Scattered Thoughts . . .

Sheila and I were discussing something about Worker's Compensation over lunch the other day and I suddenly remembered the one time I attempted to file a Worker's Comp claim a few decades ago.  The reason for me filing a Worker's Comp claim as well as memories of this painful incident also came flooding back to me in an instant.   In hindsight, this Worker's Comp incident is the likely cause to my occasionally recurring ankle problems.  I only experience this problem when I do something careless with my ankle about once every four years or so but I've always wondered about its cause.  I've always just chalked it up to having a physically demanding career and being active in a lot of different sports.  Having been reminded of this incident while actually in an exceptionally painful recurring flareup, however, it all makes a little more sense now. For a very brief period of my life (a short period I would choose to forget for far too many reasons to get into here),

I am still residing in the living room on the couch with my left leg elevated, icing it every few hours, and trying to keep the pain in check.  This is now the end of day five on the couch.  Fun times. Yesterday morning, I was finally feeling like my ankle was beginning to heal.  I was able to put a slight bit of weight on my foot again so I figured it was a good time to attempt to shower.  Getting in and out of the tub so I can shower has been an impossible task so I was ripe for a shower by yesterday morning.  I managed to shower and then headed to the kitchen to make something for breakfast. I hobbled into the kitchen and spent some time upright preparing breakfast for myself...  back and forth in the kitchen...  back and forth between the kitchen and the couch with food and water while still hobbling with my cane in one hand...  in all, I think I was upright for about an hour. After all that standing and hobbling around with my cane, the pain was beginning to return.  After breakfa

Today, I am feeling a slight improvement to the inflammation in my left ankle.  I can now put a tiny bit of weight on my left foot which makes it a bit easier to get around with a cane.  Yesterday and last night I would have been far better off with crutches since I could not put any weight on that foot at all without pain skyrocketing instantly to a solid 10.   I managed to take a brief shower this morning although it was quite painful.  Getting in and out of the shower was the most difficult thing.  Then, shuffling around on only my right foot in the shower was painful and dangerous but I managed to shower and I was ripe for one! Yesterday, I realized that I no longer have the energy and strength to lift my body weight from sitting to standing while using only my right leg.  I needed my cane to help lift myself to a standing position.  My muscles on the right side of my body are aching.   I slept on the couch last night so I could keep my foot propped up with pillows.  The pillows ne

I've really been neglecting this blog in recent months.  Between lousy health for the past year and us staying inside our home every day for the past year, there really hasn't been much to write about during this period.   I last wrote about inflammation of my spine due to having to stop my anti-inflammatory medication.  (I was having some internal bleeding.)  The resulting inflammation in my spine and joints is now about as bad as it can get.  It is interrupting my sleep and making it difficult to just get around the house.   The other night, I sort of turned my left ankle.  I say 'sort of' because, as I was sitting at my desk, I was resting my right foot on top of my left foot while the top of my left foot was positioned so it can rest on the floor under the weight of my right foot.  About an hour into sitting this way, I realized that my left ankle would probably get inflamed so I stopped sitting that way.  In case you were wondering why someone would sit this way at

The past three weeks have been quite lousy for me.  Somehow, my body started bleeding internally.  Accomplishing anything or even doing anything, naturally, was put on hold until this is resolved. Eating has been minimal and my drinking has been mostly water (and I absolutely hate drinking water).  Once a day I add a glass of apple juice with some fiber too.  The rest of my daily food has been soft, very bland foods and fruit.  I haven't eaten such bland food in about four decades before I left my parents' house for college and the Air Force.  My mother was the queen of dry, overcooked, bland cooking.  The running joke on our block was that whenever someone smelled something burning, everyone would remark, "Oh...  Mrs Maher must be cooking again."  She certainly liked her food bland and beyond well-done, that's for sure.  Even when we went to restaurants, she would always send her plate back for more cooking or less spices or both.   Two of my daily medications, t

