Kicking and screaming

Here's what I learned about cellulitis, staph infections and men who make terrible patients. Number one: cellulitis. Not something to mess around with. Cellulitis is a streptococcus infection that kills skin cells, leading to painful inflammation of the skin, and general malaise...body aches, high fever, headache. It usually occurs in the face or lower leg. It is easy to diagnose because you can see it. There is a clear demarcation between where the cellulitis is and where the skin is normal. The doctor said it can be caused my a staph or strep infection that can get into the tiniest lesion in the skin. It could be as a result of a spider bite or from seemingly nothing at all. Staph and strep infections are everywhere. My friend told me that her doctor told her (is that hearsay, your Honor?) that staph/strep are usually found in the cleanest houses. Houses where they use a lot of antibacterial cleansers which kill, 97% of these bacteria, which means those 3% left become very strong....since they have nothing to compete with. So, bottom line is this...if you, or someone you care about, comes down with something like this, take them to the doctor right now. It is a serious condition that can lead to even more serious systemic infection that can lead to, gasp, "very bad things."

The other thing I learned, well, reaffirmed, is that men make terrible patients. They just can't accept the fact that they are sick. "Oh, let me just sleep it off," was what my "man patient" told his son when his son was trying to get him to the doctor. Luckily the son threatened the man with the worst threat of all....wasteful spending,( i.e. an ambulance ride) and the man complied. Oh so reluctantly. Then the whole time at the hospital (2 days in all, most of that time hooked up to intravenous antibiotics) he perceived the hospital staff to be the enemy. I had to remind this man a couple times that these people probably saved his life. Then the moment he felt better he wanted OUT. NOW. I've seen criminals convicted of lengthy sentences who took it better than this man who had to "do one more night in lockup."
Lucky for him he had a girlfriend with perfect reasoning skills and infinite common sense who helped him make the right decision.

So my point is this: if someone you love has these symptoms get him or her to the doc ASAP. It doesn't matter if they want to go or not. They won't be kicking and screaming very hard..because they won't feel well enough to put up a decent fight.

The world exists for Lefty

It's yard work season. I have a big, messy yard. I wish I had a crew to help maintain it for me, but, alas, I do not. So I am working in the yard today. I just dug up a couple of lavender plants that are not doing so well, and planted them in planter boxes. I went into the garage to get a tool and came back out to see my cat, Lefty (he's the crafty one) going to the bathroom in one of the boxes. I was not gone 20 seconds. I do not have a solution for this.

The mighty have fallen

To all my loyal followers who log on everyday to read the wisdom I bestow, I apologize for not being there for you. Seriously, both of you...I am sorry. I was sick. Just when I think my immune system is bullet-proof, God laughs and says, "I don't think so, sugar," and slaps me down. Seriously, I could not move on Wednesday. EVERYTHING on me hurt. Then yesterday my mom brought me soup and Popsicles and that helped me turn the corner. I know, I know....I need to not get arrogant other-wise you-know-who will put the slap-down on me again. So, since this is a blog about solutions, I will share what things I do to help my immune system stay strong. Not impenetrable, but strong.

Echinacea. The tincture. I think this stuff works really well. The Neti pot thing that cleans out your sinuses with saline solution....it can really cut down on a virus going to infection. Of course, I already told you about the Vivasan orange and lemon essential oils that are food grade. I take a few drops of them everyday and I think they help me stay vertical. Good ol' chicken soup, Popsicles to help throat swelling and make you feel like everything is gonna be OK.

