This day did not go anything like I intended.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

The world's happiest, most contented dogs. Also the world's most spoiled rotten dogs.

But at least they're happy.

Me?  Well, this day did not go anything like I intended.

I had a bad episode today, in the middle of the day, in broad daylight. Terrifying; I could literally feel my blood pressure shooting up so high that my skin was buzzing, actually buzzing, all over my body. I'm one of those people whose BP generally comes in more like 100-110 over 65-75. 

It's exactly what happened to me seven years ago.

I don't want to die.

The difference this time?  I think, finally, I know the cause, where no doctor could be bothered. 

Why? Because there was no other trigger. Meds and food had been HOURS prior, already metabolized, hadn't had anything to eat or drink, no allergens of any kind. No stress, either; like the day I almost died the first time around, I was actually feeling pretty good about things when everything went haywire.

But I realized, two doses of meds later as I was waiting for my BP to come back down, that my neck hurt. And I remembered that shortly before, I had turned my neck, and it caught, crunched, stopped moving.

Sure enough, it's a thing.  It's called structural HBP, and it's found in people with healthy lifestyles and no BP risk factors who have . . . wait for it . . . C-spine instability.

Well, no shit. That accident at 19, when my car was hit from behind at a full stop by a '73 GMC pickup with a monster grill, going 50-60 mph, no attempt to stop?  Yeah, I have C-spine instability in spades. And seven years ago, we had JUST moved into the house, and I was still suffering from all those years in that fucking tin can on that useless futon cushion.  

It explains the intermittent, constant up-and-down nature of the episodes.  it explains all of it. Of course, there's not really anything I can DO about it; my neck was permanently damaged, and the lupus and RA have only made that worse. And yes, those red-zone BP spikes can indeed kill you. But at least I now know to be extra-extra-careful.

I also had to stand in line again, deal with the fed bullshit for the Rx that lets me sleep, and I hurt everywhere, but at last that's done. Now I have 1,000 other things to do.

As always. I'm already putting in 12- to 16-hour days every day, 7 days a week, because the work won't wait, and for us, being able to help anyone else starts with us making sales, of course. I also a finding myself unexpectedly under the gun on another front; besides needing to bring in enough in seasonal sales to repay a big chunk on our '24 taxes, the election has made the need to replace my laptop NOW absolutely mandatory, beofre the end of the year, because the price, already hellish for the one I need, will skyrocket next year. So if you're contemplating buying? Now would be a really, really good time. Our laptop is our whole work, everything, and it fails me on the daily now.

Today's feature is a throwback to, I think, 16 years ago, one of an informal series of three small buckles that he had created contemporaneously, here.  So for tonights feature, the on buckle in current inventory, similar, actually, in shape and stone, but substantially larger [and one thqt would make a FABULOUS holiday gift for someone special]:

• "From the Heart of the Sky," a large traditional tailored buckle, all freehand scorework and stampwork, with an OLD giant oval Skystone that we believe to be old Sleeping beauty, with a quartz inclusion, here.

There's more on the way very soon; he's got something like four more cuffs, a couple of pendants, several new pairs of earrings, and eventually all the new coils he'll need for holiday inventory. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make sales weekly for us to catch up on the year and cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [roof next year, more medical, etc.]. So: GO BUY! Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priority is the liquid soaps and Amazon cards, probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one already far worse than the last, we really need to get what's left of 2024 onto a better footing, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2024; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.