Plucky Abbey

Abbey, the tiny girl we adopted from the county shelter in April, has been a wonderful addition to our family.

You may remember when I was still blogging in May that Abbey seemed to have some health issues. The vet would not spay her because she was anemic and her white cell count was also low.

I don’t know how many times they took her blood from May through July. They tested it there in their office and sent it to an outside lab for testing. She kept showing up anemic. The vet believed that she probably had cancer or perhaps a genetic problem.

All the while, Abbey was racing around the house, jumping, playing. Bright eyed.

I was convinced, as was Larry, as was the vet, that something was probably seriously wrong with her. But all the tests the vet ran came back negative for problems. So the vet referred us to the small animal hospital at the veterinary school at Virginia Tech for a bone marrow aspirate. We would get a definite answer from that, she said.

We took her there on July 21. The vet/professor and students that examined her were puzzled.

“That’s a healthy cat,” the vet/professor said.

Before doing the bone marrow test, they said they wanted to test her blood first. I was sure they would find the anemia. I had no reason to believe they wouldn’t.

They took her back for the procedures, and Larry and I wandered into Blacksburg to tool around and eat. It was going to be a long day.

As we were finishing up our lunch, my cell phone rang. The vet school said Abbey was ready to be picked up. That she was fine.

When we got back to the hospital, they told us that Abbey’s red cell count was well within normal limits. She was not anemic. Her white cell count was low, but the vet/professor said he was not worried about that in a cat so young.

Larry and I were practically speechless. We expected to hear many things that day, but not that our Abbey was healthy.

We asked how she could have shown up anemic over and over. They said that they took her blood directly from her into the lab. They hypothesized that the sedation she was sometimes under at the local vet’s may have skewed the results. Or not enough blood was taken and the results were skewed by the substance that preventing clotting in the tube. So even the outside lab showed skewed results.

It took us a while to process that Abbey was OK. We were overjoyed. Abbey had her spay in August and has gained weight. She’s still an active little girl.

And yes, we have questioned the wisdom of staying with the same local vet. The anemia issue plus some other things with her and Chase Bird have led us to the decision that we’re probably going to be finding another vet.

Right now, Abbey is going through a hard time because of Chase Bird. She’s eating and running around, but she’s also lying around more and is quieter, less playful. She also looks for Chase Bird. That breaks my heart.

But Abbey is a plucky little soul. We look forward to many years of her companionship.

See you Monday!

A Review of 2014: The Year of Adventure

I hope those of you who celebrate Christmas had a wonderful and peaceful holiday! Larry and I had a quiet but very enjoyable time.

It’s hard for me to believe that this is the last post I will write in 2014. The years go by so quickly now!

Before the start of 2014, I chose a word to guide me through the year: Adventure. I did have some adventures during the year, some fun and exciting, some not-so-fun but life-changing, some big, some small.

Here are some of my adventures in 2014:

January: I opened a freelance editing business.

February: I started thinking about and making notes to write a mystery novel. I went sledding for the first time in years and had a blast!

One of my favorite photos from 2014. It was taken by Larry.

March: I covered the Group 1A boys basketball finals in Richmond and wrote a story about it—me, a non-sportswriter.

April: Larry and I started our first garden in the raised bed.

The raised bed garden in June.

May: I did an interview for a story on OCD and scrupulosity on CNN.com.

June: Relationships with family members changed forever.

July: I started to knit. I went on a ride-along with a deputy with the county sheriff’s office.

Chase Bird doesn't seem to think too highly of my knitting.

September: I made an adjustment in my medications that made a big, positive difference in my depression. I didn't start talk therapy as I planned. I put that off until 2015 because of scheduling problems.

October-November: I started and finished physical therapy for a problem that remains to be diagnosed for sure: Neck? Shoulder? Both?

November: Larry and I tried authentic Japanese food for the first time. We found snow at the Peaks of Otter on Thanksgiving Day.

