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Joys of menopause
Menopause hasn’t been the difficult time for me that I’ve heard many others experience. The worst time was when I had a heavy period that went on for weeks several years ago. Hot flashes or flushes never were a thing for me. But now I’ve been in menopause for a few years, I have had one issue and that’s spotting and/or light bleeding a few times. It’s always happened in a specific pattern and I wasn’t too concerned but it had become more of an issue recently. I went to the doctor and she did a pap test and a couple other tests and sent me off for a pelvic ultrasound. She did say at the time that it looked likely I had a condition called vaginal atrophy based on the appearance of that area. I read that it’s now often called genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), which certainly sounds a lot less unpleasant.
The ultrasound came out perfectly but the pap test didn’t get the cells needed, possibly due to the condition of the vagina. Also, I had too much of one thing and not enough of another in some other test done. In this situation, they often refer to a gynecologist who does the tests again but has better equipment to get a better reading on things. Of course, that takes more time. She said she thought it likely the issue was the GSM and suggested we could trial treatment and do another test in six weeks before going to the specialist. I was happier to do that than wait. I am on an HRT treatment daily for a couple of weeks and then I am to reduce down to fewer times per week as required. Hopefully, this should set things right and life will carry on.
I will admit to being a bit anxious about HRT treatments due to my family history of breast cancer. That said, I think a vaginal treatment is less likely to cause any trouble and hopefully won’t be something I need long-term. As I understand it, I am still young enough for that to be the recommended treatment at this stage.
I do suspect that my Sjogren’s syndrome may also be part of the issue here. It doesn’t help that I need antihistamines to handle seasonal allergies. The funny thing is I just saw the specialist about the Sjogrens last month and said all was fine. But I didn’t realise anything was amiss at that point. I am having a lot of dry eye and mouth issues right now though, so it may just be contributing to the problem.
I had to order in the medicine at the pharmacy and only started last night. I will say that it’s a bit of a messy business using a pessary that leaks everywhere when you get up. Hopefully, there won’t be any nasty side effects.
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Recent reading
I’ve been going through a lot of books lately, and most haven’t been advanced reader books either. Not to say I haven’t had enough of those, but I haven’t requested too many books lately. Most of my reading has been library ebooks and audiobooks along with rereads of others.
A Dreadful Splendour by B.R. Myers is a gothic mystery that features a clever young woman who has gotten by doing seances for rich people since her mother died. She is arrested after one reading but strangely is released into the custody of a lawyer who needs her help. He takes her away to a country manor where the plan is for her to ease the suffering of a young man whose fiance committed suicide by doing one of her performances. She arrives to find the man is not suffering heartbreak and doesn’t believe in her work. Instead, he wants her help to discover the person who caused his fiance to die. It’s a great story with a few twists and turns and even a bit of romance along the way. It was very reminiscent of the gothic romances I read when I was a teenager but in a new and improved version. I discovered the writer is from Halifax, Nova Scotia which is quite cool since we lived across the harbor in Dartmouth the year we lived in Canada.
I’d been seeing The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman on the bestseller lists for quite a while and ran across a copy in our library that was available on audiobook. Four older people living in a retirement village have a club called the Thursday Murder Club. They meet on Thursdays and review old cases to see if they can solve them. Of course, a real murder comes along to give them something to really look into. There are some great personalities involved and lots of humor along with a fair bit of pathos too. The narrator was wonderful and I could really see it all happening through her work. I enjoyed this so much that I followed up with the next book, The Man Who Died Twice and have the third book on reserve.
Another book I’d seen in various media was The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake. I had a chance to read its follow-up from Netgalley but didn’t want to be rushed to read both books. This showed up in ebook form and I grabbed it. Then the next book, The Atlas Paradox was released and available on the same platform as the first and I checked that out too. I was shocked it was available so soon. Maybe I happened upon it just after it was released. Anyway, I finished the first book last night and I did enjoy it. It’s about six of the best magic users in the world being recruited into a secret society. And one of them has to be eliminated (aka killed) before initiation a year later. A significant part of the book goes on about physics as two of the group are physicists. I’m not too sure how well the science talk stacks up but it kind of worked in my head since my knowledge is so limited. Each of the six has a different specialty and we get the point of view of all of them through the book, allowing us to see their strengths and vulnerabilities. I immediately started the next book and suspect I will finish it long before my four weeks are up. I am curious to see if the story can continue to hold on to the tension of the first. I find a lot of books don’t sustain themselves through to the next book. I remember reading a fantasy trilogy a year or two ago that I really liked through books one and two, but hated the third and final book. The first book introduces quite a number of elements and I do wonder if it will all make sense as presumably the second adds even more.
