A Life Like This

This morning while I was showering with my unscented shampoo and unscented conditioner, using my fragrance-free soap and then drying off with my towel cleaned in sensitive skin and fragrance-free laundry detergent, and then dried with fragrance-free Bounce, I thought about how difficult it is to be someone who is sensitive to, well, pretty much everything.

I wondered how I might show that to a world where the smells of lavender or roses or lilies make people smile, not haul out an inhaler.

That first paragraph is a good start. But let me add that much of the items I do use - from my unscented deodorant to my unscented body lotion - are expensive.

Unscented shampoos and conditioners cost about $13 a bottle for each. Fortunately, they last a long while and I am not overly generous in my use of them, but still, it's not cheap.

I also cannot stand the smell of cigarettes or cigars, perfumes of any type, makeup, hairspray, other people's deodorant, other people if they've been around their pets, and on and on.

Hay season is sneeze season. I love flowers but can't have them in the house. Even plants that don't flower end up bothering me because the smell of the damp earth can set off an asthma attack (it's actually some kind of mold in the dirt).

It's hard to live in the world when many of the things in the world are out to take your breath away.

When my husband and I first started dating, he used Old Spice. My father also used Old Spice at the time, so I recognized the scent. My sensitivities were not as bad then as they are now; they've grown worse as I've aged. But I found, to my dismay, that when my new boyfriend kissed me, my face broke out.

I didn't kiss on my father, of course, aside from a peck on the cheek. My boyfriend liked to kiss, and we kissed for long periods of time. (Sometimes I thought we were going for a record.)

After about two weeks, I told him if he wanted to keep dating me, he would have to rid himself of his Old Spice aftershave. I explained that it was irritating my skin and occasionally I was having difficulty breathing when I smelled it. The more I was around him, the worse it got. (Long exposure to things will make the sensitivity worse.)

The next time we went out, he smelled . . . of nothing. He had ditched his aftershave and his deodorant and chosen to go with all unscented.

I knew then we'd marry for sure. How could I turn away a guy who'd give up his cologne for me?

In my house, there are no scents, except natural ones. Just the scents of the two people who live here, our sweat, sometimes, and the odors that new products give out occasionally. The towels don't smell fresh, they are just towels with no smell. (Gain is the worst for smells on clothes.) Clothes don't smell like anything, either.

Every new piece of clothing that comes in the house must be washed before it can be worn. Each of us has to shower if we've been outside or out in public, because the odors of the world stick to our hair and to our clothes. If I go to bed without a shower and I've been out in public, then I wake up sick the next morning.

Living on a farm means many different kinds of odors. My husband, bless him, takes his clothes off in the garage and comes in for lunch in his underwear when he's been out in the field. Either that or I make him lunch and he eats outside.

I am almost a prisoner to my sensitivities; they keep me so housebound. I don't go to many places anymore simply because they will make me sick.

Here's another example: I once went to the University of Virginia library to do research, and I had so much trouble breathing that I couldn't stay. I can't crawl through old records - something I dearly love doing - because of the molds and dust on them. I had to stop going through the records in the county courthouse for the same reason.

I also stopped spending much time in the library because it had grown musty and smelled. They recently remodeled it and aside from the new carpet smell, it is much better. Once the new carpet smell has dissipated, I may be able to spend time there again.

This disability - I'm not sure that's the right word - has really impeded my life, especially as it has grown worse as I've aged. Many things I enjoyed doing I no longer do. I prefer to be well to being sick - I have spent enough time being sick - and avoidance seems to be the best answer anyone has for me. 

If you have a person with sensitivities in your life, I hope you can find some compassion for them. They aren't simply picky or being difficult. Life is hard for someone like me.

Even though we may love the flowers, we cannot stop to smell them.

I Still Mask

Monday, I went out to the grocery store and the drug store.

I was the only person I saw wearing a mask.

Right now respiratory diseases are high. Here is the Virginia data:

As you can see, it's high all over the state.

And here is the CDC data, which I assume is suspect given the current administration, but regardless, it doesn't paint a rosy picture either:

See that bottom line there from my screen shot? "Seasonal influenza activity remains elevated and is higher than it has been all season."

Many people did not get the flu shot this year. According to this article in Time magazine, only 44% of adults and children received the flu shot. The goal is for 70% to receive the shot in order to ensure "herd immunity" from the virus.

I received my flu shot. I am smart enough to know that doesn't mean I won't get the flu. Viruses mutate.

I don't care what people think of me if they see me in a mask. To hell with them. In fact, when people get near me, I start coughing to make sure they move on. I was sick for nearly six weeks. I don't need anything else, although I woke this morning feeling like the illness I had is back for a second run at me. I am hoping it's just the weather.

Most people have never seen me have an asthma attack. My husband has. They are scary. If I had one in the middle of the grocery store, someone would end up calling for an ambulance. I don't need that, and I don't need more asthma attacks simply because somebody doesn't want to see me masking up. It's my face and I took the extra step of having my doctor write me a note saying I should wear a mask when I am public because of my asthma. I carry it with me everywhere I go.

A mask may not keep me completely well, but it hurts nothing to wear it and if that little extra bit of precaution makes me feel proactive, then so what.

I'm taking care of myself as best I can. And that is my business, nobody else's.

