Saturday, August 28, 2004

Where Do I Begin?

That is a really good question. Where do I begin?

So much has happened since my last entry in this journal. About the only thing still the same is my new car and, yes, I’m still loving it. Other than that, a lot has changed. The biggest change being my new apartment. The studio apartment mentioned in my last entry ended up being WAY too small and totally impossible to even consider living in for any length of time. The entire apartment, including the kitchen and bathroom, were smaller than the bedroom I had been living in at my sister’s house. Little did I know that was the start of an extremely stressful apartment hunt.

I ended up looking at dozens of different apartments before finding one that was not only affordable, but was willing to approve me in spite of my limited disability income and somewhat messed up credit history, thanks to the whole disability issue. It wasn’t an easy search and I didn’t actually find the apartment I moved to until the day before I had to move. Talk about a stressful time crunch! However, I ended up with an awesome 2-bedroom townhouse with lots of space, in a great neighborhood, and at a great price. I packed literally overnight and moved the next morning. It’s now been 3 weeks and I’m finally unpacked and enjoying my new place. I can honestly say I really like it here. I miss my nephew sometimes, but for the most part, I really like having my own space again.

My anxiety is continuing to improve and I’ve finally started the rehabilitation process with BVR, so hopefully I’ll be joining the working world again soon. It sure would be a nice way to start the new year in January. Being on disability definitely can’t be classified as “easy street,” especially since it puts me well into the poverty zone. Things are really tight financially right now and I’ll be a lot happier when I’m back to supporting myself again. It sounds crazy but, right now, even minimum wage would feel like a windfall. I’ve learned one very important thing from all this. For such a rich and powerful country, America does a CRAPPY job of taking care of the elderly and disabled population.

Unlike my anxiety, my weight loss efforts have not improved. In fact, I gained back 5 of the pounds I lost and have failed to lose any more. Part of it is due to my sweet tooth and my tendency to snack when I’m stressed out. The other part is the result of me not being able to workout anymore. I had been having a lot of problems with my feet and they finally got to the point where I couldn’t stand the pain anymore. In desperation, I went to a podiatrist and it turns out that I have an actual medical condition in my feet that requires treatment. It wasn’t just me being fat, as my other doctor tried to tell me. Don’t ask me what the condition is called. All I remember is that it’s Metatarsal something or other. Anyway, I’ve been getting cortisone shots in my feet (very, very painful) and physical therapy.  The condition is starting to improve but I’m under strict orders to stay OFF my feet as much as possible and I am not, under any circumstances, to do any kind of exercise that involves standing on my feet. I don’t have access to a swimming pool or any kind of sit down exercise equipment, so that pretty much eliminates my ability to work out for the moment and that means no more weight loss. Diet alone never has been successful with me. Needless to say, my thyroid doctor isn’t happy about that.

Wow, this entry ended up being a whole lot longer than I anticipated. At least I’ve caught you up a little bit on where my life is right now. I’m trying to get back on track with writing in all my blogs. so, hopefully, there will be a lot more entries to follow this one. Until then, take care of yourselves and enjoy life. It’s too short to waste it on anything else.

 

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