August 2022 Newsletter Edition
Everything considered the month of August has gone as well as I could have hoped. It has been far from perfect. But I have been able to make some progress on my goals.
I am continuing to make progress on the shed renovations. The initial goal is strapping the North and East walls so insulation designed for 2" x 6" studs may be used. Long term this will drastically reduce the cost of heating and cooling this space. I wish more was done. But it is great seeing the progress to date. My friend that is a mechanic has been very gracious in helping me accomplish this. He really has stepped up when I've needed help. The doctors want me standing for 30 minutes a day. This is to prevent my artificial hips from coming loose inside of me. I find just standing very difficult because of becoming just so aware of the mobility challenges I experience. But if I am focused on a task this becomes more manageable. I've been starting the 5 inch structural screws into the 2" x 3" lumber that is being added to the 2" x 4" framing lumber the shed was built with. It is very easy for my friend Joe to install these with the 5 inch screws already started.
My left artificial hip has malfunctioned a few more times. I don't understand why it is doing this. I am hearing a noise similar to a door hinge in very bad need of lubrication. I have the ceramic variety of artificial hip. I am not concerned about the hip itself. These are very durable. I once saw a video of the artificial hip being teed off by a golf club. They are very curable. I've been advised to follow up with the surgeon who replaced my hips to understand and if there is any advice I should be following.
I flew one of my drones during this month. I haven't done this since my aunt died a year ago. In part this has been weather related. I wasn't wanting to fly during the winter months. Also I've had and still have so much to take care of. I was shadowing my aunt's life as her cancer became terminal. I didn't want to regret not spending quality time with her as she was dying. With the limits my physical disability and chronic pain creates I hadn't justified the time doing this. But I am not doing myself any favours not having some time for fun. I am slowly working to restructure my life. I am still missing my aunt. I am trying to figure out how to move on with my life.
At one of the stores I frequently shop at an employee wanted to talk to me as I was leaving. This employees job has had him helped me reaching and left on account of my physical disability. I've known him for several years. His co-worker died very unexpectedly after finishing a shift just a few days ago. The cause of death hasn't been determined yet. I could see how much this employee is struggling. I have some LED candles. These were a prop when I created a video helping people cope with grief from covid related deaths. When I arrived back home I grabbed one, wrote a card and took it up to the store. The idea is for this store employee to turn on the LED candle when waves of grief hit him. The emotions of grief are powerful. I've been working through this with my aunt's death. I am hoping this will help this store employee in his journey of grief.