A Gentle Leader

A couple of weeks ago, walking on the trail without Lani, I met a lady with two Doodles. When I explained why I did not have mine with me on the walk, she showed me what her dogs were wearing: a head collar named Gentle Leader. I found it on Amazon – of course – and tried it on Lani right away. After only one time Lani was used to it and we have walked the trail twice already together. She “leads” me gently (a very appropriate name for the collar) but never pulls anymore. No more back pain, no more frustration, it is absolutely wonderful, and I can highly recommend it to any of you who own a pulling dog. It comes in sizes: Lani has a Small, but we are regularly meeting a 100 lb dog on the trail with a size Large. His name is Braum.

Through the dogs I meet, I get to know about all the video games that the younger generation is crazy about. Blessed with massive biceps and an even bigger heart, Braum is a beloved hero of the Freljord. Every mead hall north of Frostheld toasts his legendary strength, said to have felled a forest of oaks in a single night, and punched an entire mountain into rubble. Bearing an enchanted vault door as his shield, Braum roams the frozen north sporting a mustachioed smile as big as his muscles—a true friend to all those in need. Well, the Braum we meet on the trail is huge, but that is about the only thing that the owner could have considered when giving him this name. This Braum is a gentle giant, with very long, fluffy white hair, beautifully groomed, always eager to greet us.

And then we often meet Aela. Aela the Huntress is a member of The Companions guild and is a Werewolf in Skyrim. Skyrim is a rare kind of intensely personal, deeply rewarding experience, and one of the best role-playing games yet produced. Aela is a specialist and highly skilled in Archery. Her primary skills are Light Armor and Sneak. Her secondary skills are One-Handed and Speech. Well, this Aela is a sweet one year old brown mix, slim and very timid. She (or he?) seemed to like us at first sight, and her owner says every time that she (or he?) has not come close to anyone else like this; and her (his) day would be very happy because we met.

At least we think that the name Lani we chose for our Doodle is more appropriate; it means heavenly girl, and that she is!

The neighborhood is rapidly changing in appearance and color. From bare-branched trees and brown borders along the roads and in the back, suddenly everything is green! The landscaping is great: flowering bushes and azaleas, trees, and it is all new to us, because we moved here in November. The area is a little hilly, and the architecture of the different homes is beautiful and interesting.

Our dinners are varied and delicious. After some trial and error, I now order dinners straight from nearby restaurants. And twice a week MyChef caters two dinners and desserts to the neighborhood, and delivers them around dinner time.

Motorized Solar Screens

They are here, installed within an hour, after the original vertical blinds had been removed. What a fantastic solution to the sun coming far into the room at the heat of the day!

Another Mohs Surgery

In case you don’t know, it’s actually quite interesting:

Mohs surgery, developed in 1938 by a general surgeon, Frederic E. Mohs, is microscopically controlled surgery used to treat both common and rare types of skin cancer. During the surgery, after each removal of tissue and while the patient waits, the tissue is examined for cancer cells. That examination dictates the decision for additional tissue removal. Mohs surgery is the gold standard method for obtaining complete margin control during removal of a skin cancer (complete circumferential peripheral and deep margin assessment – CCPDMA) using frozen section histology.^[1] CCPDMA or Mohs surgery allows for the removal of a skin cancer with very narrow surgical margin and a high cure rate.

The Cary Skin Center is famous for this type of cancer surgery; people come from all over, book a hotel so they can make the often early appointments. I am a regular now, sadly. They know me by name, check me in the moment I enter the door,  even without signing in. This time it was on my left forearm, two cuts, and a total of three hours.

The good thing is that during the wait times for lab results, I had a chance to read! I am well into Madam, My Mother, the English translation of the book by Yvonne Keuls, Mevrouw, Mijn Moeder. The person who translated this wonderful book is Renske Mann-van Slooten, a cousin of Yvonne Keuls and herself a published author. I read the original in Dutch, and am delighted with the English translation: English is such a beautiful language, and definitely more personal (meer eigen) after having lived in the United States for over fifty years. How I loved to translate my mother’s journal of our years in the Japanese concentration camps.

