This has been such a yucky summer! Nothing bad has happened to us, that's not what I mean. Nothing good, nothing bad, just blah. It's just in terms of essential summer-ness, this has been a sucky one, and it keeps getting suckier. (And yes, I know the terms "sucky," "suckier," "sucks," etc., refer to fellatio and were originally an anti-gay slur or an anti-woman slur (because who performs fellatio, right?), but I think that meaning is so far in the background that it's OK to use the words now. I could be wrong. I don't care. It's too hot to care.)
It's been so hot, so dry, such awful air quality. We've been trudging along, eating, sleeping, fighting, spending too much time on our devices, waiting until it's cool enough to turn the fan on at night, taking endless showers, turning the fan off again in the morning. Paying bills, going to the grocery store, doing laundry, feeding the cats, and scooping the litter boxes. Making to-do lists and then not doing the things on them. Watching the progress of the local fires on the Watch Duty app and the website for the Boulder Office of Disaster Management.
Nothing fun. No real enjoyment. Teen B expressed interest in going to the Denver Botanic Gardens a few weeks ago, but it's been too hot. I keep mentioning the possibility of a movie, but there's nothing in the theater that anybody really wants to see (other than "Inside Out 2" which we saw in June). Teen B's class is over, so he doesn't have that to challenge him anymore (not that it did -- but I guess it challenged ME), and Teen A never did manage to get a job, so the only worthwhile thing he did this summer was get his license (which he still hasn't used -- has not driven once since getting it -- but at least he has it).
Between the heat and the terrible air quality, from all the fires this past week (mostly under control now, thank goodness), I haven't been walking. The last walk I took was last Sunday. So that's bad. It should be a little cooler this coming week, so maybe I'll be able to get out. We might even get some rain.
Mainly the heat has been sapping all our energy, making us more and more grumpy, and the lack of rain is kind of scary. We've continued to water the front lawn a little, and it has some green in it now. All my neighbors are talking about getting rid of their junipers, which are apparently a huge fire hazard. Last summer I worked hard on our junipers, but this summer, mainly because of this drug I'm taking, Mounjaro, I haven't had the energy to do anything with them. And we don't have the money to pay someone to take them out. This past Friday I paid the car insurance bill for the next six months: $3015 (that's with the paid-in-full discount). In the old days I think it was less than $1000. I should probably look at some old bills, but that's what I remember. The house insurance was over $1000, the car insurance was under $1000, like maybe $700 or $800. It went up this time for three reasons: (1) car insurance rates have gone up in general, mainly due to uninsured drivers; (2) our new car, which is ONLY 9 years old; (3) Teen A getting his license.
$3015 twice a year is a lot of money for us. After Rocket Boy retires, I don't know if we'll be able to afford that. Something to think about, six months from now.
So anyway, yeah, I can't afford to hire someone to remove our junipers. I just look at them (mostly out the window), and wish they would vanish.
I might be feeling a little more cranky than usual today because I threw up last night, around 3 am or so, after struggling with heartburn and nausea for a couple of hours and finally giving up. Food is continuing to be a problem for me in terms of nausea and lack of appetite, but I haven't thrown up in a while. It's my fault, too -- we went to IHOP and I forgot to take one of my little digestive enzyme pills before I ate. I chose IHOP because they have a "55+" menu, and those dishes tend to be smaller. I ordered a BLT with fruit as my side. But it was a larger sandwich than I was expecting, and a larger bowl of fruit, and Teen B gave me the avocado out of his sandwich, so that was some additional fat. I don't know. All I know is that around 3 am I was in the bathroom, throwing up about seven times into the wastebasket. The kids didn't even say anything to me this morning (they usually comment if the wastebasket is upside down in the bathtub after being rinsed out). They're tired of me being sick, I'm tired of me being sick.
So, I lost a little more weight this week, though I suspect one of those pounds was from being sick.
- Weight the morning I took my first shot: 254.6
- Weight last Sunday: 246.4
- Weight this morning (after 7+ weeks on Mounjaro): 244.4
This means I'm officially down 10 pounds. Whee.
Next Friday I have to go up to 5 mg (I've been on 2.5 mg/week for 8 weeks). It will probably not be pretty.
Another dumb thing that happened this week is that I slept in some funny position and ended up with terrible pain in my neck on the right side. I babied it for a day, hoping it would fix itself overnight, but instead it intensified, so I turned to
Pain Free by Pete Egoscue, my bible for fixing musculoskeletal pain. Usually I use it to help me with my back, in the past I've occasionally used it for knee pain, but I couldn't remember having ever used it for neck/shoulder pain. But the exercises are not that different for the different body parts. It was very hard to get down on the ground to do some of them, but when I'd finished the sequence for necks, my neck felt MUCH better and I could turn it in both directions.
However, it's continued to bother me a little. I have good mobility now, but there's this pain that vibrates from my head down my neck to my shoulder occasionally (like just now). I feel as though I must have injured something those first two days and it's going to take a while to heal.
You know, by next week I will probably be feeling better about all this. Today is supposed to be our hottest day, although I think they've already revised the numbers downwards a little. Mid 90s, not 98. After today we're predicted to have three more days in the low to mid 90s, but then after that, starting Thursday, the temps should drop significantly. Thursday's high is currently predicted to be 79. I could really use some 79 degrees! Also, there's a good chance we're going to get some rain. We REALLY need rain.
So, what else is happening this coming week, other than (we hope) lower temperatures and increased moisture? On Tuesday I am supposed to get my braces off. This is something I have been looking forward to for two and a half years, ever since they were put on. But because of my generally low mood right now, I've decided that they're going to change their minds when I get there and not take them off after all. Dr. Walker told me to wear my bands every chance I could this month, and I just haven't been doing that. I've worn them maybe half a dozen times. They have been giving me a headache (probably related to congestion from the bad air) or making me nauseated (the Mounjaro), so mostly I don't even try, or I take them off after a few hours.
I think I'm so excited about getting my braces off that I'm psyching myself up for something to go wrong. We'll see. I did buy myself an apple at the grocery store, just in case I do get them off. What I'm really looking forward to is being able to floss. Two and a half years of food stuck in my back teeth. Gaaah.
And next weekend is Rocket Boy's and my 22nd wedding anniversary. He sent his card weeks ago and I opened it, thinking it was my lost birthday card (which did finally come, but after the anniversary card). I thought I hadn't gotten him a card yet, but I just looked and I do have one, so I need to get that in the mail. Maybe next summer we'll be able to celebrate in person.
It's going to be the twins' last full week of summer vacation before school starts on the 15th, so I'll ask them if there's anything they want to do. Maybe if it cools down a little, they'll think of something.
No comments:
Post a Comment