Just Jot It January is ending with a whimper for me.
I had to visit the urgent clinic yesterday evening and barely managed not having to report to the emergency department at the hospital. I need to follow up with my primary care first thing this morning, though, so I’m getting this post out just in case I do wind up needing further treatment in the light of day.
Thanks for all the well wishes, thoughts, and prayers you have been sending my way.
I’m slow to recover from my angiogram on Monday. I will, though, be heading to physical therapy early this morning, which will be the first time I’ve left the house. Later in the day, I have a phone appointment with my insurer, who may finally have account numbers for me. Fingers crossed! ***** There’s still time left to join in Linda’s Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/01/30/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-30th-2025/
Under the United States Constitution and laws, Congress appropriates funds and the president and executive branch spends those funds as Congress has directed – and Trump and his administration need to do this or resign because they are breaking their oaths to uphold the Constitution. ***** Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays and/or Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/01/29/one-liner-wednesday-jusjojan25-the-29th-snowy-walk/
Yesterday, I had a bilateral cerebral CT angiogram.
It went…okay-ish?
There were some less-than-optimal parts, like needing three attempts to get an IV started in the right location, getting twice the usual dose of sedation meds and still not really being sedated enough, and having a bizarre side effect afterward that involved seeing brightly-colored geometric shapes in my peripheral vision that weren’t there.
The doctors performing the procedure said they didn’t find anything abnormal, which was upsetting when I thought I was finally going to get an explanation for what has been going on for almost a year now. I realized today, though, that I don’t have the full results yet because those will come from the radiologist who has to review all the CT images.
So, maybe, tomorrow or later this week, there will be some answers?
Remember Project 2025, the lengthy document spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation to lay out plans for the “conservative president” they expected to be elected and which mirrored Trump’s Agenda 47 and the Republican party platform? Many public policy experts and commentators wrote about its extreme views and the impact it would have on Americans if implemented.
While Trump was on record as supporting it and many of its authors were former members of this administration, when it was more widely publicized in the media during his presidential campaign and proved to be massively unpopular with the electorate, he disavowed it.
Much of the flood of executive orders and administrative actions launched last week are in line with Project 2025, though, and people who were involved with its creation are coming back to the White House, although some, like Project 2025’s chief architect Russell Vought, nominee to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget, must be confirmed by the Senate.
Trump is still insisting he knows nothing about Project 2025.
Unbelievable. ***** I’m posting this early in the day before I head to the hospital for my angiogram. I hope to get an update on that out tomorrow. Meanwhile, join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/01/27/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-27th-2025/
Linda’s Just Jot It January offers daily prompts, which I usually ignore to do my own thing, but today I decided to use the provided prompt, jubilee.
Because I’m not feeling well, I attended mass via television this morning and the homily talked about the Jubilee Year of Hope that Pope Francis proclaimed for 2025.
Jubilees in the Catholic Church have their basis in the Hebrew Scriptures, which call for a jubilee every fifty years. Popes have followed that tradition for years ending in 00 and 50, but also sometimes add other special jubilees, as Francis did here.
Jubilees are calls for liberation, freedom, and the forgiveness of debts and Francis explains how these pertain to our present time, especially for those who are marginalized or, too often, overlooked.
Given that hope tends to be a difficult virtue for me, perhaps this year dedicated to hope will help me to be a better “pilgrim of hope,” as Francis terms it.
May all those in need be given hope, freedom, and resources in this Jubilee Year.
Until last spring, I was used to having days that were fairly busy with activities, errands, and writing. Granted, I did need to use a calendar to keep everything in line but I had the wherewithal to keep up.
And now I don’t.
This last week has been particularly challenging.
The current theory, for which there is quite a lot of evidence, is that I’m having some blood flow issues that are keeping me from getting enough blood to my brain and perhaps my left arm. I’m scheduled to have an angiogram on Monday to look into my blood vessels and see if there are any compression areas or blockages. It will be diagnostic, so we might finally be able to figure out what is going on and what we can do for treatment.
I admit that, until yesterday, I had hoped that they might be able to treat whatever they find during the angiogram. I fantasized about coming out of the sedation without the constant buzzing in my left ear that has been there since last March.
But, no.
It hasn’t helped that the transfer of my health insurance after B’s retirement has not gone smoothly. I do have insurance in effect but I don’t have the account numbers yet. Yesterday, they almost cancelled the angiogram because of it. I told them I would let them bill me directly so that they would go through with it.
The extra stress has not been a lot of help.
My fatigue has gotten even worse. I had hoped that I could rest this morning so that I could go to a poetry reading and church this afternoon but I have to face the fact that I can’t. I’m writing this from bed because even sitting in my recliner seems like too much work right now.
My new weekend plan is to lie down as much as possible and rest so that I can get through getting to the hospital for my test Monday morning. It’s likely I’ll be there the whole day but should be able to come home by evening.
So, things here are getting pretty sketchy. I have an angiogram scheduled for Monday but am feeling increasingly unwell, which may or may not be related to the purpose of the angiogram.
I’m still hoping to attend a poetry reading that is important to me tomorrow afternoon, but will have to wait and see what kind of day tomorrow is.
At this point, I’m planning to continue to post every day for Just Jot It January but if I just post the word “Jot” at some point, you’ll understand that that is all I can manage.
I have physical therapy this afternoon. Maybe that will help…
Those who are visiting here because of my participation in Linda’s Just Jot It January would be forgiven if they thought that Top of JC’s Mind is primarily a political blog.
I swear that it is and will remain an eclectic blog with personal, health, poetry, climate, music, and political posts, along with anything else at the top of my mind.
It’s just that, given where the United States is right now, political issues are smack in front of us all the time.
ALL THE TIME!
I had started a series well before the November, 2024 election called Vote for Democracy ’24 and was numbering the main posts that were part of the series. I’ve now renamed the category Vote for Democracy and am subtitling the posts with the number. (At least for now. Subject to change.)
As expected, the Trump administration has begun its term with a flurry of executive orders, most of them straight from the Project 2025 playbook. I’ve been heartened to see major non-profit organizations and state attorneys general filing legal challenges to the executive orders in an attempt to shield as many people and worthwhile programs as possible.
There is no way that I could address the huge range of issues here. I’ve decided that my role will be to highlight certain issues to raise awareness. It will be my little drop in the ocean of love, protection, and respect for people and planet. (Please forgive the very mixed metaphor. I’m super tired today.)
I hope you will drop in from time to time to see what is top of mind for me. I also hope that you will keep on reading truthful sources of news and information. I promise that I will post information that I can verify and will correct any errors that I may make. Of course, when opinions are expressed, they are my own but have been grounded in facts.
For those in the US – and elsewhere – who are looking for non-corporate, truthful coverage of what is happening here, I suggest Marc Elias’s Democracy Docket, especially for voting/election issues, and Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen’s The Contrarian.
Joanne Corey 