Went for my first physical therapy appointment yesterday. It went fairly smoothly; she poked and prodded and measured. Made me stand on one foot and then the other. Walked up and down the hallway.
She showed me four exercises to start with – one with a strap and one with a stretchy thing. Two on steps. All fairly straightforward but when I got home I realized that a couple only get done once a day, one gets done twice and day and the last one gets done three times a day. I sat with the paper in my hands for about a minute before I knew what I had to do. A spreadsheet! It’s pretty simple, just a chart with each exercise listed the prerequisite number of times for each day of the next week. I imagine, since I’m a morning person, I’ll do the four together in the morning and then slot in the rest as the day goes on.
Spreadsheet isn’t pretty, but enough to keep track of what I’m doing on a daily basis… a rustic spreadsheet as it were. What in heaven’s name did I do before Excel?
Do you have a daily routine (with or without a spreadsheet!)?
I think I know why it takes so long to become a doctor. You have to learn a completely different language:
This accessory muscle is located posteromedially, originating from the fascia of the deep posterior compartment at a level posterior to the tibiotalar joint and talus and then extends inferiorly, deep to the flexor retinaculum, posterior and superficial to the traversing tibial nerve and posterior tibial artery within the tarsal tunnel, inserting distally upon the quadratus plantae muscle (axial series 2, Images 6-22, sagittal series 4, images 15-11 and coronal series 7, images 7-10.)
Even after Dr. Moser showed me the MRI images and “explained” it to me, I’m still not sure exactly what the issue is except that it seems to be related to my initial ankle sprain (20 years ago – a bad sprain that took several months to feel better). No pinched anything, no compressed anything, no torn anything and in what was clearly a surprise to the doctor, no arthritis. He did point out what he called some edema – that’s about it. Two co-pays and an MRI to get told my ankle hurts.
Sent home with a brace and a couple of physical therapy appointments. In the meantime, I suppose the fact that there isn’t any arthritis is the good news I’ll try to keep in mind.
Do you have a favorite tongue-twister from childhood?
The last time I said “I think I’m the only person left in America who hasn’t had covid” I should have knocked on wood.
Went to a party on a Saturday night 10 days ago and had a great time, met up with some current and former neighbors for a 70th birthday celebration for a friend. Good food, drink, company. Had a wonderful time.
On Tuesday morning as I was starting to get ready to go to the art museum, one of my Saturday night friends texted a group of us saying that she had covid and was pretty sick. Even though I felt fine I thought it would be the responsible thing to do to test before I went on a tour at the museum. And there it was… a big pink “T” line. I’ve taken a lot of tests since the beginning of pandemic and I’ve never gotten the “T” line before. Shocking. The good news is that I am still asymptomatic so all those jabs did pay off.
The bad news is that I’m feeling sorry for myself – although I’m not sure why. Except for cancelling my museum tour with my friend at the last minute, I haven’t really done anything differently the last week. Thank goodness for the Target pick-up, the Aldis pick-up, the post office drive through and the library drop box. I did send YA to the library to pick up a book for me on Friday so I wouldn’t have to go in. YA is avoiding me like… dare I say “the plague” and seems fine so far. I’ve done stuff around the house, read a lot, worked in my studio, labored on a 1000-piece jigsaw of a dragon in a “dragon forge cave” (it’s a doozy) and binge-watched the Colombo marathon on Sunday. I’m not sure why I’m feeling weird about this… but it does feel like the first couple of weeks of pandemic when I remember feeling trapped in the house.
As of yesterday, still positive but the “T” line was very faint so I expect in the next 48 hours I’ll be clear and free to break out and roam the neighborhood again. I’ll have to shut the pity party down.
Last week I went out with six coworkers for a farewell luncheon for one of them. These are all young women under the age of 35, all mental health professionals. The lunch was delightful, but the conversation sure made me feel old.
Much of their discussion was about their newest discoveries for facial moisturizers and makeup, their latest experiences getting their nails done, their favorite coffee shops they visit daily, their favorite restaurants, their recent appointments at the chiropractor, and the new tattoos they were planning. Since I don’t wear makeup, have rather nice skin for someone who is almost 66, and would never, ever, get a tattoo, I hadn’t much to say. I have never had a manicure. I have never been to a chiropractor or had a massage. I refuse to spend money at coffee shops when I have perfectly good French press coffee brewed for me every morning by my husband. They were all astounded, however, when I mentioned that I have never had a pedicure. They all agreed that they are going to take me out for a pedicure before I retire. We shall see. I don’t know if I want someone messing around with my feet.
