Category: Health


Ridiculous Cataracts!


I can accept the issues I have with weird eyes. But it makes me sad when someone has to clean up after me.

No, I don’t mean housework. I mean, well, let me tell you what happened.

Last night I was trying to update my NaNoWriMo word count. Earlier, I had reported 2,613 here and at the NaNo site. But before I went to bed, I had achieved 3,505 words. I put that in. But when I looked at the top of the bar I thought it had remained the same. I saw 2k something. I thought the internet, my computer, or something on the site itself was messed up. I refreshed the site and reentered the 3505. Nope, nothing changed. Oh, look, there’s another place to put the numbers in below the bar. So I did. I tried and refreshed multiple times.

Then I wrote to the Help Center about the issue. Then I went back to the page. I scrolled around. I think that fixed my eyes somewhat. I looked at the fraction on the bottom of the bar. It said 16k/50k I had award notices all lined up. OMG! It was working! Now, how do I fix my problem?

I went back and apologized profusely and told them that the 2k number I had misread was actually 2021. Duh! So embarrassing!

So if they can’t get around to or can’t fix my mistake, I will have to keep track here and on paper until middle of the month when I catch up with the number.

Right now, with a couple hours left to write, I have 4380. I just didn’t want to wait to blog.


Finally, done with the things like my walk, winter clothes out, and summer put away. Hey, did I tell you I’ve managed another 36+ hour fast? I’m pretty jazzed about that. It has taken me a LONG time to get to this point. I decided Sunday is best for the day to skip food. It gets more of a spiritual feeling as I try to find which things to focus my thoughts on. And just like the fast I did with my husband for his procedure last week, I find the hours 24 and 25 the most difficult. After that, it is a piece of cake. I broke that fast with two slices of bread with butter and one egg. And I didn’t get sick from it! Yay!

The fall progress picture was taken after my walk.

The trees and mesquite bushes are shedding quite a lot.

So on to my #Inktober submission and a continuation of the story.

“Crystal, wake up!” Her fan was shaking her.

“Go away. Let me sleep!” Crystal groaned. Then she rolled over. She was cold. She pulled on her hood and stuck her hands in her pockets. “Oh, it’s over?”

The fan was surprised. “Yeah. What was all that? Was it real?” The fan held out her hand. “Cindy, by the way. My name is Cindy.”

Crystal took Cindy’s hand and allowed Cindy to help Crystal to her feet. “Hi, Cindy! What happened?” Crystal knew. But each of her helpers experienced these things far differently from what Crystal knew as the truth.

“Were you a lizard? Who killed the guard? And should we go help that guy?” Cindy asked and pointed to another corner where a barrel seemed to be calling out with a hand waving. “And what is that sour smell?”

Crystal sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose. “Ew! Yeah. What is that?”

Crystal and Cindy walked toward the barrel. As they got closer, the word ‘Pickles’ gave them the odor’s origin. “They must be rotten pickles.” Crystal stated. She reached into the barrel and pulled out a man in a soggy green uniform. A puffy sopping hat was in his other hand.

“William! How did you get in here?” Crystal asked.

“There was a huge wind. It blew off my hat. The hat fell into the barrel. I had to go in and get it. But that was when I got stuck. I’m so glad you found me before I was pickled.”

Crystal laughed. She understood how all this happened. She wanted to hug her friend, but, ick! “Let’s go back to my trailer, and I’ll explain it all to both of you.
After you shower and change into clean clothes, that is. You’re quite the guard, Will! And you were put into quite the pickle!” She laughed again.

Fall Progress


An hour before sunset

Sunset

Just to update quickly my husband is fine.  He had a few polyps that they removed.  The cool part for me was I was able to show support in two ways.  One was to drive him home.

Chris had to fast from midnight Saturday night until after his appointment 1 (or was it 2? Weird I can’t remember now) on Monday.

Anyway,  Easy peasy.  I did heavy Keto Saturday until my normal cut off of 8PM.

I have been trying to work my fast time to the health-inducing autophagy of a 36-48 hour fast.

By the way, here’s the definition of autophagy: 

Autophagy is the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells, according to Priya Khorana, PhD, in nutrition education from Columbia University. “Auto” means self and “phagy” means eat. So the literal meaning of autophagy is “self-eating.”Aug 23, 2018

https://www.healthline.com › health

Funny now I think about it. Isn’t that what Autumn is about? Leaves fall to feed the tree next year.

So, after that crazy hour I usually give in as too hungry at hour 24/25. But this was easy sailing. Nothing crazy. No shakes or fainting.  And if it is such a bad thing why did his doctor recommend such a fast for a diabetic who is on more prescriptions than I am. So this seemed a good time to try. I declared it to him. He gave me an out. But I knew love would get me through.

It was fun to watch us both as we gain a confidence in our bodies. We both knew tricks.  He could cheat and have broth or even jello if sugar levels got bad. He did drink some broth.

I knew I could cheat with bone broth or even peanut butter. Though technically those break a fast it is okay for newbies.

No cheating for me. Drinking water, tea, and coffee helped keep me hydrated. I felt badly that my husband wasn’t allowed water or anything on the morning of the procedure. I had to sneak sips when he was busy driving.

I brought a jar of natural peanut butter and two clean spoons for after. We had a two hour trip back so I felt it wise.

We stopped at the Barnes and Noble on the way out. No. Not for the books. I knew they had a nice restroom. All that water needs to go somewhere. I might note, outside of the doctor’s office this was the cleanest and most protective spot I’d ever been to. I plan to go back soon!

My fast lasted 45 hours if you don’t count a spoonful of peanut butter. Today was feast day. Maybe tomorrow I’ll fast 36 again. Weight has fallen a lot since I began this adventure early this year.