And here are a couple of funny little things that I noticed yesterday. I was feeling a little better and since the sun was out, I decided to go outside. Now, for us here in Oregon, spring is a precious thing and when the sun comes out, and it's not too freezing...you go outside if at all possible. So I went outside, even though I had a splitting headache that made me sensitive to light. I sat in the chair up against the house to drink it in...and it hurt, it hurt bad for a few minutes. But I closed my eyes and thought this mantra, "let in the healing light, let in the healing light..." and after a few minutes I started to feel better. So I sat there and I noticed how noisy my little neighborhood is. I had a guy doing some long overdue repairs on my old shed...so he had a circular saw going. And my neighbor in the back was using his riding lawnmower from 1970 on his teeny little lawn, (I seriously worried that that blade was gonna come frisbeeing over the fence.) And my other neighbor, who never does anything on his property, was clanging re bar around (probably because he knew somehow that I had a tremendous headache.) And there was another noise that I could not identify because I didn't feel like getting up to investigate. I also noticed that my dog was bored out of his mind, but he knew I wasn't feeling well, so he stayed close and loyal. My cats, however, did not give a rip. And the other thing is that I had two very real dreams. One, quite frankly, was disturbing. The other was about my dad. And in the dream he was just like he was in life. It was a nice visit. Trippy.

I think the biggest thing we have to do when God puts the slap-down on us is that we go with it. Don't deny it.....acknowledge it and, as with people, when you truly listen and acknowledge them, they feel better and they go away.

Moms

Every mom has a niche, right? Some moms cook too much food and make you eat it. Some moms hover and don't let you make a decision on your own. Some moms make you wear a sweater when it's 70 degrees out. Some moms get in your business until you want to kill yourself. My mom doesn't do any of those things. My mom proofreads. It's her thing. No, she was not an english teacher...she just reads ALL THE TIME and knows if there is ONE LETTER MISSING OR OUT OF PLACE. And then lets you know about it so you can fix it immediatly if not sooner. So, mom.....for every typo, for every misspelled word, for every apostrophe or comma that was misused...I humbly ask for your forgiveness. But, wait.....maybe I am just cleverly giving you a job so you feel needed and useful in your autumn years.

Love you mom. Email me tomorrow with any mistakes and I will clear them up right away.

It's the little things

The world has gone crazy. This country has gone crazy. There is so much to be disappointed in...to be angry about. I seems overwhelming at times. There is so much greed and selfishness and jealousy and outright hatred, that it's easy to forget that there are a lot of truly decent people in the world. And we have to pay attention to them when we see them...even if it is just to see the decency and recall the memory later when the bad things seem to pile up....so we can remember and bring hope back into our hearts. Here's an example:

A few months ago I was sitting in a restaurant in Eastern Oregon having breakfast with my boyfriend. In a booth across from me was a pretty old man and his wife. The waitress brought their breakfasts and set them down and the old gentleman asked the waitress for a napkin, so she went off to get him one. While she was off getting the napkin he reached into his back pocket to retrieve his billfold. This man had a very severe case of palsy, and he shook terribly. He reached back awkwardly to pull out his wallet from his back pocket, he shakily opened it up and took out a one dollar bill and placed it on the table. Then and he closed his wallet and started to put it back in his pocket...and it took him so long because of the tremors. Then he came back to the dollar bill and set to folding it and then he palmed it....like to used to do in the old days...and he held it there in his shaky hand until she came back with his napkin...and it took her a long time too.....and when she returned with it he said, "Thank you," and took her hand...so that both hands are shaking wildly now, and she feels the bill between their palms and she gives a nervous little laugh and looks at him and says, "Thank you," and you can tell she is surprised and touched too, and she walks off. And there I am watching this old man take so much effort to give this waitress a dollar for her effort....and I am crying. Not just a few tears welling up in my eyes, but the kind of crying that gets caught in your throat. And my boyfriend looks at me and asks, "what's the matter?" And I tell him even though the crying gets worse because I am trying to talk, and he just smiles and says, "I love you Lee Petmecky," and resumes his breakfast. And I was touched by that too..that he didn't think I was crazy or weird to be crying in a restaurant because an old man was being nice.

I swear it was one of the sweetest things I have ever seen. That old man was just being nice because he wanted to. He wasn't doing it to look good, or for any attention whatsoever. He was just showing another person his gratitude. And it was a monumental effort...but he did it....happily.

