health

Eye Drops Recalled

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This wasn’t even the post I planned to write tonight, but I just heard rather upsetting news about recalled eye drops.

I remember a few months ago hearing that several people went blind, some needed their eyeballs removed and others died due to infections. It was really shocking and scary. I use lubricant eye drops and so does my mom. None of the brands that I heard about were ones that we used. I later heard about the recall expanding and wondered if it would end up impacting me at some point.

When I checked the list of eye drops mentioned in the report tonight, some are ones that I use. This picture is the bottle that I’ve been using and just threw away. On the label, I only see a Lot number and expiration date. The list provides NDC numbers and I couldn’t tell from a quick search if it was the same as the Lot number. It’s getting ready to expire next month anyway and I have a new bottle from a brand not on the list.

If you use these types of drops, definitely check the list right away before continuing to use them. We do so much to protect our health and well-being, but there is only so much we can control.

Tea or Coffee?

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cup of tea

When I’m really sick and trying to get better, one of the things that I do is switch my morning coffee for tea.

I definitely prefer my morning coffee ritual. I love it! However, if I’m truly honest with myself, coffee makes me happy emotionally. When I’m sick, tea makes me feel better physically. Specifically, I have green tea with lemon and honey. It feels magical the way that it transforms me.

When I decided to post everyday this month, I didn’t plan on getting sick. But that’s how life goes. All I can do now is go with the flow. There was another post that I had been working on to post either yesterday or today, but I haven’t had the energy to finish the research, never mind write-up the post. So it will have to wait.

The reason behind NaBloPoMo is to develop writing consistency for these thirty days regardless of circumstances. Life will always throw things our way that we’re not expecting. What matters is how we react to it. A bit of good news is that my second COVID test came back negative. It’s just a plain old cold.

Since I can feel my energy waning, I’ve decided not to share this post on social media. Maybe nobody will see this post, but that’s not the point. The point is that I still wrote it.

When I first did NaBloPoMo, back in 2007, social media sharing as we know it now didn’t exist. So I’m just going super old school! That’s it for now. See you tomorrow.

Not Feeling Well

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remedies when you're not feeling well

Recently, I have been hearing about a lot of people being sick with bad colds. I was able to avoid it up until this past weekend, when I was definitely not feeling well.

At the end of last week I started having a little tickle in my throat. I thought it was just my allergies acting up again. But by last night, I was sneezing, had a really bad cough, a very runny nose and a slight fever. I took a COVID test and it was negative. I’ll take another tomorrow, just to be sure.

I’ve been taking an Emergen-C in the morning and one at night, plus lots of Ricola Honey Herb drops. They help, but so far they haven’t been enough to turn things around. I’m taking acetaminophen to try and get my fever under control, because it went up to 100.1 degrees this afternoon. My normal temperature is 97 degrees, so that’s rather high for me. Taking lots of honey lemon tea and cough syrup too.

I work from home, so I worked today, but a shorter day than usual. I’m still not feeling well, but hopefully I’ll be better tomorrow. I definitely plan to take it easy for the rest of the evening.

Massachusetts Paid Medical Leave & Life Recently

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herbs and marigolds balcony garden

How to even begin writing here? I’m not sure how to do it except to just do it.

Well, my balcony garden is mostly looking good. The basil and rosemary are loving all the rain. The marigolds too. I’d prefer a little more sun, but there’s been enough to keep us all alive. Speaking of which. Things got dicey for a bit.

So a little over three weeks ago, out of the blue, I got really sick. The pain in my stomach was so brutal I couldn’t sit or lay still. I had chills and kept vomiting, which I never do. I spoke to my aunt about my symptoms and she said it sounded like gallstones. I looked online and saw several articles stating that if symptoms last more than a few hours to seek immediate medical attention. Because there could be an infection spreading to other organs and be fatal. I had already waited close to 24 hours. Gulp. I called 911.

Long story short, my gallbladder was acutely infected and I ended up having emergency surgery to remove it. I was in the hospital for a few days and have been recovering at home since. I’m feeling much better and plan to return to working next week. I’m so glad that Massachusetts now has paid medical leave and I was able to get it. What a relief.  Paid medical leave needs to be available at the federal level, so that everyone can have it when needed. Because life sure can change in an instant.

Because of the surgery, I still am not allowed to lift more than a gallon of milk for another week, and have needed help with basic things at home. Luckily family and friends have been there for me in a big way.

