Tuesday, March 04, 2008, 22:36
About the Same
Went to the clinic on Monday. Got a prescription for prednisone for my ribs. And some more pain meds. The nurse at the clinic said they've been doing chest x-rays right and left because there is so much pneumonia associated with this particular influenza virus. The physician assistant was pretty sure I don't have pneumonia. I agree. I'm not that that sick, although I have to say I feel pretty crappy. Tired. No energy. Weak. Fever from time to time. About all I can do is lie on the couch covered up with afghans and think about how crappy I feel. I have to say -- that gets old really fast.
On top of all of that, it warmed up just enough on Sunday to rain for a little while. Now the driveway and my paths are all coated with ice. So whenever I go outside I am *really careful* because I do not want to fall down on my sore ribs! I have enough trouble as it is!
Unfortunately, the ice is not going to melt at any time soon. It was below zero again on Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon the high was in the mid-20s. We are supposed to get a half inch of snow. And then it is supposed to be even colder yet for the rest of the week. I'm not surprised. This is the same weather pattern we've been having since November 30, 2007. Seems like a really long time ago now, even though it is only a little over three months.
Like I always say, though: when the weather is below zero, each day seems more like a week. At that rate, it's no wonder this winter has seemed like it's been about a year long.
On a more positive note, if you can call it that, we've got a raccoon visiting the barn now to eat the kitty food. If the raccoons are moving, spring must be coming someday. One night last week when I went down to check on the horses, the kitties were acting kind of funny and then Charlie got in on the act.
I shined the flashlight up to the corner, and there on top of the corner post was this enormous raccoon trying to hide his head in the corner. Didn't work, of course.
He has been back several times since then. Poor kitties. I only leave out a few handfuls of food at a time because I don't feel like feeding that big raccoon to boot. We go through enough kitty food as it is without feeding another 40 pounds a week to a raccoon. I swear they can eat their weight in kitty food in a week. Then, to add insult to injury, the raccoon apparently finds it too much trouble to go outside to move his bowels. No. He has to poop all over the top bales of hay and ruin them so I can't feed them to the horses. What a mess.
When Randy went down to the barn Monday night before he went to bed, Charlie almost knocked him off his feet in his haste to get in the barn. And sure enough. The big raccoon was trying to squeeze his enormous self under the wall beneath the kitty food shelf. I suppose he was helping himself to the kitty food when Randy walked in.
Randy said it was a like a cartoon. The raccoon kept squeezing and pushing and trying to hold his breath and squeezing and pushing some more, trying to get under the wall.
This morning when I went down to feed the horses, I discovered a kitty food cup full of frozen mud. The raccoon helped himself to water, too. I don't know why they have to get everything all muddy in the process, but they do.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Sunday, March 02, 2008, 19:43
Getting Worse
I didn't think it was possible, but the pain in my ribs is getting worse. This morning when I came upstairs after getting the horse feed ready and Charlie's dog dish out of his kennel, I coughed and something went "zing" again in my lower ribs on the right side -- and then I could barely move around.
Fortunately, I've got some Vicodin left over from a few years ago when my back was in bad shape. I took two of those Sunday morning, and it took the edge off the pain. I suppose I am going to have break down and go to the clinic to see about getting more pain meds. I have been taking two naproxen sodium tablets morning and evening to try to get the inflammation under control.
I had costochondritis a few years back (inflammation of the rib cage cartilage). I don't know if it's a flare up of that or if it is something different. If it is my old friend costochondritis, I know it will be months before it clears up. The doctors like to tell you it clears up in a month, but when I had it before and did a Google search on it, I discovered websites people had made about it who were suffering from it. And those who have had it say it's more like 9 months to a year before it clears up. They're right, unfortunately.
My little kitties -- Henry, Katerina and Dora -- must know I am not feeling very well because whenever I lay on the couch, propped up on pillows so I can breathe, they come and curl up on my legs.
At the moment, as I am writing this, Dora is draped around the back of my neck -- sound asleep with her head hanging on my shoulder. Bless her little heart.
On a more positive note, I bought a new digital camera. It's a Kodak 8.1 megapixel. When I am feeling better, I will have Randy show me how to get the pictures onto the laptop and how to get them set up for posting to Rural Route 2. Then I will see if I can get some pictures of Henry, Katerina and Dora. Henry is now quite a big bigger than his two sisters.
The warmer weather pattern has been holding for the past few days, but I heard on the weather forecast Saturday night that it is supposed to get very cold again later on this week, with lows down around 0 and highs in the teens. So what else is new?
LeAnn R. Ralph