Part one done

Saw "Meg the Motivator" (afterward, at home, I call her Meg the Merciless!).  Because my heel was taped up in such a fashion, there was no pain, so I sort of overdid it on the weekend and again on Monday. 

No mercy!  Well, a little bit. Was on treadmill for 20 minutes, but a a slightly slower pace than I usually do.  Then off to the "Reformer" (aka pilates machine)  I used to snicker about those things, but I don't any longer! It keeps the spine and hips in proper alignment, so when you do the actions/exercises, it's equal, and helps correct poor posture. Mine poor posture is due to years of a bad disc, and it's subsequent collapse, and having a bad knee.  The realignment isn't fun, or easy, but necessary.

Exhausted, but have to see Dr H, my GP, about getting my anti-seizure meds prescription.  He only gives me two months worth, because of the law.  It's deemed a 'controlled' medication.  Me, I call it the "Three little white tablets a day that keep my body from trying to painfully fold into sharp geometric shapes.  No nap, not yet.

I miss bloggers

And blogging.  I miss web BBS forums. Facebook is a pisspoor substitute.

I have to use two different blog posting software. That in itself isn't a problem, but it's the "not suddenly working" with little (or no) forewarning.

Ok, moving on:

Turns out I don't have plantar fasciitis. I have enthesopathy of the plantar tendon.  It's like having a pebble under then skin, between the tendon and bone of the heel.  To say it's painful would be an understatement.  Physio has found a way to tape the heel and arch of foot and it relieves about 98% of the pain. Problem is, I can't keep my foot taped all the time! ARGH!  Might have to see a podiatrist. Dammit, I'm not old enough to need orthotics!

Onto my rant about Twitter (and what followed).  It would have been nice to have them send an email, or maybe an ironic SMS, to say they were discontinuing being able to receive SMS notifications.  I thought my phone was faulty, went to Telstra to find out why I couldn't send text messages to Twitter, and why my Caller ID was coming up as PRIVATE NUMBER.  The girl there couldn't figure it out, and suggested I recontract early, and see if that and a new sim card would fix it. It did not.  She told me I should call Tech Support (which I did, but that's a different story which I will add after this) What she didn't tell me was recontracting cancelled my "StayConnected" subscription.  I figured out why the Caller ID wasn't working, it was because of Samsung firmware update.  It added a new setting I had to untick.

Moving on again, I called Telstra tollfree number, wade through the most annoyingly voiced menus, the type that make you want to grind your teeth to nubs.  The first time I tried, I got disconnected.  I tried again the following day, made it through all the menus and spoke to "Steve",  wonderful support, and when I told him what happened regarding the recontracting, how I wasn't told that it would lead to the cancellation of my StayConnected, he said to go back to that Telstra shop and speak to the manager.  I will as it will be well within my rights to have this new contract revoked and go back to my original contract, including my StayConnected.

Loki, big grey Bengal of ours, has been ill, twice in as many weeks. He was throwing up. Took him to the vet, he was given a shot of anti-nausea medication, some take home antibiotics,  and bloods drawn for tests.  Nothing nefarious in the blood tests, and he stopped barfing.
 
Then a week later, he started sneezing. Not a lot at first, just a few times. Then a half dozen times a day, then so often I called the vet.  Exam and nasal swab taken.  Antibiotics (again) and an anti-inflammatory.  

After a few days, his nose dried out, but he still sneezed, just not as often, or as hard. As Alan described, "He lifted his head, opened his mouth, his eyes would cross, and then he would sneeze two or three times.".  

Call back about the nasal swab results: as yet unidentified bacteria, but it would react/die with the antibiotic he was given.  Brought him back in to the vet this morning for a follow up.  Sneezing a few times, but not constantly, and also no more nasal discharge.  The bacteria was identified, and it's no biggie. 

Consensus was that the smoke from the controlled burn off, people using woodstoves, pollen from all the wonderful blossoming trees/flowers, and using the heat triggered his allergies into overdrive.

Other than that, I haven't been bored. This "Self Isolation" and "Social Distancing"... I've been stuck doing it for the past 2 years because of car accident, followed by pneumonia, then seizures, and to top it off more surgery.  Who knew my life was called "Quarantine"? 

He's back to Simon the Sadist

By his choice, not mine.  He agreed, though, with the logic of the moniker.
  
Logic train: His job is to hurt people (via therapeutic massage). He stabs them with needles. 

He enjoys his job which causes pain = Sadist.

Was rough session, stabbed with needles this on the front and back of this most troublesome of lower legs!  Have new stretching exercises for the plantar fasciitis. Fun! yay. :p

Bummed out today.  Jared's birthday today. He would have been 45.  I wasn't supposed to outlast him.  Just doesn't feel or seem right.

