When it rains, it pours, I guess. She fell about 3-4 weeks ago, spraining her ankle in the process. Very painful, and she is still hobbling around, but is now going to physical therapy. About a week after she fell, a tooth broke and she ended up going through the medieval torture of getting a crown ($1200). Then today she suddenly developed what I am assuming is a giant hemorrhoid, presumably from all the sitting she’s been doing, combined with a bit of constipation. It’s the last straw for someone who is always cheerful and optimistic, out gardening, doing museum tours, etc. In the grand scheme of what can go wrong with your body, these fall in the minor inconveniences category, but all three at once has made her very sad and frustrated, which makes me very sad. We were supposed to have friends over tonight, but I think that’s going to have to be cancelled, which is going to depress her even more.
No opioids, something non-narcotic that she quit taking some time ago along with the NSAIDS. It takes a lot to get her down, and yet I know she’s crying in the bedroom. I picked up some Prep H, but it takes awhile for those damn things to get better. I hope it’s not some prolapsed something or other.
On top of all this, I’m adding to her worry. I had a bit of dysphasia following an ocular migraine. Thinking it might be a TIA, I went to the ER where they did a CT scan, which was negative for blockage, but they spotted a couple of very small aneurysms. To be safe, I had an MRI done yesterday, but won’t hear until Tuesday or so what the diagnosis is.
It’s been a bad 12 months all around, with old friends dying and my sister dying, my brother losing both legs to gangrene, and my son falling off the wagon and getting fired from his job. To add insult to it all, someone knocked the driver’s mirror off the car ($500), and someone backed into me ($500 deductible). Cripes.
Never underestimate how much little annoyances, when constantly present, build up. Recovering from a broken toe last year, I reached a point where I could basically walk with just a slight limp. But because I had been mostly a couch potato for a few weeks, I ended up straining a muscle in my leg when I started walking for real. So I could move, but only in tiny steps. It took forever to get anywhere. Getting up to use the bathroom was annoying.
It all adds up, and it seems silly to complain because each thing, by itself, seems small.
Hope she gets through all of it soon, and is back to her normal, cheery self.
I hope she feels better soon. The older we get, the harder these things seem to hit us. I’ve lost three weekends just recently myself to one illness or another. I cherish my weekends, so it really added to my misery that I lost my days off.
Nothing useful to add, but I hope this string of bad luck is followed by a string of good luck and you two get to have smooth sailing ahead for a while. And hopefully the results from the MRI will indicate only benign things.
You and me both. We’ve been so remarkably healthy for the last 20 years, I guess the other shoe was bound to drop. Still and all, these are problems that she will recover from. It could be so much worse. At least she didn’t end up in a cast this time, like she did in South Africa when she took a fall. The PT is teaching her how to improve her balance, which is a plus, because (as mentioned), this isn’t her first rodeo on bad ankles.
I got her to come out to the couch and I put on a girl movie (Last of the Mohicans) for her diversion. Also a bit of ice cream.
A definite “chick flick” by mine’s standards. The rest of us have to hold off on seeing Captain America until she’s healthy enough to go, too, but we may need to cheat on that one.
Now, I’ve never done this on purpose, but my hemorrhoids bother me much less after they pop. Could you maybe lance hers?
Mine fell eight days ago, seriously damaging her good shoulder.
Mine too.
Me too.
Me too, though I must say this last year I am feeling my age for the first time ever. My wife unfortunately has had long term health issues for many, many years.
THAT is what I would have advised, had you not beat me to it. It truly helps to know that things could always be so much worse, and you will get through this. The power of positive thinking…
She’s feeling perkier today, and the unwanted intrusion has shrunk quite a bit. A beautiful Portland spring day helps a lot. I still think she should see a doctor, as it may be a prolapsed thing instead of just a flared up external. I bought her a doughnut cushion to sit on. For a generally optimistic person, she tends to go right to the absolute worst-case scenario for anything that pops up: “must be rectal cancer!”
Thanks to all for sympathizing. It really depresses me when she’s sad.
I know the feeling. Even when nothing goes wrong, she is an unrealistic optimist, and always expects the best from her endeavors. She never expresses her disappointment, but it makes me cry.
She plants a garden and works very hard in it, and it yields little, and then preserves what she grows and it goes bad. She has been trying to learn to be an artist for year,s but never will be. She tried to join a singing group, but she’s tone deaf and it is torture to listen to her whistle in the kitchen. She thinks her grown children need her, but they disappoint her.
It’s not that bad, I exaggerate a little, but you get the picture. And then, she exercises regularly, carefully eats a healthy and wholesome diet, keeps herself in shape, and came down with idiopathic congestive heart failure and has an implanted defibrillator. But she keeps at it, and is 66, and is now working as a volunteer at an organic farm in Poland. She is the bravest person I’ve ever known.
No! Do Not Do this! Take her to the doctor. If that’s what needs to be done, let her/him do it. If she has a gyn, she may be more comfortable there.
hemorrhoids are blood vessels, much like vericose viens in the legs. Some may bleed a little, but they can cause large blood loss. If that happens, you want to be somewhere and with someone who can control it.
I had no intention of following that advice, if for no other reason than the “ewww factor”. She’s going to see a doctor to make sure there’s nothing more serious going on.
The rest of us have to hold off on seeing Captain America until she’s healthy enough to go, too, but we may need to cheat on that one.