* * *

This year has been a trip. Well, the last several years really. Most of last year was devoted to helping my mom sell her house and move her closer to me. That was done just days before Christmas last year. I was so happy that we were able to make it happen and had planned to write about the process of helping to sell a parent’s home — the downsizing involved, etc. Life was just too much though. I was extremely exhausted and stressed from everything and just couldn’t do it. I fell behind with a lot of things. And I’m still behind.

But I decided that my priority had to be my well-being. My focus this year is to relax, enjoy life and take care of myself.

I was able to do a bunch of fun things though. I finally saw Hamilton! My mom and I did a paint night! I saw Jill Scott in concert! I visited with family in Maryland and saw the cherry blossoms in DC! I got a Wordle in one! And just a week and a half before I got sick, I went with a friend to the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in the beautiful Berkshires. We participated in the RISE program to help with stress management and resilience. The program was amazing! I learned so much and was probably better able to handle everything recently based on that experience. I guess the universe decided that I still had not rested enough!

So now the year is more than half over. I’m sure that I have no idea what the rest holds. But regardless of what life throws at me, I’ll give it my best.

Putting the Phone Down & Talking to Strangers

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phone down on table

How often do you put your phone down? Stop scrolling or even turn it all the way off?

No judgement here. I’m usually holding my phone and maybe scrolling through Twitter or Instagram. It might be on my lap or on a table near me. As I write this, it’s just to the left of my keyboard. Not that I’m usually expecting a bunch of calls or texts.

Well, actually I take that back. I’m in the process of helping my mom sell her house and there are two showings today. It seems that whenever I accidentally leave my phone in another room, I miss a call.

But usually, it wouldn’t hurt to put the phone down or away. Lots of people take social media breaks or at least claim to. I always find it amusing when people announce on social media that they’re taking a break, then check-in during their breaks. Is it to create drama and suspense? Maybe they’re truly addicted to social media? I don’t get it.

Anyway, like so many days in this season of my life, yesterday, I brought my mom to a doctor’s appointment. As we were sitting down, a woman in the waiting area said, “Hello ladies!” with smiling eyes above her mask and a very friendly voice. She seemed so happy to see us! I think we said, “Hi,” back to her and I hope our eyes were smiling too.

My mom mentioned to me that her phone was acting strangely and when she was reading a news story it would just go away. I said that maybe it was just refreshing the feed. Then my mom went in to see the doctor while I remained in the waiting area.

The woman with smiling eyes was on her phone talking with someone, then she went up to the front desk to answer some questions. In very fluent English, I overheard her say that her first language was Portuguese. When she went back to talking on her phone, I did notice that it sounded like she was speaking in Portuguese. I was scrolling on my phone the whole time.

Then she got off her phone and mentioned to me that she had overheard me and my mom talking. She said that my mom might need to restart her phone. I had forgotten that maybe there could be a glitch needing that. I thanked her. Then another woman came in and sat down. She said to me that my earring was stuck behind my mask so I fixed it. I thanked her.

Then we all started chatting about how people need to tell people if something is wrong like that. I mentioned how I had a friend that we would always tell each other if we had lipstick on our teeth. Then I mentioned that I don’t really wear lipstick anymore because of masks. My red lipstick used to be part of my signature look. We all lamented my pandemic loss of lipstick.

Then smiling eyes mentioned that she saw a woman whose skirt was all up in the back once and she told her. We agreed that we need people to tell us when something is wrong even if it’s an embarrassing situation. It’s worse not knowing when something is wrong.

Then smiling eyes said that her kids are always on their phones. Even when they are at parties. Kids will text each other, but not talk. We all said how that’s horrible, but I admitted to always being on my phone too. Every few minutes I’d go back to looking at my phone, then we’d start chatting again and I’d put it down.

Smiling eyes mentioned that it was her first time going to this doctor and she was nervous. She has diabetes and needs to get it under control, but hates needles and doesn’t test like she should. “When it’s my time, it’s my time,” she said.

She reminded me of my cousin who used to always say that too. And he meant it. He lived a full and very good life. But he died a needlessly painful and early death last year. It’s still hard to believe that he’s gone. But nobody can change someone else’s life philosophy. They will do what they want to do and can’t be forced to do otherwise.

Smiling eyes looked like she might be in her 40s. She had some lines around her eyes. I thought about mentioning my cousin and what happened to him. But I didn’t. I just listened. The doctor called her into the office and I wished her good luck. Later in the day, I remembered her and restarted my mom’s phone. Then I silently wished her well.