One adventure I worked on the whole year was reading. Yes, reading is always an adventure for me. I set a goal to read 24 books. I thought that was manageable and not so high that I would set myself up for failure.

I actually went over my goal and read 27 books. That might end up being 28 for 2014 since I’m currently reading one of my Christmas books.

I read a lot of articles and essays, too.

All but three of the books I read fall into the mystery/thriller category. I’m not sure what that says about me. Yes, I love mysteries. But maybe I needed some escape time, too.

Of the mysteries, 15 of them were by John Sandford. I discovered him last Christmas, and as you can guess, I found his stories captivating.

Here are the three nonfiction books I read:

The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness. By Elyn R. Saks.

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation. By Palmer J. Parker.

Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets the Glittering World. By Shirley Hershey Showalter.

I’m not sure yet what number of books I will set as a goal for 2015, but it will be higher than 24 or even 27. And I hope to include more nonfiction books.

So there’s a quick overview of 2014, one that in no way reflects the complexity of life. I am glad to put 2014 behind me.

On Thursday, let’s talk about 2015.

Readers, what one word sums up your 2014?

Feeling strong physically and mentally

Last week, I “graduated” from physical therapy I was having for a pinched nerve in my neck. I didn’t receive a diploma, but I received a cool T-shirt that says “Physical Therapy Brings Motion to Life” and a sheaf of papers showing me the different exercises I need to continue to do on my own.

More important than any diploma is the strength that I found in physical therapy.

Darius, Katie, and Kyle made up my  PT team.

Different people in my family and in Larry’s family have, over the years, given physical therapy a bad name. In my opinion, they haven’t seemed to take it seriously and have seemed to view it as something to get through—to go through the motions—before what was really desired could happen: surgery.

I was determined that I was not going to have that attitude.

Surgery is sometimes needed. It’s sometimes the best option. But if other, less invasive, options are possibly in the end just as effective, why not try them and give them our best shot?

My orthopedic doctor was very clear with me about my options and even wrote out a list: medication, physical therapy, epidurals, surgery. He circled medication and physical therapy and said we would start with those.

I pointed to the word surgery on the paper and told him I had no plans for that.

“Work hard in therapy, OK?” he said.

And I did. I have done the stretching exercises at home and the movement exercises at PT, lifting weights, pulling on resistance bands, lying on my stomach while I lifted my affected arm over and over.

And I received so much encouragement from the staff at the rehab center. They had such positive attitudes. They challenged me physically and celebrated with me as I became stronger.

And I saw how they treated other patients. Sometimes I could see pain in the faces of people as they struggled to get better. The therapists and assistants were partners in that journey.

At the end of each PT session, I used the cervical traction machine. It was in a room off the main area where most of the therapy was done.

As I lay on the table and had my head pulled away from my neck (sounds painful, but it actually felt good), I could hear sounds from the main room. I heard therapists and assistants asking other patients how they were, expressing sympathy, setting out plans, counting out exercises, encouraging them.

What a positive place to be, I thought.

I still have pain. It got worse after I stopped taking prescription NSAIDS. But it’s not as bad as it was. And my muscles in and around my shoulders and neck are getting stronger. I know more about how my posture affects how I feel.

I had a talk with the main physical therapist on my last day, and we discussed future options. He assured me that I could get better.

That helped strengthen my belief that I have a lot of control in my recovery. There is a lot I can do to get better. And isn’t that true with anything in life, physical, mental, and emotional? We don’t have control over everything, but we can do our best with what we do have control over.

Now I’m going to work on my strength at the Altavista YMCA, where Larry and I are members. My plan is to go over today after I finish at the newspaper office and sort out which machines will work the right muscles. I also have elastic bands to work with at home.

And I am going to get even stronger.

In what ways are you trying to get stronger?

Random 5 Friday

Happy Friday! I’m joining Random 5 Friday, a wonderful meme started by and coordinated by Nancy of A Rural Journal.