I can’t redo all the years of sun damage during my life. But I cover up with long sleeves and my cowboy hat whenever I go for a walk in the sun, you can believe that! I don’t know if I will sit by the pool or swim this summer. We’ll see.

The Kentucky Derby

Another party is coming up at the club! Complete with dollar bets on horses, mint juleps and hats! I am now in the planning stages of dressing for the occasion and of course finding an appropriate hat! I have never had a mint julep before in my life, have you? I had to look it up on Google and I can’t wait to taste one!

And that’s a wrap!

Until next time,

Ronny

 

 

 

 

 

 

    An unconventional Easter 

I hope your Easter celebrations were wonderful: be it with or without a church service and sounding trumpets, with or without coloring and eating hard boiled eggs, with or without an egg hunt, with or without chocolate eggs and bunnies. All those varying Easter traditions make Easter special. And over the years, we did them all, and they are wonderful memories.  Our Easter this year was different. After a delicious breakfast with fresh strawberries, I could not find a “live” church service on television. My computer/TV skills leave a lot to be desired, and knowledgeable kids or grandkids were either still asleep or in church, so we did without this year. But the wonderful thing about this Easter was that our family had invited me to join them to see the musical Les Miserables in Durham.

Les Miserables

To be out with the family was a real treat. We had center front seats on the highest balcony. I climbed all the stairs to the top with my youthful family; too bad I did not count those steps,  I would have bragged about it! The show was amazing with many melodies I remembered. I got more out of the jokes then when we watched it some forty years ago in the Los Angeles Music center. I had my opera glasses with me and enjoyed many fascinating closeups. After the show, I told the family I would rather take the elevator down, even though there would be long lines. So we walked out the side door and to the elevator, where there was no line, but an attendant who saw all those young guys and their parents, and kindly asked them to take the stairs down. the family then turned to me and said, she is 84 years old. Wow, that did it. The attendant opened the doors and commented, good for you ma’am! and in no time we were down and out into the parking lot. I so enjoyed myself on this day out!

And that’s a wrap!

Until soon,

Ronny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beauty and Health

The wonderful medicine cabinet with the sliding mirror door in our Master bathroom, is used for beauty related items. The space needed for those has not increased remarkably over the years (believe it or not!). But the space needed for health related items has more than tripled. For all those items we have now designated a closet in the hallway leading to the Master Bedroom. I don’t know how you are doing – if you are in your eighties like us – but we can’t survive on Calcium, Vitamin D3 and eye drops any longer. So from the table in the dining area, where everything was piled up since the move, most health related items were moved into that wonderful, large closet around the corner, where they cover three shelves. Everything is easy to find that way. Medicines and vitamins stand on a 3 feet shelf at eye level, so labels are easy to read. On top of that we keep a large box with extras in the garage, extras that we got after Mike’s hospital visits in October. I really don’t know what to do with those. It’s not something you donate to Goodwill, I won’t throw the liquids down the toilet either. For instance, we have three quart size bottles of iodine and more things like that. I did find a pharmacy in Cary that has a drop off box for medications we no longer need, and I used that several times.

PillPack

Because remembering to dole out medications and vitamins in a timely manner, our children advised us to go to PillPack, serviced by Amazon pharmacy. With help, I set it up for Mike in November, and finally at the end of the month of April everything will be on schedule, and I get the appropriate pills AM and PM in little envelopes on a roll. Because I only need two medications, I decided I do not need PillPack. If I can’t remember those two plus some vitamins, I will be a lost case.

Motorized solar shades

Yesterday, we had a visit from a designer who advised us on motorized solar shades for the sliding door to the patio. At certain times of the day the sun gets into the room with such a strong glare, that Mike has been wearing sunglasses while watching television. When we lived in Prescott, Arizona, one of our friends had motorized solar shades for all the windows in his bedroom. He could open and close them from his bed, and even program them to open or close at certain times. The latter was a great deterrent for burglars when the family was on vacation. I remember that in Hawai’i we had lights in the living room programmed to go on and off when we were away.