A Day of Whine and Noses

Ah, so much going in the world. Fires in California. Bombings in Gaza, Ukraine, Russia, who knows where else. People hurting all over. Cold, snow, bad weather everywhere. Flood victims still living in tents just a few hours drive from me. Greedy people being even more greedy.

And in a week, the apocalypse. Crikey. How much worse can it get?

Me? I sit here stewing because my cold/virus/whatever will not let up. I felt better Friday, worse yesterday, and even worse today.

I have personally used up two boxes of 48 Puffs Plus Lotion tissues since Friday, plus a box of Kleenex. I filled a trash bag with them.

My nose is glowing red despite the tissues and the lotion I'm putting on my nose to keep it from turning into a big honking blinker that could be seen from the International Space Station.

Mostly I've started to worry about a little bit of chest pain I'm having, because it came from nowhere, and I am on an antibiotic. I shouldn't be having chest pain. I think it's because I ate some dark chocolate, so it's really reflux and not my lungs, but I did have an asthma attack last night. Maybe I'm just sore from that. I wouldn't be going into bronchitis or anything since I'm on an antibiotic, right? (Don't tell my husband, he doesn't know about this. Yes, yes, if it gets worse, I'll tell him.) (Update: this has eased, it was likely reflux.)

Nor should I complain, because I've had this cold just a week. My husband's still sniffling, and he's had his cold since December 27, which is what? Sixteen days? Over two weeks. But he is out and about, and I'm still stuck at home.

The car can't get back up the driveway anyway because of the ice that fell a few days ago. I'm stuck at home, blowing my nose, and craving a chocolate chip cookie.

A chocolate chip cookie would make it all alright, wouldn't it? An ooey gooey warm chocolate chip cookie? Wouldn't that fix all the problems? Probably not. It's almost time for dinner, anyway.

I have not walked on the treadmill for two days, though I did walk on Friday when I was feeling better. Maybe that was my mistake. I am not very good at the "lay around and rest" part of having an illness. I wanted to walk yesterday but my husband said I shouldn't, and today I know I shouldn't.

Being sick sucks. I've had to cancel loads of plans and appointments. I need to be working on some things and I can't do anything but blow my nose.

Yes, I am whining. I don't do it very often. Thanks for putting up with it.

Sick Again

I wrote on December 29 that we were both sick.

I got better. My husband stayed sick.

Now he is getting better, a little, and I am sick. Again.

I had a teleconference with my doctor, and she put me on a different antibiotic because of another ear infection. I must have a left ear that doesn't drain properly.

At any rate, we are making out as well as we can with both of us feeling poorly. Fortunately, we haven't both been at our worst at the same time.

Unfortunately, my driveway is a sheet of ice and the pickup truck is the only vehicle that can get in and out at the moment, which means that if he takes a turn for the worse, there isn't much I can do as far as fetching medicine or groceries.

He did a grocery parking lot pickup yesterday to ensure we had some food here. Since we are expecting more snow, this may have been a crucial stop. And he was out again today picking up my antibiotic.

This is a nasty something, whatever it is. We have tested negative for Covid, so I guess it's just a bad virus, along with my ear infection.

That Stinks!

Now we both are sick.

I was on an antibiotic before Christmas, having developed a raging ear infection that required an intervention. By the big day, I was feeling better, but I also knew it wasn't gone. It still wasn't gone Friday when I finished up the antibiotic. I wrote my doctor, and she said to try a nasal steroid, which I have. I only have sharp pains in my ear every now and then and a bit of fatigue and fog brain.

My husband woke in the night Saturday night with congestion. Covid test - negative. A head cold, we think, possibly from the great niece or nephew who climbed all over him like he was a set of monkey bars when we saw them over the holidays, or from running all over Lowes and Home Depot trying to find something to fix an issue we are having in the bathroom.

We have a smelly drain in the shower.

He cannot smell it. It has been smelling for some time, and I kept waiting on him to say something. He never did, and when it reached the point where I thought I might throw up in the shower, I asked him what he was waiting for to fix that problem - and he told me he didn't smell a thing. I don't know how he could not, but whatever.

Anyway, he pulled off the shower drain cover, and there was lots of muck about it, and he cleaned that off, and then we doused the drain line with vinegar and baking soda, then a little bleach.

That did not take care of the problem.

So, we went off to one of the hardware stores on the day after Christmas. I wore a mask. He did not. We found a new drain cover and he picked up a scrub brush and some other things he thought would help, including Drano.

Then he sat to work scrubbing and cleaning the drain. He went back to the hardware store again for some bio enzyme sticks to put in there, too. He told me he stopped and talked to several people he knew, and he didn't mask up, either. He could have picked up some virus anywhere.

The smell is much improved but not gone. Yesterday, he dumped more vinegar and baking soda down the drain, and then he ran a water line through the clean-out line to the septic tank, which indicated nothing was stopped up there. He also poured water down the drain of the bathroom with a tub we do not use (we use it for storage) in case that was adding to the issue.

And there's still a smell that he cannot smell. It is better, but it is still there (fortunately not as sickening, but an indication of a problem). Now he is sick and I honestly don't know what else to try. We're on a septic tank and you can only pour so much bleach down the drain before you mess up the bacteria in the septic tank.

