The Morning After by Maureen McGovern

There’s got to be a morning after If we can hold on through the night We have a chance to find the sunshine Let’s keep on lookin’ for the light

Oh, can’t you see the morning after It’s waiting right outside the storm Why don’t we cross the bridge together And find a place that’s safe and warm

It’s not too late, we should be giving Only with love can we climb It’s not too late, not while we’re living Let’s put our hands out in time

There’s got to be a morning after We’re moving closer to the shore I know we’ll be there by tomorrow And we’ll escape the darkness We won’t be searchin’ any more

There’s got to be a morning after
(There’s got to be a morning after)
There’s got to be a morning after
(There’s got to be a morning after)
There’s got to be a morning after
(There’s got to be a morning after)
There’s got to be a morning after
(There’s got to be a morning after)
There’s got to be a morning after
MAUREEN MCGOVERN

Woken by my Apple Watch as I was dying in a dream

Hello everyone.   I have put off writing this all day.   First I have not felt well and second I wanted to do it without sounding overdramatic.   But Ron’s panic when he saw the EKG’s and his insistence that if it ever happens again I must wake him right away, I think a little drama is warranted.  

Last night, I had a dream unlike any dream I have had before.   Something to keep in mind is that other than my nightmares about my childhood abuse, I have the ability to gain superpowers in my dreams.   Even in dreams dealing with my adoptive father lately I have seen my self trying to stand up to him, even if I am unable to get the words out that I want to shout and instead being woken / waking up with Ron trying hard to help me and telling me I am either shouting or making guttural sounds at a large volume.  

Last night was different, I had no powers, and in my dream I knew I was about to die.  The dream took place in the front yard facing the street in a home we use to own.   One of my favorite homes.   It was very dark, no moon, and was slightly raining.  We also had rain last night.   In my dream as I twisted and danced to avoid stepping in a large puddle on our walkway to the street, (I did not have and did not seem to need my ever present canes) a black car pulled up in the street next to me.   A woman was in the car and gesturing to me, I could see this because she had the inside car dome light on.  As I approached the street she pulled up to the curb in the next door home.   

As I walked toward the car she pulled into the driveway of the home.   I was not sure what to do so I stood there in the yard.   The woman got out of the car and had a large double barrel shot gun and pointed it at me as she walked towards me.   I turned to run but tripped and fell on the ground.  

As I rolled over she was less than five feet from me with the gun pointed at me.  In my mind / dream I knew she was going to shoot me.  In the dream I remember thinking she is going to kill me and I cannot do anything to stop her.  Then I woke up with my Apple watch buzzing like crazy on my wrist.   Unlike Ron or James, I wear my watch all night.    The watch was displaying a red alert saying I was in AFIB.   I really couldn’t process what the watch said as I did not have my glasses on and I was struggling to breathe.   

After a while I calmed down and got my glasses and ran an EKG from my phone.   That also came back bad with AFIB.    I laid in bed for another 45 minutes cuddling with Ron before doing it again.   The reason I did it again was I was again having shortness of breath.  It again came back with AFIB.  My chest hurt so I got up.  

When I did so I woke Ron and that is normal.   He asked what was going on and I stupidly said my heart was in AFIB and I stupidly told him the truth, that I was having trouble breathing and my watch was saying I was in AFIB.  Ron worked 16 years in the Open Heart ICU and I don’t think I have ever seen him out of bed that quickly.  He demanded to see the EKGs, so I gave him my phone.   That started a morning of checks, repeat checks, lots of me being told to do this, don’t do that, and being watched like a toddler around open live electrical wires.    After I had my coffee and breakfast, my heart rate returned to sinus rhythm.   It has stayed that way all day.    The breathing problem is much worse at night when I am laying down in bed.   Anyway, that is what happened.   I was not scared until Ron seemed to be so upset.   I never had a dream where I was in danger and couldn’t save myself that was not related to my childhood abuse.   This time I knew she was going to shoot me and I was going to die.   Weird.   Hugs

Anyone got something like this?