Before the end of the month we will have our motorized solar screens installed and are keeping our fingers crossed that we made the right design choice. I am so excited, I can’t wait!

And that’s a wrap!

Until next time!

Ronny

 

Birds

We bought a bird feeder on a pole and put it outside of the sliding glass door in the border of our patio, visible from inside. It has two compartments and I filled them both with cut sunflower seeds. An occasional bird showed up, but it was not exciting. Then our son recommended two different kinds of seed: Wild Delight, Sizzle and Heat and White Millet. The first one for larger birds, with a spicy taste that would deter squirrels but attract all birds, the second one for little birds – I put that one in the top half. While I was putting everything together, I noticed that the Wild Delight had half peanuts in it. I like peanuts, took one and put it in my mouth. Immediately I spit it out again – my mouth was on fire! Unbelievable that it does not affect birds, only squirrels! After all the rain yesterday, we only saw two little birds on the feeder today. We are hoping for more.

The Computer Age

As the education of current generations: grandchildren especially, gets more and more technical and computerized, I have the feeling we are staying behind. I don’t know what to say if someone asks me the major of our college age grandsons: it’s too complicated to understand, let alone to remember. The young people of my generation would study Law, or Medicine, or Languages, Marine Biology, Music, or Art. Easy to understand for everyone. All that has changed. Methods of communication like telephone calls and letter writing have been replaced by emails and texts, all done on computers and tablets. What is the result? The older generation has skills that the current generation lacks. Like using a letter opener!

Four Months

It’s unbelievable that we have been in our own home for four months already. We have accomplished a lot. The garage is clean and can now house two cars. Inside, we are surrounded by memories of our lives: our bedroom is the Hawaiian room, my office has art and memorabilia from Indonesia and Hollywood, plus a book case with my most precious books. The living room has art and furniture from the Netherlands and Arizona.

Outside, the border of the patio is showing new surprises almost daily. A beautiful coral azalea, a little rose bush in the corner, three white gardenias that are not blooming yet, two blue hyacinths, clumps of other bulbs, daffodils… and against the fence next to the azalea a volunteer, a 12″ pine tree. I grew a volunteer like that in a pot when we lived in our cottage in Cary, and planted it in the grass on the corner of the street before we left. Once in a while I do a drive by, and enjoy its ever growing size. Now we have one in the border, and it will be our little outside Christmas tree again.

In the picture  you see the statue of a little terra cotta boy holding the end of a garden hose, which encircles the ground on which he is sitting, making it a little bird bath. That little boy, a gift from our neighbor in Pasadena when she moved to a retirement home, traveled with us to Hilo, then to Prescott, Arizona, Cary, North Carolina, and now it sits on our patio in Apex. All the climate changes have not harmed him in any way. He is a lovely memory of the time when we first emigrated to the United States with two daughters, a baby son and a chow chow, fifty years ago. And a new addition is the little gnome with the watering can against the fence. He is one of my collection of inside and outside gnomes.

Wherever we lived, we have surrounded ourselves with the things we loved, and that is our secret of a happy life. I hope we will enjoy it for many more years.

And that’s a wrap!

Until next time, stay safe.

Ronny

 

 

 

We finished our taxes!

This year I had help from Dennis. We used Turbo Tax, which Mike and I have used for many years, and got it done in two sessions.

