by Judy Handley | Feb 3, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 34: New Refrigerator
Date: Saturday, February 3, 2024
Weather: Overcast, With One Peep of Sunshine; High Temp 35, Low 27 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
The excitement today was getting a new refrigerator. When it was decided that I was going to have back surgery, Lynda Onthank, the friend who owns this house that I rent, offered to buy a new refrigerator. The old refrigerator had a freezer up top. This meant that every time I had to get something out of the refrigerator below, I had to bend down. I rearranged things so that there was nothing I needed often on the bottom shelves, but still it was difficult. The new refrigerator is shiny stainless steel on the front with gray sides. It is a side-by-side with the freezer at the bottom. I do not have to bend to get anything out of the refrigerator and can use my grabbers to get things out of the freezer. It is going to make life so much easier. Thank you, thank you, Lynda.
But getting ready for the new refrigerator delivery meant I needed help getting everything out of the old. Heather came over late morning with coolers and took everything out of the freezer and refrigerator and either put things in the coolers or on the counter. We knew the delivery would be sometime between noon and 2 pm, so nothing was going to spoil sitting on the counter for a bit. As soon as all the food was out and the refrigerator moved so she could clean behind it, she left to do things at her house, with a promise to return when she got my text that the new refrig was in place. It was almost 2 pm by the time it was in place and ready for food, so Heather came back and helped me arrange things. The refrigerator doesn’t look much bigger than the old one, maybe a bit taller, but there is so much more room inside.
When Heather left, it was definitely time for me to lay down for a bit. The excitement today might have been the refrigerator, but the joyous news was that the pain I experienced last evening went away and has not returned. I have continued to wear an ice pack at least 20 minutes every hour or two, and that seems to have solved the issue. But I have promised myself to lie flat on my back for at least an hour each afternoon for at least another couple of weeks, in addition to wearing the ice packs. I did not attempt to take a walk today. I walked Shadow in the yard and will go back to the quarter mile walk around the block tomorrow.
Just as I was getting up from my afternoon rest time (that sounds more acceptable than nap time to me), Heather called. She was going to the Homespun Garden sale at the Congregational Church and wanted to know if I wanted to tag along. Homespun Garden was one of three stores on Main Street that were affected by the fire on Main Street on January 2. Heather wanted to support the local business by attending the sale. I went yesterday morning when the sale began, but it was so crowded with people that I just turned around the left. Covid has left me with a healthy fear of being in a room packed with people. But there were just a few people there this afternoon as most of the inventory had been sold. But Heather and I both found a few things to purchase. After one other stop, we intended to head home. But when we saw the red sails on the sunset, we decided to drive down to Falmouth Heights Beach to get a better look.
Beautiful sunset on another overcast day with just a peep of sunshine late afternoon. When we returned to my house, we took the opportunity to just sit and talk about life. The two of us don’t get an opportunity to just visit very often. We didn’t solve any of the world’s problems, but we did order sushi pick up and had a great dinner.
by Judy Handley | Feb 2, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 33: Slow Down
Date: Friday, February 2, 2024
Weather: Overcast; High Temp 43, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
My body gave me a huge screaming message today, “Slow down.” I know I did too much yesterday, but when I got up this morning everything was fine. However, by 11 am I was so sleepy I had to take a nap. That seemed strange. Then I put on that knee brace and took Shadow for a longer walk than usual. The return trip home was tough. My legs just didn’t want to keep going. When I got home, I laid flat on my back and took another nap. It was when I got up from that nap that I felt THE pain. THAT pain, the nerve pain in my left hip. It was time to fix dinner and it was painful to stand, but I put an ice pack on my back and continued. The ice pack helped. All I can figure is that I have been trying to do too much which has caused swelling in my back. The swelling pushes on those nerves and causes the pain. I find a little bit of hope in the fact that the ice packs tonight have helped. I also stopped taking Tylenol a couple of days ago, so I have started taking that again. But the main thing I am going to do is to dial back the activity and hope I have not done irreparable damage.
by Judy Handley | Feb 1, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 32: A Taste of Normal
Date: Thursday, February 1, 2024
Weather: Overcast; High Temp 40, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
So, it has been a little more than two weeks since my surgery and I have been focusing on healing. But today I got a taste of my normal activity level. I had an Encore meeting here at my house at 9:30 am, had phone calls from Falmouth Hospital Rehab to set up an assessment and follow-up PT sessions in March and April, fixed and ate lunch, and suddenly it was time to head to Hyannis for an appointment with my knee surgeon’s assistant. I was to get a cortisone shot in my right knee and then meet with the specialist who fits and trains people on proper fitting of braces, a knee brace in my case. I have had the brace for a year, maybe two, but have not really used it because it hurts and always slid down my leg. After 15 minutes with brace specialist, I was good to go. I now know what I was doing wrong and hopefully wearing it on walks with Shadow will allow me to slowly build back up to walking a mile, then two..
