Trouble in the House

As I write this I am sitting here not wanting to write.  We have a very sick kitten.  Our little girl Immy, started having serious breathing problems on Thursday.  Our veterinarian who is wonderful, was great with her but was very pessimistic about the outcome.  Immy was in an oxygen tent and was in severe distress.  I left her there not knowing how the day would work out but with the thought that she was probably not going to make it.  I’ve learned a lot about many awful diseases that cats can get that cause this build up of fluid in the chest, not in the lungs.  None of which have a good outcome.  There was a chance that it might be heart related and if that was the case they could perhaps give her some medicine to remove the fluid and make her able to breathe again.  The vet gave her Lasix and the first shot made a small difference, the second one a bit more and then they sent her home after the third shot.  She made it through the night on Thursday and again on Friday and again on Saturday.  We have an appointment for a chest ultra-sound on Monday that might tell us more about what is going on.  She is definitely not herself but she doesn’t seem to be in any pain, she is eating a little, is interested in treats, uses the scratching post and is doing some grooming.  I am not sure what the outcome is going to be and I am feeling extremely anxious about it but at this point we are doing all we can for her.  It certainly doesn’t feel fair after our year with our fur babies last year but I can’t do anything about that either.  Letting go is difficult and not being in control of a situation is just about the worst thing especially when it comes to my animals.  We are praying for a good outcome or a possible treatment at this point.  It’s just so hard.  So all is not fine right at the moment.

Walking as a Stress Relief

It was a good week of walking but not great.  I took Monday off as it was after an 8 mile hike on Sunday and then Tuesday I had to take my mother to the clinic so I didn’t get to walk then, I had a good walk on Wednesday, took Thursday because of Immy and then I went to New Hampshire for some appointments, driving home on Friday.  I did find that when I returned from New Hampshire on Friday that I needed a stress relief walk so Wyke and I set out on a four and half mile hike.  We found about the only nice weather of the day as the rain and wind came in soon after our return.  It was so miserable Friday afternoon and evening that we had a fire in the fireplace.  In fact, we had a fire at Katie’s house on Thursday night too.  You may know that I love my fireplace and I love having fires even when it isn’t all that cold out but Friday was just miserable and we needed some serious cheering up so we lit a blazing fire and watched a funny movie.  It helped.  I did a wonderful walk Saturday combining my two favorite walks, the Golf Course and Scowen Park.  I joined a family of good friends at Scowen Park and we hiked even though it was raining some and then sunny and then rain again.  I managed to do six miles which I was pleased about.   My daughter Katie has signed up to join me and my teammates for the September Pledge the Pink Three Day Three Islands walk as well as the virtual walk called To the Moon and Back which is in August.  Anyone can join the virtual walk from anywhere.  Just go to Pledge the Pin, scroll down to Virtual Events and sign up.  You’ll get some bling and a bib and you can join a community of others from all over the country who will support you and help you be accountable with your goals.  I’ve done these before in a more informal way but this is very official and yes, it is a fund raiser but the entry fee is only $30.  Maybe have a look and see if it might be something that will help motivate you to get out there and move.  You can get your miles in anyway that works for you.  You can bike, walk, run, row, be inside on a treadmill or outside on the pavement, and you can do it in pieces if you don’t have time to do 4.77 miles all at once, just do it over the day.  Wear a Fitbit or other tracker and you will be surprised how quickly the miles add up.

Meditation Once Again

The timing is good on this one.  I love the Oprah and Deepak Free Meditation programs.  They are free and 21 days long.  The new one is called Desire & Destiny  and it starts on July 17.  I have done them for a couple of years now and always find they add something to my life that is good.  Since I am dealing with some stress right now and stress is not good for me (or for anyone actually) I need to call upon all the methods I can think of to help me cope with the stress.  Eating right, sleeping, meditation and exercise top the list.  Three weeks ago I decided that I would not drink for the summer while the grandchildren were off getting healthy at camp.  I would use this time to do the same thing for myself.  Knowing myself as well as I do, I realized I needed something to substitute for the wine time so I chose no alcohol beer or low alcohol beer.  If it’s good and cold it is quite tasty.  So far so good and I am actually feeling pretty darn good.  To be honest, wine makes me fuzzy and also I often have night sweats after drinking.  That’s no fun at all.  I have been sleeping really well although I don’t fall asleep all that early but that gives me an opportunity to read which is something I rather enjoy doing.  I wake up pretty refreshed in the morning and seem to have more energy.  That’s not so bad is it?  John and I are enjoying watching movies in the evening and have found some rather good ones.  Love that Netflix!!!  So, I am doing whatever I can to give myself the tools to handle whatever needs to be handled and to hopefully be in a good place while doing it all.

Recipe Of the Week

I was lucky enough to try a Kale salad this week at an event that I went to on Saturday night.  You might find in your conversations with people that there are those who run as fast as they can in the opposite direction to the idea of Kale Salad or Kale in any form.  There are others who love it and swear by it and eat it in copious quantities.  I fall in the middle.  During our course at IIN we were giving some rather amusing cooking lessons and the one on Kale was really quite funny.  We were taught that Kale needs to be massaged before you eat it.  The technical reason is to break up the fibers in the leafy greens but really, massaging Kale????  However, this salad was absolutely delicious and I think I had pretty much half my plate filled with it.  I don’t have the exact recipe but I found one that sounds like it comes pretty darn close to what we ate that night.  Give it a try and I hope you enjoy it.

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