A week ago, I was still having severe vertigo with accompanying nausea and general malaise.
My last episode was on Wednesday the 8th, around 4 am. Terrible. If you’ve never had it, don’t.
That same morning, I had a regular chiropractic visit. I told my doctor about the vertigo as I was lying on the adjustment table. He’s been taking care of me for 30 years, and knows me well. I was on my stomach, and he asked me to raise my chin. Big ouch.
“Looks as if your neck is locked up. That can cause vertigo. We can fix that.”
And he did! I haven’t had a spell since Wednesday! I’m still being very careful when I stand up, out of habit, because for nearly two weeks it would send me into Vertigo Land. Next time, I’ll call him sooner!
I do not believe that chiropractors can heal all diseases and work miracles, but I know that mine has helped keep my tricky back in line for these many years. He is knowledgeable about so many things, a specialist in nutrition and functional medicine. And right now, if I could, I would give him a big gold star in the middle of his forehead!
Okay, I’ll just talk then. Remove the whine from my voice.
Just finally got over the nasty cold I had, feeling better, when I got hit with a wave of vertigo that has lasted for nearly a week.
It’s pretty terrible. The dizziness leads to nausea, and the victim is pretty much incapacitated for the duration.
I went to a vestibular (inner ear) therapist several years ago, and she taught me some exercises that really do help. The theory has to do with little tiny crystals that swim around in the inner ear, causing the dizziness and all that goes with it. Again, the exercises have always helped before.
This time, not as much. They do give me some relief, but the dizziness comes back after several hours or even overnight. I generally sleep on my back, and I can tell you it’s quite disconcerting to open one’s eyes in the morning only to see the ceiling swimming around overhead. Also, with this latest onset, I’m finding that all I want to do is sleep. No energy at all.
I have an appointment with my primary on Monday, and I’m hoping she can give me something to relieve the dizzy.
So there’s my Saturday Sob Story.
On a brighter note, we’ve had lovely spring weather. We have two dogwood trees in our front yard, one pink and one whitle. I think this may be the best year of all for their beauty. We also have a Kousa (Japanese) Dogwood in the back yard. It’s a little slower than the others, and is just now leafing out. Very pretty in full leaf, and it last for several weeks. Also, our azaleas are showing color, and the neighborhood is full of flowering trees. So much beauty,
Terry is doing better, although is still not his old self. Maybe never will be. He is nearly 81, after all.
My cold has retreated back to whatever hell colds inhabit.
So life goes on.
A new baby has been born into our church family. A fine older gentleman went to heaven a couple of months ago, and his dear wife is bravely continuing to bless everyone around her.
An old friend who is still in his sixties has developed tumors in his brain. His future right now is radiation. His wife has battled her own cancer, some years ago, and is no stranger to the process.
Young people are graduating from college–students I had in my homeschool co-op, and four of them will be donning cap and gown soon. There is a great deal of talent in this group: Science, writing, music, math. They’ve made their parents proud, and me too!
Older folks are graduating to the position of elders and counselors, a source of encouragement to the younger set.
This is the natural course of life. I remember, when I was very young, thinking of death as a thing to be feared and dreaded above all things. It was strange to me, not having come into close contact with it. I remember thinking about dying sometimes as I lay in bed waiting for sleep to come.
I don’t think about it much these days. I don’t fear it. I used to say that the only thing I feared about death was the possibility of great pain. I don’t fear that so much any more, either. I’ve had my share of pain already, and it’s going to grow worse as time goes on. I’ve learned to accept it and accommodate it as much as possible. Pain will not have the final victory!
If I didn’t know the Lord, I wonder if I would feel differently about pain, sickness, and death. Maybe, because the fear of the unknown is strong in us.
I refuse to live my life in fear. I don’t like what I see developing in the world, in my country. But I will not fear, because Jesus is always with me. He has promised never to leave or forsake me. Even in dying and in death, He will not forsake me.
I’m really not trying to be morbid here. It’s just that I’ve lived long enough to understand that death is a part of life. Knowing the Lord takes the worry out of death and dying.
Sometimes the plans we make get blown away by unexpected circumstances. That certainly happened to us this week! You can read about that in my post from yesterday, which you can find at the bottom of this post.
So, I’ve been thinking about how frail human life can be. Terry and I have reached the ages of almost 77 for me, 81 for him. That is a rich blessing, for which we are thankful. We’re coming up on our 55th wedding anniversary in June, another point for which we are most thankful. Of course, not every moment is full of hearts and flowers, but we really do still love and enjoy each other. The one-flesh principle gets stronger as the years go by.
