The Sea is a Salty One

Been an odd couple of days. Cutting my blood pressure pill in half did nothing. Still low readings. So I got off, stopped taking it altogether and my pressure came up to normal ranges and I started feeling normal for the first time in two months. Decided yesterday afternoon I needed to have that "Come to Jesus" meeting with my young doctor over the blood pressure meds. I went in with my blood pressure monitoring cuff and my records of readings for the last month. I figured there might be a fight. I was prepared for a fight. I know that doctors hate you going off meds without their approval. But, I was surprised. After all our recent blood pressure discussions, two months worth of records and my description of what happened Friday he said I needed to cut the pill in half, that it might be time for me to get off altogether if the half pill gave me too low of readings. I almost passed out again when he said I'd done the right thing completely stopping the meds for a few ...

So I've had a physically rough day today. My health is a big reason I cannot be too involved in relatives hijinks. I wish them well, I just do not have the energy, which is why I started crying immediately upon hearing of this latest situation. I was thinking,"Oh no, I cannot do this!" Today I fainted and more. This morning I felt fine. I was working on NLQ, preparing a piece for tomorrow written by Michael Pearl where he makes a pretty crazy claim that being angry with your husband is like murdering him, or wanting to murder him. I can honestly say even at my most miffed with Jim it would be more like the throttling Homer Simpson does to Bart than any amount of murder. "Why you little..." I felt good. I made breakfast of grits and eggs, did some laundry, worked on putting back together our personal files that got soaked 8 weeks ago. And then we went back to the clinic and our doctor. Not for me. The day before they'd done my final foot and toe scrapin...

I feel like I should be singing and praising food like the orphans in 'Oliver' in the opening sequences. Today was the first day I was officially off the high powered antibiotics for my MRSA toes and off some of the stroke meds. I didn't feel like I might hurl at any moment. No acid reflux. No pain. No lingering dizzy feeling. No gagging. No repulsion to the very idea of food. About time because I've been living for the past two months on toast, yogurt, bananas, jello, soup, oatmeal and the occasional toasted cheese sandwich. Gagging them down like I was being tortured. Today we ended up going out for the business lunch and I had food, glorious food, and enjoyed it! My stomach has shrunken to the size of a small rock, but it was FOOD! Tonight I get to SHOWER!!!! something  I have only been able to haphazardly do with my foot wrapped in plastic, juggling soap and water to make sure I didn't get water on the bandages. A pain. It will be as glorious as the f...

Been an exciting few days. Epic. Not really, mostly it's been me schlepping around moaning with a blood pressure hovering around 67/50 and more extreme nausea. Like yesterday, when I had to ditch life and just go to bed as soon as we came home from the doctors office at noon. Cannot read, cannot look at the internet, cannot crochet, cannot anything because any movement makes me spew. On the bright side, today is my final day of high powered antibiotics so I'm hoping this means the nausea will fade quickly. Jim has been more amusing than ever lately. Some of it scary, least later after finding out he didn't injure himself. He fell off a ladder. Well, actually the ladder broke under his weight. He's been landscaping the yard after all my medical misadventures makes it impossible for me to do. A couple of months ago we put in a bunch of bougainvillea bushes, the bushes that line our walkway we replaced the failed ones and some other exotic plants. S...

Since one of my relatves to reading here and not answering my pm I have no choice but to anwwer her here, I made a stupid joke here last week in the wake of her personal difficulties.  I joked that I've gotten very worked up and too emotionally involved with her situation and I had decided to sit back to watch what happened next with popcorn and coke. Tacky maybe, but I have used that expression often when dealing with situations I can have zero influence on. It's a dumb joke that I will hereby retire because it hurts people. I have removed that bit from my journal. Never have I ever claimed to be perfect. I'm okay with that. I'm human like everyone else. There is a great deal behind my reaction.  When we first arrived home from the States I was rather worked out. Ask my doctor. I cried copiously and worried for a couple of days over her situation before I realized anew my hands were tied, that the best I could do for her was to allow her to vent to me and possi...

I am getting my ass kicked by the medications for the MRSA combined with the meds for stroke prevention. If throwing up was an Olympic event I would have taken the gold. I cannot sit at the computer more than a few moments without getting nausea and dry heaves. Which is why I didn'[t update NLQ today. They put me on one of the anti nausea drugs they give cancer patients and it's starting to work. Just a little. I kept dinner down. I've had to ditch many of the daily meds I take and concentrate on the most important for the MRSA. I'm turning into a pill head and not the fun kind. Got into a huge argument with my doctor. He started nattering at me about my blood sugar levels, I told him to relax  because I have Metformin and a meter so my levels will go back down as soon as I kick the MRSA. He said stuff about not taking diabetes seriously. I pointed out it only happens when I have MRSA or use certain asthma drugs and I take appropriate steps. He wants to give me an i...

