-
All in a year
Last year I was offered a position to support a man who’d had a stroke a few months before. I started the job at the beginning of 2021 and now that job has come to an end. I was off work the past couple of weeks so it’s come to a rather abrupt end and that is kind of sad but it’s not something that was unexpected. And so I am back to working part-time one day a week with the occasional relief work that I was doing before. I am not keen to take on any other long-term work at the moment due to my upcoming travel but I will consider another role for when I return in May.
-
Happenings
As always, December has been a crowded month with birthdays and Christmas and all sorts of stuff happening. Notable mentions for this year:
Our air conditioner died earlier in the month and we replaced it. Fortunately, the weather cooled off most of the time we waited for installation. We got it just in time for a massive heatwave that started before Christmas and ended a couple of days ago. We’re enjoying a few days of milder temperatures before the next heatwave next week.
Lego Lover had his 23rd birthday and it went off quite well. He’s been affected by mental health issues on the day the past few years but this time he was in good spirits right up to the end.
Christmas went mostly well and it was a good day to spend with family. It was even hotter than last year, though, and although we had our meal outside, we ended up moving indoors quite early due to the heat. I think it reached 43C, which is about 109 in F. We have been in the habit of doing some sort of indoor games, often computer or game system related. This year we played a game on our phones and it was quite a lot of fun. Not everyone took part but there were enough of us that it allowed much amusement.
Despite the good get-together, both of the boys did have mental health issues that made their days difficult and that makes me quite sad. We continue to look at ways to improve issues for both so they can enjoy themselves in the future.
My exercise program has stumbled a bit lately. I’m still waiting for that energy boost from the iron infusion. Although I am not feeling tired so much overall, my stamina for exercise seems to be stuck and maybe I just need to push harder sometimes.
I’m still working on potential travel for next year. I think I will go ahead with plans but the airline I booked with before suddenly increased prices enough that it will likely be better to choose a different one. I mentioned plans to my parents before Christmas and I think that may have given them a boost after all the goings-on lately. Also, the travel insurance company I used previously is back to business now so I hope I can get good coverage from them while I’m overseas.
-
Debating
Even though our borders are opening in February, I am now debating as to the wisdom of traveling when COVID is again running rampant throughout the world. I’m still looking at airfares and dates but it feels like it would be better to wait a bit longer and travel in the northern summer. That said, there’s no guarantee there won’t be another strain doing the same thing. I know we’re supposed to be living with COVID but isn’t this taking on extra risk?
-
Stuff
I am still keeping up with exercise to some degree. That isn’t translating to any weight loss as yet and it also isn’t translating to increased muscle mass. I am a bit stuck on that part because I know I have built up muscle but to stay the same that would mean I’d have to lose muscle somewhere else and I don’t think that’s happening. That said, I am not sure how much stock to take in the scales that do all these fancy computations on the body. I am finding it’s been a struggle to get through exercise sessions lately. Usually, I will start feeling better after going for a while and the rest comes more easily. Not the case recently though.
I don’t think I mentioned here yet that my dad went home just before Thanksgiving and is doing okay. It seems he is suffering a bit of confusion since the second stroke but other issues don’t seem to have changed a lot. I did speak with him a few days ago and had a slightly longer conversation. Still quite brief but he was able to get more out on that occasion.
Game Fanatic has been trying to get hold of a Playstation 5 for some time and the pickings have been limited since its release whenever it was. Then EB Games said they had some available for pre-order last month and I rushed there to get an order in to find out they had sold out. I was put on a waitlist in case more units arrived than predicted. These units were supposed to come fairly soon after the orders were taken but I didn’t hear anything further. So I stopped in one day last week to check on the status. It turns out they were still working on calling people about orders and I was able to collect mine after all. So Game Fanatic now has the monster-sized machine which blocks our tv and was able to add a couple of items to his limited Christmas list.
The Scientist hasn’t had any real holiday from work in ages. I don’t count the time taken off when he had surgery earlier this year. As of tomorrow, he’s off until early January. Here’s hoping the time off allows him to recharge a bit for next year. Also, the Scientist had a birthday last week and he’s now started his last year of his 50s. I took him out for lunch at a Thai/fusion restaurant where they had robots to deliver meals to tables and it was a good meal. Then we went to Holey Moley to do mini mini-golf and a game of bowling, both of which were lots of fun for us.
We still don’t have any definite dates on our borders opening here in WA but it feels like it’s getting close to reality now. I have been playing around with dates for travel for next year and it seems like it might be okay in the second quarter barring any delays from newer variants.
