Today's Walk

The weather was perfect for a walk this morning, so back to the lake we went. This time Anne Marie brought her dog and her big lens camera.

Anne Marie and Trixie

And the timing was perfect.

A group of freshwater pelicans was in flight, circling around, apparently preparing to move on. The sunlight on them in flight created a wonderful, gorgeous picture. Even with my eyes, it was amazing when they flew right over us.

Anne Marie took lots of photos, and I'm sure some of them at least will be publication worthy. She will share some, and I am anxious to see what she got.

With the photography opportunities, our walk was fast, slow, pause, fast, etc. Trixie the dog would get worried if I walked on ahead too far with her while Anne Marie was taking pictures. Herding variety dogs really, really like their pack to stay together!



Photographer at work.

With the pauses, we spent about ten minutes longer than usual at the lake. Love the sunshine and fresh air.









The geese like to go for a stroll, too.

An Afternoon Walk--With Geese and More

It was such a lovely afternoon, with clear skies, winds calm, and temperatures cool to mild, that it made a perfect time for a walk. Anne Marie and I walked around Burlington Lake again. This time I carried my little camera. I really should have brought my other camera, but the little one is just so easy to carry that I took it instead.

And then wished for more zoom power.

I handed the camera to Anne Marie for the photography work; she has better vision and a steadier hand than I do.

So here are some of the things we saw (and heard--geese just talk to each other constantly in loud voices).













This meadowlark flew up on the pole to keep and eye on us as we walked by.

This lineup of geese was grazing along the edge of the lake.
They were not in the least worried about us.

Those white things are pelicans having their afternoon nap.

These geese were grazing quite near the path, but began moving off as we neared.

When we returned home we did what my Dad used to call
"looking at the prospects"--in other words, seeing what was
growing in the yard and how it was doing.

Discarding

I have moved so many times in my life that I have lost track of the number. I have lived in dormitories, a shared room above a workplace, apartments, fairly large houses and small houses, a motel, a mobile home, and a "mother-in-law" apartment. I have lived in five different states and seven towns (some of them more than once).

I always hated moving. But I always said that it was one way of getting my closets cleaned out. There is nothing like moving to make it easy to discard some of the excess baggage of life. I also used to say that I really should just pretend from time to time that I am moving, and accomplish the excess baggage clear out without the inconvenience of actually moving.

There is also one of those Murphy's Law corollaries that says, in effect, that a person's stuff will always expand to fill whatever the available space is. I have been feeling that I had reached that point of my available space being filled. Then I had my little cardiac adventure last September. Add that to the job it was to clear my mother's house after her death (the most of it done by my sisters Grace and Kathleen), and I decided to get serious about lightening the load of stuff my kids would someday have to deal with.

Tote bag of books ready to take to the
library free shelves

I have, so far, filled several of those stretchable trash bags. And I can barely tell anything is gone. Of course a lot of it came out of my filing cabinets, so its absence is not readily visible. I tossed dozens of files. Most of them were lessons I had created over the years for various Bible classes I taught. They were a resource that represented many, many hours of work and study. It was not easy to discard those files, but I took a hard look at the possibility that I would ever use them again. Many of them are saved on my computer, but a lot of them were composed a number of years ago on different computers and several different versions of Windows ago, and I no longer have the computer version. Again, the chances that I will ever need them again are slim to none.

I hardened my heart, bagged them up, and put them out.

Bit by bit I am culling my bookshelves. It is very, very difficult for me to part with books, but I now buy books for my Kindle, which is much easier for me to read from these days. There are old favorites I will not part with, but some books I know I'll probably not read again. Among those are aging paperbacks with small print and yellowing pages. These are hard for me to read with my present vision peculiarities, and so they can go. Are my bookshelves going to be emptied? Not a chance! But I will continue to work on culling. The discards will go to the free shelves at the local library.

I have mentally tagged quite a few things in my spare closet, which serves as storage space. I also have movies on VCR tapes, many of them old favorites, but I doubt that I'll be playing many of them again.  And, then, there are boxes under my stairs that have been packed away since I moved here almost nine years ago. I've already emptied one storage bin from there, but there are several yet to go through. Some things can be donated; the rest will be destined for the dumpster.

