16 September 2024
OK, stick a fork in me, I’m done. I feel terrible today and whether that is due to the Covid and flu shots or if I’m in day 4 of my cycle that I start feeling badly, or both. As to the flu and Covid shots, I guess I could have spread them out over a month and feel badly two days in a row with a month in between or like I did yesterday, and have one day of feeling badly for two days.
On top of that, I either have nystagmus where when I move my eyes left and right, I get flashes of pressure in my ears or some unnamed condition due to coming off Duloxetine (Cymbalta).
Speaking of which, I have two baskets (and a cardboard box) of medicines I’ve been prescribed over the last two years. The cardboard box contains discontinued meds. One basket has lots of refills that I use to fill out the second basket. It’s the second basket that I use to put pills in the weekly pill holders. I seem to have forgotten to include Duloxetine and Jardiance. The Duloxetine is for depression (and boy am I depressed) and the Jardiance is to work on my A1c and to keep me out of hospitals due to heart failure.
I have no idea how many days/weeks I was not taking the two drugs. The pressure in the ears has been an occurrence over the years but it always goes away. It’s more of a distraction at the movement and it’s hard to go to sleep because you have some involuntary eye movement as you doze off.
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Many years ago, the college had a speaker. She was like a super RN and had credentials a mile long. I think she even authored several scientific papers. Of course, to fill the auditorium, we had to provide students with extra credit to attend. Or at least some faculty did. I never went that route.
The nurse was very entertaining and kept the students (and faculty laughing). She even got a little raunchy using terms the students used.
Anyway, one question she asked the students was about poop. She said there were two types (sinkers and floaters). The question was what type should you strive for? The answer was floaters because that meant you were getting plenty of fiber in your diet (ahem, wood floats). I used that insight every year since.
My cousin and I got to talking about that – my fault – I have no boundaries. Just to be sure, I Googled it and sure enough, several medical web sites said the nurse was correct. The only problem is that excessive fat in the diet can also call poop to float. Another factor is a high fiber diet (like mine) leads to gas which in incorporated into the poop. It’s a little strange after all these years to see your poop float in the toilet. It’s done that for about 3 months. I’ve tried Beano and it doesn’t seem to work – that or the pills are a hundred years old and have lost their potency.
My visit with the cardiologist went well. He still wants me on a beta blocker but I need to get back on the Losartin (25 mg). I’ll be cutting the 50 mg tabs in half. I hate doing that. I asked him about lowering my blood pressure too much and he said that the beta blocker simply helps the heart work less hard. I’ll do it for a while but also keep a close eye on my blood pressure. I don’t want to pass out any more. My back still has not recovered. I see the cardiologist again in December.
Day before yesterday, I cut a grapefruit in half and sectioned both halves. I then put them in a shallow dish (think soup dish) and put Saran Wrap over the top to keep them fresh. It was the most unusual grapefruit I’ve ever seen. There was some growth error. At first, I thought I had cut it lengthwise with the sections but when I looked a little closer, I realized it was just a peculiar grapefruit.
Late last night, someone delivered my paint by the numbers order. I have two: the Grand Canyon and Arches National Park. Here’s the Grand Canyon “canvas.” The size is 14.5 x 18.5 inches.
The paints are water colors. Each comes with a set of brushes.
When Jimmie and I were kids, Ruby introduced us to paint by the numbers, only ours were oils. You can image we got oils all over us and the painting. We also had long discussions about who was going across the line while painting. A common theme with us – badminton boundaries. We never let them dry properly before moving on to the next number so we got some interesting color combinations on the canvas.
I have no idea if I will complete these two projects, nor know what to do with them. I figure they will be a good way to spend some time with hand/eye coordination – at something I’ve never been very good.
OK, too long of a post. Stay tuned!