The root of all evil

What does the title of today's blog make you think of? I bet a lot of things are running through your mind! Especially if you are watching the news. But, I'll wager that only a couple of people will think of the psoas muscle. The what? How do you even say that? Pretend the "p" is not there.....so-as. The psoas was coined "the root of all evil" by my very funny friend from Barcelona that started massage school the same day as I did. And we were doomed to work on each other's psoas from that day forward. We learned (from our super smart teacher, Bob) that the psoas has a lot to do with the way you feel everyday. It is a big muscle that goes from your lumbar vertebrae to the inside of your thigh bone. It helps you flex your trunk, it helps you lift your legs and helps keep you standing upright, even if you've had too much to drink. But it does so much more than that. It also holds a lot of your past emotions and trauma. An unhappy psoas can create lower back pain. People are skeptical when you want to massage their abdomen ('cause that's how you get to it!) when it's their back that hurts....but when you relieve the stress in the psoas..you can't believe how good the absence of that tension feels. Bob also taught us that if your psoas is angry it tends to use up it's fair share of muscle resources...food if you will...also known as ATP...and that leaves all your other muscles not as able to work optimally. I know that when I have my psoas worked on, I will feel absolutely no pain anywhere for several days. It's one of those muscles that people don't really pay attention to because the psoas doesn't hurt like a sore shoulder or neck...they just know they don't feel that great...and don't know why. It also can hold onto some emotional trauma. Sometimes working on the psoas will trigger an emotional reaction, usually sadness. And some people are afraid of that, which I understand. It's hard to be willing to let go sometimes. But think of how healthy it is to be rid of that potentially damaging garbage from yesterday! So, if your back is hurting or you know you are holding tension in your gut....take a big deep breathe and call your favorite massage therapist and ask them if they are ready to work on your psoas! If they are like me, they will jump at the chance!!

Going natural....sort of

I'm all for being healthy and being natural, but I am not a nut about it. For instance...I die my hair...gasp...and I have been since I was about 28. I started going gray early and I didn't want to look like my mom yet (no offense, Mom) so what can I say? Some people say that dying your hair isn't the healthiest thing to do..so I thought I would try this new natural hair dye from Sanotint. I found out about this company when I was in Reno called Vivasan. They are out of Switzerland and they have some great products that I use everyday. Well, apparently, they got together with another company out of Milan, Italy that developed this permanent hair color that does not have all the harsh chemicals that traditional hair color has. I was skeptical...but I bought it and had my friend apply it at the salon where I work and, you know...I gotta say I am impressed. The color looks very natural, it covered the gray extremely well, and so far it hasn't faded any faster than the color I have been using. This color is a bit lighter than what I have been using and I notice that my hair doesn't feel as course. So, I think I am on to something. If anyone actually reads this and wants to know more I am happy to tell you more if you email me or make a comment on this blog. OK?

Anti-depressants

I woke up this morning to a beautiful spring day. NOT. It was snowing..pretty hard. And, I'll admit it..I cussed..out loud. I am sick of winter...it needs to be sunny....I don't feel like driving in the snow today....this is so unfair...how could the Gods do this to me today? Whaaaa whaaaa whaaaaa, poor me. Then I saw my two little kitties (Pancho and Lefty) standing at the sliding glass door wanting to go out in this mess. So, I opened the door (because that is pretty much all I am good for around this place) and let them out. They immediately started jumping and chasing snowflakes. Now, seriously, how cute is that? And then Pancho was running and sliding in the snow on the deck (you know like kids will do in their socks on the hardwood floors?) And I wasn't mad at the weather anymore. And I thought....who needs anti-depressants....really...just have pets around you. Because they make you laugh when you think the world is out to get you.

Now I am gonna go watch Martha. I never realized how much of a control freak b*&$# she is. And that makes me like her a lot more!