-
“Fun” week
I think I mentioned recently I was referred to have a gastroscopy and colonoscopy. Well, today was the day and it’s now over. I’ve had a colonoscopy once before and the prep was awful but it worked. This time I had to do a special diet for several days and didn’t use the prep until 6 pm yesterday. It was slow to work and I was up most of the night and still wasn’t ready when I arrived this morning. I ended up with some extra help times two and finally was fit to go through it. The prep solution was truly vile and I had to be up at 4:30 am to do the second dose. How I finished without vomiting I don’t know. I definitely gagged after every mouthful. Anyway, it’s all over and done and I’ve been home, had an afternoon nap and it’s now about bedtime where I hopefully will actually sleep. I told my family over chat I think I slept more during the procedure than during the entire night before. LOL
Don’t have all results but the colonoscopy was perfectly fine with no issues. Nothing was noted on gastroscopy either but she did take tissue for three biopsies. I will get results through my regular doctor at some point. The point of all this was to look for reasons for iron deficiency that are not diet-related. What was rather neat in the report is there are photos done from the procedures, I definitely didn’t have that on the previous one.
I ran out of my supply of loratadine (Claritin) this week and forgot to get more so I have been using Fexo tabs that other family members use and I don’t think they work as well even though they are more potent. Since I’ve been home today I’ve developed an allergy attack condition which is the worst I’ve suffered so far this season.
Also related is that we reached the government safety net on prescriptions and it seems we are due a refund. Once a family spends a certain amount, medication prices are reduced for the rest of the year and we got there early this year. I have to go sign a form at the pharmacy to get the refund into our bank account.
In other news, my dad is in the hospital again. He went to the doctor about one issue and somehow they found out he had a large clot in his brain. He was rushed to the ER and they did a procedure to break it up and he’s recovering at the moment. I suspect he will go home sometime today. I don’t know if anything happened regarding the other issue but so glad his doctor picked up the issue. I don’t think he would have survived another massive stroke. I guess this was considered a stroke but they got to it early enough that he may have avoided any notable additional damage to the previous one. This brings back the idea of travelling home but I’m not rushing any decisions. It’s not like I can get flights out all that easily yet anyway. And getting back to Western Australia will be difficult before the state border is open to international travel again (which might not be until January or February based on current estimates on vaccination rates reaching 90%).
My exercise routine has suffered considerably this week. I haven’t been to the gym since Monday although I did get exercise on Tuesday and Wednesday. I plan to go tomorrow and do a decent workout. I suspect it’s going to be a struggle after several days but it’s got to be done. :)
That’s probably all for now so I will finish up and get to bed for a decent sleep.
-
Not fully functional
That’s kind of how I am feeling today but I know it will pass. The past few days I have had to really push to do exercise and I must admit I didn’t feel better afterwards either. I got a new workout routine on Monday, having gone a full eight weeks going to the gym already. This one uses the machines less and requires more abdominal work, which I hope will improve my core muscle groups, which have been really weak since having kids. I’ve noticed my foot/toes are handling activity a lot better now than they did before. The exception is when I am doing yoga moves that require me to be on my toes. I suspect that may just be painful activity when the toes are stretched like that. Anyway, I have started walking a lot more than I have been and have even gone on short hikes in the hills, which I hope to continue through the warmer months.
I had a bunch of blood tests recently and went for a follow-up to discover I have low iron stores. There’s been a gradual decline over the past couple of years. My last test was borderline normal but it dropped quite a bit over three months. Since I am post-menopausal, the usual reasons don’t apply so I’m going in to have a gastroscopy and colonoscopy later this month to check for any internal issues. It’s been several years since my first colonoscopy so I guess that’s okay. Not looking forward to the prep for it, of course. I have been put on iron supplements but they are wreaking havoc with my digestive system. I am trying to eat more red meat but it’s a struggle since I don’t have much appetite for it on a regular basis. I came up with the idea of having small amounts more often and seeing if that works for me. I will also see about switching to a gentler iron supplement since I am not even taking the current one daily and I am having a lot of issues. Tonight I made a stir fry with potatoes, green beans, mushrooms, and a spinach/kale mix along with some stir fry beef and that worked okay for me.
I’ve been feeling what I call draggy the past few days. I’m not sure if that’s due to low iron or something else since I wasn’t feeling like that much before I was told about the iron deficiency. I also learned that I shouldn’t have iron and calcium together either as it affect iron absorption.