My coworkers view these activities as self care. I could never justify spending all the money that they do on these things. My self care is listening to music, gardening, and cooking. I suppose I spend more money on cooking ingredients than they do, but I am healthier than most of my coworkers and eat way better then they do.
What do you do for self care?What activities did you engage in that your elders shook their headsover when you were young?
I will not finish the puzzle today. I will not finish the puzzle today. I will not finish the puzzle today.
I have an obsession problem when it comes to jigsaw puzzles. I have trouble stopping once I sit down in front of a puzzle. There have been times that I have not walked away for hours. I’ve skipped meals, I’ve been late to work, I’ve lost sleep. YA has inherited this from me. During the pandemic holidays, we worked 8 hours on a puzzle, taking turns picking movies to watch on tv. Sad (although we DID finish before bed). Because of this, sometimes I shy away from starting a puzzle if I have things that need getting done.
Over the holidays I did an Advent jigsaw puzzle. It was 24 little boxes of 42 pieces; one little puzzle a day that made one big puzzle at the end. It was wonderful… it was a fun and relaxing start to my day throughout the season and the fact that each day was in its own box kept me from jumping ahead. I will definitely do it again.
So when I started a new puzzle last Thursday I told myself that would have a two-hour limit. I figured if I set a boundary, like the little boxes had been boundaries, then I could avoid sitting at the table for hours and hours on end. I even wrote it down on my daily “to-do” list. Thursday turned out fine; it took me right about two hours to sort out all the edge pieces and put them together. I spent 2½ hours on Friday; aided and abetted by having my Zoom book club for close to three hours.
On Saturday, I was making good progress and watching tv and I felt myself sliding down the slippery slope. The two-hour mark came and went. “I’ll just work until this tv show is over”. Then the next show. As the next show started, I began my mantra. “I will not finish this puzzle” today, I will not finish this puzzle today”. This worked; I stood up from table after a little over five hours.
You know how this is going to end. I spent 5 hours yesterday and finished it as it was started to get dark. And just what happened to the two hours yesterday? I excused myself from the rule because I was feeling sorry for myself… still coughing a bit much to hang around with healthy folks. I can come up an excuse with the best of them!
I did get snow fence installed, and driveway markers are in.
Hauled in the last of the scrap Iron I wanted to do for this year. I’ll be curious to see what my total was for scrap iron this year. Several thousand lbs. This last load was 3500 lbs and was an old disc, a bit of the old elevator frame, and some misc pieces. Price was still $100 / ton so it paid for the gas anyway.
I did an (almost) final cleaned up behind the shed one day just scraping all the brush into a pile; I wish I had done a before photo but there’s the after.
Just image it full of trees and junk and crap collected over 40 years. I’d love to put an overhang back here to shelter some machinery like the rear blade, the snow blower, the brush mower, etc. Got a pile of cement blocks to move yet.
Met our banker one day and made a plan. I’ve got most of the big bills paid. Signed the last of the papers for crop insurance, but don’t know what that’s going to pay yet.
Had two nights of Holiday Concerts at the college this past week. The choir sounds really very nice. The band is small but growing, and they’ll be really good in another year or two. The one photo is the designer, Paul, with Santa.
We’ve had a little issue with Luna and Bailey lately. They really got into a fight the day I was working on snow fence. Like a ‘to the death’ type fight. I had to separate them three times, finally putting Bailey in the gator.
We can tell Bailey seems jealous, yet she’s picking fights she doesn’t want to be in. They’re equal size and weight. It almost seems like Luna is trying to find her place in the order. Bailey is spayed, we don’t think Luna is yet. We’ve had Luna for 2 months now. She’s really settling in. Which might be what’s putting Bailey off. Any thoughts on 2 female dogs getting along would be appreciated.
Need to get the final paper submitted for class this coming week and the semester is over on the 15th.
