Miscellaneous Stuff After the Pandemic

 Hello there, old UpholsteredBellyBlog! 

Many things have changed in a year. I've been fully vaccinated against COVID 19, and so have about half of the people in America. My husband and son have been vaccinated as well. Nick has also had a vasectomy, after wrangling with his doctors for at least a year about not wanting to have children, ever. His significant other, Sylvie, who is non binary/bisexual, (uses they/them pronouns) I gather, is also not interested in bearing children, so having Nick take responsibility for birth control takes a lot of anxiety off of their plate. 

Meanwhile, my PCP has put me on Metformin, though I barely qualify as being diabetic and have no symptoms thereof. My A1C stands at a 6, (and falling) and I've lost 30 pounds unintentionally, mostly due to stomach/GERD issues. Once my A1C is down to 5, I am going to insist that I be taken off Metformin, as I no longer need it, I don't care if I'm still "obese" by their definition. I'm also on Furosemide for water retention, and I appear to have an infection in my swollen left leg that isn't responding to antibiotics. So it's off to see Dr Clerc tomorrow to evaluate what can be done about it. Last week I saw a dermatologist who cleared me of having a tumor that could be breast cancer on my breast, but she was more concerned about me having DVT or a blood clot in my leg, so she sent me for an ultrasound, which was, thankfully, negative.

The year of quarantine that I survived really put me in an isolated tailspin, mentally and physically, though I still managed to hold my library book group meetings via Zoom online. But it was hard for this extrovert to go for so long without any contact outside of my husband and son. I missed chatting with people. So much so that when I went to get my hair cut, post vaccination, a couple of months ago, I am sure the stylist thought I was crazy, because I was so pathetically grateful to see her and converse with her as she chopped my hair into the shortest style its been in since I was 5 years old and my mother gave me a "bowl cut" with an actual mixing bowl and kitchen scissors.

Fortunately my mom (who is 83) and my friend Roger, who still lives in Des Moines, Iowa, not far from where he grew up in Ankeny (we went to high school together), have been writing to me regularly via snail mail and, in Rog's case, via email as well. It has been a lifeline to hear from them and know that life goes on for so many people. I really miss them both, and I am hoping to travel to Iowa for the holidays to see my mom in particular. I've not seen her since Nick was 13 or 14 years old (and he's 21 now). I really want to sit and have tea with mom at least one more time before she passes (though who knows, with the uncertainty of my own health, she could outlive me at age 60). 

I've been reading more ebooks and YA books and rom-coms than usual, just because I need a break from the death tolls and bad news that is everywhere. On the good side, that means that I will be nearing 800 posts on my book review blog, Butterfly Books, by the end of the year. Since I no longer work as a journalist, my blogs are the one place I have left to do some writing and reviewing and generally thinking out loud. I do still keep a written journal, but I only write in it sporadically, and after 2 years, I am only 2/3 of the way through it. 

In other news, my son has taken me to many appointments and also taken me shopping for the first time in well over a year, so that was a joy, (Note that the purse departments of both Fred Meyer and Kohls are decimated and diminished places nowadays, though I am uncertain as to why. Are women not using purses to carry their belongings anymore?)  Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment and he will doubtless take me there, too. I hope that afterwards we can go to the Sequel bookstore in Enumclaw so that I can peruse their shelves, something I've not done for at least two years. I can only walk short distances, and I have to use a cane to steady myself (my knees creak and give out sometimes), but if I take it slow, I can still move around for a bit. I am short of breath a lot, especially during exertion, but when I use my nebulizer with albuterol ampoules, that keeps my lungs open for a good 4-6 hours on a day when there's not a lot of allergens in the air. 

Today would have been my best friend Muff Larson's 60th birthday, had she lived beyond her 47th birthday. Happy Birthday in heaven, my friend. I still miss you and love you dearly. 

Here's to the summer of stores reopening after the pandemic, and to reintroducing myself to people and places I've missed for so long. I also hope that my Crohns will stay abated, though now, due to insurance, I have to have my infusions at home, otherwise I have to pay $500 in hospital charges (like $8.85 for one measly Benedryl!When they cost pennies to make, and you can get an entire bottle of them for a dollar at the drug store). It's going to be a long, hot summer...have some fun in the sun, folks, and don't let anyone make you feel bad about your own upholstered belly floating in the pool to cool off for the next three months.