20 March 2023 Neurology Appt

Hello to you. How are you? I’m pretty much the same. This morning my Aunt and I went to a neurologist appt. He did tests to see my reflex response like tapping my knees and wrists and touching the bottom of my feet. He couldn’t find anything so wants to do an MRI and see if anything shows up to explain why I’m experiencing the swaying motion when I walk. He was familiar with Mal de barque syndrome but wasn’t aware of any connection between getting tased and brain and nerve damage. So we shall see what happens.

I was grateful to have my Aunt there with me. When I was married, I had my husband with me all the time. Now that I’m divorced I have to rely on family and they are so happy to help! I am truly grateful and blessed to have supportive family and friends.

A reflection:

Lately I’ve been noticing a lot of social media posts from people from my generation reflecting on what it’s been like growing up when we did. I was born in 1968 and it really is amazing how much we have advanced in some ways and regressed in others. With people living longer there is a mich mesh of generations co-existing at the same time. There is a lot of overlapping between generations. A lot of people seem to want things to go back to “normal” and as I see it what we are experiencing is our new normal. Everyone just wants to do and be what they want but there are forces pushing back against it. Specifically the LGBTQ+ agenda. As a woman who has struggled at times with being born a woman and accepting my lot in life I sometimes get jealous of women who have decided to go through with trans surgery. Specifically top surgery I hate having large breasts. A lot of these types of folks end up on Tik Tok and I am drawn to their pages and stories. One person I was drawn to, can’t remember there name but they laid it out that if you are identifying as trans it is a mental illness. You have to get an official diagnosis in order to go forth with trans surgery and hormone therapy. I had never heard someone say that before. I have found drag queens fascinating. My ex and I used to watch Ru Paul’s Drag Race. Most of the contestants were gay and some trans. You don’t just wake up one day and decide these things. Most seem to know early on that they are different. I was probably 5 or 6 years old when I remember telling my Grandma I was supposed to be a boy. I was one of two female grandchildren, the rest were boys. So it makes sense I would think that. I am glad to be a woman despite the drawbacks! When I was a teenager I was anorexic and bulemic and really thin and athletic but struggled with my weight. I had short hair and was often mistaken for a boy! Anyhew it’s interesting to see the generations getting older clashing in social media. Terms like identifying as binary and stuff I just don’t understand. To me, from my own experience, everybody just seems to be trying to belong…to find their tribe. I am trying to find mine again. I had one in Texas but it split apart. I am attending a Bible study with a nice group of women from church. As welcoming as they are I still don’t feel like I fit in. Is team Jesus my tribe? Just as I am?

Since my last psychotic break or episode it’s been really quiet for me spiritually, mentally and physically. As I’ve mentioned before I get real tired easily and that’s probably due to being overweight. There is more of me to lug around. The medications I’m on have brought about silence in the creativity department and my spirituality is quiet too. I’m having trouble finding my tribe – who or what do I belong when at times I don’t have the clarity to express a single thought? This post is the longest I’ve done in a while!

Generation X seems like I’m part of a broken generation. A generation of people that worked until they got broken so now our days are made up of medical appts and new diagnosis! I have seen and experienced so much brokenness. Everything from being born when Martin Luther King was killed to stuff like Columbine, Sandyhook, the Challenger explosion and 9/11. The technology boom in just a short time. I remember computer data being processed on punch cards! I’m 55 years old and sometimes I feel ancient when I reflect on all I’ve lived through. God must have some use for me yet!

I’ll close for now. Just reflecting and thinking about where I’m at and where I want to head this leg of my journey.

14 February 2023 Getting Older

Hello to you. How are you? I hope well. Yesterday was my 55th birthday. We celebrated as a family on Super Bowl Sunday at my cousins house as it was a celebration of both of us. He is 4 years older. It was really nice to celebrate together. I didn’t do anything yesterday but did get some nice cards from my Mom and family.

Today is another one of those Hallmark holidays. I think every day is an opportunity to be someone’s Valentine. When I was married to my last husband, we didn’t do anything as we believed every day was a day to treat each other specially. It’s kind of like Mothers and Father’s Day and holidays like them.

My devotional Beauty Beheld arrived today and I started reading it. I can tell it’s not going to be an easy read! Having others to talk about it will help I hope.

Devotional Beauty Beheld
My cutie boy and present each day

1 February 2023 Time Going Fast

Hello to you. How are you? Can you believe it’s the 1st of February already?! Time is going so fast!

This past Sunday I had a nice surprise visit with my cousin and his wife. We went to Dairy Queen for a late lunch and some ice cream. Link enjoyed a walk with all of us afterwards. He gets so excited! I have done a couple Facebook reels of him and we have had several hundred views – I’m glad our little snippets bring joy to people.

It’s cold here. This morning it was 19 degrees! Brrrrr! From what I have seen on the news there is cold snaps going on in Texas and other places that are normally warm this time of year. Stay safe!

