January 2024 chitchat--HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[agate]

How exciting about Grayson for you and your family, Virginia! I don't know much about golf but have the impression that playing golf well takes a lot of skill, and he obviously has both talent and skill. Congratulations!!!

[Virginia]

Agate, thank you. We are happy for Grayson. He has been down a rough road and trying to turn things around now. The Sony Open is a big one. I spent part of my day yelling at the TV - such things as "GRAYSON stay out of the bunkers". Otherwise known as the sand traps.LOL He played a great game. I received a text from a man I use to work with right after the tournament. He knows my brother and Grayson. He said congratulations!! Wow, wow, wow what a win for Grayson . it made me feel good.

Eric has been sick. He called a few minutes ago and said he has spent the day on the phone and texting. He is trying to answer everyone he has heard from. His radio is on the PGA station and he says it is all over the media. While Grayson is flying back from Hawaii with his fiance, we here in Raleigh are recovering.

I was getting in bed last night after all the excitement and I had tried to listen to some of the interviews with Grayson, so it was quite late. I was about to get in bed when I remembered that I had received a text stating that I had a package delivered from Amazon. I wanted to take it in because I knew it was supposed to freeze overnight. I got the package and came back in and closed the door and immediately fell. I was in my foyer where there was nothing to help me get up. I bumped my way through my living room and over to my stairs. This took quite a while. I tried to get up the same way I did the last time by using my hands to get up to the second step. I was overly tired and couldn't do it so I decided to face the steps and try to push up like that. It worked and I was able to get up. If I had not been exercising the muscles in my legs it would not have worked.

The only big problem is I cut the back of my head. I knew I was bleeding because I kept feeling something wet on my neck and when I reached up I came away with blood on my hands. When I got up and got to my bathroom I started running a wet wash cloth up the back of my head. I kept getting blood. Finally I put a towel over my pillowcase to protect it and went to bed. I didn't sleep well, but by then it was 2AM and I was just so tired I needed rest. So a good night turned into a very bad one. My head has bled some today and I am very sore in my arms, neck and shoulders. Otherwise I think I am alright.

There is one thing I would like to say. I remember sometime back reading a post by Flatcap stating that I had said the
step-2-bed that my brother got me was flimsy. It actually is very sturdy. I am thankful for it every time I get in my bed. It has kept me from falling many times when I get in or out of bed. He may have gotten it at a medical supply store and not Amazon. I wanted to get this in just in case anyone needs this information in the future.

[agate]

Oh Virginia, I'm so sorry you had another fall! I hope that the head wound will turn out to be something that heals up without a problem. Are you able to see how it's doing with a mirror?

We have to be so very careful not to fall as the years take their toll on us. Having to be so careful doesn't come easily.

Take it easy, Virginia, and rest up. Maybe the head wound should be seen by a doctor?

[Ikoiko]

Congratulations to Grayson!!!

And sorry about your fall, Virginia

[agate]

Hope you'll check in, Virginia. "If it bleeds, it leads" as they used to say in the journalism world. You had a bleeding wound. I hope you're doing OK.

My fall with the head wound last spring was tricky because it involved my hair. It was hard to keep it clean because the hair kept getting in the way and it was hard to see what was going on with that wound.

[Ikoiko]

Yes, Virginia, you are the headliner in our news here!

[flatcap]

Virginia, I'm sorry to hear about your fall. The only thing worse than hearing someone has fallen is falling yourself. As a group, we seem to have more than our fair share of both.

I hope you recover soon and well. I also hope your head wound proves to be minor. Scalp wounds can bleed a scary amount sometimes.

Give my congratulations to Grayson. I'm sure you are proud of him.

[agate]

I hope we hear from Virginia soon.

Things are at a standstill here because an expected warming trend didn't happen, or rather it warmed up from 10-20' to about 32' but there has been freezing rain. So there will be no grocery delivery tomorrow. Maybe Friday. At least I still have power. There's no office staff here, and there has been no mail. There are no vehicle tracks in the parking lot outside. Just a layer of snow and ice.

[Virginia]

Hi to all, I am doing well. I have been taking it pretty easy this week. I did go to the grocery store Tuesday. I had to pick up medicine and the pharmacy was next door to the grocery store. Other than that I have been staying in. I tried to do a little exercise Tuesday and Wednesday and today I did my full exercise routine. I am still sore, but the exercise seems to help with the soreness.

