Author Archives:

Six Months!

Ray Whiting -- Posted on by  

(oops… forgot to finish this yesterday)
Today (July 21) marks six months since my surgery. It’s been a challenging time, but I’ve made it this far, so I can probably keep going, eh?

First, a coronavirus update.

Last week we had 42,000 cases and 439 deaths. Houston/Harris County continues to be a hot-spot. And I continue to be leery about going anywhere for any reason.

I’ve not been taking pictures of all the scar progress, but here is my earliest picture

And here is this morning’s picture of the 6-month scar:

Grateful that the scar is quickly fading, although I’m a little freaked out that my navel has shifted about an inch to the right. I was not expecting that. I’m guessing that is because of scar tissue forming underneath in all those various layers of muscle and fat and so forth. I supposed a shifted navel isn’t the worst that could happen.

I am definitely glad that my glucose and blood pressure numbers are fairly normal these days, or as they say in medical terms “within normal range”. There’s really no such thing as ‘normal’, because every body is different and we all have our own normal. But my numbers are within a range of what is considered healthy.

I’ve not been walking like I had wanted to — both joint pain and heat have been disincentives to getting out and walking/exercising regularly. But I am generally more able to get around the house and do what needs doing, and that’s what counts. And with the current pandemic looming overhead, I’m in no rush to get out and about anyway.

Feeling unwell.

Ray Whiting -- Posted on by  

It’s been a few weeks. Sorry about that. I’ve been mostly getting back to near-normal, so there’s been nothing in particular to report.

I did want to update the COVID-19 numbers since the last post:

Horrible. About 18000 new cases just since my previous post.

And the Texas GOP was hoping to bring 6,000 people to their convention here in Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center downtown. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner finally cancelled it, said they can’t do it here. The local health officials called it a “clear and present danger” — not just to the convention goers, but all the people having to work the convention center, plus all the hotel workers, restaurant workers, taxi/Uber/Lyft drivers, and everyone else who might come into contact with the convention goers. Plus when those attending the convention carry the virus back home to their own families and communities. It’s insane to think they could have an in-person convention.

Oh, and the funny thing — while they expected people to attend the convention in person, all of the planned speakers were reported to be giving video-taped speeches, not speaking in person. Why? Well, because of the pandemic, of course. What the actual fuck??? The speakers can’t attend in person but they want all the delegates from around the state to show up in person?

Feeling Better

Well, I failed to actually post this yesterday. Sorry. I’m feeling better today, so that’s a good thing.

Each day I do feel a little stronger and more able. My body still has weird shit going on sometimes, but I guess this is part of the recovery process.

It is beastly hot here, and just about everywhere else. Good thing about this weather is that my laundry loads are quite small. And with a renewed ‘stay home’ order (or at least masks required everywhere in public now, isolation, and strong suggestion to stay home if you can) I have no reason to get dressed. So, yaayyyyy for that, I guess.

I screwed up a custom dye job over the weekend, so I’m going to re-do that today. And then I have some orders to pack and ship tomorrow. And then I get to begin a new collection of Blog Reader Specials for the weekend, maybe slip in another of the custom dye jobs as well. We’ll see.

But for now, I guess I’ll post this up and get into the day’s tasks.

Rain, Rain, go away…

Ray Whiting -- Posted on by

Okay, so it is raining, and looks like it will continue to rain through the day. Terrific. 🙁

I’ve begun the wash/rinse process for yesterday’s dyes. Learning how to use the cycles of this new machine is interesting. And time consuming.

Got about 6 hours last night, and my numbers this morning are pretty good. I’m still unsure why my body behaves differently one day to the next, even when I do the exact same things each day. I’m trying very much to figure out what works best for keeping my glucose down most of all. I want to stay under 100 if I can, but that’s a rare treat for me so far, apparently unattainable most days. I’ve also noticed that I start to hesitate just before plunging the insulin needle into my belly. I don’t know why. Sometimes it hurts a teensy bit and sometimes the little needle just slips right in. But I have been self-injecting since November, so I don’t understand the hesitation. Hmmmm….

Oh yeah, and this wet raining weather is apparently contributing to my hip/knee joint pains. There’s little I can do about it. The pain meds work sometimes, but only sometimes. 🙁

Going to pause this and come back later.

Not sure what to make of it.

Ray Whiting -- Posted on by

Didn’t get my best night’s sleep (<6 hours), but I caught a couple brief naps during the day today. My numbers today were surprisingly low, especially this evening. Glucose at 100, and bp at 125/67 on the left arm but 111/60 on the right arm, within minutes of each other. I normally just do the left arm, but the first time I did it it was 115/60-something so I did the left arm again, and then the right. At mid-day the glucose was 124, which pleased me, since I don’t have to do the Novolog insulin injection unless it is over 130. I still have to do the Lantus in the morning, regardless the number, although it was only 105 first thing this morning.

