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I can’t shave my neck

 Really.  I try, but the movement just won’t come.  Not right handed anyway. I know I’m reasonably fit for my age.  I get out and move around every day.  I walk great distances.  I jog in the house.  I can still knock out a few legitimate pushups.  But shaving my neck….  …I just can’t make that movement.  I can demonstrate it with an empty hand, but with the weight of a razor (that doesn’t really weigh anything), it just doesn’t happen. So I shave my neck left handed.  I still have the same range of motion and strength left handed, but right handed, I can’t reach out over my head and turn a screwdriver.  Drinking coffee, getting the cup to my mouth, is a two handed affair.  It doesn’t hurt when it try to shave or lift the coffee cup; it’s just that the right arm won’t go there.  I suspect a defect in connective tissue; a blown minor tendon perhaps. I tried to get in to see Judy’s Ortho in Corpus Christi before we leave on our trip this coming Sunday, but they didn’t have a spot for me.  Oh well.  One more thing to put on the list and get to when we can.  It’ll work out.  In the meantime, I am strong on the cardiologist front.  We found a cardiologist in McAllen, got me in to see him for a checkup just to establish ourselves, and got the all clear.  My heart is doing great.  While we were there, we wondered out loud if he should look at Judy too, just because no-one ever really has.  He said yeah; middle sixties is a good time to look at women to see if they’re having any issues, even if they’re not having symptoms.  He looked.  She has heart issues.  How ironic is that?  All our attention is on me and my heart while Judy is quietly developing a problem. She has a clogged artery.  It’s not the main one, the widowmaker, but still, it’s something that needs to be dealt with.  The doctor thinks he thinks he can clear it with medication but if he can’t he’s going to have to go in and stent it.  Judy wants to be just like me so she can have bling in her heart too. We know women don’t present with heart issues like men do, but still, we didn’t know this was coming.  We didn’t realize she was having symptoms, but in retrospect we realize that her getting tired and having to sit down is a symptom, and she’s been doing that.  She’s going to take the prescribed medicines for a couple months, then go back to the doctor to monitor the improvement.  Oh well.  Another thing to deal with.  This is one we have to be careful with though.  It gets our immediate attention. Really, we’re doing great and having fun.  We’re charging down life’s highway but these darn little speed bumps keep popping up.  We just drive around them as much as we can. 
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Have I mentioned

 …that in spite of all the talk about birding, I’m not actually a very good birder? I don’t have the quick eye to spot small movements.  Other people often locate little birds before I do.  My hearing is limited.  Little birds overhead calling in high pitched voices are silent to me.  I don’t even know they’re there unless someone tells me to look up.  I don’t have the sharp memory to be able to visualize the key identification characteristics of every bird.  I have to try to hold the detail of what I saw in my head until I can go look it up in a book. But, in spite of my shortcomings, I persevere.  I fall back on the words of my racquetball coach from ten years ago.  “Never underestimate the power of insane persistence.”