Relief - Soaking My Foot

I have had pain in my right foot since August.  Late in August, I woke up one morning, and the joint at the base of my great toe on each foot was swollen, and sore.  Eventually, the joint on the left foot became less swollen, but is still more pronounced than previously, but the joint on my right foot has never decreased, and continues to be sore.

This is not unusual to me.  The same happened many, many years ago with my thumb joints, and eventually, mostly with massaging, both decreased in size, but not ever back to normal, and the pain went away.

Well, the other day, a co-worker was talking about soaking her feet in Epsom Salt.  Well, that is a creature comfort that I enjoy, but did not even think of.  So, the other night, I soaked my right foot, and noticed immediate relief that lasted well into the next day, although the swelling did not diminish. 

Eventually, the pain returned, but I have been continuing with the soaking, and the pain has diminished, but of course, returns with use.

The other thing I noticed is that I have had a lot of broken capillaries on my ankles, and many of the ones on the right foot have disappeared from the skin surface.  There are still some higher than the area that is affected by the soaking.  Maybe I need to find a deeper container.  

Relief

Haiku did not want me to check her feet Thursday. I did not fuss with her, as she was acting normal, did not seem to be favoring her feet or walking in pain.  Friday morning, she let me check her feet.  The pink spots were gone, and she seemed just fine.

Relief.

Hurricane Central

So one of the big news stories of the year is the impacting Southeast Texas coastal cities by Hurricane Harvey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Harvey. Lubbock http://www.fox34.com/story/36237396/lubbock-responds-to-hurricane-harvey-disaster-relief sent much help: police, sheriffs, firemen, individuals, agencies.

Governor Abbott  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Abbott of Texas pre-declared a disaster, and President Trump almost immediately declared a national disaster, allowing FEMA https://www.fema.gov/ to start helping almost immediately.  Not only did the Governor deploy all of the 12,000Texas National Guard https://www.nationalguard.com/, Guards from other states helped.  The American Red Cross https://www.redcross.org/donate/hurricane-harvey?scode=RSG00000E017&utm_campaign=Harvey&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3MPNBRDjARIsAOYU6x9ZG5Lc6mUdm6waeS3kaQt3Lpfmf31VZdyJDkbOxDgHGjlSFo0xpy0aAqcJEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CIHajqG3lNYCFU8DgQod1gkPrQ, Catholic Charities https://www.catholiccharities.org/, the Salvation Army http://www.salvationarmy.org/ and the South Plains Food Bank https://www.spfb.org/ all deployed. 

Governor Abbot waived the hotel tax for all evacuees and rescuers.

Many hospital patients were evacuated, and while there was no mandatory evacuation of Houston, people were encouraged to consider it and at least prepare.  Shelters were opened and more shelters were opened.

Private individuals put their boats in the water, and made rescues.  The Louisiana Cajun Navy http://mashable.com/2017/08/29/Cajun-navy-houston-harvey-louisiana/#b4TfxR2mvOqF came to help.  

Corporate America helped.  HEB https://www.heb.com/ donated food and water to rescuers and evacuees.  WalMart https://www.walmart.com/ did a fundraiser.  Local businesses in Lubbock have done fundraisers. To name two:  Cantina Laredo https://www.google.com/search?q=cantina+laredo+lubbock&ie=&oe= and 

West Crust Pizza https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g56208-d2199840-Reviews-West_Crust_Artisan_Pizza-Lubbock_Texas.html.

MLB https://www.mlb.com/ and NFL https://www.nfl.com/ are doing fund raisers.

Congress passed emergency relief  http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/06/politics/house-votes-harvey-aid/index.html  http://dailycaller.com/2017/09/07/senate-passes-hurricane-harvey-relief-bill-raises-debt-ceiling/.

The five living ex-Presidents: President Carter, President Bush (41) and President Bush (43), President Clinton and President Obama  have come together to develop One America Appeal https://www.oneamericaappeal.org/ which was originally specific for Hurricane Harvey but is being broadened to help Hurricane Irma victims and survivors.

Major gasoline refineries were shut down, and gasoline prices have jumped, but the refineries are back on line https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/05/oil-surges-as-refineries-restart-after-harvey-irma-is-trouble-for-gas.html.

And now, Hurricane Irma https://weather.com/storms/hurricane-central/irma-2017/AL112017  is wreaking havoc in the Caribbean Sea , on the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and many other Caribbean Islands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Caribbean_islands Anguilla, Barbuda, and Turks and Caicos to name a few.

There are the same pre-hit disaster preparations and disaster declarations occurring for Irma as there were for Harvey. Puerto Rico evacuated people inland. Florida has some mandatory evacuations, and is well prepared for evacuations, including of the Florida Keys, but even so, gas is short, prices are skyrocketing and in reality, there is some price gouging occurring.  The Florida attorney general, Pam Bondi http://myfloridalegal.com/ has said that will not be tolerated.

There is another hurricane active more south: Katia http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at3.shtml?cone and Jose https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/tropical-storm-hurricane-jose-forecast-atlantic is in the Caribbean, too.

Such an active hurricane season.  Pray for all in harms way.

Posture and Pain

I sat at my desk at work today, for a long time, hunched over, writing. I sat that way for too long, and when I stood up, realized it.  I took a quick break and a short walk.  I later went grocery shopping and I can still feel the lower back pain. I took some Aleve and put an analgesic patch on.  The next thing I am going to do is get on the elliptical and exercise for about 44 minutes.  (I am working up to 45 minutes, a day at a time, this week.) I know that will actually help.  I was ready to exercise about 45 minutes ago, but waited for the Aleve to kick in.

Mosquitos

I stepped out briefly last night, just to sample the night air. And in less that 5 minutes, more like 2 or 3 minutes, I got two mosquito bites!  They bothered me a little today, but sitting at the computer tonight, they really started to itch.  Guess what?  I got out the meat tenderizer again. Yeah! meat tenderizer.

Meat Tenderizer

I  keep meat tenderizer in my medicine cabinet.  This is a hold over from a former life when I spent a lot of time in the great outdoors.  Meat tenderizer really helps if you have an insect bite that is inflamed and itchy.   I sat outside the other night.  The air was just beautiful. I lit a couple of citronella candles, but did not get the Off Clip On Mosquito Repellent http://www.off.com/en-US/Products/Pages/off-clip-on.aspx?cid=SEM_B_off%20clip%20on_off-us-spr14&sid=SEM_B_289.kw107481e#off-clip-on-mosquito-repellent-refills device out. Mistake.  I had one mosquito bite on my right forearm.  And it has been really bothering me. Tonight, it continued to be really red, looking inflamed, and very itchy.  I went to the medicine cabinet, got out the meat tenderizer, made a paste, and applied it to my arm.  Wow, it seems miraculously, the itching stopped and the redness disappeared. I have flakes of salt on my arm. But that is a small price to pay for the relief I felt immediately!  Duh!