Our beautiful world

 I think this is lovely

By Catherine Nelson from the internet

For Thankful Thursday

And Floral Friday Fotos

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The white flowers by the golfcourse.

Rhododendrons by the golf course

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Incidentally, the pneumonia came on  the very next day after I went to sit-r-cise. So maybe 1.) pushing myself isn't a good idea, or 2.) not wearing a mask and sharing breath with lots of older people - may give me these problems.  So I don't plan to attend any more.

But I do need to rehabilitate my lungs again! After the hospital stay, they gave me the antibiotic (Dicyclomine) which doesn't work any more, as well as continued a couple more days of steroids. So after a few days of trouble breathing, and vision difficulties, I asked for Levaquin again. The PA gave me a high dose for short time, so I took it while in Colorado. And still continued to nebulize every day, twice a day.

Levaquin has now been prescribed for another bacteria that showed in my lungs by a sputum test a couple of weeks ago (after I got home from my trip.)  I'm now on high dose for 2 weeks. So I'll be off it May 13. It has to be taken 2 hours before or after my other drugs. I tried taking it in the afternoon, and thought that was why I couldn't get to sleep. But now after taking it first thing in the morning, I have had 3 more nights of trouble getting to sleep.  Good thing I'm seeing my doctor next week for my physical.

It helps me to write this here, though I should move all the details to my personal blog. Since I can't do much of anything outside (sun sensitivity from antibiotic, thank you very much) and lack of breath for walking...I sit inside and listen to my Dan Brown book (Origin) on audio. It is somewhat tiresome to hear how convoluted he weaves his characters' lives and the cliff hangers of trials, but it's something to listen to while trying to be sleepy.

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Looking through the glass door of the downstairs at the Lakeview Center

A town budget here in Black Mountain where I live hasn't been focused on repairing the Lakeview Center, where flood waters from Lake Tomahawk damaged the downstairs areas. And when the walls were cleared, damage from a previous fire was seen, so the repairs will be more extensive than first thought. A lot of seniors attended the town meeting before the budget was passed, but so far nothing has been done to help this community gathering place. The nearby golf course is also damaged, and the town published to residents to not try to mow the overgrown greens themselves, as they might damage them (or themselves.)

Unused golf course gives a nice view of the Black Mountains where the Blue Ridge Parkway runs.

As these scars remain on our landscape, many lives have yet to return to their necessary living status...though efforts to share resources continue. Once a week Bounty and Soul comes to my apartment complex to give away free produce (usually past it's "sell date" donated from nearby grocers). 

The other day I arrived early to pick up my still-available hot lunch at the closed senior center, provided for discount by the Council on Aging. I wonder how long that program will survive with the current political attitudes. Being early I saw a line of people formed in front of the closed pool shower building nearby...mostly Latinos. Cars would drive up and drop off another mom and sometimes a child or an infant, and they would join the line. 

I asked a man standing sort of separate from the others, "What's happening? 

He said they were there to pick up apples and things.

I asked the coordinator of our lunch program the same question. She said a church in Hickory had been coming once a week with free food ever since the hurricane.  I knew that the same area had provided hot meals for a long time after the hurricane.

Yes, Mr. Rogers was right. Look for the helpers.

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Emergence Magazine sends out a newsletter to which I subscribe. Here's the short 12 minute film and poem about Being Part European. It shows many cultural artifacts housed in a warehouse. It's poignant and speaks to western civilization's privileged status.

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Today's quote:

A harbor, even if it is a little harbor, is a good thing, since adventurers come into it as well as go out, and the life in it grows strong, because it takes something from the world, and has something to give in return.

 -Sarah Orne Jewett, poet and novelist (1849-1909)

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I'm  also reminded of the empty US harbors since tRump enacted his ludicrous tariffs. The rest of the world may just going along blissfully while isolating the US.

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Eco-Watch article about Trump Shuts Down 25 USGS Centers That Monitor Drought and Flooding Throughout the Country

Hammer Creek in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania

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Thrown and altered medium size pitcher.

The LAD artery and emotions

There it is, the Left Anterior Descending artery...

LAD on the right side of this photo, where my stent was placed

I have now learned it's position, but I still don't know much about heart function. Isn't it a bit strange to have such a wonderful organ pumping blood throughout my body, but I don't know much about it?  Guess what this student will be focused upon in the very near future?  But I won't bore you with it.

I will however say that with all the drugs I've been on for the last week (none of which were to either relieve pain or change my mood) I have had the usual deep thoughts. Deep thoughts also come when sleeplessness happens, usually due to various tests that had to be run every hour or so.

The heart is considered by poets and artists as the seat of our passions, our love we have toward others, the emotional center.

But just look at that ...a quivering mass of muscle working to move blood around.

So I thought of how for several years I've been missing any passion in my life. Joy, great and deep compassion, enthusiasm, sorrow...but not much passion. Was this from having that artery get blocked more and more? Was part of my pushy personality from trying so hard to push blood through that little space? (Friends can attest to this truth.)

I remember the first hours of being hospitalized, when they knew something was happening with my heart, but they couldn't figure out where or how. My personal experience was of having difficulty breathing due to the cough, and having many memories in my inner eyes, some of which I would tell to go away. I got many ancestors, and told them I wasn't planning on joining them soon. I let go of all my own decisions and turned everything over to the caregivers, knowing that a greater caregiver was in charge not only of myself but their hands as well.

I also saw the confusion and pain in their eyes as they confronted their own fears of Covid-19. I was given The Test; it meant 3 people in the room, one of whom was apparently being trained. Then the person in charge had to tell me the hospital couldn't run the test themselves because their lab was out of "re-agent." So it would be 24-48 hours after the test was sent to an outside lab. That was just the way it was. (But that changed, as so often happens!)

One of those people had great tattoos along his arm, and while I was being probed through my nose to  my brain for 10 seconds, he told me to hold his hand. Yes, in those crazy "no touch" times, he offered his gloved hand to squeeze. It helped.

And since I told them I hadn't eaten for 12 hours, he came back with some crackers and ginger ale for me a few minutes later. That meant putting on another gown each time he came into my room. I don't know his name, but he was truly a "helper" which I told him. He said he knew exactly who Mr. Rogers was, as he had grown up in Pittsburg.

I told each of the helpers how I appreciated their being "front line" personnel, being out in the trenches doing what they knew how to do in order to help each sick person. I think they appreciated that I took time to discuss the pandemic with them. I made good connections with almost every one of them. What brave and talented people are in the medical profession!