Lani

In Waltonwood, we had Doctors Making Housecalls, which was nice, because we did not have to go anywhere for doctors visits, even some specialists, or lab tests. Here, we found a Mobile Vet who comes to the house for Lani. Last week, Lani was obviously not feeling well and the Vet and her assistant came to check her out. I needed a urine sample. How do you get a urine sample from a dog? You take her for a walk when you know her bladder is full, and when she sits down you slide a 3 x 6 plastic tray between her hind legs. Tray provided by the Vet. Voilà. Before continuing on our walk, I had to take her home, then  hurry back to the tray with the urine. A lady walking ahead of me suddenly stopped and looked at the tray. I called to her Ma’am, that is a tray with urine of my dog. I will pick it up right away. She turned around, dumbfounded, Oh? She looked at me and back at the tray, then walked on. This is a small neighborhood where everybody knows each other. We have been here only three months, so I don’t know everybody yet. But I’m sure she will have a story to tell to her friends about the new lady down the street, who does not only collect the poop, but also the urine of her dog. Now that lady is an asset to the neighborhood!

The Vet decided Lani needed a sweater to wear when going on walks with me in 28 degrees weather. Especially right after grooming. I went to PetSmart right away this morning. Well, at first I could not find anything, even though online it had showed that the PetSmart store had a choice of sweaters and jackets. But then I saw a pile, some things on hangers, some just thrown in between. All the sizes I saw were XL. It was like a grab bag; finally, down in the back, I found a black puffer jacket in Medium. Wow, a real find. I took it up front: This has no hanger and no price tag. The cashier said, These are all on sale, I will tell you the price in a minute. She scanned the tag and said, One penny. I only had brought my credit card in my coat pocket, left my purse in the car. So I took out my credit card and we both laughed and she said, Here, take it, it’s free. That was a fantastic $20 windfall. It fits Lani perfectly and the lining is soft and warm.

Lab results

We’re waiting for the lab test result of last week’s biopsy on my arm and for that of Lani’s urine. So I am picking up every phone call, even though it says Unknown caller or toll free call, calls that come in every day in multiples, even though our number is on the Do not call list. Do you have that problem too? In those cases I usually wait to see if they leave a message.

This is a short post, but I am posting it as usual on Wednesday morning, hoping to get back in the routine of things.

Enjoy every day, love your neighbors.

Until next time ,

Ronny

A Greenway!

To my great joy, I discovered a trail, which here in North Carolina they call a Greenway. It’s just like in Cary, a trail between trees and bushes with homes on either side in the distance. It’s shady most of the way. The first times, because I saw the entrance close to the lake, but did not know how long it would be, I drove down with Lani, parked the car and walked the trail. Like everywhere here in North Carolina, there is water to the left or the right, or crossing underneath a bridge. This trail crossed one road, and ended on a street close to home. I have finally walked again, made 10,000 steps a day again, and feel rejuvenated. Next time, I can for sure walk the trail from home and back. The first time, Lani and I were exhausted, but it is getting better as we are “gaining speed.”

Lab Tests 

The happy feeling continued this week after a visit with my new Primary Cary Physician, who showed me that my high cholesterol had come down to negligible in only one month. How did I do it? I started reading labels and stopped eating Dutch cheese! It is one of the staples in our house, Gouda Cheese. Well, abstaining from cheese and chocolate is manageable as long as I do not have to take medication.

A Celebration on March 15

66 years together is worth a celebration and so we now have an Areca Palm next to our loveseat, and a pole with a bird feeder outside the sliding door to the patio. It takes a while to get birds to find it, but I’m sure that “build it and they will come” will count for birds as well as baseball players and animals to Noah’s Arc. If the birds don’t want to visit inside the patio, we will put the feeder just outside a window that is also visible from Mike’s recliner. Tomorrow, after my appointment in Cary, I will buy us some flowers.

A new Moai!

 A new 1.6-metre Moai statue has been discovered partially buried in the bed of the dried Rano Raraku lake, in the crater of the Rano Raraku volcano, on Chile’s Easter Island.

I am intrigued by the history of Rapa Nui, especially after we were there for a day while on a cruise from Valparaiso, Chile, to Tahiti via Robinson Crusoe Island and Pitcairn.

It’s Wednesday, and I’m posting again!

