Actually, it’s been back since Wednesday evening. It may have been on for hours before we noticed, since we were reading contentedly in the living room with our head lamps on and all the light switches off. But finally I saw the glowing lights on the wireless whatchamacallit and figured it out. What a relief! But really, we spent only four days without power, and some people are still out and looking at the middle of next week until they are back, so I won’t complain. As far as power outages go, we were living in the lap of luxury, with our hot running water and coffee shop with wireless within easy walking distance. And now we have a full refrigerator again and the ability to charge our phones at home. Yay!
This has been an odd week for lots of reasons — the power outage, of course, but also school started on Wednesday, so I had to try to get in the right mindset for that, when really I could only think about power outages. And then today I got word from my doctor that I am now hypothyroid and need to take a thyroid supplement. This is actually good news, of sorts, as crazy as that sounds. I knew I was heading toward hypothyroidism eventually, so it’s a relief to finally get here, and now I can start taking my medicine and be done with the waiting. I’ll be taking thyroid supplements for the rest of my life (barring an apocalypse that makes them no longer available, which does worry me sometimes), so I might as well get on with it. In the meantime, I’m feeling a little tired and draggy and unmotivated, but I’m still functional and should soon have my normal energy back.
The thing that interests me about all this thyroid stuff is that my bike has been a reliable indicator of thyroid health, or lack of it, from the very beginning. I’m much more in tune with my body and what I am feeling physically on my bike than off it, partly because I wear a heart rate monitor when I ride and I know pretty much what my heart rate should be at any particular time. When my heart rate skyrocketed on bike rides back in the summer of 2007 when I first got sick, I knew something was wrong, and I’ve picked up on changes in my thyroid levels from riding several times since then. Over the last couple weeks, my heart rate has been consistently low, which I thought meant hypothyroidism, and it turns out I was right. I would have eventually figured it out without the riding, but it would have taken me much longer. Thank goodness for cycling!
Fortunately through all this, I’ve had plenty of time to read. I’m nearing the end of the Little House on the Prairie series and may finish the ninth and last book tonight. I’ll be sad to see it end. I also finished up Laura Miller’s The Magician’s Book, which was great, and raced through Lauren Slater’s wonderful and very odd memoir Lying. I’ve also gone to two different library sales and come home with something like eight new books. Yippee! I think I’ll close this post with a list of my new books:
- Sarah Caudwell’s The Sybil in Her Grave (the fourth in this series),
- Anita Brookner’s Falling Slowly,
- Edith Wharton’s Old New York (a collection of novellas),
- Murial Spark’s Memento Mori,
- Lorrie Moore’s A Gate at the Stairs,
- Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall,
- Wilkie Collins’s The Law and the Lady,
- Colm Toibin’s Brooklyn.
I am hoping to come around and visit my usual blog haunts soon. In the meantime, have a great weekend!
Of Books and Bicycles 
Hooray for the return of power!
I love what you say about your cycling giving you greater insight into your overall health than you would otherwise have had. Regular exercise: what benefits DOESN’T it have?
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So glad you are switched back on again, and that the four days of deprivation weren’t too dreadful. Also glad to know your thyroid condition will soon be stabilised. What a nuisance it’s been, but thank goodness for modern medicine and for bike riding! Lovely books from the library sale, too.
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Emily — I know! It’s good physically, psychologically, emotionally, etc., etc., and also a good diagnostic tool! And it’s fun 🙂
Litlove — thank you! Yes, thank goodness for modern medicine. The deprivation was annoying at times, but at least we had plenty of company and everybody behaved wonderfully around here, so it was a real community event in kind of a good way.
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I complain about no electricity when it is off for a night–four days sounds almost endless! Glad it wasn’t too awful and very glad, too, that the uncertainty with waiting on what will happen with your thyroid is over. Even knowing it’s coming still makes waiting difficult–now you can just deal with it and hopefully get back to normal! My library is doing away with library sales (sad!) though they will have an ongoing booksale at one of the branches (unfortunately during my work hours). There is one last sale next week and I am not sure whether I’ll go or not. You’ve got a great stack of books–I really liked Brooklyn and it made me want to read more of Colm Toibin’s books. Have a great long weekend!
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It’s great that you could still read while the power was out. Those new ones sound good. I read Brooklyn a couple of years ago and have almost forgotten it. So I just might pick it up and reread. But the rest of the authors I’d like to try too. I hope you’ll post your reviews after you’ve finished reading them.
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Glad you’re back (I’m definitely late at catching up, even without any Irene excuse). I look forward to your reviews! I’m in the middle of a Sarah Caudwell’s and I enjoy it tremendously.
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I’m glad to hear that everything is progressing as it should in terms of your health.
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Hooray for the miracle of electricity! How so very interesting that your bike riding and heart rate monitor has been so attuned to what was happening with your thyroid. Nice library sale finds too.
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Danielle — that is sad about your library getting rid of book sales, although removing temptation is a plus side. Still, I’d rather deal with temptation! You are right about waiting; I absolutely hate to do it, and I’m glad that’s over. I should be feeling much better very soon.
Arti — I will certainly try to post reviews! I didn’t have much to do but read, really, and fortunately we both have very good headlamps that make it easy to read in the dark. But still, thank goodness for having the power back!
Smithereens — isn’t Caudwell great? I’m looking forward to getting to her other ones when I can.
Lilian — thanks! It’s been annoying, but at least my health has been following the path it should. That’s a comfort.
Stefanie — it’s been so interesting to follow what my sickness does to my heart rate on the bike. I’m very glad I have that diagnostic tool!
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