The Rep Theater has the next phase of heating and AC going on so that will take some of my time. They have a lot of old photos out as part of the 40 year anniversary. This was me at about 20 years old at the Rep. PHOTO
I should get going on 2023 bookwork one of these days… I’ve been really lazy on that this year.
A mental state achieved by concentrating on the present moment, while calmly accepting the feelings and thoughts that come to you,
Mindfulness is a therapeutic strategy all the rage in mental health treatment. I personally find it annoying and tiresome to pay attention to what is going on in my thoughts and my body for extended periods of time, It has been very helpful lately, however, as I have struggled with some pain.
I have had crappy posture all my life. I slouch, even when I am sitting. I probably have a weak upper body and don’t do enough exercise. A few years ago I was having a great deal of back pain and found that I have lumbar scoliosis. I had Physical Therapy, and that helped a lot. I didn’t change my posture, though. Last year I struggled with sciatica down both legs, and PT also helped with that. For the past couple of months, though the sciatica came back with a vengeance, and there have been times I thought I needed a cane as my left leg would give out on me with intense pain while I walked, and I was afraid I was going to fall. I have a lumbar support chair at work that that didn’t help at all.
I decided I needed to do something about this, and I realized that when I sit, walk, or stand (especially in the kitchen when I cook) I slump my lower back outward in such a way that I was pinching a nerve in my left leg. I have started to direct my attention to my lower back and its position, keeping it straight, and for two weeks now my leg pain has disappeared. My lower back has protested somewhat as I am making it go into a position it hasn’t had to be in for some time, but I think I am on the right track. I am mindful of my back position when I drive, when I sit at my desk, when I stand, and when I walk. I hope that it will become automatic for me one of these days, but I may have to resign myself to have to practice mindfulness for a long time.
What do you need to be mindful of? What are you prone to ignore that you should pay attention to?
My mom was diagnosed with Covid Sunday. Nothing serious, (well, for a 97 yr old, anything is serious) but she just had cold symptoms. I visited her Sunday afternoon to help with supper and see how she was doing. I used extra precautions. And by Thursday she was pretty much back to her normal.
Monday morning, we learned of the death of one of Kelly’s coworkers. A woman who was the party planner and team cheerleader at work, and usually Kelly’s confidant and meeting co-giggler and chief conspirator. “DD” had become a good friend of the family and she was the first to bring cookies and lemonade when I had shoulder surgery and back surgery. She’d been fighting cancer for 8 years and nothing was working. She started some last-ditch efforts this fall, while being told all the side effects, and the possibility of having about 6 months left. Her son is in 11th grade, and her plan was to be here through his graduation. And then, well, the plan changed. She’d been in the hospital for a few weeks and breathing had become an issue. Then she was diagnosed with Leukemia. She never could get a break. Kelly and I always said she just needed a ‘do over’. Her son is the young padawan who worked with me over the summers. There’s a lot of support and family around and we all hope he realizes that and overcomes all the forthcoming obstacles. Mom and son had talked about this possibility and things are set up well for him.
Tuesday evening, I tested positive for Covid. Made it through 3 years! Just cold symptoms; stuffy nose, a bit of a cough. Tired, with some body aches Wednesday. Right after I told Kelly I shouldn’t be running heavy machinery, I went out and used the tractor and loader and ripped out some stumps and moved some junk, leveled some gravel, and hauled more in, and scraped up some dirt and filled in a hole in the yard that had been there since July. Sometimes we just need to do it, right? It didn’t involve physical labor, and I needed a nap afterward. By Friday I’m feeling pretty good, still testing positive, and I can tell I have covid brain.
Wednesday, I got word of another death. A fellow theater technician in Rochester. Janet was a lighting designer and technical director at the civic theater for years. She had told me her cancer was back and she had started treatments. She said it was terminal, but she might last 10 years, and she laughed. Two weeks later, she had died. I don’t know details, but it’s another reminder we need to be grateful for each day.
Do the thing! Say I Love You! Make the call! Get past the bitterness!
DD and Janet were just such great people. And it sucks so much they’ve left us too early.
