Nitty gritty

“The measure is intelligence is the ability to change.” -Albert Einstein

Ughhhhh

I’m so tired of packing. It’s literally the worst. How. How did we accumulate SO MUCH STUFF in two years?!

I’m ready to be at our new home and unpacking,  which is my favorite! But then we skip the important hard parts of life. “Another fucking growth experience” as my wise friend Rita put it before she passed.

Alas, on to more important things – health stuff.

I’ve had every damn test and checkup possible.

My ears are the ‘best he’s seen them.’ Which is reassuring,  but they still hurt and make weird noises all the time so that is unfortunate. Nonetheless,  I’m glad to know we have a good routine going.  He also said that a new company came out with a device similar to the one that required drilling a hole in my skull, but this one doesn’t require drilling! It’s still a surgery, so I’m still not dealing with that this year,  but definitely something I want to look into in the future. It would be so amazing to hear!

Endocrinology – my local endocrinologist called the other day and luckily this time, with fairly good news. My tumor marker has remained stable! The annoying thing is that my tsh is now too high. Still, after a year and half, we haven’t gotten it right! Alas she adjusted my dose ever so slightly and we’re hoping this one sticks. I have not yet heard from the surgeon on my chest ct (in terms of Tina Tumor). Pulmonology – My pulmonologist did look at my chest ct and saw no significant changes. This isn’t to say it’s normal, considering everything it’s been through, but nothing else bad is there (fluid, etc). So for now I continue with the vest and the nebulizer daily as I have been.

Bone Density – My dexa scan decreased very slightly, but good overall. I had a fancy new version of a bone scan and that revealed that while I do have degeneration on the outer layer of my bones (what a dexa scan measures, the inside of my bones is as strong as a 20 year old! All that weight lifting I do is not for naught! Unfortunately, there is no Osteostrong,  the place I go to for osteoporosis treatment, in New Mexico. This is a huge bummer because it works! In the last two years,  I’ve increased my bone density from full osteoporosis down to osteopenia, and at my age, that’s pretty amazing. As we get older,  we don’t usually gain bone density,  you can just maintain it.

Jeremy and I haven’t dug into researching or finances yet,  but we have thrown around the idea of starting one down there.  I think it’s going to be out of our price range because you have to buy the equipment,  which is nasa designed,  but it’s something to really consider and dream about.  I highly recommend, especially for women that are aging since we lose more density than men.

I do want to share a very special event that we went to. There is a pianist that tours that Pacific Northwest and plays in beautiful settings called “In a Landscape.” The coolest part is that they feed the sound through headphones, so everyone gets a set with their ticket and you can walk around far from where the piano is and listen to the music and gaze out at the beauty around you. I bought tickets a while ago, and this one was at a place called Black Butte Ranch here, and it was…stunning. Not only was it amazing to be around the arts again, but it really felt like Oregon and the Cascades were saying goodbye to us. Jeremy had a very emotional reaction and was able to release some of the feelings he’d been holding onto. The pianist tours from Washington to California to Montana, and I highly recommend if you are going to be anywhere near a performance

We literally have to leave this house in less than a week. It feels surreal. We’ve made a huge amount of progress, but it also feels never-ending. We get the uhaul pod on Tuesday, and so most of our stuff will be packed between Tues and Wednesday, but I have to work this week and have 3 projects launching so it’s going to be a lot. I trust that we will get it done and it will feel good to just be done with the packing. This strange shrinking of our life before our eyes is a little unsettling. We all feel it, especially Zie. We are grateful for all of the support, please please keep it coming.

One of my mantras theif the last year or so, courtesy of Bev.💗