Well, folks, artificial fevers. They work. I’m telling you. Been doing them for years now. And… now I have some evidence!
Check this out:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111101130200.htm
For any who may not know, starting some years back, if I started feeling the first symptoms of getting a cold or something of that nature, I gave myself an artificial fever. I’d crank up the heat, throw on several layers of clothes, and top it all off with coats, winter hat, and multiple blankets. I’d sweat all night (not the most comfortable, but I’d sleep somewhat well, only waking up a handful of times), and by morning, I’d feel much better!
I just did it the other night (when I mentioned I was starting to get sick), and by morning? Much better. Like clockwork. You have to catch it early, though. If I ever wait more than a day, it doesn’t have near the potency for preventing the sickness. Might help get rid of it faster, but I still get sick. If I catch it early enough (first 12-24 hours of feeling first symptoms), I can often send the cold packing for good before it ever gets going, or at least kick it directly to the lungs instead of having to wait out a few days of head cold before it goes to the lungs (that’s the usual progression for me without treatment–a few days of head cold before it slips down to the lungs for another week or so…
Anyway, passing it along, hopefully for the benefit of all who read, and now with some evidence to back me up!
Onward.
So today didn’t quite go as hoped, but it was good (of course it was good! Right? Say it with me… “Every day is a good day. It’s just good in different ways!”). I’m hoping to get at least a couple more of my cars sold before my mom gets back from taking care of my aunt in Seattle (probably coming home around the end of May or so, I believe. I’ve almost got two down. Hopefully at least two more, thus reducing the number of vehicles in the “car lot” we have out here.
To that end, I got both my trucks cleaned out and started and running a bit. Having to pass batteries back and forth between vehicles because I don’t have enough good batteries for them all at the moment.
Unfortunately, my ’04 Sierra decided to throw up on itself (alternator went out right there while I was letting it run. It went from putting out 14 volts to putting out zero volts, all in a matter of maybe 20 minutes. Nice.). I’m thinking that the van I have out there might actually use the same alternator as the pickup truck. If so, score one for the impulse purchase I never should have made (buying the van) that might turn out to have been worth buying after all.
If it is, great. Otherwise, a new alternator is like $180, and I don’t want to put that kind of money into the truck before I sell it. Would probably go to the junk yard to grab one really quickly.
Anyway, got the two trucks somewhat cleaned. My Milwaukee vacuum hose bit the dust, though. Sad. I like that vacuum. Gonna need to order a new hose, but I’m guessing it’s one of those things where just the hose is half the cost of a whole new unit. We’ll see.
Spent some time hanging out up with Liz and company today for easter lunch. Ate, chatted with Blade a good bit about what he’s doing with the Mayo Clinic (he’s in med school up there). I also told him about the medical issues that I have that no one has been able to figure out, and he told me to make a record of everything, and when things calm down, he’d get me in up there to see if they can figure out what’s wrong with me.
That would be fabulous. It’s getting to be quite the problem having to deal with this on such a regular basis now. I’m not very good at taking care of myself (eating and drinking consistently every day). For any who might not know, if I don’t keep myself really well balanced with good nutrition and hydration on a regular basis, I end up having symptoms somewhat like a diebetic who’s crashing but without any blood sugar problems. Symptoms can include any of the following:
- Headaches to migraines, depending on the time and how far gone I am.
- Unquenchable thirst (still feeling thirsty even when I know I’ve had a lot to drink.
- Slap happy.
- Slurred speech.
- Nausea
- Fatigue
- Frequent urination but still thirsty
It gets pretty crazy sometimes. The absolute worst thing for me to do when I get really bad is not eat or drink, but I get so sick feeling that the thought of eating just… ugh. Makes we want to vomit. I have to force feed myself lots and lots and lots and drink a proportional amount of water. If I drink too much, I’ll magraine for sure.
It gets pretty rough, and we’re heading into the season here pretty soon when it’s gonna be hardest to stay on top of things (I’ll be working outdoors all day in the heat). So… it would be nice to finally get a handle on it. I also wonder if somehow my nerve issues that I’ve had issues with for… well probably for my whole life… might be related.
I played kitchen tennis soccer with Rhett for a while, chatted with Mary (finding out that she made the softball team and played in a few games before the canceled the season because of Covid-19). And well… that was that.
I came home and the last several hours have been a bit of a blur. I scrambled a bit to get things out of the rain (we’ve got a thunderstorm going on right now, and it’s gonna freeze tonight. Go figure.). I got some of the batteries I have lying around charged up.
Then…
Well, let’s move on to gratitude.
