I reclaimed the corner of my kitchen peninsula when I packed up the two folders of paperwork from the surgery and have them ready to file in the office. The last of the required medications is finished, now my main focus is two-fold: work on the PT for the knee and get the gut back to normal operations. Too many of those medications bound up the insides and using other medications (Magnesium stuff like Milk of Magnesia) have their own problems when they "fix" the situation. Continuing a healthy diet and getting lots of liquid is the main remedy.

It's a quiet and hot July here as I continue to recuperate. There isn't lawn to be mowed because it is toast, except where I water and mow for the dogs. I sat down and wrote up some of my tips for dealing with the heat and will start a thread - it seems there will be others who want to contribute or learn or ask questions. The whole world is ablaze right now as our nations continue to subsidize fossil fuels.

I learned yesterday that my public library is retiring one of the two audiobook apps they use; I thought about immediately putting the new one into use, but I'm halfway through a book and it won't know where I stopped when I renew that title. So I'll phase in the new app (use it after this book). The old app goes until the new year. #FirstWorldProblems

Last night I spent an hour or more chatting with a woman in Maine who was trying to reach a local acquaintance of mine who is in the middle of some kind of psychological manic phase of untreated mental illness. It's there for the world to see on Facebook, but I recognized the voice of a professional, who wrote "XXXXX, all of this is very big. I hope you will call a friend. You sound like you are dealing with a lot, and must be tired and scared." She wasn't challenging the delusion, she was sliding in along underneath it, hoping to get our friend to reach out. I contacted her via Messenger and it turns out she's a PhD candidate in psychology. In Maine. I took time to call a local MSW friend and asked about agencies here that weren't the police as far as a welfare check, services, etc. and got a good answer that I conveyed back to the friend in Maine. She has been contacting other friends and some family and I hope they can all help our friend get some help. I will call those services if it will help, but it's a matter of who can convince the service agencies of her need - her old friend who knew her 20 years ago, or me as the person who had lunch with her four years ago when we shared office space. It takes a village.