update

I finally managed to get my act together enough for a short post.   Right now I'm wrestling with how to get rid of goweather.com so if anybody has a clue let me know.  The plan is for me to go home on Friday with Home Health if the stars align just right.  Let's all hold hands and keep the faith on that one.  See y'all on the flip side ^j^

short version

This will be a very short explanation of what didn't kill me but made me stronger.  On Jan 11th I went to the ER with a small bowel obstruction and abscessed diverticulitis.  I almost died and yet God had other plans for me.  When I get in a spot with better connectivity there will be volumes upon volumes of what could go wrong and did.  But for now, I'm hot spotting it from a care facility that is not very user friendly.  Maybe tomorrow. 

I am grateful to be alive only 12 days after almost losing my life.  In the coming days I will have lots of blanks to fill in and tales to tell.  Stay tuned and keep the faith ^j^

trifecta

Alrighty then.  After two days of struggling again, i called my posse in for help.  Debbie and Mamye both brought me stuff I needed but I was still miserable because of the nausea.  Evidently the phenergan wasn't being absorbed because of the barfing.  I called Regina to take me to urgent care where they gave me a shot of phenergan and a sinus cocktail for this URI.  I was supposed to call her when I was done and discovered I had left my phone in her car.  I don't remember anybody's number except Lauren's so I was in a pickle.  I knew she would eventually show back up but we pulled some strings and I was able to get in touch with her.  She sat with me until I got sprite and crackers down.   Ain't nothing like sisterhood.

The wind is howling up here on the hill.  I should probably go see what's happened in the world while I was down and out.

Keep on keepin' on ^j^

from bad to worse

I went to Ripley today to touch base and share notes with my GI doc.  Thankfully the terrific pain has subsided for now due to Bentyl.  There were two letters in the mailbox when I got home and one of them blew me out of the water.  I have been enrolled in the marketplace for a year and a half with no premiums and a high deductible.  The letter said that my premium is now 1350 per month with no change in income..WTF?  I spent a long time on the phone with both Blue Cross and the Marketplace and ended up having to cancel my coverage until I can to my agent and figure out what the heck is going on.  This is not what I needed to hear.  I have until March 8th to figure it out during a special enrollment period.  Part of this is due to the IRS not applying one of the forms that was filed with my tax return.  I'm telling you, the deck is stacked against the little guy.

I am eight months away from Medicare in that "gap" period.  A poster child, if you will, for all that's wrong with our healthcare system.  Everybody in the whole wide world is sick and the system is gouging us while we're down.  Single payer is the answer.  

We try so hard, my little tribe and I.  Lauren has a stress fracture in her foot following flu and pneumonia and is at risk of losing her new job unless somebody at Goodwill corporate has a heart.  She's a hard worker and has done well and had a series of unkind events, sort of like me.  Just bless all of us.

Meanwhile, the argument continues over whether Trump is a war monger or a patriot.  "At least he took him out" is something I've heard over and over.  But at what price.  The skeptic in me thinks that the plane crash was way too close to the drone strike to be random.  Who knows what the truth is anymore?  We're being fed by the media which is controlled by dark powers.

Sorry for the whiney butt stuff.  My faith will reappear soon but for the moment it needs a boost.  Please pray for and with me ^j^

pajama pants

I have found that one helpful thing when you have stomach troubles is to NOT wear pants....at least not the kind that normally fit.  These are what we call "fat pants".  They cover everything, but loosely.  As much as I stay at home I should invest in several pair from the 'gentral.  If you buy them little enough they're leggings.  Bigger is better when it comes to lounging.  And it's not just me that's down and out.

I have never seen so many sick people at the same time in my life.  It's not just one bug but several swirling around out there being passed from one person to another.  Did i mention hand sanitizer?  We can't live in a bubble, you know.  I see people opening door knobs with their sleeves and whatnot.  And I understand because it's every freakin' where.  It's what we in the business called "community acquired."  That's why infectious disease specialists were invented.  The farther along that healthcare moved the more we can understand drug resistance which is a huge problem.  They mutate to where a certain drug won't work anymore.  MRSA is an example.  So is VRE.  

Those sensitivities are identified in the microbiology lab to begin with.  Drugs regimens are changed according to the report if the bug is resistant. This is the result of years of antibiotic use. What was once a miracle has turned into a game that changes its' plays every day on a switch in DNA.  

I don't know about y'all but I feel like I had a rifle scope to my head with all this Middle Eastern drama.  Why?  Why?  Why?  The ones with the mightier tools will prevail and it ain't us.  Just saying.  Drones are scary and I really don't understand how our POTUS thinks that he's not vulnerable to the same thing that he did.  MAGA and all that.  Meh.

I have realized that I'm figuring out my second career.  I've spent two years doing odd jobs to survive but it's time to settle on something.  If I were a college student I would be majoring in political science.  There's no money in that but at least you understand how governments work.  There is no money in my other passion which is art, yet that is the direction in which I'm being pulled.  I am an excellent photographer but haven't used my skills in years except phone  shots.  My parents used to laugh at me crawling around the bluffs of this farm taking pictures and called me "Dick Flowers."  But you know what?  I have recorded every bit of my history here.

Y'all be kind and safe and wary of doorknobs.  And keep the faith ^j^

cootie magnet

I have been hit again, this time by an upper respiratory infection.  I give.  All I know to do is rest and rest some more.  Eventually it will pass.  I got out this morning long enough to finish up some labels at the art exhibit and my partner/coach just happened to be checking it all out.  He explained a lot of the nuance involved in several pieces.  