I haven't washed my hair since last Sunday before falling. I have to this Sunday because I have a telemedicine appointment with my neurologist office Monday. I will be speaking to the NA, who is always who I deal with now. He never has any new ideas, but I will tell him about the two bad falls I have had. Both came out of the blue, no dizziness, nothing. Just a fall to the side so hard I knock things over or break things. I have never done this. The only time I have fallen is two years ago when I had pneumonia and a high fever. That is not true now. My head is very sore and not healed by the way it feels. I can't see it because it is in the back and I can't hold a mirror, part my hair and look at the same time. I just run a wash cloth up my head and over the spot that was cut to kind of keep it clean.

Thank you to Ikoiko and Flatcap for congratulating Grayson. I intend to pass this on to him. Ikoiko if your boyfriend was not watching he missed a really good game, no matter who was playing. There were about 6 guys who could have won that game it was so tight. Then there was a 3-way playoff. Tell him it was good golf.

It is funny what prestige it brings. Grayson was already getting married April 27th in Pinehurst, NC. His fiancé is from Pa!m Desert, Ca. They are a golfing family and Grayson wanted to play on Pinehurst No 2 with his about to be father-in-law and a couple of guys that are coming with them from California. He wanted that course because the U.S. Open is to be played on that course this year. They didn't have an opening. All of a sudden after the win they got an opening for 4. My brother just laughed. Tell me how anyone can play golf in the morning and get married at 4PM in the afternoon.

I hope all of you are doing well. I am trying hard again and I know everyone on here is. I think of Linda often. Also we haven't heard from Jingle or Snuggles this month. Jingle is probably wrapped up with a cat and a book. Hope all of you are warm.

[agate]

Virginia, I'm glad you checked in. I'd sent you a PM and then an e-mail as I was concerned about the head wound. Does your insurance offer home health visits? Maybe you could set one up so that someone could look at the wound and maybe bandage it properly. Do you use Bacitracin to prevent an infection? Is there a bump there? Could you use bobby pins (remember those?) to hold the hair out of place long enough so you can see and clean the wound?



This state's governor has declared an emergency. We've had a sheet of ice over just about everything for the last week and it may be a few more days of it. Nothing was moving, everything was closed, but sometimes the mail gets through. I actually had an Instacart grocery delivery today, an hour and a half late, and he brought the groceries in on two skateboards, but somehow he got here with them when there has been almost no vehicular traffic in this building's parking lot, our only means of access. The delivery was scheduled for yesterday but I changed it because I didn't think it could get here. I had real doubts about today too.

An ambulance did get through this evening. A neighbor fell this afternoon while walking her dog outside on the (uncleared) sidewalk/driveway and couldn't get up. Neighbors came along and dragged her on a quilt into the building but she waited, lying on the floor in the (cold) community room for more than 6 hours for the ambulance to show up. This whole area is in a state of emergency.

Sorry to be filling this space with my drama. There have been some tragedies in this town in recent days.. A homeless person died of hypothermia. A person's house was demolished when 3 trees fell on it. Someone was electrocuted by getting out of a car and in contact with a fallen electrical wire. I could go on. I feel very lucky to have a roof over my head and (most of the time) power. And now I even have food.

[Virginia]

Agate, you are the most upbeat person I know. Living with the weather like that for a day is bad but doing it for a week is more than I can imagine. I hope someone was able to take the lady's dog and care for it while she is in the hospital. Laying on the cold floor for 6 hours might put her in the hospital for quite a while.

So glad Instacart was able to get some groceries to you, and on skate boards no less. I am impressed. It does sound as though y'all have had quite a time of it. There are not many things worse than a sheet of ice when it comes to the weather. I hope things get better soon. It looks and sounds as though Ralph is having a hard time this winter. His winters last so long. I hope he will be alright.

I spent much of our cold afternoon going on zoom for the first time. My sister-in-law and brother set up a meeting with me. Now, if it just goes as smoothly Monday for my appointment with the neurologist office.

Agate, you asked if I had a knot on my head, and the answer is yes. I am going to shampoo my hair tomorrow, but I will be very careful and just kind of let the water run over that spot to make sure it is clean. I always shower anyway, but have been careful to use a shower cap until now.

Everyone who lives in a cold weather area be careful when you go out and stay warm when you are inside.

[agate]

Virginia, I hope you can get a really good look at the head wound and the bump, Virginia. It sounds a lot like my head bump (last May), which also was bleeding. I went looking on the Internet and found something called a scalp hematoma that sounded a lot like what I had. It really just means a bleeding wound that involves the scalp as far as I can figure out.

You really need to look at it. You might be able to take a photo of it and transmit it to your doctor so you wouldn't have to go anywhere. It's probably going to heal by itself but because it's a head wound, I hope you'll get some medical attention. You don't want to neglect a head wound.

