Things are not so pleasant here, just now–Patty’s hernia, we really need to get that operation–so please pardon me for blowing my own horn a little.
Here’s a review of The Cellar Beneath the Cellar–No. 2 in my Bell Mountain series–by a reader in Australia. He really liked it! Well, why not? The book won a silver medal for fantasy.
While you’re at it, please send up a prayer for us. We need one.
Praying for you and Patty (and Robbie, of course) all the time.
Speaking of prayers, here’s an update on my friend John: They had to amputate part of his right leg because the carcinoma had spread so much. The teensy bit of good news is that there’s no carcinoma above where they amputated, and since the amputation was below the knee, he’ll be able to be fitted with a prosthetic if he wants one. He’s still in the hospital for a couple of weeks, doing physical therapy as the wound heals, and our pastor says he’s in pretty good spirits, all things considered. John is a very prayerful and holy man.
As for me, the good news is that after my quack doctor agreed to reduce some of my BP medications (at my suggestion), the intermittent problems I was having with heart shenanigans, breathing difficulties, and light-headedness seem to have diminished somewhat. It’s possible that I was just getting dehydrated from the medicine, not to mention the sleep deprivation from Iggy throwing up in the middle of the night every night. Some bad news, however, is that my eye doctor appointment last week found cataracts in my right eye. The moderating news there is that the eye doctor says no need to get surgery right away since my left eye is still okay and I’ll be able to pass my driver’s license renewal test in December with one good eye. (oh, yay, and you can read that “yay” with either a happy smile or sardonic eye-rolling).
As the saying goes, getting old is not for wimps. Well, I already finished getting old. Now I’m getting elderly — and being elderly, I’ve discovered, requires superpowers.
I hope this will comfort you, Phoebe: A few years ago, Patty had cataract surgery. It was not a hard experience and it was 100% successful. All she wished was that she’d had it sooner. She came out of the doctor’s surgery able to see much better than she’d had for quite a long time. And it didn’t hurt!
Yes, most people I know who had cataract surgery did quite well, although my mother had a terrible experience and wound up with permanent double vision. I could live with that, just as my mother did by closing her injured eye when the double vision was really bad. What worries me is how I’m going to get to and from the surgery and two or three subsequent checkup visits, since I won’t be able to drive for at least the day of surgery and the next-day visit, if not for the next visit(s). I have no family here, my best friend is so tied up with obligations that she probably won’t be free on some of the days when I’m scheduled, and the two other people whom I might have called on for help are having health problems — including surgery — themselves. Sometimes it’s the small side-events rather than the major and more visible events that cause the biggest headaches.
Good review, well deserved.
I will hit 70 in a few weeks. Old or elderly, for me is always 20 years older than I presently am. So, I will become old and elderly at ninety years of age. Nevertheless, now, if I do something I don’t normally do everyday, like chop up coconut husks so they decompose faster (for my compost pile) like I did yesterday, I get very sore. I can hardly move my arm today.
Speaking of reviews, I’ve gone back to work on your book. Please don’t mind if I start over from the beginning.
That will be just fine. I’m just praying, it will be done before I hit old age, twenty years or so from now. The book covers a lot of ground, some of it deeply, thus, it took me a long time to write, and I know it will take a while to read through and review. Really, thank you for doing the review.