Life is worth living! Enjoy the daily blessings and

Take good care of all those you love

Until next time,

Ronny

 

 

The Unbridled Creativity of a Dermatologist: Just so you know, if it should happen to you

It goes without saying that dangerous skin cancers need to be cut out as soon as they are discovered, and the spot itself needs to be removed with a safe margin. So when the nurse told me ahead of time that the surgeon would probably take a margin of 7 mm on all sides, I figured out how large my scar would be. After the margin was penciled out, they showed me a picture that measured an oval of about 2″ in length and 3/4″ across. The surgery was done quickly. I felt no pain at any time, and I am happy that it was discovered early and treated early. But can you imagine my shock when I took  the bandage off forty hours later: it will be a scar of 4″ long! That is inches, not millimeters! I’m counting my blessings: it’s on the back of my arm, practically invisible, and in no time at all the stitches will come out and I can start pampering it with gentle massages. Phew!

Pine Straw 

The gardeners spent two days putting fresh pine straw on all the borders and around all trees in the neighborhood. It seems to be the thing to do here in North Carolina. I remember putting pine straw, available from the hardware store, in the dog run that we had created for Lani next to our patio in Waltonwood. There was a layer of wood chips at first, but the little puppy loved to eat the wood chips and that was dangerous for her health.

There is Book Life after Retirement

Since I retired from book writing and lectures and the like, it feels good to know that my books are still available in many places, some of which I had not heard of before they asked me if they could publish my books. I just received the list. Have you read all of them? Or some of them? Would you tell me your opinion?

Of course you can get them also on Amazon, in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, England and many other countries all over the world.

Reviews you will find on Amazon, typically not at libraries or other publication places.

The three books currently available are:

Rising from the Shadow of the Sun: A Story of Love, Survival and Joy,

Survivors of WWII in the Pacific and

Anguished

Following is a list of my books’ publications since 20017

A long list with most of the links, I will publish it right away, otherwise the page will get too long!

Barnes & Noble – Published @ Barnes & Noble on January 17, 2017, 20:44 PM Apple – Published @ Apple on January 17, 2017, 21:05 PM Scribd – Published @ Scribd on January 17, 2017, 21:30 PM Kobo – Published @ Kobo on January 23, 2017, 23:12 PM Bibliotheca – Published @ Bibliotheca on July 8, 2018, 11:11 AM OverDrive – Published @ OverDrive on October 25, 2018, 20:08 PM Baker & Taylor – Published @ Baker & Taylor on January 30, 2019, 10:27 AM Tolino – Published @ Tolino on September 7, 2019, 15:03 PM BorrowBox – Published @ BorrowBox on July 11, 2021, 14:48 PM Vivlio – Published @ Vivlio on June 2, 2022, 20:30 PM Hoopla – Published @ Hoopla on July 25, 2022, 16:14 PM Smashwords – Published @ Smashwords on February 19, 2023, 23:38 PM Palace Marketplace – Published @ Palace Marketplace on March 2, 2023, 21:14 PM

 

Enjoy life to the fullest, a day at a time

Love everyone who crosses your path and

Join me again next time when my post pops up in your mailbox!

Ronny 

 

 

 

An evening out

We joined a dinner social at the Club last Saturday. Soups, salads, subs and desserts, all prepared by members of this neighborhood, or purchased to share. I had brought delicious nut clusters that I had just discovered myself at Costco. Cashews, almonds and sunflower seeds. It took a while before people discovered it: most went for the cheesecake, the coconut cake, crumb cake and cookies. But when I asked one lady to try one, the word spread like wildfire through the room and I noticed one lady filling a soup cup with them to take home. The various salads were delicious, and a welcome change from the usual green salads that we get with our dinners.

It was an enjoyable night out for me, but not so for Mike. With about fifty people in the room it became too noisy for him; taking out his hearing aids helped a bit, but still, he decided that he would prefer the monthly coffee hour with fewer people over a social.