My liver tests haven’t been consistent lately so I also had an ultrasound which I imagine will show fatty liver disease, which was there before. I’m hoping it’s not so bad as the last one in 2016. I’m due to have repeat blood tests plus a panel of liver and celiac and other tests at the end of the month so it will be interesting to see how things go. I did find that after two months of exercise I had not only gained weight but my muscle mass hadn’t changed at all. I am sure I have more muscle in some areas so it doesn’t make much sense to me. I’m not that fussed about the slight weight increase and it actually has dropped in the past few days.
After a pretty mild October, we’re getting some warmer weather now but it’s not constant. We go to eat at the food trucks on Monday nights and it’s not been all that comfortable since the first week when we had some lovely warm weather. We even missed a couple of weeks, one of them due to wet and chilly weather. Tomorrow’s forecast is quite positive so I am looking forward to it.
A Lego store opened in Perth about ten days ago so we had to make a first visit. I was expecting really long lines and big crowds but it turned out to be reasonable when we went. But there wasn’t a lot of merchandise still available by the time we got in on day four. We only had to wait for about 15-20 minutes to get in and it was fine in-store. It was worse finding parking at the shopping center, which has mostly doubled in size very recently. I found I didn’t recognise much there and it took a while to find the area of the original structure. I suspect we’ll be visiting there more often once the excitement over new stores dies down (lots of new shops just opened, enough that there was an electronic sign advising there was an “event” ahead on the road.)
I had been considering an upgrade to my Apple watch but finally decided to wait another year. My watch is working fine and although there are features I’d like, I don’t know if it’s enough to upgrade yet. Assuming the iPhone gets a couple of features I want next year, I will update both watch and phone.
Our state finally has a plan for opening up to the world set so I have a more likely chance of going home for a visit next year. No definite dates but our premier is waiting for vaccination rates to reach 90% before we open up properly. Once that happens, I think it might be doable, if things like travel insurance will provide sufficient coverage. I’d really like to get home to see my family, especially my dad. He’s doing okay but has had a couple of scares lately and his blood pressure is definitely not under control.
There’s surely some other stuff I meant to write about but I can’t recall all of it lately. So hopefully I will update again soon.
-
And just like that September is long over and it’s almost halfway through October. I had actually started a post several days ago but it’s now a bit too dated.
Obviously time is just kicking along and life is happening. I’m still keeping up with my exercise and have been attending regular fitness classes. I have taken a liking to one that incorporates tai chi, pilates and yoga that happens each Wednesday. I also like doing a spin bike class although I probably will avoid the Wednesday class since it’s a bit much exercise. The other class is pretty full on and I got quite a workout this morning. Yesterday was even worse as I did my clinical pilates and a weights workout before 1.5 hours of tai chi last night. That won’t be usual but I was off schedule due to missing exercise one day on the weekend.
My foot/toes are still healing, I guess. I noticed I get bruises on my toes with minimal activity and that’s frustrating. My foot was feeling a lot better yesterday but this morning it was sore and I noticed one of the injured toes was bruised and then there’s a bruise on a toe on the other foot, totally unrelated. Not sure what that’s about so I guess it’s something to bring up next doctor visit.
Otherwise my body is feeling pretty good and my efforts to work on core exercise seems to be paying off a bit. I just need to stick to it more. I have a plank exercise at the gym that goes for 40 second intervals but was able to increase to a minute when I was there yesterday. I do a modified version to avoid stressing my toes.
Our weather has been off kilter again with cooler temperatures than usual for October. That’s due to change tomorrow with a major increase to higher than usual, I think. I guess nothing is typical in these times and I hear similar anecdotes from my mom about what’s happening in Texas…although her theories on reasons don’t quite gel with mine.
My dad is doing well with his speech therapy and I spoke to him briefly this morning and he was able to get through a lot more talk than he has on previous conversations. He goes three times a week for that so hopefully that continues to make a difference. He is doing really well with occupational therapy and was talking about dropping those sessions due to the co-pay required for each visit. I’m going to provide some funds to help ensure he can stick with it.
I think I had more to say but now I’m drawing a blank so will stop now so I can post this finally. :)
-
Springy
Spring is moving along and trees and plants are in bloom in a big way. We are lucky to have blooms all through the year but there’s just something about seeing so much new life around. I got out into the yard today and did some more mowing. We managed to get a couple more batteries to use with the mower but I think I may have overdone it today as the mower wouldn’t restart with a change of batteries. Or maybe the batteries had lost charge. I’m hoping that’s the case and it all works next time. There’s a lot more mowing to do and lots of tall grass and weeds to get rid of. Will need to use the line trimmer for some of it and the rest might just require lots of pulling of grass.
