Thursday, April 4, 2013

Out of hibernation

Remember when I brought in all of the potted geraniums into the sunroom right before the big rainstorm at the end of October last year? (Superstorm Sandy)  And how this was just a temporary stop on their way to the basement crawl space?

Well, NOT so temporary.  With my health issues, schlepping pots down (and then up) the stairs never made it to my to-do list.  So for over 5 mos(!) these plants sat in the sunroom - no care, no water, no heat, no nothing.

They bloomed well using their own reserves for a good 3 mos, giving me flowers for the holidays.  But they finally struggled.  But there was nothing I could do by then - I had other issues to deal with.


Anyway, a couple of days ago the sun was shining and I was feeling pretty good, so thought I'd at least clip back all the dead stems and flowers from the geraniums.  As you can see on the left, they pretty much just withered up.  (I didn't water them at all because I didn't have any trays under the pots to catch seepage.  So I just let them dry out.)

Poor sorry plants on the left,   clipped and watered on the right.


After all the clipping, I gathered up the debris for the compost pile.  Then, I went the extra mile, hauled out the vac and got all the dried leaves and petals out of the rug.  There!  I've gotten water trays under each pot/box, given them all some warm water (not much - those roots need to rehydrate else they would drown), and am hoping for the best.  Geraniums are tough plants.  Bet I'll get some good blooms from them again this year.

AND - now that the room is tidy, I can sit out there now on warm days and not feel like I'm sitting in a compost pile.  The rocker looks comfy, but my back sure isn't now.

Seems that while the lopressor has been going on too long and does need to be re-evaluated (the withdrawal has it's own side effects to deal with), the numbness STILL runs in spells.  I'm finding out that cervical (and lumbar) DDD can impact nerves & circulation, causing all this numbness.  I found a very helpful thread on the Health forum.  I was looking for 'numbness of the face' and found many folks with the exact same symptoms as I do - and mostl have varying degrees of DDD (cervical, thoracic & lumbar).  AND, lots of them - unfortunately - have the exact same clueless doctors that I've been having to deal with.  This is not rocket science.  Why are the doctors so stupid in this area?

I just can't wait until the 17th and my appt at NeuroSpine.  Keep your fingers crossed I don't get another dipstick doc.  *sigh* 

2 comments:

  1. Kris, I am so impressed by those geraniums in bloom and I am betting they will come back and do it again. My MIL has been keeping geraniums for years this way.

    Good luck with the NeuroSpine clinic. I read some about it and it seems even the doctors don't agree about what it truly is and what to do about it. Be very cautious.

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  2. Well, if you do get another 'dipstick' doctor at least this time you're on the ball and won't just accept whatever you're told.

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