Welcome to the Misadventures of Widowhood blog!

Welcome to my World---Woman, widow, senior citizen seeking to live out my days with a sense of whimsy as I search for inner peace and friendships. Jeez, that sounds like a profile on a dating app and I have zero interest in them, having lost my soul mate of 42 years. Life was good until it wasn't when my husband had a massive stroke and I spent the next 12 1/2 years as his caregiver. This blog has documented the pain and heartache of loss, my dark humor, my sweetest memories and, yes, even my pity parties and finally, moving past it all. And now I’m ready for a new start, in a new location---a continuum care campus in West Michigan, U.S.A. Some people say I have a quirky sense of humor that shows up from time to time in this blog. Others say I make some keen observations about life and growing older. Stick around, read a while. I'm sure we'll have things in common. Your comments are welcome and encouraged. Jean

Sunday, July 19, 2015

San Andreas, the Movie and Hypothyroidism



It’s been a busy week and I’ve got an even busier weekend through Tuesday coming along. Then I slow down to nothing on my day planner for five days. I wish there was a way to space things out but the world doesn’t revolve around me and some things---like friends coming in from out of town---you just have to make room for on your already full schedule. 

Friday I went to a movie. I’m not a big fan of disaster films but there isn’t much point in belonging to a Movie and Lunch Club if you’re not going to stretch your comfort zone and go to movies you’d otherwise pass up if the choice was left up to you. The film we saw this time was San Andreas in 3-D and let me tell you that I was not looking forward to sitting through 114 minutes of a 9.6 earthquake. Buildings in cities on the West Coast were falling all over the place and catching on fire, the Golden Gate Bridge got pulled apart and even the Hoover’s Dam busted up. As if that wasn’t enough, a tsunami came rolling down the streets of San Francisco and tremors were felt on the East Coast. While all this was going on a search and rescue guy---Dwayne Johnson, The Rock---used every mode of transportation possible to look for his daughter and with his x-wife in tow they worked through their back story along the way. There were a lot of contrived situations that required you to suspend your disbelief but for an action/adventure film full mayhem and madness it was intense. And I liked it, as did all the rest of the ladies in my group. The special effects and 3-D had us screaming more than a few times.

For lunch we were supposed to meet at a steak house “a couple of blocks down the street.” However that turned out not to be true. It was directly across the street from the theater and I had trouble finding the place. I was going up and down the busy five lane street trying to stay within the old lady speed limit that requires one to drive no faster than our age and no slower than the age we were at menopause. At least I wasn’t the last one to get seated. Two others came in after me. Thankfully, I didn’t get seated next to a woman who frequently complains about the food. This time she did it when the checks were delivered. She told the waitress her potato skins were too dry to eat and she shouldn’t have to pay for them. If I didn’t have a “be nice” filter in my brain, I would have asked her if she remembered to put her teeth in that morning. 

A new lady in the Movie and Lunch Club, when she overhead another woman ask me if I’m still doing a lot of e-Baying, got very aggressive with me saying over and over again that I should teach a class at the senior hall on how to sell on e-Bay. “No way would I want to do that,” I said. “I don’t call it being in e-Bay hell for nothing.” I hate it when people try to badger you to do something you’ve firmly rejected. She went so far as to enlist others to agree with her and I went so far as to put her on my list of people not to sit next to in the future.

I got the results of my blood test to recheck the level of my thyroid. It’s still too low so I have to do another six weeks round of an increased dosage and then do a third recheck. By the end of summer I might be warm enough to take off my sweater. I get in a car that’s been sitting in the hot sun and it feels just right. I have to go back to the doctor on Monday to discuss a new treatment plan for my bones. What a pain! Three appointments with three different professionals for one stupid condition. A life time of taking thyroid medications leeched the calcium out of my bones; you cure one problem but you create another. Hypothyroidism causes a lot of issues so you can’t ignore treatment. It causes minor things like dry skin, thinning hair, increased sensitivity to cold, fatigue and puffy faces as well as more serious stuff like muscle weakness, elevated cholesterol levels, stiff and swollen joints, slowed heart rate, depression, weight gain, impaired memory and I recently learned it also causes hoarseness. I can’t believe I didn’t know that last one! I’ve actually been worried about how hoarse my voice has gotten and I was imagining the worst case scenario of throat cancer even though I’ve never been a smoker.

Oh, well, I’m not to a point where I’m ready to beg someone to take me out behind the barn and shoot me, so life is still good. Though I will admit I'm getting tired of being tired and board-line depressed. It's so hard at times to separate the organically created depression from the widow-living-alone depression. And being too quick to tear up is getting old and embarrassing. ©

17 comments:

  1. I'll start with your ending ... I do NOT think being quick to tear up is something to be embarrassed about. My opinion. We will ALWAYS miss our men.

    UGH on the thyroid issue. I was wishing for such an excuse for gaining weight but ... alas ... it was eating too much and eating the wrong things.

    I don't think I'd want to see that movie either. Haven't been to a theater in at least a year! Talk around here (Portland) is earthquake preparedness .....

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    1. Truthfully, I can't imagine why anyone who lives in an earthquake region would want to see this movie. Lots of action but the adventure was a little too real or would be in the San Andreas Valley.

      My tears aren't related to missing Don, though. They happen at odd times over seemingly little things that don't mount to a hill of beans.

