about it.

I’m on day four of life as a non-student. I am a little lost. I am used to schedules and assignments and things to follow up with online. As I go through the process of extricating myself from school and its entanglements, I feel grief. It’s a loss like any other ending. I also feel wellness returning as I find time for things I enjoy again. I have time to walk. I have time to read. I have time to just watch the squirrels and birds.

I also feel a little guilt for not seeing it out. I had messages yesterday from the counselor at school and two teachers, all wishing me well. I wondered if I should have done more, but remembering that confused and befuddled daze I found myself in last week reminds me that I did enough.

It’s okay to walk away.

Image courtesy of Pinterest

Gulls on the Bay

07 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by in Birds, Family, Health, Nature, Photography

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I’m sick again. Another cold. That’s two colds and the flu in four months. So far, 2014 has not been a banner year for health. The worst part of being sick today is that my youngest son goes in for an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and I’m taking him. I’m sure the hospital will be thrilled to have me there, blowing my nose and sneezing. I’ll have to wear a mask. That should be a real joy.

My son is fine. He’s had this test done before. He tested positive for Celiac antibodies in a blood test a few years back, and they did an endoscopy. They did not find Celiac, but they found eosinophilic esophagitis. EE usually means you choke on food or have trouble swallowing. He has no symptoms. Since he’s at the age where the pediatric GI doctor wants to hand him off to an adult doctor, they decided to re-test and see if the medication they put him on cleared things up.

Hubby was home Saturday mid-day and left this morning (my older son drove him back to the yard). He was home two nights, and that’s always nice. I knew it was going to be a good weekend even though I started to feel sick Friday night. Saturday before I picked Hubby up, I stopped at Tim Horton’s for a cinnamon roll. I pulled up to the window to pay and the smiling drive-through clerk told me that the woman in the car ahead of me had already paid for my breakfast treat. Wasn’t that nice? I will have to do that for someone else. It was a sweet and thoughtful gesture from a stranger.

Yesterday Hubby and I drove to SeaBreeze – a small spit of land between Lake Ontario and Irondequoit Bay a few miles from where we live. We had burgers at Bill Gray’s and then we sat by the water for a bit, watching the sea gulls, ducks, geese and a swan. Here are some pictures of the gulls and the swan on Irondequoit Bay. My favorite pictures of gulls are when they are in flight.

Happy Monday, everyone!

seagulls7seagulls2seagulls6swanseagulls3seagulls5seagulls4

 

Good News Comes in Threes

23 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Education, Family, Health, Me, School

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This seems to be the day for good news, and that’s very welcome around here! When I woke up this morning, I was drenched in sweat.  That was the first piece of good news as it meant my fever had broken. I stayed home one final day to rest, and this is the first day I’ve stayed awake all day and have had a clear head all day long. I was able to start compiling Hubby’s road expenses from last year. I always put together a spreadsheet for our tax preparer.

The second piece of good news involved my oldest son’s job search. His State unemployment ran out this week.  He had two interviews with Valvoline, and he was supposed to hear back on Tuesday afternoon. He did not. I was too sick that day and the next to get on his case. Today I asked him to follow up.  He said it was probably too late. I insisted he call anyway. The manager asked him to stop over for 10 minutes. It turns out that maybe they were testing his interest level.  The last step is now a background check, and the only “background” this 23-year old “kid” has is one speeding ticket. They said he should be fine. They welcomed him to the team, and if all goes as planned, he should start work next week sometime.

Good news number three is that I finally heard from my new school about financial aid, and I spoke to an enrollment specialist tonight.  I am now an enrolled student in the Web Development Bachelor’s degree program.  I begin classes February 17th.  My first class is Learning Strategies which is everyone’s first class.  It’s an introductory type class and goes for 6 weeks. My second class is an arts/humanities class called Film Appreciation.  Obviously, no content courses yet. I’m excited to get started again. It was nice to have a month and a half off, and if I had to be sick I’m glad I was sick during my hiatus. I would never have kept up with schoolwork this week.

Hooray! Yippee! Whoo-hoo! We were way overdue on good news around here.