So we stayed nice and confined at home. Took another COVID test on Tuesday. The lines are lighter, but the tests say we still have it. So no physiotherapy this week. However, when we talked to someone at Kaiser, they said if we were no longer showing symptoms, we were no longer contagious. So we went to the supermarkets in masks on Thursday. Kaiser aggravated the hell out of us that day, though. We went to Kaiser first to pick up a prescription, then to Costco for gas, then to the supermarkets. On the way home from Publix, we got a call from Kaiser saying we had to go back to Cumberland where we'd already been three hours earlier because James needed a blood test before his Procruit shot on Friday. I was sick from being out in the heat and instead of getting to rest after putting the groceries away we had to go back out.

At least we got to go out and eat on Friday. We were craving bulgogi beef and went to Okinawa.

Alas, one of us was back on the sick list on Saturday. It is actually a little sensitive to talk about, so I won't, but James ended up back at Urgent Care on Saturday. It wasn't dangerous or life-threatening, but it was...annoying. Especially being at Urgent Care was annoying.

Labels: health, shopping, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:07:00 PM

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People who visit us might be amused or weirded out by the amount of extra groceries we keep downstairs in the hall and in what's supposed to be the coat closet next to the garage. We have jars of peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, and cans of soup, vegetables, and containers of olive oil and chicken broth; the freezer is also always stocked. We aren't "preppers" by any means, but we are prepared, and this week we were glad we had.

Had a great Sunday at Yellow Daisy and was quite already until bedtime, when my post-nasal drip unleashed. If that wasn't bad enough, I started to cough. And cough. And cough. Not a lot of sleep for me Sunday night or Monday for that matter. Monday I took a nap and that made me feel worse! Got the chores done anyway. James wasn't feeling as bad as I was, but he had a sore throat and general lassitude.

Since we had physical therapy this week and James' Procrit shot, I decided we'd better err on the side of caution, so out came the COVID test kits.

And we both tested positive. James' was very pale, but there, and mine was a bright thick purple! Son of a bitch. Dodged the damn thing for three years and it came at us out of nowhere.

Because of all his health problems James called Kaiser and got a video appointment with his doctor on Thursday; because of his kidney problems, he couldn't have the regular COVID med you see advertised (Paxlovid) and had to have a different kind. This led to us driving down to the Kaiser Cascade office, eleven miles away, in a driving rainstorm because the alternative was not nearby. What fun, because by this time I had a 100 degree fever and felt like sh*t. When we got home from Cascade I fell asleep for four hours! Only had the fever and the cough at night for two days, but the post-nasal drip persists.

Labels: sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:45:00 PM

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Bracketed the week with goodies.

Did the usual chores a day late this week since Monday was Labor Day. We spent that afternoon at craft stores and then went to Longhorn to celebrate James' birthday. Since we got there before three we got luncheon prices, which was fine with me.

James had the usual physiotherapy this week and later in the week he had his surgery followup. The doctor said the incision looked good and you could tell the fistula was working—if you feel just a few millimeters away from the incision, you can detect a buzzing under his skin; that is the increased flow from the fistula—but since the incision itself got a little red, he was prescribed an antibiotic. On the way home from the appointment we stopped at Trader Joe's and Penzey's Spices.

Hair Day was on Friday, but we were the only ones there for the Friday edition. We chatted for several hours with Ron, Lin, and Sheri, and then went off to Sam's Club to buy lots of inexpensive meat and more Tylenol.

On Sunday we were up early to drive across town to Stone Mountain Park for the Yellow Daisy Festival. The last two years many of the vendors had been out on the main street outside the exhibition area under the trees. In 2021 the heat nearly killed me; I was dizzy and nauseated for most of the morning. Last year was better, but I still hated the street. This year thankfully all the vendors were in the woods under the trees again—I guess they finished redoing the paths or something.

It was very strange not to see my favorite Country Pick'ns vendor there this year, but the Messengers retired last year. Many of our favorite vendors don't show up any longer, like "Smack Yo Mama" barbecue sauce (they don't do Georgia shows anymore) or 1st Sergeant Salsa or the guy who makes the doormats out of old tires. Thank goodness the maple barbecue sauce guy still shows up; we had used up his product. We bought several different maple products, the yearly fudge (but they were out of double chocolate!), different kinds of honey, a cheese slicer made of reclaimed wood, and I was quite taken with an opal ring (although I should have gone the size smaller; my fingers swell up when it's hot like it was today and now the ring is loose, and maybe I should have gone for the three small stones rather than the infinity symbol).

All in all we escaped before it got sizzlingly hot, so it was okay.

Labels: birthday, crafts, festivals, food, friends, health, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:19:00 PM

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Poor James—he came down with a thump late Tuesday. Monday after the supposed dose of steroids during his surgery he had no pain at all and was walking tall and easily until bedtime. He even forgot his cane several times because he really didn't need it. Tuesday he had a little pain, but was doing okay. Wednesday the pain came back with a vengeance, especially after we went to physical therapy. Karen didn't have him do any arm exercises; just leg and hip and he was pretty miserable that evening, even though he told me he was "okay" at Publix. Thankfully, this let up a little by the end of the week and we could go on to have some fun.

One other doctors' appointment this week: his Procrit shot. Apparently it's raising his iron levels well. And he got some comfort food: after doing the shopping we picked up chicken and dumplings from Cracker Barrel.

Since we weren't going to DragonCon, on Sunday we made our monthly trip to Canton. Picked up three bargain books at Books-a-Million, including a World War I-set story about nurses by Lauren Willig and a rom-com that I didn't realize until I started reading it that it was set in Rhode Island! We had lunch at Uncle Maddio's Pizza, of course, then stopped at BJs on the way home for maple syrup and mandarin orange/pineapple tidbit cups.

In the meantime I finished a piece of fanfiction and have continued watching Law & Order: SVU. Again, some spectacular guest performances, but I'm watching Richard Beltzer having less and less to do, and Ice-T getting one or two interesting performances (Ken Briscoe disappears completely) while the meat of the stories go to Benson or Stabler. One funny thing I noticed that in the first two seasons Benson is the rookie and it's Stabler who's the big victim's advocate. By the end of fifth season you can see Benson taking over the role of victim's advocate and it's firmly in place by sixth season, while Stabler is just the guy who is always angry and yelling at the perps. His character seems to just quit growing by sixth season, as if the guy had to be the one to be angry and constantly struggling for control (it doesn't help that the Stabler character is separated from his wife in this season as well). I wonder why the shift? It was rather unique to see a man so firmly in the role of victim's advocate in a squad where the primary crimes were rape and child molestation—Stabler could be quite empathic to both rape victims and children when the series began; all of a sudden we are back to the "empathic woman figure" advocating for rape victims and children. Did the powers that be decide it was "more natural" for a woman to take this role?

Labels: books, fanfiction, food, health, shopping, sickness, television, writing

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:44:00 PM

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