Changes

Learning to take care of myself has always been a challenge. After three weeks of being sick, and the past two days of really doing NOTHING, I decided I needed a change in my life...or the life that I post here, on this blog.

So, I messed around with the colors, slapped on a very old photo from my summer teaching gig in Alaska, and worked with the font, though in the end I left it as it is.

Boring? That's how it feels here in the house of the recovering. I am still coughing, though not nearly as much as yesterday. The Neti Pot is working albeit slowly. I searched for advice on the internet and was informed that I can Neti as many times during the day as I'd like though 2 times a day is recommended. So, I'm thinking of washing my sinuses clean again this afternoon in hopes that it clears this junk out and stops dripping down my throat.

Ann, on the other hand, just returned from her "surgery" at the dentist where they cut away some of her overhanging gum in the very back of her upper teeth. It's all done with lasers and while she's not in pain now, the dentist assures her the pain will come. So it's a diet of smoothies and applesauce for her, which is probably something I should do as well in an attempt to soothe my rough and worn throat.

And then there's Monty who we whisked away to the ER last night after his stomach bloated to the size of a basketball. I stayed back while Ann and Monty's mom, Colleen, made the trip to the Animal ER. All is well, but it was a scare as poodles are known to bloat and once the gut twists, if it twists, it can be a very quick descent. Luckily, all is well. The doctor gave him some medicine to induce vomiting and then some medicine to make him feel better. We walked him this morning and he was still pretty woozy and we're about to check on him again, so hopefully he's a little less wobbly and a bit more of himself.

Meanwhile, Rubin thinks we are boring, boring, boring and I have to agree. Taking care of yourself by doing NOTHING is very boring, but hopefully tomorrow, we'll all feel better.

And I work again tomorrow. Hopefully this time I won't cough through the whole thing like I did last time. My co-workers probably think I have TB or something...I could visually watch them move away from me every time I hacked out a cough.

I had an ah-ha, though, today. This time of year (for the past 22 years) has always been a time when I've had to gear myself up for long hours and focused work preparing for the upcoming school year. Now I don't have to, but I still feel myself wanting to gear up my energy for something exhausting. I walk into work all gung-ho and ready to exert as much energy as I do when preparing for a school year. Today it hit me that I don't need to push that hard EVER AGAIN! I only have to work 3 days a week and if I choose to work more, I can. I don't have to hold a bazillion things in my head --well, I have to keep track of 17 different kinds of water filters, and 74 different kinds of sleeping bags, and 12 different kinds of camp stoves and on and on -- but none of that requires the same kind of energy I've had to have for the past 22 years.

So whew...glad I figured that out! It actually made me feel a bit healthier just to realize it. Of course, then I coughed immediately after it, but at least the coughing didn't last for 10 minutes.

Off to Neti...