#1. Sorry to keep yammering away about this day after day, seemingly repeating myself again and again, but it’s meaningful/impactful to me. It’s significant. When I got back from Liz’ place, I wanted to spend a little time getting my room in order (it’s an absolute disaster right now. Here’s a picture, for your amusement. Anyway, I was going to put a movie on while I put things in order. I hooked up my external DVD drive to my computer, and a movie was already in the drive. Red Sparrow. I’ve never seen it. I picked it up at the thrift store (DVDs are $1 each there). Before I pressed play, though, I thought to myself… Stephen, if this has any nude scenes, you’re likely gonna relapse. Now why did I think about that? Because, well, I’m sort of being held accountable by you my readers. You might not be here with me, but I know I’m gonna be reporting to you, whether you respond or not. That’s partly why I shared it all with y’all in the first place–to help me hold myself accountable to get past this crap once and for all. Anyway, so I went onto IMDB.com and looked up the rating and what makes it rated what it is. Well… guess what was one of the descriptions. Yup, graphic nudity.
Okay. Now, in the not to distant past, I’d probably have pressed play and gone ahead and watched, perhaps even looking for the scenes first. Well, not today. Thanks to you the readers and this little blog, I’m clean one more day. So… what did I watch instead? Ice Age. And then Ice Age 2. And then… Ice Age 3 (well, the third one is paused for the night while I write this and go to bed. Another busy day tomorrow. Lots of cars to fix, but here it is. #1. I’m grateful to you the readers and to this blog for helping me to stay clean today. My last relapse was April 7th (possibly 8th in the wee hours of the morning, I don’t remember, but we’ll call it the 7th. Progress.
#2. I’m grateful that instead of staying home and isolating too much, I went up to eat and mingle with Liz and family. Since I’ve sort of left the church, I haven’t felt comfortable being around LDS peeps so much. Nothing against them. They’re great. I just… well… I just don’t really belong/fit in anymore. I’m uncomfortable. And there’s the big elephant in the room that we never address: Why did I stop going to church? Well, I’ll explain all that on my blog one of these days. For the moment, I’m grateful that I went up there. They’re great people, and it’s not really any different with them with me not going to church now. The discomfort is on my end from my own mind and not from anything they do at all, so it was good to just go and be there.
#3. I’m grateful that my parts van might also help me get these trucks sold. That would be nice. I do want to keep one of the trucks, as a pickup truck on a farm is… invaluable. We’ll see if I keep one of the two I have or get another one.
#4. I’m grateful to be feeling much better today after having the day I felt sick with a cold, then the next day having the other issue I explained above. I’ve felt 100% better today on both accounts, but I can tell I’m on the edge right now with the latter. I need to eat just a little more and drink just a little more before bed, but I’m grateful to be feeling so much better right now.
#5. I’m grateful for what appears to be an opportunity to go to the mayo clinic to get checked out. I’d really like to get figured out, so that this issue doesn’t get worse and maybe can even be cured. That would be lovely.
#6. I had a conversation with my oldest sister today. We talked a bit about fears, and I mentioned one of my fears is letting go of seeking after financial security before going after my dreams. I’ve always thought of it as needing to be financially secure before going off and doing the the great things I want to do but that might not bring in any money. She suggested we pinkie promise to just go for it. The very thought scared me. I recoiled in fear. I want to. Badly. But I’m scared. At the same time, I’m 38. I’ve spent my whole life working toward financial security. At first, I did it for the family I expected to have. I didn’t take vacation days for years. I didn’t spend money on anything really for myself at all, saving it all for my future family. Then… some things happened that I didn’t expect. Everything fell apart. What I’d saved all that money for was no longer. Having lost all that and finding myself floating about trying to figure out what happened and where I was going from there, I made a decision to use my money to try to help somebody, and I lost about 95% of what I’d spent all those years saving. There’s still a chance I’ll get it back, but I lost nearly everything and had to start completely over. I mention all that because… I’m 38. What’s to say something else doesn’t come along and wipe out all my savings? Am I gonna start all over again trying for financial security, or is enough enough, and I decide that I’d rather spend my life serving the people of the world the way I want to serve them at the risk of begging for my food if needed, or do I want to put all those dreams of making a big impact for good in the world on hold for another several years while I try get again to find the financial security sufficient to be able to go out and do these things without worrying about funds because I’m independently financially secure and don’t need donors to help me stay afloat?
And perhaps by the time I get that far, I’m 70 years old and never made the difference I wanted to make because I was so caught up in being secure. So… what am I grateful for? The little kick in the pants that the pinkie promise suggestion was for me. Did I pinkie promise to do it now? No. But I did pinkie promise to do it sometime. It will be sooner rather than later.
Well folks. I wish you a good morning. And “in case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!”
~ s
Lift the World 
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