There was no warning. It began fine: I had bought James a new duffle bag for our anniversary to take to dialysis (the old bag was falling apart). It has a separate compartment intended for gym shoes or a wet towel/swimsuit, and we have put his blanket in there. He doesn't really needed it, because now that he's on dialysis, he's not cold all the time. There's a compartment for his sugar-free mints, one for his snacks and visor, one for his water bottle and a juice box, one for his TV schedule, and then the inner compartment has a pocket into which he has two paperback books. The central compartment now just holds his noise-cancelling headphones (dialysis clinics are loud), his neck pillow, and his tablet (charged daily so he can watch Battlebots and whatever that Sylvester Stallone show is).

Tuesday was a disaster. James twisted, thrashed, and kicked because he was in pain all night. Needless to say I didn't sleep, and we went to Hanger to get his back brace fitted in very ill tempers. As we pulled out of the driveway a car stopped in front of us and the driver got out.

I've talked many times about Tucker's adversarial relationship with Max, the German Shepherd on the corner. I don't know how much I've mentioned his relationship with Champion, the German Shepherd down at the end of the street. His people rent a house in the lower cul-de-sac. I watched Champion from when he was a young dog. He has always approached Tucker with curiosity--"Oh, look, what a cute little dog!"--and Tucker approached him back with his head up and his tail wagging obligingly. It was obvious they both wanted to play together, but of course his person was walking him one way, and I was walking Tucker the other.

It was Champion's owner who stopped to talk to us: Champion DIED on Monday; he said they didn't know why.

We couldn't go home afterwards because James was scheduled for the bone scan at Kaiser, so we spent about a half-hour in Barnes & Noble before heading to Townpark. I was quite woozy and sick; we were going to stop at Walmart for yogurt and I was so sick we didn't. I did manage to get us a couple of treats in Bernhard's Bakery.

I was feeling better Wednesday, so after finishing the Lidl/Publix/Kroger grocery route, stopped at Walmart on the way home for the yogurt. In the evening I finally bit the bullet and ordered new phones. My current cell reboots at odd times and loses connection on local streets, and it's beginning to eat battery. I got James a desert tan color and I got a red one. Maybe it will be easier to find.

Then...out of nowhere, James got up Thursday morning, went out to make breakfast, and found out Tucker had vomited on the floor. Sometimes he does just get an upset stomach and vomit. But Wednesday he only ate one dog biscuit and a mouthful of rice in beef stock. He was listless and his eyes were tragic and he'd only drink if he licked it off my hands during the day. He drank more at night and ate a couple more dog biscuits. By afternoon I called Riverview and made him an appointment for the next day.

Thursday Tucker wouldn't even walk down the stairs voluntarily. I scooped him up and carried him on his back in his blanket and he just lay there. He hates being held upside down. His breath was raspy.

He stayed at the vet the rest of the day and overnight. He had a high fever (105℉!) and diarrhea and had IVs getting antibiotics into him and helping his dehydration.

We went to pick him up but he was limp and listless on Friday. I had to feed him with Hill's Urgent Care soft food with a syringe, and this was the only time he struggled. He has a dangerously low level of white blood cells in his body, can't go near other dogs and we have to watch him because he's susceptible to sepsis. It was so bad Saturday night I had a meltdown. This is too fucking much. First it was Oliver, then James in the hospital, then James at home, then the falls, and now it's poor Tucker. I felt totally helpless.

Sunday was a little better, as I did get some stuff done, but a real struggle to feed Tucker via syringe (I mean, I get it! I would hate it, too!).

Labels: dogs, food, health, pets, shopping, sickness, smartphones, technology

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 3:30:00 PM

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We saw our first Christmas lights Monday night, November 4! I love Christmas decorations, guys! But, too early!

Tried to avoid election coverage on Tuesday by watching a movie, but after the film curiosity got the better of us and we stayed up until midnight watching the returns. I will admit I am not happy, although I disliked both candidates. When your new "leader" nominates an anti-vaxxer to run a health organization there is something wrong. Our parents worshiped the ground Drs. Salk and Sabin walked on, because their children were not crippled, were not confined to an iron lung, did not die from polio, all because of vaccines. Smallpox was a dreadful thing. Just not right.

Chores for the rest of the week, and a visit to Dr. Salazar on Friday ended the week. We had not yet seen the orders for the tests, but he assured us they were in the system.

So Saturday was a very busy day: we were up early to get in line for free electronics recycling day. Yay, that stupid microwave James keeps barking his leg on is gone. Also my venerable vacuum cleaner, which gave me much joy. The new one works wonderfully, but it's still too heavy. Then we had Hair Day and got to see Mel and Phyllis! We nipped home afterward for a meal (James made pork chops and we ate at three), and then went to Kaiser Townpark. James had two CT scans starting at 5:40, and then we had to wait the hour until his 8 p.m. MRI. It was a relief to get home.