My exercise program is going fine for the moment. With my membership, I have access to fitness classes, gym, and pool. I haven’t used the pool yet but will soon. Last week I finally tried out a spin class at another location. They don’t offer this at our local gym but it’s only a ten-minute drive to one that does. I arrived slightly late as there was some event going on and parking was difficult. The class itself was okay but it’s always hard to start late. Anyway, I did another spin class today and it was pretty tough. It was a different teacher and a more rigorous workout so I am a bit sore tonight. On top of that, I had a clinical pilates class this afternoon and I was so sore that my legs were trying to protest quite a bit. Normally we have tai chi on Tuesdays but we are on term break this week and next. I had wanted to try out the yoga class locally but was a bit too sore to attempt it. I will plan to do it next week, which should work since there’s no pilates.
I’ve been reading a lot of books on Netgalley this year but have had to cut back on requests because I am too far behind schedule. I enjoy reading the books but it gets a bit unmanageable when you have too many waiting to be read and reviewed. I had over twenty at one point and now it’s down to seven. Plus there are a few that I’m still waiting to hear whether they’ve been approved. I’m expecting to get one or two approved close to release dates, which is kind of annoying. One was requested in March and is due to be published in November so it’s going tricky if approval does come through.
Today both the boys had their first COVID vaccines. They opened up vaccines for their age group last month and initially we couldn’t go through the gp. I had made other arrangements but then found the gp is doing them. The old appointments were canceled and I keep getting reminders to make an appointment again. I need to see if there’s any place where we can indicate we got a vaccine elsewhere. The second vaccine is in three weeks, which lands the day after Game Fanatic’s birthday. Well, it’s due on his birthday but I decided to go for the day after so it’s three weeks and a day.
We are thinking more seriously about getting a new vehicle. We have our sights set on a Rav4 Hybrid so now it’s a matter of checking them out and test drives and all that stuff. We’ve had our current car for twelve and a half years and it’s starting to cost a bit more money. So upgrading makes a bit of sense at this point.
-
All-nighter
Yesterday was the funeral for our family friend and it was at 3 pm EDT, which translates to 3 am WST here in Perth. That’s a bit later than I am usually awake but I decided it would be easier to stay up than go to bed and wake up. So that’s what I did. I was fine until about 2 am and then I was really tired. And then it was 3 am and the countdown to the live stream was on. Until that point, some of it feel rather unreal but once the funeral started, that meant it was definitely the real thing. Watching a funeral on a live stream is not at all the same though. The major issue is its reliability. I was lucky to see more than a couple of minutes without it breaking down and having to reload. Still, it was better than nothing and it made me feel more present than otherwise. Well, if it hadn’t been for the live stream I would have been sleeping.
Once I went to bed, it took about half an hour to wind down, and then I did sleep for a while. But I woke at 7:30, 8:30, and 9:30…not exact times but essentially every hour though. I finally gave up the last time and figured I would wing it. I had work today at 1 pm so my main thing was driving. I was fine but when I got home I was definitely feeling the lack of sleep.
Tomorrow should go better because I don’t have any commitments earlier in the day and the warm spring weather should be a lift to my spirits.
-
Grumpy
I was feeling rather grumpy and grouchy today. I found out late yesterday that there’s a screening I need to do for work and it takes a couple of weeks to process. This required me to attend one of the local offices to put the paperwork through and verify four different ID sources. It kind of broke into my plans for going to the gym. Luckily I decided to go before the gym so I showed up at the office in my workout clothes. Not ideal but it had to do. I think I’d have run into time issues if I had waited. Instead I got right through to someone and that took a while even so.
I then went to the gym and kept having tech issues. Again, it’s a downside of all these fancy new machines. I had put off my weight workout from yesterday so I’d have more time but the issues ate away a fair bit. I did finish the exercises but had a bit of a rush once I got home. On a good note, it seems some of the exercises are getting easier, so that’s a win.
Work was pretty low-key, which was good since my mind was elsewhere. I support a guy who had a stroke last year and has memory issues. It’s not a high involvement job so that worked to my advantage. The guy I work with was kind of grumpy too. :D
I spent a lot of time with my thoughts on my friends and feeling so terribly far away. This death is hitting my Dad really hard. This guy was one of his best friends and it’s not like he’s able to communicate in a way that allows him to be a part of things easily. I wrote a message to one of the kids to offer further support and to ask if there might be some sort of video link for the funeral…not sure if that’s common there but it seems to happen here a lot. If there is, it might be a way for us to be more a part of saying goodbye.
Some other things didn’t go very smoothly today either, so it seems it was just one of those days. Lots of little things to aggravate when it’s least welcome. :)