Day 3554: Trying to make sense of things

Here and now, I’m trying to make sense of things, including:

• Why my INR level dipped dangerously low yesterday,
• Why I thought to check my INR earlier than usual (thank goodness),
• How it was so difficult to get the shots I needed to protect myself from having such a low INR from my local pharmacy,
• Why I’m doing a better job administering those shots than some trained professionals did last week at a Georgia hospital when my INR was also dangerously low,
• Why some people that I reach out to take so long getting back to me,
• Why the repair of our upstairs bathroom is taking so long,
• Why some days have so many National Day observances and other have so few,
• Why so many people in the USA don’t exercise their right to vote,
• Why so many people get fooled by toxic narcissists, and
• How I continue to remain sane through all of this.

Yesterday, my dear friend Carol and I discussed how trying to make sense of things can lead to magical thinking.

For example, I’ve been trying to make sense of the unexpected and scary medical things I’ve been dealing with lately by magically thinking they might be the the result of:

• my unexpectedly being reassured by a new cardiologist this month that my very unusual heart was serving me very well and should keep me alive for many years to come,
• my not observing the Jewish High Holidays,
• my boldly and confidently sharing my original song “Everybody‘s Somebody’s Asshole” with total strangers in Georgia and getting a delighted reaction, and
• being “too” confident in general.

I’m wondering how you are trying to make sense of things (including this blog post) right now.

Please join me in trying to make sense of my images for today.

Thanks to the National Days website, now I’m making sense of National Seat Check Saturday.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “trying to make sense of things.”

Gratitude always helps me make sense of things, so thanks to those who visit this daily blog, including YOU!

Day 3544: Never seen

Before this vacation, I’d never seen

• the islands off the southeastern coast of Georgia,
• the inside of a brain CT scan machine, and
• the inside of a Georgia hospital.

You’ve never seen anybody as happy as I’ll be when I get out of this hospital and rejoin my vacation tour of the Georgia islands, which MIGHT be today.

Here are some images I assume you’ve never seen:

I’ve actually never seen the world through another’s eyes but I try to do that, every day.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “never seen.”

I’ve never seen Limoblaze before, but I’m very glad to see that video today.

You’ve most likely seen gratitude from me before, but you’ve never seen this particular image of thanks:

Day 3543: What does T.I.A. stand for?

This Is Ann, Telling It As it is on a Tuesday In A hospital room, Thankful I’m Alive.

T.I.A. stands for Transient Ischemic Attack. The Incredible And Thorough Investigators At This Institution Are Thinking I, Ann, had a T.I.A. yesterday.

Terrifying Incident, Actually, That Included All The Indications of A stroke. This Is Absolutely not how This Individual Anticipated spending her vacation.

These Images Are what This Insomniac Accumulated yesterday:

.

This Is A T.I.A. video on youTube, I Assume:

Thanks In Admiration to Those Intrepidly Assisting yesterday — my Terrifically Intelligent Amiga Deb, the Emergency responders on Jekyll Island, the staff at this wonderful Georgia hospital, my Boston cardiologist Deeb Salem (who called in response to my email and talked to the doctor here) — and to Those I Adore (That Includes All of you!)

Day 3533: Balance

Yesterday, as I was trying to balance my needs with other people’s needs, I

• balanced providing individual and group therapy at the Boston hospital where I work,
• helped prepare my two wonderful co-workers who will be covering three of my groups while I’m on vacation for two weeks,
• had the delicious macaroni and cheese at the hospital cafeteria for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic (because they only serve it on Fridays and I usually work remotely from my home on Fridays),
• met with my new electrophysiologist/cardiologist, Dr. Peter Zimetbaum, at the hospital where I work, and
• felt very relieved about how knowledgeable, encouraging, and willing Dr. Zimetbaum was to collaborate with my long-time cardiologist, Dr. Deeb Salem, who works at a different Boston hospital.

On balance, it was a terrific day.

Do you see balance in my images for today?

.

Leave it to today’s Daily Bitch to have the last word on balance.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “balance.”

I also find this:

Balanced thanks to all who help me keep my balance every day, including YOU!

