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Kissing 2019 good-bye with a kick in the butt.

Another year has come and gone. There were some good things and some not so good things.

In March we moved from our little house in the dessert to a bigger park model. Our little home sold to an elderly gentleman of 93 years old. Sadly he passed away before he could enjoy the new home he was so looking forward to living. We moved into our new home as we had planned. It’s been nice having some extra room.  And in May be moved our things from MN to Yuma and it all really filled our new home. Since a park model is still just a trailer, there are projects that Mark will be doing or hiring out to get done.

Our son got married in May to a very nice gal. They are so compatible it's uncanny. She is a great stepmom for our grandson Patrick as well. Just recently they purchased their first home. The year 2019 come to a happy end for them. Nothing but new and happiness for them, I pray.

We survived our second summer in the heat of Yuma. Even though the temps were about the same, maybe a few degrees cooler, it seemed much warmer to Mark. At least we don’t have to deal with mosquitoes or high humidity. Speaking of humidity; since we have not been in a MN summer for a couple years we have gotten used to what it is like here. In Sept we had a few high humidity days. I have to laugh because the high humidity was 56%. That felt quite high to us now. In fact it bordered on miserable. But in MN it wouldn’t even be an issue. Now that it’s our forth winter in Yuma, the colder temps are feeling much colder. I’ve gotten used to the heat so now the winter temps have me dressed like an eskimo. I needed to buy some warmer clothing. The Canadians dress like it’s spring or fall, in shorts and flip flops, and I’m dressed like it’s subzero temps. Most of the Yuman’s do dress warmer in the winter than the snowbirds.

In September my best friend passed away. Mom outlived what the doctors had said and now she is without the dreadful pain that she lived with for years and is happy and healthy with our Lord. But I have no one to talk to anymore. I miss her so very much. My family has nothing to do with me since mom's death  but that really shouldn’t surprise me. I seldom heard from them anyway. We just really didn’t have the money for another trip to MN for the funeral. It’s not just the flight for us, it’s the motel, car rental, gas, kennel and food. It all adds up to more than $2000. Mom knew I wouldn’t be at her funeral and she laughed jokingly said she wouldn’t be able to be at mine either. At least she understood and that is all that matters. We said our good byes when I saw her in May.

 The year 2019 came and went just like any other year, while I was sleeping. I would like to think that 2020 will be a better year. All I can do is pray for miracles.

Snow?

There was snow and freezing rain in San Diego and Imperial Valley that closed down I8 Thursday. Which means that our new fridge, which comes from San Diego, won't be here until Monday. Home Depot called to tell me it would be delivered Monday instead of Friday. Then I read the news and found out why. There will be a lot of orders that won't come in as scheduled and some people won't be very happy. Later in the day the Highway Patrol escorted some traffic through but it was a very slow go. Watching the news last night there were a lot of smart people that just waited the storm out in a motel.

No snow here, just rain and more rain. I'm sure the "birds" aren't very happy with the weather again this year. It's so damp that the mid 50's feels much colder than that. Yesterday we had to fill a propane tank so Mark could keep filling the little jugs for the propane heater. I go through about 4 a day. That keeps the furnace from running, which costs more than the propane. And I can keep it nice and toasty in here.

Fridge

I wondered how long the noisy old fridge that was here would last. The defrost cycle was lasting too long. So long that the ice cubes were so melted that they tasted funny and were not useable. Each week it makes another strange noise too. Yesterday we were in Home Depot and found a fridge that will fit in our dedicated spot. And to top it off it's an 18.3 cu ft. The one that was here is only 14 cu. ft fridge. We had so much trouble with the small size and the dilapidated state of the shelves on the door and lack of a shelf on the inside. The new fridge will be delivered on Friday and bye bye to the old one. It will be nice to have room for fruits AND veggies, not to mention room for more than one gallon of milk. Thank you mommy. 😘

Hopefully by next winter I will have enough money saved to replace the stove. It's hard to work with just one large burner and three small ones. I've never seen a range like this before. And I don't think there is much if any insulation in it because the whole unit gets so very hot to the touch when the oven is on. I know a unit can get warm but not to the point of you don't dare touch it at all when the oven is in use. One other reason I won't use the oven in the summer.

ENT doctor visit

I’m not sure what to do next. I have a very large stone in one, the bottom, of the glands on the left side of my neck and the upper gland on the left has a small stone. There is also a tiny stone on the right side in the lower gland. He wants me to work on massaging and putting warm packs on the smaller glands to move the stone up and out. But the large stone on the left bottom gland will need to be surgically removed because it is so large.

Now the surgery is not what I want. The gland has to be taken out, and the stone removed and the gland put back in. The risks are minor, bleeding, infection which to me is normal with any surgery. But the one risk that is a possibility, not too likely, would be a nerve damaged and that side of my mouth (bottom lip) would be in a permanent smile. NOT what I want to have. So I’m not sure what to do. Maybe put up with the off and on swelling and  pain or have the surgery. He recommended the surgery, of course. He didn’t seem too pleased when I asked about scope surgery, which is what I would prefer. He doesn’t want to do surgery on the upper gland because of the risks involved. He has done both surgeries. Surgery on the bottom larger gland is pretty common and he has done many of them. He just did an upper gland surgery and didn’t look to pleased. I still have a good chance of the little stones passing through my saliva if I increase sour foods and warm packs. But the big stone will not pass due to its size.

For right now I’m thinking of putting up with the issue for as long as I can take it. After all I’ve had the problem for the last three years. Sometimes it quite painful and sometimes just a nuisance pain or discomfort. Sometimes it lasts a very short time and sometimes it can last for days, even a week.

He is not a spine guy, he said, but thought the degenerative area in my neck was arthritis. I’ll see my primary after the holidays and see what he says about it all. I will also get the pneumonia shot and check on the shingles shot as well.

That’s it in a nutshell. At least I know that it’s not cancer.  I'll pray for guidance on making a decision of what to do.

Not sure but thinking positive.

Today I got an email from MyCare that I had the results of my CTscan. So I went there to review it. After looking up every other word so I knew what it was talking about, I came to the uneducated assumption that my glands have calcium stones, similar to kidney stones. They are blocking the flow of saliva causing the swelling and as time goes it gets more painful and more stones if left untreated. Which has been three years of just antibiotics that don’t work on this. So for now I am going to say my prayers have been answered.

 My heart was racing when I saw that the report was in and that I didn’t know what the words meant. But after looking up the “big” words I think I just have stones in my glands. Or like I prefer to call it “rocks in my head”. I’ll laugh now and hope to remain laughing after I see the specialist tomorrow. I know that prayer works and sometimes the answer is not what we hope, but God is still beside us all the way. I’ll continue to pray for positive answers.

I’ll know more tomorrow after I see the ENT as to what he says and what he will do about it and when. Right now I’ve had no swelling for about a week. But that is just the way it rolls, I never know when or how bad the swelling will be at any given time.