I was surprised this evening because I had a fairly large (for me) lunch, and then had a pint of Budweiser at mid-afternoon while I was working. I’ve always assumed all the carbs in beer would not be a good thing for my numbers, but apparently the lunch and beer didn’t hurt my glucose or my bp. Weird.

I did the custom dye job today, so maybe that amount of exercise countered any carbs….? Hell, I don’t know. I’ve been hurting a lot lately with the hip and knee, but once I got into the dyeing process I didn’t notice the pain too much but after the work was done and I sat to rest a spell, the pain returned. I’ll do the wash, rinse and dry stuff tomorrow — testing the washer to see how the rinse-&-spin cycle works. I have new mesh bags to hold each skein separately, so I hope it isn’t a disaster.

This bit of news is troubling: Record increases of new Covid-19 cases in 3 US states with the most population. Here is the Harris County numbers for today:

That is discouraging, and I think most of this was preventable. The state pushed to reopen far too soon, plus too many people choosing not to mask or follow social distancing guidelines.

And it doesn’t help at all that Trump is trying to reduce testing, because more testing means more cases, and more cases make him look bad. Ignorant fucker. Hiding the numbers just gives people a false sense of security. We Are Not Okay right now. I would not openly advocate for his soon demise, but …

Another early start

Ray Whiting -- Posted on by

Got to bed just at 10:00, slept through until about 3:30. But it was a weird sleep with a lot of not-pleasant dream going on.

Sometimes I’ll wake in the night just to go to the bathroom, and then right back to bed. Lately, however, I’ve had a good long sleep (5-6 hours) and wake up feeling wide awake and ready to go into the day. Annoying as heck when it’s not even 4:00 in the morning and I’m already up. I’ve been trying hard to get to bed at 10:00, trying to regulate my body in hopes of getting a good night’s sleep. I think the new bed is helping in this effort, along with just getting my body regulated in other ways (diet, meds, exercise, etc.). I mean, it certainly beats waking every hour or so just to pee, which is what I was doing last year; I’m glad that isn’t continuing now, for the most part. 🙂

=========

Later, almost bed time. It’s been a mostly rainy day, but I got the yarns ready for tomorrow’s dye session. Having done it once already, I have a fairly good idea how I need to do it tomorrow, so that will be good.

Amazon delivered some new toys today — a tripod for my digital camera and/or cellphone, to help me cut down on shaking from tremors when I’m trying to hold still and get a good shot; and a ring light with holder for my camera, cell-phone, or web cam, for doing live video feeds to Facebook; and a small light box with various doodads so I can take professional looking pictures indoors when the weather is crappy outside. 🙂

I’m looking forward to trying these goodies out later this week.

I’ve had a pretty good day, had a brief nap at mid-day. My numbers weren’t as low as I would have liked, but not high enough to worry about. Hip and knee are killing me, unfortunately, but I’m blaming the rainy wet weather. I anticipate a typical 5- or 6-hour sleep.

Seriously? Why?

Ray Whiting -- Posted on by

This definitely sucks. I spent a couple of days on my feet for some dyeing sessions, and then yesterday spent a lot of time standing up the reskein a new collection of Blog Reader Specials — 28 this time instead of my normal 24 skeins. It took most of the day, about 6-7 hours, with good rest breaks along the way.

Yesterday I had awakened around 3:45 in the morning, and didn’t have any naps during the day, so I was plenty ready for bed when 10:00 rolled around, and I assumed I’d sleep 5.5 or 6 hours. Nope. Got 3 hours or so, waking around 1:30 and not feeling ready to go back to bed. I was awake for a couple of hours until I felt sleepy, but only got about 2 more hours of sleep. Both of my waking up was prompted by burning pain in my right hip and knee joints. I took a Tramadol at mid-day against the pain and really didn’t want to take another in the night.

On the days when I’m already up and about I don’t usually take my exercise walks, figuring I’ve done enough, know that all motion and exercise counts. I truly don’t know if enough is enough, or if taking an exercise walk is needed even when I’ve already done the standing and moving exercise around the house. Today I have to be outside photographing yarns, so another good half hour or so of standing (if the rains stay awake long enough). I’ll see how I feel after that.

I am starting to feel disappointed that I’m not able to do what I used to do. I don’t know if I’m exercising enough or not. A lot of things I’m not sure about lately.

I have a custom dye session for tomorrow and Monday (redoing the job I messed up last week), so I don’t know if I should rest-and-recover today, or get out and get some walking exercise and then see what tomorrow feels like.