For years I had a simple form we printed off when we went for groceries, and I was able to alter it for our needs.  This is the last version I have of it.   I have looked repeatedly for a new version and I can not find it.   I just tried to send it to Randy, who has been helping me with trying to start some kind of menu / shopping method to save money.  I ended up have to save it to my hard drive another 12 or 20 times until I realized how to save it as a format I can show it to others.   Yes my mind is not as clear as it used to be.  Here is the form I have after I edited it for years for Ron and me.   Does anyone know of a similar form that will help us older folk go grocery shopping.  Damn it, I can not find a way to put it into the post.   Thank you all so much.   I will try several screen clips.    Sorry.  Hugs

Grocery list screen shot 1Grocery list screen shot 2

GROCERY LIST reworked

GROCERY LIST reworked

GROCERY LIST

GROCERY LIST

By Aisle

CANNED FOODS

  • Soups___________
  • Corn ____________
  • Canned Potatoes
  • Beans___________
  • Beef Broth_______
  • Chicken Broth____
  • Chili_____________
  • Stew____________
  • Crushed Tomatoes

Tomato Juice_____

Whole Tomatoes__

SNACKS

  • Chips____________
  • Dips_____________
  • Candies_________
  • Pretzels__________
  • _________________
  • _________________
  • _________________
  • _________________
  • _________________

PERSONAL HYGIENE

  • Sensodyne ______
  • Mouthwash______
  • Bath wash_______
  • Razor Blades______
  • ________________
  • Deodorant ______
  • Shampoo________
  • Shaving cream __

PHARMACY

  • _________________
  • _________________
  • _________________
  • _________________
  • _________________

PRODUCE

  • Lettuce__________
  • Potatoes ________
  • Carrots__________
  • Broccoli_________
  • _________________
  • _________________
  • _________________
  • _________________
  • _________________

CEREALS/GRAINS

  • _________________
  • Bread___________
  • Breakfast Muffins_
  • Elbows__________
  • Spaghetti________
  • Hot dog rolls ____
  • Hamburger rolls __
  • Rolls for subs_____
  • Rolls for gravy ____
  • _________________

SPICES/CONDIMENTS

  • Chicken Bullion___
  • Peanut butter____
  • Ketchup_________
  • Mustard_________
  • Jelly_____________
  • Beef Bullion______
  • Hot Sauce_______
  • Garlic___________
  • _________________

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS

  • Lotto tickets______
  • Air fresheners_____
  • Napkins_________
  • Paper towels_____
  • Toilet paper______
  • Cleaners_________
  • Liquid hand soap_
  • Kleenex _________
  • Dishwashing soap
  • Glass Cleaner____

MEAT/SEAFOOD

  • Hamburger______
  • Steak____________
  • Ham____________
  • Deli meats_______
  • Hot Dogs
  • Fry chicken______

DAIRY

  • Margarine_______
  • Eggs____________
  • Milk_____________
  • Bacon___________
  • Sausage Patties__
  • Sausage Links____
  • Shredded Cheese
  • Hard Cheese_____
  • Sliced Cheese____

HEALTH/ETHNIC

  • Tacos___________
  • Frozen Pizzas_____
  • Burritos__________
  • TV Dinners_______
  • Sour Cream _____
  • _________________
  • _________________
  • _________________
  • _________________

BEVERAGES

  • Rum ____________
  • Wines___________
  • Beer / fuzzy drinks_
  • Coffee__________
  • Bottled Water____
  • Ice Tea__________
  • Drink Mixes_______
  • Soda____________
  • Coffee Filters_____

FROZEN FOODS

  • French fries______
  • Ice cream_______
  • Hash browns_____
  • Home fries _______
  • Onions __________
  • Green Peppers___
  • Meat Balls_______
  • Chicken_________

PET FOOD

  • Fancy Feast______
  • Treaties__________
  • Cat Toys_________
  • Kitty Litter________
  • Flea Drops_______

A health update.