Day 3450: Two wrongs don’t make a right

“Two wrongs don’t make a right” was one of my late mother’s favorite sayings. Another favorite saying of my mother’s was “there’s a place for everything and everything in its place” so I think this is the place for today’s Daily Bitch Calendar.

It sure as hell would make me feel better right now to share a photo of my mother. It’s right that I coincidentally captured an image of my mother with my son Aaron yesterday when I took a picture of our cat, Joan (on the right).

Two humans — my husband Michael and I — were wrong in worrying that our old and fretful shelter cat Harley would never accept shelter cat Joan. Those two together definitely make a right.

There’s a place for everything and this is the place I’ll share a story about my mother and me and “two wrongs don’t make a right.” I was born with a heart that was wrong, which resulted in many hospitalizations and my needing pacemakers from a very young age. We didn’t know what kind of heart condition I had until my very right and still current cardiologist, Dr. Deeb Salem, figured out in the 1980’s that I had the very rare heart condition of congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (CCTGA). When Dr. Salem rightly described how my heart was very wrong in two different ways — (1) the aorta and the pulmonary arteries are switched and (2) the ventricles are also switched — and

1. that means all the blood ends up in the right place and
2. having just one of those wrongs would have killed me when I was born in 1953 because of what kinds of heart surgeries were available then,

I turned to my mother and said “You know how you always say ‘two wrongs don’t make a right?’ I guess not!”

There’s a place for everything and this is the place for me to say that I miss my mother and my father every day.

It’s right that many of my images for today have twos in them.

It seems wrong to me that onion rings and kissing — both very right in their own way — are celebrated on the same day.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “two wrongs don’t make a right.”

I also find this very right rendition of “Two Wrongs” by Wyclef Jean with Claudette Ortiz:

It’s right for me to end each post with thanks to all who help me blog every day, including YOU!

Day 3425: Brain damage

Yesterday, at an urgent care clinic, a doctor tried to convince me to go to a hospital emergency room to get a CAT scan for possible brain damage.

My brain was surprised by this because I had come to the urgent care clinic suspecting wrist and ankle damage after taking a rather spectacular fall on my daily walk, which was preceded by this tweet:

I’m not showing any signs of brain damage there, am I?

Anyway, because I’m on the blood thinner Coumadin, almost immediately after the fall giant bruises were appearing at all the points of contact I’d had with the ground. My brain was undamaged enough to call my Coumadin nurse, Veronica, before everybody left for the long weekend. Veronica suggested I go to an urgent care clinic to see if the damage included any hairline fractures.

My son Aaron wanted to know if he should cancel our plans to go out to dinner with his friend Clark, who would be arriving soon, but I didn’t want to damage everyone’s evening, so I said “no.”

At the urgent care clinic, they x-rayed my left wrist, right wrist, and my right ankle and found no fractures. Even though I had walked the half-mile back home without pain, my right foot was now so sore that they gave me a walking boot. They said the ankle damage could be a sprain or just internal bleeding because of the Coumadin.

Then, just when I was thinking I had escaped serious damage, a doctor came in all concerned about brain damage and quoted this poem to me:

He bumped his head and went to bed,

And he couldn’t get up in the morning.

That got my brain’s attention, because I always want to get up in the morning. I thought the doctor was mainly concerned about brain damage because I had described hitting the side of my head very slightly in the fall, causing my glasses to fall off. However, she insisted that even if I hadn’t hit my head at all, any fall on Coumadin could cause brain damage and I should get at least one CAT scan, if not two.

I asked what the signs of brain damage would be and she said, “headaches, double vision, nausea, or change of personality.” Telling my son Aaron, his friend Clark, and my husband Michael to be on alert for any brain damage, we went out to dinner as planned and the only cat scan I got was this:

Because my brain is not so damaged that I take foolish risks, I contacted the on-call doctor at my hospital to see what they would suggest and, as I suspected, she was rather surprised about the Urgent Care doctor’s concern about brain damage and supported my decision not to worry about it. Believe me, my brain is damaged enough by worries without adding unnecessary ones at this point.

Do you see any evidence of brain damage in my other images for today?

