Over the next three weeks, Husband (H) and I will be grudgingly in travel mode. This week, Oct. 20-22 ,we have a 3-day trip to Springfield, MO for my appointment with endocrinologist which includes tests to see if my perceived Vit. D deficiency is correcting itself, or we have to pursue another diagnosis. Of course, there is the obligatory shopping and Luckie boards at her spa.
Then Oct 26-28 we will be in Little Rock, AR for H's hearing and ear checkup.....and more obligatory shopping, plus Luckie boards at her spa.
On Nov. 4 H, Best Friend and I see our allergy/asthma specialist, also in Little Rock, one day trip. And more obligatory shopping, but Luckie stays home.
Additionally, all of us seem to have a backlog of 6-month appointments with this that and some other physicians in November, including my oncologist.
I'm thinking of hibernation the rest of the year [no Thanksgiving or Christmas] if I live through all these physicians and tests. I don't know how we got in such a mess in one month.
So no telling when or what you will find in this space for awhile. My trusty notebook accompanies me everywhere, as does at least one camera. There is a new Sam's Club in Springfield near our lodging. I'm sure I'll check that out.
Maybe I'll post a Mickey Mouse movie! sing M-I- C-K-E-Y....M-O-U-S-E!Who knows? I'm sure I'll post something, but the journalistic who, when, where and why probably not apply? Stay tuned for a wild ride.
However, today I am posting a YouTube modern hymn, I've learned to love. My bio indicates a love of gospel which usually means traditional. However, H and I have moved into a universalist emerging church philosophy which embraces new as well as old religious music.
This is one of my favorite new songs. The title is THE HIGHEST PLACE. [one of these days I'll learn to post these with more than a link, if I am ever free from appointments!]
Post Script: Apologies to those who cannot understand the YouTube link: It is the in ENGLISH but is some mission group in India and the only clip I could find of the song. The melody and English words are on the screen are correct.
Childhood diseases are a given when kindergarten and public education exposes students to unknown, random viruses and bacteria spread by a multitude of persons and agents. Even though I had the obligatory small pox vaccine, the other contagious epidemics of chicken pox, mumps and both kinds of measles did not pass me by, not to mention every variation of cold virus known to man.
My siblings and I were elementary students (grade school) during the polio epidemics. My susceptibility to viruses worried my parents, especially after a classmate with severe asthma contracted the dreaded paralyzing disease. When the vaccines became available, I was first in line.However one childhood malady incurred far more often -- earaches. With colds, bronchitis or any respiratory infection, I developed earaches, one ear or both, a source of excruciatingly, tear provoking pain. In those years there were not many forms of relief. Most home remedies were aimed at alleviating pain, not the primary cause, infection.I was subjected to home-made blistering mustard plasters, vaporizers, Vicks nasal drops and Vaporub and Metholatum or Musterole Ointment, warmed olive oil in the ear. Eventually, the earache would be relieved, but more often it ruptured which to my young mind was an horrifying event of blood and pus.Physicians then had a procedure of "lancing" which essentially put a small hole in the eardrum for drainage after a shot of Novocaine. Lancing did not rip and tear the eardrum like spontaneous rupture.At one point in my childhood my parents relied on a family friend, a chiropractor, for preventive health and medical needs. I am unaware of how he became our primary source of medicinal consultations, but the entire family got adjustments on a regular basis. Since he was a rancher, I wonder if he and Daddy has some cattle or land deals.Although my young bones sounded as if they were popping and cracking, the adjustments usually did no harm, caused no distress and may have been helpful.Chiropractors certainly have their place in our health system. My parents, especially Dad, who did a lot of physical labor in his management of a lumber yard, really seemed to benefit. He and Mother had migraine headaches which they attested were relieved by an "adjustment."The time spent away from their rambunctious offspring was probably the curative factor, rather than the "adjustments."In the area where I now live, chiropractors are in heavy demand among the elderly population of aching backs, necks and extremities. Some patients go to a chiropractor after exhausting orthopedic and primary care physicians whose medical advice and treatments have failed. These patients invariably become ferocious disciples of chiropractors.However, one earache event convinced my parents of the need to return to a primary care physician, then called a general practitioner.I had double earaches, and was screaming with pain, all day and all night for several days. Mother made appointment with the chiropractor. Since Mother did not drive, Daddy took off work to drive us to the chiropractor's office.After jerking my h
