osteoporosis, rat killing, books

Wednesday I created a Feedly account and transferred my blog list over there since Blogger had become unreliable. So, of course, the next morning, guess what? Blogger had finally refreshed the blog roll on my sidebar and the reading list on the dashboard. Damn, if I’d know that’s all it took I’d have done it days ago.

Nothing has happened in my little world since I last published Tuesday. I have some pictures to share but first a little health reporting. You might remember I had my 6 month check up with the PC doc. We talked about my latest dexa scan results for osteoporosis. It’s been three years since my previous scan and most my numbers are stable, my lumbar spine improved, total left hip essentially no change, left femoral neck worsened (T score went from -2.9 to -3.1 but the Z score did not change). So we talked about the meds, how they work, how common are side effects. For those of you who don’t know, the standard treatment for osteoporosis is bisphosphonates like Fosamax that work by preventing your body from breaking down old weak bone faster than new bone is made. That’s how it increases density. I questioned the effectiveness of this especially since some women on these drugs still suffer fractures. Bones may be denser but they aren’t necessarily stronger to which my doctor replied that old weak bone is better than no bone. Ok, she’s got a point there. I also questioned whether taking calcium was really helping since calcium alone does not build bone. Other nutrients are required to convert calcium to bone and brought up all the various supplements advertised that claim to build bone for people when nothing else worked (and of course the only place you can buy them is online from a single vendor). She said there is no clinical evidence that supports their claims. I asked whether there were any drugs that stimulated bone building not just prevent break down (break down speeds up, bone building slows down in women after menopause). And, yes, the injectables do but most insurance companies won’t pay for that unless you go through the bisphosphonates first but that they also interact with other drugs like the one I take for my thyroid. Well, I have no intention of taking the bisphosphonates, the side effects are awful, I believe they are more common than they tell you, and women are still suffering fractures. So she’s sending me to an endocrinologist for a more specialized look.

In the meantime I continue yoga, keeping limber, maintaining balance (falling being the number one reason bones break), and strengthening my muscles to help protect my bones. They also tell you that walking or running or dancing or jumping, anything that causes impact on the feet and hips, stimulates bone growth. I’ve read that just doing so with your normal weight may not produce any benefit because your body is used to your weight, that you need to do exercises that target specific areas or activities (as noted above) with added weight, gradually increasing the weight over time so as not to suddenly add ten or more pounds to already weak bones. Granted, this info is from trainers who want to sell their exercise instructions and routines but it makes sense. I’m not interested in joining a gym and certainly can’t afford a trainer so I bought a weighted vest. The vest itself weighs four pounds and came with six additional one pound weights that slip into pockets on the vest. Right now I’m only wearing the vest with no additional weight when I walk the dog and I’ve added side leaps and walking lunges with the vest on. I realize it may have no impact on bone growth and it will take six months of gradually increasing the weight to see any possible improvement but the vest cost less than $40 and while it may not help, it can’t hurt. 

Thursday was the coolest day since last spring. I don’t think it even broke 90˚ and we got a little shower earlier and when I went over to feed the kitties it was drizzling. Would be nice if that was the start of lower temps but we’re headed back into mid 90s tomorrow and for the foreseeable future with the attendant humidity. Went out to run some errands earlier, or as my mother would have said, do my rat killing. First to the Evil Empire for more AC coolant for the car and a coupe of prescriptions for Marc and more watercolors for Paisleigh as she’s pretty much used up the ones she has and a coloring book. Also got another pad of watercolor paper for me and a new set of sheets. These are 600 thread count Egyptian cotton discontinued and on sale for less than $40 in a soft sage green color. Hard to pass that up since I did need another set of sheets. Then off to Hesed House market for local lettuce, honey, eggs, and cornmeal. This weekend the plan is to get more compost and prepare the beds for planting, acquire plants and seeds, and maybe even get something in the ground. It’s still really too hot for winter vegetables but if they aren’t in the ground soon there won’t be enough time to produce before we start getting freezes. And there’s a super niño this year which means a colder wetter winter for us.

Now some pics…I’ve seen quite a few fritillaries this year (picture at the top), in another subtle sign of the coming shift of seasons the tallows are starting to drop their colorful leaves whereas before they were just dried up brown from the heat and drought.

Saw this walnut sphinx moth hiding in the not yet blooming mist flower,

these guys were on a thin althea branch. The bigger one was chowing down on a leaf.

A cascade of rangoon creeper flowers.

Two book reviews to end.

A Box Full Of Darkness by Simone St. James - Siblings Violet, Vail, and Dodie grew up in Fell NY, a town where strange things seemed to be the norm and most particularly in their little neighborhood and house. Born to emotionally distant and generally unavailable parents with no other children in the neighborhood, the three Esmie children relied on each other even though none of them shared the nightmares and visitations they suffered. They knew Violet sees ghosts but she never told them about Sister who menaced her constantly, nor Dodie about the waters that rose and in her room at night not Vail who would be awakened by a light and figures peering over him. When their mother appeared one day with a baby, their little brother Ben became their world but then Ben disappeared when he was six during a game of hide and seek and never seen again. Whatever glue held the family together dissolved when Ben disappeared. Within two years the house was abandoned, and two decades later both parents deceased and the three siblings scattered barely remaining in contact. Then one day Violet gets a call from the landscaping company hired to maintain the yard of the family home. They are quitting the contract, he can’t make any of his workers go there again. What did you see, Violet asked. A little boy, he said come home. And so Violet contacts her siblings and the three return to the family home to finally find the answer to what happened to Ben. A nice little haunted house/ghost story.

Solo Leveling 1 by Chugong - Translated from Korean, this is the first of 8 books in the English release, 14 in the original Korean edition. It’s like a video game or graphic novel in book form. There is also a comic series and two Netflix features, one animated, one live action. Jinwoo is a level E Hunter, the lowest and weakest Hunter level. Gates open to dungeons and the hunters have to go in and kill the beasts therein and kill the Boss of the dungeon before they enter the world. After the Boss is killed the gate will close  and the hunters have an hour to get out or be trapped in the dungeon forever. Jinwoo is on a hunt in a double dungeon, the inner dungeon of which is a temple, with giant statues that attack the hunters. There is plaque with three commandments and Jinwoo figures out how to follow the commandments and survive. He manages to let the 8 surviving hunters escape and then inadvertently completes the third commandment and is rewarded by a mysterious System with the ability to change his status as a hunter, something no other hunter can do, hunters are awakened and your level is your level for life. Jinwoo is trying to keep his ability a secret as he continues to level up but when he is the only survivor of several hunts with higher level hunters people are starting to take notice. This is written as if it is a video game with all the grunts and various noises written out. It was ok, just not to my taste and definitely aimed at a younger audience. I won’t be reading any of the others.