Ron got really worried this early afternoon.   I was struggling to breathe as I was just sitting here watching season 2 of Picard.  I felt like my heart was trying to ram its way out of my chest and my pulse was hammering my throat / neck.  So Ron asked me to take my blood pressure / pulse.   It was 196 / 82 with a 106 pulse.   Ron asked me to shut off the show and go lay down and I felt so bad I agreed.   That was at 2 PM.

At 5 PM I got back up and Ron again had me take my blood pressure and pulse.  Now I was 169 / 78 with a pulse of 101.  I am breathing easier but still have catches and a heaviness in my chest / throat.  I wanted to start the laundry and do some more posting / news reading, but Ron wants me to sit still and watch movies / videos and not do any news watching / posting stuff that might upset me.   He got really worried this afternoon.   We even joked about my life insurance information.   But I could tell he was worried and trying to keep the conversation lighthearted.   

So no more for me today.   At least right now, the unread news tabs will sit unread, the new news will not be looked at, and comments won’t be answered.  But I do have a long list of just for fun movies and stuff on the various streaming services that might finally get some attention.    Best wishes, loves and hugs to everyone.   Scottie

The bigots have worn me down.

I am watching the Sunday news shows I can get for free.  But I am again very tired and find it hard to concentrate.   I love Star Trek and yet due to being poor rarely get to watch the newer series as they are all subscriptions services.   Sometimes I can get a season of one on Amazon Prime at a good discount, and we buy that.  

Over this week I save the open news tabs I have not gotten to yet.   This morning when I opened my browser I had 36 new stories to read and maybe post.  But I just don’t feel up to it, I am struggling to think and process information, I am very tired.  Soon they will be out of date, if not already.   

But I was able to buy the second season of Picard a while ago with Prime points.   Plus I found on YouTube a free first episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.  I think I am going to watch the movies and not try to deal with the news today.   Sorry everyone, I know I am letting everyone down.   I should watch and post the videos of what is happening, the articles on the rabid right rise of Nazism, and the attacks on the LGBTQ+ in society by those people.   Maybe later I will.   Best wishes and lots of hugs.  Scottie

 

OK, what an afternoon.

Hello all my friends.   On Monday, I got some steroid shots in my back muscles to help with the pain.  But they say it takes three days for full effects.   I have to admit depending on how bad / hurting I am, the shots can help almost with in minutes of the injection.   Because of people being on vacation I did not see my normal provider so the question I have did not get answered.  But let’s move on.

This morning I got up like around 5 AM not able to sleep, that is one of the effects that these steroids have on me, I can not sleep, and I feel better than ever.   I can breathe again, I can move better, and I am feeling so much better.   But with my fragile bone situation they have to be very careful how much steroids I get.  Yesterday I worked on our laundry while Ron worked on the house and I was so full of pain and swollen muscles, Ron wanted to forbid me from any work today.  That ended up being not the case, but he is very upset while being grateful.   

Hurricane Ian took the roof off the front room of our home, it was about 12 foot by 24 foot, give or take some inches for supports or such.   The county says it is 12 by 24, so that is what we go with.  Due to our roof being hit by other roofs and debris, our roof (which is a great AMS metal roof that has never failed)  split open on a tear on the south side of an east facing room roof and peeled it back over half the room.   That was my office and my electronics were in there,  

After the storm we had to close off the room because we had a double french door there and so say six or more feet.   In the emergency Ron and James but up sheets of plywood we had over the opening to prevent any water coming in and keeping the heat out.  It was not the greatest situation, but until the inner roof was installed we had to close that part of the house off.   So recently we got the panels that we ordered right after the hurricane, so Ron and James put the inner roof up.  Ron has worked for a while to calk and fix any leaks.   

Today when as much as could be done to weatherproof the room and with Ron trying to work in that room with no air flow and temperatures between 95 and 120 I declared that the wall had to come down so Ron could work in there without the heat causing him more health problems.   At first he resisted but when I laid it all out he agreed it needed to be done.     So after trying to work in the room with the high Florida heat he came in and covered in sweat and shaking the guy with MS said he was going to lay down.  When he got up he agreed I was correct.