We are now putting baking soda in the drain before and after every shower. The hotter the shower, the more it stinks, so I am taking lukewarm showers. That is definitely a wake-up call in the morning.

We will return to trying to address this issue again when he feels more like dealing with it. In the meantime, I will be learning to hold my breath while under water.

Oh Vertigo!

On Saturday, I woke up with vertigo. It eased up after I sat up. I have had worse.

I had been having pain in my left ear and assumed an ear infection. Since it was the weekend, I couldn't call my doctor, so I tried some home remedies. It seemed to be better Monday and then Tuesday it wasn't. The vertigo was back when I woke up. Fortunately, it eased.

Wednesday, I called for an appointment with my wonderful primary care physician. I was told if I could be there in 30 minutes, the doctor could see me. I had just showered and was in the process of dressing when I made the call, so I threw on the rest of my clothes and drove as quickly as I dared to get to the office. I made it with a little time to spare.

The doctor confirmed an ear infection in my left ear. Otis media, I think they call it.

She prescribed an antibiotic and sent me off with a Merry Christmas hug.

The antibiotic is not one I have taken often and not a favorite. It makes me grouchy. It is also not kind to my stomach.

Since I am sick, I did not feel like I should do the cooking/baking I had planned to do even though I don't think I am contagious and have no fever. Instead, I coached my husband through it, and he made a couple batches of fudge for me.

He did alright, too.

I think he even enjoyed it.

We are mostly ready for Christmas. I have one more thing to wrap and then I am done. I wish I had come up with better gifts for my husband, but it is hard to buy for people when they simply go get what they want.

I have tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday to ready myself for Christmas Eve, which is usually when my family visits. I think everything will be just fine, including my ear.

 

Oopsy Daisy

Yesterday, I went with my husband to the orthopedic center in the city. He is having trouble with his knee, with fluid on the kneecap that is as big as my fist.

The first thing they wanted were x-rays of both of his knees. We sat in a waiting area with other folks, the only two people with masks on, of course.

After they called my husband back for his x-rays, I scurried over to the restrooms. Upon my return, my seats that had been furthest away from other people were taken, so I sat in a chair in the hallway that was directly in front of the entrance to the x-ray area, where my husband would see me.

I pulled up Lord of the Rings on my cellphone and began reading. I became engrossed in the book and was at the part where Faramir is telling Frodo about Boromir's death when suddenly I heard a little cry. "Oh."

Then something hit my left knee and the side of my leg. I heard a lot of exclamations all around me. I looked down to find a large woman lay in the floor at my feet, with the aid who had been delivering her from x-ray bending over her. I sat, rubbing my knee, while the woman said, "See, this is what happens, it just locks up on me and I hit the floor."

The aid asked the woman if she was ok. The woman said, "Thank goodness I didn't land on my broken arm," and then went on to explain she'd broken her left shoulder once before. She was on her right side in the floor.

I saw the nurse who had been doing the intake for x-rays pick up a phone. "Urgent Code" something she said, then quickly hurried over. She touched me on the shoulder. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"She hit my leg when she fell, I want to stand up in a minute and see how it feels," I said. The woman was still at my feet and now there were people in scrubs everywhere, appearing seemingly from every corner of the building, responding, I supposed, to the Urgent Code call.

About this time my husband came out of x-ray. I saw him and caught his eye. He gaped at the sight before him, which must have looked crazy - me sitting there in a chair, a woman at my feet, at least a dozen other people around us. I waved him on to wherever he needed to go. The look on his face said, "What the hell?" better than any words could have done.

Someone appeared with a wheelchair, and somebody else had a sheet. The staff rolled the woman over until the sheet was under her butt, and then they hoisted her up and into the chair.

Once she was up and being hauled off to wherever they were taking her, I stood and tested out my leg. The x-ray nurse asked me if I was ok. I said I thought I was, but I wanted to make a report of the incident. She came back with a pencil and paper and asked me to write down my name and birthday. I did, along with a sentence about what happened. I didn't think that was much of a report.

"If it's bothering you after your husband has his appointment, we will see you," she said. "Just let us know."

I went to the waiting area where my husband sat and told him what happened. I wasn't in real pain, but I could tell something had hit me. I was limping a little.

That was the end of my excitement. I went back with my husband to see the doctor, where we were told that the fluid on his kneecap could only be left alone to heal itself and that could take up to 9 months. After that, my husband probably needs a knee replacement.

The doctor was getting ready to leave when I asked if we could see his x-rays. Yep, he will need a knee replacement eventually. I could see where it was bone on bone. He says it doesn't hurt. I don't see how it couldn't.

As we left, I stopped at the check-in area and asked again about making an incident report about the woman falling on me, since I didn't really feel like writing my name on a scratch pad was going to cut it if I woke up and found my knee was swelling or something. I was assured it would be entered into my chart.

However, there is nothing in my chart except what I put in there this morning, a little paragraph about what happened in the area where I can make notes in the chart.

Fortunately, I see to be ok. But wasn't that a weird thing?

And shouldn't there have been a better way to report an incident at the facility?

Happiness - Day 21

Today I went back to the dentist, having been there on Monday, so she could do her thing to create a crown for a front tooth.

