Good News

    Office Depot wound up fixing our computer, so no one lost any data, including a slew of tunes.. Lena had a bit of homework go missing, but she had it in email form, too.  So she didn’t have to say, “The computer ate my homework.”
    We all three went to Minneapolis for the HDSA conference. Lena ran around with her friends. Scientists  reported on promising research. We also got to see the sights there.
    At our recent Care Committee, Alice asked me how I am doing about transportation. She nudged me about that I had been shy about accepting a lift from a friend of hers from Ann Patchett’s talk.  She said, “Accept the ride next time.”
    Dick said, “Just be careful not to ride with strangers with candy.”
    Our friend Mel found us a small vacuum cleaner.
    The present moment is sunshine.

Ring Solution

    I have been going to Oregon Shakespeare Festival for 35 years, because I am a big fan.  When Carol and I got together, she saw the charm of the trip.  While we were there, this year, she bought me a band that fits my left ring finger and has the quote “to be or not to be”on it.  She reassured me I don’t look too femmy wearing both rings.
    Carol joked that her daughter Lena, whose birthday was last week, wasn’t going to get a present because Carol spent that money on me.  I reminded her the ring was on my birthday list.  She said, “Your birthday isn’t until the end of August.”
   I said “I will remember.”  And I will, even thought my memory is crappy.
   I had trouble with the brakes on my walker getting loose.  I was going to call my PT to find out who I could ask to fix them.  Carol figured it out.  She is what my friend Mel calls a can-do femme.
    I asked Carol whether she thought I should stop cleaning my glasses, since that is how I broke the last pair.  She agreed.  I asked her whether she would like me to ask my friend Dick to make cleaning my glasses part  of our standing date, so it all doesn’t fall to her.  She said she doesn’t mind doing it.
    I had been doing reading a page of Spanish as not a daily practice, but a regular one.  It became irregular when I didn’t bring those books to Ashland with me.  I’m winding up agreeing with my friend Kit that it is too slow to keep momentum.  Fortunately, Carol also has Dreaming in Spanish in English.
    My vocabulary in Italian is much better.  I’ve switched to a page at a time from Corriere Della Sera, a newspaper in Turin, where I have friends.  That went much more smoothly.  It prepares me for the trip I’d like to make back there with Carol.

Feeling Dopey

    Mondays I usually go to the gym.  I decided to take a holiday, Memorial Day, even though the gym was open.
    My alarm goes off at 9:00 so I will remember to take my medicine.  Wednesday, for some reason, I felt like going back to bed, so I did, after eating a croissant, so I wouldn’t lose weight.  I have a standing date with my friend Dick for lunch Wednesday, so I got out of bed in time to make the bus to meet him. I told him I had been back to bed, and that I was feeling like it might be hard to get to the gym on Thursday, because of that dopiness.  He usually sees me at the gym. Dick had noticed I wasn’t there Monday.  He said it is all right to take a break, but important to get back to my exercise routine.
    Dick also asked me if I was feeling depressed.  I thought I might be and remembered it is a side effect of the tetrabenazine I am taking.  I thought I could ask to increase my antidepressant.  I mentioned the issue to Carol.  She didn’t feel I was depressed.
   On further thought I realized I had skipped my morning dose of creatine Wednesday, because it has a stimulant effect.  I wanted to sleep in.  I also missed my meditation to make it to lunch.  The combination was why I had felt off my game.
    Sure enough, Thursday, when I did both of those things, I only felt my usual resistance to going to the gym. Dick waved to me, through the window,  as I was on the stationary bicycle.  Our friend John stood beside him and applauded me.
    Last night, I had quite a bit of trouble getting to sleep.  I take a bunch of  sleeping medications.  It felt like I had forgotten one.  So, I am sleepy again.  I canceled Interplay, this morning, and a concert I was supposed to go to  with Carol, tonight.  Oh well.
    The present moment is dozey.

I broke the computer

     I cracked the screen on our computer by closing it with my headphones in it.  Fortunately, we bought the service plan, so it will be replaced free.  My documents were protected by Dropbox.  Carol lost a lot.  Particularly important were photos she had taken.  It created more stress for her to have to take it to the store and figure out what happened.  I felt badly and apologized.  I suggested I should stop using our home computers and just use the ones at the library so I do't hurt ours again.  She felt I was overreacting.  I wound up agreeing.
     Because slept in one morning missing breakfast and forgot one meal of Ensure when I was distracted by a day-long medtation, I wound up losing a pound.  That is discouraging.  I decided the interim solution to my wedding ring not fitting is to switch it to my right hand, which is enough larger,
     Today I am off to our wonderful Folklife festival.  Carol warned me I need to allow more time than before to get through the crowds with my walker, so I am off a bit earlier than I had planned.
    The present moment is musical.

Right Direction

Since my wedding two years ago, I’ve lost enough weight I have had to add layers of tape on my ring to make it fit.  I would like to be able to get rid of the tape so I can fiddle with the ring.  In the two weeks since I have been on the new diet, I have gained two pounds.

The present moment is blue sky.

Brainstorming

    We had the Care Committee meeting, last week.  Carol’s daughter Lena said she wanted to join us, because she is involved in my care.  It was cool having her there.  She jumped right in and helped write suggestions on the whiteboard.
    We did some brainstorming about my difficulty chopping things.  Lena said she could help, days that she is with us.  Louise said she could bring veggies to my house on our standing dates.  She also said she could bring me some soups.
    We talked about ways to help our dog get exercise. JoAnn said she was willing to help.  Lena said she could, too.  She pointed out that Louise had only written “L” for Lena, while there was more than one person whose name starts with L.  Louise said, “I might take Pearl for walks, too.”
    I have been having trouble getting the dog back in after putting her on the leash to take her into the back yard.  Joann pointed out we do have a door in to our basement, so I can let Pearl in and out more directly.  Sure enough I did it that way and didn’t lose control.
    Carol joked that she would pay to see someone cut my fingernails and toenails.  So far, I have been able to do that.  I am a bit nervous about getting help for that eventually.

Cream My New Obsession

Since I had heard different things about whether it is all right for people with HD to drink milk, Carol suggested we wait unil our appointment with our wonderful HD doctor, Dr. Bird.  I'm not a very compliant patient, so I started drinking cream right before our appointment on Tuesday.  Dr. Bird said there is no reason not to drink milk. I showed his interm my friend Elizabeth's email about butyrate, which is in butter, being helpful for HD. She suggested croissants.  I added them to the grocery order.

I thought I would put cream smoothies in a thermos on gym days.  It turns out the sour milk smell is hard to get out of the thermos, water being a precious resource.  Carol had also suggested Ensure on gm days.  I wind up having a bit more money in the budget than I thought I would, so I wound up agreeing with my partner.  Everyone loves those magic words: You were right.

The present moment is cool and cloudy.