I have not given a large update on Ron’s health after his eye surgery nor on my own health. Good news is Ron had his cataract surgeries and his eyes are wonderfully improved. Ron wore glasses since he was in the second grade and now no longer needs to do so daily. His eye sight is now 20 / 25. In fact he now only needs 1.5 readers for fine print.
My health how ever has been deterrating steadly. I wont go into the speculations on it as I am going through the tests. I will say my blood work is very unnormal. The blood cells are wrong, the white and red blood cells are too low or deformed. My PSA has jumped to 7 in only 3 months.
I won’t go into the speculations as we only have fear causing “it could be this and we need to test for that”. I will tell you what is going on with me and how I feel. I have no energy. I used to wake up between 3 and 5 am and be full of energy to the point that when Ron got up he hated it. Now I can’t get up. I go to bed between 3 or 4 pm and stay there until 5 or 6 am and then go back to bed by 9 or 9:30. My pain levels have soared at a time I have been told that both my pain pills and treatments are being restricted. Not due to my situation but because RFK Jr., a former adict is trying to deny pain relief to everyone who needs it in the US. The clinic I see recently had a provider abusing trigger point steriod injections which I desperately need desperately due to back spasms, so the doctor in charge lowered the procedure to 3 times a year that a person can get steriods. The provider in question only did the steeriod injections without doing any other treatments, I get all the other treatments. But I need steriod injections into my destroyed shoulders, spine vertabrea, and also the muscles. So I have to talk to the in charge pain doctor about his ruling.
So along with my pain levels soaring and my blood labs being far outside the normal range I am suffering from extreme fatigue, weakness, and the inability to eat. I use yogurt and supplement drinks. I normally have a small yogurt and drink for breakfast if I am not vomiting or nauseated. Later that day Ron will try hard to get me to eat some soild food but mostly I can only get some soup down and have it stay down. If I have solids it has to be a small amount.
So that explains why I miss getting to the comments. I do read them and then save them in open tabs. I will reply to them soon. But right now I am on full liquids and tomorrow only clear liquids until 6 pm. Then Tuesday at 8:50 I check in for my upper GI. Then later in the month I will repeat the prep for a lower GI.
I can’t do both because I have gastroparisis and that means my stomach is slow to empty due to neurological damage. So they are afraid to do both until they can examine my stomach and make sure I won’t asperate during the procedure. I have been seeing doctors 2 or 3 times a week now and it just leaves me in a lot of pain and exhausted. I am trying to get the cartoons / memes / and news posts ahead so on days I can’t sit at the computer the post will get out. I do try to post news stuff but I simply put the articles in a tab to post when I can. So this is what is going on. The posts of memes and cartoons are the easiest for me to see.
Oh I forgot I started with the University of Miami in Naples to have my cataracts removed. They called me last monday but I have not felt well enough or had the energy to call them back. I will try to do it this week. Ron worries I am not strong enough right now for the hour long trips both ways and the procedures.
OK this got longer than I planned. If you reply I will save it in an open tab to respond to after I feel stronger or I have more news to share. I was working on the cartoons / memes / news post for 14th because it maybe that I may not be able to be at my computers for a few days, so I am trying hard to get posts ahead. Sadly with everything going on with me and Ron’s sister being here he totally stopped work on my new office with lots more light and windows. I understand why. Thank you to everyone who still comes here and reads what I post. Some times the videos are the only thing I can post or see for a while until I lay down and recharge. I find I am so tired I just watch the videos and lose track of time. I fall asleep at my desk a lot now. I value everyone of you and when I get better I will be much quicker to respond to you. Hugs
We need to add our voices to stop this assault on trans people. Notice it starts with trans kids being denied care and then moves to banning funding for poor or disabled adults. This is about hate, disgust, and bigotry driven by religion or misinformation. Notice that the article adds the information that no sexual reasignment surgery is done on minors something this group pushes as they know the “we must protect the children” is an easy sell. Everyone wants to protect children including the parents of transitioning kids who will have extreme stress and emotional disrest that could lead to suicide or self-harm. Trans minors get to socailly transition until puberty and then they are put on puberty blockers so they do not suffer from going through the wrong puberty for how they feel inside. Puberty blockers once stopped if not replaced with HRT the young person simply goes back through puberty of the sex assigned at birth. Socail transitioning means a name they choose to be called hair cuts that they prefer, and clothing they wish to wear all the genders they feel they are. These people don’t care about the individual kids, they care about the cause. They want trans people not to exist and they really don’t want those that pass because of puberty blockers to exist. That is the point they are driving to. It all comes down to forcing people to live their lives by our church doctrines or by our rules rather than live and let others live their lives. It is about enforcing a hedgomony of everyone being the same as cis straight people, which leads to everyone being one race is superior. We have to do everything possible to defend our trans folk because the corporate democrats got scared by the right into thinking that if they stop fighting for the rights of the vulnerable they will be accepted by the right. Sadly what happens when the rights of one group are abandoned the haters come for the next vulnerable of the group. The hater Christian right is already pushing for the over turning same-sex marriage as they feel they are winning on the wipe the trans out of existence. Hugs
A sign directs Election Day voters to the ballot drop box and polling center at the La Familia Recreation Center in Denver Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Lindsey Toomer/Colorado Newsline)
Two ballot measures that would restrict rights for transgender children in the state will appear on the Colorado ballot in 2026.
Protect Kids Colorado, a coalition led by prominent anti-LGBTQ+ activist Erin Lee, submitted signatures in February for ballot measures that would prevent transgender children from participating in school sports and receiving gender-affirming surgeries. Lee led several anti-LGBTQ+ initiatives that the Colorado Title Board rejected ahead of the 2024 election.
There isn’t clear data on the number of transgender student athletes in Colorado, and the two major hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to minors in the state do not offer surgeries to minors.