I initially balked at this, because I didn't think the problem needed that kind of solution. I was having what I considered "high sensitivity" in a front tooth. I just wanted a little cement to make it go away. So, Monday she did what she called a "fluoride varnish," which wasn't cement, and it did absolutely nothing for the sensitivity issue I was having. 

I called late Tuesday and reported that the fluoride treatment had not helped. This morning the office called me back and said dental assistant said they had a cancelation, and I should come in this afternoon.

When I arrived, I made the dental assistant and the dentist show me all of the X-rays and explain to me like I was 5 why I needed a crown. She said all of the enamel was gone from the back of the tooth and it needed a crown to stop the sensitivity. The tooth had two fillings, one on each side, which I did not realize. I thought it just had one filling. She said the tooth could not handle more filling.

That knowledge made a big difference, so I stopped balking and let her go on and do her dentist work.

It took a very long time and at one point there was smoke coming out of my mouth, but the hard part is done and now there's nothing left but the waiting for the ceramic crown. I have a temporary crown in the meantime, and you can't even tell I had anything done. I can tell, but just to look at me you can't tell a thing.

I am happy that I have a dentist I trust and who is patient and good with me.

______________________

Happy August Happiness Challenge!

 

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Closed Eye Hallucinations

Image by Copilot/Bing

This weekend I learned that other people do not continue to see images behind their eyelids when they close their eyes.

I always have. Generally, it's an outline of whatever I was looking at before I shut my eyes, with the white or lighter color showing up and giving me sort of a negative of the object.

No eye doctor or regular doctor, or anyone else for that matter, has ever mentioned this to me. And before this weekend, I'd never mentioned it to anyone else, either. Like my tinnitus in my ears, I thought it was something everyone experienced because I've experienced for as long as I can remember. (Then I began reading about tinnitus and realized it wasn't normal.)

Saturday night I shut my eyes to a particularly vivid negative image of the dresser because my husband had had the overhead light on instead of the bedside lamps, and I asked him how it looked to him.

"When I shut my eyes, all I see is dark," he said.

"All the time?" I asked. "You don't see outlines or white streaks?"

"No."

I rolled over and asked Alexa what it was called if you saw things behind your eyelids when your eyes were closed.

She came back with "closed eye hallucinations."

Also called "CEVs," this is apparently not something everyone experiences. It is not a dream, either. Unlike dreams, CEVs occur when individuals are fully awake and conscious. These hallucinations, therefore, can range from simple geometric shapes to complex, lifelike scenarios. (Fortunately, I don't have the lifelike scenarios, although I do daydream quite a lot. But not with my eyes shut.)

Common triggers include using psychedelic drugs (which I do not use, although I am on a lot of medication for blood pressure and chronic pain) or sleep deprivation and fatigue. I don't know what the trigger for me would be, since it happens all the time. 

I suppose it could be something else. I found these possibilities:

• Image Burn-In (Afterimage): Not to be confused with CEVs, image burn-in occurs due to bright light and fades away as the retina heals. (Maybe I looked at the sun when I was a kid and my retina never healed? But wouldn't an eye doctor have noticed?)
• Entoptic Phenomena: CEVs exclude phenomena like floaters, wiper ridges, and vitreous movement, highlighting the distinction between controlled hallucinations and involuntary visual experiences. (I have floaters. What I see when I close my eyes is not a floater. It's an image.)
• Blue-Sky Sprites: CEVs are unrelated to bluefield entoptia, which involves leukocytes migrating through retinal blood vessels. (Perhaps this is a reference to that white line I see in the sky when I look up with my eyes open?)
• Physical Retinal Stimulation: CEVs are independent of visual noise caused by physical retinal stimulation, such as pressure phosphenes, which result from mechanical stimuli. (I think that refers to the weird things you see if you push on your eyeballs.)

I am not sure what this is, honestly, except that apparently not everyone has it and I'm 60 years old and just figuring that out. I place it up there with my photographic memory, which was something else I thought everyone had only to learn they didn't, and auditory hallucinations I sometimes have. (I hear people calling to me, like when I'm in the car and there is no way anyone is actually calling to me. It's weird. It doesn't happen often. Usually, I am highly stressed when it does happen.)

I have something screwy in my brain, I guess. Maybe I should leave my brain to science. As busy as it is up there, there must be something interesting going on.

At any rate, next time I see my eye doctor, I will mention it to him and see what he says, now that I know it's not normal.

My Voice Is Back

At some point around the first of this week, the last of the rasp that I'd been living with as an excuse for a larynx for well over a month went away.

Poof. Like magic.

Except it was a long time going, and my voice became a little stronger every day as the cold or virus or whatever it was finally began to clear my system.

The first thing I did when my voice was back was pick up my guitar and sing a song. Songs are good.

***

The issue at the bank over my name magically went away after my husband dropped off copies of our Real ID and complained to someone there. We signed the papers we needed to sign and took care of business and everything's lovely. But still. WTH was that all about?

***

Like most of the nation's population who live in a house, our house rose in value. There's been a housing shortage for a good while now, since about 2018, I suppose. The county did it's every four-year reassessment and the average increase in real estate value was about 40%. Some properties went way up, like over 100%. They were probably undervalued to begin with.

