Scattered Thoughts . . .

Sheila's mom went for her daily three mile walk on Wednesday morning but started having chest pains when she was close to the farthest point from the house. With no cellphone in hand, she took a short break to try to catch her breath and in the hope the pain would dissipate but then decided to push forward still feeling pain, tightness and pressure in her chest. She eventually made it home only to collapse in bed in pain.  When there was no change to her condition after a few short minutes, Sheila's dad quickly decided to call for the EMT's.  She spent the day and half the night at our local hospital, still with significant chest pain, until being transferred to the more suitably equipped hospital in Burlington in the middle of the night. She was immediately admitted to the ICU and scheduled for exploratory surgery in the morning.  By morning, her chest pain had subsided considerably but all tests were indicating she had experienced quite a prolonged heart attack due to

Plumbing for the washing machine and pedestal sink... Overall, things have been very quiet in the house for the past month as my health recovers from a painful dip which, at this point, has sapped most of my energy. I'm getting a bit bored and antsy laying around doing nothing but my energy level is still so low that it is impossible to accomplish a thing. On top of that, I spent a good portion of last night in the bathroom, sick, rather than sleeping... those are always fun times! (sarcasm) There have, however, been a few mornings during the past month when I felt that I had enough energy for an hour or so of work. On these few days I did manage to get a little bit accomplished on our bathroom project.   I needed to get a bit creative with all the plumbing to make it fit in this small space. In this first photo, at right, you can see some odd 45 degree angles to help make things fit. There was absolutely no room for sweeping elbows!  The waste line running up on the ri

I wandered from the living room early yesterday morning to take a look at our wildflower gardens as Autumn settles in and Summer slips away. Oddly enough, even though most of our plant life is turning brown and drying up, we do have a handful of new blooms here and there. I noticed one of these new blooms with a narrow beam of sunlight illuminating it from above and behind. I am always searching for good light and this was exceptionally good light. This beam of sunlight was lighting up only the yellow petals and green stem. I crouched down low in the perfect spot about 10 feet from this single flower. I set my exposure... I focused, inhaled and held my breath... I ever so gently pressed the shutter release being careful not to cause any camera shake... I exhaled slowly. After capturing a few extra frames, I noticed something change in the scene in my viewfinder...  A single bee entered the frame. Apparently, this bright yellow flower draped in sunlight caught his eye as well! I&#

I've really had a few weeks of virtual nothingness lately. I've been laid up on the couch trying to recover from some excruciating and debilitating bone and joint pain. At times, I had to deal with the usual Systemic Mastocytosis intermittent anaphylaxis, nausea and gastro-intestinal issues too. Needless to say, it has not been a very productive month as a result. As I lie on our couch, I have a clear view through our living room window of the moon rising from behind the Worcester Range each night. The moon always captures my attention but considering I've been confined to the living room all day, every day, for the past month, the bright moon rising and shining through our living room window is impossible to ignore.  Two things make this full moon worth mentioning. First, the full moon in September is known as the Harvest Moon which oftentimes is spectacular. Second, this particular full moon is also considered a Supermoon because it is so near the Earth at this time

I've had debilitating ankle pain for the past 11 days now. The first few days I could not even put any weight whatsoever on my left foot. Since then, I've been hobbling and limping around with a cane. Needless to say, very little has been accomplished around here for the past week and a half. A few days ago I wrote that I realized that I probably injured some nerves while working on the waste plumbing for a new bathroom that I am trying to install. There is no doubt that I was hard on my ankles while crouching on the floor and sitting on my feet on an uneven, unfinished wood floor. I was also crouched down in a tight crawl space for part of the plumbing project. These activities were no help to my ankles, knees, shins and lower back, that is for certain. This morning when I awoke, my ankle pain seemed to get a little bit worse again. It was raining out and the moist rain always affects my bones and joints since I've been struggling with Systemic Mastocytosis (or perhaps

