Rusty's Armory

A Curmudgeons New Year!

Posted on January 1, 2022

Well, the New Year has begun warmly today with a high of 72° and a very slight chance of rain.  I am glad because I have been trying to write 2022 on my checks and official documents all of last year.  I must have been unconsciously wanting the year to be over.  2022 brings hope with it, though I am a pessimist by nature.  Set the bar low enough and you aren’t disappointed.

Recovery is still coming along slowly, but I do think the physical therapy is helping.  My therapist is slim and trim, and in her 50’s though everyone would guess early thirties.  She comes twice a week to torture me back into physical health.  I do feel a bit of progress that helps keep me out of depression at my sorry physical shape.  My upper body strength is pretty good, but my legs won’t carry me far.  Stamina is my main goal now, but the brief walking exercises take it out of me.

 This is the first morning I woke without nausea.  What a blessing that was!  I am weary of post-prandial and morning sickness.  Next up is a visit to the pulmonary clinic for assessment, then to the urologist for another look at the bladder.  Hopefully the catheter comes out then, but if not, it’s the rooter-rooter curse us old curmudgeons men deal with. 

And lastly, the sleep clinic people for assessment.  I haven’t forgotten how to breathe since I left the hospital, so I suspect that much of the apnea was caused by the high-powered drugs I was getting.  But a breathing machine also recorded several episodes where I stopped breathing but because it would breathe for me, I didn’t awaken.  It was heaven for me, so a CPAP machine is looming large into my future.

The New Year’s celebrations were kind to the mutts this year, with Tic wrapping himself around Linda’s head, and Jenna being clingy, but surprisingly calm.  She sometimes works herself into seizures, but flashes of light from lightning upset her most.  The fireworks weren’t accompanied by flashes, so she was more settled.  ‘Becca da Beagle isn’t bothered by anything other than me sitting in her chair.

It feels good to be driving again after a two-and-a-half-year hiatus.  Unfortunately, I developed other physical maladies after getting cataract surgery, so the driving time had to postponed.  Poor old Bucephalus, as I call my aging Dodge mommy van, had a dead battery and I noticed one brake was dragging, so it is off to the mechanic early next week with him.  My hearing aids need to be serviced after that, then  my two riding mowers need transporting to the mechanic as soon as Bucephalus is back in shape enough to pull a transport trailer.

So the New Year begins with a full task list.  I hope my legs hold out long enough to get all that done …

I wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year, and a pleasant good morning!