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  2. Just a note -- I signed up to follow you by email, but I just realized I never had gotten an email. I was sure you must have posted something, so I came over to look, and indeed you have!

    I'll sign up again, and in the meantime I'll keep this tab open and come back later to really read. :)

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  3. Hmmmmm.... When I tried to sign up again, it told me that I'm already signed up. This is a mystery. For the time being, I've signed up for your feed. That puts the onus on me, to remember to click the little button and see if you've posted!

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    1. I wish I could help! I don't really know how those email notices work. Bloggers handles it all but I was told that sometimes their notices go in your spam folder depending on how you have your security set.

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  4. I was watching the other day, Michia Kura tell how we are overdo for the 9.2 along the west coast, and the resulting tsunami. .I don't like that my one grand daughter lives out there. I also don't like the idea of my daughter moving near New York City. I am totally convinced that Michigan is the best, safest place to live, concerning earth quakes, tsunamis and terrorists. Probably Nebraska might be better--oh wait, they get tremendous tornadoes. Yep--I'm staying here!!!

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    1. Tornadoes, at least, come and go and then you can clean up. Earth quakes have after shocks that would make you crazy if you survived the first event. I like Michigan, too. Think how easy it would be to defend, should we get invaded by a foreign power. LOL

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  5. That quake will eventually happen. Those of us that live in California know that. When we think of moving somewhere else we can't find the weather we want. Then there are other things like snow, hurricanes, tornado's and the list goes on and on. It is what it is. People have always lived in places that are dangerous all over the world. I think I'd like this movie.

    Hope you get your medical issues straightened out.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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    1. Thanks.

      I thought of you and others in California when I saw the movie. If nothing else, you'd learn what not to do. LOL But you're right, every place has some kind of scary weather or other nature-related thing to worry about.

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  6. Your discussion of your thyroid issues was helpful to me because a close friend has been dealing with similar issues, and your explanations help me to be more empathetic.
    I think the people who want you to teach an e-bay course are making a common mistake of thinking that if you are good at something, you must enjoy it. I ran into this phenomenon during my working years when people thought I should want to become an administrator because I was good at it. I think if you say, "Ugh, thanks but no thanks." often enough, most people eventually get the message (but not all -- some people are exceptionally thick! ;-) ). -Jean

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    1. I'd rather have low thyroid levels than high. My mom had "thyroid storms" where she'd spike suddenly. She finally lost the gland altogether. I saw my doctor today and asked him why my levels are changing after so many years on the same dosage and he said, "There's no good answer for that." LOL

      Pushy people drive me nuts. I try to be polite but I know what I want and on rare occasions when I might be on the fence the last thing I want is for someone to try to talk me into something. I need to make my own decisions.
      "Thanks but no thanks" is something I'll try next time. There's no arguing with that.

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  7. I didn't know that hypothyroidism could affect so many things. You would have felt comfortable in my house on Friday when the A/C quit again. :(

    San Andreas is probably one of those movies that you should see in the theater. Gravity was like that. It's amazing how far 3-D has come. I found myself ducking my head, trying to avoid debris, when we saw Gravity.

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    1. Gravity is another movie I saw in 3-D. I can't imagine it being good any other way. I really love my Movie and Lunch Club.

      Ya, I've saved on air conditioning this year. LOL

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  8. I hate dealing with health issues!!! I empathize with your fixing one thing creates something else to fix! Ugh!

    The movie -- not sure I can handle it, living as I do in the Pacific NW and that article in the New Yorker coming out last week and going viral about what we are inevitably in for when the "big one" hits (we are already nearly 75 years overdue). It's truly terrifying. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one Not only the earthquake (bad enough) but the tsunami! When I was growing up in northern Illinois I was afraid of tornados, but since moving here (33 yrs ago) I now am terrified of quakes (I've experienced two relatively minor ones). There is NO warning (unlike a tornado usually) and no time to do anything but hang on. Both times I felt completely out of control and the rocking, jarring made me nauseated -- it feels like seasickness and these were SMALL and BRIEF. No way do I want to be in the Big One!

    Pushy and directive people really push my buttons too! Also complainers. So I'd put those two on my "avoid" list also! What makes people be so rude and inconsiderate? But I agree with stepintofuture - people do assume just because you are good at something that you want to do it all the time. Not so.

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    1. Earth quakes are scary! No place to run for safety like with tornadoes if you have time. Though my husband's family lost two houses in tornadoes ten years apart to they are still fearful.

      I especially dislike people who are rude to waitresses and are always sending back food. I used to have a friend like that who would say she's paying good money for something, it should be perfect. To me, the experience of being with friends is what counts and I can't see making everyone uncomfortable with unreasonable complaints and demands for extra service.

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    2. On the service thing -- we were away over the weekend and the hotel offered a really great buffet complementary breakfast. There was a hostess seating people and pouring the initial cup of coffee, staff scurrying back and forth with fresh hot trays of food and other items, people clearing tables and setting up lickety split for the influx of new customers. And when the couple next to us signed their "free" vouchers the wife wanted to leave a tip. The husband had a fit announcing, "Why? They didn't do anything! They didn't even serve us!" Yep. Annoying.

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    3. Oh my gosh, that would tick me off and be embarrassing to be with a man like that. A couple of the women in my Movie and Lunch Club are low tippers so I always end up tipping more when I sit by them. I don't think they are being cheap. They just have to watch the money closer than me.

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