Did you notice in the pictures above, that the smaller tree on the right has lost most of it’s leaves except up near the top some stubborn green leaves are hanging on for dear life!


Incredible.

Source: Daycares in Finland Built Their Own ‘Forests’, And It Changed Kids’ Immune Systems


Today was the long awaited consultation appointment for possible cataract surgery.  It didn’t happen.

It has been nearly a year since I was told I had very bad cataracts. One eye (I call my reading eye) couldn’t even see the big black E. But even my good ‘distance’ had developed a cataract. I can still see to drive, and with reading glasses I can read a bit on my phone about 7″ from my eyes. This is still difficult and hurts my hands. Not to mention that every word I type has to be corrected.

So we had this appointment set up during the pandemic. Last week we got a call that I needed to get my Primary Care Physician to send approval.

That’s crazy. I had called my insurance to find the first ophthalmologist. You would think that when the eye doctor referred me to the surgeon it would be okay.

Nope. PCP needed to approve. And she was out of town last week. So yesterday I had to go see her. She said she’d get on it. Don’t worry just go to the eye surgeon.

You know that niggling feeling you get? Yeah. I decided we needed to call before driving two hours only to be turned away.

When I say ‘we’ it is because my husband is a great advocate for me. When I feel overwhelmed he will go to bat.

Hey, Chris:

Anyway, sure enough the fax didn’t make it and by the time it did it was going to be too late for the appointment.

I asked if there were helps for people like me who had trouble seeing. They just said ‘no’. I know there are but you need a doctor to sign off on them.

I’m a baby-boomer. I know I’m not alone in this. We’re not making enough money to have any choices but where’s the help?

Insurance robs me on every check. But where are they when patients and doctors agree treatment is necessary?

Okay, if you made it this far you win. ❤🤗😘🤷‍♀️

Thank you for reading my rant.

But happy last day of summer!

Sunday Meditations


I’ve been trying to reduce my cortisol, um, belly-fat. I’m already eating my intermittent fasting/Keto/low carbs/high fat diet. I’ll know tomorrow how well my progress has been. My husband is sure I’ve lost more than 25 pounds. My clothes are falling off, unless they are the old smaller sizes.

Still my belly seems more than should be at this size. Cortisol is caused by stress. Not that I think my retired life is stressful. But this last year has had its effect. So I’m starting to wake with Headspace Meditations. Either on Netflix or YouTube.

Then after my two days of eye appointments, I plan to add these yoga lessons.

Though we’ve seen clearer skies the last few days I haven’t begun the None2run program, but for now I have to call it walking. My new shoes are begging me to get out there. I didn’t want to start on a rainy or muddy, windy day.

I’m still playing with the hula hoop, light weights, band stretching. Just trying to get ready for real workouts.

One-Liner Wednesday A Funny


One-liner Wednesday is a Linda G. Hill prompt. And um, I’m sorry. My husband shared on FaceBook and I laughed out loud. Maybe the stress is getting to me?

Life During Pandemic


It has been a crazy week for my family. Last Friday (I think) my son’s significant other notified me that she and her family, and my son had been exposed to COVID. It turns out she tested positive and then became very ill. But even though it was scary, I think her health has kept her less sick than she could have been. Even so she and I have spent a lot of time on messenger chatting. Me trying to keep her a bit distracted from how scared she was, and she trying to help me not be so scared for her and my son. I think that is why I have been less able to blog, or think of anything but this situation.

By the way, my son tested negative, yet he is coughing as of today. Again, he’s pretty healthy so I’m not very worried. My third son had it quite a while ago and is out having fun now. He and his crew got their shots so they can play at the beach with masks on.

I’m saying all this just to point out that the numbers we see on the news we need to multiply all family and friend lists to get to the why the angst of this last couple years has climbed to an all time high. The silver lining is all of us getting to know each other better. And for me it has pushed me to get healthier so I can withstand it all.

I have no doubt that many who will read this have their own stories to tell about how this pandemic is touching them personally. Let me quickly send out a hug to all of you and wish you the solidarity of love and health to get through it all.

Bitmoji Image

Per Linda:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “pin.” Use it as a noun, use it as a verb, use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

Pinterest is a history lesson of my passion over the last few years. Ah, but then so is this blog.

Writing starts and continues as the place I put a lot of energy. But I used to sew. I found the race of pulling the pins before the needle hit them too stressful. Not to mention the ripping what I sewed. Ugh! And sitting in the position of leaning over the machine hurt my back. Sewing fell as a passion.

Crochet became my next passion. I could make hats for charities and spend time creating. But my hands didn’t like the constant positioning.

Then I learned to loom knit. Even ripping, frogging, or tinking projects was fun. More yarn, more chances to improve.

I tried to dry felt but found the constant hand movement hurt so another craft bit the dust.

Now I’m having fun playing my recorders. It hurts my hands sometimes but it seems, if I’m inconsistent (skipping a day here and there) that my hands get more proficient and hurt less. It doesn’t carry with it the fulfillment the loom knitting does. I’m not helping anyone else. But maybe that’ll be something to come?

Drawing has the same feeling. I can get lost, as lost as when writing, in a project. True, I don’t feel the giving feeling there like I do with the knitting but I don’t feel wasteful of my time and energy. I wonder what that is? Should I see how I can expand somehow into something more charitable?

Music is coming alive in me again. What can I do with it? Is it okay to just enjoy the journey? Does it, too need me to pin it to the social magazine (how I think of Pinterest)? I really want to pinpoint my passions to understand how best to approach the ‘work’s of the fun.

And now with health improving, I wonder where that will lead. Hiking, camping? Let’s just put a pin in that.

New Shoes


I’m so tired. But look what I got from our town run!

These are ASICS gel running shoes for my #none2run program. Which will start out as mostly walking.

Now I’m going to bed.

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