I *forgot* to include in this morning's post that we sold my truck this past Sunday afternoon. Long story short, a guy who had been following garage sale signs, ended up driving down our street and saw my truck in the driveway (it did not have any FOR SALE signs on it; it was just parked on the side driveway.) and asked Missy and Josh, who were both outside getting ready to leave for a late lunch at CC's brother's house, if the truck is for sale. About 2 hours later, we had cash in our hand and the truck drove away forever. That was my dream truck. I had waited all my life to have a truck like that. it tore at me as we were in the process of selling it, but I'm very hopeful that it will now be driven every day and used and enjoyed as much as I enjoyed it for the 2 years I had it. My parents were responsible for getting it into a reliable safe driving condition and I knew at the time that we'd never get that money back out of it, but then I knew that we were not "fixing it up" to sell it, but to drive it and use it, so the money was well spent.
It brings back memories of a blue Chevy 3/4 ton pick up with a bench seat, that I used to have years back, before I broke my back. It had to be sold off while I was in recovery of my back surgeries and at the time, there was no prognosis that I would ever drive again then too. That hurt as much as this did. But now the driveway is clear, the truck is with an owner who will love it like I did and we are no longer going to have to put out any more money for a vehicle that I can't drive.
The Red Hot Chili Pepper is gone. Chris Alford named it for me, or better said, christened it moments after I bought it. The name affectionately stuck.
I didn't get to sleep until almost 3:00 am this morning...I'm definitely feeling the affects of not sleeping as much as I needed to. I did sleep for around 4 hours yesterday, but I don't think I am balanced out in regards to my sleep quota, if that makes any sense. If it doesn't, oh well. It does to me.
I took Annie for a "motorized" walk this morning. I don't normally go out with her by myself, but I want to build up that relationship with her and create more independence as much as I can, safely. I use her shoulder harness instead of the gentle leader and I'm able to hold on to her while she trots along beside me. I also gave her more leash on the latter part of the block and she did great just running in front of me while I held the leash from the chair. We had one instance where she lunged at a gated Great Dane that we couldn't see but could hear; I almost "rolled it", so to speak, but was able to maintain balance and then helped Annie "re-focus", before continuing on with our short travel. I learned a bit in that moment of balance. Fortunately, very fortunately, I did not have to deal with an attack as a result of the incident. I'm not out of the woods from it for another 2 days, but I'm very hopeful nothing will come of it. When I get a pic of me and Annie together during a walk, I'll post it. I haven't really thought of what we look like together for walks...hmmmm.
I'm connecting with so many friends and people from my past through Facebook, it is really cool for me and looks like I might be able to use it as a social outlet for me, since I cannot get out and go places on my own, meet folks for breakfast or lunch or visit them at their work and the like. At least this way I can see pictures, chat, email and just generally correspond with friends, better than I could even a month ago. I hope to find and communicate with other HKPP folks via Facebook as well. The list I'm currently on is fine and good, but it's purely black and white, email texts with no formatting, no personalization, no personality except for their written words. At least on Facebook they could share photos, images, convey personality through their design of their page and even chat with one another instead of emailing and waiting for posts to be permitted and put through. Facebook give you COMPLETE control over who communicates with you, what is communicated and how it is shared. Your privacy is assured. How cool is that? Well, I'm sounding like I should get a kickback or something from them...but I'm simply jazzed about the forum opportunity. I'll shut up about it...until the next post, anyway...
We are going to make an appointment to see my primary doc regarding my continued memory losses and see if there is anything we can do to remedy that.
Oh yeah, I believe CC spoke to my Endocrine doc last week regarding the outcome of my liver biopsy and he said the results show that I have a condition called "Fatty Liver" which means that there is excess fat in and on the liver itself and that its functions are reasonably normal for now. So, we don't need to worry about that at this point; the Endocrine folks will continue to track it and monitor it for any changes and we are to expect higher liver enzymes from here on out. there will come a point where my liver will become particularly problematic due to the condition of it being a "fatty Liver", but for now, I don't have to track those labs, they are supposed to do that for us. I'm not very worried that they won't take care of me regarding my liver condition because it is something they have dealt with in other patients and they know what to do about it and how to treat me should things change, so I know they'll be watching for that and will be pro-active, given their familiarity with it.
Here is more information from Mayo Clinic's website (http://www.mayoclinic.com) on Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD):
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Definition
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) describes a range of conditions involving the liver that affect people who drink little or no alcohol.
The mildest type is simple fatty liver (steatosis), an accumulation of fat within your liver that usually causes no liver damage. A potentially more serious type, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), is associated with liver-damaging inflammation and, sometimes, the formation of fibrous tissue. In some cases, this can progress either to cirrhosis, which can produce progressive, irreversible liver scarring, or to liver cancer.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease affects all age groups, including children. Most often, it's diagnosed in middle-aged people who are overweight or obese, and who may also have diabetes and elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
With the increasing incidence of obesity and diabetes in Western countries, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease has become a growing problem. Although its true prevalence is unknown, some estimates suggest it may affect as many as one-third of American adults.
Because early-stage nonalcoholic fatty liver disease rarely causes any symptoms, it's often detected because of abnormal results of liver tests done for unrelated issues. Treatments for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease include weight loss, exercise, improved diabetes control and the use of cholesterol-lowering medications.
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We've been told not to stress over it, particularly me, because it is what it is and we are actively trying to reduce my weight and control my diabetes and, hopefully next week, will be beginning to exercise on some of the PT weight machines. Other than taking even more meds, we are doing what we can and what can be expected.
I will not be afraid of this.
That is my choice and my decision.
peace for now-
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