6/28/07 ThursdayI haven’t been keeping up with this journal very well lately. Used to write a lot of it in the morning when I was fresh but lately I’ve been getting out and busy early and by the time the day’s ended don’t have a lot of steam left.
One of the things I wanted to mention is from watching the news the other day. They had a story about NFL players and the brain injuries they accumulate in the course of their careers. One of the motivations I have for this journal is knowing that the odds of developing Alzheimer’s is statistically much higher for those who have sustained a traumatic brain injury. When multiple injuries are involved that likelihood is multiplied several fold. Understanding this and realizing that memories are one of the big areas hit this journal and the pictures attached will serve me well should such a thing happen. But what really bothered me from the story was the word “Dementia” coming up often. That is scary and not really something you can prepare for. What happens happens so I will love the life I have now and not worry about what I cannot control.
I finished up mulching the front flower gardens at Steve and Janie’s today. After I got done Jay, the neighbor next door, and his son helped me load the metal fence posts he is giving me along with the cedar fencing I got from him. They still have the concrete on them so it was a chore. I’ll be unloading them later today. I guess that will have to be quick cause it’s already 7:30 and it gets dark at 9:00.
Jimmy Patterson E mailed me that he would have a photographer come over around 1:00 to take our picture for the article he’s doing on us. Learning that I called Janie to see if we could use their shower to clean up for it. I already knew it would be ok but asked because it’s the right way to do things. Cherie came over around 10:30 so I let her in. After she was done I got under the shower myself. When you don’t get to take a hot shower for months it sure feels good. I scrubbed everything real good and then scrubbed again. Washed my hair twice and even scrubbed between my toes. Then we rushed home to insure we were there when the photographer arrived.
Rushing home however was delayed a little. Heading out the door I looked for the key they left in a super secret place for us and it wasn’t there. Oh No!!! Where did I leave it??? I looked and Cherie looked as well saying “This is not good”. Couldn’t find it anywhere. I looked all through the grass in case I had put it in my pocket and it fell out. Finally, knowing it was Janie’s key and she had no other and not wanting to lock her out of her own house, I called her at work. Caused a little concern so she was going to call her lawn guy, who had been there today, to see if he found it and picked it up. I hung up the phone and started looking again when I heard Cherie laughing. “What’s so funny” I said not at all in a jovial mood. “The key’s right here in the door” she said as she cracked up even more. Damn, there it is in the lock, right where I left it when I opened the door to let Cherie in. I was standing next to it the whole time I was on the phone with Janie. I called her to let her know it was found and we really rushed home this time.
The photographer got lost due to my not so clear directions. He doggedly stopped at farms asking if they knew where the place with an old school bus was. That is our landmark and the bus has been out here for twenty five years so it didn’t take long for him to find someone who could point him in the right direction.
He was a nice guy. I think his name is Alec but I am seldom sure about the accuracy of my memory. Had a nice fancy Nikon camera that I would love to have and snapped about a hundred pictures. Some on the veranda and some out front. Then I had him take a picture of the plaque as that is, in my mind at least, an important aspect of my life. I told him the story of how Cherie and I got back together and he was off. Cherie and I had talked about running into Midland and taking care of a lot of things but I started having a seizure so she went into town by herself. I went to bed and didn’t wake up till five when the puppies came in to see how I was doing. I was still pretty groggy but cleared up by six when Cherie came home. She brought a rotisserie chicken that she picked up at the grocery store so that’s what we had for dinner.
I need to get outside and work on unloading the fence posts and the garden before it gets dark. I’ll have to be careful on the fence posts to make sure I don’t hurt myself. Jay offered to come and help but I don’t like inconveniencing them and think I can do it myself. That’s it for now.
2 comments:
The key was in the door! Funny! I do that kind of stuff all the time, but unfortunately I don't have an acceptable excuse as you do. Heck, I can't even spout 'old age' yet!
There was a story on The NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams tonight about TBI and I thought of you. Hope you caught it? They profiled a guy from Oregon who had been deployed to Iraq with the Oregon National Guard. He was injured, but his TBI wasn't diagnosed until much later after his return home. Anyway, it made me think of my new bloggerbuddy Bob from good ol' Stanton!
I missed it Tricia, will go to NBC's site and look it up. TBI is often called the "Unseen disease" because it often has no visible signs. There are some who think I am faking, using the system to get a disability check, and thus say I am just plain lazy. They haven't bothered to spend five minutes with me but sit back and smugly make their judgment. This is one of the reasons I work to raise awareness of TBI.
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