URCH! ACHTUNG! STOP! HAULT





No, this is not a post about a German Urchin. (Those are German Urchin to the right..)

 Although it does give me an idea for a children's book....

And I haven't forgotten you!


IT's  [my post] about something happening that you weren't planning on. Not you, but me. But you could relate.

Like when Sandra Bullock gets unconnected from the Spaceship's Umbilical Chord and then torn apart from Brown Eyed Astronaut George Clooney who was the driver of the shuttle in the movie GRAVITY.

It's an earth shattering thing to be loosed into outer space. As Sandra showed us. An unplanned event at the worst time, whether being loosed into outer space or just in a space of time that you thought something differentshould take place, well, it's not planned. These sea urchins' picture  were taken by Nina Thune. Wikimedia.

And unplanned things, like maybe a child when you thought you were done having children and are now a grandparent, can be tricky to hold onto your bearings. If you have them to begin with. With no bearings you are pretty much outta luck. With some bearing,  after bearing your last born,  you can navigate the best you can in a situation that was unplanned, halted your life, changed it, and maybe even put a damper on how you can bare it all.

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****************(this post is going to get into more of what happens with Crohns disease and extramanifestations such as chostochondroitin pain and in a weird location: my right rib. I will talk about my arm and hand, severe fatigue, blah, blah,. If you want to stick around to find out how I got a flat tire and then tune out, you are welcome to.)************************************************************************************

This happened the other day.

(no, not a family of urchins) 

 

 

Not just something close to unbearable and at the wrong time- but a

Set back.

 Just as we are rounding second base for the month of December , and all that it entails;

ka-chow!

We had an incident that dislocated us from Sandra Bullock's shuttle. (and another one that I really am talking about.)

 Yup, just you and that empty void of space and a chlostrophobic white space suit to hyperventilate into as you drift further into the bleakness of the dark, yet beautiful, unknown.

Or closer to the steamy, hot sun.

Or maybe just toward earth and that one part where ya have to burn up before ya get to fall into water!

When this happened I felt as if I couldn't buy a break. It was one of those days where a two hour errand trip ended up taking all day.


We'd done a zillion trips to crafts stores to find the right thing to put up the right sun catcher in Grandma's window and it was turning into a circus. One holder would be clear but had a metal handle. Nope.

Then one was just right but only held the tip of your toe nail.
 

Oh, by the way- this isn't the point that flung us into outer space where we couldn't buy a break. And it wasn't when my Uncle came into my Grandma's and told me to have Padre check out the deflating left tire on my car.  Nor was it when I was in BIG O and they said that all the tires needed replacing, that I felt

I could not buy a brake.

I was located in a place where I could buy brakes, but I needed tires.

How do tires know when to ruin Christmas? Or December? Actually, anytime you have to replace all four tires, it's a bad time. So, really, flat tires don't discriminate on when they make you miserable.

And why do they have to give the snow tire sphill?  (the tire shop guys) I mean, it's Idaho, and yes we get a lot of snow, black ice, slush, etc.  And women need to have good snow tires so we don't need men's help as we try to traverse a mountain side to get to a ski hill, right? 

But, Readers,  we haven't even had a speck of snow, 
*those were J's words said to me after school one day as the sun shined like it does in Florida or something and is as warm as Arizona. Well, I am kidding. Warm for here. Idaho in the middle of December. And this was written a bit ago.

So I am in the tire store, on a nice day, that started at a nice time but ended up taking all day and I was only supposed to be out and about TWO hours,  and I was trying to be sold snow tires. And the worst part of it was the kid with me whining to leave. He'd had it. Little does he know what is on the horizon of having it........

Anyway, I listened to the snow tire deal and

Then try to be convinced to get the best grade they had in the spring.
So buy 8 tires.

If I had not had on a mask, the seller could have seen the expression on my face. Instead he had to see if he could read my eyes behind my coke bottle thick, foggy glasses.

He gave me stats, threw the donut on at Padre's request (yes, I waited to call him before I had Joe throw on some snow tires just for good measure) and we were home sooner than the sky could let a frozen sun sink into the west.

This tire problem was taken care of and calm was restored after I waited and called Sam's Club on a daily basis for two weeks to find that the tire I wanted- the Michehlin Revenge r5ooo. - kidding- was out of stock for four to six weeks.

That's right. I waited two weeks to find out I would have to wait four to six to get the kind I really wanted.

With one donut on the vehicle and Christmas weather immenent, I wasn't confident I wanted to go that route and wished I'd just got the ones my gut told me to get back when I was at the tire store with just the one going flat. sigh. (Joe, I was going to just go with your higher end tire you had in stock.)

