I had physical therapy this morning. I like my physical therapist and she has done me a lot of good over the years. I have some new exercises to do to help my neck.
I've also been dealing with a lot of dizziness recently, so I talked to my PT about that. I think some of it is related to peri/menopause. (Some studies show that up to 30% of women deal with dizziness during perimenopause and it's worse among women who also report an uptick in anxiety around the same time.) But this is the constant state of dizziness that happens to me every few months and lasts from 3-6 days then goes away. But for the last three or so months, I've been dealing with a different type of dizziness that happens sometimes when I go from sitting to standing. I get lightheaded and hear a rushing sound in my ears that comes and goes rapidly. The NP who acts as my PCP thinks it's orthostatic hypotension, but I don't think so as it doesn't happen if I go from lying down to sitting or from lying down to quickly standing up. It only happens when I go from sitting to standing.
Middle age is fun, isn't it?
My new hobby is complaining about physical symptoms, particularly those related to peri/menopause. I found a list of over 100 symptoms that women can get during menopause and, shocker, I have many, many of them. They are wide-ranging (which makes sense given that estrogen receptors are found all over the body), everything from the development of new allergies to new onset depression, fatigue, heart palpitations, insomnia and other sleeping difficulties, dry eyes, dry mouth, dry skin, sore gums, tinnitus, thinning hair, ear pain, dizziness, UTI-like sensations without having a UTI, shoulder and neck pain, hot flashes, night sweats, memory problems, difficulty concentrating, increased cholesterol levels, bone loss, panic attacks, mood swings, brain fog...the list goes on and on. A lot of women also report that they develop a fear of dying and someone suggested that this is because this laundry list of symptoms suddenly starts happening and women can't explain it (since the information about peri/menopause is so scattered and doctors seem to know fuck-all about it) so they assume they have some horrible disease or condition that they're dying from. Doctors--who again seem to know fuck-all--often dismiss it outright or label it as anxiety (and if they know nothing about peri/menopause, they know even less about mental health diagnoses) and then dismiss it.
So that's how things are going with me, health-wise.
As far as the rest:
It's a beautiful day today, sunny and not too hot. I'm sitting by my open window right now and I can see into the courtyard where Gray Kitty is out observing nature and drinking from the puddles made by Dave watering the plants. A hummingbird is coming by to visit the feeder just outside the window, too. This year, we don't have any birds nesting on the porch. They did come by to reclaim some of the cleaner bits of last year's nest (the remains of which are still up under the porch eaves), but there are no baby birds this year, sadly.
The bowl of my birdbath did not survive the winter (we were too late to bring it in and it froze and cracked) and it will have to be replaced. Dave thinks we should just get a whole new birdbath, in which case I would just put birdseed in the old one and we could have a one for water and one for food. Anyway, we'll go check out the place where this birdbath came from sometime this week.
I need to start up with some sewing as I got some more fabric this week and I need to start using some up. I ordered about 30 yards of fabric from an online place I like. From their clearance section, I ordered some panels of masks that were produced at the start of the pandemic. I find the mask panels interesting as cultural artifacts and plan on sewing them together to use to back a quilt. (We are still wearing masks--not cloth, but KF94s or N95s--everywhere, but I rarely if ever see others wearing masks.) I also ordered some ugly cotton plaid from the clearance section to make myself new pajama bottoms. (I need to wash it first. Sigh.)
Of course, after ordered the fabric, the place sent me a coupon (either 20 or 30% off, I don't remember which), so here comes the temptation...
I put this at the end for obvious reasons, not because it's not important:
A decision has been made about Chance and this Thursday we'll take him to the vet. Dave and I have been in tears several times in the past days over this, but we're trying to remember that he's in pain and suffering and that this may be a kindness, this avoiding prolonging his suffering. Chance is getting lots of treats (barbecue, burgers, soft dog bones) and lots of love right now and going with us everywhere we go so we can have as much time with him as possible and because being left alone is distressing to him. He'll be cremated and his ashes will go with Dave's mother's to Colorado, so neither of them will ever be alone again.
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