So as Ron was working in the supper hot room that is east facing getting all the morning sun / heat getting it ready to take down the tarps on that side and the plywood on the rest of the house side.   I worked to move everything that had been piled / set in front of that are because we did not have room for it.   Once Ron was done came the real pain issue for me.  

We had two lighter pieces of plywood across the top and on very heavy 1 inch plywood on the bottom supporting the upper ones.  Ron made sure when he took the two pieces off he made sure he took the brunt of the weight.  But I still had to help him carry them out to the family room where they are now stored.   He wanted to wait to take the biggest heaviest one off as he was really worried about my back and health.   

But I moved most of the inside stuff and Rom moved the heavy stuff and then we took down the plywood.   For the first time since Ian made landfall Sept. 28, 2022, in the Fort Myers area as a Category 4 hurricane, we had a connection to the front of our home from the inside. The ferocious 150-mph winds lasted for over 8 hours as we were in the hurricane eye wall.  Our home had with stood every other hurricane, but one woman neighbor claims she had seen a mini tornado caused by the hurricane move over our home and several others in the same east / west direction, which would have caused their roofs to be ripped off and slam into ours.  

So here is the photo I quickly took as Ron had taken the heavy stuff he wouldn’t let me handle out, and after I set up the fan.   It will be grand to get our room back.   But still we have to reapply to FEMA to pay for all the bids we finally got, but now FEMA has closed our account since it has been this long.  We have to now start a new account, get a new inspection and hope we get enough money for the 30 grand in home repairs we need after the Hurricane.   Hugs

Hugs and love for everyone.   I am going to try to eat before bed.   Scottie

A health update

A short note.   I saw my allergist today.   He is the one that called me personally to strongly urge me to go back on my heart rate medication.   I was seeing him because I made the mistake of leaving the special soaps he prescribed too long on my face / scalp, and it gave me another bad chemical burn.   My face was the worst with first open sores, then red peeling skin as it healed like a bad sun burn.   My scalp had sores and was crazy itchy as it heals.  

He has prescribed new medications for my breathing and is sending me to a dermatologist as it has become that bad.  But the most important part of the exam was when he listened to my chest and asked me questions about my heart / breathing.     See the issue was I was on a Beta Blocker to keep my heart rate low, because I was running in the 120s beats per minutes, and when doing things or stressed I would go up into the 150s.    But to have the allergy shots I need, I have to stop taking the Beta Blocker medication that slows my heart.   So I made my primary doctor remove the medication.

But this time when the medication was removed, my heart rate went much higher and much more out of control than ever before.  Plus I started to have serious shortness of breath, to the point where I struggled to breathe just sitting at my desk, while any exertion set off a panic to get air in.   So at this doctor’s personal phone call to me, I went back on the medication after a month or more.  

Today as part of my exam, he listened to my chest and spent more time doing so than is normal.  He went back and forth from my front to my back and only asked me to breathe deep once.    Then he asked me how had my breathing been since I went back on the heart rate medication.  I told him how it improved but still was worse than it had been before.  I described how I still had times of shortness of breath, which means times I feel I cannot get a breath of air in.  I told him it happened really bad when I laid on my right side, and if I got excited or was doing stuff.    He then asked me a question.  Do I ever feel like my chest feels funny when that breathing problem happens?   Yes I told him, I feel like there is something inside my chest lurching around.    He paused and then told me he wanted me to tell the heart doctor I see on the 30th this, and explained that when he listened my heart was not in complete rhythm.   Just sitting there in his office, my heart was not in normal sinus rhythm.   It was skipping.  He is worried that during that time period I was off that medication with my heart rates in the 140s, I suffered damage to my heart.   

