Category: Health

It’s been awhile…

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This past year (April to April) has found me away from the keyboard and for the most part bummed about it.  So  much has happened, mostly good, but some really incapacitating and frustrating.

In April of 2024 I went to see a “Deer” friend and I really wanted to share all the fun I had with her on her ranch.  But when I got back home I had hand surgery scheduled for my right hand to fix some arthritis issues in my thumb and to release the trigger finger of the same hand.  The thumb issue went well!  The trigger finger got stiff, would not straighten out, and left me unable to type unless using two fingers and the Columbus Method.

A second surgery was finally scheduled to release and remove the scar tissue.  This left me with a cut that most looked like Zorro had been there!  The cut was a big Z that started a vertical path in my mid palm, went up to the fold and across, then zigged back and up, ending just at the fold of my middle finger where it meets the palm.  This total process took a whole year to complete and heal from.

GREAT, I thought!  I’m finally able to type with some stiffness, but basically able to hit the right keys with that still somewhat stiff middle finger…

Meanwhile, we have been working almost non stop this spring to finally get our garden planned, cleaned, fenced, gates installed, and my seedlings into the ground…

AND THEN I TRIPPED AND FELL IN THE GARDEN.

The resulting fall had me on the ground and screaming in agony. And, yes, I did say something of the sort:

@$#%&%%$##*()(*&^$#@#!!!  

You didn’t want to be there.  I couldn’t even get up, but thankfully Bob was right there to help me.  I had sprained my left ankle, landed on and bruised both knees, and fractured my right wrist.  Bob tried to lift me, but everything hurt so much that I couldn’t assist in my own lifting.

He finally put my walking staff into one of the square steel channels that makes the corner frame supports for our compost bin.  I grabbed the staff with my good left hand, and he sat on the ground and literally pushed my backside up into the air while I pulled.  It took several tries but eventually I was up and onto my feet.

That was about six weeks ago.  All the muscles and tendons are still stiff and sore through my whole hand, as well as into and past the wrist. But, good news, I am allowed to garden so long as I wear my splint while working!

I’m back, and I will be telling you of my trip to see my “Deer” friend soon!

 

 

PS:  If you find any typos or misspellings, well, that hand is getting better day by day…

 

Ladies Only ;)

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That funny feeling you’re getting when you walk, and you can’t figure out what’s in your pants.

NO NO THAT!

Today when I came in I kept feeling something touching the back of my thigh, just under my cheek and straight across.  I checked a couple of times today and then, just now, I figured it out.

It was the leg elastic of my underwear hanging low.  Apparently, my backside shrank… not necessarily a bad thing.

Time to buy a smaller size!

🍎🍐🥑🥕🥝🍋🥦🥒🍊

6:00PM Last Thursday Evening

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I have done really well with keeping my resolve to follow the new diet. However, on this night I decided to give in with self imposed provisos:

  1. What I chose to eat must not be over a safe carbohydrate level even with *bolusing.
  2. I had to eat a balanced meal.

What I did was to thaw a premade Amy’s **GF mac and cheese and divide it in half. This was baked with a couple tablespoons of cubed ham (all fat cut away). I prepared a well built side salad (lettuce, cucumber, tomato, pickled beets with vinegar and olive oil dressing. I ate the salad while I waited for some fresh broccoli to steam to be served with the half dose of mac. All good, all within parameters, then…

I picked up the bowl holding the mac & cheese with ham, placed a hot pad underneath of it to take it to the table, then watched it miraculously flip out of my hand, turn upside down in mid air and spew the contents onto the kitchen floor.  All in a straight line from me to Walker, who stood about four feet away.

Walker immediately went into pointer mode, his eyes bulged, and then looked at me for the OK.

Calmly, and I can’t believe how calm I was, I held out my hand, palm facing him, and said: “You can have it, but you have to wait because it is too HOT. You have to WAIT. After about a minute I tested the mess on the floor and found it to be cool to the touch. Looking at him I said: “OK!”

My spoiled mess of a dinner was gone in seconds. And Walker was very pleased with his second dinner of the evening.