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Nothing harvested yet. I’ve said the soybeans should be OK. “There will at least be a crop there” is what I said last week. That’s still true, but they need to actually be harvested and sold before I can count them. Mine still have some green in them. While we had 27 degrees last week, that was only in the low spots and many plants and weeds are still green. And with the damp, cool weather we’re having, harvest of soybeans isn’t happening. According to the USDA production report and statistics, as of 10/15, 76% of soybeans had been harvested. About average. Soybeans are very susceptible to moisture, so these cool days makes them hard to get dry enough to combine, and the more we get into November, the more cool days we get. So, we keep our fingers crossed. The corn won’t be an issue getting harvested. Barring windstorms knock-on-wood. I’d like it before the ground freezes so I can do tillage work.
The puppy. We’ve named her Luna. She’s pretty much decided to stay here.
She’s very food oriented and will do anything we want if there’s a treat offered.
The last few days we haven’t had her on a leash. Humphrey has decided she’s not much of a threat. They don’t interact a lot, and he’s got his pillows, which she doesn’t use, and he just kind of accepts this is what it is now. We give him a lot of extra attention. Bailey and Luna play a lot together. I think Bailey is more annoyed that even Luna gets to go in the house! Luna doesn’t pay much attention to the chickens. She can run 25 MPH! We’re in the gator timing her. She’s crazy fast!
I’ve been working out in the shop the last few days getting the door put on the gator. It’s getting colder out, and we want doors. Our first gator had doors, but it was a lemon. This gator showed up without hard doors; it had the net half doors. I ordered the door kit, which showed up in a box 4’ wide and 6’ long on a pallet just as big. While I worked on them, the dogs either hung out inside with me or outside where Luna chewed up a bunch of sticks.
The gator turned over 100 miles. And at 17.7 hours, that’s only 5.6 MPH, which seems kinda slow. With Luna, I’m sure the average will creep up.
I’ve said before how I take the dogs outside before bed and I spend a few minutes out there watching the stars. My buddy Orion is back if I stay up late enough. Jupiter has been a bright light all year. I am grateful.
I’ve gotten to the point where if anybody is willing to give me a shot to keep me from getting some disease, lay it on me. So I found myself once again at the pharmacy yesterday getting this year’s flu shot. For many years I didn’t get the shot but then about 15 years ago I got the flu one winter and it was dreadful. Flu shot every year for me since then. I know it’s no guarantee but I’ll take all the help I can get.
When I sat down for my shot, the pharmacist asked me which arm I preferred. In thinking about it, I realized that the last few years, every shot but one has been in my left arm. I asked her if getting all my shots in the same arm would cause me to get a “Popeye” arm. She laughed out loud. And then assured me it wouldn’t happen. (I can’t stomach watching the Popeye cartoons anymore. They are so violent and Olive Oyl is such an irritating damsel in distress. Ick.)
Before I left the pharmacy, she said that I probably wouldn’t have any soreness in my arm but if I wanted to, I could do extra arm movements to help out. So once again I was doing the chicken dance in the car on the way home!
To make that cauliflower salad I needed hazelnut oil. Not something I have sitting on my shelf. And, it turns out, not something that is all that easy to find. That’s how I ended up at my co-op (well, technically one of my co-ops… I have three different memberships) on a Tuesday morning. Although I can do errands whenever I want these days, I do find that I still end up with a lot of errands on the weekend.
The cashier at the co-op was a nice young man and when I checked out he very gently asked if anyone in my household was 50 or older. I laughed, pointed at myself and said “just me”. Apparently Tuesday is Senior Discount Day at the co-op. The discount was just enough to offset the ‘round-up’ that I always do when I shop there. As I was getting back into my car, I laughed a bit to myself thinking that they’ve probably had store-wide sensitivity training about asking folks if they are old enough for the senior discount. Maybe the “is anyone in your household” question was born there.
Aging, while not always the most fun I’ve had, isn’t a problem for me on principal. One of my favorite movie quotes is from People Will Talk with Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain. He plays a doctor and one of his elderly patients laments that it’s no fun to get old. Cary Grand replies “It’s even less fun if you don’t get to be old.”
The first time I got the senior discount was when I was 50, at a miniature golf course in Hayward, Wisconsin. It was listed on the price board and I asked for it. The second time was at Perkins when I turned 55. After that, I went home and sent my mother a sympathy card for having a daughter old enough to get the senior discount.
So the cashier didn’t need to pussyfoot around me about a senior discount. I’ll take any discount that anyone if willing to give me for having survived this long!
Trail Baboon 