Well we will know at the end of the month.   I was not surprised by what he said because Ron, my spouse, worked in the open heart ICU for 18 years.  When this was happening, he was beside himself trying to get me to go back on the medication.   He also has been looking several times daily at my Apple Watch EKG readings and he has been very upset with them, showing me the pauses and different parts that should be differently shown.  I was not goods with strips in the ICUs, and so I can not see what he does.   He is good with them but like I said he did Open Heart ICU 18 years.  I will keep you updated, but that does explain my being so tired, so easily winded, wanting to go to bed so much, and why it is so hard to think some days.   Just one more thing to have to deal with.    Hugs

And I screwed up again, again

This morning I am reloading and fixing my secondary video computer.   Why you ask, did I get malware you might think.  Nope I got hit with a case of stupidity, and it was a large dose.  I was fixing up a 500 GB drive spare drive I have.   The plan was to wipe the drive and partition it.  I have good software for this.  But the software might not be good enough to overcome my own stupidity.   My main drives on each computer are also 500 GB SSDs.   I mistook the main drive for the spare and ordered the computer to wipe that drive.  Yes they main drive.   The program did ask me twice to verify I wanted it to do that and I quickly without reading all the notice I just hit yes continue.  As you can imagine, the computer quickly became a rock.  This morning I am fixing what I broke.   Hugs

So I over did, and I am paying for it, sick for days

I have tried five times to write this post to only put it in drafts and a day later try again.   Last night Ron came into the bedroom because I went to bed about 5 PM after he fixed me something to eat for supper, he got really upset because he said I felt really fevered and wanted to take my temperature.   I was too restless and just wanted to sleep.  I guess I drifted off and he checked in on me often before he came to bed.  So I will try to edit this from all the other posts and get it out today, as I already am failing.  Ron is upset because my back muscles are not stopping the spasms but are still actively jumping and swollen.   Which shouldn’t be happening because I just got my steroid desensitizing back shots.  


Those that follow the blog know I am trying hard to expand my activities.   The end of last week I tried hard to do things both with Ron and on my own.   It caused me to get very sick.   What no doctor has explained to me or even looked into is why my body when stressed gets very ill.   It happened when I tried to go back to work in 2010, and in four years I went from pretty stable and feeling the best I had in decades to being so ill I was in the hospital more as a patient than a worker.   My hospitalist doctor was a friend I worked with in the ICU and he told me I had to stop working and reduce the stress on my body or he would be going to my funeral.   And that was going to happen very soon.   My body was shutting down.   

So I stopped working and I went into a deep depression.  That was when I had my emotional breakdown and my childhood abuse became something I couldn’t hide from, couldn’t bury, and couldn’t face.   I refused to come out of the bedroom.  That was when my doctors that were handling my mental health and my pain doctor talked to Ron about giving me something to do to distract me, which was the candle making.    For those that don’t know, Ron set up my computers and a candle making station up in the bedroom and even while he was working nights and trying to sleep I would make candles non-stop.   But during that time I started hurting my self again, self harm.  I started cutting.  Something I had not done for decades.     

It was also when Randy showed me how much a brother he was and how much he cared.   Randy worked long and hard night shifts, but he called me constantly and kept his phone on, often waking up just to check in on me.   I do not like talking on the phone as it was one of the things I was punished harshly for in childhood, but I do enjoy talking with Randy.   If I felt the vortex coming or it dragging me I would call Randy and he would spend hours talking to me, distracting me, helping me.   The God’s only know how much sleep he lost and how much money if he could have billed me for those hours how wealthy he would be today.  


Anyway on to today.   I have been trying to do more, both for my self to keep my body going and to help Ron.  He is working so hard on the outside construction of the house and he is so tired and worn that I am trying hard to do as much as I can inside the house.    I was warned, Nan warned me several times in the comments to not over do.

But I over did badly.   So much so that Friday evening I carried a misdelivered small package to the neighbor next door who is an older woman who was so concerned about me falling because I couldn’t stand upright because my back kept giving out, she insisted on helping me back home.  Over the weekend I was so sick I was throwing up and stuck in bed.   I thought yesterday I would be OK but by noon I went to bed and stayed there until this morning.   Ron kept coming in to check on me and at one point he said he got scared as I was so still he thought I was not breathing.   

