This week I developed a minor infection for which my personal physician Dr. Ursula Major prescribed an antibiotic, one I have taken several times in the past. I took the first dose an hour before retiring, and two hours later I woke scratching. Everywhere. Top to bottom.
I got out of bed and checked my look in the bathroom mirror. My face was slightly puffy and red, and my chest a mass of hives. In fact, everywhere that I could see was a field of hives. There were even places where there seemed to be hives stacked upon hives.
I scratched my way to the first aid kit, which is where I keep a couple of household medications like Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and such. There was a vial of unlabeled pink tablets that I was almost certain were Benadryl, an antihistamine. But I was already having one drug problem, and didn’t want to take a chance on another, so I went to the internet at midnight and eventually identified the mystery tabs as Benadryl.*
Popped a couple of them, went back to bed, and slept as much as the itching would allow. Three days later the rash is nearly gone and I am taking a brand new antibiotic. Which is prompting a moderate degree of diarrhea.
And so between the fitful nights and days of scratching and the tender moments in the bathroom, I sometimes wistfully look back at that initial illness and wonder … was it really so bad after all? Would it have taken care of itself?
*BTW: if you need to quickly identify a medication one good resource is at https://www.webmd.com/pill-identification/default.htm
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Daughter Kari put me onto something special in the way of music. An album of covers of rock and pop songs. Sung in the Inuk language by an Inuk woman.
One of the best things about a good cover is when it makes you listen to a well-known tune from a new perspective. One of those “getting new glasses” kind of moments. These songs do that for me.
Her professional name is Elisapie. The album is entitled Inuktitut.
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Plaisir d‘amour
Ne dure qu’un moment
Chagrin d’amour
Dure toute la vie
One verse from a beautiful and wise song written in 1789. Translated it says: The joy of love is but a moment long. The pain of love lasts the whole life long.
We are going through some of the pain part these days with our cat friend Poco. The love part has always been easy, but this segment … not so much.
Age has brought a full slate of infirmities to this brave little guy. Arthritis, muscle atrophy, dental issues, intermittent confusion and forgetfulness, just to name a few. Thinking about the future brings on a jumble of thoughts. What to do when there is nothing to fix?
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Listening to Colorado Public Radio the other day I caught these interesting statistics. The lowest point in Colorado is the Arikaree River where it flows out of the state into Kansas, at an elevation of 3,317 feet. This is also the highest low point of any U.S. state.
This low point is located in Yuma County, in the northeast corner of the state. The GPS coordinates for the lowest point are 39°58’41″N, 102°03’06″W.
Our lowest point is higher than the highest point in 18 states and the District of Columbia.
[FYI: Our altitude here at home is 5920 ft.]
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Little Home In The Valley 