a difficult year

I think that's just going to be how 2016 will be seen, once it's over.

Globally, big earthquakes in Japan and Ecuador recently. Lots of people dead in Ecuador; I am not sure about Japan.

And locally: the worst news is that my friend from church, the one who had abdominal surgery back in January, was rushed back to the hospital with a massive infection at the surgery site. I guess the doctors did what they could but as of this morning the news is "she's been taken off the ventilator" and not because they were certain she would get back to breathing on her own....her relatives have been called in. It's sad. Not unexpected, but sad.

Also, I'm still having some issues. I don't know if I have developed some kind of weird food intolerance (Red #40, maybe? That's the only thing I ate Friday I don't normally eat), or got food poisoning, or got one of the many little GI viruses running around. I work at 2 am Saturday to terrible lower abdominal cramping, and, er, the other thing that lower abdominal cramping usually comes before....I also felt nauseated but didn't throw up. That lasted a couple hours with cramps continuing for a couple hours after that. And I felt cold, so much so I put the heat up to 78, which is higher than I EVER let it go - and I was still cold. And eating was difficult, food really didn't appeal to me - I forced down a bowl of whole-wheat hot cereal, and when that stayed down, at noon I ate some applesauce and a little frozen yogurt that was leftover from my trip to Braum's earlier in the week. And at dinner I made rice and had some frozen raspberries but it was an effort to eat.

I was fearful at the time that it was Yet Another Flare of what I think is IBS, but now I feel much better today (if a bit tired and shaky) so I wonder if maybe it WAS a virus, given how fast I recovered and the fact that I was able to eat more or less normally today. Or maybe the probiotic I am now taking is helping me bounce back faster, I don't know.

But yeah, I'm ready for things to look up for an extended period of time.

I spent most of yesterday and today working on the gift-mitts for the colleague who is leaving.