Our family often exclaims sympathetically “Bad News Bears” when we hear about the bad luck of others. For the most part, we and our family and friends have not experienced much bad luck, save for one of my uncles who had years of successive crop failures. He was still able to sell his farm when he retired and buy a nice house in town, though.
Today is the anniversary of the bad luck of a woman baseball fan who was at a Phillies game in 1957 when one of the players fouled and the ball hit her in the face and broke her nose. As she was being carried by stretcher from the ball park, the same player fouled a second time and the ball hit her again. Bad News Bears!
Tell some tales of woe.
Trail Baboon 
Rise and Descend into pessimism Baboons,
Starting 4 nights ago, Lou’s sleep disorders acted up, especially his Restless Legs Syndrome. He is treated for this, but several nights each year, the condition causes him true misery. (He has 3 different sleep disorders). I awoke the first night to something slapping the mattress of the bed, then the floor. He was up and down all night pacing, sitting in his recliner, trying to ease the jumpy, restless feeling this causes. He did not sleep much. He complained of feeling tired and sick that day.
The next night I awoke to commotion. (Keep in mind he is wearing his CPAP with a long hose that tethers him to a machine). The hose of his CPAP is flying around, and his head is where his feet should be, his feet are on the floor.
“What is going on?” I ask with some irritation and urgency.
“I am falling out of bed. I keep falling out of bed!” He yells, muffled, through the CPAP mask. I untangled the CPAP hose from the flailing limbs involved in whatever occurred, and directed him to turn around, then to put his head back at the head of the bed. He went back to sleep and stayed asleep.
Saturday, he worked hard outside building a cold frame, since our old, well-used one finally fell apart so completely that it became unusable. I fixed supper (grilled salmon, baked potatoes, and fresh salad, instant pot rice pudding for dessert. It was good) with which he had a glass of wine. He started falling asleep in the chair. I woke him up, but he kept falling asleep sitting up. I was afraid he would fall out of the chair, so he went to bed.
The last two nights he slept quietly, thank goodness. I am just too old for such a wild night life. It does make me giggle, though.
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When I read something like this, describing Lou’s sleep disorders, I count my blessings. How awful to not be able to sleep and rest well. I can’t imagine how much harder it must be, to get through the day, without being properly rested. I imagine that it also affects the quality of the sleep and rest you get, Jacque?
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It does affect my sleep, and I already have my own insomnia to deal with. We purchased a very helpful bed with the tempurpedic mattress and two beds that fit together. This week I pulled my bed away from his so the kicking and shaking of his legs did not wake me or so he did not accidentally kick me.
Wow, my tale of woe is sounding even more pathetic and in line with the spirit of our sad lives. Poor Me!
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Oh dear – hope he’s sleeping better, for both your sakes!
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A male friend of mine told the story of being at a religious retreat with a bunch of other older guys. The retreat was held at a Bible camp, and they all slept in a dorm with bunk beds. All of the guys except my friend had cpap machines. He said everyone but he slept well, as he was kept awake by the hissing, wheezing, gurgling noises from all those cpap machines.
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The last event like that which Lou attended was similar. His joke is that everyone plugs in and the lights dim.
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Husband has a non-REM sleep disorder which causes him to move while he dreams. He also has a Nightmare Disorder. Put them together, and you get a terrified person who can move, yell, and punch in his sleep. You can imagine how well I sleep with all that.
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Yup.
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A friend who survived a violent tour in Vietnam developed a Nightmare Disorder that caused him to strangle–or attempt to strangle–his wife from time to time. Fortunately, she was a tall and strong woman who could deal with him when he grabbed her throat.
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Oh my
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I suppose you could think of it as a little orchestra!
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I wonder what tales of woe they would tell about us?
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I just know Lou would say that I am a wonderful dream come true. OK, well, Maybe not. I just don’t ask and choose to live in denial. Now and then he says I was snoring.
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Hi-
All that comes to mind are medical issues a friend is dealing with. And I don’t want to talk about that here.
We joke about ‘First World Problems’ lately. That’s about all I got…
“our internet is too slow”… “I can’t find the apples I want.”
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Yep, Ben, that’s what I keep coming back to as well.
Ken’s FTD is an ongoing tragedy, mostly to his family and friends, because Ken, himself, has lost all memory and recollection of a life that was once his. Two of his daughters have born him grandsons that he’ll never meet, and who will have no memories of that kind and gentle man that Ken was.
Another friend has lived with ALS for going on eight years. I don’t know that I’d be able to muster the kind of grace and dignity with which he approaches every day of his life. He’s truly an inspiration. This awful disease is slowly robbing him of his mobility, ability to eat and speak, yet he’s grateful that he has had as much time as he has to adjust to the ravages of this disease. Truly a remarkable man.
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OT again-
The Sandhill Cranes were at the end of our road this morning and my neighbor gave me a heads up before I left home. So I took the good camera and they were standing right in the middle of the road. Got a few pictures… slowly SLOWLY drove toward them until they finally flew away. Got a few more pictures as they cruised over the valley and landed in another field over there.
Will get the pictures downloaded and will share later.
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Husband and I solved our sleep woes by ultimately using separate room – for togetherness, one of us visits the other in the morning or evening, but this way I sleep blissfully alone.
If I really start to think about this topic, what first comes up is people of color who are afraid to go out on an errand after dark, for fear of getting arrested. Etc.
The word woe also makes me think of Lake Wobegon, and how I would love to hear one of those tales of woe again. Maybe I’ll look back through my old tapes.
Thinking…
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OT – I wonder if this is the week that Bill and Robin are in Grand Marais? Or perhaps they opted to attend the DT campaign stop in Mankato and visit with Clyde?
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As you may remember, I had cataract surgery on both eyes in March. While the surgery vastly improved my vision, it has been obvious for some time that I need new glasses. I’ve been struggling along with a pair of cheaters, but finally decided that I needed to have an eye exam to fix this. My appointment was this afternoon, and the exam confirmed what I have been suspecting all along, I have far better vision in my left eye than in my right. There is some issue with the retina in my right eye, and some swelling that hasn’t changed since the surgery in March. Today is got a shot of Cortisone to the area around the eye, and a prescription for new glasses. At the moment my vision is pretty impaired, and my head hurts, so I think I’ll retire early and spare you all my ramblings.
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