Hi Welcome To October

 

I borrowed this from the internet. I just love October not just because of Halloween or that it is my Birthday month and that is also true for my niece Tabitha and my granddaughter Celeste bur I have always loved watching the changing signs of Autumn as the trees burst in wonderful colors of red, orange and yellows,  the smell of leaves as we ran into large piles to play in and the smell of those leaves later burning. So many things that I love about October and I anticipate the crisp air, the plans of the approaching holidays and that just leads to more things to love.

Hi,

 I really hope that this start of a new month is as awesome for you as it is for me. We seem to be drawing closer and closer to the end of 2020 and it has been such a fast year. 

 Today Karyn and I went to register to vote. Karyn had to update her information and I had to register as it was time for me to renew and since October 5th is the deadline Karyn and I wanted to make sure that we got to the Tax Office early and hardly anyone was in line so it went really fast and now I am all legal to vote YAY!!!!

 I was a little worried about going today. I should say yesterday as it is a little after 2 in the morning. I was just getting drowsy but Foxy needed to go out to potty so I took her out and now I am just not sleepy but halfway thru this post I know that my eyelids will just get heavier and heavier lol. Oh well I will take my rest as it comes.

 I had a nasty flare up of my stomach issues. It is rather a complicated illness so I will give you the name of it and you can Google it if your interested in knowing more about it. 

 It is called Gastroparesis or Gastropareses I am not sure of the correct spelling and my spell checker gave me 2 so I listed them both.

 The short story is that in 2012 I had surgery for the muscle that when you swallow a small flap opens and allows food or drinks to go into the stomach. I have what is called Achalasia and obviously I had this problem for many years until it finally became so bad that I had to see a Gastrologist and at the time my health care team and I decided to try some less invasive procedures that included Botox injections, medications and dietary changes but after all of that I had to have surgery. 

 I know that I have told Miss Edna about this but I really haven't addressed it in this blog. I did in the one I had previously before Blogger banned me and I had to make a new account because I couldn't get it resolved any other way so I will tell you a little about the Achalasia.

 My surgeon was awesome. He came to meet with me the night before the surgery and again the following morning. course there are things that I don't remember but I had my daughter and sister tell me stuff that happened. What they did was make a small incision and went in with a camera and cut the muscle that is at the end of the esophagus in 4 places. While he was in there he used the camera and found not only did I have this Achalasia but also 14 stomach ulcers! I was in the hospital for 10 days. I could have nothing. Not even a sip of water. I had these lemon sponge sticks that would produce saliva but that was a long 10 days. I was able to go home but I couldn't eat anything for another 10 days but broth and Jell-O and water. I seriously thought that I was going to starve. The night of my 10th day I was sitting at my dining room table and glancing up at the clock. When it was exactly midnight I went to the kitchen and I made me a scrambled egg and a piece of toast. I kid you not I still remember that meal and it was so good. But I had made it the 10 days! When I went back to see my Gastrologist he said that he had talked with my surgeon extensively and that I needed to have another scope to see the condition of my ulcers. Nearly everyone of them had healed. The ones that remained was also healing. I have a medication that I take on a daily basis that helps prevent ulcers so I am so glad. I figured I had ulcers but I thought maybe one or two. Not 14 of them. If you ever had a stomach ulcer then you know how your entire digestive tract feels like it is on fire. When I lived in Arkansas a gentleman that lived behind me brought me a cup of goat milk every morning from his female Sally but he called her old Sal lol. EEEEWWWWEEEE Yuck that is some of the most nasty tasting crap I have ever tasted but I have to admit that it did help me a lot. Enough that I could continue working so even tho I dreaded it like I was going to be getting a huge dose of Castoria or Cod Liver Oil or anything remotely like it I puckered up and I drank it down!

 I promise that I am not a Hypochondriac. I know I have a lot of medical problems. Most all of my illnesses started when I was a kid and I swear my mom and my Aunt Lilian swore that for every sniffle we got a huge dose of Mineral Oil, Cod Liver Oil and my Aunt would go and get her bottle of Mercurochrome. Did I just throw any of you back to the past? Or the Good Ole Days? LoL.

