Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

     I had been feeling strange. I didn't recognize myself. I felt weird. Was I depressed or just so relaxed? While I felt the anxiety I lived with years ago, others didn't see that in me. In the past, whenever I felt that way, it was written all over me. I was living the way Mike lived, with his anxiety bottled up. Am I becoming an introvert in my old age?

      It is still true that having nothing to do all day is exhausting. I am energized by joyful contact with people. I understand the difference between an introvert and an extrovert. The introvert is energized by alone time, and the extrovert by interpersonal interaction. Is all the alone time wearing on me? I find people interesting. Endlessly so. There is always something new to learn from another person.

    The lack of response to the reading instruction videos on YouTube was getting to me. I think of teachers I used to work with whom I could contact. I dreaded a negative response. I watched people advertise over and over. I knew that's what I had to do if I wanted attention. I didn't do it.

  I did something that triggered the pain in my left ankle this morning. It was very bad about a year ago. The podiatrist said while I didn't have the ankle of a twenty-year-old, I also didn't have a severe case of arthritis. He didn't know why I was in pain. The muscles in my calf seized up before the pain started in the ankle. I hope I can resolve this.

  As I returned from my morning walk, Yvette was on her knees in the driveway, washing one of her dogs with Scott's help. I needed my toenails clipped in preparation for my second round of laser treatments on my toenails to treat a nail fungus. Yvette cut them in her break before washing the second dog, Liner Notes.

  My chiropractic appointment today was to get my second round of laser treatment for nail fungus. Lisa doesn't get down to business. She combed her hair, searched for a recently bought set of needles to give Flo, her dog, an insulin shot, and talked continuously about miscellaneous topics. Not a strict professional demeanor.

     For the first treatment, I thought I had only one problem nail. Lisa pointed out that the fungus had spread to several of my toenails. Now, all my nails looked good except for the one I had sought treatment for initially.   While I was there, I asked about her chiropractic service. My PCP had prescribed chiropractor service; insurance covered it. My left ankle was giving me problems. She argued that the problem with my ankle was caused by something in my back. It took forever for her to find my prescription, give me a form to fill out, care for the dog, etc., and talk continuously about one thing or another.

  She started evaluating my alignment. However much improvement I have made, I continued to be seriously out of alignment with curvatures here and there. Her chiropractic method was different from anything I had seen. I'd been on an adjustable table, but nothing compared to hers. It was electrically driven. Besides the basic chiropractic treatment using the drop table, this table converted into a stretching machine. She bound my ankles, told me to grab hold of the top of the table, moved the two sections apart, and did bodywork with her hands. It felt good. We'll see if anything she does will make a difference. As with most things I try, the question is, "Will it do harm?" If so, then I won't do it. I didn't agree to have my neck cracked. There is some question if it is good for anyone. At my age, it is a no-no.

 I only had to pay a minimal amount for the chiropractic treatment because insurance covered the service. Lisa charged my card for the service and returned my card. "Wait! You didn't charge me for the laser treatment," which Kaiser did not cover. I left after three hours.

  I had a session with ninth-grade K this afternoon. I didn't work with him on Raisin in the Sun. I picked a sixth-grade novel I read for another student. I chose the book because the action takes place in a natural setting. K is big into hunting and fishing. It would have more meaning for him, and he would have an easier time generating images. I started with the first page. It wound up being more abstract than I had thought. I hadn't checked the passage properly. It was a struggle, but he did reasonably well. Better than he had done in the past. He also reported that he did better in class; he understood more of what the teacher said.