Still alive!! A general update with some emphasis on health
I take my blood pressure and heartrate every morning and record it. i have no intention of recording it here on the regular, but enough people have enquired about it that I felt it would be valuable to show the last four days:
SYS DIA HR
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
15/11/24 129 84 71
16/11/24 125 75 89
17/11/24 101 69 88
18/11/24 100 62 101
19/11/24 99 67 97
I'll take that.
I also had a visit just now from a home nurse, who checked and approved my vitals, helped me set up my many, many meds for the coming week. I have a couple of upcoming doctor appointments, including a followup with the surgeon. Healing continues to happen, I'm reassured that in the next couple of months I will be slowly returning to normal. I've been taking i easy, not had any major pain, the incision scar is causing no trouble and things seem to be proceeding nominally. I'm still feeling a little impatient, my housemate too. We're both keen for me to return to "normal", able o fully function. I'm basically still housebound other than occasional trips to fetch groceries. But i am sill alive, and grateful.
I long to be able to drive again (that's currently forbidden until my sternum is healed) so I can get out and have a social life again. I can putter around outside (walking to take out garbage is actually a treat, as exercise feels really good!) I continue to plan for a visit to see Tess in December. I'll share more about that soon, but meanwhile, if you're in the Seattle area and would like to meet up, please let me know, I'd love to have a tiny nodermeet.
Iron Noder continues to give me pleasure, it was disappointing not to be able to be there for the first few days, but despite missing a few days I still intend to finish strong and complete the thirty writeups. I've begun the process of reading through all the other entries (I have promised to read and vote on everything).
Considering my heart and cardiovascular health, I have been avoiding reading the news as I want to avoid stress, anxiety and anything that is likely to bugger up my blood pressure. Am I concerned about the direction the world is taking? Yes, frankly. The swing toward authoritarian, nationalistic, antisocial and anti-environmental government in the US seems to be part of an overall trajectory worldwide. The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine worry me. Europe seems to be moving increasingly toward the right, I worry that government in the US is moving closer to the awful, inhumane Project 2025 goals; Trump seems intent on implementing a cabinet who don't give a fuck about reality, scientific truth or the overall health of society. I still hope that a sufficient number of Republican politicians have the integrity to resist having the likes of the alleged sex offender Matt Gaetz and anti-vaxxer Robert Kennedy running anything important.
On the other hand, I'm excited to be currently watching a live stream of the latest SpaceX starship launch lead up, in the hopes that they achieve the dual goals of lighting he vacuum engines, and catching the booster again. I'm still as interested in spaceflight as I was at age seven, only this time I get to watch launches live, which is fun.
I'm slowly going through the gifts y'all have sent me, and will soon be posting my thanks to everyone individually. Meanwhile, thank you all for your best wishes, good thoughts and prayers. They are heard and always welcome ♥
Iron Noder 2024 #8
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