That's what I get for having Padre. My Uncle has the same vehicle and the same problem some months ago and found the right tire but so did the rest of America.

I might have posted all this a bit ago but there is more to this whole December month, ox in the mire, can 't buy a break and apparently buy the tire ya want, story.

The Christmas miracle in this whole debacle is that it didn't ruin Christmas. It made for a VERY long day, I'd hit my Crohns/Prednisone max an hour before I found the right hanger for the sun catcher at Grandma's and a star is happily gleaming at her house along with a fixed 'Mad Blue Bird.'
Glad I could just give her mine since hers broke. 

 But the miracle of this scenario- was that I didn't have my mind didn't sink into despair. So sitting in Big O, watching TV with an option of eating popcorn and coffee, which I did neither,  although grating on my nerves (the TV and the kid) was actually not making me sink into a December Depression.
Why?

good question. I think it was because we were prepared.

I didn't freak out about changing a tire if needed. I felt calm enough to do it and the weather was fine if I had needed to.
 

Somewhat.

For a disaster like not finding something you need on the first trip. And then a flat tire. In December. Four new tires due to be paid for in December- we were prepared with emergency funds.
 

The only thing I had no control over was my health. And that has been pretty precarious. But I was helped through that as well when I told them to throw a donut on and we just drove home with me feeling a sense of peace; that all would be okay. 

 

The shock was absorbed, the hit taken and the financial belt tightened. But it was O.K.

Thank you tire angels.
(now for that one around my belly)

And being able to live at home, Padre. So that I could accumulate the needed emergency funds.

 

Good thing it wasn't snowing.

Even though J. would come home and say: "NOT EVEN a SPECK of SNOW!" in complaintive mode, I have been  secretly grateful for some errand running NOT in lots of specks of snow. Juggling my "stuff" is hard enough and that just makes it easier to fall. Even using trekking poles, it can be a bit slippery.

And falls are not good for us people right now. I have had to learn to carry my purse on the opposite side with the one ankle getting worse..

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So I have some health news. I was leading into it but taking forever. Sorry. I have pics I will put up in due time.

My set back has made my life a bit more painful and for some reason I have also developed pain in the area of my right rib cage. I chalk it up to chostochondroiton pain. Which is what the X-Rays have said. But I get to do some more testing.

The bad news, that caught my attention while reading this post is my legs,
For you Readers that read to find out about health,, etc. and what is going on there I have to tell you that I upped the time that I was walking. I wore my braces. I put in my padding for cushiony-ness into my shoes. I did all I could.

But my body just could not bare the load. One night we had the church party. I pushed myself to get to a store so we could get J a shirt for our Christmas pics. after that.  I honestly was near tears at the end. I had grabbed a wheelchair at the store so that I could walk and then rest if needed.

It was was needed.
THEN the unthinkable happened the next day I made a trip to Wal-Mart (nothing unusual)
However This is when I should have


Stopped!

The place was hoppin'! There were NO Scooters! I think they have six total and so I decided to grab a wheelchair with a mesh thing in front that you can lift up or over- either way I didn't do it. I just limped all over Wal-Mart.

By the time I made the full loop, I knew I had done damage. My foot that likes to do the limp dog thing had been flipped up as many times as I could walk like I had on flippers at the beach.

But the ankle itself was in so much pain. The impinged part. The side part. Whatever that means- in my terms it means it hurts at the front of my ankle at the top and has to do with the no muscle factor and cartilege and tendons that tend to be done. And in "flipping" it up with each step.

The inside left ankle hurt- no burned. I have a spur that needs removing but there is more to the pain/impinging whatever.

By yesterday it was bruised over. I have iced it. There is a small vessel that is burst. Not a big deal but it adds to the hurt.

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This is getting hard to finish. And I am having some frustrations! Sorry.

 

These are tender mercies in my life, Readers. 

There are the things that don't change, they can progress and that can be hard. Really hard.

 It was the URCH! to our: "Hey! All is WELL!" feeling that keeps ya getting up in the morning and plugging along.

A Crohns incident. Well, that is a vague term. But it was one in which the writing on the wall is there but you have been ignoring it with the help of prednisone.

And to be honest, this does depress me. I want to be better. I was hopeful that this new med would just change my life! YAY! But there is so much damage done due to prednisone that is irreversible that I have to accept. With, what is that word? Grace?

Current health events have brought A LOT to a stop. Gosh, I have had to back off on decorating and prepping for the big day. Good thing I started a loooong time back.

Sorry this is ending on a downer! I will rest up, ice up this ankle, and jump right back into the Christmas writing!