Retrospection

I am still trying to figure out how my bowl flew out of my hand. I am also wondering where my inner ***Sailor Girl went to when this happened. Her vocabulary can spring into action at a moments notice in frustrating situations such as this.

In the end I felt stunned about dropping the bowl and rather amazed at how calm and controlled I was. The dog cleaned the mess, I cleaned the floor, then sat down and ate my broccoli.

All was well. I felt balanced, content, and in control.

AMAZING!

~*~*~*~

*Bolusing means to give an extra dose of insulin to counteract the load of a meal

**GF= Gluten Free

*** Inner Sailor Girl was acquired in the early 70s when I was in the Navy.  I am proud to have been of service, but not proud of my bad language habit which I have carried in my back pocket for all these years.   😛

The health post, read it or skip it, your choice. ;)

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It seems the easiest and most succinct way is to just list what ails me:

  • type two diabetes (blood sugar was rising well into the high 200s; sometimes into the 300s and I was onTW0 forms of insulin)
  • stage three fatty liver
  • advancing neuropathy

Newest treatments in order of categories above:

  • Insulin pump prescribed by my new Endocrinologist
  • Nutritionist for diet overhaul!
  • Balance exercises, diabetic approved footwear

Items that are a direct result of the top list and helped by first and second items in the treatments list:

  • Gastroparesis
  • Overweight
  • Depression and fatigue

I started the new journey to health about two to three months ago.  I had just been put on the insulin pump when, the very next week, I got a cryptic email from the gastroenterologist stating I had stage three fatty liver.  No explanations,  no advice, no request for a follow up to discuss the results…

zip – zilch – nada

I went online and Doc Google informed me that stage three was right behind stage four which is Cirrhosis of the liver.  That went over well.  I called the gastro’s office and as you may guess, you can never talk to a real person anymore when calling any medical office.  I was upset.  In retrospect, my message was deranged and angry.  I had no idea that there were ranges in stage three, or that this sort of damage to my liver could be reversed, or caused by anything other than alcohol, and in my mind they were now calling me an alcoholic!  For your reference:  I lost my mother to alcoholism.  It was wretched at the very end.

They called me right back and had me in the next morning to see the doctor.  I tell you the following in all seriousness:  I walked into the office and every one of the staff up front seemed to be looking at me strangely.  They must have all heard about my call?

That was then, this is now.

Long and short of it, my blood sugar ranges are great.  I won’t lie, learning how to use the insulin pump caused a few emotional breakdowns, but the Medtronic people were and are on call 24/7 to help.  It is wonderful to not have to stick myself so many times a day and to actually see a difference in my sugar levels.  I do have to stick and attach a new port and a sensor each week, but that, once you get used to it, is much nicer than injections several times a day.

Now, the fatty liver was something else, as I said.  It was the culmination of my trying to eat more protein and less carb laden food choices to keep my sugar down.  And one of my go-to snacks was cheese. Further,  I have never in my life worried about fatty meats.  Those are off the menu forever.  Well, I do get a one inch square cube of cheese a couple of times a week with my snacks.  I am a cheese head and this part is really getting to me, ya know!?  Some days I just leave the cheese out to avoid the torture of a one inch cube.

This is getting long and I will stop for now.  Next up, I will tell you what I do to lean out my meat choices and prevent getting gluten poisoned from processed food products from the market.

…and the readers said:  OH BOY!  I can hardly wait.  😉

But seriously, if you have the time, there is a lot to be said for making your own sausage and prepping your own meats.  Because, these days, when you do it yourself you know exactly what went into it.  And a bonus:  It is a lot less expensive to buy a larger cut, and process it into portions you can freeze for use later.

NOW:  I really need to hear from you.  Will these posts bother you here?  I don’t intend to put them up often, but when there is a change, good or bad, I will post it.  OR, if  you  would rather, I can make another WordPress blog and post all this there.  I know there are plenty of people out there with similar problems and this will help me to connect with others who share my issues.  As stated; I will make notation in the title that the post is regarding heath.