Got kind of a random list of stuff on my mind, so this post will be loosely organized, however not as fanciful as the title implies. HA!
The main thing on my mind is something I’ve been struggling with for a while now. It is my status as The Party Girl™. I’ve always been known for knowing how to have a good time and I’ve certainly leaned into it over the years. I do love me a good party, true, but now that I’m getting old and slowing down, it has been damned hard to move people away from the perception that every interaction with me needs to be a party. This may seem to be a minor thing, and for most people, perhaps it is, but for me, it has become an issue. I can’t have people over for dinner without it becoming an all night affair. Again, I like to party as much as the next girl, but I simply CANNOT do all nighters any more (I don’t even do it at CONS any more FFS!). I am simply too old. It takes me DAYS to get over it – the fatigue, the detox, the angry tummy, all of it. Late night parties are just not worth the price any more! BUT I can’t seem to get anyone to understand this. Every person to the one is deeply embedded with the belief that if you’re at MY house, then baby it’s gonna be a par-TAY! I know change is hard and all that, but I really need my friends to be more open to having a relatively early evening (1am I can do!) and perhaps not all of it spent smoking (which is getting harder for me to recover from). I AM capable of having movie night, or game night, or whatever without it being a balls to the wall party. Sigh. This is my cry for help!
I had a keratosis thing on my cheek recently. It just appeared and was pretty big and ugly – keratosis is basically a skin bump. I fished around the intertubes and found a thread about diclofenac (yes, arthritis cream) being useful to get rid of them. I had some, so I thought: what the hell! I’d already been using microneedle blemish patches with a little success, as well as hyaluronic acid moisturizer and retinol serum. Well, the diclofenac WORKED! Who knew? I also now have eczema spots all over my body, which I find most irritating. They don’t itch, they just look awful. My neighbor works for Dermalogica, and she gave me some serum stuff that has plant STEM cells for the keratosis. It did little for the keratosis, BUT it did help with the eczema spots. I’ve never had so many issues with my skin. UGH. I hates it.
My chronic GERD has advanced to a LOT more spitting up and/or vomiting up the whole meal. It is fairly random, but sometimes I can feel when it’s going to happen and stop eating immediately. Yes, I know that getting a revision to a full bypass would solve this, but I just can’t. I may be driven to it at some point, but for now, I just can’t face another surgery. So I’ll live with occasional bulimia. Sigh.
Shasti is starting to show her true age. We think she is probably 15+, which is 4 years more than we initially thought. Her eyes have begun to show age with the irises changing colour and the pupils becoming a bit cloudy. She sleeps a LOT more. Her kidney numbers are not great, but holding steady for now. I have to get her on fluid therapy, which means I have to learn to do it myself ($145 a pop? NOPE.). I have a difficult time with the hard jab necessary to pierce that tough skin on her scruff. I’ve managed to get her to take her kidney and constipation meds in her food, but now we are trying to do a week of antibiotics every month, rotating the kind, to see if we can keep that gum infection at bay. THAT is proving nearly impossible to put in food – it is the pink stuff, clavamox, and she is supposed to get 1ml a day. It is too much for food and gods I hate fighting her to take it orally. I spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with the cat.
And finally, I guess I’m just a little on the depressed side lately. I feel misunderstood, I am always tired and I have no motivation to do anything. BUH. It will pass, it always does, but it’s just a DRAG. I try daily to remember that I have a basically good life with a nice home, good friends and a wonderful partner in crime. I try to avoid the news and avoid thinking about this country going down the toilet because I am trapped here and can’t leave, so what good is it to waste time worrying about it? I just try to accentuate the positive, baby.
And with that, I go forth to find some happiness. Which means I’ll probably cook something. ;)