What a way to start off this week! Sunday School online and Worship Service in person. After a very rough week having my soul fed Sunday through God’s Word in both was just what I needed.
When I stood up after church my joints cried out to me and only stopped crying when I got home and fed them Tylenol and then Ibuprofen. Old bodies just don’t bounce back like them young ones do!
Came home from church and took care of things I didn’t have time for last week, watched the Saints beat Tom Brady and the Buccaneers and then sadly watched the Braves the game that would have clinched the World Series. Gotta wait till Tuesday now! I rested the whole time and ate junk which made me quite happy!
We finalized the budget for next year’s Nursery and put together a list of items needed when the flooded Nursery is renovated. It’s now being reviewed the rest of the committee. Made a phone call with the Quad Area about getting help with my electric bill.
Tuesday was one of the most beautiful days weather-wise and all over! All of the windows were open all day letting in the nicest breeze. Buddy and I spent time outside playing ball while I trimmed back lots of dying leaves off of plants and spread out the pine straw Chip recently brought me. Spent more time trying to work with Social Security and Food Stamps since SS cut my payments to $0 starting November 1 for 3 months. My sister-in-law (Roy’s sister) Linda and I had a delightful phone call and we’re hoping to get together for an in-person visit soon.
Our family’ favorite baseball team has always been the Atlanta Braves. We had a subscription to their television network back in the 90s and watched every single game as a family for years. We knew every player well. In an age where players of other teams were testing positive for drugs, domestic abuse and other crimes were occurring, the Braves were always a stand-up group of guys and we admired them for that and their tremendous playing ability. When they won the World Series in 1995 we all went bonkers with happiness. This week a totally different group of Braves players won the 2021 World Series. I watched every game and found out that both my sons were watching them as well. That made my heart so very happy to see that this favorite family tradition was being carried on! I wore my Chipper Jones #10 Jersey for each game and jumped for joy when they clinched the series on Tuesday night. I’d love to see their new stadium sometime so if anyone is up for a road trip to Marietta, Georgia during the MLB season let me know! I’m all in! Here’s me in my jersey at the last game Roy and I attended in person before they moved to their newest stadium.
My right side and back began hurting throughout the day Tuesday and got worse by bedtime so I slept on a heating pad and took Tylenol. Laying still ut helped but getting up and walking ut hurt so bad.
Wednesday I was supposed to join a group at church to work on decorating for this Sunday’s Veterans Dinner. My back hurt so bad when I got up I took a pain pill which helped enough I was able to help with the decorating and the pain pill made me hippy happy for a while! All the work was worth it, and the decorations turned out great. I hope Sunday’s event is a wonderful honoring of our Veterans! That’s me on the floor.
Left there just in time to make it on time to see the new orthopedic hand specialist, Dr. Nadar Shourbaji. I wish he treats more than just hands because I really liked him. X-rays show arthritis in my hands is much worse than it use to be which I guess is what happens as we age. The extreme swelling in the fourth finger of my right hand is from arthritis being worse in that finger than the rest. He gave me a shot in that finger which was awful and I guess I really didn’t like him so much at that moment! He said my finger may hurt more for a day or so until the shot takes full effect. Great! Once I got to two days later the swelling had gone down enough that I could feel my knuckle bone which I haven’t felt in a long time!
He agreed with my previous orthopedic Dr. Chiasson that surgery on my left little finger to remove the Duprethene’s Contracture needs to be done. He too wants my A1C to be lower than it is so when it gets to the mid 7s I’ll go back to see him and get surgery scheduled.
I also asked him with great hope if there were any new treatments or medicines for arthritis and was sadly told no. Since Naproxen medicines cause a bleeding ulcer in 2018 I can no longer take them and oh how my body’s joints hurt without that.
Thursday I saw my primary care doctor, Dr. Valdes, updating him on all recent health tests, etc. I told him all about my back hurting for the last two days and he checked it out. He said I pulled back and side muscles. I don’t remember doing that but I know the gripping pain is very real. He gave me a shot of Toradol to help with that. Within a few hours, my back and side weren’t hurting and I hope that lasts! He allowed me to talk a lot about what’s troubling me and contributing to this depression. He made some changes to my medications including adding something to my anti-depressant to help this depression I’ve gotten deeper into recently. I am so thankful he lets me talk (and cry) and helps me figure out what’s best for me to do. I got my flu shot while I as there. We also talked about the creatine levels in my blood that concerned my cardiologist. Dr. Valdes does not feel there is cause for concern so I don’t need to see a kidney doctor like I thought. Since I will not have allergy testing and shots the switch I made from amitryptiline to trazodone can be undone so now I have the very helpful benefits of what amitryotiline provides for pain and anxiety in addition to helping me sleep. He also prescribed tylenol morning and night to help some with joint pain since I can’t take Naproxen any longer.
Life lately has been pretty rough and when I read this little piece below it reminded of how God will pick up all my broken pieces and get me to the other side of this messy time.
I enjoyed lunch between doctor visits with my dear friend Donna Lavergne at “our place” China Palace. We hadn’t done that in a while and had a lot to catch up on! She’s the friend that I am planning a Thelma and Louise road trip with. We laughed and laughed at lunch and I as so happy to have had that time with her.
After lunch, I saw my Retina Specialist, Dr. Naguchi in Hammond. It was the longest doctor’s appointment I’ve had in years. She only comes to Hammond once every two weeks and everyone tries to see her on that day. Even though I was there for hours the worse part was near the end after tests had been done and she had the results. She saw from the angiogram that I’ve had an optic nerve stroke, causing swelling in that eye and all the blurriness. I’ve been living with this blurriness in that eye for months, just not having time to see her between the hurricane and me moving. I’ve been thinking it was the macular hole getting worse but one of the tests shows that the hole is still there but stable. She prescribed prednisone drops to be used three times a day to help relieve some swelling and maybe clear my vision up a bit. I will go back to her in four weeks to be rechecked and see how or if it is progressing or how much the drops are helping.
Friday my only event scheduled was a hair cut which I very badly needed and I’m happy not having shaggy long hair!
Saturday was an event I’ve looked forward to for months, the 15-mile yard sale in Husser, Louisiana. My friend Cindy Vernon collects things all year to sell near the Husser Fire Department. I brought some of my glass decoupage items, bottles and plates, to sell. I sold two bottles. Cindy sold a bunch of stuff! Here’s her setup at the sale.
Chip and I rode around doing some shopping early in the morning and then I helped Cindy sell her wares for a couple of hours. My system is out of wack right now so helping all day which was the original plan couldn’t happen.
This has been a roller coaster of a week. Missing Roy has been exceptionally hard right now. Not having him with me at these doctor visits and not having him to hold my hand and let me put my head on his shoulder to cry just wears on me. Being in pain, the two days before seeing Dr. Valdes and not having him to help me in and out of bed and off the sofa while I was in such gripping pain it was almost more than I could handle.
I am determined to turn this thing called life around and make progress toward a happier life, starting today!
BECAUSE HE LIVES 