Tuesday, September 19, 2017…wow, this year is going by very fast for me! It feels like May was just last week, yet here we are entering Autumn and the leaves are beginning to change colors, mornings are crisp and cool, and you can feel the change of seasons in the air. I love this time of year. I love everything about the Fall season; from pumpkins to raking leaves in late Fall…it’s just a super enjoyable time of year – although I am not a huge fan of the leave raking task, I do manage to get it done when it’s time.
I got a ton of things done around my house this last weekend. I did a really deep cleaning of the interior of the house, right down to washing comforters and pillows. I’m getting ready for the winter and want to have everything organized and in place in preparation for the cold and snow. I got the grass mowed for what I hope is the last time this season. It has slowed in growing quite a bit, so I doubt that it will need to be mowed again this year, but hey, I could be wrong! I still need to trim my forcynthia bushes and do another coat of paint on the front porch railings and spindles. And I still need to get the back porch painted. There’s just always something that needs attention around here, I guess it’s all a part of having a home and caring for it properly. I like to keep things updated, in good shape, and looking nice, so I put in the extra effort to get it all done. Â
Friday: September 22, 2017 — While I’ve been feeling really great lately mentally and my immune system health is excellent, I am still dealing with a good amount of pain in my neck and cervical spine area that radiates down both arms and affects my hands. Last week I had one day that I couldn’t keep a grip on things, and I dropped my favorite coffee cup and smashed it to smithereens. It’s got something to do with the nerves and some disc issues in my neck that is causing the pain, tingling, and weakness in my arms and hands. I recently had an x-ray and an MRI done on the neck/c-spine area and am awaiting the doctor’s advice and suggestions as to what we can do to help with it. I may be facing a possible surgery to repair the degenerated discs…I am not sure yet exactly what is going to be done.  Something has to happen because I don’t want this to get any worse, or to lose the use of my hands.
The kidney issue is still also up in the air. I’ve undergone some extensive testing, and do not know the results yet. I have a cyst of some sort on my left kidney, and it’s showing signs of disease, but we are not sure how bad it is, or if it’s even bad at all. I’m not real worried about it, I’m in no pain from it and had it not been for an abnormal blood work result I wouldn’t even know there was a problem at all.
So, while I have a couple of challenges health-wise, I do feel really good about things overall. I haven’t felt very much up to using the computer the last 10 days or so, it hurts to be on it and typing for too long. This has caused me to get behind in my emails and in replying to people. I just hope everyone will understand that I cannot always get right back to them when I am feeling like this. I do occasionally use my phone to check email, which I did earlier this week – to find that one friend was quite angry with me for not replying to her email from the 15th. I tried to tell her I wasn’t feeling up to even opening up my laptop, but she can be a bit extreme when it comes to being mad at me for little things like not replying to her fast enough for her tastes. I’m wicked sorry about it, but not much I can do.
My girlfriend’s internet is down for repairs at this time. She and I haven’t been able to really communicate for over a week. That bums me out because I am very used to connecting with her every day at some point, but until they finish replacing the internet lines in her town they are all without cable and internet. It’s supposed to be completed by next Thursday. I’ll be happy when she can be back online and we can Skype once again. I really miss talking to her and seeing her on Skype. It’s also like this when she is out of town on business travel too. But we have learned to cope with it alrigh
I am in quite a lot of pain in my right collarbone and right shoulder and arm tonight. So I cannot continue typing for very long, and I have to keep resting every paragraph or so because it hurts so damned much! I have taken Aleve, a prescription Celebrex pain reliever, as well as applied a 4% lidocaine gel to the areas to help relieve some of the pain. I have upcoming appointments to have the nerves tested in my c-spine and arms, and am preparing to most likely have some disc surgery on my neck and c-spine. I’m not sure what all that will entail at this point as the doctor has just started discussing it with me and we are going to do further testing to try to really pinpoint the problem.
I have to go respond to some personal emails tonight and beg forgiveness for my tardiness in doing so. Tomorrow I am going to TRY to paint the kitchen cabinets that I installed this last Spring as well as get to the rest of the outside painting that needs to be finished up. This will obviously all depend on how high my pain level is and if I am physically up to doing it in the morning! Let’s hope so!
I am watching the world news very closely lately. As I am sure most of you are too. I am not going into my thoughts on what is going on here, it’s just too frustrating for me to deal with right now. I fear we have entered the twilight zone in some ways. It all seems so surreal sometimes.
Hope you all are doing well. So, tell me, what is your #1 concern about world affairs right now? What are you doing to deal with it?
Peace. ~~MB
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