My son and daughter-in-law’s garden.

It has been too long since my last post.  Before I continue writing about the latest episodes in my life I wanted to share the above picture with you.  I took the picture while walking through my son and daughter-in-law’s garden.   Every year they create a masterpiece in their yard.  

On August 3rd I met with my hepatologist and the news was good.  There was a slight increase in one of my liver function tests but that can be reduced by diet and exercise.  My ultrasound showed no lesions or tumors which always brings about a huge sigh of relief.  Sadly I have been remiss in riding my stationary bike.  For the last few months pain has reduced the amount of time I can exercise.  I will just have to push through the pain and keep using my bike.

After several months of trying different pain relief methods, my family doctor upped my pain medication.  So far taking the extra dose of pain medication has made a huge difference.  I do not expect that I will ever be totally pain-free but the extra medication makes it more tolerable.  These last six months I have had to say no to many social activities because I did not have sufficient control over the pain.  Trying to write my blogs or work on my genealogy research became almost impossible.  The monster called pain can certainly interfere with daily life.  My cardiologist insists that the fluctuations in my blood pressure are directly related to pain.  I have been measuring my blood pressure once a day for three months.  It has become apparent that he is right.  With another blood pressure medication added (which makes it three a day) and the extra pain medication, my doctors are hoping that my blood pressure will remain below 120/80.  

As I mentioned earlier, after my echocardiogram, my cardiologist told me that years of high blood pressure had caused the thickening of my heart muscles.  This is the main reason for trying to keep my blood pressure below 120/80.

It has been a strange summer so far.  Apparently, this past February and July were the coldest months in one hundred years.  July temperature hovered around 20C to 25C with the occasional 30C thrown in for good measure.  

Some time ago I downloaded a software package for editing pictures called PhotoPad Image Editor.  It has allowed me to clean up pictures that were too dark and pictures that were too light.  I also downloaded a software package for editing videos called VideoPad Video Editor.  The two packages are put out by the same company  NCH Software. 

We do not often get tornado watches and warnings but this July we had watches and warnings in July.  This reminded me of the summer when a tornado struck about 12 miles from where my parents lived.  It occurred while the children and I were home during our month-long vacation.  The following pictures tell the story.

At this time of the year, we remember our dear friend Dennis Joiner who was murdered in 1998 in British Columbia.  So far no one has been charged with this brutal killing.