Wowza World! We have Carolina blue skies this morning! I’m excited following a week of heavy fog, overcast days and rain the last couple of days. We have been in record highs for a couple weeks I think but we are getting back to where we should be, high’s in the 40’s lows usually in the 20’s or 30’s. Seems sun just makes one feel good after not seeing it for a while. I can’t imagine how it is way up north where they don’t get to see it but for a very short time and then seems they can’t get away from it during the Summer months.
We’ve had a major life change here in our home. BH finally gave up the actively employed to actively retired on Wednesday. Worked 44 ½ years in hollow metal and 34 years at the same company where they made hollow metal frames and then added doors about 20 years ago or so. Think commercial and custom, not off the racks, for hospitals, commercial buildings, government buildings. BH has had 3 retirement parties, yep 3! Folks asked what I was going to do, simple, I’ll go down to the tractor shed and piddle as its the farthest building from the house. I’ve been by myself and the dogs since Mom died in 2016. BH has of course been working, leading a couple dozen folks. It will definitely be an adjustment for us both.
What did we do on BH’s first active retirement day, you may be wondering. Well we went to PT of course! LOL. We even both had Thomas, just back to back. I was hoping to watch the HGTV channel or whatever DIY channel that’s usually on because we don’t get it. Someone forgot to turn on the tv, sad but true. Next time we car pool, I’ll ask.
Thomas lost his first wife to a ruptured brain aneurysm. The first time we met a year or two ago, I think he had difficulty with me. This time, the other PT asked what I was doing back so I told her about changing light bulbs and mucked up that pinched nerve and shoulder again. She said changing light bulbs on a ladder! You’re not supposed to be on ladders. Thomas looked at me and asked if that was true. I said, “Yes sir, it’s one of my many, many rules that I find difficult if not impossible to follow”.
As Thomas and I are going through my adapted exercises. He cautions me about not getting dizzy. Explains that it’s a sign of occluding a main artery. So I’ve got to adapt some more to stay not dizzy. He shares his story of his first wife who had been experiencing headaches all morning. Nothing new or different, she had suffered from headaches for years. He went out to work in the yard and when he came back in, he found her. She was already gone. Her rupture happened in the Circle of Willis. Well we know that’s a common place but I want to let him talk. I like Thomas, his story is as important as any other when it comes to experiencing a rupture.
Thomas goes on to say ruptures are common, he’s had 10 patients over his course of 20 years or so being a PT. He calls a rupture an aneurysm so of course I had to ask if those 10 had ruptured and they had. I get really confused because we have members here that haven’t ruptured and ones like me who have. I think but do not know that the unruptured group is far larger than our ruptured group. I really want to tell him that ruptures according to my Neurosurgeon are usually found at autopsy. For some reason I hold back. Thomas still needs to grieve for the wife he lost and the trauma he experienced finding her. He tells me how well I’m doing for having ruptured, I try to explain I’ve come a very long way since then. But he’s in the mood for compliments. He does ask about my story but I can’t get it out as he talks about finding his wife. I tell him BH had to hear for 21 days that I may not make it to the next. All this time he is changing my stretches to accommodate and I’m supposed to remember them all! Well I stupidly don’t tell him I cannot without some sort of prompts like on paper. They have this dumb app that goes to fast and doesn’t have all the exercises that he’s adjusted. It only goes one way.
This week he had me rolling on the bed with a 24 cm ball behind my back and says I can use the bed at home, no need to do it on the floor thank goodness. Last time I saw him was for the evaluation a couple weeks ago and he had me take a tennis ball and roll it from right under my shoulder to my spine. Of course he didn’t have the tennis ball, nor did he warn me how much that would hurt. The big ball doesn’t hurt so much, in fact it feels good! Doesn’t mean I can give up the tennis ball, unfortunately. Oh well, glad we still had Trouble’s tennis balls that we used in the dryer before switching to the wool balls that we stopped using because Ms. Judy told me about using baking soda in the washing machine to keep static out of the clothes.
Before I get to the new welcomes, please remember that the stories of others are as important as our own. It saddens my heart when people don’t survive a rupture. Grief can last a lifetime. Losing someone you love is hard. Some take it harder than others, same as we take our aneurysms, ruptured or not, harder than others. We really need to listen to the stories of others. Perhaps we will help them on their life journey by listening and not talking. But maybe, just maybe, their story will help us on our ever changing life story. Life after all is not static, we do need to embrace the constant process of change and adapt to those changes. Now on to our welcomes before I get really philosophical!
Starting us off is @Ulrichli up in Maryland. Ms. Lisa had 2 ruptured aneurysms in May 2020 and they’re watching 2 more unruptured with MRIs and angiograms. She ruptured during the pandemic was coiled and spent 3 weeks in NSICU. I bet that was hard! Lisa shares that having the two unruptured aneurysms makes her nervous. She also shares she’s a wife and mother of 2 young men, a fiction editor who loves baking sourdough, playing mahjong and taking walks with her Rhodesian Ridgeback! Good for you! I always get excited for members who can still do what they love!
@KitKat is over and up in Colorado. Kitty hit her head, had a CT scan which showed an 8 mm aneurysm that was treated with a stent and coils. Kitty shares she’s a very active person that loves to hike and travel. I bet she takes advantage of the hiking in her home state! Come tell us more, we love stories and life is about so much more than our aneurysms!
@Godismystrenth just signed up as I was typing the welcomes! G is up in New York and doesn’t know how her treatment will go. She had an MRA likes she always gets for her migraines. Apparently the findings show a 2mm infundibulum or an aneurysm so she has to wait for her doctor appointment. G shares she suffers from severe anxiety. We hope you have a good therapist to help you manage your severe anxiety G! Come talk to us!
For all our new members and reminders to the ones who’ve been around please remember we need to encourage and support others. It is what we are all about. Even if you don’t have the exact thing as another, please respond in a supportive manner. Also, please remember to use one of the two areas in making a new topic. General is where most go but there’s also the support category. Any other place and I will have to move it which I mostly move to General unless asking for a prayer request. Speaking of which, remember we are a world wide group with many, many different religious beliefs so don’t be expecting any member will have your specific belief system, we need to respect others.
Ending this for this week I want to remind others to stay hydrated, eat your protein and rest as needed. For your sake, please learn some type of relaxation breathing, you will see improvements in areas you never thought possible with a lot of practice breathing deep and slow. I give my word on that but you really need to practice all the time for weeks if not months. Have a great week y’all, see you on the topics!