Everything, every bone, every muscle in my body hurts! But Ron made a grand supper

I just filled up this window with the tabs from sites / comments that I want to answer. I have the video monitor going on a YouTube channel I like, and I want to start answering reading the many tabs, but Ron just had me take my blood sugar for supper. I am proud to say that even with the steroids my diet control kept my BS to 119. It is not easy, I am so hungry and want to eat, and yes during these periods I crave sweet stuff.

Dogs that love gravy, Ron just brought to me a huge roast beef sandwich covered deeply with brown gravy. He then returned with a plate of french fries and a bowl of more gravy. To say that I won’t be able to eat all this is an understatement. But the sad thing is this was one of my most favorite meals, that in the old days I would have devoured all of it and asked for more.

However my wonderful love who created that meal reminded me of our agreement for my mental health. After I eat supper at night or if I don’t eat, which is often, at 7 pm my blogging / computer time is over. At that time I either go to bed or turn to my X-boxes and play a game to get me ready for bed. That agreement was made because I was getting far too upset at night and being unable or unwilling to go to bed. It is a good compromise with the man I get to sleep with and who feeds me such great meals.

So while I just opened another 23 tabs so I won’t lose them, I will close the computers down. I doubt I will play Halo … oh who am I kidding, yes I will try as I love it, and then go to bed. Loves and hugs to all. Scottie

Interruptions

What a day! All day, interruption after interruption. I keep trying to finish what I left from yesterday, but either Ron needed me or there was a crisis here and then there. I did not even take a nap or break for lunch. I just got Ron ensconced in his recliner with a pillow under his leg. His knee is still bothering him, but instead of taking a week off to rest it, he tried all morning to work on getting the white board up in the pink palace. But all he was doing was aggravating his knee and hobbling more and more again. I have been there, I understand the need to do stuff and yet being betrayed by your body. But I also know that the injury / body part won’t heal if you insist on using it. So now to the blogs. For supper we are having soup and sandwiches, I picked tomato soup. Ron wants grill cheesed, but I may have to make them as he really can not stand well. I would be happy with regular subs on hoagie rolls and sliced meats. Hugs. Scottie

Lately I have had several scary Hypoglycemia episodes

My endocrinologist switched me from Janumet, a diabetic medication that got too expensive, to metformin which is basically the same drug without the new part that lets the drug company charge way more. I take one in the morning and one at night. This change plus my eating less these days has for the last several months caused my blood sugar to go too low. This week it has happened three times. Normally in the morning, because at night I normally take 25 units of long acting Lantus insulin. During the day I take a fast acting insulin with meals. That I adjust on a sliding scale, and my last prescription lasted almost a year instead of three months because I am keeping my blood sugar low by cutting out sweets and sugary breakfasts. And again I eat a lot less, and a lot more salads.

The reason I had to go on to insulin was my blood sugar was high when it was being taken care of by my primary care who seemed clueless about diabetes. Plus I was not serious about my diet and ate too much. When I started seeing the endocrinologist as soon as I told him I take steroid injections every few months, he informed me that pills won’t work against steroids, that takes insulin itself. And for the first week after getting the injections I have very high blood sugars, but not as high as they used to go. In the past I had 300 and 400 blood sugars. My doctor wants it no higher than 178 and no lower than 80. Now that first week I am in the 170 or 180s normally.

Now to the low blood sugars. For over a week I have not had to take any fast acting insulin or only 2 units. I eat and before the next meal check my blood sugar again and it is still low. Yesterday I did not have lunch, which is normal. I prefer to eat mid-morning and late afternoon. But before supper I got really shaky so I checked my blood sugar and it was below 80. I was going to have some chips, but Ron had my salad ready and was working on the burgers. I decided to have the salad. It tasted good, I used a mixture of Ranch and Red Wine Vinaigrette. I recently learned it was almost like Creamy Caesar. It was a medium size salad, and was not taking me long to eat it, and as I got near the end I went into Hypoglycemia .

Some of the symptoms of low blood sugar are below. There is one I did not see but happens to me, I get very tired and sleepy. I am unable to stay awake and will pass out.