One

Thank you for all the kind comments regarding Larry’s trip to the ER. He’s doing fine now. He (finally) called his regular doctor today to make an appointment for follow-up as advised by the ER docs. His regular doctor is out of town until week after next, so he’ll have to wait a couple of weeks to see him.

Two

The HVAC contractor is coming over at 7:30 this morning to start replacing the heat pump, so I’ll be up and out early to get to the office.

He told Larry it would take about three days to install it. We’re scratching our heads over that one. Apparently they are not going to put in three full days on it. Today they are just going to measure and plan, I think, because he said he didn’t want to leave a mess over the weekend.

Three

During this heat-pump-installation opportunity, Larry wants to install attic steps into the crawl space over the den where the heat pump apparatus is. He’s going to work on that this weekend. My job—I’ve been told—will be to help lift the steps to the hole in the ceiling so Larry can attach them.

I am not particularly adept at jobs like this. Do you like home repair or renovation projects?

Four

I hope to have my website for my editing business ready to go live by Monday. It has certainly been a learning experience, buying a domain name and creating a website.

Five

I have not been taking many photographs lately. It seems like either the weather doesn’t cooperate or it’s dark outside.

If I take photos inside, they are usually of Chase Bird. I think he’s growing a bit weary of seeing the camera lens pointed in his direction.

What have you been photographing lately?

A scare, and maybe a wake-up call

A favorite picture of Larry.

Long story short, all is well.

Yesterday started out just another Tuesday. Layout day at the paper. A busy day, a long day, but a normal Tuesday.

When Larry called me a little before noon, I thought he was calling me to see if I was ready for lunch.

“You doing OK?” I asked, without even thinking about it.

“Well, I don’t know,” he said.

“What’s wrong?”

“I know it’s your busy day at work, but I think I need you to take me to the doctor,” he said.

He had been to the Y, walking on the track. He planned to walk for 45 minutes. During minute 44, he felt what he described as a “thump” around his heart, got dizzy and felt like he was going to pass out.

He was able to lean up against the wall, then sat down for a while before going home. He thought maybe he needed to see a doctor.

I rushed home.

A little background. Larry has had several episodes over the last few months where he felt weak and dizzy. Sometimes he felt pressure in his chest, but he thought it was his hiatal hernia and heartburn. He wouldn’t go see the doctor.

I knew that if he was asking me to take him to the doctor, he thought something was wrong. Which meant, to me, that something really might be wrong.

I insisted on taking him to the emergency room. There was no need to take the time to go see the doctor, I said.

Larry wouldn’t let me call EMS. And he didn’t want me to speed. Regardless of how fast I drove, though, I felt like the car was moving in slow motion.

I got him to Lynchburg General Hospital in Lynchburg, and they took him right back. They immediately hooked him up to a heart monitor and did an EKG, then blood work. Then, because he had been exercising when the episode happened, they had him do a stress test.

Everything came back normal.

They don’t know what the “thump” was. But his heart looks good.

On the way home, Larry said, “Well, I guess I shouldn’t have called you.”

“I’m glad you called me,” I said.

It’s much better to have something checked out and be nothing than to take a chance, I said.

I think Larry was most upset because he couldn’t go as long on the treadmill during the stress test as he thought he should have. He was out of shape.

But they put it on an incline, and the technician warned him ahead of time that it would be hard. They needed to get his heart rate up.

I told him that it was perhaps a good kind of wake-up call. He hadn’t been to the Y for a few months. He needed to exercise more for his health.

Larry is doing fine now. He’s watching one of his favorite TV shows, “Justified,” right now. Chase Bird sits on his lap, then jumps down and walks around, then jumps back up.

And me? I’m incredibly grateful for good test results.

Have you had any wake-up calls lately?

Random 5 Friday

It finally got warmer here. I didn’t realize how much I would appreciate temps in the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

I hope all of you are doing well, and if you were in the path of the frigid cold, I hope you made it through OK.

It’s time for another Random 5 Friday. I’m joining this fun meme started by Nancy at A Rural Journal.

Chase Bird peeks over the arm of the chair.