The gnomes got into my phone last night and the screen was black.  It's happened before and I was able to get where I needed to go for adjustment of brightness.  Not so this time.  I spent about 45 minutes waiting in line at ATT until somebody else showed up to help with the crowd.  It took him exactly five seconds to fix it.  Of course my first question was "how did you do that?"  Wild guess, he said.  I'm assuming they know the keyboard layouts by heart, even with no screen prompts.  Thanks dude.  You made made my day.

This series of illnesses has been a wakeup call for me.  I think I had run myself down to the point where I was susceptible to every little thing.  I need to work part time, but just don't have it in me to go looking right now.  I figure something will surface on God's time.  It always does.  

If you feel good, celebrate!  If you feel bad, fake it 'til you make it.    Love y'all like chicken.

nature walk

One of the best things you can do for IBS is exercise which is something I've laid off of for a couple of weeks due to you know what.  I'm still weak but decided to take a walk since it's so warm.  I found the hole that I hit the other night that sent me airborne.  That was nothing short of a miracle.  Yes, I do believe.

I am still quite concerned that an impeached president pulled off the hit on a foreign leader.  That is like begging for an attack.  I do not believe our armed forces have a place in the Middle East.  It is not our business, not has it ever been.   Having a whacko POTUS is like pouring gas on a fire.  I guess he thinks he is immune to that kind of thing.  

There are people in this country literally dying for lack of decent healthcare food and housing.  They are considered collateral damage by an administration focused on war games.  Trump has played Big Ike with every world leader, more than once.  When he pulled out of the climate accord in Paris, I knew we were dead meat.

The smartest of all this bunch is Boehner, not that I particularly like his arrogant self.  He saw where the train was headed and got the heck out.  Now he's selling pot and making millions. Wake up people.  Weed is medicine, not the devil's work.  It is plant based medicine, the best kind.  No wonder big Pharm is trying to get all up in the middle of it.  

The "opioid" crisis is not new.  It is the product of many years of over medicating folks until they's hooked.  Once they're hooked and the physician tries to back off, they hit the streets where Lord knows what has been added.  Mental health and recovery service are quite limited just like the rest of healthcare.  

As a retiree with not so great insurance, I tend to shy away from diagnostics unless absolutely necessary.  It's so expensive as to be ridiculous.  Insurance payment rates are set by the Medicare folks who decide the price.  CT?  Average 8000 bucks and I need one.  I am hoping and praying that my current drug regimen will correct  the problem, even if just a while.

Peace and grace to all y'all and your mama'n'them ^j^

chilling

I am still in convalescent mode from the stomach bug.  It couldn't have come at a worse time following a two flare with IBS.  Talk about kicking a girl when she's down!  Anywho, I'm watching it closely and have two healthcare practitioners who know what's up with me in case I have a relapse.  As far as I can tell, Bentyl is a wonder drug.  

Cold and dreary but thankfully not a typical January freeze out....yet.  That's fine with me.  During this recovery period I am enjoying uninterrupted sleep which a blessing.  I do at least one thing a day but I learned long ago that self care trumps keep on keeping on.  I'm being kind to my body.  Sometimes it's good to be selfish.

The outer logs at the cabin got painted and had to be redone because it was white on logs and gray concrete and didn't look too good.  The color of the concrete has been darkened and it looks much better.  Next up is cabinet guy.  

Iran scares me.  If it doesn't scare YOU, you're being a war monger.  That is all ^j^

montezuma's revenge

Well I haven't been to Mexico so I don't what that thing was that knocked me flat for 24 hours but I wouldn't wish it on anybody, even Trump.  I'm still weak from the whole ordeal but finally slept through the night without pain.  Can I get an amen?t

My friend Mary Gwyn came over from Jackson today with her submissions for It's Art this morning.  A couple of more came by with their pieces and I'm pretty sure it's all there except for the quilt.  Some don't have labels or cards but we'll get there.  I can't say enough good things about the support I've received from within the community during my entry into the art world as a virgin.  I've learned a lot with a whole lot left to go.  For somebody as disorganized as me it's been a real challenge.  The staff said there had been a lot of interest already.

I have bought my dogs beds which they occasionally use during the day but at night they're usually all my bed.  It's a queen but Ellis takes up enough room as a person so we wrestle with position a lot.  She loves to sleep against my back.  

I'm still getting Christmas cards and today's was from my married boyfriend Joe in Canada.  Now, don't take that the wrong way kids.  We've been friends a LOOOOng time and he just happens to be happily married.  Poet, cowboy, singer and super dad, I was there when he went through quite the ordeal with his divorce.  She was bat shit crazy.  

Isn't it funny how we call them friends on FB?  These people that I call friends whom I've never met feel like they know more about me than a lot of my personal friends.  If the internet goes out over that killing of Iran dude I'm headed to march on the Capitol steps.

Be safe and keep hand sanitizers close by.  ^j^

happy? new year

You won't get the usual wit and wisdom here today because my butt is kicked.  I was finally beginning to get some relief from the new stomach med when I got hit with a 24 hr bug in the early hours of yesterday.  I'll spare you the details except that I never got out of bed until this morning to go to the doc.  It was a very bad 24 hours and I'm no woosie.  

That being said, I don't have a clue what's going on in the world.  It's like a lost a day, and it was the first of the new year!  I sure hope that's not a bad sign for 2020.  I try so hard not to be a whiny butt.  Needless to say I'm laying low.  It's gloomy and rainy, a perfect nap kind of day.  And a miserable one for those who are out in it.

This too shall pass~