Hey to all y’all! Another beautiful but very chilly morning. Is your weather doing a tospy turvey dance? Ours sure is, one minute it feels closer to August with temperatures in the high 80’s and then a plummet down only to go back up again. The only difference, and a very important difference is the lack of humidity. Almost feels as if we’re back in California! Spring is struggling.
A friend came by Friday evening waiting for his wife to get off work. He and I had a cup of black decaf tea together. I used our biggest mugs. It’s nice to sit and drink a cuppa with someone else who likes tea isn’t it?
BH and I went next door to our old neighbor’s estate sale. Finally met her daughters, they’re both exceptionally nice and we had a nice talk about Ms. Jan, their momma. Then a drive and it’s was nice with the trees in different stages of rolling out their leaves backed by dogwoods blooming, azaleas blooming and the conifers giving a background high in the air of their different hues of green. Have you ever taken the time to see the different species of trees have similar colors as when Autumn comes. You should, just saying.
Did you do your homework? How did that go for you? In case you forgot, and yes that’s easy to do, it was to identify 3 positives daily and do your relaxation breathing. I’ve been up for an hour or so and have already got a few identified. Once you get in the habit it becomes much easier and it will just come naturally.
BH helped me yesterday move some stuff out from my shop. It became so packed, I was completely overwhelmed with trying to go through it all. We’ve got the old wood shed I wanted to put stuff in that doesn’t need to be in the shop at the moment. So we came up with a plan. I’d get stuff to BH and BH was to put it by the shed so we could work together to get it up in the shed as I have yet to build a ramp or even steps. Sounds simple right? I had some trash cans that I used to use to put yard debris in so the city could dump it in their truck easier as it’s just like a garbage truck. I decided not to struggle getting it through the door and opened the garage door. Oops! Things had been leaned against the garage door and stuff went every which way. There may have been some fussing from BH to me. We quickly had things sorted right and then I pondered on if I had communicated correctly.
Since I ruptured, I can honestly admit that communication has become difficult. It used to be as easy as a walk in the park. What comes out of my mouth is not always what’s in my brain it seems. It can be frustrating as all get out. It could also be the steroid I had to take for the flare up that made my hands look like they had a flesh eating disease. Steroids and my brain don’t get along well at all. I can’t take prednisone for more than two days so my Rheumatologist tried another that I can take at a low dose for the full ten days. But it still makes my brain a little wonky towards the end. We know this because my stutter, aphasia, tremor are my tells and they came out. In a few days I’ll be back to the level I was before I started them. I just need to be patient.
When I feel myself start getting frustrated, do I lash out verbally? Heck no! I can count on one hand the number of times BH and I had a strong verbal disagreement. We have never fought. We had a strong disagreement when we were putting the tilller together back decades ago. I still hold on to the belief that BH locked me out of the house. BH insists not and blames it on Martha. Martha is the entity that resided in that old house. Martha would slam doors if the house wasn’t to her high standard of cleanliness, I kid you not. When doors were slammed with no breeze, no windows opened, we both went looking to see what her issue was. LOL.
In over 30 years putting up with each other, that’s pretty good. I just stop doing whatever I’m doing and focus on my breathing. Doing my breathing helps everything in my body relax. More oxygen means my pulse slows down, BP goes down and my brain can think instead of getting in a fight/flight mode. I have been doing it for a very long time now so it only takes me 2 or 3 to get me right. When we were trying to get all the trades out so we could move in, I had to take some medication because I became so overwhelmed I couldn’t focus. As Mr. Curley says, “It’s all good”.
While we were moving stuff around, Ohana decided to lay on the EPDM from the old pond. I’ve laid it out so I can take a pressure washer and a stiff broom to it. I’ll eventually use it to cover some firewood I think until we decide where we want to put the firewood shed. EPDM (rubber roofing or pond material) gets very warm when the sun hits it, Ohana has always preferred warm over cool. Nina has made her a bed in the shade. She has a hole she dug and loves the cool earth. I thank her for helping to dig it up. Putting in some plants is on the list, just keeps getting moved down it. Anyhow, we get done and start heading up to the house. Ohana is blackish, the skunk remedy of course had turned her coat more brown than black but with her summer coat coming in, she’s going back to black. But we’ve got pollen, a lot of pollen and she has turned that yellow brown that comes with it. Nina has clay soil on her along with pollen. Harder to tell with her light reddish coat. They are not allowed to come in the house due to my allergies with pollen on them.
I go get a tub and old washcloth with some warm water to wash off the pollen. Ohana first because she likes the water warmer. Nina saw the tub and started trotting down the steps. I don’t understand what she is trotting away from. She stops on the landing, watching. Then I look at the tub. Oops! It’s the tub we use for the skunk remedy solution and she’s having no part of it. She’s a smart dog, has always learned quickly, it’s the survivor in her I think. Her first owners abused her horribly. I can tell she’s curious as to why Ohana has not made a beeline down the steps. Ohana is a trooper and allows me to wipe her off. Nina comes up and allows me to wipe her off. All is right in their world and they come in to take a nap on their bed or the couch. Little do they know, it’s coming up to the first of the month and bath time is near. ROFLOL
So did you read positives in the weekly musing? There’s a handful. If you need help seeing them, let me know and I will make a list. I like lists. I like it better when I can follow them! The secret to lists is to make them simple. Sometimes we’ve to break them down to easier steps, it’s something I’m constantly working on, keeping things simple.
On to our welcomes! It’s a big positive for me on Sundays!
@Cheekabella starts us off. Graziella is up in New York. Graziella has had coiling, craniotomy and of course angiograms. Back in November 2023 Graziella was at the gym and experienced a rupture. Rushed to the hospital which saved Graziella’s life and then 4 months in NSICU. During this time Graziella had 4 failed coiling attempts and they decided to do the craniotomy. My goodness that’s a lot! The road to recovery hasn’t been easy for Graziella who has since been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD and ADHD.
@CCNieto is up in Nebraska also a patient and has also had a rupture. Christine’s Subarachnoid Hemorrhage occurred 10 years ago.
@Fistulator is down in Texas and has had coiling for an aneurysm that was impacting the right vertebral artery. Fistulator also shares they’re a tech enthusiast.
@Charzalady is up in Virginia. Char shares her coiling procedure is coming up on May 6. She has a small unruptured aneurysm and since it has two daughter sacs, it has to be occluded rather than her put on the watch and wait list due to the increased possibility of rupture.
Last up is @Tzama98 who is in Bangladesh. Towrin’s mother had a diagnostic angiogram and then coiling with a long recovery period. Mother has recently been diagnosed with thickened and prolapsed valves.
Thank you all so much for joining us! Please start a new topic under the General tab by clicking the + and then filling out the title and telling us more about yourselves and how we can help you. If you run into any problems, feel free to reach out to myself @Moltroub or the kind folks @ModSupport please give us time to respond as we are in different time zones and different countries. Sometimes we have to reach out to each other and it can take a few days so be patient.
Enjoy the week everyone! Remember to see the positives, breathe, hydrate, eat protein and rest. Hug someone you love so it increases your endorphins!