Well—let's start at the beginning. I
have, since early childhood, suffered from bouts of depression. They
come, they go. I was lucky enough in adolescence to have learned
some coping mechanism, and by early adulthood, I had learned enough
to cope to the point, that I didn't let my depressive moods to reduce
me to a point of thinking about, (or attempting) suicide. At points,
over my life time, I have tried drugs-- both Rx and “recreational”
to treat the depression—and I hated them. But still persisted in
taking them—until the side effects convinced me, that my ability
to cope, though not totally effective—were better than the side
effects of the drugs. I have become almost anti drugs (all drugs!) I
need to be convinced to use Rx drugs!
In spite of my reluctance, I have been
taking Rx drugs for a few years now, for a medical condition.
At first, I had few mild side
effects... (mostly upset stomach/intestinal track stuff) and these
eventually abated. Then last summer, a infection and double dose of
some antibiotics produced a new set of intestinal problems. The
antibiotics knocked out all the good bacteria in my intestines, as
well as the bad ones, in my throat and lungs, leaving me worse off.
Around this time, I also started to get
depressed. A triple whammy! I have slowly been recovering
(pro-biotic and good nutrition have helped) , but the depression
didn't respond at all—It just grew deeper and deeper.
Finally, around Thanksgiving, for a
bunch of reasons, I stopped (slowly, tapering off) taking one of my
Rx scripts. Within days, my mood brightened. My sleep returned to
normal. My chronic cough ceased. My body pain ended (well not
completely—I do have some arthritis) but walking is no longer
agony. My mind is clearer, I feel better in a dozen ways!
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| Hugo socks in LB Sock Ease |
Knitting projects that have languished
for month are finally finished (in a week.) My interest in everything
is returning. And once again, I feel up to doing things. It was
amazing how quickly I started to feel better. I still take one
medications, but clearly, the other Rx script I was taking isn't the
right one for me.
Now that I am feeling better, I am
doing better—catching up on the back log of projects I started, and
planning new ones.
My goal last year was to add at least
10 new videos to my YouTube channel—I met and exceeded that goal
(18 new videos in 1 year!)
I also made improvements to my web
page, with lots and lots of new internal links to make navigating the
pages easier. I got my own domain, and linked my web page, my
YouTube page and this blog to make navigating them easier too. All
the old links still work so most of these changes are (or were)
invisible to my loyal followers.
There is still more to do, not all the
cast ons in my list have videos, and bind offs and selvages
collection are in even worse shape.
My goals this year include get
healthier, physically and mentally (The NYC park department has many
free options for exercise programs, and I plan to take advantage. I
have a NYC Parks department Recreation card, too, and plan to take
advantage of the ones that aren't free—like the water aerobics
I have already started working on the
new (and continuous) improvements to my web page—and there are many
more improvements to come, including more internal navigation links
and new videos.
There are always new cast ons and bind
offs to add—or so it seems.
My granddaughter are turning 2 in a few
weeks, and like children everywhere, growing like weeds. I need to
get started knitting for them--again. (They are the oldest of this
generation--(well on our side of the the family—On their fathers
side, the youngest!) and there are many new cousins—from first to
5th! This new generation is growing—and growing! There
are new sweaters need, and new baby blankets, and new—well new
bigger stuff! So knitting is another goal for this new year.
The older generation (ie my parents and
aunt and uncles) is almost gone—Time passes, and I find that I am
now a member of the OLD generation—with out noticing it, I am a
senior citizen! This past summer was one that saw several friends,
(some a little older, some a little younger) than me die. My
mortality is front and center these days. But my improved mental out
look will see me through.