The last book of note is a regency romance book called Convergence of Desire by Felicity Niven. This is a less typical romance, featuring a neurodivergent woman who is too busy trying to solve Fermat’s theorem to bother with the marriage mart and its associated details. So she makes a deal with an earl to marry him for convenience only. What follows is a rather slow-burn romance that reflects what I think could happen in such a romance. And it allows for her to keep to her own feelings instead of being forced into the mold of others. Mostly it shows that even neurodivergent people can love and be loved. It may not be in the same way as others but that doesn’t make it less of a thing. Niven wrote two other books in the series which I enjoyed well enough, but they don’t stand out like this one.
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Trick or treaters
It’s been a few years now but we got a few knocks on the door this year. The boys didn’t get all the chocolate this time. Halloween has become a much bigger thing here, especially the trick-or-treating part of it. But we haven’t had anyone come to our door in a long time. I decided this year that perhaps it’s a matter of making it known we were offering treats but it was too late to get decorations. We don’t do the pumpkin carving here. Pumpkins are available but they are really pricey for something that’s going to rot…Anyway, I might see if I can find things on sale now to keep for next year. The trick is remembering we have things.
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Correction
I was wrong when I said I hadn’t heard of willy wagtails swooping last week. I seem to have forgotten the Scientist sharing his tales of being swooped in the past. I apologise for this mistake. Apparently, my memory is getting faultier with time.
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I Voted
I only just got my ballot today so I filled it out and sent it off within the hour. It cost $13.50 to send it back and I’m not sure it will arrive in time. They say two weeks and that’s pretty much on the edge of when it’s due back, five days post election…or the first business day after that. I hope it works but I will likely never know. At least I have tried. Next election I will request the ballot much earlier. There is only one race listed on the ballot, which I find interesting. It was for the House of Representatives.
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Swooping
From some time in August to November, it’s considered magpie season here in Australia. It’s the season when magpies are protecting young and swoop potential invaders. I’ve been swooped a few times over the years. Both boys have been swooped when young. Game Fanatic got pecked slightly under the nose, I think when he was a toddler. Lego Lover got attacked near the eye, which was pretty scary. He didn’t suffer any serious injury but has since had a fear of the birds. Once I had a magpie swoop me while riding my bike. Not once, not twice, but three times as I peddled faster and faster. I think that was one of the rogues around that swooped throughout the year. I’ve had a certain wariness of them myself since that time decades ago.
In recent years I have not been swooped at all though, even though I see them all the time. On the other hand, I was swooped yesterday at the end of our street but it was by a willie wagtail. And that one swooped me three times while I was trying to walk one of the dogs. Not that it caused any injury but it was offputting and distracting. I have heard many people say these birds are nastier than magpies although I usually hear about the nastiness to other birds. This isn’t the first time I was swooped by one either. It happened around the same tree about a week or two ago, although it wasn’t quite so persistent.
Australian magpie 
Willie wagtail The willie wagtail is a much smaller bird but apparently, it’s part of the same family of ravens and crows as the magpie. But I’ve never heard of them swooping before.
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Signing
Back in June, the Scientist and I went to our local Toyota dealer to see about ordering a RAV4. We knew there was a wait and were rather dismayed to learn it’s a two-year wait. However, we were told that there was a Corolla Cross coming out later in the year and it could be this would suit our needs as well. We have been driving a Corolla for the past fourteen years but were looking at something that would suit accommodate our two grown sons better. We put down a deposit to go on a list to buy and waited and waited. Then we saw an ad on tv about three nights ago for a Corolla Cross and we quickly checked the website. Sure enough, it’s now available for order. It was a couple of days ago we got the phone call from the dealer and we went to test drive yesterday.
We were really impressed with the new model and we immediately said yes to buying. We now have a Corolla Cross on order but have no idea when it will be available. But we are near the top of the list so will be getting one of the first models released. Our current car is old enough that we have none of the typical modern conveniences so we are really looking forward to this new vehicle. I had been hoping to get it this year but I think it’s more likely to be early next year now.
I’ve posted a photo from the website below that shows what it looks like.