How you react to low blood sugar may not be the same as how someone else with low blood sugar reacts. It’s important to know your signs. Common symptoms may include:

Fast heartbeat
Shaking
Sweating
Nervousness or anxiety
Irritability or confusion
Dizziness
Hunger

As I was near the end of my salad, I got the above, except I was not irritable but was very confused. I struggled to my feet, I knew I had to get to my bed right away. As I left the Playtime Pink Palace, I said to Ron I was going to lay down for a while, maybe a half hour. He saw I was diaphoretic, but did not realize it was so bad. I got to the bed, struggled up on it (we have a storage bed with a very thick / large Purple mattress. Between the height of the bed plus mattress, it is 35 inches high. It comes up to my hip bone. I normally have no difficulty getting in but Ron is short and he uses a single step stool to get into bed.) I slept for hours, waking about 9:30 pm. I remember Ron coming in once to ask if I was OK, but I don’t remember what I said. Ron told me last night and again this morning he goofed, he missed how bad I was. How low my blood sugar was and I was too confused to understand or tell him. I should have taken sugar or a glucose tablet. So yesterday I had taken no insulin during the day and last night after talking with Ron he told me not to take my nighttime insulin nor my nighttime metformin. This morning, my blood sugar was only 91. It is acceptable but remember I am not to go lower than 80. So I won’t take insulin this morning, as we are having hard-boiled eggs. I should have had pancakes but that I would have to cover so I will stick with the eggs and toast. Hugs

I am broken

Don’t be worried, I am not in danger. But I am broken. See today Ron decided this morning to run the new heavily shielded burial read cable with water sealed ends we bought for the internet connection we have. The cable we bought did cost more than regular coaxial cable at stores like Home Depot. Ron wanted a specific length, 70 feet. I wanted a cable highly rated and well shielded. So we ordered it. To run the cable from where it came to the house to where we need it in my new Playtime Pink Palace, Ron had to remove a large section of the skirting on the south side of the house that was already in direct Florida sunlight and part of the west / back end of the home that was still shaded. We wanted to replace the old double cable run by Comcast back in 2007 when we had phone / internet / and cable TV, it was bulky, unwieldy, and simply not where we needed it.

The new cable we bought was very stiff and coiled when Ron went to uncoil it, the job of running it was hard as he had to uncoil and fight the very stiffness that made the cable so much what we wanted. But three times I went outside to help with the uneven ground and my inability of lifting my feet up much to walk caused me to stumble and fight to walk. Inside I had to do a lot of not only bending over but getting down on the floor to help him feed the cable end up into my new Playtime Pink Palace.

But it got worse. Right after the hurricane Ian, which tore the roof off half my office and one wall out, all my stuff had to be taken out of the room and savaged as best as possible. My office was a big room and a lot of stuff was stored there on shelves and closet. The saved stuff has to be stored somewhere. A lot of that was stashed in my bedroom closet, but that was over full of everything. For a while I have been wanting to fix that.

Oh shit, the bending, the carrying, the getting up and down from a step stool to move stuff from my bedroom closet to the new room, both closet and the shelves. Putting stuff where it should go, rethinking or moving things around to make it fit right simply destroyed me. Ron came in and seen me and asked me to stop for the day, but I really wanted to get this done. But it has really stressed and messed up my muscles in my legs and back. So now I am in severe pain.

The good news is I got most of it done. I even found things we had missed and I had worried were swept away. Ron is making a burger and salad for me and burgers, hot dogs, and chili for himself. He eats so much more than I can these days. He wanted to give me two burgers plus the salad, but I asked him instead for one burger and the salad. Not to be too personal and graphic (which sounds strange when I have shared my sexual abuse with everyone in all the details, the rapes as an adult in the military, and my own personal life) but with the pain medications I take that cause harder stools that are hard to pass even when balanced out with the diabetic medications which tend to cause loose stools. To put nicely, my poop is hard and hard to pass. So to make my life easier and because I actually like them, I eat a lot of salad. So when Ron offered me two burgers, I instead asked if I could have one burger and a “small” salad. For us or for me a large salad if made to fill a large pasta bowl which is twice if not three times the size of a regular bowl. I often have these instead of other things for supper. But a small salad is made in a regular soup bowl. Ron always tells me if I finish and want more, he will make it. He understands how important salad is for me.

