Friday, July 30, 2010

It Lives!

Queue the thunder and lightning and old organ music with lots of swirling heavy chords…

Feeling quite a bit better today. My head is up and I’m starting to focus on all the things I was missing: like the poor neglected garden and the messy house. The hard part is not to overdo right away and put myself back in veg-mode. The Kick-Ass Cough Syrup™ has ensured a better night’s sleep for both me and T-Man. And the Itchy-Peelies are less uncomfortable now that the tops of my feet and my lower legs are pretty much clear. However there’s still an awful lot of me that still looks like an old porch chair left in the sun too long. And there are yet more new psoriasis patches showing up on the back of my hands and up my inner arms past my elbows. It ain’t over yet. (Why, oh why?)

The biggest annoyance by far are my hands. See why I can’t knit or spin or do much of anything?

Hand

The other one looks pretty much just like it. Just thought I’d show you that I’m not being a big baby and whining for no reason! Oh all right, I am a big baby! It is justifiable though, don’t you agree? Sorry for grossing you all out. I’ll behave myself now. Maybe.

The good news is my doc checked me all out and says that everything else is hunky-dory and my blood pressure is excellent. Not bad for an old broad, huh? Speaking of which, what exactly is a “senior” these days? I’ve seen 50, 55, 60 and the government’s criteria of 65. Excuse me but 50 is downright youthful these days and even 55 is pretty young. Maybe it’s my perspective from nearly-60 or the fact that so many of my older-than-me friends are not your stereotypical “old people”. And we’re just generally living longer, like T’s remaining auntie who is nearly 30 years beyond that 65 line. Needless to say, our lives are like a piece of string – they are just as long as they are. And most of us wish for more.

As always, I suppose things could be worse. Hey, I’ve even lost about 6 lbs. Yay! I don’t have any signs of the more common aging problems (touch wood!) like diabetes or heart disease. (One of T’s cousins-by-marriage just lost a leg to diabetes, poor guy.) All you can do is the best you can, right? At any rate, if you’re only as old as you feel then some days I’m as old as my grandson and some days I’m as old as Auntie. Mostly I feel about the same as I did 15 years ago. Better in some ways. The mirror tells a different story though! But it tells lies, doesn’t it?

OK, enough navel-gazing. Next post something that is not about me and my flakey anatomy! Promise.

6 comments:

Rosalie said...

Hi Louisa:
I'm spending plenty of time these days surfing the net as I too am "laid up" for the time being. My hassles are with arthritis and a recent hip replacement. I just wanted you to know that there's someone "out there" who is struggling with similar health issues that limit the spinnning, weaving, dyeing, and other activities that have been taken for granted in the past. I'm an impatient patient and fear that I may have tried to rush the healing process. Doc appt this week will tell me. Carry on as best you can, girl. Can you get out among the birds and flowers? Rosalie

Louisa said...

Sorry to hear you are having serious health problems too, Rosalie. Sometimes life just isn't fair, is it? Pooh. We will both hang in there and get better! And we'll think good thoughts for each other, right?

Big Hugs!

Jennlala said...

I was surfing the net for Kumiloom patterns and I ran across your blog and a neat pattern that I am going to try. I am sorry to hear of your illness, but am happy you are starting to recover. ;o) I am also so happy to find a blog by someone my age!!! Someone I can definitely relate too. I will be 60 in 6 weeks and now don't feel so alone out here. LOL, And I mean alone! We decided to buy some land and move out "in the woods" literally, and build a little super energy efficient house. But we are really isolated! So I am happy to find another "59" old out there in the world!! Thanks!

Louisa said...

Welcome, Jennlala! I'm glad you've found me. I post about stuff that I'm interested in and that can be anything from a movie review to an obscure textile technique. Though there's been an unfortunate lack of kumihimo lately. Sorry about that. You never know what will take my fancy next!

You are very brave to go live in a little house in the woods! Though I love nature, I would find it rather lonely and somewhat scary to be so far from resources and other people. I'm somewhat of a hermit myself but in the middle of a good-sized city, not the middle of nowhere. I can walk to most anything I need and my family and friends are fairly close by.

Louisa said...

Forgot to also mention that you have a naked blog! No posts. You should post about your home so we can see and share what you're doing. GO for it, girl.

Jennlala said...

LOL, I was going to blog all about our experience but that is as far as I got. I did take lots of pictures though. We bought 4 acres of trees along a little river and proceeded to clear out just enough room for the house and a little that was required for septic drain field etc. Then we bought a used camper and proceeded to live in it for 20 months until we could take occupancy of the house, which is still only half done inside. The first 4 months, which happened to be winter, we were without water. And the first 9 months we were without electricity. We have a little generator that we used to charge the camper batteries and computer batteries (of course) and to keep the furnace going. Ha, and that was when gas was 4.00 a gallon. I ended up crocheting or weaving over 100 dishcloths during that time. Something small to keep my hands busy. But now the excitement is over and I do miss seeing people. We are on a dead end lane so there is not even any traffic passing by occasionally. My husband just loves it and can go a month without even going to town! Not me ;o). Luckily our oldest daughter and her family live about 35 miles away so I go to town to shop and usually spend at least one night a week at her house. I am kind of a loner too so it does not take too much interaction with people to make me happy. But after 3-4 days I am ready to venture back into civilization. (Last winter we were snowed in for over 3 weeks and part of that time without electricity!) I just found out there is a fiber guild in town and am very excited! The next meeting in in about 10 days and I am going to attend. I have been humilooming a bit and am making cords to use in jewelry making. I also found out about locker hooking last week and have ordered a hook and canvas and am anxious to start something. I would love to find a reasonably priced source for wool roving to locker hook a rug! Just as you, I am always finding a new "fancy" to interest me.............Well, now I am going to try and cut my husbands hair... Second timeis bound to be better, I think he looks cute with a Buzz-cut! (he doesn't though;o)