3/16/24

 Saturday, March 16, 2024

In bed   I spent the night on the recliners in the TV room and bedroom, unable to manage bed because I feared my inability to get up from it.  Lilly got me up at 4:30.  40°, high 51°, a windy day ahead.  The wind is SW at 14 mph, 7-20/34.  Sunrise at 7:00, sunset at 7:00, 11+59.     

Pain etc.  Very bad pain yesterday and last night.  Acupuncture?  Physical therapy stretches and pulls?  I had pain in both shoulders but mainly the left one, also the right wrist, thumb, and hand, my back, and my hips. I got maybe 3 hours of sleep on the LZB. I'm semi-crippled.  I left the front door unlocked in case I needed to call 911.  The worst day for pain since the ER on 11/25.  Unable to deal with the suppository last night and didn't mix the Miralax.  I'm not keeping track of when I took the Tylenol Extra Strength and when I applied the Diclofenac. ADVIL at 7:30 a.m. and at 1:15 p.m.  2 8-Hour Tylenol at 10 p.m.(ish)

I'm grateful for the birds who visit our feeders and amaze and astonish me with their - what is the right word? - dexterity? adroitness? finesse?  How can they fly to the feeder from a nearby tree at a speed sufficient to stay aloft and then - in a split second - stop and land on the tube holding the nourshing safflower and sunflower seeds?  I think of how long it takes a thoroughbred horse to slow down from a sprint at the conclusion of a race, or the stopping distances of cars traveling at 30 or 50 or 70 miles an hour.  These beautiful little feathered descendents of prehistoric dinosaurs are amazing in so many ways, including how they survive Wisconsin winters, or migrate twice each year for thousands of miles.   For the trees that provide them shelter and the amazing nests that they construct in them, twig by twig, I am also grateful.

Casualty figures out of Gaza.  "Israel’s war in Gaza, launched after the devastating Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, has killed more than 31,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians but says the majority of the dead are women and children. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) estimates it has killed between 11,500 and 13,000 militants, as it seeks to eradicate Hamas from the enclave.

The ministry relies mostly on reports from hospitals for its death counts. With the enclave’s medical system in shambles, Palestinian health officials say many more deaths have gone unrecorded. Roads are impassable and communication networks are unreliable. Israel, meanwhile, will not disclose the identities of the hundreds of residents rights groups believe its forces have detained."

We learned from the Vietnam war never to trust "body counts"  Any dead male Vietnamese was called a VC, reported to MACV, then to the government and the media where it was passed onto the believing public.  If we can't trust the US military and  governmnt to be truthful, why would we trust Hamas or the Israeli governmen or the IDF about casualty figures or anything else?  Commonly reported figures indicate that about 21,000 of the dead Palestinians are women and children, which means that the Israelis, like the Americans in Vietnam, simply count every dead male Palestinian as a Hamas militant.

I'm feeling so much better today than I was yesterday at this time.  By 8 p.m., I have taken some Tylenol and 2 doses of Advil.  Earlier I applied Diclofenac to my shoulder and in the late afternoon, I did my physical therapy stretches and the new exercise involving the yellow exercise band.  Also, earlier today I was able to deal with the insertion of the prescripton suppositories I received from the VA Emergency Room on Thursday.  Yesterday, it was an impossible task.  I will try to sleep on my bed tonight instead of moving between recliners.

I sent a myhealthevet Secure Message to Susan, the acupuncturist, this afternoon, cancelling my remaining appointments.  I hope this wasn't a mistake but in any case, yesterday's pain and misery and sleeplessness were such that I can't see risking it all again for a procedure that may or may not be truly therapeutic.