Wednesday, April 28, 2010

X-Post: Aunt Rose

This has been the strangest of days so far. Got up to realize the cell phones were dead because the payment had not gone through because of the McAfee problem from a while ago. Luckily it was handled in relative time and speed; i.e. it was handled relatively quickly and semi-painlessly. Then, while I was just beginning breakfast I received a call from Sister1 who had bad news: One of my favorite aunts had passed away last night.

Back in the mountains family is the center of everything. You know your lineage and you keep in touch with as many people as possible if you move away. When I was young and oh so very sick, there were just some truly special people who made life feel more normal because they treated me as a normal child even though I realized I wasn’t just like everyone else – everyone else got to go to school and play games outside, run, and didn’t have to go to the hospital all the time with high fevers and didn’t have near death experiences.

My Aunt Rose was one of those people who made life “normal” or at least treated me normally. I wasn’t the family kid who was constantly sick; I was just me. Aunt Rose married my Uncle Ova and they were in existence long before I was born so I never knew anything different than Uncle Ova and Aunt Rose together. When he passed away it felt as if things had changed forever in the fabric of my reality because he was one of those people you always expected to live forever because he had that huge love of life very few people exude any more. Aunt Rose was a very special woman to keep up with him.

Of course, they had the perfect children to keep up with them. Two girls. One athletic and one just the sweetest, dearest person you could ever meet. Both of them were my best friends while growing up, and except for Boon-Boon and his family, my only friends. They helped me understand what being a “real girl” was like. Their acceptance of me actually gave me confidence to go through life because if they accepted me, other “real” people would as well.

When you lose your Mom, a part of you forever is lost and you feel it down to the very depths and core of your soul. My heart goes out to them. I want to be there for them. I need to be there for them.

Why wouldn’t I be there for them? Because my husband is very protective of me at the moment, and the migraines can come at the drop of a hat and I’m not supposed to get over exerted or exhausted to make sure they stay as far away as possible.

I love my Aunt Rose so much.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

A Lot of 'Splaining To Do

Hello all, I am back again. I am also knitting some again. Thank goodness!

OK – so let me ‘splain.

On April 6 I took a nice ambulance ride to a local hospital emergency room. I had all of the symptoms and signs of a stroke: my left side was weak, numb, and unresponsive. I was in the hospital for seven days and six nights. The upshot of this was that no, I had not had a stroke, but I had had a rare migraine that is essentially a body migraine (the name is very long and I don’t know its correct spelling yet).

A neurosurgeon said there was a bone spur on a part of my spine that was putting pressure on my spinal column and could be causing my migraines. He said operating wasn’t currently in my future because it would be extremely tricky because of my medical problems with arthritis and osteoporosis. He also said that it could just be migraines but he wasn’t sure. The final conclusion was that the bone spur is putting pressure on my spinal column and could be causing these migraines and I need to keep a close eye on it, which means I now have a neurologist, which I see regularly beginning this Friday.

Since having the migraine my left side has slowly been returning to normal. My left arm and hand are almost back to normal, but my left leg isn’t quite. This means there is therapy in my future.

Since being home from the hospital I have had two migraines, just not the “body migraines”, thank goodness! I also had two pretty good ones while in the hospital. Also since being home from the hospital I have not worked because I have been weak as the proverbial kitten and am only just now getting caught up on rest and feeling normal.

Luckily, I have felt like knitting and nearly have a pair of fingerless mitts made for a friend of mine. Knitting and qi gong have helped me to start getting back to normal. Will post pictures of the mitts when they’re finished.