It was chilly and cloudy on Sunday, such wonderful weather! Tucker and I had a long walk, me clad in my favorite fabric, flannel! Later I put up the upstairs and foyer Thanksgiving decorations

Labels: Christmas, election, events, exercise, friends, health, sickness, Thanksgiving, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:25:00 PM

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James has finally seen the spinal doctor at Emory!

Not that it did him much good.

The appointment was wayyyyy over at the old Executive Park complex which used to be a rabbit warren of little buildings, many of them rented by CDC. I had attended meetings and classes at Executive Park; the plus of going there was that it was near a plaza that was filled with restaurants, including a Chinese place we were very fond of going to for Friday lunch.

All of the buildings are now gone. In its place are the big Arthur Blank Hospital, part of Children's Hospital of Atlanta, a bunch of construction, and the Emory Muskoskeletal and Spinal Center, which was us. The building is shiny new, with a very nice-smelling cafe at the entrance. They have an interesting system of elevators, too. When you get there you register, and they give you a ticket telling you where to go: Level 4, for example, and then Aisle E. Then you go to the elevator bay which has a central panel. You tell the elevator you're going to Level 4, and it tells you what elevator to take. There are no buttons in the elevator; it's kinda spooky.

Anyway, we saw Dr. Hobson, but nothing was done that Thursday; she wanted a battery of tests first: a complete spinal CT scan, a complete MRI of the spine, and a bone density test. She doesn't want to start a treatment for his lower back that will screw up his upper back. She also prescribed a back brace, which we'll get from Hangar Orthotics, and hydrotherapy. When we got home we tried to set up the CT and MRI immediately, but the orders weren't in the system yet; they did not go in until Wednesday and James made appointments on Saturday evening the 9th at Townpark, but he couldn't get the bone scan until the following Tuesday. But it will be done quickly, so we can hopefully get James some pain relief.

This wasn't our only appointment this week; we also went to see Dr. Coyle. The fistula still isn't "ripe." You know, we were told, both times, that this thing would be "ripe" in six weeks. Now they tell us six weeks to three months!

In happier trips, we drove out to the Costco in Paulding County again. We got supplies, but there was no ScotTissue! We also stopped at the Walmart out there and I was able to find twelve cans of the recently discontinued Harvest Tomato soup, which I use to make chicken cacciatore. I think this is the only big haul I'm going to be able to get. I now have 20 cans, and then we will need to find something else. I'm very sad.

James had already filled in his mail-in ballot, and I did mine on Wednesday. When we left dialysis, we drove past the Smyrna community center where they were having early voting. This year they did allow me to deposit James' ballot along with mine; last year they insisted he do it himself.

I put up the outside Thanksgiving decorations on Friday only to discover I had no Thanksgiving flag! I ordered one immediately, a very beautiful surround of autumn leaves surrounding the word "thankful." Then I drove out to the Walmart near Roswell Road and Cobb Parkway in hope of finding more Harvest Tomato soup. No luck there, but they did have slip-on canvas shoes that I use for dog-walking at night. And just in time, too, because when I got home and swapped out the inserts in my old dog-walking shoes, I discovered the soles of both shoes were cracked!

This Walmart is next to Sam's Club, so I went in for ScotTissue. Thank goodness, they did have some! They also had—oh, my ears and whiskers!—poultry gravy. It has been like pulling teeth to find containers of poultry gravy; you can get brown gravy all the time, but not poultry. I ended up paying something like fifteen dollars to get a canister of McCormick poultry gravy mix from Amazon, and there they were at Sam's Club for $5 each. So I bought three!

Uploaded a new fanfic as well: "Haunted."

Labels: change, clothing, food, health, shopping, sickness, writing

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:37:00 PM

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James finally had an appointment with the pain clinic, even if it was just a video visit. After looking at James' spinal scans, Dr. Connally thinks he needs outpatient treatment on his back immediately, something called "an injection of 'cement'"? He has a fracture in one of his lower lumbar vertebrae that is probably pinching one or more nerves, causing the terrible pain and the interference in his sleep. So he will be getting a call from Emory about seeing a specialist there.

I have been working on a fanfiction called "Quiver" all of the week and uploaded it on Saturday.

I had Michaels credits, so we stopped at the Heritage Pointe store on Sunday afternoon and now I have a new 4-foot tree for the library.