Ron just came in and advised me to take my blood sugar. It was 89 when I took it this morning when I woke up. It is 82 now. I did not take insulin this morning and I won’t be taking it tonight until I go to bed. At night I take a long acting insulin to cover me for the entire night. I may have to ask the doctor to lower my dosage.

So I had a great burger with my fixings, and a wonderful salad with my mix of dressings. I will make the coffee and then go take my shower I put off all day. Then got to bed. I hope and plan to get up early in the morning and get to all thirty of the new open tabs I had from new stuff this morning. Oh, and Ron asked me to please make the coffee for the morning before I go to the bedroom because he likes it better when I make it for some reason, not sure why, we make it the same I think. Loves and hugs. Scottie

Southern culture is American culture

In this episode, @TraeCrowderLiberalRedneck examines how “Southern culture” can be looked down upon and emulated at the same time.

The American South is a complicated place, and we know a lot less about it than we think we do. And many things about the South that seem to make no sense are less confounding in context. The reality is the history of many Southern things has been manipulated, hidden, or just plain ignored. Trae Crowder guides us through the pride points, failures, and contradictions in “Southin’ Off.”

My day so far

So I woke at 2 am to pee. With my new heart medications, I pee at night almost every hour. I also went to bed at 8 pm. I tend to go to bed early due to both my medications and insulin / food at supper making me very sleepy. So last night I went to bed at 8 pm.

Ron and I do not get tired normally at the same time. I go to bed early and he normally doesn’t come to bed until 10 pm or later. But we have a system. I put my pills in little paper cups. When I go to bed I set up and take my evening pills for that day, then set up my pills for morning and set it aside on the headboard, I then set up the 10 pm pain pills and set in a spicfic spot. I set the night ones in one place and the morning ones go next to the morning other pills I take. Then I set up my nighttime long acting Lantus insulin pen. I take 25 units at night around 10 pm. So I set the dial, put the needle on, but leave the cover and get the alcohol pad packet ready. Yes we use them for our blood sugar sticks and our shots because the teaching over the years spent in the hospital ICU systems still resonate in us. Then I go to bed.

Ron then comes down about 10 pm to wake me or remind me if I have not been sleeping to take the pills and shot. Often by then he will be ready to come to bed, but sometimes not. It is something that works well for us, as I get up much earlier in the morning than Ron does.

Back to today. I woke up at 2 am to pee, but couldn’t go back to sleep. So I figured it was a great time to get up and deal with all the open tabs I have on both computers. Also between 4:30 to 5:30 am I try to feed the two “outside cats”. I am normally up by 5 am and they are used to that. The outside cats are one feral distrustful female and one former inside cat that often spends days in our home to go back out at night. We wanted him to be out during the day and in all night, but after a month or two of fighting with him, he won. He comes in during the day and sleeps or what ever, and is out all night. So I fed them and made of him as he wandered around inside.

Later that morning when Ron got up.

Ron and I took the skirting off parts of the back and the side at the back of the house to inspect the old internet coaxial cable that was run for us in 2007. The current cable is a two part cable because when we first signed up with the internet company we got the entire package, TV, phone, and internet. We soon dropped phone for cells, then dropped cable for internet entertainment. So all we have is internet. And we are happy with that, if not the price. As I said before we use the max out of our internet. The company recently forced us to go through a week of on and off internet to double our speeds, which I am sure they will soon jack the price for. When I talk to others around the country about their internet speeds and costs a lot of people get far greater speeds for less cost, but what can we do? We really are dependent on our internet for everything from our TV, computers, to our security system.

The first thing we did after breakfast was go out and remove panels of the skirting on the back of the house and the side near the back. The intent was to see where and how I had split it off when it was first put in on the beginning of 2007. Because we had signed up for Phone, cable, and internet they ran a large two-sided cable from their box at the back of the yard which they then split a distance under the home to send one half to and hooked into the home, then I split the internet part off to several rooms in the house. Over the years we got rid of landline phone service and then cable. So the old cable stayed only with the second part cut off at the boxes at the end of the home.