Toyota Corolla Cross GXL Hybrid Atomic Red -
Gardening progress
Yesterday I got out into the yard and got more done with tall grass and weeds. Actually mostly the grass. In the front yard, there had been a patch that didn’t get mowed last time because the battery ran out. The last time we did garden work it wasn’t a priority and just continued to grow. So I started in the front and finished it for the most part. At one point I ran into the remains of a grass tree that I had forgotten was there. It never grew once we planted it and now it just falls apart. This was one of several plants given to us by a friend who is good with gardening. It’s probably about the fourth one that has failed to survive. Surprisingly, there’s a frangipani in a pot with not a whole lot of soil that is doing quite well. I do intend to add more soil one of these days though. And a gloxinia given to the Scientist when he had surgery last year had come back to life. It was doing well for ages and then it seemed to suddenly die. The pot was still in the kitchen next to our sink. Then I noticed it was growing again. It seems it’s one that dies back regularly and then comes back. I really thought it was dead though. Hurray for us being slow to get rid of dead plants? :D
After I finished our front yard, I mowed around the back patio before it gets too long again. Then I tackled lots of grass in our side yard. That’s the most neglected part of the yard and there’s still a lot of weedy, long grass to get rid of. The Scientist did do a bit of weed whacking earlier but tried to limit his time outside in hopes of avoiding the awful allergic reaction of his last experience. So I mowed a lot and then I used the weed whacker a bit and then I stopped because we needed to go to the shops before they closed. When I came in I had a bunch of bottlebrush flowers on the back of my head where I had a ponytail. The end result is there’s a much clearer space out there. Once the bottlebrush trees finish flowering I plan to prune back the trees and bushes extensively and get rid of a half-broken limb from one of the trees. Surprisingly it continued to flower and grow despite being connected by a limited bit of tree.
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Results
I think I noted I had an MRI done last month to determine if I had any liver-related issues. It was also meant to clarify whether I had fatty liver since it wasn’t noted on a CT scan earlier in the year. I saw my doctor this morning, and the MRI confirmed that I do have fatty liver which is the likely cause of my “deranged” liver function tests. I find it odd that it wasn’t mentioned on the scan earlier in the year but apparently they often don’t unless the investigation is liver-related. I think my tests were all normal at that time so I guess it wasn’t important enough. I just need to keep seeking to improve my exercise and diet so that it improves.
Here in Australia, we have something called My Health Record where our pathology, imaging, etc. can be uploaded so that it will be easier to access between health providers and the patient. There were a lot of controversies when this started many years ago, especially with regard to privacy. I personally had no issues with it and have put my own information there. But even though it’s been around for over seven or more years, I have very little information there. But my recent MRI and CT reports are there. Also, there’s a COVID test I had a couple of years ago and another recent pathology report. My COVID jabs are also included but not much else is there. The pathology reports all seem to be from one pathology company, which is the one used by the public health system. So I think I will start using that pathology lab for future blood tests. That way I can access the information easily online. I am in the habit of requesting copies of my lab results but I have found lately they don’t always follow through.
I did notice one remark on the MRI that was of interest to me. Apparently, I have a condition called pancreas divisum which means that instead of a single pancreatic duct, I have two of them. It occurs when the two ducts that develop in utero never fuse as they are supposed to. I guess it’s not a big deal for most people who have it and almost never requires any treatment.
Anyway, none of this relates to the reason I am seeing this specialist, which was my low iron issues from last year. My ferritin levels have fallen but it seems unlikely I will need to deal with low iron for a while. Maybe I will need an infusion every couple of years.
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First time
Despite the mask mandates almost completely disappearing here, I have continued to wear them. In all these months, nobody has commented on the fact I’ve been wearing one at all. And that’s just fine. Well, that was the case until about a week ago. I was shopping and the cashier was asking me if I was masking because I was afraid of COVID. She went on to say that COVID isn’t near as bad as getting the flu…It’s been over a week and I still fume when I think about it. I felt like she was judging me when it was none of her business. Of course, I was silently judging her and all the others around who don’t wear masks now. But that’s a thought I keep to myself as there is no point in expressing it out loud.
My mom made a bunch of masks for me when I was home and I still wear them all the time when I am in the community. They may not be the highest quality but I think they suit their purpose for me. Fortunately, we have all avoided the virus so far to the best of our knowledge.