To see the whining on the Facebook, and then to hear the whining at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, you would think that these people had all been lined up against a wall to be shot. In the first place, the county supervisors have net set the tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year. Until they do that, and I guarantee it will not be the same rate as it now, there is no way to know what anyone will be paying in taxes. Do I expect mine to be more? Yes. Am I complaining about it? No. It makes my bottom line look better.

So many people seem to think they should not pay taxes at all. They think they are some gift to humanity and the ground upon which they trod is sacred and blessed, or some such BS. I think it is a privilege to be alive, and paying taxes is what I do for that honor. Do I like everything my taxes support? No. Do I agree with everything the government does? No. But these people are mean. 

They demean the supervisors when they speak to them. They are ill-mannered, noisy, confrontational, and bullish. I never saw much of this kind of demeanor at meetings until after 2016. And then it grew progressively worse and after the George Floyd riots, it really hit its stride. Some of the people talk to the supervisors like they are not even human. 

I wouldn't talk to a dog the way some of these people talk to the supervisors. What is wrong with them? Who taught these people manners? And these aren't all folks I grew up with - no. The vast majority moved in here in the 1990s and think that gives them some right to overstep societal boundaries. My family was here during the American Revolution. They haven't a thing on me. But you don't see me acting like some know-it-all buffoon at a Board meeting.

The Games They Play

I had words with my pharmacist today. I had called in my prescriptions on Sunday, all of them due for refill within 7 days.

I noted on the pharmacy dashboard that one of them was not listed as being filled. It is a Schedule II drug (or maybe Schedule IV, I don't know and don't really care).

I've had trouble with this drug in the past. Sometimes I call it in and can pick it up 3-4 days before it's due to run out, other times the drugstore holds it until the day I'm supposed to run out. I wanted to know what the "rule" was. Or what the problem was.

A male-sounding person answered the phone.

I gave him my name and date of birth. "I'm calling about [particular drug]. I asked for a refill and it's not on my dashboard as being refilled."

He told me the drug could only be filled the day before it runs out by federal law. 

"This is most inconvenient," I told him, "I'd like to pick up all of my prescriptions at once. And must I call this prescription back in? You used to hold it until it was time to pick it up."

"You'll have to call it in the day before it's due. I'm not violating federal law," he boomed into the phone. 

"I'm not asking you to," I replied. "You can hold all of my other drugs there until I can pick them all up at once."

And then I hung up on him because I wasn't going to argue. In the first place, I really don't think this is the law, as I've picked up this drug several days before; I think it varies by pharmacist. In the second place, I still have a bit of laryngitis and he obviously wasn't listening to my question, which simply was this: when am I supposed to call my drugs in so I can get them all picked up at the same time?

Funny thing was, as soon as I hung up the phone, within a minute I had a call from the store telling me I had prescriptions that could be refilled. The phone bot just doesn't say which ones. Or if they are my husband's drugs.

I didn't press one to have whatever it was refilled. I hung up the phone and dearly wished I had the old style where you could slam down the receiver with great satisfaction. Clicking "off" just doesn't do it.

Kroger Pharmacy has the stupidest phone system I have ever had to deal with, and I understand pharmacists around here, anyway, are understaffed and probably underpaid. But that's no reason to get huffy because I asked a question. I pay them plenty for my medication and I've been getting my drugs there for 20 years. 

Why does everyone have to be a jerk anymore?

Oh, Pooh!

In December, I had my annual check-in with my gastroenterologist. A year ago, she had asked me about a colonoscopy, and since I was only 59 and had another year to go, I said we'd talk about it at this particular meeting.

She didn't even give me the option. She straight out said she thought I was a good candidate for Cologuard and we'd try that. I was surprised because I don't think I am a good candidate for it, based on what I've read. I have IBS and digestive issues galore.

But she said since I have developed a heart murmur, she thought this would be better and less stressful. Who was I to argue? 

Friends say that getting a colonoscopy checkup around here is difficult, taking up to a year to schedule. (Things are backed up. Ha.) I have never liked colonoscopies (I have had two.). It's an invasive "checkup." Too much could go wrong, between an anesthetic and the possibility of a bowel perforation. I prefer my wellness care to be much less invasive.

The Cologuard arrived via UPS last week. I had that upper respiratory infection going on, and the doctor put me on an antibiotic, so I wavered about doing the Cologuard test, but went ahead and took care of business. I didn't want to wait in case the antibiotic upsets my stomach. They do that sometimes.

Cologuard is basically a stool sample that is reviewed for cancer sheds and/or blood. The test claims to be 87% correct. Are those good odds? They would be in a life-or-death situation, but a positive result on this means loads of worry and a colonoscopy anyway. So, I shall have to hope for the negative in this situation.

I understand that in the UK this is the way they do colon checks all the time. They do the stool test first and go for the more expensive and better-paying (for the doctor and facility) invasive test only if warranted. Of course, here in the land of the dollar bill, the doctors are going to make something expensive routine (every 10 years, 5 if they find polyps).

Cologuard advertises heavily here, so I assume there is good money it in now. There is another test available called FIT, which I had never heard of until I searched to see if there were other tests. But if this is a brand, I can't find a website for it. Maybe it's not a brand but a description of the test. I'm not sure.

