13 January 2024
I got to thinking yesterday about my cousin Charles. He probably doesn’t remember the times he’s helped me out over the years. One year I was home on leave from the Coast Guard in New Orleans and my Dad was in the hospital. I stayed with Mom and for some reason, I needed to move my Chevy Vega in the yard for some delivery. Wherever I moved it, I got it stuck. It was in the winter and Mississippi had one of those week long rainfalls so the ground was very soft. Normally I’m quite capable of getting a vehicle unstuck but this thing was really buried in the mud.
Time was running out and I needed to leave soon for my drive back to New Orleans or I would be AWOL. I called Charles and he came right away with his tractor and pulled me out. I made it back to base in time not to be AWOL. That’s Charles for you. He drops everything to help you out.
Another time I was teaching at Itawamba Junior College and my truck’s speedometer went out. If I went home to see my parents, I would take the shortest route which was the Natchez Trace (Fulton to Carthage) and then get off and head straight south to Morton and Pulaski. The speed limit on the trace was 45 mph for part of the way and then 50 mph. It was constantly patrolled by the National Park Service rangers. A lot of people don’t think of it but if you get a speeding ticket on National Park Service land, it’s a federal crime. It’s quite an expensive proposition.
The only way to tell your speed was to count the time between mile markers and then do the math. Then you tried to maintain that speed. It’s a long, boring drive and your mind wanders and so does your speed.
At the time, Charles was working for the Chevrolet place in Forest. On a trip home (and after much math) I took the truck in to him and he got the speedometer replaced by the time it was time for me to head back to Fulton. I don’t think I got charged anything but for the part.
As I mentioned before, I was closer in age to his sister Jean (Sybil Jean back then). One thing I remember was Jean and I riding Granddaddy Searcy’s plow horse. Our Grandfather had moved across the road from Aunt Sue and Uncle Jack’s house and he often planted a hill next to his house in watermelons and corn – yum! Granddaddy would sometimes hitch up his plow horse (I wish I remembered the horse’s name) and Jean and I would ride through the woods next to his house.
One day we were coming back down the hill to Granddaddy’s house when Jean was impatient with the horse’s pace. I was riding behind her. She kicked her legs to prod the horse forward which unfortunately hit my legs which caused my legs and feet to hit the horse’s flanks. The horse reared and threw us both off and headed to the barn. The only thing hurt was our dignity.
Aunt Sue was something else. If you visited, you ate. I remember in Boy Scouts taking my patrol on a hike to Pulaski and stopping in to say hello to Aunt Sue (Uncle Jack was working at the Co-op in Forest). She immediately insisted on feeding the eight of us even though we had brought our lunches on the hike. I think everyone in the patrol was stunned someone would drop everything and feed seven strangers but that was the way she was.
A lot of what I know about cooking comes from Aunt Sue. I even learned how to churn butter (not very well). By the way, I never did learn to churn butter to suit her. She finally gave up having me try.
I know a lot of families have a lot of first cousins but Charles, Jean and Gina are my only first cousins.
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Yesterday was my MRI. I wasn’t anticipating getting any results so soon but last night around 8:30 pm the results were posted to MyChart.
On May 2, 2017, I had an MRI at the Urgent Care Center Rio Vista near my home. Yesterday’s MRI reported a worsening of my condition from 2017. The physician reported “multilevel degenerative changes that were worst at L5-S1” more than the previous L4-5 in 2017.
Just as a review (it’s the teacher in me) here’s the human vertebral column with the vertebrae named. “C” stands for Cervical Vertebra (closest to the brain), “Th” stands for Thoracic, “L” stands for Lumbar and unlike the diagram below, “S” stands for Sacral.
Previously, in 2017 I was having problems with the lumbar vertebrae 4 and 5 (low back pain). That has apparently spread to the 1st sacral vertebra as well as L2-3, L3-4 and L5-S1. My overall condition has deteriorated – in other words, I’m getting old.
Here’s the rest of the bad news. Between the L2-3 I have stenosis, in essence, narrowing of the spinal canal and pinching of the spinal cord or nerves coming off the cord. This stenosis between L2-3 seems worse on the left side of my body. That my explain my sciatica on the left side.
There is mild stenosis at L3-4. There is mild stenosis on the right of L4-5 but severe on the left side. At L5-S1, there is moderate to severe stenosis on the right and severe stenosis on the left. This might explain the pain and numbness of my right leg.
In addition to everything, there is arthritis all along the lumbar/sacral area.
The question becomes what does my GP recommend? It can either be regular physical therapy at Holy Cross Physical Therapy Outpatient or pain management with Dr. Wu at Holy Cross.
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I injected myself for the first time with insulin around 12:15 pm today. I meant to do it this morning but I forgot that you had to let the insulin pen come to room temperature one hour before injecting. After I got around to it, it went quickly and easily. There was no “sting” at the injection site. I’ll have to do this every day.
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Today was good but not as good as yesterday. I did do a walk yesterday (0.9 miles) and this morning (1.2 miles). Just as I got back to the front door this morning, my Apple Watch sent me a notice that my cardio fitness level was low.
During the walk, I did notice that not only were my fingers and hands tingling but my wrist had started doing the same. I wonder if that was due to low oxygen levels. Either that or I’m going into heart failure. I wasn’t dizzy nor winded – just very tired. My foot drop was more noticeable today. I did manage to clean some in the house and wash, dry and fold clothes. Oh yeah, I changed the bed linen.
Today is day 18 of my jeep hostage crises. I called again today and again was shuttled off to voice mail. On Monday, I plan to call the national office of jeep.
Stay tuned!