 My aunt saved our popsicle sticks and she would take one of my uncle Cecile's white under shirts and cut them into strips. She wrapped a strip of the cloth around a popsicle stick and stick it in the Mercurochrome bottle and line us kids up and we didn't sass. When she said Open Up every one of us kids opened up and wide. UGH... I can still taste that to this day. Back then we hardly ever heard of it called Mercurochrome because to us it was called Monkey Blood. Now that stuff doesn't wash off. It has to wear off. We walked around with red orange mouths, tongues and lips and if you moved or jerked or gagged then you also had monkey blood on your nose, ears or anywhere else that the stick met your flesh. We really tried to avoid coughing or sneezing in ear shot of my Aunt during the school term. How embarrassing to go to school with our faces looking like a clown ha.

 What about good old Mentholatum? We all got the rub every night before bed. Our chests were and we even got a glob of that stuck up our noses, under our noses and we even used it for chapped lips and mosquito bites or chiggers. It is a real wonder that all 6 of us kids survived the monkey blood because it is actually toxic if swallowed. It is meant to be used for cuts and scrapes because it has a lot of Iodine. I am not sure of the rest of the ingredients but years ago when my kids were little and one of them was getting sick I took myself down to the local drug store and Bless His Heart Mr. Hillard  the owner and I just loved him and his wife Jean and her daughter Cathy. Just wonderful people and on this day Mr. Hillard was behind the counter and he asked me "What can I get for you Missus Reed?" I told him I was looking for some Mercurochrome and Mentholatum he had a funny look on his face and he stood slowly rubbing his chin as if he had a beard which he did not but he said "Now those are two words I haven't heard in years and to hear both of them on the same day... Do you mind if I ask you what you want with them?" Of course I didn't mind. He was always so friendly and he excused himself for a minute and went and got his wife Jean and the other pharmacist that was on duty took over and I thought that this was all very strange but I had some time so I followed him up to the front and he said to his wife with a smile and said "Jean Missus Reed is looking for a couple of things and when she told me what they were I just knew that you would be very interested."

 I don't know how I managed to come down this rabbit hole, but I guess when a memory hits ya, at least at my age then it tends to take on a life of it's very own. Anyway Jean gasped and Hobert (Mr. Hillard) chuckled and said that they took the Mercurochrome off the market years ago because it was toxic. That led Jean to tell a story of someone who knew someone and a story and Y'all I lived in a very small town. One of those towns that everyone knows everyone and you could always count on either the drug store or the old Dairy Mart coffee shop to find out what was going on in your town and about anybody that might be the talk of the town. I was the talk of the town for a little while. 

 I have actually spoken to one of my doctors about how my Aunt Lillian would swab our throats with the Mercurochrome and asked if perhaps since I was getting regular throat swabs if that could be why I have a seafood allergy now. I will never know but it is possible. Just my luck lol. We don't lose the iodine in our system. The levels go down and each time your exposed to it by eating or other means like Contrast Dye for certain tests then your levels go back up until they hit the top and then that is when I have a reaction. 

 I told them about how my nom and Aunt would swab our throats with it and how we were slathered every night with the Mentholatum and they just laughed. I did too, and I miss those kind of chats. 

 I don't know about the Mentholatum but it might still be on the market but I think that it is called Vicks Vapor Rub. That is what I think that I ended up getting and Mr. Hillard said not to put it on the kids chests because it could cause them to have pneumonia. He said to rub it on their feet and put socks on them at bedtime. 

 Oh my gosh I have so many things to tell you but it is almost 4 in the morning and I am ready to fall out so I might have to finish the rest of my story about how I was sidelined by this stupid Gastroparesis for another day. 

 Thank you all for tagging along with me down memory lane and you all stay safe. Virtual Hugs  BB