Another reaction but different

There were great plans for Sunday which included a long walk in the sun taking me to Stanley Park in Vancouver (the photo above shows the autumn colour on a maple tree along West Georgia Street in Vancouver) or up to Burnaby Mountain just to the north of where I live. Well, my body had other ideas! By late morning I was passing blood, mucus and tiny stones with my urine, so it was good that this happened before I left for anywhere. Every five minutes or so I head over to the washroom to do what has to be done (ouch!). After an illness in early 2006 which wasn't resolved until the spring of 2007, the doctors were trying to control "scary" high blood pressure with medications. Once I went to a naturopathic doctor in late March 2007 things started to improve dramatically to where the pressure dropped to 130/80, the best it has been in years. When all this started, the upper number alone was at 260, hence the "scary high" diagnosis by one of the MDs, but as a result of all this I am left with a slight leak in one of the kidneys, the left one. All things considered, all turned out well because I could have had a heart attack or a stroke which would have ended quite differently. And to think a trip to the doctor with bronchitis would have him discover something quite more serious! This cycle was started by little critters called microscopic parasites. They're more or less harmless when the intestinal flora is normal but when the flora is not, look out. It didn't help that we were having a lot of rain during late winter and into the spring in 2006 which caused some issues with the water reservoirs (lakes) from which Vancouver draws its drinking water. I am however thankful for the way things turned out but it is necessary to be careful and proactive.

So, since I had to remain at home, I was busy at the computer between visits to the washroom. I was just puttering along and then made some soup from scatch late in the afternoon, nothing fancy, just a meatless stew with vegetables and broth only. After having three bowls of the stuff, I feel much better. Now I'm having some Jasmin White Tea to wash everything down. There'll be no beer tonight for obvious reasons, not even one!

There are letters to send out but those will have to wait until I'm better which will be tomorrow most likely. This takes 8 to 12 hours to pass (pardon the pun) but I should be well enough to go to work on Monday, knock on wood.

Ah, I had wanted to check out The National Archives (UK) website [ http://ufos.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ ] today as well but that will have to wait till tomorrow as well. There is a lot of interesting material to check out, for me anyway. The three videos just give you a taste of what's out there but the bulk of what I find will be posted on Haliaeetus, the blog I started in early 2007.

I hope you all had a better weekend than I did. Have a great work week for those that do work and for those that are retired (I've got a ways to go yet) have a pleasant week also! More to come later. - Volker