At any rate, the arrival of the test lead to a plethora of bad jokes and lots of discussion about how the mailroom at the science office smells. I surely would not want to be the UPS driver of the truck that carries these tests into the facility every day. You just know that not everybody screws the lids tightly on the test kits. Phewee.

Meanwhile, my upper respiratory issues are better, though I still sound a bit raspy, and I tire easily. I am trying to make today be like a normal day and not a sick day. I have had enough of those, so I am pretending I am not sick and trying to go about my routine as normal. I'm on the mend though I can see this may be a few more days before I can pronounce myself well.

When I get the results, I'll write about how that goes. It may be a few weeks. I am also anxious about the expense. No one has mentioned how much this costs.

*I am not getting paid to write about this. I am just talking about something I experienced recently.*

Where'd This Come From?

I have not been out of my house since January 10, yet somehow, I have ended up with a sore throat. It appears to be some kind of mild virus. I tested negative for Covid, but I don't know if the tests pick up the new versions of Covid.

My friends report other folks are having sore throats and I know strep is going around, but this does not appear to be strep. It's just a sore throat with a little sinus activity and some fatigue. I sound terrible, too, as I have a bit of laryngitis, but I generally get that with a cold.

I suspect my husband brought this home to me even though he hasn't been ill. Otherwise it hopped on me from the groceries he picked up.

The reasons I have been home have more to do with the weather than anything. We had ice, then snow, and I didn't go out because my car is not all-wheel drive. It's front wheel drive and our driveway turns icy in bad weather. I can get out, but getting back home is not always a foregone conclusion. The weather turned extremely cold, so the ice on the driveway didn't go away for a long time.

During this time, I finished up most of the tax records - I still have a little to do, but I haven't been in a hurry to finish them because I still need things from the banks and my husband's retirement information. Then I developed this sore throat and I've been trying to take care of that. This is the first bout of illness I've had in quite some time - since the beginning of the pandemic, really. I had other health concerns (another ulcer, for one thing), but my sinus and sore throat issues mostly vanished. I'm not surprised something finally caught up with me, but it would have been nice to have kept up my healthy streak.

I do not feel so bad that I have gone back to bed, but I have had trouble applying myself to things. But then, I think I have that problem regardless of the state of my health. Chronic procrastination seems to be one of my issues.

I don't think they have drugs for that.

 

A Really Rotten Day

Yesterday, which was Tuesday, I saw my chiropractor to see if she could help me with my painful jaw. (See Monday's post here.)

I did feel better after seeing her. She put my mid-back back in place, and worked on my lower back where my hips and pelvis were out. I wouldn't let her touch my face because she can be a bit rough and I wasn't up to the pain. However, her ministrations helped, and I was hopeful.

This morning, I was in a lot of pain when I woke up. It wasn't radiating down my back like the day before, but it was instead mostly all focused on my face.

When I swallowed, I noticed pain. If I chewed, at all, there was pain. I immediately put heat on my neck and shoulders as the chiropractor had instructed.

The pain continued.

I showered. Sometimes, a hot shower helps, but not this time. I was still in pain. I finally called my husband. "You're going to have to take me to the ER or somewhere, I can't tolerate this," I told him. I was in tears, the pain was so strong. This was about 9:15 a.m.

He came home and I suggested he call the dentist office. I'd tried to get her to see me Monday but she'd suggested I go to the ER and I didn't want to do that. For unknown yet very frustrating reasons, I always get better healthcare when my husband steps in. So, he called, and this time the dentist came on the phone to talk to him, and then I talked to her. She said she would call around and see if an oral surgeon could see me, so someone would call me back.

Apparently, the oral surgeons weren't available (there aren't that many in the area anyway), so the dental office called back and said the dentist would see me at 11 a.m.

My husband insisted on taking me. "I have to take care of my sweetie pie," he said. He is so sweet.

I knew, though, that he had many other things he'd wanted to do today as he'd told me a long list of chores the night before. I felt bad about taking up his time.

My dentist is a very nice and kind woman, and I have nothing but praise and respect for her. She took an X-ray which showed that my jaw wasn't dislocated, which was a relief to me because I was afraid that was what had happened. That means, though, that my pain is a soft-tissue issue of some sort.

She could see that I had facial swelling, and that worried her. She was afraid that it would swell down into my throat or even up into my brain. She insisted I go to the emergency room.

We left her office at 11:30, and after a quick stop in Food Lion to grab my husband a sandwich and me a six pack of Boost (which is about all I've had to eat for several days, TMJ is a great weight loss program), by noon we were at a satellite ER, Lewis Gale Bonsack. (If I'm going to report this, I may as well report where I went.) We had heard good things about this place, so I was expecting a good experience.

I guess those folks went somewhere else.

The parking lot looked relatively empty. I thought that was a good sign.

We clocked in at the self-check-in kiosk (a new experience for me) and waited in the outer waiting area for about 15 minutes. There was 1 person ahead of me and another came in afterwards. Of course, it was lunch time and that is never a good time to attempt something like this, but it was what it was.

The nurse called my name, and we went back and she took initial information about what was wrong. I told her exactly what my dentist had said and her concerns, and also noted that X-rays indicated no rotten teeth causing the swelling. Even when it hurts, I try to brush my teeth, though I may not do such a great job at it when the pain is this bad. In spite of many cavities from those teenage years of braces, my teeth (knock wood) are in fairly good shape.

