Month: April 2023

#MyGirlL: My 2nd SALTS

I was going to write about this yesterday, but I wasn’t feeling well enough to really think about it but today, as my Mom was walking into my room, I smiled broadly just thinking about it so now, I have to tell you!

This all happened on Friday but Friday was a really rough day for me, but just before I was given dinner, my Mom let Leia out and it was raining so she put her raincoat on. But, then my Mom commented on the fact that her raincoat was not properly a fixed to her and it slipped off of her shoulders!

My Mom opened the door to retrieve the raincoat just as Leia did her business and was coming back in because she does NOT like getting wet! On Friday, I smiled to myself a bit as my Mom told me about Leia’s raincoat falling off of her and her, not wanting to get wet.

I was thinking about that today is my Mom came to get me out of bed and that’s why I was smiling broadly! I do not have a daughter, so it’s fun to spoil her with silly outfits, but she seems to like them now!

Too Much OR “Your Feet are So Small!”

Early this morning, when I was trying to fall to sleep, I had a memory that seriously made me chuckle! I thought that I would not remember my thoughts from early this morning during the day, but I did, and I started to laugh again!!!

Maybe I thought of this memory, because today is Thursday! What I am thinking about or what I was thinking about this morning was the fact that Mr. Flint washed my feet. I think it was in my New Testament class.

I think this memory made me chuckle because when I think about me in high school, I shake my head because I was too much! Way too much! But the fact that that is true, retrospectively makes me feel better. I was absolutely way too much in high school but I loved it and I had fun.

I recently talked with Mr. George and he asked me about my diagnosis and I told him, December 28, 2000. He gasped and asked me incredulously, “Right after high school” and all I could say, in response was a resigned, “Yeah.”

But I had a great time in high school and for my class, Mr. Flint was going to wash people’s feet because we were talking about the Lord’s Passion. I was re-counting the story to my Mom today, and I said to her, I guess holy Thursday has always been a big deal for me!

I remember Mr. Flint told my class that he was going to wash our feet similar to what Jesus did during his passion and I got excited for that! He wrote our names on a piece of paper for him to draw to choose the people whose feet he was going to wash. Then, he if we didn’t want to get our feet washed, will just tell him to pass.

I think he had called six different people’s names, and ALL six of them declined from having their feet washed. Then, he paused a moment, and reluctantly read my name! I acted like I was a contestant on the Price Is Right! I sat toward the back of and I remembered that I jumped up, and started running toward the front, threw my hands over my head, and let out a, “Woo boo!”

I remember that I was so excited and had no problem taking my socks and shoes off at all even though I was at school! I remember that Mr. Flint, when he started to wash our feet as he was explaining the symbolization of what Jesus did,

I do remember him telling me as he was washing my feet, “Your feet are so small!” I remember, laughing and telling him that that’s how big they are!

Executive Decision

So, last night, I felt the hint of a scrape on my lips as I put my Chapstick on before I went to bed. So, this morning, I was too. groggy to deal with it so I threw the old tube out and started my new spring chapstick before we got into the restroom. But then I saw this just after I applied the cucumber mint Chapstick:


I feel a little bit chilly, and I wasn’t sure that I could continue wearing my spring chapstick. I looked through all of my boxes of Chapstick and I had another pomegranate one, so I made the executive decision to go back to wearing pomegranate Chapstick. I think I will try again May 17, that is my naturopath appointment and my haircut.

“Make It Real”

Today, my Mom put compression socks on me for the first time in about a year!!! I had my pressure sores beginning in April 2022. They lasted until November 2022 and they were most painful experience that I have ever had! And that comes after having a knee surgery and then a child via C-section, and then another knee surgery!!!

I thought I knew what pain was! But I was not at all prepared for the eight months of agony last year! But then, they healed, (because my mom is the best caregiver in the world!!!) and I was able to get fitted for and buy three more pair of compression socks on April 20.

My Mom was able to put them on today. She was surprised at how easily they went on! I have gone from a size 3 compression socks back when I tore my hamstring. While I was working out at Barwis. And then I was a size 2 for a couple years and now I am a size 1.

I told my Mom that my legs feel cradled like when I had Kinesio tape on my torn meniscus! I really like it! Today, my Mom said to me just after she put them on, “It’s been a year since you wore them!” You know what song popped into my head and has been playing over and over again since she told me that this afternoon!:

I think I was like five years old and I used to sing the song with the radio all the time!!!

#MyGirlL: My Very First SALTS!!!

I have decided to put a positive spin on the fact that I have awakened to the sound of rain falling on my roof for two days in a row! That definitely has not made me feel good at all! But I can share that yesterday, just as I was waking up and my mom came into my room and told me something that was my very first SALTS!!!

A Facebook friend of mine posted this a few days ago and I thought it was really funny! She said that instead of writing ‘LOL’ That we should write ‘SALTS.’ That stands for (Smiled A Little Then Stopped).

So, my Mom comes into my room yesterday and told me that she was letting Leia out to go to the bathroom and it was damp out but it was not raining so my Mom opened the back door, but Leia just waited for her raincoat.

At first, my Mom didn’t know what was going on but then she realized that she is a diva and HAS TO BE properly dressed! When she told me that, that was the perfect occasion for my very first SALTS!!! I was just waking up, so I was still groggy, and there was precipitation in the air but I was amused!!!

Chapped

So this happened on Wednesday:

Normally, when I am this close to the end of a Chapstick tube, the plunger falls out of the empty tube so therefore, I need to have a “Bag o’ chapstick” which always reminds me of my student who noticed and commented on my “Bag o’ Lotion.”

I am absolutely startled at how quickly I am going through Chapstick but I guess that is part of my progressive disease. My lips feel so chapped all of the time! I amuse myself with all of my different flavors according to season.

I smelled, the hint of spring on Thursday, so once I finish this pomegranate, one, I will move on to my spring flavors!

I Needed Her.

My Mom asked me the date today. I had forgotten this memory until I told her that it’s April 21. It was on April 21, 2022 when I finally realized why my Mom was living with me during the pandemic.

I needed her.

If I recall correctly, and I am almost positive that I am correct, but it was on April 21 last year, my niece, Ysi’s birthday and I remember my Mom leaving my room as I was going to sleep because she had just tended to my ever-growing pressure sores and I think that I was crying. I was crying because they hurt so badly and I think at that time they had not gotten to the biggest point yet.

We just finished “Go Time” for April, and it was more seamless than March, because March was absolutely terrible and I’m still trying to process that right now.

One thing that I will say is that I am just about fully accepting the limitations of my current life. I don’t like it at all but I’m good at it. I am a scheduler and I plan things. I just never thought that would be the extent of my life.

Based on the fact that I needed to re-calibrate and segment my day, because my brain stopped when I tried paying my bills in 30 minutes like I have been for my entire life. I paid my mortgage and signature line today.

I ordered my Amazon and Target orders on Wednesday and Thursday. I had to get my compression socks so I didn’t think about my bills until today. I will pay more over the weekend I think.
my brain is slowing down and it looks like I need her still.