For more than a week, I've had severe ankle pain which has left me unable to walk without aid for most of the week. I am now limping around but that pain is still constant. I've had my ankle elevated everyday and I am taking a maximum-allowed dose of an anti-inflammatory medication for the maximum-allowed time. The only side effect thus far is just a bit of drowsiness but that is hardly worth mentioning since I can't do much else anyway. So, what has caused this severe, disabling pain in my ankle?   I often struggle with terrible, debilitating bone and joint pain so this is more than likely contributing to my current problem with my ankle. Now that the pain in my ankle has waned slightly, there is no doubt that in addition to my ankle pain, I am also struggling with my usual debilitating bone and joint pain. The ankle pain was so severe in the beginning that it masked most other pain in other areas of my body. These regular bouts of bone and joint pain are very typica

As most of you know, Adam has been in the process of enlisting in the US Air Force. I had mentioned in previous blog posts that standards had risen considerably in recent months but didn't give many details. I think I'll take a little time to list some of the disqualifying factors that today's young adults face when attempting to enlist in the US Air Force. I recently read that more than 90% of potential recruits are disqualified in the initial telephone interview. NINETY PERCENT DISQUALIFIED before they even get into the recruiter's office! Here are some of the reasons for being disqualified immediately: - Prior arrests (whether convicted or not) - No high school diploma - Overweight - Prior drug use - ADHD/ADD diagnosis, especially use of ADHD/ADD drugs - Tattoos - Piercings - Moving motor vehicle violations - Certain allergies - Responsible for more than two dependents. Single parent recruits with less than two dependents must apply for a waiver

This week a new chapter has begun in Adam's life journey.  Now 18 years old, a Cadet/Chief Master Sergeant in the Civil Air Patrol/Air Force Auxiliary, a student pilot, and a hardware store sales associate, Adam is now in the process of enlisting in the US Air Force.   Adam has had two meetings with the recruiter this week with another meeting scheduled for tomorrow. He has already submitted his 120 page application. Next week is a visit to MEPS. For those unfamiliar with military acronyms, MEPS is the Military Entrance Processing Station. He will spend a couple of busy days there on an active base for his medical exam, more interviews, a written exam and some psych and physical testing.  At this point things are progressing very quickly for Adam. This is the "hurry-up" stage which will probably last another week or so. This "hurry-up" stage is always followed by a grueling "wait" stage. This two-stage cycle will be the everyday mantra for his new

Those of us struggling with Systemic Mastocytosis, and all its variants, have to contend daily with a long list of symptoms. These symptoms are sometimes mild and sometimes debilitating. The symptoms can affect my legs one day and my brain the next. Sometimes symptoms are neurological in nature and sometimes they are affecting my organs. Sometimes symptoms affect my gastro-intestinal tract and sometimes symptoms affect my skin like a burning, hyper-sensitive rash. Sometimes the symptoms can be widespread throughout my body all at the same time. There seems to be little rhyme or reason to it. One common symptom which can be relatively mild or excruciatingly debilitating is bone and joint pain. Today has been excruciatingly debilitating with this far too typical bone and joint pain.  All my long bones hurt... this is a deep pain felt to the core of my body. All my joints feel like they are being stabbed particularly when using them. Even opening a previously opened jar is so painful

When Windows 8 was first released two years ago, I must admit that I found the user interface a bit flat-looking and difficult to navigate. I would try it out at our local stores and always left feeling frustrated because I couldn't figure out how to move around within this new operating system. Well, about two weeks ago, my main desktop computer croaked suddenly. This computer was my main workhorse for graphics, art and photography so it takes much more of a beating than most people's computers. The computer was suddenly non-responsive. It didn't even sound right to me. To make a long story short, I needed a new computer and I needed it as quickly as possible. Two weeks later, I finally have a new desktop computer up and running and configured for my own needs.  I had the option of buying another computer with Windows 7 or I could opt for the newer Windows 8. It really seemed silly to be buying a new computer with a considerably older operating system so I did some