I have just taken my first Valium in nearly a year.
I think the last time was around the 16th of July 2014, for work related reasons. Since I left work I really have not had much to stress me, until today.
When it comes to medication for anxiety, I feel much the same as Abbey Bartlet from The West Wing –
Do you know what this lifestyle does to the body? The minute your system senses stress it releases a hormone that constricts the blood vessels, contracts the heart muscles, stimulates the adrenal gland.
You stay in this state for not a hundredth of the time that you and I have existed like this and the vessels begin to shred. The heart permanently constricts. The intestines, the immune system, shut down. Relieving those conditions is the one responsible course of action I can take.
One of my biggest fears in life is The Other Half using power tools. Some of them I’m good with, like cordless drills. But anything that involves the potential for terrible injury, I am very fearful of those things.
There are good reasons to be fearful of these powerful items. The immediate story that comes to my mind is that of Gayle Shann which was on Australian Story – they just did an update on it in the last few weeks.. She survived but was terribly injured, losing one arm and the arm that was left has not regained any movement at all.
We’re going to have some concrete laid in weeks ahead, between the house and the “man cave” and to cover the gravel driveway. But before that can be done, The Other Half needs to dig a few trenches, one for the power to the shed, and a couple of drainage trenches.
So, until the ditch digger is returned, I will be under some stress. Fortunately for me, the Valium is starting to kick in, and rather than sit here curled in a stressed ball all day, I think I can get up and do the vacuuming and some other indoor jobs I have planned.
And that is a good thing – both for my mind, and my body. :)
A small technical note – the blog might go down for an hour or so later today, hopefully not, but the servers are in the man cave and the power will need to be turned off and reconnected.
My late husband used power tools all the time and I tried not to think about it too much. One Thanksgiving he put his thumb through a table saw; luckily it was vertically rather than horizontally, so he kept the thumb, but pretty much ruined Thanksgiving dinner.
Egads, Margaret! Yes that would have been decidedly non awesome! Glad he got to keep it though.. :)
Well, There Was An Incident.. not involving the power tool. Unearthing the sewer line as a surprise, we have discovered it has been secretly leaking underground for who knows how long..
So, this will be a thing that has to be fixed before the electrical cable can be laid.
Incidents are NO FUN. That sounds like a nasty situation too. Yuck.
I think as long as he is wearing a full suit of armor including face mask, he should be okay. (*~*)
If he is at all handy with power tools, he’ll be fine and the ditches will certainly get dug a lot faster than by hand.
Good thing you found that leaking sewer line before nearby tree roots grew into it; any pipe that leaks long enough, tree roots will seek out the moisture and blockages will occur. Getting a plumber to unblock one of those will cost you around $1000-$1500 depending on how bad the blockage is.
aaah valium. Puts me to sleep! I’d take it all the time if I had it, so I never have it!
I actually thought I was out, but when I did a recent cleanup of the medicine basket, I found some I didn’t know I had. :)
It really helped me that day, I was seriously freaking out and my blood pressure was through the roof which says a lot as I normally have low BP.. :)
The word that used to have me shivering with fear was when my hubster said he was going to “modify” something (usually with power tools!). I was worried he’d wreck whatever it was … 25 years of marriage later and I no longer panic, coz I know he’s pretty darn awesome at “modifying” things!
I’m good with The Other Half modifying things.. He is really good at most things. However, this was one very powerful power tool which is what was freaking me out.. ;)
It turns out the sewer was not leaking, the plumber investigated and found either it was stormwater runoff, or we have a natural spring under our house.
But, the other half managed to rip through the drain pipe to the shed sink. In the end that turned out to be a good thing, because he has now made a 3 way drain which will hook up to the concrete driveway drain the contractor will install. :)