ead, neck and back in every contortionist move, he ordered Mother to make hot salt packs, homemade sachet-like bags to be applied to my ears continuously until relieved. Mother whipped up some little bags out of scrap materials, filled them with rock salt and heated them in the oven. God only knows what temperature, but they were blistering hot....so hot I forgot the ears were aching; instead they were scorching.These packs were in addition to sweet (olive) oil ear drops, mustard plasters, vaporizers, OTC nose drops and chest rubs. I'm surprised a soap enema wasn't included.Oh yeah! there was the home-made hot, and I do mean HOT, lemonade, which was the juice of lemons in a glass of very hot water. The hot lemonade was a cure-all for almost any illness in my home. There are a number of recipes; most contain honey and some have rum or similar alcoholic concoction. In my home there was no alcohol. I don't remember the honey either but there may have been a dab.My ears were blistered from hot salt packs, my chest was burned from mustard plaster and my throat was scalded from hot lemonade. Misery heaped on misery!!!Nothing worked. Then one night both ears ruptured at the same time. I was screaming and yelling at the ugly, yucky disaster, thinking I was dying, even though I don't think I understood the word at that age.My screaming and yelling was louder than usual; I could not hear myself!!!Mother sat up with me the rest of the night and near morning I fell asleep. The pain was relieved, but that did not prove to be the end of it.The infection spread around the ears on both sides and tonsils/sore throat aggravated discomfort. This event convinced them to return me to a general practitioner. There were few effective drugs but I was placed on a round of sulfonamides, the only antibacterial in common use. Fortunately it worked. A compounded prescription for Aspirin, Phenacetin and Caffeine with Codeine powder was also prescribed for other aches and pains. We called that concoction "Cold Powders."Earaches are SERIOUS; they may lead to more serious disorders such as hearing loss, mastoiditis or infection of other nearby structures surrounding the ear. To read really scary earache tale see Remembrance of A Childhood Illness – Part One: Blowing Smoke, Remembrance of A Childhood Illness – Part Two: In Which I Almost Go to Heaven and http://anarkansasstamper.blogspot.com/2009/08/remembrance-of-childhood-illness-part_07.html by Remembrances of An Arkansas Stamper.
From then on my ear were lanced when needed. Scarring from so many eardrum ruptures is primary cause of my moderate hearing loss today. There are many home remedies for this common childhood malady; most involve some method of heat applied to the ear. A Google Search, home earache remedies, results in 89,600 hits. My recommendation to use them only until you can see a physician. There are antibiotic, anti-inflammatory ear drops now along with a multiplicity of oral antibiotics.
Having earaches is not limited to childhood. Adults have earaches, no matter who may pooh-pooh the idea. Wind, hard sneezing, persistent or spasmodic coughing and/or sudden temperature changes cause my ears to ache. I have been battling an annoying mild earache for about a month. I think it is a mechanical effect of some persistent allergy sneezing fits. Ringing in the ear is very annoying. I have not cleared the pressure yet. I bought a decongestant yesterday. The other ear vacillates with some pressure, too. I see my physician Tuesday.In my adult life I have had only one other encounter with a chiropractor:In the 1980s I had severe carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands. The stinging, tingling pain became so severe, medication only offered sleep for a few hours. Only holding my hands under cold water provided temporary relief. The attacks were more prevalent at night.This disorder is a compressed nerve that comes out of the neck area of spine, across each shoulder, down the arm crossing the elbow to the underside of the arm, traveling through a "tunnel of bones" at the wrist into palm. Compression causes burning, tingling, stinging pain from the ring finger to the thumb. The pinkie finger is excluded.Trying to avoid surgery, I decided to give a local chiropractor a try. My insurance would pay for a series of treatments. Since this is more in the line of chiropractic practice, it seemed worth a try, but it also failed. I had bilateral carpal tunnel release surgery. Now there is mild compression some where along the very long nerve, causing occasional discomfort. Surgery is not in the immediate forecast. Nor is a chiropractor.[Photo: a few items I currently use to alleviate earache - the red earmuffs replace heating pads and hot salt packs. I wear them as a preventative against wind well into Spring. Hydrogen peroxide- a few drops are as first aid remedy for ear wax . removal. Olive oil and also mineral oil can be warmed and instilled in ear blocked with a cotton plug. The tiny blue dropper bottle is a popular prescription pain reliever, Auralgan. Sudafed (available generically) is a decongestant.]