It seems brain damaged to me that all of today’s National days involve eating dead cows. There seems to be too much brain damage in my country as I write this, and we better use our brains before it’s too late.

Because double vision is one of the signs of brain damage, here’s “Double Vision” by Foreigner.

If you see any evidence of brain damage in this post, please let me know in the comments section, below, and I’ll consider getting a CAT scan.

Thanks to all who help me write these daily posts with my brain and my heart, including YOU!

Day 3338: Chores

It’s no chore for me to blog every day and here’s a definition of “chore.”

My husband, Michael (who does almost all the chores around here) and I sometimes discuss what chores we dread. He dreads the chore of taking out the garbage and I dread the chores of being on call at work, doing our taxes, and testing my blood every other week because I take the anticoagulant Coumadin. We both dread the chore of taking either of our cats to the vet.

Last night, I asked this question on Twitter:

I phrased the question that way because a few people have let me know that they find my Twitter questions a chore. I look forward to reading all the answers to that question, which will be no chore at all.

My niece Julie McGrath has said this about chores: “Try changing I HAVE to do this to I GET to do this!” Using Julie’s advice, I’ll say this: I get to check my blood INR today!

I also get to share all these quotes about chores with you, plus other random images.

Today I get to celebrate National Love Your Pet Day, which is no chore at all.

If it’s no chore, please leave a comment below.

Now I get to express my thanks to all who get to do chores and who read my blog, including YOU!

Day 3329: Special talents

I think we all have special talents, and what I love about watching the Olympics is witnessing special talents other people have.

Last night, I dreamed I was snowboarding the half pipe, doing somersaults and other incredible tricks!

Shaun White and I share a special talent: we’ve both survived and thrived after being born with serious heart conditions.

I have a special talent for including links in these blog posts, so please click on the paragraph above for more information about the incredible Shaun White.

Can you find special talents in my images for today?

It takes a special talent to celebrate every day.

This is what I find when I search YouTube for “special talents.”

What’s your special talent?

One of my special talents is expressing gratitude, so thanks to all who help me create these daily blogs, including YOU.

Day 3320: Groundhog Day 2022

On 2/2/22, I have 22K followers on Twitter and I’m celebrating my 22 + 47th birthday!

My plan for Groundhog Day 2022 is to take the day off from work; spend it with my husband, my son, and our two cats; play our annual game of Sorry; eat flourless chocolate cake with whipped cream; read; take a walk; listen to music; and practice this song on the ukulele:

Two days after Groundhog Day, I’ll be performing that song at a remote Open Mic.

I was able to catch, live, the Groundhog’s prediction for 2022:

Of course, commercials almost ruin that, but the prediction is there (and no surprise).

Can you see evidence of Groundhog Day in my other images for today?

Because of the rare heart condition I was born with, I’ve never been a girl or woman in sports. However, if you can’t play a sport, be a sport, which I guess I am.

How are you going to celebrate Groundhog Day 2022?

I’m going to express my gratitude to all those who have been there for me during Groundhog Day(s), including YOU!

Day 3301: Intuition

My intuition tells me to start this blog post with a definition of “intuition.”

My intuition told me to ask this question on Twitter last night:

.

My intuition tells me that we could all use a laugh these days.

.

My intuition tells me to blog every day and share images like these with you:

.

It looks like the Daily Bitch’s intuition has not served her well.

24 years ago, my intuition told me to get tested for endocarditis (a very dangerous heart inflammation) when I was eight months pregnant and running a fever. I had never had endocarditis but, for some reason, I felt like I might have it. The doctor told me I had the flu and that was why I had the fever but “since you’re here and because of your heart, I’ll test you.” A few days later, I got a phone call, “come into the hospital immediately, you have endocarditis.” They put me on IV antibiotics for six weeks and told me, “This might make the baby deaf.” It didn’t.

After my son was born, I said to my cardiologist, “Why do you think I asked to be tested for endocarditis? There was really no logical reason for me to do that.” He said, “I think somebody up there is looking out for you.” My intuition told me that it was my late father, who had died the year before.

This is what I find on YouTube when I search for “intuition.”

My intuition tells me I will get some great comments on this post.

Thanks to all who have good intuition, including YOU.