The Little Big Things

Traveled for the first time since the surgery.  I didn’t need a seat belt extender and even had portions of the regular strap hanging off.  And I was sitting in the middle seat.

50 and counting

 

The beast COVID

The beast got me for a second time!

For those of you who have read my first posts, beginning on 4/13/2020, you know I started this blog to document my COVID journey in 2020.  That one was horrific, (A Day In The Life, 4/28/2020), this one not even close, but…

On Wednesday, 11/16/2023, this is what happened:

1.  I kept yawning all day long.

2.  I felt a spasm in my back, so bad I shouted “Shi.”  It was so quick, I didn’t get the “t” out to make the full word.  I haven’t had a backache since the surgery, so that was strange, but it served as a reminder that I do have a problem in the left lower back.  My sister Sandra who stopped by my office mentioned that I was walking with a tilt.

3.  I had 1/4 of a tuna wedge, the same sandwich eaten by seniors in our senior program at work.  Immediately following, I had spasms that felt like labor pains and in quick successions.  They lasted close to 1/2 hour.  I have eaten this sandwich weekly on Wednesdays for the past three weeks, so I knew my stomach could tolerate it. None of the seniors complained about stomach or other issues.

4.  I had a doctor’s appointment and the doctor was delayed.  I fell asleep on the examination table.  The thoughtful nurse turned down the light and covered me with a sheet.

5.  My nose started running that afternoon .

6.  Later at home that evening, I had chills and checked my temperature, which was 100.3.  I took Tylenol and went to bed.

The next morning, I continued to have chills, fever of 102.3, runny nose, coughing, a scratchy throat and the weakness of just feeling ill.  I did an at-home COVID test.  The line was solid and dark - no question about my positive status.  

So what do the spasms in my back and stomach have to do with COVID, I imagine you are asking?  It is my theory that the beast goes to your weak spot and attack. (It Doesn’t Go Away, 4/28/2020).  At my appointment at Mt. Sanai Post COVID Clinic a week ago, the PA and I had talked about COVID attacking your weak spot. 

If having COVID wasn’t bad enough, I passed out in the shower on Friday, 11/17.  I was not injured, but for a scratch on my left pinkie and soreness on my left shoulder and left buttock cheek.  The last thing I remember was feeling dizzy, closing my eyes and then seeing myself lying in the tub.  I was confused as to how I got there and stayed there for a while till the memory of the dizziness came back.  I have no memory of the fall.  It took me a while to pull myself from the bathtub.  Had I still have those extra 40 pounds (yes 40 which I had planned to celebrate in this week’s post) I would not have been able to pull myself out of the tub. My phone was in the bathroom, out of reach, but I just recently found out that I can access Siri from a locked screen.

Sister Sandra and Cousin Maxine (same cousin who was there for me with COVID 1, Drop and Run, 4/25/2020) rushed over to my house, Sandra leaving work to do so and Sister Leonie on the wait in NJ to see if she had to come over to allow Sandra to go back to work.  Maxine took me to the ER.  As with the first time that I passed out that led to my decision for bariatric surgery, the cause was dehydration, (A New Journey, 8/13).  Fever from COVID, a hot shower, not drinking enough water made for a possible deadly combination.

I had  plans for the weekend, Thanksgiving luncheon serving over 250 - I missed it.  I was to have traveled to DC right after to be with my daughter who needed me.  She was there for me with COVID 1, (Let Me Count The Ways, 4/23/2020) and with my bariatric surgery, (A Week Later, 8/21/2023).  I wasn’t there for her.  It wasn’t to be and one day I will know by and by. And then again, I may never know.

It is nothing short of miraculous that I did not injure myself.  Mother, Father God, the Universe, my ancestral mother and father were all there protecting my head.  There are horror stories about people hitting their heads and bleeding out. I had finished showering and had moved to the end of the tub, away from the shower heads to where my towel was and where I would dry off.  Had I still been in the area of the shower and bath heads… 

Gratitude!

The Old and New

 

My current and old emoji.  I am not just slimmer, I am younger.  Hah!  How did that happen!!  More pep in my steps, a new lease on life, I am healthier, I have more energy.  

Previously, some people would ask why I aged myself so much in my emoji, with all those wrinkles.  It was how I saw myself.  I am not now  thinking I am as young as the emoji depicts or will ever be, but I am at a more positive place in my life and mind.

I believe I can fly. 

An obsession…

 …with my waist.

Shadow of me, 10/26/2023.  Look at that waistline.  

Storytelling

On Saturday, 10/28/2023, I shared my journey through storytelling at a Tea Party hosted by my sister, Leonie at her home in New Jersey.

Heather's Kitchen Is Open

I am cooking again! I had my sister Sandra and cousin Maxine over for dinner on Saturday and my brother from another mother, Ian and his lady friend Gina, on Sunday.  I even baked a banana bread and made sorrel (a drink brewed from dried hibiscus).  I made enough of everything for them to have take out containers for dinner the next day.  

This is huge.  I cooked AND baked AND brewed with NO backache.  In between all of this, I did laundry, washed windows, vacuumed, dusted and cleaned. No backache!  Energy level on high! The old old Heather, of many years ago, is back!  Hallejuah!

It's not that I haven't been cooking, because I have, but just for myself, once or twice per week.  I bring lunch to work, but since I eat such small portions, I freeze most of it.  Cooking for others bring me joy and I am happy that I can once again. 

In the first photo below, notice the light beaming through my side.  That is called a waistline!  You probably can't see it, but the flabs in my upper back are disappearing.