Perfect Day

     This morning I was thinking about what would be a perfect day. I guess it is something I was thinking about since lately my life has been about managing pain either through use of Tylenol or the generic for it in order to get through the day.

     I would like to start by saying it is sometime in the summer months. I am still a kid that lives in the little town of Washington California. In the morning after a little breakfast I would be grabbing my pack and putting a gold pan, a trowel to dig with and one of my gold vials. I would decide if I wanted to go up or down river from town. Find a place along the banks of the river and find a spot to start taking gravel from and just panning for an hour or two. If I am by a pool in the river I may spend sometime swimming there before I head back home for lunch.

     In the afternoon it wood be about swimming since I usually went down to the bridge swimming hole to see some of my friends or make new ones. It would be a mix of jumping off the rock swimming or just laying on the beach getting a little sun and talking to someone if they are interested.  If I am lucky I have an inner tube and I can just float in the water for a bit before I have to head home for my evening meal. After that I might go for a little evening swim and maybe hang with some campers I have made friends with enjoy sitting around a fire and hearing them talk about their lives and long after the sun has set I would probably head home and either go inside or stay out side and look up at the stars. That would be a perfect day for me.

Battles

     It was back in August of 2019 I was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure. It started with a trip in July to Lone Peak Hospital. Er Doctor though I was having Congestive Heart Failure but I just though maybe it was something to do with my post Arterial Fibrillation medication visit a week or so before that even.  Hear I sit having a little bit of shortness of breath that goes with this diagnosis.
     Since then it has been a little bit of a battle between how I physically feel and how I sometimes feel mentally. I can have good days and then sometimes for brief periods of time I will have shortness of breath or heart palpitations. They give me meds to help with water retention that can cause issues with the breathing and they give me a blood thinner since my heart does not pump as it should and they want to keep the blood flowing so it doesn't clot and cause me to have a stroke or heart attack.  I should also be better about salt intake as well as eating more veggies.
     I had asked the Doctor how long I had as far as life expectancy and he gave a rough estimate of 5 to 8 years.  Long but not really long in the grand scheme of things. I have a problem with obsessing over the diagnosis.  It seems to be on my mind at least a few times a day.  Sometimes it is because I take a blood thinner and the pain the rest of my body goes through is not helped by acetaminophen and so I get depressed. A couple of times I stopped my blood thinner so I could take my Naproxen to relieve the pain in my knee and  leg.
     Another challenge I have is the thoughts That relate to my shortened life span. What will happen when I can no longer work? Will I have to just let nature takes is course because I can't afford the medical care?  What happens when I can't get up and down the stairs here at home? Where am I going to be buried and how much for all the expense of burial and funeral? These are just a few things that way me down.
     There are a few things that help keep me going some days. The first thing is to just smile and wave at the kids. They seem to love it and sometimes I even get a wave back or both a wave back and a smile. The second thing is saying hello to certain people that come to Walmart where I work. Their names are Sultan (I forget his last name), Feliciano and his wife (need to learn hers), William.(he is from Columbia). There are others but these three are like family to me. It lifts my spirit to see them. That is all for tonight. Going to see if wearing the CPAP will help my shortness of breath tonight.

Follow up and new beginnings

I did make it through the 30 day Challenge. No Soda and Walking a mile every day. Reading the scriptures was a little hard and there would be days I would miss. I discovered that I am better off reading first thing in the morning since by the time I get home sleep is important.  I did lose 6 lbs in the challenge so I was happy about that.

I am starting the 30 challenge up again starting tomorrow. It will be a 1.5 mile walk, No Soda, which I had today and reading the scriptures in the morning.  I will also add 10 push ups in the morning also. Need to build on what I have started.  Will restrict my eating out to twice  a week also.  Good night

Day 28 of 30 day challenge

Well I am still following the 30 challenge. No Soda, Walked my mile today and read from the scriptures.  Not always easy I sometimes get very tired Like I want to go to sleep but I have avoided Soda.

In life I keep pushing forward. Today Lisa and I managed to get some shopping done at a neighborhood Market.  Sometimes it is the simple things. Still trying to think about what is my next 30 day challenge.  Want to keep the habits i am working on but build on them. Thinking I might start a push up challenge.  5 a day to start.  another thing is to limit my eating out to once a week instead of what I am currently doing.  Scriptures will still be a big part of my continued challenge. I have to say by working on just those three books I have noticed myself trying some side things to improve me.  Good Night.

Day 21 of 30

WEll I have been doing well on the 30 day challenge. I am finding reading the Book of Mormon has been helpful. The daily walks are something I sometimes look forward to and other times I dread but I do them anyways. The Last Part is Soda and it is a challenge. Sometimes I want that caffeine fix to wake me up.

Our Ward has changed it's schedule. We now meet at 12 noon. I wasn't sure what to think but looking at it now it has worked out good this first day. WE held our 5th Sunday meeting in the Chapel which accommodated our ward. In that meeting a member of the stake presidency talked about a New Paradigm but it is not really new. It is about not putting all the pressure on the Bishop. The Bishop has a few things they are responsible for. The Young men and Young Women, being a judge in Israel providing for the temporal needs of the ward. Everything else needs to be handled by the Elders Quorum and Relief Society.

Talked to Reed and Barbara today a little about the higher cost health insurance work has. Guess it has to do with maybe getting my right ear fixed. It has a hole in it that has needed to be fixed since I was at least 13 years of age. Sometimes they have said they could fix it sometimes no they couldn't. Medicine has changed so much this would be an outpatient surgery. Go in the morning and be out by afternoon. Well good night.

Day 14 of 30 day Challenge

Today I had another day without Soda, Read from the scriptures and to make up for yesterday I ended up doing a two mile walk. I will take it as a win that I walked an extra mile though to make up for yesterday and to not beat myself up. That is a challenge I have trying to build myself up and not put myself down like I usually do.

Did Make it through Sacrament meeting. We had two speakers from the High Council speak. They were both about developing Faith in Jesus Christ. Brother Johnson Was the one I seemed to understand a little more. He grew up in South Georgia as the only LDS member in his high school. Georgia along with a lot of the south is part of the Bible belt were people believe strongly about Jesus even if they have different ways of expressing it.  HE talked about his own growth in learning about developing Faith in Christ and I can relate. Some times my faith is stronger than other times but I do my best to try to give thanks for what I do have. Good Night.

Day 13 of 30

I missed posting for a few days but thought i would catch you up. Day 11 and 12 I was spot on as Usual on my 3 Challenges. Walking, Reading, and No Soda.  Today is Day 13 and I fell of the Wagon as far as walking went. I still managed to read as well as no Soda.  Dr Pepper Looked awfully good today.

It has been a little bit of a family reunion on Lisa's side. We visited the Bike park here in Draper for a bit.  EVery one broke off into different things after that. Lisa and I came home so we could have a little bite to eat before heading up for dinner. Some went hiking to a bridge. After that the whole clan gathered for a BBQ at the In Laws. We had Burgers, Hot Dogs, Beans, Veggies and what not. After that we went down the hill a little to get a Family Picture. Lisa and I were even able to do a Family picture. I look forward to seeing the results. Tamra's Husband Berry took the pictures. He is a Commercial Photographer by trade so the pictures will loo good for sure. Well good night.