My appointment was in Hyannis and since I have barely been out of the house for two weeks, I had a list of places I needed to go. On the list was Job Lot for flower pots, Home Depot for a board to put in my bathroom to mount the towel rack I pulled off the wall just after the surgery, and Whole Foods for fresh veggies and tea. I didn’t get home until 4:30, with barely enough time to take Shadow out to play before dark. Then I had a quick dinner and went to a 7 pm Newcomers DEI Committee meeting as I am the Encore representative. It lasted almost two hours, so I just got home.
Whew! How quickly one can forget just how crazy life can be. I have been living in my little bubble and just letting the world pass by. I don’t intend for all days forward to be as intense as today, but when I look at my calendar, I see lots of things for next week. But now it is time to sit down and relax.
by Judy Handley | Jan 31, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 31: Reading the Day Away
Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Weather: Overcast; High Temp 34, Low 30 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
I have been reading The Covenant of Water, which is a wonderful book, but very long and serious. A few days ago, I switched to reading my February book club selection and after reading the day away today, I finished it. The name of the book is Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, but it is more about the lives of a diverse group of young people who interact with Vera. She is a hoot.
We were back to zero sunshine today and the temp hovered to close to 32 degrees F for my liking. Tomorrow and Friday are a bit warmer, but rain comes with the relative warmth. Then we have another week of freezy temps. I’m still looking for that beauty, but it is escaping me!
by Judy Handley | Jan 30, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 30: The Dead of Winter
Date: Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Cold; High Temp 33, Low 24 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
Okay. When I took Shadow for his morning walk, I tried hard to find something beautiful to brighten my day. All I found were dead plants everywhere except for my garden where the Swiss chard is still trying to survive. It did look beautiful,
but generally my search left me thinking that the term “the dead of winter” describes best what I saw today. When I searched that term, I learned that historical average temperatures typically reach their lowest point of the year between January 10 and February 10. So, I am going to hibernate until Valentine’s Day and hope that by then the temperature rises just a little. Today just felt too cold for me.
I took Shadow to his grooming appointment, did a couple of laundry loads, read a little, and watched another two episodes of Growing Floret. That was it for my day.
by Judy Handley | Jan 29, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 29: Looking for the Beautiful
Date: Monday, January 29, 2024
Weather: Snow Flurries, Icy Mix; High Temp 38, Low 26 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
Yesterday lasted longer than I would have liked, and this morning started way too early. For a person who never has trouble going to sleep, last night I just couldn’t, so I read my way into today. Then in the middle of the night, I woke up and the whole house generator was running. I got up to go to the bathroom, and the kitchen stove and microwave clocks were flashing. There was obviously a power outage, but no problem with the generator except that it is noisy which makes going back to sleep difficult. The result being that I did not get a good night’s sleep.
When I did get up, there were snow flurries coming down and it stayed that way most of the day. Sometimes it was much more of an icy mix. But not a hint of sunshine again today. Out of the last ten days, only two have been sunny. But the last seven days have been overcast, rainy, or snowy. I am ready for some sunshine, but that did not come today. But my friend Olga brought lunch over today and we spent a couple of hours talking about her three- month honeymoon in the early 1950’s biking through Europe and staying in youth hostels. She has led a fascinating life, and her stories did bring a little sunshine.
My friend Lynne in New Zealand wrote tonight begging me to limit my activities for the next month and just let my body heal. She suggested that I read books, binge on TV shows, and nap. And I was so proud to text back that I really am trying to do just that. I am reading two books at once, bouncing back and forth depending on my mood. I am watching a documentary Detta recommended called Growing Floret. It is about a young couple, Erin and Chris, who have put their hearts and souls into growing their flower farm in Washington state. In Season 1, Episode 3 tonight, I loved this quote from Erin: “You can make something beautiful (from nature) anytime of the year if you just look, if you just get curious and start poking around in your garden, just start looking around your neighborhood … there is something beautiful happening in nature every month of the year.” With all the dreariness in the past few days, I have lost sight of the beauty. I will look harder tomorrow.
Beautiful sunset on another overcast day with just a peep of sunshine late afternoon. When we returned to my house, we took the opportunity to just sit and talk about life. The two of us don’t get an opportunity to just visit very often. We didn’t solve any of the world’s problems, but we did order sushi pick up and had a great dinner.
