Still Don’t Know Much

Thank you to everyone who sent good wishes for my appointment with the neurologist yesterday. We still really don’t know much more than I did when we went in, except that the headaches I have been having are not signs of another stroke. The nurse practitioner we talked to said that strokes take things away, such as blurred vision or loss of mobility or speech. Not always much, but at least some during the episode. She said they do not present with pain.

So what is causing the head pain? She said she didn’t know. It could be migraines, it could be a small bit of shrapnel touching on a nerve, as one doctor at the VA said, or it could be something undetermined as of yet. They are scheduling me for an MRI of my head since they couldn’t find anything from the CT scan I had done recently.

As for the previous stroke, which we just learned about from the CT scan, she said that could have happened anytime in the last two years. We have pretty much narrowed it down to the dizzy episode I had back in the summer of 2019 that precipitated the temporal arteritis biopsies. She said it might be a one-time thing, or it might happen again, and there’s really no way to determine that.

I will admit that I’m somewhat concerned, because at the end of her life my mother had a series of strokes, and each time, less of her came back until there was nothing left and she was in a vegetative state. But I’m not going to dwell on it. I’m going to do everything I can to stay healthy and happy.

Speaking of staying healthy, we have been looking forward to getting our COVID booster shots as soon as they become available. The VA has already been giving them to some veterans with compromised immune systems and things like that, and while we were at the doctor’s office yesterday, they asked if we wanted the boosters. Apparently, our age and health issues make us eligible right now, so we have an appointment to get them on Saturday morning. We are definitely looking forward to getting that done.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

It’s Thursday, so it’s time for a new Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of Big Lake Lynching, the second book in my Big Lake mystery series. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

Thought For The Day – Don’t waste your time on people who deserve your silence. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can say is nothing.