19 January 2023 The Chap

Hello to you. How are you today? Yesterday I had a nice visit with my cousin. She wanted to go out to lunch so we tried a place I hadn’t been to before here in town called The Chap Wine and Tap. They had a very small menu of burgers and what we ordered was really good. She got French fries and I got onion rings. It was a nice place to go and looked like a men’s group was meeting there. After lunch we went and got groceries. I had vertigo, spinning sensations off and on so I appreciated the company and help.

Today is my other cousins birthday- she’s in Arizona celebrating. Happy Birthday Laura!

2 January 2022 A New Year

Happy new years to you. I hope your year is off to a fine start. My Aunt took me out to eat at our little favorite place the Rustic Table in Star which is a growing town right next to ours. I love my Aunt and making memories like this with her. I had a wonderful burger and she had a turkey sandwich. We shared a chocolate cream pie dessert. Yummy!

Dessert of chocolate cream pie!
Toy that Ruth bought for Ljnk and he surprised me by playing with it and hiding it like another of his favorite toys

20 December 2022 Family

Hello to you. How are you? I hope we’ll. I’m doing ok. Still having the swaying motion and stuff but can tell the prayers are helping. This past Sunday we got together to celebrate Christmas. We had a full house to include new baby Suton. The house was full but we had a nice time. My Uncle Bill catered the meal like normally does – bbq and a side dish of macaroni and cheese. We are all so grateful he does that as it makes getting together so much easier especially for my Aunt and Uncle.

We did the traditional gift exchange game and that was fun. I ended up with yummy See’s candy. My gift contribution was a fuel gift card and chocolate.

For Christmas Eve I will be going over to my cousins for brunch which will be nice. No plans for Christmas Day. They are doing construction on the main road I take to get to my Aunts and the route around is quite a detour.

Me with my Auntie
We frosted some cookies

28 November 2022 A Quest For Answers

Hello to you. Today I had an appt with a doctor at the VA about my swaying situation. He wants to persue a quest for answers through checking my ears and neurology. We brought up the fact I had been tased and want to see if that would have any impact on what’s going on. So we shall see. He’s doing a referral for me through the Elks – I hope they can help me. What pleased both my Aunt and I is that he didn’t just think tapering off medication was the only answer. He is taking the physical into consideration.

It looks like my Aunt and Uncle are interested in going to see Season 3 of The Chosen in the theatre tomorrow. It’s such a good show! By going we would be showing our support.

25 November 2022 Black Bear Diner Thanksgiving

Hello to you, how are you today? I’m doing ok. Yesterday was really nice. My cousin and his wife treated me out to Thanksgiving dinner at the Black Bear Diner in Boise. The meal had the traditional turkey and sides only thing missing was cranberries but we thought may be they ran out. The meal even came with pumpkin pie or ice cream. They got really busy by the time we finished eating so we timed it just right. It was so nice to spend some time with them and get a chance to visit. We got a walk in after we got home – the swaying was going on and Link can’t walk very far so we cut it shorter. What a nice memory we made.

21 November 2022 Birthday and Service

Hello to you today. Hope this finds you well. Yesterday we celebrated my Aunts birthday at Olive Garden and boy was it busy there! It was nice to be together though and the meal was really good. She had the tiramisu for her birthday dessert and shared it.

The birthday girl and my Uncle John

On the way home yesterday I got an alert of low tire pressure so I called Perfection Tire and Repair in town this morning and they said they could help me out first come first serve. They aired up my tires for free! I was so grateful about that! Totally unexpected and appreciated.

15 November 2022 Trees

Hello to you. How are you? Today I’m having a tree trimming service come out and trim my neighbors tree back from my house. It’s amazing how much growth happened over the summer and early fall. It’s not cheap either but needs to be done.

My neighbors tree reaching over to my house

News about Dad is he’s dealing with a UTI (urinary tract infection). Please keep him in your prayers. His name is Larry.

later – think this might be what I’m dealing with for the swaying:

Mal de Debarquement
It literally means sickness of disembarkment. It refers to an illusion of movement felt as an aftereffect of travel on water most frequently. Most individuals will recover following exposure to motion within a few days. It becomes pathological if it persists more than a month. Most patients note a resolution of their symptoms within 12 months. Middle-aged women are most at risk, following exposure to an unfamiliar movement and removal of the stimulus. The pathophysiological process seems to arise from the brain rather than the inner ear. Functional MRI studies suggest that the brain is able to adapt to an unfamiliar movement but is unable to readapt once the movement has stopped. Most commonly, the patients describe their symptoms as rocking, swaying and disequilibrium and rarely a spinning vertigo. The symptoms are worsened when the subject is in an enclosed space or when they are motionless. They feel better when they are moving or driving. Diagnosis is made after taking an appropriate history and after ruling out other disorders that can cause dizziness. There is no single effective treatment for Mal de Débarquement Syndrome. Short-term use of benzodiazepines and may alleviate the symptoms. However, prolonged use may cause delay in the necessary compensation to recover. Vestibular rehabilitation is controversial. Early exposure to motion may exacerbate symptoms. After a variable wait time for spontaneous resolution it can be suggested. The rehabilitation will focus on readjusting the maladapted vestibulo-ocular reflex.