After that, the nurse took us to two chairs in a hallway. There were rooms everywhere, but I guess they had people in them? Or maybe the facility just didn't want to pay the light bill? I don't know, but we sat in the hallway for well over an hour before a doctor came by.

While we waited on him, a young woman came in without a mask (everyone else was masked), and said she had a sore throat. She was placed in the hallway, too, about 20 feet away from us. This made me very nervous.

Finally, the doctor, an aging gentleman who did not look like a happy camper, glanced at me, asked me to remove my mask there in the hallway, and then said he didn't see any swelling. He looked down my throat and said everything looked fine to him. He acted like he didn't believe I was in pain. (I suspect he thought I was after pain pills, although I never asked for them, nor did I want any.) He suggested a CT scan. I said I could not do the one with the dye. I didn't realize there are two kinds of dye, the kind you drink and the kind you insert through a vein, but apparently however you go, you have to have the dye.

I haven't had a CT scan in 10 years, but I remember being sick from the scan. But I had to drink something then, and he said there was nothing to drink for a CT of the face. He didn't mention any other kind of dye.

So, when over an hour later the nurse came up to insert an IV so she could start inserting the dye in me, I stopped her. We were sitting in a hallway, for heaven's sake, and a not very sanitary one at that, what with sore throat girl sitting over there, and I have terrible veins. The last time I had a CT scan, it took someone 11 tries to get a vein. My primary care physician tries not to take blood from me because I am what the medical professionals call "a hard stick." She considers it a win if the nurses actually manage to get blood out of me.

So, I declined the CT scan. The nurse went and got the doctor, who said he was just looking to see if there was something inside causing a problem. I said I'd come back if things worsened.

This was probably a mistake. If so, that is on me, but by this time we'd been there for 3 hours. I was tired, hungry, in pain, and not up to sitting there another 3 hours to get a CT scan. So, we paid the insurance co-pay and left with nothing to show for the day but the dentist's X-ray.

However, I am happy to note that as the day wore on, after I'd showered and taken a muscle relaxer, the pain in my jaw had eased. It wasn't gone, but it was better by the time I saw the dentist. (Maybe the relief at seeing the dentist helped, who knows.) I still could not chew well or open my mouth very wide, but I felt better than I did. Since I had improved, I felt like it was ok to turn down the CT scan. (Besides, my husband was getting madder by the minute at how long things were taking when we weren't seeing a lot of people coming in and out, and he didn't like being in a hallway.)

The facility is modern, but I don't know why we were in a hallway and not in a room. If something that was built in 2021 is so overloaded that people have to sit in the hallway, somebody did poor planning.

So now I am home writing this, with ice on my jaw and heat on my shoulders. If there is swelling in my face, then it needs ice. I will ice it for 15 minutes every hour tonight and see what the morning brings. Soft tissue injuries take time to heal, so hopefully by the weekend I will see noticeable improvement.

If not, I can always go back to the ER and do it all over again.

By the way, we sat there so long that I was able to start a little song, to the tune of that old 70s song called Smokin' in the Boys Room.

Sittin' in the ER
Thinkin' it's a drag
Waitin' on a doc
Well it just ain't my bag.

Will they call out my name?
Will it be soon?
Or will I be sitting here
Until next June?

(Chorus)

Sittin' in the ER, yes I am
Sittin in the ER.
Doctor turn that TV
Off of Fox News*
'Cause everyone news that the ER is the place for the blues.

One more time!

*They did not have a TV in the hallway. They had one in the outer waiting room but it was on the Lifetime channel.

Don't Speak

When someone looks at me, they see an overweight person who otherwise looks healthy.

However, I have a lot of things wrong with me. I don't talk about them much, because, well, who cares? Everybody has things wrong with them. But I could do a Thursday 13 list of my health issues and still not be done.

Today, though, I'm going to talk about TMJ. Or TMD, whichever you want to call it. I have had this problem for 30 years.

It is only getting worse.

TMJ stands for temporomandibular joint, which is the joint that connects your jawbone to your skull. TMJ disorders are a type of condition that can cause pain, stiffness, clicking, locking, or reduced movement of the jaw. 

There are many possible causes and risk factors for TMJ disorders, such as genetics, arthritis, jaw injury, teeth grinding, or certain connective tissue diseases. TMJ disorders can be diagnosed by physical examination, dental X-rays, CT scan, MRI, or arthroscopy. 

Treatment options may include medication, oral splints, physical therapy, counseling, injections, or surgery. 

TMJ disorders are usually not serious, but they can affect your quality of life and cause discomfort.

In my case, it comes and goes. I have had it off and on since my braces were removed when I was a teenager. But I would also go for years and not have a problem, only to have something 

trigger it. In the 2000s, for example, I had a lot of tension in my life, and it became a painful problem. My symptoms include clicking, my jaw locking shut (sometimes for up to two days), and lots of pain.

Lots and lots of pain.

After a while, it eased, and then came the infamous gallbladder surgery of 2013. During the operation, the anesthesiologist knocked my jaw out.  I distinctly remember that because the nurses were trying to get me to eat a popsicle and I couldn't get it in my mouth. Finally, I stood up to make my way to the bathroom and my jaw popped back into place.

