Nov 3: brief survey results

The weekend was pretty busy, actually went out Friday and Saturday night, although both were pretty tame. Did a bunch of stuff which involved going back and forth between house and garage and basement, changing around clothes and winter/summer stuff. I thought there were enough breaks, but apparently not, because the crash came today. Honestly, I feel pretty shitty. Usually I don't post when feeling like this, but maybe it's needed for some balance. Despite being home from work for almost five hours, I'm still exhausted, nauseated and have a headache, which is the standard when I get overtired. The dizziness and lightheadedness passed after a few hours. This means the rest of the week will be more difficult. Recovery often takes days, not hours. And, unfortunately, I often don't know that I've done too much until it's too late. Getting short of breath was a more obvious sign. This subtle stuff isn't nearly as reliable.

Apartment still not rented, one hopeful bite, however.

Took a small survey at work today with a couple women my age, despite being fairly certain of the answers. Here's the question, directed towards women: when you shave your legs in the shower, do you rest your foot on the side of the tub or the wall? And, if so, do you notice any change in the color of the raised leg? You've probably figured out where this is going..... I've noticed it for years, never thought anything about it was strange: if you lift a leg up then it doesn't get as much circulation, so the color should change--right? Gravity and all that. In the last few years the color change is now much more dramatic: the raised leg (maybe 45 degrees?) gets rather pale and the leg I'm standing on seems to get a little darker. Especially pronounced in the toes of either foot. But, hey, I'm getting older, so circulation is going to change. But it is pretty dramatic.... And it's been worse in the last year or so.... Well, it seems that other women don't notice this color change. So, it seems to be another sign of my decreased heart function.

Is this a big deal? No. Will it change how I do things? No. But it's yet another discovery regarding something so commonplace that you never think of, but is somewhat unsettling to find out is abnormal. And how could I know that it wasn't normal? Falls into the same category as discovering that you're not supposed to see the ridges left on your legs from socks, especially after several hours, which you notice when you get up to pee (repeatedly) in the middle of the night. If that's the way it's always been, you have no way of knowing it isn't the way it is supposed to be. Which makes me feel like a stranger in my own body. How many other things am I going to discover aren't "normal"?

It's past time to go to bed. Thanks for checking, Laurie