I thought everything was back to my normal today when I went for my shower after the Sunday news shows.   Oh shit was I wrong.   I was fine as I got everything ready, did the normal things like teeth brushing and shaving.  But my back kept complaining more and hurting more as I was standing.  See standing is the worst thing for me.  If I go shopping with Ron, the worst thing is if he stops to comparison shop, I have to keep walking in circles or back and forth.   But I got into the shower and started on doing my very long hair.

Very long story short, my back gave out and I sank to the bottom of the shower.  I finished my shower while sitting on the floor.   When I was able to get back on my feet, get dried off, and got dressed, then I made another mistake.  I told Ron what happened.  He was mortified and furious I did not somehow summon him.   Like how, telepathy?  But I also admit I was scared.  I couldn’t stand, and it was scary sitting on the shower floor.   But I also know I can not show that to Ron.  He has enough on his mind with fixing the house and if he thinks I got scared in the shower he will stop what repairs he is doing and rip the shower out to put in one with seats.

But I understand.   Ron is like me.  He gets very upset when he sees me fail and he knows he wants to help, just as I get upset when I see him fail on something like not being able to do something or his blood sugar or other medical need and I try to help him.  

So that is why my online stuff has been hit and more like miss this last week, and why a lot of my posting was either from early morning or just email from my bed.  My back has already starting giving out and I have not even done anything but sat in my chair, and I need to go lay down.  

So that has been our last week.   Ron working hard on getting new bids for FEMA and trying to keep fixing what he can.   He has bids on the bottom of the house, the leveling, and he also got bids on the flooring and other things.    Me getting what medical help I can and James doing his thing at his job and helping all his friends and us.   So tomorrow we all move forward if we can.   See you in the comments.    Hugs  

A call from my allergiest, yes the doctor called me.

The backstory is that I was on Metoprolol to control my heart rate.   However that drug interferes with the function of the epinephrine which is a form of adrenaline, as it keeps the heart rate low.   I need allergy shots for my allergies.   I am a person who really shouldn’t stop them after the maintenance dose is reached.  I don’t retain the sensitivity or what ever they call not having bad allergic reactions.   So as I was going to be getting my shots again, I needed to be removed from the medication.   

When I was removed from the Metoprolol my heart rate soared uncontrolled.   The first two weeks I was running in the high 130s to lower 140s.   I also had huge shortness of breath and my Apple Watch EKG function showed my rhythm was not even, giving pauses and double beats.   Ron worked open heart ICU and he was freaking out.   I contacted my primary care doctor, who referred me to my old heart group.   The doctor who treated me there was no longer with them, and they simply ignored the referral.  Almost a month went by with first me then the primary care office trying to contact their appointment desk and they never answered us.  So I got referred to a different group at my request.  

In the wealthiest country in the world the next appointment I could get was three months away at the end of May.   My heart rate settled down to running in the 100s to the lower 120s.   However the shortness of breath remained bad.   Here is where the current trouble begins.  I used the patient portal to ask my allergist office if they treated asthma and included the details.   And the nurse replied that yes they did but due to the heart rate she referred the information to the doctor.  Danged if yesterday afternoon I got a call from the doctor himself.  He was very concerned.   He asked questions and said he felt that the heart rate even at the lower rates it is now down to from the upper rates it was still too high and the shortness of breath which he thought was not asthma but heart related.   The allergist really pushed hard for me to go back on the Metoprolol until I have seen the cardiologist.   When I reminded him I have an upcoming testing for the level of my current allergies so they can correctly prepare the serum, he told me with my heart rates so high he wouldn’t give me the test nor the injections anyway.   

So as of yesterday afternoon I am back on the heart rate medication, my heart rate has already fallen into the high 80s, low 90s after exertion.   The allergy stuff is on hold.   Hopefully I will be back to normal me soon.   I was already feeling much better as the heart rate settled in to the 100s, but when it gets back into the 70s I will feel even better.   This is not the result I wanted, and the allergist was not sure if I would ever be able to get my shots because metoprolol is the only drug doctors use to slow the heart that he knew of.     Hugs