So. Saturday morning I awoke thinking, "Hey! After the past 6 challenging weeks, I'm feeling more normal. Hope-filled. Like I can smoothly handle Life again."
Then I came downstairs.
Oh dear. Barely could Tom walk due to the worst gout flare-up, ever. Pain level 9. (We know what triggered it.)
I even offered to drive him to the emergency room (huge for me), but he said he'd be ok. He looked over his doctor's gout do's and don't list, I got him settled, then returned upstairs where I did gout research online. Made lists of my own because the doctor's list was--good grief!--designed to keep Tom going in for appointments forever.
Don't get me started on how this is yet one more example why I only respect emergency room doctors, surgeons, holistic folks and nutritionists. Er hem. (Honorable exceptions exist, of course.)
Anyway, I created a new Aldi list with all sorts of fresh fruits and vegetables then had them delivered instead of our usual Saturday-from-a-restaurant lunch.
More meal changes. We'll need to make even more meal changes in addition to the previous since-2020 ones.
For three days I felt like such a (tired) nurse to Tom and Daniel the Cat (again), but slowly Tom's recuperating. He did need to take half a day off from work on Monday, but he's back at it today and feeling better.
And so am I.
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You know that saying, "Create a Life you don't need a vacation from."?
Well, after accepting that (typical) vacations may only exist in my past, I began listing ways our Hobbit Cottage feels vacation-y already.
And ok, I took that quote rather literally, but when thinking about traveling, staying in hotel rooms, seeing sights, etc., what we've already got made me feel like, "Who even needs to get away?"
I mean, here we have comfortable beds, two patios (one where, if you squint, you can see a river), the ability to have food delivered and a large tv from which we can comfortably watch travel videos. We can take little trips 'round town (people travel myriad miles to get here), we can read many books, step amongst my gardens, Tom has gym equipment and I can walk to the cafe--
--all while saving thousands of dollars, to boot.
Everything can be improved upon, also, including making our bathroom more spa-like which, Honey, is no tiny feat.
But you know? After making that vacation-y-life-that's-already-ours list, I felt so encouraged.
And since this blog is all about encouraging you, my friends, perhaps I've nudged you to create blessing lists of your own as reminders of how truly good you actually have it.
Already.
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"Oh give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endures forever." --- Psalm 136:1
"... but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God." --- 1 Samuel 30:6
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Fans of The Andy Griffith Show might really enjoy the movie, Mayberry Man. So sweet and I can recommend it without reservations.
If you like super-quirky, what-the-heck-was-that? movies, there's Linoleum. I do have a couple reservations (like, a certain conversation, but you can forward it), yet mostly we enjoyed the imaginative stuff and the twist ending. Unforgettable, actually.
Oh, and thanks for praying for Neighbor Sally. She's home from the hospital and is mostly ok. At 85 her dementia has worsened a bit, but she's still her same fiesty self overall.
And here's a creative tiny house I liked, especially if she'd not used purple, but light greens and yellows, instead. heh. ッ
... and this one certainly came to mind a few times lately! --
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"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15
Cherry juice. The real kind, just cherries, concentrated if you can find it. Knudsen's is a good brand. A ltitle pricey, but seriously will stop gout in a nanosecond. Well, about twenty minutes.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sandi! He's been eating tons of fresh cherries since Saturday since it was recommended at most sites. We'll look into the juice next. Thanks again.... Debra
ReplyDeleteGout is definitely a four-letter word in our house! My husband has flares every once in awhile. Several years ago, it was so bad he had to take medications for it. Now he gets by pretty well by watching what he eats. The tart cherry juice really helps inflammation.
ReplyDeleteDebra, I like your idea of creating a vacation-like environment in your home. I'm going to start thinking about what we could do to improve our place.
Dennis also has gout flare-ups. Cherry juice does work wonders.
ReplyDeleteI wish we could vacation here. Sometimes all of the trips we have to take get hard. I love to see family and friends, but it IS expensive. If we want to see them though, we have no choice because they are so far away. I like no place better than home, no matter where it is, and we've had several.
Blessings and hugs,
Betsy
Pam--thanks! I'm glad to hear that your husband is able to handle the flare-ups. We're having to switch to pretty much a vegetarian diet, at least for now, because easily, Tom could have been hospitalized for this. I read in one place the pain can be so bad that only child birth and passing a kidney stone are worse--and I believe that's what he had. sigh. All this reading and making changes.... sigh... I'm praying for much grace these days. Oh, and making vacation-like changes around the house, I'm finding, is a fun challenge. I hope you find that, also!
ReplyDeleteBetsy--I think my post was for those, like us, who are unable to take vacations. We need not feel left out if we can create a life we don't need a vacation from and a home life which feels like a vacation most days. Can those friends and relatives come visit you? From your comments lately, it seems like you are the one making all the sacrifices traveling-wise and that's concerning--and yeah--also none of my business. Haha! :)
Thanks for commenting, Ladies! Blessings, Debra