End of October

 

Another beautiful sunny autumn day here in Lanark Highlands. No wind, mostly all of the leaves except the oaks are down, and there is that leaf and clean air scent that happens so briefly at this time of year. The sun is hitting my keyboard and desk, with the leafy shade that usually protects them missing. I have a darkening blind that I could pull, but I am loving the sun. Soon we will have far too little of it. And last night there was a big, big moon casting shadows through the silent house and making my insomnia less miserable. I have had some med changes and have gone from sleeping eight hours or more a night to sleeping off and on whenever I sit down somewhere. These new meds had better pay for themselves!

Ah well. We all have white nights from time to time. I tell myself stories, usually add ons to stories from novels that I have liked a lot and reread. Right now I am adding six months to Rosamund Pilcher’s September. And dozing off in my chair just before lunch. My poor husband is driven to distraction by this behaviour.

I note that some of us in this group of bloggers that I read are in our (ha ha) golden years and write about our health. I do so only sporadically because my poor health and old age are very repetitive and not all that interesting. But, for once, I have been given a ‘new’ drug and it is quite different from most of my meds and the uses of them, that being support for a repaired heart and a repaired lung.

Jardiance (empagliflozin) is an oral SGLT-2 inhibitor prescribed as a once-daily tablet (typically 10 mg or 25 mg). It works by blocking SGLT-2 proteins in the kidneys, causing the body to remove excess glucose and sodium through urine.  Jardiance treats type 2 diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease (CKD): Slows the decline of kidney function (eGFR), kidney failure, and related risks in adults at risk of progression and cardiovascular disease. This lowers the risk of heart-related death in adults with type 2 diabetes and heart disease. (Cleveland Clinic website)

Common side effects are increased urination and thirst, genital yeast infections and urinary tract infections (UTIs),  constipation and dizziness or low blood pressure (hypotension).

I’m figuring it is my blood pressure. Ah well, it will settle itself down in a few days.

That’s two ‘ah well’s in one post. Tsk.

Speaking of old age, we are getting some renovations done to the house to enable us to live here longer. The big one is, for sure, a big one. We are getting an elevator installed. It is just a small one but it will take up part of the living room on this floor and part of JG’s office on the lower floor. At  present the wall in the living room is getting modified and I just had a lovely gentleman here sanding drywall. Sigh. My cleaner was here yesterday and removed all the drywall dust then. Now we have a fine, new coat.

We are also working on what will happen to our house and land in due time. A story in the future.