It's a sweet relief when the thing goes back where it is supposed to be. There is residual soreness, but nothing like what you feel when it is out.

Since that night of my surgery, my TMJ has been an issue. Almost every morning, I get up and pop my jaw back into place. I have a mouth guard that the dentist made to help, and it did help for a while, but it seems to not be helping so much now.

Saturday, I bit down on a rice cake (a rice cake!) and had sharp pain shoot through my jaw, so strong it almost knocked me to the floor. It was like a million bees stung me. I put my hand to my jaw area and I could feel my pulse racing on the left side, the blood rushing around in there. My bite was suddenly off, with everything pulled to the right.

The pain was intense.

I alternated ice and heat, took muscle relaxers, and went to bed. Yesterday it wasn't hurting so much, and I tried to have an easy, relaxing today. This morning I felt almost normal, so I went to the grocery store and ran a few errands. I came home and ate a soft lunch of soup. Then I bit down on a baked potato chip, and the pain shot through my jaw again. Not as severe as on Saturday, but bad enough.

Now, it's an ache. Have you ever chewed gum so long that your jaws hurt? It's kind of like that in my jaw, but the pain also wraps around my entire head, and goes down my neck and into my back.

I have known for years that if my back is out, my jaw can get out, too. I just saw the chiropractor on Thursday, so I suspect the adjustment was a little off, and this is the result. So back to the chiropractor I go in the morning. I wanted to see my dentist after the incident at lunch, but she said for me to go to urgent care. Like they were going to do something. Urgent care around here is not something I care to use.

The chiropractor asked me questions to make sure I wasn't having a stroke, because I sounded a little slurred, she said when she called me on the phone. Sure I sound slurred, I told her. I can barely open my mouth without pain and I'm taking muscle relaxers. I'm coherent, I said. Joe Biden is the current president, and we had an orange dumb ass for the last one.

She laughed and said I sounded normal, but if anything changed, I should go to the emergency room.

I'm sitting here with heat on my shoulders and back, trying to figure out what the hell to do about this. If you read up on TMJ, you'll find that no one really knows how to resolve the matter. A mouth splint, which I have, is about the only cure. Surgery seldom works, and I've already said no doctor is cutting on me again. I've had enough of their invasive care.

One thing I want to remind people is that it never hurts to be nice. You never know what kind of invisible crap, like TMJ, someone might be going through.

Happiness Challenge - Day 16

Today I saw the chiropractor. I had a bit of a reaction to the adjustment (or maybe to my blood pressure medicine) - when I sat up, I had spots dancing before my eyes.

My chiropractor gave me cold water and made me sit there for a very long time. After I dressed, she kept me in the waiting room talking until she felt like I was good to go.

It's nice to be cared for by someone who, well, cares. She didn't have to go out of her way to make sure I was fine before I drove home, but she did.

In a world where money rules, today I am happy that I have managed to find some healthcare providers who actually care about me as a person.

Thursday Thirteen #820

Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person seeks to make another person doubt their own perceptions, memories, or sanity. It's a tactic used to gain power and control over someone by making them question their reality, thereby weakening their confidence and ability to trust their own judgment. The term "gaslighting" originates from a play called "Gas Light," in which a husband manipulates his wife by dimming the gas lights in their home and then denying that they had changed, making her doubt her perception.

Here are 13 ways to identify when someone might be gaslighting you:

1. Denying: The gaslighter flatly denies events or situations that you clearly remember happening, making you question your memory.

2. Withholding Information: They purposefully withhold information or keep secrets, causing you to doubt your understanding of what's going on.

3. Contradictions: They contradict themselves frequently, making it difficult for you to grasp the truth and leaving you feeling confused.

4. Trivializing Feelings: The gaslighter dismisses your emotions or reactions as overreactions, making you question your own feelings and emotional responses.

5. Projection: They accuse you of things they are doing themselves, deflecting attention away from their actions by putting the focus on you.

6. Shifting Blame: Gaslighters shift blame onto you, even for their own mistakes or inappropriate behavior, leading you to feel responsible for things that aren't your fault.

7. Minimizing: They downplay their behavior or the impact it has on you, making you doubt the significance of your concerns.

8. Creating Confusion: Gaslighters intentionally confuse you by changing their story or manipulating facts, leaving you unsure of what's true.

9. Isolation: They isolate you from friends, family, or support networks, making you more dependent on them and less likely to get validation from others.

10. Doubting Your Memory: They repeatedly claim that your memory is unreliable, causing you to question your recollection of events.

11. Using Others: Gaslighters might enlist others to support their version of events, making you feel like everyone agrees with them and you're in the wrong.

12. Setting Unrealistic Expectations: They set unrealistic standards for you and then blame you for not meeting them, eroding your self-esteem and self-worth.

13. Changing Reality: Gaslighters may rearrange objects, hide things, or subtly change your environment to make you doubt your sanity or perception.

If you suspect someone is gaslighting you, it's important to trust your instincts and seek support from trusted friends, family, or a mental health professional. Gaslighting can have serious effects on your mental and emotional well-being, and recognizing it is the first step towards protecting yourself from its harmful effects.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 820th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.