The summer is flying by, and to be honest, I’m okay with it. July was a roller coaster of a month personally and for my health, and I learned the hard way this month that my body really doesn’t like hot temperatures. But, all things considered, it was an okay month. Now if August could fly by, too, that would be great.
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I’m currently …
up to: spending a lot of time in Maine, recovering from surgery, waiting for my infusion to kick in, and spending a lot of time at the doctor’s office. I spent about a week up in Maine with my family for the Fourth of July, and then I went up again two weekends ago. It’s so great to be up there because it’s peaceful and 75% of my family lives in the Bangor area. My surgery recovery is going well, which is awesome, and I got the okay last week to start trying more yoga so long as I listen to my body and don’t do poses that will hurt my knee. I had my infusion in the middle of the month – which is the main treatment for my rheumatoid arthritis – and it’s slowly starting to kick in. It takes 3ish weeks, so it should be completely working within the next week. And somehow I managed to have a minimum of 4 medical appointments every week in July, and usually it was 6. That’s a lot, and I’m glad to be through that.
thinking: that too much credit was given to John McCain and not enough to Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, ADAPT, and disability advocates; that I can’t believe I have to explain to people why they should care about other people; and that summer is overrated (don’t @ me). Don’t get me wrong – I’m trilled that McCain voted against the “skinny” repeal. But what about the 2 female senators who had been against repeal-only from the beginning? And what about the disability advocates who were removed from their wheelchairs so they could be arrested for protesting? And what about ADAPT, the national grassroots organization that helped organize a lot of the disability response to the bill? It’s very frustrating that most of the credit has gone to a man who initially voted for the process (and by the way, he’s not the only senator with cancer who arrived after surgery to vote.) Similarly, I still can’t believe that I have to explain to people why they should not want a bill that will hurt millions of people. The fact that it will hurt millions of people should be enough reason for people to be against the bill. But on a completely different train of thought – I’m ready for summer to be over. I didn’t like the heat before my body began freaking out in it, so now I really don’t like it. So, fall, whenever you’re ready, I’m on board.
wearing: patterned shorts and light makeup. I talked a lot about this is in my post on My Summer Essentials, so I won’t repeat everything I said there.
wanting: fall to get here and my body to calm down for once in its life. Both of these things are related to summer. Like I mentioned, I had my infusion this month and it takes a few weeks to kick in, so I knew that July was going to be rough between my infusion and surgery. But then we had a week of 85-95 degree temperatures and I learned that my body HATES the heat. You may remember that I was hospitalized back in June, and it was for issues with my heart that is potentially POTS (and if not POTS some other form of dysautonomia). Apparently, POTS and dysautonomic conditions hate the heat. I felt nauseous, light headed, and like I was going to pass out all week – among other issues, including a skin reaction to the heat – and my resting heart rate was 110-170 when it’s usually 95-110. I turned to Twitter and my friends with POTS and learned that this is A Thing™️. So, if my body could just chill out that would be great.
watching: Supernatural, Criminal Minds, NCIS, Descendants, Madame Secretary, CSI, Big Brother, The Bachelorette, and Dunkirk. Again, I had my infusion and am still recovering from surgery, which means LOTS of TV watching.
feeling: anxious, grateful that the ACA repeal failed, like I’m moving in the right direction in my surgery recovery, glad that I’m done with 6 medical appointments a week, nervous for my grandpa and grateful for his medical team, and impatient for my infusion to kick in. My anxiety was through the roof in July with my health situation, the US government trying to take away my health care and kill my friends, and my grandpa having a stroke. He has vascular dementia, so this isn’t his first stroke and it won’t be his last, but it’s still nerve wracking.
listening to: my Feel Good playlist, my Working playlist, and the songs “Back to You” by Louis Tomlinson and Bebe Rexha, “Power” by Little Mix and Stormzy, “Praying” by Kesha, and Mumford and Sons (my writing music).
loving: my increased stamina, how many people have contacted their elected officials over the past month or two, MAC & CHEESE I CAN EAT (yes, that deserves all caps), and my summer essentials. Since my infusion is starting to kick in and my knee is healing nicely, my ability to do things has increased a lot over the past month and it’s great. And what’s even better? All the people who have exercised their rights and contacted their elected officials. People doing that are definitely making a difference. On a less serious note, we discovered that there’s mac & cheese I can eat that doesn’t taste awful. It’s by Daiya and it’s free of gluten, dairy, corn, soy, and egg, so if you can’t eat any of those things, definitely check it out. It isn’t amazing, but it’s the best Kate-friendly mac & cheese I’ve ever eaten.
reading: Mere Christianity, The Shadow of the Wind, and Structuring Your Novel. I really loved Mere Christianity and Structuring Your Novel, but I think I’m done trying to read The Shadow of the Wind. It’s way too slow moving for me and the more I read the more I get annoyed with the main character. I’m not even halfway through and it’s 16 hours long listening on Audible, so it’s just not worth it for me. Now, if you could suggest any other books in translation (as in, translated to English) I can read for the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2017 Reading Challenge, I would appreciate it! I talked about Mere Christianity in my last Currently post because I started it in June, so I won’t restate what I said about it there. As for Structuring Your Novel, if you’re a writer or want to write a novel, you should read this. It’s full of great tips about novel structure, breaking the rules, writing scenes, and more.
looking forward to: hopefully finishing TLM this month, Mitchell family reunion this weekend, and the semester starting. I’ve been saying this for years but I should finish TLM soon! I only write during breaks from school so it has taken me a while to write it, but I’m near the end now. Seeing my dad’s family will be great this weekend at our family reunion! It’s not a giant reunion because that would take too much planning – this is just my dad’s parents, his siblings, and their families, and it has still taken us at least a year for all of us to get together. And, of course, I couldn’t let this post go without reminding you all what a giant nerd I am. I’m so excited for the new semester, which starts the last week of August. It’s also my last semester! I’m sooo close to finishing my program.
planning: the fall semester and finishing TLM. I’m less than 10,000 words away from finishing this book and I’m so excited. Hopefully I’ll manage it before August 28th, which is when my fall semester starts!
What have you been up to?
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Kate Mitchell is a blogger, chronic illness patient, and advocate who helps people understand chronic illness and helps chronic illness patients live their best lives.
I’m Not in the US so I don’t like to delve into politics too much but from and outsider’s perspective I too wanted to know why so much focus was on McCain when the other two were adamant with their opposition from the get go. Bizarre.
Anyway hope you have a great week girl!
Isn’t it ridiculous? I get that it was a surprising vote, but I felt (and still feel) like he got way too much credit.