TheBanyanTree: Checking under the Hood

[Margaret R. Kramer]

School started this week.  My youngest grandson began kindergarten on
Thursday.  He’s been home with his dad for the last year and a half or so,
and of course, his brother was home with him during the summer.  Pooch is a
little sweetheart, but tough as nails underneath.  For example, a kid
through a rock at him a couple of months ago, and Pooch yelled, “No one
throws rocks at me!” and proceeded to beat the crap out of that kid.  He’s
been pummeled so much by his older brother that he knows exactly what to do
when someone tries to pick on him.  Pooch’s kindergarten teacher (who also
taught his brother) asked if he cries easily.  My son told her that only his
brother can make him cry.  My little Poochie Man is now in kindergarten.
The Baby Era is over.

We met with the family on Grand Avenue and had Italian ice to celebrate the
beginning of the school year.  We sat at tables outside and soaked up the
last warm summer sun.  We ate our flavored ices, the boys flitted around,
and all of us celebrated the beginning of school and lamented the end of
summer.  A cold front plowed through yesterday and it is truly cool in an
autumn-like way outside now.

Fall is a time of year when I want to get all my ducks in a row.  I had my
annual exam this week.  My blood pressure is up a bit, and although the
nurse said it was good, but it concerns me.  I think I’ve been getting more
salt than I should, so I’m going to try to cut down on that.  I didn’t need
a pap smear this year, since I’ve never had an abnormal pap, and I can now
do pap smears every other year, as well as the cholesterol and the fasting
glucose since my numbers are good.

The doctor didn’t mention my weight.  He probably gave up on me.  I’ll never
be skinny, unless I ended up in a concentration camp.  I work out and try to
watch what I eat, but fat loves clinging to these bones, and even though I’m
in great shape, I’m “overweight” according to the good old BMI chart.  I was
told last year to lose 10 pounds and those lovely pounds are still on my
body.  My weight was the same from last year.  I guess that’s a good thing.

Every year I have to fill out a questionnaire about my general health.  One
of the areas to fill in is any issue I want to discuss with the doctor.  I
broke down this year and wrote about my sore knees.  The knees themselves
are not sore, but the muscles surrounding them can be quite painful at
times.  Plus, I’m having a difficult time bending them to a full range of
motion.

Well, the doctor had me give blood, always through my hand, not my arms,
because I don’t have veins in my arms, to test for rheumatoid arthritis.
Then I had some x-rays taken of my knees.  The results from the x-rays
showed I had “old age arthritis.”  Yeah, old age, that’s me.  But I felt
better when the doctor told me that it didn’t look like I had RA, which can
be a killer.

I thought he might prescribe pain medication for my poor knees, but he didn’
t.  He set up a treatment plan with a physical therapist.  I saw her
yesterday and what an enlightening experience that was!  She told me that
our kneecaps “float” and are not really attached to anything but a large
tendon.  Mine are tilted sidewise, which is why I have a problem with pain.
My calve muscles and my quad muscles are very tight, which limits the
mobility of the joint.  I’m not using my abductor and adductor muscles the
way I should and therefore muscles around my knees are not being used
properly either.

She gave me four simple exercises to do daily.  And they work!  She said I
wouldn’t see results right away, but I have noticed my knees are much less
sore than they were.  I need to work on my range of motion and that will
take a while.  I’m so pleased I didn’t have to take a pill for my problem,
but that I can work on it myself.  I’ll touch base with the therapist weekly
for at least eight more weeks, maybe less, if I’m making progress.

Finally, after a year of procrastination and anxiety, I made an appointment
for a colonoscopy.  I’ve dreaded this procedure because I hate “going under”
and I’m not thrilled about spending the day before the procedure living in
the bathroom pooping constantly.  But after hearing the stories from people
that “it’s not a big deal,” I’m sucking it up and will undergo the procedure
on September 19.

Well, it looks pretty good under the hood, I guess, according the head
mechanic.  There’s some bloat, some of the belts aren’t as elastic as they
used to be, but the oil is still moving through OK and the engine’s heart is
steady and strong.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

I am learning all the time.  The tombstone will be my diploma.
~Eartha Kitt