Thursday, November 3, 2022

 Thursday, November 3, 2022

    

I finally got up at 7:30. I felt so relaxed and peaceful that I could have stayed in bed all day. Why I felt this way after having nightmares about the world situation is beyond me. The upcoming election prospects are frightening, regardless of who wins. Then I threw in images of a world that could no longer sustain life, particularly humans. We have done everything to destroy our world, our wonderful, beautiful planet. Apparently, our original sin was agriculture, particularly the invention of the plow. Also, it was agriculture that made us individual possessors of land, another source of more corruption. No, I do not think eliminating all forms of ownership would not solve the problem as Marx did. To quote my mother, "That was a stupid idea," only she said it in German, usually about something I proposed.

     Once finished with my morning chores, feeding Elsa, my morning walk, posting last year's update on the public blog, and starting the NY Times daily Wordle, Mini, and regular puzzles, I desperately needed a nap.

     I had an appointment with Shelly after a five-week hiatus while she toured Europe with some friends. I had half an hour before our 10 a.m. appointment. I needed to get some sleep before the session, or I wouldn't be able to function. After the session, I was just as tired, even though it was mostly a catchup.

  Today,  I couldn't listen to the radio and write at the same time. Usually, I don't have a problem. This was new. My processing speed wasn't as good. Was it because I was getting old, or had the two rounds of anesthesia impacted my brain function? Lutz said there was as much as a ten-point drop in IQ with the old anesthesia. Propenal is supposed to be better, but I see a difference. I hope I can recover my wits.

   I tried to reach my friend Jean in Arizona. She said they had just put her sister on life support and were moving her to hospice. Her sister is disabled. She lived with her mother until her mother died. Then, she was moved into this wonderful care facility. She was never happier. Then this happened. Jean was dealing with it alone. She had two other sisters. One was in a different city and couldn't get there immediately; the other wasn't responsive in such situations. Jean was on her own.

  Eight-grade K's mother called to ask if we could cancel for the day. He had had a Capstone conference about his eighth-grade end-year project before graduating from middle school. He was overwhelmed. He needed to have better planning strategies. We will have to break down his project into bite-sized pieces so he can cope. He wants to make a video about hunting, an instructional video. He plans to include interviews. Speaking to strangers will be a challenge for this boy. He is good at visualizing. We need to build on that. The teacher already proposed a storyboard.

 Somehow, I wound up having a session with K. He was at his grandma's on a phone rather than a computer, and the reception was terrible. His voice warbled. He said he spoke more during a class discussion. That would be great news. I called his mom and asked her to ask his teachers if they saw a difference in his participation at the end of the week. She didn't see a difference in his conversational involvement at home. He also said he was never inhibited when talking to family and friends.