• One of the things the vet did that helped incur The Vet Bill From Hell was put Friday on some Rimadyl, a NSAID for dogs. Consequently, she seems to be having less pain, and to even be a bit more playful. I hope I can afford to keep her on it. (Actually, it looks like it will run about $20/mo if I get it from 1-800-Pet Meds.)
• Canned dog food is good for getting the pills down now that the peanut butter trick doesn’t work anymore with Friday.
• Unexpected checks in the mail. I got one a while back that came out of the blue, some money from my dad’s estate. Much appreciated. I just wish everything would have broken down before it came. I got another check the other day that was appreciated, too. I expected to get a refund from this place, but thought it would be in the form of a gift card. Was glad to get it in the more fungible form of a check.
• Knitting buddies. I have lots of knitting buddies now. I go and knit with the Downtown Seattle Knitters every Sunday. Besides the irregular meeting of Sit & Knit.  And the Chronic Bitches and LSG on Ravelry. I have lots of knitting buddies. I wish geocaching buddies were as easy to find.
• It’s not raining and the wind isn’t blowing right now.
• The chili was good, especially after it sat for a couple of days. And cornbread.
• Homemade macaroni and cheese. That is all.
• They are going to come Tuesday and fix my bedroom window, which I haven’t been able to open for months.  Wish they would have fixed it when it was hot, and I needed to open the window, but it will be ready for next summer, at least.
• Got a birthday card from The Boyo’s mom. There may be more in the mail tomorrow. Or not. I’m not very good at sending even e-cards these days. *sigh* Although my brother did write a birthday message on my wall in Facebook.
• If I want birthday cake, I have to make it myself. Oh, wait…

• Western Washington is have drenching rain and high winds. It doesn’t affect Seattle much, but people are losing power all over the place from trees blowing down. No geocaching until Spring.
• We are once again battling ear infections in Friday. And once again have the Vet Bill From Hell! That $600-900 a year for vet insurance isn’t sounding so bad now. Except that I think she’s so old none of them will cover her now. And from the comments I’ve read, pet insurance is just as good as human insurance at discovering ways to make sure they don’t pay out.
• The microwave broke. Unless I get one for my birthday next week, it will be March before I can afford one. But I discovered this primitive appliance called a stove. There’s one in my apartment.
• The batteries are dying on the wheelchair. So far, they are only giving me warning lights. Pray they hold out ’til February, when the vet bill will be paid off.
• One of my knitting buddies has promised me all her acrylic yarn. I’m going to have a Stash Enhancement eXperience!
• My house is messy and dirty, and I haven’t slept in ages. Oh, wait, that’s not new.
• I have a new therapist. I like her. Not enough to knit for her, but I like her. She may be knitting fodder next giftmas.
• After going down last year, my Medicare is going up this year. By $113/mo. And we are not getting a cost of living raise on Social Security. I will have to change to a different plan that doesn’t cost as much. And I will cry. My present plan is well rated, the others, not so much. Single payer  healthcare can’t come soon enough.
• I made the first chili of the season last night. The new chili powder I bought is pretty potent. Remind me to lower the dose next time.

OK, I’m gonna go crawl in my Snuggie and read a book now, they’re due at the library soon. I can’t wait until I can knit and read at the same time.

That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing lately, sitting and knitting. It doesn’t help that when I stand, my left knee hurts, and when I sit in my wheelchair, my right hip hurts. I wish they would leave me one good side. *sigh*

Basketweave dishcloth

So, what have I knitted lately? Nothing too adventurous, unfortunately. I have done a couple of dishcloths. Why in this particular nauseating color, I don’t know. I use one, The Boyo asked for the other for his birthday. They really are nice for scrubbing dishes, or they make good shower poufs for body wash, too. I do them mostly to learn new patterns in cheap crappy cotton before I try to knit the good stuff.

And speaking of the good stuff, the best yarn I’ve got is some that is 18 % mohair. This is the first time I’ve had any yarn that wasn’t 100% dinosaur fiber (acrylic). I’ve done another scarf with it, and have one that is a work in progress. The scarf I adapted from the Lucky Thirteen pattern on Ravelry. With modifications. I never could get the holes right, so I only made them on the end of the scarf rather than the intricate pattern that was called for. I haz the L, as we

Lucky Me Scarf

say in my favorite Ravelry forum, Lazy, Stupid and Godless. And in this case I haz the S, too, because I couldn’t figure it out. Although it goes nicely with my coat, it is a wee bit too long for a 4′11″ woman sitting in a wheelchair. I do believe it is going to get washed, blocked, and given to someone taller for giftmas.