Time out again

Busy days…

A walk around the lake

I took Lani to the lake last Wednesday; she was excited with the new adventure! When I am in optima forma again in the future, I think I may be able to walk there, but the road goes steep down and up again, and you have to do all that in reverse to get home. But today, I drove down for three minutes and parked the car in the parking lot next to two tennis courts and a large outdoor pool with a sign that said: Lifeguards needed for the summer. 

We walked around the lake on a gravel path and across three bridges, after which the path was paved and ran along the back of several homes, with a bench here and there. We saw ducks and black herons! I had only seen blue and white herons, never a black one. Two were just sitting on a platform in the water, stretching their long necks, one was diving under water for fish.

 

   

Spring is coming!

With a few warmer days, signs of spring are everywhere. Around the corner, the whole street is lined with white flowering trees; everywhere pink cherry blossoms come into bloom; the hedge under my office window is loaded with pink flowers, and along the road all the brown grass borders are showing tufts of green grass popping up.

The Fitness Center

We have a wonderful, small fitness center in the community, just down the street, a two minute walk. I hope to be able to make time three days a week to work out again. I don’t like the bike and the NordicTrack, but will enjoy the other four machines.

And then there was Buckey’s!

For many years I was a member of Planet Fitness in Prescott, Arizona. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, I would stop at Buckey’s Casino. With a free membership they offered $10 for Ladies to play with on Thursdays and $10 for couples on Wednesdays. I always played on both days (Mike did not feel like it at all) until the $10 was finished, not longer, and a pocketed the gains. It was amazing, and great fun. In a matter of five months or so I was able to buy Mike a leather jacket for Christmas and perfume and other things for myself. I could have been rich if I had known it earlier 🙂

Another surgery

Because I was born and raised in a tropical country when sunscreen was not invented yet, and because I lived in sunny California, where getting a tan was popular, and then in Hawai’i and Arizona, when I learned the danger of too much sun exposure, my skin is my weakest organ. The skin cancer surgeries I have had, all Basal Cell Carcinomas, were done with Mohs procedure. But now I have developed a Melanoma on the back of my upper left arm that needs excision surgery. Thankful that it was diagnosed as a stage one, I am expecting complete removal and a fast recovery. After Monday, I will have to be careful for a few weeks, until the stitches are out. Perhaps I will have time to read a good book again. So on we go! Pukul Terus!

Enjoy every day and

Take care of your loved ones.

Until next time,

Ronny

 

First dinner guests

With everybody asking me how I am going to provide dinner after five years of not cooking when we lived in the retirement place, where dinner en breakfast were provided, I’m not doing so bad: we had our two Waltonwood  friends over for dinner last night without any effort at all! Our neighborhood Chef was planning to deliver barbecued shrimp plus rice, vegetables and dessert on Tuesday night. Wonderful for all, except me. So My Chef (his name) prepared delicious slices of pork loin especially for me. Our friends brought wonderful salad mixings and a bottle of white wine. Because they had to drive home to Cary, there is a half bottle of wine left for tonight. And since Mike does not drink anymore, I will have to finish it. Oh joy!

But seriously, I have not yet gotten to making a list of dinners for the whole week, but with DoorDash everything is possible even at the last minute. I can order from a plethora of restaurants close by. Fresh is better than frozen, but having a few frozen dinners in the new freezer will be good as backups.

New Appliances

They work well and are even better than the fridge that came with the house and the old toaster over I had had for years. The new one has programs and I enjoy finding out what all I can do with it.

Lani has a harness

What a find! No need anymore for her old collar: her name and old phone number are on it. A black and red harness that slips on easily, and the new leash with the easy-on-the-hands latch make walking smoother and more relaxing for me. And no more pulling on her neck. Why did I not get one before? I found thins one on Facebook and am glad I did.

I am making life easier for myself, can you see that? I am even finding time to sit at the computer once in a while for personal enjoyment. The time for long walks and reading a book will come soon. Three months after the move the garage has been cleaned up somewhat: all carton boxes went into the recycling bin in two weeks. A few more boxes to empty though. I wonder what I will find that I thought I had lost forever.