Now, in case you are envisioning me slaving away at this cleanout every day, I can only say that I wish that were so. I'm just doing it a bit at a time. But I will get it done. It can be hard to let go of things that are reminders of  the past--my personal history--or anything that is linked to Jerry. But I am facing the fact that those things will mean nothing and be of no use to anyone else. In fact, a lot of it is of no use to me. After all, something that has been stored away for nine years will never be missed!

Statins are Not for Me

I had my first encounter with statin drugs about 15 years ago in Rapid City, SD. I had high cholesterol levels, so the doctor put me on a statin. I was on that one only a few weeks, but my levels were coming down. Then that particular drug was pulled from the market--too many people were dying from it.

The doctor then put me on Lipitor. As time went by I began having a lot of muscle pain and cramps in various parts of my body, and during a routine urinalysis blood was detected. More tests. My bladder showed no problem. My daughter began searching the web and found that these symptoms were common with Lipitor and were caused by muscle breakdown. Not a good thing. No more Lipitor.

A low fat diet reduced my cholesterol levels somewhat, but not nearly to where medical authorities recommend.

After my diagnosis of cardio-vascular disease and the insertion of a stent in my nearly blocked heart artery, the cardiologist wanted me to try a statin again. He felt that Crestor was less apt to cause problems for me. Willing to do what is necessary to help my heart, I started on Crestor.

During my three months of cardiac rehab, I began to feel better and better. I was partway through rehab before the doctor started me on Crestor. I had a couple of physical problems before rehab was done, but they could be easily explained by the possibility that the persistent low-grade fever was caused by a "bug" and that the painful cramp in my right shoulder was caused by adding some new exercises to my routine.

However. . .

In the weeks after rehab, I began having more and more (and more severe) peculiar things happening in my body. When my hands began going numb and numbness and tingling spread to other spots on my body and the fever was back and I had a very severely painful episode with my right shoulder and upper back, it was back to doing a little research on the internet.

And, yes, all of these things can be caused by statin drugs.

I called the doctor's office. When the nurse called back, the message was that another statin was being prescribed. I looked up that drug and found listed the same possible side effects that Lipitor and Crestor have.

I quit taking Crestor and I will never take another statin. What will it profit me to reduce my cholesterol levels if I destroy my body from the inside? Some of the statin side effects can do so much harm to internal organs that it becomes fatal.

Anne Marie found some good research online about recovering from statin damage. I purchased some books on reducing bad cholesterol without drugs. I have some studying to do and some applying what I learn.

I have been off Crestor for six days now. The numbness is almost gone, the fever is gone, the pain in my shoulder and back is almost gone, and the increase in heart palpitations and my essential tremor has stopped. No new cramps, pains, or numbness have appeared.

I will go for another blood test after I have been on a new regime for a few weeks, so that I can track my progress.

Statins are the most prescribed of all drugs in the U.S. They apparently are real lifesavers for many, many people. For some they are the opposite. Unfortunately, I am one of the latter.

Progress Report

A while back I wrote about my weight gain and the difficulty in taking off pounds, while putting them on is sooooo easy.

Why do I write about this? It is a way of keeping me focused and accountable. If I tell others I am taking steps to lose weight, I am more apt to actually keep at it.

Some progress has been made.

My target is a 30 pound loss. At that weight I am comfortable. I no longer even have a goal of weighing what I did in the years from age 20 to age 50. My metabolism and activity levels kept me naturally slim in those years. I can quite happily settle for "medium" at this stage of life, and it should be easier for me to maintain.

So--progress. In the past five months since the procedure to put a stent in my "widowmaker" heart artery, I have lost almost half my goal. I have about 16 pounds to go, but I can already wear some clothes that have been hanging in my closet waiting for me to be able to fit into them again. I had clothes I could wear to church yesterday that were not jeans and a loose shirt!