Since I hope this is the last office change and both Ron and I want to get it as perfect as we can we have decided to replace the existing large two-sided cable with a new modern upgraded coaxial cable just for the internet to the spot we plan to put the modem and router.

Which saw Ron and me outside at 10 am in the Florida sun / heat taking the skirting off spots in the back and side of the house to determine what we needed to do to run new coaxial cable. Ron insisted on taking the side panels at the south side of the home off while we were in the direct sun because he was sure the answers we needed were further up the house. I knew how the cables were run because I was deeply involved with them when they were being done back in 2007, but I also know enough after 33 years of living together to just let Ron do what he is sure is right until he is proven wrong. Then if I know what is good for my future affections for a while I never let on that I was “damn well right in the first place”

So to make the longest story shorter after taking off the back panels I had seen the place their orange cable came in and our double cable was hooked to and ran under the home, split off to a now cut line, and ran the rest of the way under the home. So the solution was clear and simple. So simple it leads to an argument until Ron and I got on the same page and he understood what I was saying. So we measured the length of the back of the house to the corner and then up to where we thought roughly that the wall from the new office to the current office room. Leaving room for “stuff” we came up with 45 feet. So Ron then decided to add to that length of the rest of the home. He came up with 70 feet.

At this point I felt the need to remind Ron that the official length of our home was 56.5 feet long. He was not happy and insisted we needed a new 70 foot cable in case we ever wanted to move the modem from my office to another part of the house like the planned for new living room. I knew when trying to fight a point was not worth doing so, and agreed to look the cable length up at either Home Depot or Lowes.

That is when things got a bit tense. First let me say I have made many cables, both coaxial and Ethernet. I did it for years. I have all the tools and supplies. But I just don’t want to do it now. I want this to be the last time we do it, open the skirting which is a bitch to open and harder to close and then run this cable. I trust the manufactured cables more than my ability these days. Ron was angry I did not want to do it because at the stores we could only get 50 feet or 100 feet in the lengths we needed. Ron wanted to buy 70 feet which both stores will sell the cables by the foot with out ends and have me put the ends on. I told him to get the 50 foot for about 30 dollars or the 100 foot for 40 dollars. I am not sure which he will get. He finally gave in. I just don’t want to do it anymore, even though I am sure I can.

Then after being outside and kneeling in the grass, my allergies were in full bloom. My hands that were in the grass to look under the house and help me get back on my feet were turning red and itching. I stayed out with Ron while he closed up the skirting, which is a true bitch, then I came in and took a shower while he mowed the lawn with the new 6.5 amp 18 volt batteries we bought for the mower. Now let’s move on to the rest of the day.

One of the great things of my new Scotties Playtime Pink Palace is that I can swivel the video monitor and put on headphones and do the dishes while watching the video screen from the kitchen sink / counters! Those video monitor arms are awesome. So I did the dishes. Now I want people to understand, we have a very fancy expensive dishwasher that has not worked correctly since Ian. We paid a repair company $110 to come in, run it for 10 minutes, hear it run, see it had a bit of water and leave saying nothing wrong with it. So after it wouldn’t fill or run, Ron replaced a bunch of parts, including the pump. Then he gave up and we just continued doing dishes by hand in the sink using the dishwasher racks to drain the dishes. The problem is to replace the dishwasher will cost about $700 dollars and I need new glasses as mine have a chip out of them and my eyes have gotten worse. The glasses I get have always been around $700 dollars at the least expensive place. The one time Ron and I tried a different place, they wanted 1,400 dollars for the same glasses. Screw that.

But while there was not really a large amount of dishes, only about 24 hours worth for two people, it took me 2 and a half hours. Yes sorry but I struggle to stand, move, work with my arms and shoulders. So those dishes took me that long. During it I needed to take pain medications. While I was doing dishes, Ron took a well deserved break. He offered to dry the dishes but I really felt he deserved more of a break. The man is 68, has his own health issues, and was out in the Florida sun / heat mowing our lawn. I wanted him to sit in his recliner after he took his shower, watch his TV, and relax. And tonight he is going to make supper of burgers and salads.

