Happy Halloween and My Lungs (if anyone is interested)

Happy Halloween, everyone! I hope the candy Princess will visit all the kids on the East Coast who will not have a Halloween this year and bring them lots and lots of goodies as soon as this crisis is over. And I know that next year all of you will have the most special Halloween of all. I'm just sending this message out there, I don't know any kids on the East Coast, but I believe in  good energy being spread around. 

These pictures are from a couple of years ago. I stopped by this place on Monday to take some new ones, but it was so hot outside that I just turned around and went home. I guess these will be my stock Halloween pictures. Anyone my age will have forgotten all about them by next year anyway.

The pictures are from Murray Farms, a place I pass on my way to and from Bakersfield. About a year ago I had a chest X-ray because I am short of breath. My not very communicative doctor up here (I hope to change him soon, but with my current insurance there are none that will see me) told me I had emphysema. Over the phone, that's all, not another word! I decided to let it be and wait a while to see a pulmonary specialist. 

On Monday I finally went and had the breathing tests. The doctor turned out to be very nice, looked like he was from one of the Pacific Island nations, big and round and dressed in a Hawaiian shirt. Best of all, he told me I did not have emphysema. 

While my lungs have lost some capacity, they are nowhere near that kind of diagnosis. He also said you really can't diagnose emphysema from an X-ray. He wants to see me in six months and will love to see him too. So now I have to have my heart checked again, no fun, but at least one hurdle passed. 

The University has Open Enrollment right now, so I will change our health insurance. We have to pay a lot more in premiums every month and for medicines, but it will be worth it because we can go anywhere and see anyone. I hope I can find a good doctor I like up here, but if not, I have some options. 

  

I guess I strayed away from the Halloween theme, so just one more thing. I said it was hot down in the valley on Monday. It's been hot up here too during the day. A week or so ago, it was 32 F in the morning and 92 F in the afternoon, a 60 degree difference. This week is a bit better, freezing at night and up to the mid-80s in the afternoon. Still horribly warm for the last week of October. With everything that's going on in nature this year, I think there's little doubt that our Earth is not feeling real well. 

Happy Halloween everyone!