Better today. No foot scraping and for the first time in more than a week I can get a shoe on my hurt foot. Perparing to shower shortly instead of taking a sponge bath. Yay~ We were returning from the clinic this afternoon when our car died. The alternator has been slowly dying, plus the battery we were sold last year isn't big enough to properly power the car. Worst place for breakdown, near the cow pastures about a mile from the gas station. Car would not start, would not even turn over. Honking cars and mucho traffic. Jim already knew that come Monday morning he'd have to take the car in for that alternator change out, but not how quickly it was going south. Here's what blows my mind about Costa Ricans. Within minutes some kind Ticos had stopped, pushed the car off the road and taken Jim down the street to get another battery so we could at least get home and get out to the mechanics in the morning. Was telling a friend about this earlier and she made the comment...

Still spending my days trudging back and forth to the clinic having my toes and foot debrided daily. It really sucks because it involves a young nurse with a glorified razor blade picking off dead skin. I do not recommend it, but then again I do not recommend getting MRSA either. I just cannot catch a break with my health, which makes me wonder if I really still want to be on this planet any longer tossing in pills. Add in that today's confloption involved a doctor I've never seen before coming in to lecture me about my blood sugar levels. Quite the head knocking because every time I get MRSA the sugar levels jump obscenely. The last time the clinic ran my numbers (during the stroke) I was well within normal ranges, like I am most of the time. When I'm having issues like MRSA I have a big old bottle of Metformin my endocrinologist gave me just for such times. Here's the thing that pisses me off about new doctors. Many times they barge in without bothering to loo...

Today between getting my infected foot scraped and napping we had quite the difficult phone calls with relatives involved in the huge confloption going on right now. ` !snipped because I am apparently not allowed to have an opinion, which is unfortunate since I entirely on the side of the relative~~ While all this was going on at the house I looked down and realized that the main diamond on my engagement/wedding ring has fallen out and I have no idea where it is. You would think I would be freaking out, but no, there was something about it that felt right, like a door being closed. The central diamond was a family stone, had been in my mother's wedding ring. It feels like I was severed today from that whole roiling family confloption of drama that keeps on rolling. Two carat diamonds can be easily replaced, if it does not end up turning up some odd place. Your peace of mind cannot. Your integrity cannot, nor can your values.

I learned something important today. Do not bring Jim with you when you go to the doctor and have procedures done. When we flew back to the States last Tuesday I had my foot pretty effectively squashed by a rather fluffy gentleman I'd been talking to during boarding. People lose their damn minds when the plane lands and they open the doors, you'd think that someone was lined up just outside the plane door tossing out million dollar bills the way people push, shove and rush. As I was starting to go down the narrow plane aisle this gent decided I was too slow moving, pushed past and trod on my foot. I yelled 'Ouch' of course, he said "Sorry!" and I thought no damage was done. Not quite. Foot started swelling up and eventually I went to the doctor only to be told I'd broken a toe or three and had a few little hairline fractures of my foot. Wrapped, given narcotics and sent on my way. Told to stay off the foot and prop it up. Never had that kind of pain ...

Traveling. It's been a crazy trip but I return home tomorrow, assuming I survive the lunacy of a 300 pound man stepping on my left foot, breaking several toes and foot bones. They'll be dragging my ass around three different airports tomorrow in a wheelchair. Yep, been that type of a trip. More later.

Just the very beginning of refurnishing the house. So far we've purchased and had delivered mahoghany rockers, chairs and a loveseat along with two teak wood chaise loungers to go on the cement deck next to the hot tub. Squeal! Jim is so tight with a buck that finding him making the decision and shelling out the money is surprising. We need to replace all of the living room furnishings next. After cleaning up the water it looks like the beds and nightstands are fine with no real damage.  The dozen bar stools handmade from Guanacaste wood are fine! My big old dining room set on the patio survived with no damage. We still have some furniture coming from the states, but will need to refurnish the living room and the guesthouse living room. Thinking about more mahoghany and leather furniture. Sometimes simple and tropic like the rockers we bought. This is my rocker at the foot of the bed. Jim's is much taller and bigger. Looks nice next to the intricately carved mahoghany ca...