What I learned about scalp hematomas is that they often can take a very long time to heal. Mine took months and I got tired of cleaning it and changing its bandage every day. Because of the bump, it was hard to get a Bandaid that would fit right, and even time I removed it, hair got pulled and the bleeding would start up again. But mine may have taken longer than usual to heal because of some medicine I take, like the Glatopa (Copaxone) or the Fosamax. Or, most likely, the aspirin I'd been taking regularly might have been responsible. I haven't been near an aspirin since then.

Thank you for calling me upbeat. I haven't felt very upbeat lately with all of this anxiety about grocery deliveries and power outages and heat.I still don't know how the neighbor who fell is doing or what is happening with her dog. Most likely another neighbor took the dog for a while.

I'm trying to find out more about battery-operated space heaters. That just might be a solution for one of the biggest problems with power outages--no heat.

[Virginia]

I hope Agate's power is not out. I worry about her being in the cold. I feel sure her son keeps up with her when the weather is bad. She usually checks in daily.

I am doing alright. My head is still sore and has not completely healed, but is much better. I am going to get my hair done tomorrow and my hairdresser will be able to take a look at it for me. I was due to get it done last week the day after I fell. I had to cancel that appointment. I am going to give it another try.

Our weather has warmed up a lot. It is due to be back in the 70s for a couple of days. Then it will get back cold again. I do not like extreme weather, either hot or cold. But when the weather flip flops then my MS is really bad and that is what has been happening the last several days, so I hope it stays where it is for a few days, and gives me some relief.

So flatcap, are you holding down the fort? I hope you are well. I haven't heard of Washington State getting much snow or ice, just rain. I guess it depends on where you are located in the state.

I read an article that says if you have a head trauma and you loose consciousness, if you have the gene then you have 30% more chance of getting MS. If you have a head injury and are not knocked unconscious then you have an 18% more chance than a normal person. I had often wondered because I was in a bad auto accident while I was living in Germany and I was knocked out. It was about 5 to 8 years before I can pinpoint MS symptoms, although I had no idea I had it for many more years. Getting this latest knock on the head made me wonder if it could make the MS worse. We'll never know about these things.

Everyone take care. I will be back soon.

[agate]

Virginia, it's a relief to have some news of you. I hope that the hairdresser will get a good look at your head wound and maybe arrange mirrors so you can look too.

Washing my hair was a problem when I had the head wound I had to leave that part unshampooed but I was cleaning it every day with water and then putting Bacitracin and a bandage on it. But it was on the front of my head where I could see what was going on.

The hairdresser probably is skilled in washing hair when there's a need to avoid something like a head wound. Head wounds are really common.

It got warmer here a couple of days ago, I'm very glad to say, and I've been catching up on everything that had to go undone during that icy spell that lasted over a week.

Interesting idea about head injuries as a possible risk factor for MS. I've often wondered about the head injuries I had as a child and young adult too. Two head wounds in childhood where I was briefly unconscious, and once when diving I hit a rock wall and was knocked out very briefly, I was conscious by the time I was rising to the surface (no bumps, no bleeding afterward), and then when I was 20 I had the vertigo episode when I fell and knocked out front teeth. I was unconscious that time too but only very briefly.

When you had the accident in Germany where you were knocked out, do you know how long you were unconscious for? I have the impression that that might make a difference but often the person has no idea how much time passed unless someone else was present.

The fall last May probably knocked me out for a few seconds but I haven't noticed that the MS got any worse. There was the nystagmus episode but I'm still blaming the super-strength flu shot for that. I'm very happy to say that I haven't had any more of those episodes since then (knock on wood).

[flatcap]

Not much real news to report, so here's a filler.

We've had a lot of snow lately, along with some freezing rain just to spice things up a bit, but it's gotten better the last couple of days: highs temperatures have been all the way up into the 30s! (/s)

It's supposed to get up into the 50s next week, which will be welcome relief. The last time the plow went through the parking lot, it kicked up a wall of snow behind the parked cars, and I almost got stuck in my spot. (I have a reserved space close to the building.) I was lucky I got out before the wall froze. It's finally thawing now, but as of yesterday, still couldn't get back in my spot. I was afraid if I went over what was still left of the wall, I wouldn't have been able to get out again, so I didn't try.

So, I've had to park in an open area some distance from the building for going on a week now. It will be nice when my reserved parking space opens up again. If things go well, that will be today. I surveyed the wall yesterday, and it had melted away some. I'll be looking at it again today when I go out this afternoon.

Today, I'm planning to go out for a late-lunch/early-dinner. I'm thinking about a nice filet with all the trimmings. I usually do that once a month, but I skipped the last time, so I'm overdue. I am looking forward to it.

Virginia, I hope your head wound heals up soon.