Here I am…!

No, I haven’t died and gone to heaven…or hell, for that matter. I have been quite busy…distracted really. Doctor’s visits, seeing the Chiropractor (my back keeps getting screwed by my activity), and trying to keep up with the lawn. NEVER fertilize grass, unless you want to spend your life pushing a lawn mower. At this point, I’d like brown grass, so I could ignore it!

I also conducted a funeral for a completely non-church family, who were actually vaguely hostile to “church.” I kept telling them that they didn’t need a minister to have a funeral, but they wanted to have some sense of a person ‘in control’ of things, although I controlled very little. I got involved through a friend who begged me to help them. Since I believe that every person deserves a decent burial, no matter what they do, or don’t, believe, I said yes. It was an ‘interesting’ experience…!

I had some computer trouble, so our friendly, neighbourhood techie came over an bailed me out, and gave me the news that my hard drive is dying, and that a new Mac is (hopefully) in my future soon…by summer’s end, likely.

Around Canada Day (July 1) I got the news that I was almost finished Cardiac Rehab, from which I will successfully graduate in a week or so. I went out and bought my own set of weights, so I could continue the upper bodywork – part of rehab – on my own. About the same time, I pulled a muscle in my calf while walking, and have unable to walk more than a kilometer or so since. I know from past experience with muscle strains, from my running days, that it slowly heals, and that you have to keep exercising, but moderately. I’m trying to do that.

On the up side of recovery, I’m back in the pool big time. Exercise classes, and –finally – swimming! I discovered that swimming is like running. You have to start small. The first night I managed two widths of the pool before I was breathless! But I had no chest pain, so I’m ready to keep working on the water work. In time, I’ll swim a full length, and then I’ll just keep on until I reach my goal (1 km) or die, which ever comes first!

The Word Cup of Football is one (“Mundial!”), so I spend a bit of each game day watching the game. I watched the heartbreak of Chile coming so close to defeating the Brazilians, and the Costa Rican team taking Holland all the way to penalty kicks before succumbing. This time around I’m negative on Brazil, so I hope the Germans beat them on Tuesday. If not that, then I hope they face Argentina in the finale. That would be a game to see!

Our garage renewal is closing in on completion. Floor done, stairs returned, and wall shelves soon to come. Then…the big move! Hauling everything back inform the yard to the garage. Then I’ll be able t unlock the gates again, without fear of neighbourhood thieves. I’ve only had one thing stolen from the yard in over a decade, and that was a high quality garden hose. The thieves thoughtfully removed and left behind, the nozzle, which they apparently didn’t need. So this time around, with the whole contents of the garage in the yard, I locked the three gates. That meant that anyone who wanted to steal something would have to haul it over a five foot steel fence. I felt that my winter ties and snow blower were safe from that activity!

Next week carries some anxiety for me. I begin doing Sunday services for neighbouring churches, and thus preparing for those events. I find that I haven’t the energy for sustained study and writing. The length of this blog is about my limit without a break. So I have work to do, and I have to find the energy to do it. I want to do it, because to be able to do some work again, although realistically, I won’t ever ‘work’ again as I have in the past. Some things are harder to let go than others.

I discovered that, while swimming, I irritated a nerve or muscle on the back of my head. I think, by cranking my head around to the left to breath while I swam. In any case, before I remembered that, I became concerned with head pain, having suffered a stroke 18 months ago. That meant a trip to ER in Wetaskiwin. An almost 5 hour sit waiting to be seen. It’s a busy place on Saturday afternoon! During the examination, I remembered the head twisting, which confirmed the MD’s judgment that no brain problem was involved. I had to return today for a CT scan – another 2 ½ hours of waiting. But I feel more secure with a pulled muscle o nerve irritation than with the possibility of another stroke. I did learn that I carry a number of risk factors for stroke, so I’ll have to watch out for that. (How do you “watch out” for a stoke?)

Tomorrow I have to try and see my own doctor for follow up, but for the moment I’m OK…except I have this pain on the back of my head…. Anyway, that’s me up to the moment. Rehab again on Tuesday and Thursday, and then I think I’m done with the formal stuff. Continue recovery on my own, work steadily and live. I suppose that’s good advice for anyone.