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. [NIV Proverbs 17:22] See alternate translations here: Proverbs 17:22 . I like "A joyful mind maketh age flourishing: a sorrowful spirit drieth up the bones." [DRB]Merriam-Webster on-line definition of the verb giggle(s)
Main Entry: 1gig·gle
Pronunciation: \ˈgi-gəl\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): gig·gled; gig·gling \-g(ə-)liŋ\
Etymology: imitative
Date: 1509
intransitive verb : to laugh with repeated short catches of the breath transitive verb : to utter with a giggle
— gig·gler \-g(ə-)lər\ noun
— gig·gling·ly \-g(ə-)liŋ-lē\ adverb
— gig·gly \-g(ə-)lē\ adjective I have not found an appropriate adjective or definition for prolonged giggling, or giggling becoming uncontrollable, prolonged, gasping-for-breath laughter accompanied by tears, ending in coughing spasms followed by an asthma attack. SEIZURE may come close.
My best friend (BF) and I have known each other approximately 30 years. We have innumerable funny adventures shopping, out-of-town treks, coaching Odyssey of the Mind students, arts and crafts events. You name it, we've may have tried it at least once, often with disappointing, but harmless, endings which usually are humorous. When we leave together for any reason, our husbands in unison say, "Don't call us if you go to jail!" Formally an owner/operator of a beauty shop, she cuts my hair occasionally. Her day job now is journalist, food and on-line editor and blogger for The Baxter Bulletin, a Mountain Home AR newspaper, for which I once worked as a stringer reporter.BF and I, with another friend, organized TeleCare (A Simple, Single Phone Call). We organized and served a Community Christmas Dinner for about 5 years with the help of many volunteers and groups who donated time, material and food.Interestingly, we both suffer some of the same maladies, like earaches, allergies, asthma, and sometimes viruses passed between families. We forgive easily for the viral "gifts." BF connected me with her Little Rock allergy and asthma physician in 1991, for which I am eternally grateful. He finally found treatments which returned me to some degree of normal functioning.
But we have a mutual habit that causes mutual stress and distress. We seem to find mirth in similar happenings, events and circumstances. When we, together, or separately begin to giggle, it continues in an unstoppable crescendo, ending only when persistent, uncontrollable coughing and tears becomes an asthma attack!On trips this giggling has started as a result of our conversation or something we've seen while cruising down a highway. It is miraculous we've never had an accident. When we start coughing and wheezing, we pass the inhalers, labeled "Emergency/exercise inhaler - use 1-2 puffs intraorally as needed." We are holding inhaler in one hand, exhaling, pressing the inhaler to release 1-2 puffs, inhaling and holding breath for 10 seconds, all the while driving 60+ m.p.h.The adage, "two heads are better than one" fits us, too. We figured a way to beat the $95 spirometry (breathing/wheezing) test administered when we have appointments with allergy/asthma doctor. We simply puff the emergency inhaler several times in the restroom before entering the physicians's office. I hate paying $95 for a test and failing it. Just doesn't make sense to me...We ace the test every time. Of course by the time we are through doping ourselves, we have a not-so-fine hand tremor and increased heart rate, side effects of the inhaler. However, if either of us is experiencing immediate respiratory distress, we don't pull this little stunt. Our allergy/asthma Doc has no giggling solutions, except don't giggle. Now that is NO FUN. Besides giggling is spontaneous. I don't say: "Hmm it is now time to giggle, or STOP giggling!" It's like sneezing, an instantaneous reflex reaction to thought or circumstance.
Doc seemed to have heard this giggling/laughing complaint before. It seems the muscles and nerves required to giggle are similar to those that provoke coughing and breathing disorders. The sound itself requires use of air and vocal cords. The definition implies breathing is required to giggle: to laugh with repeated short catches of the breath. I have shortness of breath routinely, so "short catches of the breath" are very short to nil, which may be why the end result is coughing (a kind of reverse breathing) and asthma (constrictive spasms of the bronchial tree, restricting proper air flow).
And how much fun is carrying a pharmacy with you, just in case your funny bone is tickled and you descend into uncontrollable giggling and laughing?
'Tis a puzzlement." [from the King and I Broadway musical]{Photos are my personal medications, all of which require prescriptions. Not pictured are two cough syrups,two oral Rxs and a nasal spray.]