But we do not take life for granted, and that was reinforced by last week’s events. If we had not gotten Terry to the hospital when we did, we could well have lost him. I firmly believe that when God says it’s time for us to go to heaven, no power on earth can keep us here. It wasn’t God’s time for Terry this past week. It was, however, a firm reminder of how fragile life can be, and a reminder for us to treasure each moment, each day.
That’s what we did last night at my son’s house. There were 50+ people crowded into the double living rooms and the kitchen area. We sang, then we ate and visited, and then we sang some more. It was an old-fashioned hymn sing, and it was wonderful.
The only program was to sing. It was relaxed, fun, enthusiastic. Many expressed a desire to do it again, and one couple has already volunteered their spacious home.
If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you know how important music is to me. I grew up listening to good, solid music, including artists such as George Beverly Shea and the Blackwood Brothers Quartet, among many others. So I have a taste for good southern gospel, as well as the classic hymns we sang in church. There is such joy in good music, and we really raised the roof last night!
When you have that many people in close proximity, the harmonies come out loud and clear, and the sound fills the space. I’ve been in a couple of churches that held over 1,000 people. When we sang, it was downright goose-bumpy. All those people raising their voices in harmony is just amazing. It’s where I learned to sing when I was just a little girl, and it’s where I began to pick up on singing more than just the melody. I didn’t understand the what or the why, but my ear told me what to do, and intensified my love of the music. Singing harmony is just a pure delight!
There was lots of harmony last night, in voice and in spirit. Music unites people.
Well, folks, it’s that time of year again. Set your clock forward tonight when you go to bed. If you schlep into your bedroom at 10 p.m., you need to set your clock for 11 p.m.
We get robbed of an hour of sleep. And I don’t care what anyone says, you can never get that hour back.
I dread the reset because it messes up my biological clock for several days. I decided to do a quick research on the effect of DST on the human body. Here’s a quote from one study:
We found four prominent, elevated risk clusters, including cardiovascular diseases (such as heart attacks), injuries, mental and behavioral disorders, and immune-related diseases such as noninfective enteritis and colitis to be significantly associated with DST shifts in the United States and Sweden.
I’ve tried all sorts of things to make this transition easier. Going to bed 10-15 minutes earlier each night for a few nights before the hammer falls. Doesn’t work. I just lie there wide awake until my usual time to sleep. I’ve developed the habit of a cup of warm milk before bed. It helps my resltess leg, and if I put in a drop or two of vanilla or almond extract, it’s actually rather pleasant. If you like milk.
My husband has the good-for-him ability to fall asleep at will. I’ve always wondered how he does it. He’s gone before his head hits the pillow. I find it highly annoying to say “goodnight” and hear a snore in return. Seriously. Me? I have a bedside light so I can read myself drowsy. And if I’m using my Kindle, I turn off the bedside light because my Kindle has its own light. Sometimes it takes only 10-15 minutes. Other times, it will be close to two hours. On my worst nights, It can be much longer.
I can just about count on tonight being difficult. And just about the time I get used to waking up to a little daylight, we’re going back to waking up in the dark. This is just wrong.
Here’s an interesting read that gives you the skinny on the why of DST. It was NOT to help farmers, as I’ve always been told. It was an effort to save electricity:
I missed two days in a row in writing my blog. “Things” just got in the way. Any time I have morning appointments, I find it hard to stay with my writing routine. Happened two days in a row this week. But I won’t bore you with the details, since NO ONE wants a minute-by-minute accounting of my last 48 hours 🙂
I’m looking at it from a longer perspective, partly because of a Facebook meme I saw this morning. It asked the question, “What would you do if you woke up and it was 1973?”
Well, for one thing I’d be upset to have to live all these years over again! I was only 26 in 1973 Baby #2 was well on his way. I was a stay-at-home mom, and I loved it.
Would I want to live all those years over again? Maybe only the parts where I behaved poorly. I’d like to think I would do better if I had a do-over. Otherwise? No. I’m content where I am, and I don’t really want a do-over.
I used to think people my age now were just old and boring waiting to die. Some were. But I learned, as I grew up, that older people had a fund of wisdom and stories about life that no one as young as I was had developed yet. I began to enjoy the company of older people, as long as I didn’t have to listen to the same stories overandoverandover. I worry now that I’m doing that to the younger folks in my life. I try not to. I hope I’m not doing that.
The thing you learn as you age, if you’re paying attention, is that life happens to all of us. The moment we’re conceived, we begin to die. I know, that sounds dismal, but look at all that happens in between! If God grants you a long life, and you have a good memory, you can store up a fund of wisdom and understanding that will help you as you reach the moment when you step into heaven and time falls away forever. Fanny Crosby, prolific songwriter, put it this way:
According to a local report, we got somewhere between 4-8 inches of snow overnight and early this morning. It’s really pretty outside. And there are patches of blue sky already. I’m looking north out my livingroom window, and there’s a big patch of blue. A few minutes ago, I was in the kitchen. Looking south and southeast, there was a huge patch of clear blue sky with smaller blue areas all around. The clouds are breaking up quickly now that they’ve dumped their cargo on us.
