Five for My Fifth Year of Blogging

Walking to His Spot in the Den

I will give you the five most popular blog posts by number of views this fifth year of Plant City Lady and Friends. As usual, you can click on the red to find that post.

September 7, 2013. Hubby walks. I think that having an article in two local newspapers which give mention to this blog bumped up the views to 433.

February 4, 2013. The post on GERD got the second amount of views this year (335). I would have thought that the post on my hearing aids would have gotten more hits. I am not suffering from GERD any longer.

October 16, 2013. Dealing with stress (315 views). Actually I like the part two stress post better on 12/1/13--very practical for me, but it had much less views. 

June 14, 2013. Granddaughter's quilt (278 views). More quilts are coming.

January 7, 2013.  The fourth area of The House That Cleans Itself series was a popular post with 218 views. Shortly after that I had a genuine Southern hissy fit with Google because pictures on blogs were not going to be free. In short, they won. So now I am paying $2.49 a month for the privilege of posting my messes for you all.

As I review 2013, many things happened or haven't happened.  

1. We have a volunteer caregiver, Kenny, to enable me to continue to work.
2. Hubby survived UTIs and was not placed in a nursing home as his doctor expected. 
3. We have a volunteer for yard and home maintenance, Pharis. Essentially he is covering the front and back yards (areas 8 and 9) in the home organizational project I started in 2012. 
4. Hubby is walking thanks to our chiropractor.
5. I did not turn out to have thyroid cancer and I got hearing aids. 
6. We solved my husband's shaving and showering routines.
7. I was put on YouTube as MC AC The Rap Lady. More raps need to be put up, but I am not skilled in doing this. My niece and nephew videotaped me and are producing this YouTube channel. 
8. I kept my weight down, although I need to lose more. 
9. I have not finished two areas (10 and 11) in The House That Cleans Itself as other priorities crept into our lives. The workshop is next. 
10. I started my seminary counseling dissertation on being a dementia caregiver. 

Thanks 
for your prayers, everyone! 

How can I pray for you in 2014? 

Hugs,

Carol

Incidentally, one of the most viewed blog posts ever 

on December 31, 2009 features Southern New Years Recipes. 

Senior Health: Part Eight

I was approved for hearing aids!

I will not have to learn sign language

unless I have nothing else to do! 

Yesterday I got them! 


Sure, I hear,

but not well,

and under the line

of acceptable hearing.

Why did I decide to get tested?

• To see if I can be a better listener to people in my life.
• I am in Toastmasters and cannot evaluate speeches that aren't clear to me. I remember years ago when I was in my 40s a senior citizen in Toastmasters taught me to speak up. Now I want people to speak up and even told a lawyer in Toastmasters he should enunciate, but really it was my hearing that has been the problem.
• My sister-in-law, Sally and my husband all notice my poor hearing.
• I do not hear children well and stopped substitute teaching in elementary school for that reason. When I teach youth and adults I often have to tell them to speak up and classroom talk is often garbled to me.
• Others laugh at things and I have to ask what was funny. Imagine missing out!
• It was time. Hubby says something in another room and I cannot hear him. I go to see what it is.

"You should have heard me the first time," he says and we laugh because we both know due to his Alzheimer's he cannot remember what he said.

You can hardly tell
I have them on.

My audiologist Shanin told me about a program with the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. This took some time, but I was approved and my hearing aids were funded so I can teach and live without hearing impairment.

You can hardly tell I have them on with these behind-the-ear Siemens instruments. The manual says "life sounds brilliant". Shanin first crumpled paper when I had them on. What a difference! These aids have a thin tube with an open tome for natural sound and a part that goes into the ear that enhances highs where my loss is, I use a battery and monitor how long it lasts by marking the calendar. If there is a small whistling when I put my hand behind my ear, then the battery is still good. I take them out at night and will open the battery door to save that battery. I also take them out when I shower, swim, have my hair done. They have two programs; I can switch from all sounds to only hearing sounds in front of me.

What a difference! I think I like them! Yesterday morning I got my new hearing aids and last night I taught a three hour session of my current class for DUI offenders. When I taught last night I could hear the students. Now when I substitute teach students will not sound like they are mumbling.

Carol

Senior Health, Part Six

My wrists hurt and fingers can tingle and are worse with bending. Think of all the times you bend your wrists! My wrist braces help me not bend my wrists. I have carpal tunnel syndrome for the second time in my life.

The first time I got it was in the 1990s. I had the wrong angle on the computer and would type on the computer many evenings. I was a widow then and this is how I would pass my time--on the computer--not organizing clutter! My old Apple computer was up high on an old oak desk--wrong angle. At that time I researched alternatives and used MSM from a health food store to help with the carpal tunnel. I wore braces all the time for about a year. I declined the surgery which I heard was not always effective. I am taking MSM again and it has a lot of other benefits maybe even for Alzheimer's, but I do not know about research on MSM. See here. There are a lot of sites about this syndrome that you can Google. I got the graphic on this post here.

When my carpal tunnel returned last summer, I was taking class notes on my notebook computer in a seminary counseling class. My wrists were too high up. Very suddenly, as in the 1990s when I got this condition for the first time, my wrists hurt--both of them. The right one is worst and I jokingly say that getting into Pinterest did it.

What is the correct placement of the wrists when you are on the computer so you don't get carpal tunnel syndrome? 45 degrees. I also have a pad for the wrist by the mouse on my home computer and now place my notebook computer more carefully when I take notes on it. My home keyboard is slightly slanted, but one can get ergonomically correct keyboards that are slanted more. 