One

I usually have to work late on Tuesdays because we lay out the paper and get it ready for press. I didn’t get home until after 10 p.m. this past Tuesday.

Larry said that Chase Bird was listening and looking for me before I got home. When I got home, he seemed happy to see me. Apparently he doesn’t like me to work late. I miss him and Larry, too.

Two

Our heat pump gave out this week, and we have to have another one installed. That was obviously not what we wanted to hear from the HVAC people.

It takes care of two rooms in the house, with an oil furnace taking care of the rest of the house. But it will still cost a chunk of money.

Larry called me at work to tell me about the heat pump. A little bit later, he called back, laughing a bit. The oil company had just shown up to fill up the oil tank and left a nice bill. You might as well laugh as cry, I guess.

I’m just thankful that we can take care of these things. There are so many people worse off than us.

Three

I didn’t put away our lighted snow couple when I took down Christmas decorations. It’s really a winter decoration, don’t you think? And I like the lights.

Four

Sometimes I learn things through my work that help me in my personal life. I attended a nutrition program today offered through a partnership between the county libraries and a state university. It provided such good information that I can use for my own eating.

It’s not a complicated way to eat. It’s eating whole foods as much as possible, eating a mostly plant-based diet and eating foods that help reduce chronic inflammation. And it's individual. Foods that are good for you might not be good for me.

Five

Eating better will help me feel better. I know that. In order to eat better, I know I’m going to have to start cooking more. One thing that will help me do that is to plan better. If I wait until the end of the day to decide what to have for dinner, when I’m tired, then I’m probably going to want to take the path of least resistance.

How far ahead do you plan your menus? Does it help you to plan ahead?

A pasta salad I fixed a while back.

I want more energy

I didn’t realize what I was craving until I said it out loud.

I was doing a phone interview with a mental health expert about making New Year’s resolutions: whether or not to make them, tips for making helpful resolutions, and other such information.

We had veered off course a bit, talking about resolutions we had made in the past and what we might want for 2014.

“I want to have more energy,” I said.

It was one of those unplanned statements you make that you realize right away is so true.

Yes, I want more energy.

I’ll need energy for the things I want to do, for the adventures, for service to others.

Right now, I’m sitting at my home laptop after a long day at work.

We laid out the paper a day early because of the upcoming holiday, and we had an earlier than usual deadline.

On days like this, I come home feeling so tired. My bones and muscles ache. I pour down the caffeine, but I can’t seem to catch a second wind.

I have too many evenings like that and too many mornings when I’m already tired before I get started.

I get my work done. But how can I do it while feeling better, more energetic?

Better nutrition and exercise come to mind. So do following more of a routine and taking short breaks during the day.

It’s going to be an exploration for me in 2014, and I expect beyond, to find ways to feel more energetic, to feel less tired. I’m sure multiple things go into making me tired, and it will take multiple things to give me more energy.

I think all creatures have their rhythms of energy.

Sometimes Chase Bird wants to play.

He has his toy!

Sometimes Chase Bird is so sleepy.

I need to find ways to channel my energy more effectively.

How do you keep up your energy?

I’ll be back tomorrow, but in case I miss you then, I want to wish you a peaceful and joyful 2014. Happy New Year!

Random 5 Friday: Exercise and TV

Fence along Route 24 in either Bedford County or Roanoke County, June 22, 2013.

Happy Friday, everyone! I’m once again joining in with Nancy of A Rural Journal for Random 5 Friday, where “you can share 5 random facts about you, your day, your pets, your kids, whatever!”

One

I want to give a grateful shout-out to my friend Lisa of Two Bears Farm. Lisa had some extra orthopedic inserts and graciously gave me pair, along with a special insert for plantar fasciitis. I received the package Wednesday, along with a kind and encouraging note from Lisa.

These will help me tremendously.

Lisa is a wonderful person and I’m so glad I found her great blog, where she writes about life in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Thank you, Lisa!