The wind is picky up, though, and it’s blowing clumps of snow from trees, some of them bigt enough to be the head of a small snowman 🙂
Someone posted this shot, showing the snow on top of their birdhouses and what looks like cotton balls on the tree. Snow was still falling, as you can see.
I can see pavement in our driveway, which means our neighbor has been here already with his plow. He takes good care of us, especially since Terry’s heart attack back in August. Our son will probably check in today, as well.
Several people on Facebook are lamenting the snow, wishing winter was over. Hey, it’s only mid-February! It’s not unusual at all for our biggest snow accumulation to be in February and March. I think we’ve gotten spoiled because there has been scant snowfall in the last couple of years. We’ve had above-normal temps, and even now it’s 36F outside, which in my experience isn’t all that cold. This too shall pass.
And that patch of blue sky I was talking about? Now it’s a very wide swath! There are still clouds, but they’re losing the battle. The wind is sweeping tree branches clean of huge clumps. There’s been a measurable change just since I started writing this post.
“This is the day the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!” Psalm 118:24.
Do you remember when you were very young, and thought adults had everything all figured out?
Do you remember when you realized that adulthood was not a magical time of all-knowing comfort?
Sometimes, we actually get to be what we thought we’d like to be, and sometimes we find something way better. Possibly, we never figure it out at all.
One thing I’ve learned is that no adult, no matter how old/experienced/wise they may be, has all the right answers all the time.
We fumble along, making choices all the time, hoping we haven’t done damage to anyone else along the way.
Here are some life-lessons I’m learning:
1.It is better to be silent and let people think you’re a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. (Attributed to Abraham Lincoln)
2. Seek forgiveness, even when you’re not sure what you did or said that caused a rift.
3. Give forgiveness readily.
4. Never say, “I forgive you, BUT. . . ” because BUT is a big eraser that wipes out everything you’ve already said.
5. Even if you think you have pretty good radar about people, keep your observations and opinions to yourself. (See #1) The possibility always exists that you could be completely wrong.
6. Remember that you cannot reason with an unreasonable person. Someone whose jaw is set, arms are crossed, and eye.s are distant? You’re wasting your time and energy.
7. Love that person anyway. They probably need someone to love them.
8. Sometimes you have to accept that a person will not respond well to you, no matter what. Move on. This is most difficult if it’s a family member that you have loved, but who no longer seems to return that love. Pray for him/her. Continue to love, but don’t waste time and energy pursuing when the other person does not return your efforts.
9. Never assume that even if you stand alone, you are RIGHT. All. The. Time. I can assure you that NO ONE is right all the time.
10. Most important: Stay in God’s Word daily. Memorize verses that bring you peace and comfort. Pray daily about people/a person in your life who seems to have moved away from you. Seek wisdom, and learn patience.
So, is that it? No, of course not. Dozens of other things come to mind, but no one wants to read a post that’s way too long.
I lost a day. I was sure today was Friday! It’s a good thing I have gadgets that tell me the day as well as the date! My phone assures me that it is indeed Saturday. So does my laptop. I even checked on my paper calendar, and yup, there it is. Saturday, Feb. 3.
It’s been an unusual week. I’ve had no appointments with any doctor, dentist, or beautician. My days have been pretty much the same as the last and the next.
I’m working on the last piece of a sweater, and I made a huge mistake somewhere. I can usually figure it out and fix it without having to remove stitches, but not this time. It’s maddening, because I’m very close to being done. Working on the front neck. Once I get that done, I’ll stitch the shoulders together and then do the neck ribbing. However, I’ve put myself back quite a bit with this error, and it means losing a day or two of progress. Most frustrating of all is that I still don’t really know what I did to cause such a costly mistake. So I’m taking it out stitch by stitch, and will have to re-knit about two inches-worth. Maybe that’s where I lost a day. Having to do something over again NEVER makes me happy, but I can’t just keep on going when I’ve spotted a mistake. Sure do wish I’d spotted this one sooner!
I’m also working on a piano piece that’s a little more difficult than before. I love it, but it’s challenging me. Sometimes, I wonder why I’m doing this!
I don’t have a cat, but sometimes I’m sure there’s something hiding in my piano that keeps hitting the same wrong note!
Well, enough of my flubs. I have to go practice. Then I have to finish ripping out the rest of the row I’m working on. And think of something for supper. Sigh.
Linda's Bible Study 