To set the stage for all this, you need to understand that Armor Thyroid was reformulated at the beginning of 2009, and although it had the same amount of thyroid hormone in it, the fillers and binders inhibited the absorption of the medicine. Which means that I've been getting too little effective thyroid medicine for over a year. And then with the lack of availability of it, I've been taking a bit less than half the dose I need for more than two months.
This would usually guaranteed depression. I don't think I've really been depressed, but I will definitely say that it's been harder to keep things from getting the better of me.
On top of that, it appears that I've also been getting too little vitamin D, which can also cause SAD, and make you feel down and depressed. Not to mention the bad effect it has on bones.
So, it was in this shape that I signed up for the Knitting Olympics. You can see Stephanie's last blog post on her experience with it this time around here. If you read the whole thing, and click the list of athletes near the end of it, you can scroll down to my name and see my pathetic entry into this whole dismal failure for me.
Keep in mind that during this time period, we had a lot of snow!
It started off with me waiting longer than I should have to decide to enter, and pushed me into making a hasty decision and ordering yarn later than I should have. Even though it was late, the yarn could have arrived on the day of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics, but, sadly, no, it didn't.
Before the Olympics had even officially started, there was a death of an athlete. I'm sure you've all read about it, and during what was listed as the "Opening Ceremonies" on TV, the first hour and a half was spent on preparations for the Olympics (not opening ceremonies), and they showed video of the accident over and over. It was bad enough that he died, but I really didn't need to see how very violent the accident was over and over!
So Friday evening, I watched a selection of the opening ceremonies, and because of a malfunction in the torch mechanism, the actual lighting was delayed, and I didn't get to see the lighting of the flame. That's what I get for DVRing it without adding extra time at the end of the recording.
I consoled myself that the yarn would arrive on Monday.
That didn't last too long because I realized that Monday was Columbus Day, and everything in DC (including the mail) shuts down for that. Except, of course, the stores, which go into overdrive and have big sales. Unfortunately for them and me, I think the buses were shut down for the holiday. I didn't have the energy to walk up to the bus stop to check this theory.
Then, because of the usual incompetence of Comcast, I was forced, on Tuesday to spend more than three hours on various buses and waiting for those buses to go there in person. As usual, that didn't help much.
But it did leave me in such pain and so wiped out that I really wasn't able to do much of anything for a few days. Although the yarn arrived on Wednesday, I was so mentally foggy that I just didn't have any ideas for designing the vest that I wanted to make.
When I finally recovered enough to be up and walking, I had to go over to WalMart to get some nutritional supplements that I couldn't find anywhere and really feel bad if I don't take. So, I went there on Friday, and fell due to the snow and hurt myself pretty badly. No broken bones or major injuries, but muscles and joints that had been rudely yanked in various directions, and were thereafter determined to cause so much pain that it would teach me never to do that again! Along with bashing my head really hard on the cement! When they give you the diagnosis of Paget's Disease, they tell you to be careful and not to bump your head because it's bad for you, and can cause even more malformations of your skull than usual with the Paget's. I had some real headaches from this one!
About the time that I was beginning to realize that I would probably be able to deal with knitting soon, and should probably spend some time with my brain fog and design the charts for the cables in the vest, I found out that someone I know was missing in Vancouver. And eventually, I learned that Josh Andrew Koenig had died there. I hadn't seen him in a long time, but it still made me even sadder than I already was.
I accidentally injured some of my already injured muscles, and dragged my recovery out even more. For a while there, I wasn't really knitting at all.
Although I didn't get to see the doctor and find out the results of the vitamin D level tests she did in January, I read the list of symptoms, and it's pretty clear to me that my D levels were very low, so I tried supplements, and that has started to improve things considerably. Oh, and I did get some new thyroid medicine, so I 'm back to what is probably close to a good dose for me. Those things should improve my health, but although both things work quickly, it's not like waving a magic wand. The effects are not instant, but I'm seeing an improvement, and that's encouraging.
Around this time, Holly was finally able to find her car where it was hiding under the snow, and tried to dig it out, only to discover that a passing snow plow had not only piled lots of snow on it, but had actually hit it and smashed the left rear quarter!
And then the end of the Olympic Games. I got the see the mechanism they were using for the flame at last right at the end when they extinguished it. It really was very pretty.
Aside from the actual Olympic scores, my personal life scores were: two people dead, one someone I knew; I haven't even started my Knitting Olympics project; a patch of injury and bad health, although there's hope for the future on this one; Holly's car smashed; and a real thankfulness that it's over and that February was short.
Things have to get better from here on in, right?
During the last few days, temperatures have been going up above freezing, and the pond next to my place has changed from being solidly frozen to a shimmering pool of light when the sun comes out. It was supposed to go up to near 50 degrees yesterday, although it felt colder than that when I went out.
I did walk to the library yesterday (the sun was actually out for a while!) and to Safeway for food, and came home without that horrible ache in my bones, so maybe the vitamin D is doing some good. If it stays that way, I plan to walk more. I'm hopefully looking forward to a MD Sheep and Wool festival that I can survive without being in pain for the next two months.
We have snow flurries in the forecast for this afternoon, tonight and at least part of tomorrow. Flurries don't sound bad, but they're also using the word "storm" which, after the ton of snow we've already had makes me uneasy.
But it will be Spring soon! I can see just a few hints of it, and I've ordered some super clearance yarn for almost nothing that will make some great Spring clothing!
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