Walk This Way…Or That

Let me start by saying I’m an inveterate couch potato choosing indoor activities to those where I exert myself outdoors. Hunting is the one exception. I like the fresh air and venison if I’m blessed enough to get a deer. Recently my primary care physician was startled to see my triglycerides four times high normal. She made an appointment for me to see a dietician. The dietician explored my diet, my stress level, and my exercise routine. I almost laughed. My exercise is walking the mailbox and climbing the stairs to do the laundry.

He evaluated the menu of my recent meals and said, “Other than eating more vegetables, I can’t see much we need to change much.” I told him I thought some of the problem was hereditary. My grandfather Raymond Miner had dementia with hardening of the arteries. My mom Sybil Miner Beck and her five sisters died from Alzheimer’s disease.

He asked about my sleep patterns and my stress levels. Again I almost laughed. Several weeks before my blood was drawn I had a terrifying experience of double vision. I was seen at a local emergency department, diagnosed as an aberrant migraine, and was medicated for it, but it didn’t alleviate the symptoms. Even though the CAT scan was negative, it didn’t allay my fears of a stroke or a problem with my carotid arteries. I was given an appointment to be seen by an ophthalmologist in Greensburg. She evaluated my, saying she thought a spike in my blood pressure or blood sugar caused the vessels to my eyes to damage the muscles of my eyes. Over a two week period, my vision gradually returned. So yes, there was a lot of stress.

All the while, I was helping two friends can vegetables from two gardens and another friend’s corn field for five families. We preserved over one thousand jars of peppers, tomatoes, corn, green beans, salsa, carrots, beets, and several types of sauces and pickles. Every day as the crops ripened we met to wash, cut, and fill jars to either water bath or pressure-can according to the recipes of my friend’s mother.. I’m glad we were able to preserve so much, especially with inflation and interruptions in the supply chain. It took nearly three weeks for my vision to finally clear.

The dietician recommended more exercise and I have been walking each morning. There are four routes I walk. I vary the course and the times I walk so I see the scenery in varying light. The desire of taking photographs along the way is what motivates me to continue my daily walks.