A few hours later: Ron made two burgers each and two small salads. Small salads for us means a regular size bowl and a large salad which is what I normally have is a very large pasta bowl full of salad. So I made two burgers the way I like and took them to my new office along with my salad. But I soon realized I wouldn’t be able to eat both burgers and the salad. As I was finishing my first burger, Ron opened the door and asked if I needed anything and I offered him my second burger. He smiled. He knew that was coming. I wish I did. He told me he had not made his second burger because he figured when he saw me take both of mine I wouldn’t be able to finish them. He asked and I explained what was on them. He ate my second burger and I finished my salad. He then told me he loved it, the way I make a burger on a bun is great, but I only put salts, lettuce, pickle slices, and a tad bit of both mustard and A1 steak sauce. But it worked out, I did not over eat and he got a great burger along with putting in the fridge the leftover burger which he will eat later. He loves cold hamburgers, which I find abhorrent. It is sad in a way, in the old days we would both eat two or three burgers and a whole bag of store bought french fries. These days when Ron asks I don’t have him make fries. No way I can eat that much. If I am going to have fries I can only have at most one burger. Or instead of the burgers I will just have fries which is horrible for my blood sugar.

So everything I normally do at the end of the day is done. The cats have been fed, Odie has been fed, and will get his shot closer to 8 pm. I am going to bed with my muscles aching and my body pain starting to rise. Ron has already popped in to ask if I want a back rub or something before I go to sleep. Gods he is wonderful. But I told him we will cuddle when he comes to bed many hours from now.

So that was / is the highlights of my day. I am sure I forgot some stuff. If you ask me questions I might remember what I forgot. Otherwise I love you all, and wish those that like hugs many warm ones and those that don’t want hugs I extend best wishes. Good night. Scottie

I have tried, I really did. I hope that shouldn’t be again.

Ron made a great meal of baked Ziti and garlic bread. It was what I asked for, and he seemed to understand even though I was hiding it from him, I was very upset. I ate two small plates full, even though that was a lot for me.

But now I must go to bed. Not only is the food and emotional upset screaming through my body, but I can not deal with anything else. I can not deal with the 180 web pages, tabs I have opened on two different computers. I simply can’t deal with any of them. So I must close it all down. Go to bed, and try desperately to sleep. That again will be with some help from Ron.

Often when one or the other of us can not sleep cuddling with the other does the trick, the only thing is who cuddles who and for how long. Sometimes cuddles turn into sexy time. But often it is simply a way to go to sleep when one is upset over the day’s news. Plus we never go to bed at the same time, so if I am to wait for Ron to come to bed to feel better, I would have to ask him before heading to the bedroom. Anyway today and the posts I have made have exhausted me, and I simply must stop. So all those tabs will go into the cue for morning. Hugs and loves to all.

Let’s talk about Biden, recommendations, and information….

Fire Ants – Most succesful creature that has ever lived | Full Episode

Horrifying. I was once working in the yard before I understood what fire ants were when we first moved to Florida. They swarmed my legs before they started to sting as a group. That is what they do, the first ant doesn’t sting, they wait until they have a bunch of them when dealing with large prey. By dogs that love gravy, that is painful. Ron’s mother had to be hospitalized because of a fire ant attach. They are nothing to take lightly. They can kill a fully grown cow because they swarm the prey / threat. Hugs

Witness one of natures ancient wonders – Fire Ants! It has been adapting, evolving for 150 million years 14 000 species they are nearly everywhere thriving. This is the story of solenopsis Invicta for 80 years it has been on a ceaseless march across the United States racking up six billion dollars every year in crop damage equipment repair and Pest Control conquering 340 million acres in 13 states and it’s still on the Move globally now scientists are cracking their ancient secrets to success and survival we knew that we could speculate all day but to fully understand the ants we decided to bring them into the lab and obtain visual data.