Two

I had a physical therapy session on Thursday for the tendonitis in my elbow/arm. No, I’m not really falling apart. I’m just suffering the consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle.

Anyway, I learned some exercises to do to help the tendons in my arm and the muscles in my shoulders.

I’ve been walking at the Y on the track twice this week so far for a total of 64 minutes of walking. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s the most I’ve walked this year. A combination of a fractured foot and inertia kept me from doing much, so my body isn’t yet used to moving so much. It lets me know, too. I’ve had ice on my heel and my knee today.

Three

After I got home from the Y Thursday (I was off work), Larry asked me to go to lunch with him and his mother to a restaurant in Gretna, a town in the next county. It’s a restaurant that serves heavy, buttery, greasy, fried food on a buffet.

I didn’t need that kind of food. But Larry wanted me to go, and sometimes we do what others want us to do, right? And we had a nice time and a nice visit with his mother.

Four

On the way to Gretna, we passed the business that belongs to a friend of Larry’s and noticed a film crew outside it.

There’s a show on the Discovery channel called Tickle that’s being filmed in Gretna and the surrounding area in Pittsylvania County. It’s fiction but done like a reality show. Larry’s friend plays “Grandpa Bill” in the show.

I don’t like the show. It’s just plain silly. And I wonder if people watching it think everyone in the South acts that way. But I have watched a little to see Bill and to look for recognizable spots in it.

Five

One difference between Larry and me is our taste in TV shows. Oh, we share some favorites. For example, we just finished watching another season of Longmire on A&E—we love that show! And we enjoy some other shows, mostly crime dramas.

But Larry loves science fiction. I don’t. He watches movies on the SyFy channel that I can only shake my head at. We both end up laughing at some of the computer-generated mess and the dialogue in some of the movies.

Thursday night, as I sat writing this post in the room next to the den, I heard this line from one of Larry’s movies: “We have to get past the dinosaurs.” I couldn’t help but laugh and tease Larry about it: “Larry, we have to get past the dinosaurs!”

I hope you all have a great weekend! And to my readers in the U.S., enjoy the Labor Day holiday!

Gathering inspiration

Have you ever received inspiration even when you didn’t realize you needed it?

I didn’t go looking for inspiration on Saturday morning, but I got some.

I didn't have any photos of the Y that I could use on the blog, but I'm showing some photos from my usual outside walking route.

I was up early and out taking photographs for a special project we’re doing for the newspaper. I spent some time at the Altavista Area YMCA, the wonderful local Y in our town.

Larry and I belong to Y, but we haven’t been using our membership much lately. It’s one of those things that we pay for every month, but forget about using.

Or, rather, we don’t make it priority to use it.

Or, rather, we drive by after eating dinner out and tell each other, “You know, we really need to go to the Y.”

I got some photos of people doing what they do at the Y—lifting weights, taking a class, using the exercise machines.

I also had a couple of conversations with people about why they exercise.

Being around people working out reminds me of how good it feels when I work out.

Hearing about why others exercise reminds me that people have many reasons for moving their bodies in deliberate ways: to improve their health, to fight the effects of aging, to feel better.

In a recent post, I wrote about my need to lose weight. I’ve been making small steps in eating less, but I haven’t done much on the exercise front except doing the plantar fasciitis exercises.

On Saturday at the Y, I picked up the new class schedules for the fall. On Sunday, I sat down and made out a schedule for my exercise for this week. It includes using the Y.

And if I feel my motivation faltering? I’ll just go hang out with others who are working out and get inspired again.

What inspires you to keep working towards a goal?

Opportunity

View of some of the woods along my walking route in my neighborhood.

Thank you for your good wishes for my doctor’s visit on Friday. The doctor x-rayed my foot again and pronounced it 90 percent healed. Not what I was hoping for, but he seemed pleased because it was better than it had been in June.

During my visit, he found a couple of other problems—minor ones, really—that I will have to deal with: plantar fasciitis in my left foot and tendonitis in my left elbow (tennis elbow).

