Yesterday morning, I woke up in a hospital bed, surrounded by sick people, nurses, and attached to monitors.
Today, I woke up in my bed, surrounded by cats, attached to a sleep mask. (My window faces east, and the summer sun is early.)
I much prefer my bed.
So do Tig and Gracie, judging by the purrs. I did not get the famous simultaneous bellyrub twofer, as Gracie preferred the ear-skritches (I’ve been giving extra skritches all around from you, Rahel). But I did get stereo simulpurring.
Cat therapy. Better than a shrink.
Cat therapy is definitely the best! I just met the Self-Skritching Kittycat on the way home and took a few videos of her that I’m now uploading to YouTube. Her purr is audible on the videos.
Glad to hear you are ok.
Stay healthy.
Oh my! Just read yesterday’s post and I’m so glad you’re okay. Avoiding stress is definitely a good idea. I’ve actually been doing a lot of reading about the body lately (mine’s not working right either!) and I’m pretty fascinated by it.
Stress, in any form, releases cortisol and adrenaline which make the heart pump faster, thereby increasing blood pressure. You probably know that. Cholesterol in the blood also increases as part of the stress reaction, and enzyme activity causes the blood to thicken (in case the person is injured). This is the very same response to stress our ancestors had milennia ago, when their stress was mainly from predators seeking to eat them. When they ran away, the stress reaction naturally dissipated. But because stress doesn’t come from those sources any more, it’s more likely to be worry over deadlines and things, or anger, the body doesn’t get a chance to burn off the stress hormones and they can cause problems throughout the body. So a little aerobic exercise when you feel stressed is the best thing you can do to cope with it.
Then after the exercise, you can sit down with the cats! It’s working for me: I’m feeling a lot better. I used to exercise at set times during the day but I’ve changed those times to coordinate with when I’m likely to be most stressed or angry (after the evening news is one of those times, funnily enough! I get so angry at the spin on the Middle East). And relaxing afterwards with my cat definitely helps, too.
Look after yourself, we would hate for anything bad to happen.
Thanks… been dealing with stress at work, perhaps it’s time to start walking home occasionally (it’s only about 2 miles) instead of taking the easy way.
Welcome back, Meryl. Cats beat catheters.
Welcome back, Meryl. Let’s hope that this was just an odd, unique occurrence.
chsw
Hi Meryl,
I’m glad you’re okay. When I get overwhelmed or aggravated, I often go to a web page called cute overload – http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload
They have pictures of adorable animals – lots of cats btw, and after I have a look and read the comments, I feel calmer. If that doesn’t work, there’s always chocolate. :)
Sharon, a fellow worry-wart
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