The work in progress is also going to be given for

Work in progress

giftmas, but I’m not telling to whom, because they sometimes read my blog. For this one, I don’t have a pattern, it is just seed or moss stitch all the way, which gives it this kind of nubby

Seed stitch

texture.  I hope to make a hat to go with it, but we will see if I’m too S to do some of the patterns.

The Boyo has requested a hat for giftmas, too, and that is in my queue after the other hat. He saw one at when we were at the mall the other day that he liked, and that I knew I could make. Except, again, I don’t have a pattern. I think I’m going to have to find hats that have the things I want and take “One from Column A, and one from Column B.” Which is pretty ambitious for somebody who just started knitting.

And I have a whole bunch more cotton yarn with which to make more dishcloths, so guess what a lot of folks are getting for giftmas this year? Well, we’ll see how long I can keep up this ambition. Usually, all my holiday ambition craps out about November 30th, so we’ll see.

So the ACAM system in our building is down for the second time in two weeks. This is the system that operates the proximity cards that unlock the front door. Which means we now have to carry a key to the front door.  And the “disabled” door buttons no longer work. You know, the ones you push to open the door when you are in a wheelchair.

What that means for me is that it is a pain in the tushy to leave or re-enter the building. I do it, I have to. Unless I want to get Friday a litter box. (NO, just NO.)

I fear this is the beginning of the end, and something will need to be replaced for the doors to work. I vividly remember the elevators continually failing before they were replaced. I also  remember the six months it took to replace them when only one worked at a time.  And then it was still an adventure to get in the elevator, you never knew if it would stall and trap you.

Oh, well, I guess I should quit bitching. It is less of a problem than being on the tenth floor without an elevator, and with bad knees.

P.S. I have no idea what the acronym ACAM stands for. Perhaps the engineering types have some idea.

My apologies to all of my (few) readers. I have been very depressed for the last few weeks and did not feel like posting. Because I don’t think you want to read whining all the time. I’m finally feeling better after an increase in my meds and some other things. And I want to thank the people who reached out to me during this time. It was much appreciated.

So what have I been doing all this time? The folks who are on Facebook know. You can check Cache of the Day for new finds. I knitted a scarf. This thing has only taken me about two years to do because I didn’t know how to knit. I finally learned. This thing came in a kit, and was really too small for anything when made according to directions. So I had to improvise, and ended up with a scarf that would fit a child. It found a new home in a charity knitting project. Right now I’m knitting the gauge swatch for a sweater.

I’m now taking a class in photography, to better use my camera. We aren’t allowed to just put it on Auto and go. I’m having to learn stuff like f-stops and shutter speed. And now it’s finally starting to make sense. But I’ve taken a lot of really lousy picture lately. The header is one that turned out OK.

Other than that, I’ve pretty much just been hanging out and reading murder mysteries. After you haven’t blogged for so long it’s easy to put it off. I’ll try not to do that anymore.

T-shirt Friday

Well, what did you expect?

Silverstar is not the only one who likes tye-dye T-shirts.

Of course, you should check in with Nurse Myra to see who else is playing.

I am morbidly obese, according to the latest guidelines. My BMI is an astounding 48. I am 130-150 lbs overweight, depending on whose chart you use. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t put a picture of myself up on the website for a long time. I know how people judge you if you are obese. So I have been around the Fat Acceptance websites for years. And I believe in Fat Acceptance.

For me, Fat Acceptance has to do with not being discriminated against. In these United States, you can’t discriminate in hiring against a dwarf, or a one-legged person, but you can discriminate against a fat person. To me discrimination against fat people is just as unacceptable as discrimination against a person of color. But, you say, a person of color, or a dwarf, or a one-legged person can’t change, but a fat person just needs to change their eating habits and start exercising. Were it really so easy. Studies have shown that for the most part, people tend to have a set point, and to return to that set point again and again. Thus the stories of the people who have lost the same 50 lbs over and over. This is due to a mechanism that sets your weight higher after every period of low food intake. Originally a mechanism to protect people from famine, and prepare them for more years of lean during years of good crops, one thing that can set it off is dieting. Think about that for a minute. Every time you lower your calorie intake, the next time you go back to eating normally, or even at a higher rate than what you were taking in on the diet, you gain weight. I have seen patients in a nursing home gain weight on 800 calories a day. Which also explains why every time we regain the weight, we gain a little more.

If dieting is a risk factor for obesity, I have my mother to thank for starting

Me at 16

me on that road at the age of 13. She decided I was too fat, and put me on a 1200 calorie diet, about half what I needed at that age. But looking at the pictures from then, I wasn’t fat. I just had boobs and an ass, attributes my mother lacked.