I’m going to learn some exercises to strengthen the right muscles during two sessions of physical therapy, and he gave me some other things to do to get better.

The most important thing I took with me as I left his office was this: I had an opportunity. The opportunity to get strong and fit and become physically healthier.

I have to face the fact that I have let myself go. My muscles are weak and underused. When asked to do what they normally would do, they are balking.

Also a problem is the fact that I weigh too much.

I really like this orthopedic doctor. He draws pictures to illustrate his explanations to me, and he gives me plenty of time to ask questions.

He gave me two lists, one for my foot and one for my elbow. Here’s the one for the foot:

See that phrase third from the bottom? “Weight loss.”

It’s official. I need to lose weight and the doctor has put it in writing.

I’m putting too much weight on my foot with plantar fasciitis. And extra weight is not good for the almost-healed fracture in my right foot either.

The doctor jokingly said, “You’re falling apart.”

The take-home message for me was that I better start taking better care of myself or I will have more problems like the ones I’m having now.

I don’t see this as a burden. I see this as an opportunity to get better and feel better. And if I feel good physically, I’m going to feel better mentally and emotionally, too.

So I’m starting to eat less and plan how I can more systematically eat a healthier amount of food. I’m planning how to make time in my day to exercise.

Starting out on a walk on Saturday morning.

Step by step, I’m going to lose weight and get stronger. I have this opportunity to do that, and I’m taking it.

What is one thing you’re doing now that enhances your physical health? Please share!

Vitamin deficiency, an unwelcome visitor and other randoms

It’s Friday, and it’s time to link up with Nancy’s A Rural Journal for Random 5 Friday, where, as Nancy says, “you can share 5 random facts about you, your day, your pets, your kids, whatever!”

It’s lots of fun and a great way to meet other bloggers. I encourage you to join in!

Here are a couple of squirrels that visited the yard recently. These visitors were welcome. Read about the unwelcome visitor below.

One

I finally got the results of some blood work my psychiatrist ordered. My vitamin B-12 levels are good. My thyroid numbers are good. I’m not anemic. But my vitamin D is low.

So he’s starting me on a prescription dosage of vitamin D—50,000 units once a week.

He said researchers were learning more about the link between vitamin D and mood and fatigue. And from what I’ve read, a vitamin D deficiency can also cause bone pain, muscle weakness and joint pain.

Larry has vitamin D deficiency, too, and is on the same prescription. So I guess once a week we’ll toast to our health with water and down the supplement together.

Two

Several times over the last few years, I’ve talked with my family doctor and my gynecologist about leg pain. The bones in my legs sometimes ache badly, especially when I’m tired.

The doctors checked my circulation and the exam stopped there.

I wonder if some of the pain could be coming from the vitamin D problem. I wish a doctor had thought to check it before now. I wish I had known to ask about it.

Three

I attended a workshop on health literacy this week for work. I studied health literacy when I was a health educator years ago for the health department. It’s a big interest for me.

This workshop was so interesting. It’s really amazing how having a low level of health literacy can affect people’s ability to take their medications correctly, to understand their doctor’s instructions and to complete medical forms.

Four

My husband and I have been enjoying watching the second season of Longmire this summer. If you haven’t watched it, it’s about a Wyoming sheriff named Walt Longmire. The plots and characters are wonderful, as is the scenery in the show.

The series is based on the books by Craig Johnson. I’ve read a couple of them so far, and they are just as good as the TV show.

If you’re interested in watching Longmire, it comes on Monday nights at 10 p.m. ET on A&E.

Five

We had an unwelcome visitor in the yard this week. Larry saw a snake, a black one with yellow stripes down its sides, near the AC unit in the backyard. It disappeared between the pad the AC unit sits on and the landscaping material that acts as a liner for small rocks we have around the house.

I was not happy when I learned about it. I am not just scared of snakes. I am terrified.

So I have been extra wary as I walk across the yard. I hope the snake was just visiting and has returned to his home—far, far away.

How do you react with you see a snake?