It's a Heatwave

 It's so hot outside that I think I could start a fire just by blowing on the wood. Mike is doing the weed trimming and at some point, I must get the grass cutting done. One ponders what one should wear into an inferno. Clothing would be incendiary, but so to is flesh. Anything heavier than a cotton sheet will be heat stroke material. 

I doubt it will be today since it just started raining. So frustrating. My mower blades need changing, but will require someone with more experience and strength than I. I've looked for someone to do such repairs, but the days of shade tree mechanics is pretty much over. Mike called around and found a place that will do it. Now I just have to get it there. 

He finished the trim work, and it rained. So, no yard cutting today. I'll have to get up early tomorrow and do it before the heat gets too bad.  

I started a new anti-inflammatory today. We'll see how it goes. They prescribed one when I started having them not to my file that I'd requested it. I would rather not take these things, but I can't keep going with this level of pain. It's so debilitating. You tire of trying to do things that hurt. 

My goal was to get back to Atlanta in July. Initially, I blocked off the first week, but they've scheduled me to see an Endocrinologist that week. I have a T4 level that is low and, although I suspect steroids caused it, I'll have to have the professional check it.

And that's it for today. I'm better, but drained all the time. Sleep doesn't help. So I just continue to do what I can, when I can. 

My Week in Review

Been a long time since I posted here but I have so much news I decided it would be easier to disseminate. So for those of you still checking in, here we go. Monday has apparently become clean the house day because that will get me thru the week. Mike came and dug out the flower bed but I couldn't get to the planting because I was too tired after cleaning and laundry all day. I did put Castor beans in the ground. These will drive out the voles and moles, whose tunnels are causing a tripping hazard in my yard. It will take a few months but once they take root, those critters will head for daylight. This is an old gardeners trick. Tuesday.. funny, I don't remember a lot of it. I had a sleep doctor appt and that went well although, she said I needed to go to bed earlier so I don't need those 2 hr naps every day. She's probably right, but I've always been a night owl. If it wasn't for Sarah, I could sleep late in the mornings. 20 days of school left! I came home and spent the day reading. Sarah and I went to the grocery story after school, and then spent time doing her math homework. I was in bed by 9:30! Tuesday is the first day I've been on the computer for a week, I think. Wednesday I cut the yard, moved some edging stones around to the front to line the walk (I used the mower and trailer to move them, I'm not totally insane yet), and I was planning when she got home to get the seed in the ground! That didn't happen because the day caught up with me. I fell asleep in the chair for about a hour. I was still in bed by 10, though. I've also been walking. Went one day last week and couldn't walk .3 of a mile without nearly having to crawl back to the car. Both my hips were in agony. Upset me a bit because the future looked bleak. I waited and went back Monday and this time, I just walked around the small lake near the VA cemetery. The photo is a shot from the parking area, across the lake. I made it around 3 times but I had to sit on one of the benches each round to rest my hips. Went back Tuesday and made it 4 times with one rest, and that got me .5 of a mile! Yesterday, I made it .5 again with only one stop. So, maybe the future is not so bleak. Since my back injury and all the steroids they put me on, I gained too much weight! It will probably take a while to peel that back off. However, if I can keep walking, I might make a dent in it. The pain in my hips is probably a combination of too much weight, weak muscles from sitting around for 9 months, and the arthritis. The good news is, a short break between laps seems to make it ease up. So, I'm shooting for distance rather than speed. Once I can get around a half mile without stopping, I can try for more distance. There are benches around the lake but once I start hoofing around the cemetery, there are no places to sit... unless I pick a tombstone. There are some monuments with benches up on the hill but I'm nowhere near tackling that. So, now you're caught up for the week. We'll see how the rest of it goes.

Sunday Catch-Up