Angry Alveoli

 I have to admit that the title of this blog post makes me giggle. The alliteration!!

Anyway, last Saturday was a bad day breathing wise so on Sunday I went to a Kroger Little Clinic. The Nurse Practioner listened to my lungs and said I was clear (hooray!) but given that I was still battling consistent breathlessness, she would prescribe a steroid pack for the angry alveoli in my lungs.

Either they helped, or my body healed further, but this week I have done better with breathing. Which is really nice.

My blood sugars have been bad, because steroids mess with the liver and tell it to release sugar, I guess? I hit 256 one day. UGH! But that only lasted an hour and then it came down.

I am only taking 2 steroid pills today and one tomorrow and then I will be done.

I am super tired today and don't know why. I have had some insomnia, which may be tied to the steroids. It is worth it to breathe better. It was also a busy week so far; I had a hair appointment on Tuesday and three kids went to the dentist yesterday. We had to get a new dentist because we changed insurance. The new one is really good and closer than the old one, so that is nice.

I am a red head again! I like red hair!

Speaking of insurance -- one of the reasons that it was hard to take the leap of having Kevin quit his job is that he had awesome benefits through the Air Force. We now have our insurance through the health care exchange.

There are lots of uncertainties about how much it will cost us BUT it seems good so far in terms of coverage. My steroids were FREE, which was nice.

I have probably mentioned this before, but when Kevin and I were in St. Croix last year, we had time to really talk and pray about his future with the Air Force. I don't pretend to hear God's voice clearly very often, but it did seem God was saying for him to quit.

Which was not a conservative thing to do. He was making a very good salary and the benefits were great. He was also not happy; there were reasons why leaving his job made sense from a mental health point of view.

The book business has been doing very well since he left his job. He has time now to do more marketing and publicity and we now have a seven person team of people who are part of the business.

He is happier than when he was working for the Air Force. And the last month plus has been so tiring with Kevin's mom hurting herself, and then a long stint of illness. Kevin and I have both been tired and struggling but we have been able to be good parents, I think.

If he were trying to work through all this, it would be way harder to keep the household rolling.

So yes, God knew what he was doing, as usual.

A new book is coming out near the end of next month. I am done with most of it, but we are having an audio book created to come out at the same time.

So yes, financially it was stupid for Kevin to quit his job. Emotionally, mentally, spiritually, it was a great idea.

Rubik's Cube

 

I managed to solve a 4 by 4 Rubik's cube yesterday.

I hope you are impressed. I am a 3 by 3 expert but the 4 by 4 is significantly more complicated.

There are some of the same moves as the 3 by 3, with a whole bunch of other ones mixed in.

I got lucky this time; there is a problem that can occur at the end which requires two corner pieces to be switched and I haven't figured that out yet. This time, the corners were miraculously still in the right places.

I like fussing with my Rubik's cubes, so this is fun.

Mid January

 

We have had a little snow; not a lot. There was a great deal north in Michigan.

Jet would like to come in, but he isn't allowed.

The seven kids at home. We often eat meals in shifts for one reason or another, so this was a fun pic.

Rose got a craft for Christmas which involves making sun catchers.

Lest you think we are being mean to the cats, they have electrically warmed houses.

In other news, Kevin and I continue to slowly improve. We are still tired and need to rest a lot. My breathing is slowly better.  I can't do a lot but I can do more.

So that is good.

Patience is a Virtue. So is Gratitude

 A friend of mine who is a little older than I am has been battling cancer for a few years. I got a message from her that she recently had a stroke as well. It breaks my heart. She is a wonderful person and this is hard.

Her faith in the Lord is inspiring and I keep praying for her, that God would help her recover from the stroke and the cancer, and will continue to comfort her.

Another friend got smacked with serious long COVID. She is recovering but it has been a long journey.

Both of these wonderful women have encouraged me as Kevin and I deal with the lingering effects of COVID. We don't have a lot of energy, and want to sleep a lot, and my breathing continues to be a bit off. I just want to be better!  But I am not yet. And I need to rest as needed.

I am so thankful that the children are old enough to run much of the household. In 2009, when we had 6 kids under the age of 10, we got swine flu and wow, that was a rough time!

So yeah, I think Kevin and I are improving, but it is slow going. 

The weather outside is currently frightful -- windy, snowy, and cold. We are only getting like an inch of snow; apparently up north a few hours, they are supposed to get over a foot!

So that's...fun.

We do not have to be anywhere today which makes me happy.

I do love getting things done and there are things I want to get done, but I also need to respect my own limitations.

Miriam is ready to take her driving test, mostly, but I want to do a little more driving with her. This coming week is kind of busy with various appointments so probably I will be using my energy to take people here and there.

I'm good. I'm thankful it isn't worse. 

Oh, I am also nearing the end of a book, a shorter one than usual. I honestly dislike it at this point. I am tired and my brain isn't firing on all thrusters and I look at it and think, argh, I don't like it.

I think it is actually a decent book. I always dislike my books at the end :-).

I just have to keep on, keeping on.

COVID marches on

 Kevin has it now. We THOUGHT he had it a week or two ago. He had a killer backache the weekend before Christmas. My experience with COVID is that sometimes it causes major backaches so we hoped that he had it with one symptom.

But now he is sick with more conventional COVID symptoms. Chills (major chills -- he is usually hot, and slept with 4 extra blankets last night). Major fatigue. Coughing. Isaac and Daniel are sick now. 

I tested myself again today and while it was positive, it was barely positive. So that is good news; I am presumably getting close to not being contagious.

Ten years ago I would probably be super frustrated that December and early January have been so difficult. But I am on Lexapro and I am older, so that is good :-).

I mean, I don't like being sick, and I hate having to sit around, and I hate having breathing problems. But I am not terribly bad. I am not in the hospital. I am relieved about that.

Moreover, the kids are old enough they can run the house as needed. They all keep getting sick too, but not all at once. Joseph and Miriam and Angela had it and are over it. 

It isn't ideal, but such is life. I am thankful that it isn't worse. I am thankful that we have a house full of food. I am thankful that Kevin's mom, who spent time with us the week before Christmas, didn't get it.

It is really a blessing to live in a time and place with over the counter safe drugs (tylenol and acetimenophen) and blood oxygen meters and stuff like that. Since I do have asthma issues, I have been checking my oxygen levels regularly and am doing great.

We even managed to get sick in the midst of down time in our calendar. We usually have lots of doctor appointments and dentist appointments and orthodontia appointments and stuff like that, but have had nothing scheduled since Christmas.

Except for getting my hair dyed, but that isn't a medical issue.

So yes, I am blessed in the midst of COVID. Thank you, Lord.

Third Time is Not a Charm

 I have COVID.

For the 3rd time.

Wow. Just wow. Seriously??

Anyway, I checked more than a week ago when I first got sick. So did Miriam and Joseph. And the tests were negative.

Monday I was feeling really awful and I checked again and the test was very, very, very positive.

I am fine. My asthma is flaring up because it always does when I get COVID or flue or even a particularly nasty cold.

The kids and Kevin can and are running the house.

Everyone is getting it, of course, but no one else is having breathing problems. Kevin had a killer backache for more than a week and that was his main symptom. Rose has it now and feels sick but not awful.

I have gotten every booster available and am thankful, since with my diabetes and asthma, I am at higher risk.

So yeah, COVID for the 3rd time but all in all, we are fine.