Smile-breaks
Where I've been
Here I am. It's been too long and I missed you. Here's a few of the things that kept me away all these months: a-fib, family issues, bronchitis, root canal, loss of three teeth, meralgia paresthetica, costochondritis, ekg, chest x-rays, hip x-rays, edema, cataract removal, back pain, leg pain. I think that's all.
I didn't have to use those technical, medical terms, but hey! Thought I'd share my new knowledge with you. So –
The a-fib you prob'ly know is atrial fibrillation, heartbeat marching to an out of tune drummer. Went crazy after family issues. Calmed down by change of meds.
Meralgia paresthetica: that, in English, is a pinched nerve in the thigh that fizzes all through your abdomen and cures itself if you wear sloppy—um, loose—clothing and keep the standing and walking to a minimum until it goes away. And don't sleep on that side. Likely caused by all the physical therapy exercises recommended to loosen up my tight leg muscles that made me walk like an old lady. Which I am, but still. . . I did those exercises energetically and faithfully for three weeks. No more. Doc said, yes, that's probably what caused the meralgia paresthetica, so don't do this exercise, or that exercise, or. . .
Costochondritis. That's an infection of cartilage in the rib cage. It's painful. If you wait long enough, it takes care of itself. So I waited.
Three teeth: one just broke and fell out a week later; the other two were forcibly removed under anesthetic. The anesthetic didn't like me. Knocked me for a loop.
Root canal: you know about those, but this one went oh-so-smoothly. No pain, other than my neck got sore from lying prone for two hours while they dug away at my roots.
Bronchitis: greeted me overnight on New Year's Eve and apparently liked me a lot. So much it stuck with me for thirty days. The feeling wasn't mutual; it laid me flat. Thank goodness for Christy—she took care of both me and Paul the whole month, 24/7.
Edema: swelling of legs and ankles. That was taken care of by good ol' Lasix, and if you're over fifty, you all know about that.
So none of these things were fatal, or very serious in fact, but they sure put a dent in my usual carefree life. Guess I can't blame them for the writer's block I've had for a l-o-o-o-ng time, though.
I didn't mean to get into all that downer stuff, but then I did. Hope you forgive me. The better news is, I'm back to normal—well, as normal as normal can be at my age which I'm not gonna tell you, no way! I even went on a solo road trip to Nevada and Utah this month and had a wonderful time. Now I have a real Smile-breaks to write about. . . next time.
Happy Summer Days!