“Across Colorado, citizens are stepping forward because they believe the legislature has failed to protect children and families,” Lee said in a statement. “When elected officials refuse to act, the people of Colorado are using their constitutional right to bring these issues directly to the ballot.”
LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations in Colorado oppose both measures.
“Coloradans have always valued individual freedom and the rights of families to make private decisions without political interference, but these measures would go against those core values,” Nadine Bridges, executive director of One Colorado, said in a statement. “One could expose students to invasive inspections just to play sports, while the other would place politicians between families and their doctors in deeply personal health care decisions. That kind of government overreach puts privacy and dignity at risk and doesn’t align with our Colorado values.”
Ballot Initiative 110 would prohibit health care professionals from knowingly performing any surgery on a minor “for the purpose of altering biological sex characteristics.” The measure would also prohibit state and federal funding including Medicaid from being used to pay for gender-affirming procedures.
Children’s Hospital Colorado and Denver Health have paused gender-affirming care for youth amid the Trump administration’s threats to pull Medicaid and Medicare funding entirely.
Ballot Initiative 109 would add language in state statute to define boys and girls based on physical anatomy, excluding transgender people.
Sports teams sponsored by schools or athletic associations would be required to expressly designate those teams for men, women or co-ed. Schools and their athletic departments would be required to adopt policies implementing the requirements of the initiative.
The measure would not affect any student’s ability to participate in co-ed sports.
The state’s commissioner of education would be tasked with enforcing the measure, and would have discretion to determine how to “take appropriate remedial action” against any school not in compliance with its requirements.
The Colorado secretary of state’s office verified that Initiative 109 had enough petition signatures Monday and that Initiative 110 had enough petition signatures Tuesday.
Bruce Parker, executive director of Rocky Mountain Equality, said Coloradans “don’t need outside interests to tell them how to raise their families.”
“In the coming months we are going to hear intentional lies from anti-trans extremists about this ballot measure,” Parker said in a statement. “They aren’t being honest about their agenda to erode privacy and access to credible medical care they don’t agree with. Their next targets are care for trans adults and abortion services if we let them get away with this.”
Protect Kids Colorado is also backing a ballot measure to increase penalties for child human trafficking in Colorado. The election will occur on Nov. 3.
Lindsey Toomer
Lindsey Toomer covers politics, social justice and other stories for Newsline. She formerly reported on city government at the Denver Gazette and on Colorado mountain town government, education and environment at the Summit Daily News.
Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
“Put simply, Patel responded to The Atlantic’s questions about the FBI’s election investigations by referring to a graphic that appeared on an unrelated news story on another media company’s website” https://t.co/W1I6huX9SF
Erick Erickson: "I do think they're going to lose Ohio … the polling in Ohio for the GOP is pretty bleak. You have the white nationalists who don't want to support Vivek Ramaswamy for governor. You have the Max Miller situation that is actually dragging down the ticket." pic.twitter.com/JeFSVNsgUY
Last night I ate what I felt was a large meal for supper at 4 pm. Ron made me a steak with a small soup bowl salad along with three slices of buttered bread. I ate all the salad, ate 2/3rd of the steak and two slices of bread. I felt I did great. Ron felt I did not eat much or enough and should eat more. Ron also eats everything I don’t finish and has his own hunger issues. Ron is always hungry, especially at night.
I was so tired after eating that I was falling asleep at my desk, so I with Ron’s urging went to bed. I slept until about 11 p.m.. Ron had stayed up until then watching a show. So he came to bed and we chatted a bit. We decided to cuddle later. But by midnight I was having stomach distress. It got worse as the night wore on. I got up about 1 a.m. and took medication and sipped on a deit caffeine free cola to help me burb releasing the pressure. I was careful not to add too much liquid which would cause my stomach to void as soon as possible. I went back to bed a couple of hours later. As I layed in bed I felt my stomach release and start to empty at 4:46 a.m., and at the same time I felt the morning bowel movement need coming on. Related … I don’t know as I always do a morning BM minutes after getting up between 4 and 5 a.m..
I was still quessy as I got up then as I had a soda and a couple of fiber cookies. Ron and I talked about the probiotic suggestions and the suggestions on priorities. As you see I have not stressed over being late on posts. MDavis and others have made a good point that my putting pressure on myself when I am not feeling well to do more is only making me feel worse and doing damage to the healing myself. I will continue to do my best as I love doing this, but I won’t hurt myself or get so upset that I push myself harmfully to make the posts. Thank you to the readers of this blog for giving me that space and letting me take the time to heal or at least not drive myself to being more sick.
At 8:30 a.m. I ate a small piece of lazanna that I had made and frozen a month ago. It was great but while Ron had eaten the majority of it but the small piece he left was almost more than I could finish. But it tasted and felt great as I ate it.
At 1 p.m. Ron wanted me to have lunch. There was no way. Now it is getting past 3:30 p.m. And Ron wants me to eat supper. I can’t! So I guess I will negotiate a small sub or sandwich as there is no way I can eat a real meal. I might do a small salad which I also would love.
It is thundering and raining so the cat is terrified. Ron is going to make me a sandwich of ham, chicken, turkey, and lettuce, and he wants me to eat half of it, drink a nutrition shake, and wait to eat the other half for at least half an hour. He doesn’t want the issues I had last night. I have my allergy appointment tomorrow at 10 a.m. So I will be posting news from my iPad.
OK I had the 1/2 sandwich and the nutrition shake. I have to admit I am full. Entirely stuffed. So I am glad I did as Ron wanted me to do. There is a reason he has like 27 years of medical experience. If I had eaten more I might suffer as I did last night. Thinking of adding a few more things to the cartoons / memes post and then go to bed. Hugs