Sometimes, if you listen carefully, it seems as though nature sends us clues.   I had sketched some plans for a treehouse to be built next to the kids' playhouse.  I had sketched a ladder going from the deck in front of the playhouse up to the treehouse next to the playhouse.  I would store firewood and the snowblower underneath this treehouse.  It really seemed like a good plan but, honestly, I keep wondering whether it is a good idea or not.   I have so many other projects that need to get done around the house and the building season is short up here.  Adding a treehouse to that long list sometimes seemed a bit too much especially considering my health also limits how much I can get done.  Another reason I was questioning the wisdom of this project is because the grandkids have now moved from right down the road to about an hour away so their time here at Gee and Papa's house will probably be quite limited.  Because of these reasons, I was leaning toward forgetting about thi

Due to the usual and frustratingly predictable winter overcast skies here in Waterbury, a community nestled in a valley between three ski resorts, yesterday was our only chance to capture a glimpse of the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.  It was still three days before the actual conjunction (the point in time when the two planets appear the closest from Earth) but the weather forecast was indicating that Friday (yesterday) was our only option.  Contrary to what we've been seeing in the media and in news articles lately, this conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is not a terribly rare occurrence.  What makes this year's conjunction a little bit special is that the apparent gap between the planets in our sky will be smaller than usual at around 1/8 of a degree in our sky.  This conjunction actually occurs every 20 years but we usually see an apparent separation between the planets in our sky of around 1/2 a degree to 1 degree.  So, the two planets will appear closer together this

Last night was one of those nights when you simply cannot sleep and you end up getting up out of bed at 5:30am because you know sleeping is a lost cause.  This is exceptionally rare for me but it was my night last night. I was having a little bit of difficulty breathing last night after going to bed but I wouldn't call those breathing difficulties anything more than mild.  Needless to say, that was the start of my lack of sleeping.  I was lying there wondering, "Should I go get my inhaler and epinephrine?  Or, will this pass?"  The problem is that if I get up to retrieve my inhaler and epinephrine, that act alone will cause me to lose some sleep because I'll need to calm down again and slow my heartrate down again in order to have any chance of falling asleep.  If I need to take epinephrine, that will keep me up for a while too.  So, I laid there wondering what to do which is also a sign that my breathing difficulties were no worse than mild. Then, I couldn't get

First thing this morning, I noticed that the bathroom sink was not draining.  I don't mean it was slow or sluggish.  I mean it was not draining.   We had to run to the Post Office as early as possible this morning to ship a couple of packages but I knew I would now have a frustrating morning ahead of me once we arrived back home. I had a pretty good idea that the rather long drain pipe running to the side wall was probably clogged with hair, gunk, soap and I don't want to know what else.  This would mean that I would need to disassemble the drain.  I decided to just check the trap under the sink first though just in case this could be a relatively simple problem to resolve. I emptied out the long vanity cabinet and then went looking for a bucket.  I placed the bucket under the trap and disassembled the trap...  nasty, foul water spilled out...  but the trap didn't have as much gunk in it as I thought it would or should considering the sink wasn't draining at all.  "

Sometime during brunch yesterday, we realized we had no internet and, unfortunately, it was a Sunday.  It seems like things requiring a service technician always go down on a weekend.  I rebooted the modem about eight times...  the lights on the modem consistently stopped before the modem booted up...  sometimes none of the lights illuminated.  It was clear that this modem was toast. Sheila got online using her cellphone to request service from Comcast.  She was able to notate that our problem was with the modem.  Shockingly, they indicated that we would see a service technician by mid-afternoon.  That was welcomed news! The service technician arrived within a couple of hours.  It was an easy fix...  just swap out the old non-functional modem for a new one...  boot it up...  and done.  It couldn't have been an easier service call. Best yet, our internet speed is now faster than it has ever been.  Our internet speed is now triple the speed it was with the old modem!  That made the c