Monday, March 3, 2014

Shrove Tuesday is a day to give it all up....okay okay, I get the message!

pssssst!            
                This is Karen, again...

                       Dave and I will both be writing posts, and this is the place to read them.  This blog site  is under my name, and because we're sticking with the technology we know how to deal with....it's going to say from "Karen".    But is will be from both of us. 

                                            Just an FYI, as we get going here.

Okay.....now, that I'm done with the "announcements" here is the post!

So, I said in the first post that I've had an arthritis flare up.  It seems that I am getting more and more like my mother.  She had gouty arthritis, the kind that makes joints swell and fingers stiff, and sometimes, when she would  bang one of those joints against something she would experience pain she said was terrible.

Well,  now I know what she was talking about.  I was on a hike up and down a mountain two weeks ago when I did the awkward thing and  tripped, going uphill.  Hit my toe joint against a metal bar which was creating a 'stair' and after hopping around a good while,  felt much better.  Two hours later, my foot was a raging ball of pain,   toe joint hot, swollen,  bruised looking, miserable.  I had to sit around with an ice bag on my foot for a couple of days,  while the swelling subsided until I could put on shoes again.




Seems I have gout. What a miserable word that is.  No-one wants to have gout.  It  seems like an embarrassing kind of  arthritis.  Which is why I'm pretty sure my mother never used the word.  Never.
(for those who are the worrying kind, yes, I've seen my doctor, yes, I'd done the blood work, and no, my doc is not at all worried about me going "walkabout."  So far, all I've got is an episode,  no significant other issues, no reason to worry.  You get older, you're gonna get some wear and tear going on.  That's me.)

Now, the good news is that gout is one arthritis that can be managed by changing some eating habits,  along with medication when needed. So far I don't have to worry about my bloodwork.  But with eating habits, I can also minimize possible future outbreaks.  This is much better news than being told there is little that can be done but medicate to deal with pain.  I can help minimize possible recurrence by giving up/minimize alcohol for a while.  It's gonna be hard, seeing as I'm about to walk through the most productive wine area in the world,  Rioja.    And I can cut down red meat, poultry,  asparagus, (among other things)  severely.  Not being able to eat sweetbreads and "offal"  really, well, now, that is gonna be easy.  HA!

Now, along with  realizing that we didn't really plan to arrive in Paris on Ash Wednesday to start a pilgrimage which ends in Santiago de Compostella on Easter Weekend, it seems that we have another co-incidence with my arthritis flare up.  My sense of humor was tickled, when I was looking around for definition for Shrove Tuesday and I found this little tidbit:  giving up foods during lent    Seems the divine comedian has it all planned out.  I'm going on pilgrimage during Lent,  and from this point on,  I need to give up on most of the foods traditionally off the menu for the season of Lent.  Especially while on the camino.  I want to give my foot the best chance to deal with all that walking without having to deal with the fact that I ate a bacon burger last night.

I don't know.  It just struck me as...well....funny.  Seems like the Divine Comedian  is trying to get our attention.  Lent is a different kind of time.  May as well take advantage of the season, and benefit from the practices which are part of the traditions of Lent.  They may just be important ways to...oh I don't know...know what it is really like to be part of the goodness, the wholeness, the possibilities, of God's world.    One more thing to "take in my stride" so to speak.  As we step out on pilgrimage, on this sabbatical.
 Buen Camino all.  Karen.  



p.s.:   One more sleep!   yay!

2 comments:

  1. May that one more sleep be blessed! I pray that the divine Comedian keeps Her jokes to a minimum in the pain department, but rolls them on out in the joyeus gifts of the moment department. Many prayers and blessings! Shannon

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