By the way, 

If you want to take the time to evaluate your mental fitness and have a good laugh, check out this site that an old friend sent me.

Retiree Mental Fitness Evaluation

It’s time to serve dinner!

Enjoy Life and Love those that cross our path

Until next time,

Ronny

 

A Graduation!

Last week, our middle grandson graduated early from high school and will be going to Flight School: a first step to becoming a pilot. He is expecting to have his Private Flying License this summer. Because we now also live in Apex, I was able to attend the ceremony of 35 graduating students, and that after watching a basketball game of the youngest, on his way to become the tallest of the family. After all that we all went out for dinner and I had a most delicious hamburger, the first one in a very long time. It was so wonderful to go out with family, and to know that a good friend was keeping Mike company. Mike is not interested in large gatherings – still very cautious to not catch anybody’s bug. Knock on wood: we both have been very lucky for years in that respect.

Groomed!

Lani finally had a grooming session with one of the local groomers and she is now “in the loop.” What a blessing: we could hardly see her eyes any more, even though I tried to snip away some hair around them a few times. So now all three of us have hair stylists established and are all “in the loop”, each in our own specialty shop. Mine is in “Cloud Nine”, and I think, based on the first cut, that he is a keeper.

MyCharts and Patient Portals 

Each of us needs one such “Chart” for every doctor to exchange messages, get test results and see upcoming and past appointments. We never had such means of communication with our doctors before: I would just send them an email and get a response in not too long a time. But now, to set those all up, fill out questionnaires and then to communicate with all of our doctors is not only complicated, but extremely time consuming. I hope that all that will be flowing in due time, and I must agree that it is practical from the point of view that doctors are extremely busy.

New Fridge, new Printer, new Toaster Oven

When it rains, it pours, they say. All these appliances broke down in a matter of two weeks. What a blessing that Dennis lives close by and was able to help with unpacking, installation and setup. Of course I tried to do some things on my own, but I called Dennis when I injured my left leg on the sharp corner of the carton box of the toaster oven.

Crystals in my head

A neurologist (I now have my own neurologist!) determined that my dizziness has to do with imbalanced portals in my head, not a problem with my brain. I am signed up for ten weekly appointments with a Physical Therapist in Cary. I am learning that my Unilateral Vestibular Hypofunction is on the left side, which is also the eye with a sightly lesser vision. I have 20/20 and 18/19 vision. Absolutely something to be super happy about, because I do not need glasses or contacts to see even the smallest print at a distance. And that at 84 years of age! So I am very happy. But with exercises at home, and the ten week sessions in Cary, I hope to improve my left-sided imbalance. This was the test I failed, and please try it yourself if you want to know how it feels. I  thought it was very interesting. Stand in a corner with your feet together, arms crossed and eyes closed, on a 2″ thick peace of foam, for thirty seconds, and do that three times. I got to six seconds the first time, then four, then six again. Each time I fell into the left wall. Of course I wanted to know if I could correct that. And yes, they think I can!

Meetings with my best friend

Because all my appointments are in Cary, and I have a caregiver at home for Mike, I will have time to meet with my best friend in Waltonwood every Friday. I have missed that contact since we moved, and am delighted I will be visiting with her again.

A long-time, very good friend of ours in the Netherlands, who has been suffering for years of almost unbearable health problems, wrote us in a final farewell email that he was finally allowed to go to sleep on January 30, today, and his cremation would be on Friday at noon. It makes me think.

Someone I know recently wrote that only one time in his life he had been able to fully enjoy the moment; to be somewhere, to do something at one time and consciously love it. Only once! How do you feel about that? Do you often consciously revel in an experience? Or always? Or never?

Today, Monday, is a day without appointments, so I sat down at my computer to write, instead of fill out doctors’ questionnaires. It was a joy beyond measure!

Hoping you are well and sending you my best

Until next time!

Ronny