I am not using any weight-loss program. I've done Nutrisystem in the past, but gained the weight back. This time I am simply trying to eat heart-healthful foods, smaller amounts, and exercise at least a little every day. At cardio rehab the recommended amount of exercise is at least 30-60 minutes a day, five days per week. This is primarily leg exercise, which is what does the heart the most good (walking, peddling, etc.).

The weight is coming off slowly; I hope this will make putting weight on less likely, as my eating change becomes eating habit.

And, now, just for fun, here is a photo of son-in-law Chad and his friend Pip at the Sunday dinner table on March first.

Pip says, "More please."
 

Sorting Out the Past

I have a number of plastic bins that have been in storage under the stairs for years. It is a project of mine to get them sorted out, dispose of a great deal of it, and organize the rest so that I at least know what is there. With that in mind I brought one container upstairs a few weeks ago.

One reason for this sorting is to leave less for my children to deal with when I am gone. I've had a clear reminder of my mortality recently, and, while I am not in the least morbid about it, it is a goad to take care of some things while I can.

While watching episodes of Hoarders with my granddaughter, I was inspired to begin the sorting work!

I pulled out two plastic bags and took them to the living room, where I could watch TV and go through the bags in comfort.

1977 Anne Marie in Cheyenne Wells, CO,
on a visit with Grandma Wales

One bag was filled with letters dating from 1975 to 1978. I began by discarding the envelopes and sorting the letters by author. Some were from people who had been passing acquaintances and the letters had little lasting importance. These I discarded. I read bits of some of the family letters, and was reminded of events I had forgotten. I did not read them all, as I find it more and more difficult to read handwritten items because of my vision peculiarities. These family letters I bagged in their separate categories and gave to Anne Marie. She can go through them and decide if there are any she wants to keep.

Jeremy, also in Cheyenne Wells. Is it just me,
or are his shoes on the wrong feet?

In two letters I found photos that I had not extracted before saving the letters: our children are aged eight (Anne Marie) and not quite four (Jeremy). The pictures were taken by their grandmother, Emma Wales.

The other bag contained items my mother had saved from my childhood and had given to me some years ago. It was fun to look at all these things, some of which were crumbling with age. About a third to a half of these items I discarded, as they would have no meaning to anyone but me. I certainly don't expect my children to make space to keep my juvenile artwork, etc., forever! However, before discarding, I did scan some of the pictures I drew when a young child and have them on my computer. One of the items I am keeping is my Baby Book. Here is my favorite page from it:

I have a lot more of my past to sort through. It will keep me busy for quite a while!

Cardiac Rehab is Finished--Now What?

Today marks one week since my final Cardiac Rehab session.

Now it is up to me.

Do I miss going to Rehab? Actually, I do. It is good to have a structured program, the good machines to work on, and the Rehab nurses and staff, who are the best. On the flip side, it is nice to know that I am in much better condition now than I was when I began the program. It is time to develop my own lifestyle that will keep up what was accomplished.

I look forward to weather that will have me outdoors and walking. I do not handle cold well anymore. So, if I can't go out walking, what can I do?

First, I simply must remind myself to get up and get moving. It is way too easy to get comfortable in a cozy chair with a book or a TV program, and just stay there. This is a hard habit to break, but I am working on it!


I can peddle away while watching TV or
listening to an Audible book.

Second, I must remember the lesson they taught us in Rehab: At least 10 minutes of consecutive exercise (using the legs!) are necessary for heart conditioning. Thirty to sixty minutes of cardiac exercise per day for at least four days per week are recommended.

Third, I can use what I have available at home. I can go for house walks. Now, just walking around and around in my house can be a bit boring, but I have lots of Audible books I can listen to as I walk. I also have those 17 stairs that lead up from the garage to my home. I can start incorporating them into house walks for a little heavier work load.

I have also invested in a peddling exerciser that I get a pretty good leg workout on. My house does not have room for a big recumbent bike, but with this machine I can sit in a chair and peddle away while reading or watching TV. It only weighs 23 pounds, so doesn't take up a lot of room, and the workload intensity can be adjusted for different levels of difficulty.

So, it is up to me.