Well. We had a bit of an “episode” that landed Pam in the ER for a few hours. She was having chest pains but attributed the discomfort to heartburn — until her right hand started to tingle. Time to get her heart checked out.
Pam’s vital signs
After a couple hours of tests and chest x-ray, the doctor determined the chance this was a cardio event was very low. Nothing in the blood tests indicated the heart was involved. However, the cause of the pain couldn’t be identified.
We returned home and, over the next few days, the pain subsided (although it is not completely gone as of this writing). Not the best way to spent the week before Christmas…
Adding to the troubles, I found the Honda needs about $1,500.00 in repairs. The radiator is seeping a bit of fluid and at least one ball joint (front suspension) is making noises and needs to be replaced. Additionally, we want to get the routine service done; the car turned over 100,000 miles a few weeks back. Repairs have been scheduled for January 3rd. The car is drivable until then.
Work was not immune; an installation job that should have taken less than a day stretched into four days, as the vendor had shipped the wrong hardware. The upgrade is still not over. The servers are back on-line but I am short four network ports that are used for redundancy and I am not happy about it. The situation will not be fully rectified until after the first of the year, due to vacations and the holidays.
On the bright side, my jaw is healing from the tooth extraction. Absence of pain is a good thing.
I worked on my galleries and have finished converting them. Should you find a gallery or link that does not work, please let me know so I can get it fixed. This project took many hours but I am no longer at the mercy of the old hosting service (and their new business model).
In other family news, daughter Felicity is in a new studio apartment and is settling in — for now. She would like to visit Australia and New Zealand next year and is looking for a house-sit in that part of the world.
Toby is settling into his new home; this will be his first year as a homeowner and he seems to be satisfied with that.
My mother is going into a care facility for some rehab after she had liquid removed from around her lungs and heart. An estate guardian has been appointed to help run the day-to-day operation of her affairs. Mom is upset that she will not be home this Christmas but she needs a level of care that can’t be arranged in a home setting.
Christmas is only a few days away and it looks like we won’t have snow this year. Long-range forecast has dry conditions, with a high on Christmas Day of 41 degrees. (Snow and colder temperatures are in the forecast for the 26th and following days.) I don’t mind it as these conditions make commuting much easier, but my Midwest upbringing finds it a bit odd.
We hope everyone enjoyed the Solstice and has a Merry Christmas!
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in.
Pam’s Two Cents Worth:
I probably wouldn’t have brought in the medical personnel if I hadn’t gone online to check out my symptoms on MedDoc. According to online information, heart episodes can be mimicked by heartburn or flu symptoms in post-menopausal women (me). Day 1 no big deal, Day 2 somewhat concerned, Day 3 the whole “tight band of pain” thing was getting old. Since I had been running [slightly] high blood pressure in the last five years while working at the stressful (and sedentary) community college job — well, better safe than sorry, right?
Now I have a lovely photo of my lungs and more information about my heart chemicals than I care to know. They asked to see my Medicare card at check-in, first time for that. Altogether a surreal (and expensive) experience. And still no definitive answer on what caused it all. I’m not going to be a very good “old person,” I can see that already. First time wearing a hospital identification band in 32 years.
The Solstice on the 21st was partly cloudy here, but I did catch a glimpse of the full moon. The Solstice and full moon will not occur together again in my lifetime.
Happy Trails.