Wednesday, March 15, 2023

 Wednesday, March 15, 2023

 My ribs didn't bother me in the night; I slept well, even on my left side, and I had no problems getting up to go to the bathroom. My pain, which was never high, was reduced. My biggest problem was the rash I developed in reaction to the KT tape.

   I was asleep when my alarm went off. I still had to do my in-bed exercises. As usual, I fell asleep between each one. I was up by 7:30. It was too late to take Elsa out without feeding her first. My ribs didn't bother me while I walked, and the muscles at the top of my right leg felt good. Hopefully, the discomfort was not caused by arthritis, as Katie suggested. We will see. If it is, I will push for a second hip replacement.

   Am I sorry I didn't do the first one earlier? Definitely not. If I had it done when I was sixty-eight when it was first prescribed, I would have had a second hip replacement already. The ones from back then only lasted ten years. Also, that was when they were installing metal on metal joints with disastrous results. The grinding motion created metal shavings, resulting in infections. As I learned from a medical broadcast the other day, doctors once did one-size-fits-all. Now, replacement parts can be selected and adjusted to suit the patient.

  The coconut oil, which I use for oil pulling before I brush my teeth, was solid. Hmm! It had a small pool of liquid last night. The temperature must have dropped. I grabbed a warm sweatshirt for my walk. My hip felt great. I walked up Kukuna to the second fire hydrant without problems. I got close to four thousand steps in before breakfast.  

   When I got home, I messaged my primary, telling her about my fall yesterday and my achy ribs and requesting an X-ray. Later in the morning, I tried to make an online appointment with a doctor, any doctor. My primary is still at home guarding her complicated pregnancy. There were no appointments two weeks ahead. There was something wrong with the site. I called when they opened. What do you know? The problem was not with the site; all appointments are booked until May 1. Holy cow! The receptionist recommended I go to Kaloko Urgent Care. They have an X-ray machine. I should go after 5 pm when time is reserved for Kaiser patients. 

   I called Urgent Care to check how late they were open. The receptionist told me to come in now. There were only four appointments available after five pm. After I posted my daily blog entry, I headed out. As I was driving there, I reconsidered. I already felt better. Why not wait at least another day. It wasn't worth getting the X-ray now and risking contracting a respiratory infection from exposure to patients in the waiting room. Undoubtedly, some visitors to Urgent Care would have such problems. I turned around and went back home.

   Adolescent D's mom texted me about skipping today because he wouldn't be home until late. D is on vacation. Time to play. Sounded good to me.  

   I called Mama K because her kids are also on vacation. She was at the beach and asked if we could do it late in the afternoon, around 5 pm. She gets this service for free. Her kids are way behind the eight-ball. You would think she would make more effort to ensure our sessions, but no.  

  The day was devoted to avoiding doing things.   

  Wright wrote about the boundary of the self. If hearing the sound of the crickets outside and feeling the pain in his foot is the same thing, something that his brain perceives, neither are part of him, or both are. It might be good to realize the fluidity of things. However, it is also vital to recognize our boundaries.

      It's important to know if what I am perceiving is from inside of me or from outside. Boundaries are important. Is the smell of smoke coming from inside my house or outside? Is it my child crying or someone else's? We need to discern the boundaries of objects. They require different responses.

  I wrote about degrees of judgment previously. I may be repeating myself here. We can make judgments about physical things. "I think this is strong enough to hold my weight." That's a judgment. One would hardly call a person making such a judgment judgmental. We consider people judgmental when they make decisions about our character, good or bad. It's right there in Genesis. It is God's prerogative to decide what is good and what is evil. Of course, that gets us in another snafu. Suppose we don't pass judgment on anything or anybody. Do we say, "Oh, well," and think child abuse, rape, slavery, or the actions of a serial killer are just God's problem? What is our role as human beings?

 We are designed as human beings to call things that please us good and things that don't bad. It's a survival trait. It worked pretty well when our brains were under construction 200,000 years ago. But now, when we encounter something that doesn't affirm or make us uncomfortable, we have the same reaction. I don't like it equals it's bad. He eats differently than me. That's dirty. He's disgusting. He's bad. He's evil. Done! Some argue that these preferences for 'the same as me' are taught. They discovered that four-year-olds prefer people who look like them, just like the most prejudiced adults.

  No, I am not suggesting that we surrender to these predilections. We can recognize we have them, thank our nervous systems for telling us, and then inform our unconscious minds that we have enough knowledge to know that what we are looking at is not dangerous just because it is unfamiliar. We have a choice. We don't have to obey our hidden biases.