“Old people get together and all they talk about is their health problems.” I play Bunco with a group of friends from school. My relationship with one of these ladies started in 1st grade, but most of us met in 7th grade when three or four elementary schools merged into Carl Albert Junior High. Like many people, after years of[…]
On My Heart (A Series)… Surrendering.
In my last conversation with the cardiologist, we talked about what was next for me. I get so frustrated because each test says something different. But, for a doctor to perform a mitral valve repair with a MitraclipTM it has to go to a committee for approval and committees love tests. Replacement of my aortic valve did not need a[…]
On Turning 60 Part III (Someone to Watch Over Me)
Charles and I met in 2012. I was 48. Both of us were licking our wounds after failed marriages. The first couple of years were pretty rocky. Neither of us expected the relationship to last long, but we were having fun along the way. Eventually (in the longest sense of the word), he and I just turned into us. I[…]
On My Heart (A Series)… Round Two.
I had an angiogram Friday, June 14. It wasn’t good but I knew it wouldn’t be. My cardiologist thought my mitral valve was only moderately leaking and, therefore, a perfectly good valve. Remind me never to buy anything used from him off Marketplace. However, yesterday’s test proved it was severe and validated my symptoms and my belief that it should[…]
On My Heart (A Series)… &%*^$!!
Trigger warning: Whining ahead. May 25 marked eight months since my heart valve replacement surgery. At my six month checkup in March, I told my doctor I felt like my recovery had slowed down. I was having a harder time getting up the Slope to my garden. I have fallen asleep at the wheel a few times, and had to[…]
On My Heart (A Series)… 6 Month Surge-A-Versary
The human body is incredibly designed. It can do amazing things. It holds all your working parts and keeps them out of the elements. You are covered entirely in skin so that your intestines don’t fall out on the floor. The body, at least the female one, is a beautiful thing to behold – a work of art. Given that[…]
On the Permanence of … Everything…?
My new garden sleeves arrived in the mail this week. I started wearing garden sleeves a couple of years and now I will not be without them. I treated myself to a new pair for this season. As pleased as I am with them, I was even more delighted with the packaging. It bears a friendly greeting. “Hello! This bag[…]
On Keanu, Buddhism and Pigeons in Protest…
I try to find humor in everyday situations. Some days, funny is hard to find and I have to turn the laughter to myself. But most days, there is more than enough to laugh at if I open myself up to it. This morning started with my Sunday Shakti Yoga Church, a small congregation of yoga practitioners and our teacher[…]
On Borrowed Time…
If the time I am living on is borrowed, I might as well pay the lowest possible interest rate.
On My Heart (A Series)… An Update
Four out of five of the orchids on my window sill are in bloom. The tallest one has been blooming since late September and now it is January. It was a special gift brought to me in the hospital as soon as I was transferred from ICU. The second one went to bloom in November, the yellow one in December,[…]