Part of the reason that fat people can be discriminated against is our stupid healthcare system, that puts the burden of providing healthcare coverage on employers. Employers fear, because of all the hype about the health problems of the overweight and obese, that their insurance premiums will rise. And they will, because the insurance industry is not out there to help us get healthy, it’s out there to help Wall Street get healthy.

But how much real evidence is there that obesity really causes or contributes to increased health care costs or premature death or disability? Not much, as it happens. Yesterday’s edition of Junk Food Science looked at the importance of null studies, studies that find no correspondence between supposed risk factors and poor outcomes. The particular factor in play here was the role of belly fat in the supposed increase in rates of diabetes. None was found. Was that reported in the news? Hell no! Why not? Why, we might quit worrying about our belly fat and buying nostrums to get rid of it.

Even that gold standard of treatment for we who are morbidly obese, the gastric bypass, has not really demonstrated that it can improve health outcomes for the morbidly obese. As a matter of fact, because it induces malabsorption syndrome, many of the “survivors” have considerably more hospitalizations and poor health after the surgery. Even then, they usually regain the weight after 6-7 years, if they survive in the first place. Death rates post op are 3% in the first year and 6.4% in the first four years. Compare this to a death rate of  0.44-0.66% among “morbidly obese” adults overall.

If the norm is to regain the weight, even after this drastic surgery, why all the recrimination of fat people here* and here, even by those who have been or are, by their own admission,  overweight or obese? Why the “disgust” at someone who has to use a scooter in the grocery store, and whose belly hangs down to their knees? When I see that person, and I think there is one in every town, I think “God, they must have lost a lot of weight to have all that loose skin.”  I can’t look at them with disgust, or I would have to look at myself with disgust. And I gave that up a long time ago.

As to sitting next to us in an airline seat, and us encroaching on your space, I can only say that the most miserable trip I ever had was sitting next to a normal weight guy with extremely wide shoulders. I felt I had to bend myself in half vertically to accommodate him. We would all be better off if airline seats weren’t on the average, 17.2 inches wide. Compare this with theater seats that average 2o inches and compact car seats that average 22 inches.

In the mean time, I have been told I have a “beautiful heart” by an echocardiographer, I haven’t developed Type 2 diabetes, despite the dire predictions, and neither did my grandmother who was my height and weight. She lived to be 89, BTW. I take a minimal dose of diuretic to control my blood pressure, which has never been over 140/90. Most of my “health problems” are minor inconveniences, not life-threatening.

The only thing that might be improved by weight loss is my knees, and since they are already bone on bone, even that is doubtful. Of course, if I lost about 75-100 lbs, then they might do the knee replacements they refuse me now. On the other hand, the surgeries would run about $30,000, and for that they could buy me a new power chair every five years until I’m the age my morbidly obese grandmother died at. And I wouldn’t have to have revision surgery for them either. Another example of how the US healthcare system wastes money.

But my knees are bad from my obesity, right? Well, maybe. On the other hand, perhaps I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, of which I have many symptoms, and which causes early arthritis in hyperextensive joints. Which my knees have always been hyperextensive. Or maybe it has to do with spending 30 years on my feet, often on concrete floors, 8-16 hours a day as a nurse.

So, yes, I’m trying to lose some weight. Most people who lose weight lose about 10% of their weight before the body’s survival mechanisms kick in. In my case, that would be about 25 lbs. I might be able to get into my skinny jeans. But get down to my normal weight and stay there? According to the studies, not bloody likely. And I accept that.

*BTW, fat people who accept themselves are more fun because they’re not worrying about their weight, and bitchy from being on a diet.

The heat wave is over. The last couple of days have had autumnish temperatures. As is usual in the Puget Sound region, when the natural air-conditioning finally kicks in, somebody turns the thermostat too low. I have hopes for a “normal” week next week. I hope. I still have a lot of “summer” stuff to do.

The most obnoxious of the medical testing is over.  So far, nothing dire has been found, just stuff that when you look it up online, under causes says “age over 50.” *sigh* They forgot to install the age reverse switch when they made me.

Between the heat wave and some general malaise, all my housekeeping accomplishments seem to have flown out the window. But then again, Flylady  always says “You are not behind, just jump in where you are.” So I guess I will. What else is there to do?

I have learned not to buy a lot of produce at a time. It becomes compost in my refrigerator. Which would be wasteful but OK if apartment building were included in the city’s food waste composting program. Which they are not. I’ve decided to be more like my ancestors, and go to Pike Place Market several times a week to get what I need, and make myself eat it right away. My super-frugal grandmother is probably spinning like a rotisserie in her grave, seeing what ends up in my rotter.