Tomorrow (the 21st) marks 5 months since the surgery. I have no idea how far along my recovery is ‘supposed’ to be. Some days I feel GREAT, and other days I feel like I’m going backwards. I even used the walker around the house a little bit yesterday since I was already hurting and needed to finish the task of reskeining.

An early start

Ray Whiting -- Posted on by

Based on how I felt last night I was expecting to get at least my new-normal six hours of sleep. Nope. Got about 5.5 hours, but up since 4:45 and already started the 2nd load of laundry — bedding this time. I’m using different settings to learn how it all works and to learn how these machines decide on the timing of various cycles and options.

As others told me yesterday, these new-fangled fancy machines do take longer than the old-style machines that I am more accustomed to. I guess it’s a learning process. Apparently these new machines use less water, are more energy-efficient, and are gentler to clothes. We shall see.

Most importantly, I think I’m figuring how to prepare my yarns and such so that I can use the washing machine most effectively.

Yesterday when the delivery guys came, they were supposed to haul away the old washer. I told them they could actually haul it away or just put it to the street and surely someone would claim it. And someone did – the next door neighbor lady wanted it. Since I have a dolly (hand truck) I moved it for her, from the street to a space on her side of the yard that she picked out. I probably should not have done that, as I woke this morning with a twinge in my lower right abdomen. Nothing ripped or anything like that, but a reminder that I need to exercise caution.

I just hope she doesn’t leave it in the yard forever as they’ve done with many other things. :-/ But no matter, it is no longer my problem.

Later …. now washing the third load of the bedding laundry. I guess I just have to be content with things taking longer. sigh

I hope to finish the Old Shale scarf today. Just a few more rows and a bind-off. Then blocking. I’m not sure if I want to finger-block it or pin it out for a severe blocking. Also want to re-pot the plants that live in the kitchen window. I brought these with me from New Orleans, so they’re plenty hardy enough, but it’s been a few years since they’ve had new potting soil. I found a whole new bag in the storage unit when I moved the unit to make way for the dryer; now is as good a time as any to use it and make my plants feel better.

So it appears I have the day’s agenda in place. Plus I need to full some yarns for dyeing this week — some Blog Reader Specials and re-doing the custom job. So, into the day I go.

Well, this is interesting…

Ray Whiting -- Posted on by

For several years I’ve been squeezing my sexy butt into size 36 jeans. And then life changed last summer, and they started slipping. And life changed some more in the fall and then post surgery and weight-loss, they were down-right impossible to hold up without super-cinching a belt around the waist. And even then, without a butt to hang on to my pants still easily pulled down, without unzipping.

So the other day I went to a yard sale and got some shorts in a size 34. Nice, light-weight, comfortable. Pulled them up, buttoned the top and zipped them up. And they slid right off my hips anyway. Dang, I guess I lost more inches than I thought. I think with a belt they’ll be okay for around the house.

And yesterday, my daughter took me to Lowe’s for a new washer. I ended up getting both a washer and a dryer. Part of my selection was size of the washtub, but also how soon it could be delivered, since that was a major factor.

This is what I had:

my old washing machine

And this is what was delivered to me today:

Besides taking up a lot more real estate, it appears I have a bit of a learning curve ahead of me. I had insisted on a top-loader, thinking I could do as I’ve always done — fill a tub and leave the lid up for soaking yarns, then turn the cycle dial over to Spin and the close the lid to spin out — no agitating yarns. Nope, this machine locks the lid for each cycle. Well, damn! I was reading the User Manual and it seems there’s a way to make it do what I need, but I have to fiddle with it to figure it out BEFORE I try doing it with actual yarns. I don’t want agitating hanks of yarns. 🙂

But I am feeling quite worn out the last couple days, so I’m going to chill for the evening.

Clean and shiny me!

Ray Whiting -- Posted on by

Slept about 6 hours, which seems to be falling in a pattern. If I go to bed at 10:00 I generally wake just around 4:00. I could do with a couple extra hours, but my body insists on getting up then. If I wake earlier, I end up staying up a few hours and then going back to bed, but if I can get 6 contiguous hours, I tend to just be awake and then take a nap in the afternoon.

Today will be another scorcher. Yesterday the heat index got up to 104º and today will be the same, or possibly worse. I will have to pay attention to prehydration to avoid falling out mid-day, which I often do. My numbers this morning are acceptable, or within range.

My DiL might come by this morning, so I’m all showered and shaved.

Not the best picture in the world, but that’s me this morning. 🙂

I have Things To Do for today, and the sooner I start the sooner I can finish.