Getting better bit by bit

9-25

    Well I finally feel confident enough to tell it. I'm beginning to feel better. It's been a very long haul and I still have a very long way to go. The last few days have been good and I've actually been able to get out and do something. I'm sure the weather moderating has had a lot to do with it since I can stay outside for more than 10 minutes at a time. I have a small workshop that affords me shade and a stool to sit down on with a fan to cool me if I feel the need to cool off or rest. Monday I built a table frame for a glass top that I've been carrying around for several years. If I have any luck at it I will post a picture of it. I can also tell that I'm more steady on my feet and I don't feel as much like a doddering old man. There were times that I was not sure that I would be able to get across the back yard without some kind of help. My demeanor has gotten a bit better also. The pain in my shoulder has eased fairly significantly and I'm off of all pain meds with the exception of occasionally some Tylenol. The lump in my neck has diminished to the size of an almond and you have to know where to feel for it to find it. I know I still have a long way to go to be where I was physically in January when I felt good. My legs are gaining some small amount of strength which makes me more stable and able to stand for longer periods. My biggest complaint now is the daily dalteparin shots which I have to give myself in the abdomen which now resembles what happens when someone falls asleep on a dress assembly line and the sewing machine runs right over your belly. My abdomen is bruised almost everywhere and there are no good places to stick myself. On the occasion that I find a sight that doesn't hurt when it goes in, it pays me back by feeling like a bee sting for several hours.

I suppose my biggest complaint is that my mind wants to do things and my body isn't quite ready. My good spells come and go and the only way I know if they're here is to go outside and see how long I can stay busy before I have to rest.

    Friday we're heading up to the north forty to drop some things off and to attend the electric co-op's annual meeting. It seems you don't get a dividend check if you don't attend but mostly it's just an excuse to go to town.

9-28

    Sunday afternoon at the north forty, no TV ( the signal has dropped out completely, sunspots or the ISS has set up in stationery orbit or hell it could be the durn wind flapping my Signal Sucker 1000 so hard it can't keep up ) but that's no great loss since the only signal I get here right now comes from OKC. We get four local stations that provide us with weather and news and most of what passes for prime time TV. Eventually we will have some dish or another for TV and the local phone company for phone and what passes for DSL here. Not quite as bad as dial-up but we will be taking an eight times speed drop when we move in up here. It's likened to the difference between 240 MPH and 30 MPH, and that is as fast as it gets. There is very limited cell service here so a land line is a must. Besides it's still the cheapest choice and it may be slow but there isn't any cap. All of the satellite internet services we have looked at have monthly caps on how much you can use much like data plans on a smart phone. We were hoping to be moved in here within the next month or so but there are so many things to do before we can move it's downright overwhelming.

    My point to this is that I'm perfectly happy with life here ( at the north forty ) as it is now. And when we get technology here don't think I won't be using my share. But I know that technology won't get in the way of my appreciation of nature and my little piece of it. I absolutely love that the only eyes that can see anything I'm doing are straight up above me, and we're fairly familiar with the local pilots.

    I know this has been a short one. We have a very dear friend who is a writer that has written a book titled “ Writing is a Process “ which one of these days I'm gonna hafta read. My biggest problem with keeping up this blog is that I don't have as much to say now mostly because most of my treatments are over and other than trying to figure out what my strength level is on any given day I either sit and play solitaire or watch TV or go outside and do something. ( I know it's a run-on sentence. In school my teachers couldn't figure out why I did so well in literature and stunk so badly in grammar. Hey teach, I have yet to have ANYONE ask me to diagram a sentence. ) At any rate I'm going to let this one loose and maybe in the days to come I'll get a light bulb to go on and put something else to write about.

   I'm still working on the table so pics will be posted on Facebook when it's done and I'll try to get them on here too.