Scattered Thoughts . . .

It has been warm the past two days and today is looking to be a beautiful, sunny, warm spring day too.  I had planned to utilize the good weather to start working on things outside where sawdust is not an issue.  This week is looking good for that and I have a bunch of small projects that need to be accomplished.  Actually, I've been waiting months to be able to pull out woodworking tools to accomplish a few things. Unfortunately, once again, my health is being a bit uncooperative.   My ankle is still healing.  Sheila and I wandered outside yesterday to take down wreaths and Christmas lights.  I stepped up on the first step of a stepladder and quickly realized my ankle was still in no condition for climbing a short stepladder.  I instantly fell off and onto unlevel snow on the ground.  This hurt both of my ankles again setting me back a couple of days.  I have no need for my cane now but getting around is still a bit painful and slow-going.  I'm taking small steps and taking th

After a month of significant pain in my ankle, hobbling around and residing on the couch with very little relief, this morning was the first morning that I awoke feeling halfway decently.   My ankle can finally support a bit of weight and I am limping a bit less this morning and even without the use of my cane.  The pain has significantly subsided too.  There is still a bit of pain but I'm no longer in the 8-10 pain scale range! I'm going to continue taking it easy on my ankle for the next few days...  continue with some icing occasionally...  at least through the weekend.  At that point, I'll start a physical therapy period by slowly and carefully increasing my range of motion with no weight on my foot.  Then, over the course of days, I'll slowly add a bit of resistance and weight to the therapy and exercise.   Considering I've already had one significant set-back that set me back about a week, I'm only cautiously optimistic and I'm convinced I need to take

It has been a rather lousy week so far, after a lousy few weeks, after a rather lousy year of lousy health.  Actually, I should go back a few weeks...  I spent the past three weeks trying to get a prescription refill for one of my most important drugs.  This drug has made the most positive impact on my health since procuring this insidious illness.  A few weeks ago, I got a call from the pharmacy looking to get approval to charge my card.  I thought that was a little odd so I asked why I was being asked this unusual question.  The customer service representative pulled up another screen and suddenly exclaimed, "Oh my!"  She then explained that my copay would be $8700 for my 90 day refill.   I sort of chuckled and informed her that even if she tried to charge my card, she would get nothing with a bill so far beyond what I have in the bank so, approval from me or not, they wouldn't be getting any money.   I went back and forth between my doctor's office and the pharmacy

I've had this ankle issue for two weeks now.  I'm still doing very little on my feet and keeping my foot elevated most of the time.  I haven't used any ice in a couple of days.  At this point, two weeks in, my ankle feels like it did on that first day of limping exactly two weeks ago.   Each day this week, my ankle has felt a bit better than the previous day so that is good.  This morning when I got up out of bed, my ankle felt like I had a hot nail driven into it for about an hour but that has subsided to a dull ache at rest.  I'm still needing to limp and occasionally use my cane but at least I am able to put a little bit of weight on my foot now.  Showering has been difficult and dangerous.  Fortunately, I haven't slipped in the tub but I honestly don't know how I have managed that feat.  Try getting in and out of a wet tub without putting any weight whatsoever on one of your feet...  try cleaning yourself without putting any weight whatsoever on one of your