Fossilizing in Fossil, Oregon

Thirty-five years ago I was an undergraduate student at Portland State University.  I was enrolled in six or seven classes, one being Geology.  I kinda liked playing in the dirt a bit, so I decided to take some extra 1-credit weekend classes.  Field trip classes.

It was pretty exciting to be in a college Geology class in 1980 because there was a great deal of seismic activity going on around Mt St Helens in Washington.  For about two months we watched steam escape the mountain and felt earthquakes shake our world.  Everyday many of us would gather around the seismic activity meter deep in the basement of Cramer Hall to watch it go a little crazy.  We anticipated the volcano erupting "any day."  We had pools betting when it would erupt, new pools when it would erupt, again when it would erupt.  The excitement was high.  Yet no matter how great the zags, how long they continued, the mountain stayed together.

The Geology department had been postponing their field trips so students and professors could be here when Mt St Helens blew, but finally had to go out into the field.  There were graduate retreats and field trips, instructor and professor retreats, and a nice undergraduate field trip, all heading somewhere in Eastern Oregon.  One professor stayed in Portland to run the department.  My trip with the other undergraduates was to play in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.  There are three parts to this large area around the desert-like Eastern Oregon: the Clarno--made up of ancient volcanic mud flows, which swept up and preserved a diverse array of wildlife and plants from what was once a tropical area, the Painted Hills--we camped with these gorgeous colored clay hill around us, and Sheep Rock, which has glorious strata.  It also has exposed fossil beds.  All-in-all, there was much to see.  All field trips, classes, and retreats left PSU on Friday, May 16.

On Sunday, May 18th, we were to travel to Fossil, Oregon but instead perked our heads up from breakfast to the yells of our professors/guides.  An earthquake at 8:32a had caused the whole side of Mt St Helens to slide off, exposing gas and causing steam and molten lava to spew.  Mt St Helens had blown her top.

We all wanted to rush home in order to hang out with news crews and family, especially the professors, but we still had to visit Fossil.  One student said, "The whole world is changing and here we are fossilizing in Fossil!"  The leaders finally relented and we headed home, taking the shortest route.  We headed north to I-84 and straight on to Portland.  We stopped for a rest in Biggs, where we ran into some Oregon National Guards who had been working through some of the disaster across the Columbia River.  They said it was like night as the ash blew down through the valley.  We couldn't wait to get home.

Mt St Helens' eruption was the largest current volcanic eruption within the United States; the mudslide was the largest landslide ever recorded.  Fifty seven people and over 7000 bears, deer, elk, and other big game, died that day.  For several weeks Portland had thick inches of ash.  Over the years artists have made many an object with this ash.  Necklaces.  Ashtrays.  Earrings.  Sculptures.  Just about everything.  Even just little glass containers of ash.  Many people walked around downtown wearing masks.  It gave strangers something to talk about. 

And the irony is that the mountain blew while the entire Geology department at PSU was away...

I learned a great deal from the eruption and at this time in my life.  One thing I learned is to just get on with life.  So many times we wait and wait and wait and then finally just go/do/eat.  This anniversary is a reminder that I need to simply start living my life because stuff is going to happen whether or not I wait. 

In memory of Harry R. Truman, David Johnson, Reid Blackburn and the 54 others who died on that mountain.  In memory of all those animals and fish.  

peace~~~

Hey! It's All In Your Head: Fibromyalgia

It really started many years ago, but I was unaware that this was the problem.  My skin hurt when touched.  I tried to tell my MD, but he didn't take it as anything.  I tried to tell my ND but she was focused on other things.  Then one day in her office as I stood up to leave, I slipped my leg between two chairs.  Both chairs brushed softly against my leg and I cried out in pain.  It felt like it was hard enough to leave bruises.  She told me to sit down again and asked me what was going on.

I have since learned this sensitivity to touch is called Allodynia.   Allodynia is a heightened sensitivity to touch, which results in pain from things that normally would not cause discomfort.  I simply have said that "my skin hurts."

Some mornings I would wake up with such muscle pain that I could hardly move.  I wondered what I did in my sleep that caused this severe achy sharp pain.  My new doctor did a rash of tests, ruling out such things as rheumatoid arthritis.  He then spent time pushing on specific pressure points to see if I had pain.  When I screamed out with one spot, he said, "Yep, it's fibromyalgia."

As you can see, diagnosing this condition is difficult.  There are no specific blood tests that go Oh Yeah!  This is it!  It is mostly a process of elimination.  When first diagnosed, I was just so happy to know what this all was I said I didn't need ay medication to help with it.  Extra ibuprofen was good enough.  But in the years since, the pain has increased and other symptoms have become more troublesome.

Besides the pain--a widespread deep or burning pain above and below your waist and on the right and left sides of your body. Pain is more common in the trunk, neck, low back, hips, and shoulders. It usually gets worse gradually and can interfere with even simple daily activities--I experience these symptoms (some I didn't know were associated with fibro until recently).  What I experience is personal; others might experience other things:

1. Sleep problems, such as trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, or waking up feeling tired.
2. Foggy thinking--called "fibro fog"--clouds my thinking, especially when I am having a flare-up.  Some of the common signs of fibro fog include a difficulty with word finding or substitution, loss of short-term memory, and occasionally even episodic disorientation that lasts for about 30 to 60 seconds.  I have been driving and momentarily forget where I am and why I am there.  For example, I was at a T-intersection with my blinker signaling left.  I had no idea why I wanted to turn left, but I trusted that I knew where I was going so I turned left.  Then TaDa! I remembered why and where.
3. Exhaustion and depression.  I don't want to move.  First it is often so painful to actually move and secondly because it seems like just too much work.  I have to say the pup loves these days :)  She just sits on my lap, snoozing in lap-slut heaven.
4.  Excess sweating.  I have been experiencing night sweats again and when I am in any type of heat, I sweat like a pig (except pigs don't sweat...like a...very sweaty person :) ).  I keep saying "I have become a woman who sweats."  But just recently I have learned that this is an odd symptom of fibromyalgia.