I’ve read a ton of books in the last couple of weeks. More than I’ve read the rest of the year put together. But now is the time to get out and do some  active stuff. Winter will be time enough for that, heaven knows. Besides, I’m really behind in my geocaching. I’ll try to get ahold of the geocacher I met at knitting, and she if she and her friend want to go caching with me. There’s a bunch of caches on the waterfront I’ve tried to find several times without success, and I think three heads might be better than one.

Which reminds me. When I was heading out to get a sandwich with The Boyo the other day, I ran into a whole herd of geocachers, all dressed in the same T-shirts. It was apparent from where they were going they were looking for my nano. It seems they didn’t find it, because they didn’t log it. They also didn’t log a “did not find.” So I feel pretty good about finding that one all by myself. Nano, nano, nano.

No, it’s not really. A couple times in the last year, I’ve managed to swallow wrong and get something lodged in my right bronchus. It hurts like hell, makes you cough and puke, and should never happen. It is also potentially life-threatening if you can’t cough and puke it up. I’ve been lucky so far, especially since I live alone, and haven’t taught Friday to dial 911 yet. Well, actually you need a special phone for that. A very expensive special phone.

This being the case, the last time I was at the doctor, I mentioned it to her. And she referred me to the Otolaryngology department at the University. My appointment was today. I figured they’d just talk to me, and then if they thought I needed it, would order some tests. Wrong.

They decided to stick a camera up my nose and watch me swallow. This is not fun. First they numb your nose with some stuff that tastes horrible when you sniff it back. Then they stick the camera, which is about the size of thick spaghetti in your nose. Then the speech pathologist makes you do a lot of things like say eeeeeeee, and other things. Then they give you some water with blue dye in it, and watch while you swallow that. Then some bread with blue dye on it, and make you swallow that while they watch. And of course the camera is tickling your uvula, and making you want to gag the whole time. Lovely stuff.

So you walk out of the office with your mouth all blue, and your tongue all blue. But they forget to tell you it will turn your poop all blue, too.  So now I’m going to be scheduled for an xray where I will swallow yucky, chalky stuff, and they will do probably a lot of the same exercises while they watch me swallow different textures of stuff. I can hardly wait. I hope they put some flavoring in it.

As if that isn’t bad enough, I’m scheduled for a routine colonoscopy on Friday, too. Not looking forward to the gallon of  guck. I should have asked them to send a nasogastric tube with it, because I think that may be the only way I’ll get it down without puking about half of it back up. I hope whoever invented that stuff has to take a gallon of it every day in hell. I’ll be busy on Thursday, don’t expect to hear from me.

There is a story behind this T-shirt. Three years ago my brother celebrated his 50th birthday and his 30th anniversary with his partner. He invited the whole fam damily to St. Louis for the festivities. One of the things we did while we were out there is go to the St. Louis Zoo. I wish I could tell you a lot about it, but I didn’t have my scooter, and so I only saw the part that the little train went past. And since I came with others who had small children, they left sooner than I would have. But I went to get some money from the ATM, and found that some of my “crazy money” had come in, so I bought this T-shirt, some toys for the kids, and had a good time at the Dale Chihuly show at the Missouri Botanical Gardens next day. Thought I would wear it for all you cat lovers. Be sure to go by Nurse Myra’s and see who else is  playing this month.

As most of you know, I’m sure, Seattle is in the middle of a record breaking heat wave. So far, we’ve broken the record for daily maximum by posting 103° F at the airport Wednesday. We also broke the record for highest daily minimum, since it only cooled off to 71° F last night. I about died. Those of you on Twitter or Facebook know I spent most of yesterday Tweeting the Heat, and sitting naked in front of the air conditioner. I couldn’t eat or sleep, and the poor air-conditioner, once I got it running has been going 24 hours since Monday. In case I don’t think it’s doing much, (it only got the temperature in my apartment down to 89 ° F at one point yesterday), all I have to do is step out into the hallway to verify that it’s working.

Poor Friday, with her fur coat, had it rough. I finally gave her a bath yesterday as much to provide some cooling as to get her clean. I even put ice cubes in her water bowl for her. She is much more comfy now.

Yesterday was cooler at “only” 90° F, but still well above our average of 75° for this time of year. Today it’s supposed to be 85° F, but a marine push came in about midnight, and has dropped the temperature considerably.  It may not get that high today.

Meanwhile, my sister in Denver has been suffering from record low temperatures  in the 60s, which is very cool for this time of year there. They are usually the ones running in the 100° range. She said the dog was too cold to get off the couch. Poor baby.

So I’m hoping the jet stream gets back to where it usually is so temperatures moderate here, and it quits raining in New York where Rambling Woods lives. Neither extreme is fun. But at least I might be able to sleep tonight.