Category: general

17
Oct
2025

GETTING OUT OF THE WAY

The other day, I was driving from Lund to the new Costco, which is on the outskirts of Malmö. Normally this drive would take me about 15 minutes, but due to the fact that E22 which is the “highway” that runs between the two cities is under construction most of the way through Lund, and that there was apparently an accident somewhere, plus just CRAZY rush hour traffic, it took me more than twice that. The growth explosion of both of them has also not been compensated for in the infrastructure of the roadways at all. Malmö is the fastest...

12
Oct
2025

SUNDAY SCRIBBLES

My weeks are full right now. I don’t know if that’s a good thing (distraction) or a bad one (stress). This coming week alone is a lot, though it’s not what I would call crazy: Mon: blood draw at healthcare clinic in the early AM, work all day, AIC board handover meeting & dinner Tue: Drip dose 4 in the morning, work rest of the day, meet kids at Costco for shopping, then dinner, then home with Karin and Essie Wed: early morning psychologist appointment, work rest of the day Thu: AIC lunch, work all day Fri: DAY OFF, no...

10
Oct
2025

IF YOU’RE HAPPY/SAD/WHATEVER, WRITE A POST

When you have things to do, maybe chores, or you are faced with a bunch of choices at once, which things do you do first? Do you choose to get the stuff you DON’T like doing out of the way first? Or do you do the things you LIKE doing before tackling the rest? And why? I tend to get the stuff I don’t like out of the way and leave the stuff I DO like for last, like a treat, almost. If I take my medicine, I get something sweet as a reward, as it were. I’ve noticed that...

05
Oct
2025

END OF THE WEEKEND

I want to write about other things than my stupid hair, but it keeps overshadowing everything about my day, my week, my every waking minute. UGH. So boring. I have a hair appointment scheduled (since ages ago) this coming Friday, but figure I’ll probably cancel it even if I can see roots growing out and the silvery-grey showing for what hair I do have left, in front especially, as it seems pointless to bother coloring it if it’s just going to fall out. The rain let up after this morning and the sun came out for several hours. Everything dried...

04
Oct
2025

SLUG START, ACCOMPLISHED AFTERNOON, UNEVENTFUL EVENING

A major storm has swept in over Sweden and down here in Skåne we’ve been having high winds and a total downpour all day. It’s supposed to continue through tomorrow as well, so I’m quite glad that a) we have no plans that require leaving the house and b) I have an excellent excuse to be a slug all morning, which is what I did today, after falling back asleep at some point around 6 and sleeping all the way to 8:22 am! Highly unusual these days. I stayed in bed and read and played iPad games and such for...

29
Sep
2025

IT’S JUST HAIR

Right now I am mostly sad, on the verge of depressed. On Tuesday, I finally had the appointment at the skin department of the hospital and the doctor examined me, took my history, and then took a biopsy from my scalp. The results will take up to two weeks (it’s been a week tomorrow) and hopefully it will show if any of the medicine I am on is the cause for the massive hair loss. Then the nurse put a huge bandage on my head and I had to walk back across the entire hospital complex to my car looking...

13
Sep
2025

IS IT HAIR-BERNATION TIME YET?

I had great plans to write a LOT, if not every day, then as often as possible, this year. And I was doing pretty well, really, until all the health issues came crashing down on my head and took my hair with them. At this point, my hair is mostly hairspray and wishing. And if one more person starts to say something about how my hair looks just fine, I will punch them in the throat. Today, I woke up at 6:30 am and couldn’t get back to sleep but since I had gotten up 4 times in the night...

08
Sep
2025

UGH GAH SOB

Haven’t been in the mood for writing. Too upset about all the physical health issues that are going on right now. I’ve lost nearly half my hair and huge amounts continue to come out daily. I finally got a letter TODAY (2 weeks after I flagged the issue for my doctor and 4 weeks after I noticed the problem) to set up an appointment with the skin doctor, but of course got it too late to call today. :/ In addition to the hair loss which is causing me to have a meltdown at least once a day, I also...

24
Aug
2025

WHY TIME FLIES

Life got a bit crazy this past week, and I haven’t felt like writing. Monday last week was a terrible day with one thing after another going wrong and all kinds of stress all the way until 5 pm when I picked up Lisel after a horrific dentist visit (just a cleaning, but AUGH), and we drove to Costco where we zoomed in and out to buy party platters, and then went to an AIC mingle in Malmö, on the loveliest evening of the summer. I’ll back up a bit though. Monday morning, I had to be in at the...

15
Aug
2025

HAIR WE GO AGAIN

As if all my other health problems weren’t enough to deal with, I’ve been experiencing rather severe hair loss AGAIN. This has now been going on, on and off, for 3 years. After a terrible time 3 years ago, when I was the US at my mom’s and lost what felt like nearly half of my hair volume, it has slowly gotten better. There are so many possible reasons for hair loss that it’s almost impossible to pin down a cause: aging, health issues, psoriasis, medicines, genetics, drastic weight loss, stress, thyroid, menopause, hormone imbalances, malnutrition, etc., etc., etc. This...