"I WANNA TALK ABOUT ME"

"If life gives you lemons, make lemonade"

This is a post about me and more particularly, about the situation I find myself in.  Many friends ask and I want to clear things up. 

My Health

After many, many months and more tests than you can imagine, I have some answers.  Before we go any further, my life motto is now 

                         ACCEPT AND ADAPT

I have been diagnosed with Small Vessel Ischemia. 

Microvascular ischemic disease is a term that's used to describe changes to the small blood vessels in the brain. ... Small vessel ischemic disease is very common in older adults. If left untreated, it can contribute to mental decline, strokes, walking and balance problems, and dementia

Both my grandmother and mother had the same infliction.  The difference with them and with me is that I will NOT give up.  There is no cure but I can accept and adapt.

In the definition above, I have walking and balance problems.  I can walk about 40 steps without my cane or walker.  I have noticed some memory problems but I don't give up.  If it doesn't come to me on it's own, I look it up on the internet.  I have had a memory test and did pretty good.  I will have another in 6 months to see how I am doing.

It would help if I could lose weight and believe me I try.  I hadn't gained very much considering that I have been on a "feeling sorry for myself" diet.  I will try again, and again until I can make some progress.

There is no cure but I can slow down the process.  I am on a couple of medications.  One is to lower cholesterol and one is for depression (which I don't have much).   I also take one aspirin a day.  Seniors should all take an aspirin a day to prevent strokes. 

I also have severe Sleep Apnea.  I have known this for quite a long time but it is even more important to treat now.  The more oxygen to my brain the better.  At first, I hated the CPAP machine that a dear friend gave me.  I changed out the mask and I am doing much better with it.  I can get 7, 8 and even 9 hours sleep.  I haven't slept like that for at least 25 years.

Doug has been wonderful.  He does everything for me.  I have learned to ask for help, something that was very hard for me to do in the past.  I can make the bed, I struggle to make dinner every day, I still bake bread and make pizza.  I don't often bake goodies and when I do, we have company or give them away.  I have learned to swallow my pride and use the electric scooters that Walmart supplies.

I spend most of my days in my brand new electric recliner in front of the tv.  Thanks to Netflix, Acorn and Prime, I never run out of things to watch.  We play cards and Scrabble. We do jigsaw puzzles.  We have 12 stairs to the basement and outside.  The laundry room is in the basement and so...Doug does all the laundry.  He never complains. 

We bought season's tickets to our local junior hockey games.  We got to choose our seats and were lucky to get seats in the first row off the mezzanine.  Perfect.   And of course, we watch all the Canucks' games on tv.

I never was much of a relaxer but now I am forced to do just that.   There is one piece of my health situation yet unsolved.  I have very, very little energy.  But I struggle.  I do things slowly and plan my steps. 

So what about travel.  We have talked about that.  Once I feel more confident about getting around, we will do something.  Fly somewhere, drive to Arizona, something.

I miss my "traveling" friends.  We hope that come spring some of them will come see us.  We live in the most beautiful place and we have a very big driveway.