Submitted myself to voluntary torture

Saw Meg the Motivator, exercise supervisor/merciless  and Simon the Sadist yesterday, meaning I am on hurtin' unit today.

I pushed myself to do all the exercises, even though my left leg is shaking like a leaf in the wind.

After session with Meg, I saw Simon. He unerringly put his thumb exactly where my shin hurt, and because I didn't expect it, as a reflex, I swatted his hand away. *sheepish grin* I couldn’t apologise enough. He said no worry, he had been hit harder, and he should've been quicker. He then checked the problem I have my heel hurting. Yeah, it 's plantar fasciitis. He's surprised that it hadn't been referred to him as an injury, seeing as I have been dealing with it since January. After some work on my calf, he examined my heel.

Of COURSE I can't have the usual type of PF, mine is directly in the center of my heel. My foot is taped up in a way to help with the PF.

While entering my next appointment, Simon asked if I could choose another name, other than Simon the Sadist, as Meg hurts me just as much, but she has MOTIVATOR. I got a laugh out of it. I did ask “You do deliberately cause pain, and stab me with needles.”  He agreed that is true. I told him would think about it.

I thought about it after I got home, and yeah, I will now call him ‘Simon the Sensible’.

My Memorial to Jared Johnson.

My Memorial to Jared Johnson​

I first met Jared, almost 28 years ago, when he was, 17, and the sys-op of "The Cat's Meow" BBS.  His handle was RedWolf.  Despite our age differences, we did become great friends.  He and my oldest son, Paul, were very close, more like brothers than just friends.  Alan, my youngest son, called him Uncle Jared.

This friendship held true. When Paul went to CT for vacation, Jared was the one that picked him up at the bus station. And Jared was there again, when Paul moved back up to Connecticut. Jared was there for me when I left an abusive husband.

I moved to NY, and was doing ok, until an injury and job loss threw everything into a tail spin. Because I had no income, I had eviction proceedings, and the state of NY were circling to take Alan away because I would have no home, no food. I made a frantic phone call. Paul and Jared came to NY and picked Alan up and brought him to where his brother lived with Jared, in CT. Those social workers were pissed off because I told them Alan was with his brother. They demanded to know what his name was and where he was. I replied "Paul is an adult, 19 years old, and Alan's legal guardian if in case of my not being able to care for him. I know if you got your hooks into him, it would be a cold chance in hell for me get to him back." Yeah, they were pissed off.

After I got myself squared away, we kept in touch over Yahoo, ICQ and AIM all the time.. well, spare time.

Even when I moved to Australia, we retained that contact. Then AIM vanished, and ICQ for all intents and purposes cacked it, too. Skype came in handy, but the time difference made for interesting schedules for calls.

So, there was Facebook posts, Yahoo (until they shut down)  and  FB Messenger. He never once mentioned he was ill. Not once. I'm of two minds about that; one, that I wouldn't have been able to do anything to help, and two, I would have moved heaven and earth to see him before left us. Paul said I'm better off remembering him the way he was, in the photo I have of him.

And with much tears, typing through 'salty goggles', is the synopsis of my friendship with Jared. I loved him dearly, as if he were one of my own. My original "Un-Son". I will miss his kindness, his sensitivity, his sense of humor. The world is a less bright place without him here.

Be at peace.

And the hits just keep coming

Jared Johnson, my original Un-Son, who was one of the most gentle, kind, selfless beings to walk the planet, passed away yesterday from esophageal cancer. Paul, my eldest son, contacted me and told me about his passing. He got to see Jared before he died, and got to talk to him. Jared was ready, he was tired.   He was only 44.  He was so selfless, and didn't want anyone to worry,  he didn't let anyone know he was ill, and right until last week was posting cute and funny things on Facebook. To say I am gutted would be an understatement.   I only have one photograph of him, and that is how I will always remember him. Human slave to cats, and a very kind and loving human being.

I will miss him forever.

Umm ow?

Physio/Exercise session.  As willing as I am to do these (ask Meg the Motivator aka Meg the Merciless) 

A lot of the pain I am feeling is the exercises and tortures are correcting years worth of bad posture created due to pain.  It's amazing how the human body with adjust to things that aren't quite right.  Have a sore knee, you favor one side, dipping one shoulder down, slightly flexing the spine.  Have a sore back, you hold a position that causes the least amount of pain.

All the things I'm doing at SporTreat id correcting decades of me adjusting to a slowly calcifying disc, its collapse, then right knee going, surgical replacement, then then left knee starting to go.

For now, although I hurt from the neck on down, I am sitting without bowing my shoulders or rounding my back. Both feet are facing the right direction.   Yay?