Good Saturday to you from our corner of Iowa where cooler temperatures and rain have blessed us this week. What a relief to have the parched land nourished with water, and what a relief to leave the 90's and 73 dew points behind for now at least. Weather, like life is unpredictable so we never know what is around the corner.
Speaking of life around the corner, I headed back to the Oncologist this past week to let her know how the neuropathy symptoms were doing. We ended up with a prescription for a different medication to replace the Arimidex aromotose inhibitor, at her suggestion and I will see a neurologist this fall (hard to get in with COVID back-ups).
Meanwhile we have been doing some detective work on our own....as we try to figure out WHY the neuropathy is at such a high consistent level after nine years. Nights are the hardest, but I continue with benadryl for some relief. My doctor suggested longer acting Claritin but it did nothing to help. I am going to be starting a program called Dynamic Neural Retraining for the limbic system of the brain. It just makes sense to me and a number of things came together to lead me down this path. One is the book, "Who Switched Off My Brain" by Dr. Caroline Leaf. Another is a good friend who has used this retraining system for six months and seen improvement in her own journey to healing. I would be remiss if I did not add in that God is guiding me in this direction. I am certainly weary of how often symptoms control my daily life and sleep patterns. AND the neuropathy like symptoms are not okay.
What is okay was having my sister Kay and her hubby Dan here for strawberry shortcake on the afternoon of the Fourth. We had a nice visit and it is just so great to have people in our living room again....and all the hugs! We watched the fireworks Saturday evening from our living room and Joel went out the next morning and picked up a lot of debris from the rockets set off across the river around 3/4 mile away. We Hope your Fourth was enjoyable too!
Speaking of the Fourth, Independence Day always reminds me of our eight years in the Air Force. Living on a military base in a third world country in the 70's reminded us of how blessed we were/are to be an American. We, as Americans, felt obligated to take care of our country, celebrate the freedoms we had and appreciate all America offered. Living in a country with Marshall Law, where Filipinos were to afraid to even whisper a complaint against their President? We realized very quickly that there was no place like "home".
Speaking of home, we have been appreciating our home here so much lately. Mostly our neighborhood. We know we cannot live forever in a house with so many stairs and no way to have a bedroom on the main level. A house that is too big for 2 people and unnecessary when our kids do not all visit here except once a year. Just wasted space......we live mostly in only 1/2 of the house! So blessed to have the views we do, the yard space, the peaceful porch, the great neighbors. Yet it is looming.........the need to downsize and look down the road a few years. We would love to live by one of our kids but that would take us farther away from the others. It would make it harder for us to visit and keep some from coming to see us. Such a dilemma and a discussion between Joel and I that comes up too often.
Speaking of Joel, he has been busy with outdoor and garage projects and of course getting 10-20 miles in on his bike several days a week. He got his broken "boom" on his bike fixed and just a few days later was greeted with a flat tire. He is back on his wheels again, although he came home early today as a fine mist gave him a gentle "shower". He has had his recumbent bike for a long time, long enough to have put 15,000 miles on it! I only wish we lived closer to a variety of off road trails! I had to smile as I watched him head out into the rain Friday to walk through the deep water at the end of our driveway, splashing and wading through it like a child! On another day I would have joined him, as I love walking in the rain!
Here are a few flowers that are showing off their beauty in the front yard of our home. Patriotic flowers that proclaim God's beauty in such bright colorful ways! Our creator is in every detail of every living thing!
Enjoy your weekend!
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