Showing posts with label Alaska. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alaska. Show all posts

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Spunky Ginger Simpson Gets An Unexpected New Lease On Life


Ginger Simpson

My plan was to share pictures of me doing something "daring," but the pictures of me parasailing at 700 feet in Hawaii some years back are stowed in the attic.
Instead, I'm going to share something some of you may consider mild.  
I just returned from six weeks in Alaska, a trip I never expected to make and one that changed my life.  

Visiting Ekluta Cemetery Spirit Houses
of Alaskan Native Americans

For the past three years, my health and energy level had declined beyond belief.  I spent most of my days locked in the house or in bed because I had absolutely no interest in going anywhere or doing anything.  


Her greatest fear -
2 1/2 mile one-way tunnel
to get to cruise

From the Glacier Day Cruise











My friend and hostess in Alaska is an FNP and specializes in hormone replacement treatment.  She and I had discussed my condition prior to making the trip, and a two day hospital stay right before my departure caused fear that I would have to cancel my plans.  For my dear husband's sake, I pushed on, and we went.  


20 feet from a moose in
her friend's backyard.

After we arrived, Ann ran blood tests on both Kelly and I.  Neither of us had much more than a measurable hormone level and after reading up on the topic on interviewing other satisfied "patrons," we are now the proud "owners" of rice-sized pellets implanted beneath the skin on our hips.  This process has been around since 1939 but has been secreted away to keep the drug companies rolling in dough.  I'm happy to say that I've decreased my RX dependency by three pills and a big monthly expense.  The pellets will need to be replaced every four-five months for me and five-six months for Kelly, but it's an investment I'll gladly make. I know I sound like an advertisement, but...

I cannot boast or emphasize enough how this changed my life.  I've rediscovered I have one and regained the zest I'd lost.  I won't be entering any cross-country marathons or leaping hurdles, but the fact that I can even imagine them amazes me. *smile*  My husband presented Ann with flowers to show his appreciation for her giving him back the wife he married.  My skin, hair, and attitude have improved, and we just made an offer on a house for a future I doubted I would have.   


With Hubby at Cook's Statue,
Cook's Inlet, Anchorage, AK

I guess if you can't consider my pictures as evidence of spunkiness, maybe you can refer to me as "frisky." Okay...TMI, I know, but I can't contain my glee at living life again and loving it.  
My husband has renewed energy, has lost inches and is gaining back some of his lost muscle mass.  

Best of all, he smiles and winks at me.  Love it!