Like most people with fibromyalgia, I have times when my symptoms get worse and other times when are milder or no large symptoms. Flare-ups of fatigue and muscle and joint aches are common,  I have tried some medications that are not made for  helping those with fibro but they didn't help.  They made me sick to my stomach or they put me to sleep.  Just recently I have started taking Cymbaltra.  I also have neuropathy in my feet (no medical reason, just lucky).  I have found that Cymbaltra is helping lower the neuropathy pain in my toes.  And I have just experienced a fibro flare-up.  The pain was lower but the sweating, depression, and exhaustion was still present.  Because it was different, it took me a bit of time to recognize what was happening.

For years it was thought to be all in our heads, especially since women are seven times greater to have fibromyalgia than men.  Women's health issues have long been thought of as "psychological" or imagination.  Today it is being diagnosed much sooner with different drugs and treatments helping people with the pain management and severity.  Yay!

peace~~~

Someone Has To

 

Lilacs are in bloom!

Happy Easter to you :)

Happy Spring to you :)

I came home Friday from southern California visiting my mother and needed to gather things for my family's Easter dinner.  I bought chocolate.  I bought a little cute soft cuddly stuffed bunny.  I bought candy corn and jelly beans.  I bought eggs.  Lots of eggs.  I bought egg dye and new egg cups.

And then when I called her, my grandgirl, at 11.5, didn't want to come dye eggs with me.  She told me she is "too old to dye eggs, Mamaw."  Oh sadness.  I didn't know anyone was ever too old to dye eggs.

I tried putting together all their little baskets without coloring the eggs.  It just looked wrong...  So I set it all up and dyed them myself!  Now their little baskets look happy. 

 peace~~~

I know, right?

It was a good flight on the way home from Southern California last Saturday morning.  By "good flight" I mean I had enough room to sit and sew my English paper pieces, read my NOOK, and sip some Diet Coke.  My seatmate was kind and quiet and slept most the way.  Since I was ill with a cold, I had promised her I wouldn't breathe in her direction.

The woman across the aisle was very friendly with her seatmate and they chatted the entire flight.  I was happy for both and glad she wasn't my seatmate.  After about an hour, I noticed that the friendly woman repeatedly said, "I know, right?" to about everything the seatmate said.  And it started me thinking about that phrase (since I could no longer ignore it).

I know, right?

The urban dictionary says the phrase means:  "An affirmation that you agree with or can relate to the preceding statement. It can be used whether the speaker actually knows or not, but in the latter case it usually means that the speaker can attribute the preceding statement to themselves as well"

Facebook has a site with this title.

It's been around since the late 20th century, according to other websites.  Movies have used it, TV shows have used it.  So, it's now a part of our language.  Moving on to the next big thing.

peace and love~~
I know, right?

Every Once in a While You Need a Little DayQuil

Working on Day Seven of the cold.  I'm not whining nor complaining.  Just stating the fact that I am working on Day Seven of the cold.  I know I am getting better because the DayQuil is actually helping.  Yay for Day Seven!

On Friday, February 20, I was walking into Macy's from the Vancouver WA mall.  My toe caught on a small lip that separated the store from the mall.  Since I have not yet learned how to tuck and roll with a fall, I splayed across the store's floor, face smashing against the floor, pushing my glasses into my eye (thank goodness they didn't break and now I would be blind but whooooo what a settlement I would have received!  LOL), smashing my cheek, arms and knees against the tile floor.  No one from Macy's came over to help, but three older gentlemen and two teenaged girls came running from the mall to see if I was okay and help me up.  I eventually got off the floor, checked for broken things, and walked out of the store.  My heart was pounding as I sat in the car, waiting for the adrenaline to calm down.  I immediately called my chiroguy, but the office closed for the weekend at 1:00...it was 12:58 when I called.  I tried calling my daughter-in-law to ask about her chiroguy but she was out of the office.  I tried calling my partner, but he was still out to lunch.  So I drove home and put ice on my knees, which were both already swelling into big fat bowling balls.

Once she called me back, my daughter-in-law called her chiroguy for me and set up an appointment for later that afternoon.  It was important for me to immediately see the chiroguy because I was heading down to Southern California on Monday and I knew if I didn't see him now, I wouldn't be able to walk or move much for a much longer time.  She then asked if I had told anyone at Macy's about the fall.  I didn't even think about stopping and telling people I fell.  I just wanted to get home.  So she did that for me as well.

The chiroguy did miracles and I felt better.  I knew by day three that I was doing better because the ibuprofen was actually taking some of the pain away.  I was stiff while down south but it was livable.  Bruises finally showed up in my knees and arms.  I had been able to get my glasses fixed before I left, so they were good to go.  And then I came down with this cold.

I finally talked to Macy's and told the woman there that I was doing okay.  I also told her I was seeing my own chiroguy today so I would have a better idea how I was feeling.  When I saw him, he said I was extremely tight on my right side and I will see him again on Saturday so he can better assess how I am doing.  No pain?  Of course not!  The extra ibuprofen and the DayQuil, NyQuil at night, were all masking any pain I had going on.  So apparently this case isn't closed yet.  We will see.

Meanwhile, I am thankful still for DayQuil because today I am not mouth-breathing and don't want to just sit and nap.  Yay for Day Seven!

peace~~~