I resisted getting a smart phone, until I crashed my five year old cell phone and was due for an upgrade with Sprint. An iPhone or any smart phone helps with the carpal tunnel. With my iPhone I can use the speaker phone and not have to hold the cell up to my ears, stressing my wrists. I can use a stylus with my left hand to delete e-mail on the iPhone. I can easily play Words With Friends on the iPhone with a stylus rather than on the computer. I probably can blog on that iPhone, but haven't tried yet.

One difference with this round of carpal tunnel is that I went to chiropractors.  They are great and I pay for the visits as my health insurance doesn't cover that office because it is so worth it--much less pain than when I had carpal years ago and the wrists are getting better faster. I mainly wear my braces when I sleep now.  (This chiropractic office also restored my hands and back after the crash we had two years ago that I wrote about on this blog.)

I have lost weight this year through Weight Watchers--very slowly--tremendous health benefits come with this exellent program. But my wrists and my hearing are now my Achilles' Heel, healthwise, so to speak. Both situations do hurt my caregiving and working part-time outside the home and in the home. Both handicaps may qualify me for Vocational Rehabilitation help from our goverment in getting expensive hearing aids--an application has been submitted last week and it may take several months to find out. Often I cannot hear students when I teach part-time or hear what my husband is saying at the house. Organizing, de-cluttering and having to do everything around the house mean stress on my wrists. I cannot lift heavy items any more. Working out with weights is also out of the picture. Brisk walking is my best exercise and I enjoy working that in with our wonderful Florida weather.

Nonetheless I do thank the LORD for the health I do have at this point and for all the help I do receive from others. For example, our friend Jake on Friday did a tremendous job of weeding our yard while Sally and I substituted in public schools.

There are five bags of clippings now! I spent three hours putting the clippings in a bag in a tash can on Saturday with my wrist brakes on (great exercise) and then wheeled that trash can to the curb and dumped out each bag. I do not understand why those five bags are still out at the curb now after Saturday's trash and garbage pick up, but that is another issue. Maybe they have to be hauled to the dumb. Oh my aching wrists! Monday I am calling the trash collectors!

Another thing I have to be thankful for is Sunday mornings. Our church is meeting in the afternoons now, and Sunday is truly a day of rest as it should be. This morning I enjoyed my devotions and my two mile walk listening to hymns. Now I best get off the computer to rest my wrists!

I Would Have Never Thought. . .

1. That God is so faithful every day. But how could I doubt this?!  Early on in this process when I began this blog I thought I would be a basket case by now. Not so. I am not and He is not letting me lose heart.
2. That there is real joy in bearing the burdens of others especially in prayer, not just in concentrating on our own needs.

3. That our neighbor would mow our front and back yards earlier this week.
4. That the LORD would gift us with friends in the same situation--Sally and Jake. This week were have two outings with them.
5. That I have a hearing problem and we can joke about it and MY memory at times--not just my husband's loss of functions.

Hubby says something like "I need some more ice tea."

I ask from another room, "Please repeat. I didn't hear you."

Hubby says, "I can't remember what I asked."

or

I start to tell him something and forget what I was saying and I say, "I forgot what I was going to tell you."


He says, "It won't matter, 'cause I won't remember anyway!"

6. That my husband's prayers are so precious to me. Today at Wendy's he teasingly prayed LORD please forgive Carol for hitting me with her straw cover. We always blow that cover at each other when we eat out. His prayers when we turn in at night are sincere and wonderful.
7. That coconut oil seems to help stabilize DH's mood and maybe help him stay in stage one of Alzheimer's.
8. That my family and my husband's family would be so supportive. I heard/read that Alzheimer's brings out the best and worst in families.

9.  That I don't have my head in the sand about what's coming down the road; somehow part of me wants to be prepared. I also am watching my health so I don't have a heart attack and can't take care of my husband. I want to be able to care for my husband all his days. I say both think ahead and take one day at a time.
10. That blogging is such a wonderful support system and therapy even if no one reads it or comments. Blogging seems to have a life of its own.
11. That ads are creeping onto my blogger account even though it is not monetized. They just seem to be for me. Hope you all don't get them as well. Oops! It was spyware, but computer has now been cleaned up thanks to a friend from church, my computer guru.
12. That there have been almost 400 hits but no comments on the 7/5 Brain Health. . . Kit below. Is this causing some advertisers to think?
 

What are you surpised about in the past few years of blogging or of your life?

Humor

We couldn't remember if we had given thanks for breakfast. We laughed and Sweetheart prayed for the first or second time.

We laughed at this joke this morning when I found it on my computer. My husband reminded me that I had shared it with him before!

A couple is having problems remembering things. During a checkup, the doctor tells them that they're physically okay, but they might want to start writing things down to help them remember.

Later that night, while watching TV, the old man gets up from his chair. "Want anything while I'm in the kitchen?" he asks.

"Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?"

"Sure."

"Don't you think you should write it down so you can remember it?" she asks.

"No, I can remember it."

"Well, I'd like some strawberries on top, too. Maybe you should write it down, so's not to forget it?"

He says, "I can remember that. You want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries."

"I'd also like whipped cream. I'm certain you'll forget that, write it down?" she asks.

Irritated, he says, "I don't need to write it down, I can remember it! Ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream - I got it, for goodness sake!" Then he toddles into the kitchen.

After about 20 minutes, The old man returns from the kitchen and hands his wife a plate of bacon and eggs.

She stares at the plate for a moment. "Where's my toast ?"