One year ago, after 24 mostly sucky years, I worked my last day at Sears. At an appliance department reunion dinner a few weeks ago, we all marveled that it didn’t seem like so much time had passed. For them this means that they have been busy working and, now that Sears Modesto is closed, busy looking for new jobs. For me it means that I have stayed busy, too, which I understand is not all that common for retirees.
I celebrated my first year of retirement by having an intense attack of gout in my left wrist. For those of you that have never suffered from gout, you have no idea how painful and annoying it is. First, it hurts like the devil, and even the slightest touch to the inflammation causes pain. And it pretty much throbs painfully even when it isn’t touched. Then there is the swelling, which in this case means I have not been able to close my left hand for the last three days. This is especially annoying because I drive mostly with my left hand, so even if I wasn’t dizzy with a fever, I can’t go anywhere. Finally is that fever, which has been between 100 and 101 most of the time.
I am especially vexed when I have a gout attack, which happens maybe once a year, because I can’t take Alleve or Advil or any other effective anti-inflammatory drugs. Extra strength Tylenol is pretty much useless. I did finally take some medicine which helped a bit and luckily I did not suffer from any of the disgusting possible side effects.
Living With One Hand
As a result of my gout attack, for the better part of 4 days, I did not have the use of my left hand. Not only was the pain too great, but my hand was swollen so much that I could not close it enough to make a fist or even put my thumb and a finger together to grab something. If you have never been in this position, it is stunning how inconvenient only having one useful hand can be. There are a hundred things that we do every day that requires the use of our non-dominant hand. No way to put on jeans; I had to wear sweats the whole time. Had to use my teeth to set the units on my insulin pens. Closing Ziplock bags also requires teeth. And don’t even get me started about trying to open a jar lid; this required the use of my normally inconveniently large belly. And I couldn’t drive, because I steer with my left hand most of the time.
My great nephew Will has only had the use of one hand all of his life. I so admire the many things that he has learned how to do out of necessity, things that we take for granted every day. He is a miracle and my hero, especially after I tried to walk in his shoes for only 4 short days.
Running A Little Behind
My nephew, Nate, kindly chastised me the other day because I had failed to publish this, my last diary entry, on the day of my 1 year retirement anniversary. I use the gout as an excuse, and then a long overdue installation of new flooring in 70% of my house. All of that is behind me, but I am glad that I waited because…
Life is Good!
With a year of retirement behind me, and hopefully many years of ahead of me, I realized this morning how truly lucky and blessed that I am. According to my Schwab Intelligent Portfolio, as long as I don’t live past 81, I am good to go. I haven’t gotten bored with retirement; in fact, I have more things to do than I can get to. And after foolishly not taking care of it when I first moved into my house 8 years ago, I finally replaced the flooring – really lousily installed carpeting – in my living room, hallway and bedrooms. It makes me feel so good to see nice, clean floors. And my tax refund, the biggest I’ve gotten in many years, will help pay for it. LOL Who am I kidding? I have already spent the tax refund 3 or 4 times over.
So, I am happy and feel great, and I guess that is all one can hope for after a year of retirement. I would keep writing this, but I have stuff to do.