Otherwise it's been the usual chore-filled week. I did get a brighter light bulb for the library and was able to install it myself using the full-sized ladder. Leaning on the ladder makes me feel secure and I can stand being on the second step. I also replaced the long light bulb in the airplane fixture in the downstairs hall. This was a special gift to James from his mother, so we both cherish it. I found to my surprise when I got up there to replace the bulb that the old one was completely burned out! I could only get long light bulbs—they're called "radio bulbs" because they look like old-time radio tubes—in a four-pack, so I just replaced it with a regular-sized (A19) bulb. Fit perfectly, and damn it is bright down there now!

Labels: Christmas, health, home repairs, illness, shopping, writing

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:50:00 PM

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This week's high even had a disappointing low. On Sunday we went to the Apple Festival and, while it was nice to walk the fairgrounds, it was very tiring and I was suffering from lack of sleep, and feeling very woozy and out of it.

We made a short stop at Panorama Orchards for the necessities of life: fresh Granny Smith apples, blackberry spread, the tea sold in little wooden crates (but they quit making the ginger peach), sugar-free taffy, and a few other things. Then we decided to stop in Canton to eat, hoping to go to the Thai place, but they are closed Sunday and Monday. Brooklyn Joe's was slammed, so we went to Cheeseburger Bobby's. This was really good: you got enough meat in the burger and the onion rings were excellent! It was pretty expensive, though.

Stopped at Books-a-Million briefly, then got stuck in traffic on the way home. ::sigh::

The week started badly because we had to see Dr. Coyle on short notice. They noticed at dialysis that his fistula incision was weeping and had been giving him IV antibiotics on his last two visits. She said she didn't want him having that much vancomycin. She put him on oral antibiotics and told me to put Betadyne on the incision and keep it covered. [The Betadyne did do the trick eventually, but we can't figure out what happened in the first place as we followed all her instructions on caring for the wound to the letter.]

Just chores for the rest of the week, including cleaning out decrepit emergency toilet-flushing water bottles from the garage.

Labels: chores, events, food, health, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:41:00 PM

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I never have been an Apple fangirl, don't want an iPhone, but have been having serious envy of people using iPads for art. We have styluses for our Android tablets, but they have none of the fine control that the iPads do with their corresponding "pencils." I've been wandering by a 6th generation iPad at MicroCenter; it was only $139, which seemed a good "beginner's price" for something you're not sure you're going to use. However, in chatting with someone, they advised me to buy a 9th generation which wasn't too much more ($60) with a lot newer everything. Like my dad, I never could resist a better gadget.

(Dad went out one Christmas to buy me a camera. Our old Brownie Hawkeye—the kind you looked down into the viewfinder to take the picture—with the attachable flashgun was venerable. The new Instamatic cameras had just come out, where you didn't have to string the film from the roll to the intake reel, but just pop a cartridge in and then remember to advance the film. There were four of them, each a little more expensive. The 104 was basic, the 404 had all the bells and whistles. Dad came home with the 404, saying sheepishly that it could be the family camera, but it did end up that mostly I took the pictures.)

So, I splurged on the 9th gen and saved on the accessories; I got a generic "iPad pencil" rather than the regulation Apple pencil (it was $85 cheaper on sale) and a plain cover in black, the cheapest price.

Notes: I hate Safari. It may be the most aggravating browser ever, even worse than Internet Explorer. I hate that you can't really access your files to make sure photos you save end up on the iPad, not in the iCloud. But the screen is fabulous; I have been reading my magazines on the iPad rather than the Android. And the generic "pencil" is faboo for drawing. Rather than buy an expensive copy of Procreate, which everyone loves, I decided to start out with an old friend from my Android days, Sketchbook, which—no surprise—works like a delight on the iPad. I love that I can rest my hand on the screen and all it pays attention to is the pencil.

Oh, and it's great to play my cross-stitch game in.

Officially I named it "Cider"—it's fall, after all—but I find myself calling it "Woz" for Steve Wozniak.

Labels: computers, gadgets

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:21:00 PM

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Well, what to do about the faucet problem. Despite the fact that I was washing dishes in the bathroom and filling pitchers of water there, James used the kitchen faucet a couple of times and it didn't explode. However, it did need to be fixed. So while scrolling the internet, I found a company called "Steve's Handy," a handyman service. Steve had all five stars from people who used him.

So I called him and he was supposed to come Monday afternoon, but the previous job ran long. We made an appointment for 10:30 next morning, which was neat because now James could talk to him. He showed up promptly, then showed us some faucet options. We picked a Glacier Bay with a spray unit in the faucet head. He then went to Home Depot to pick up the faucet while I cleaned out under the sink. He came back with the faucet and installed it.

Well, I've had this "punch list" of small things that had needed doing for years, like the light in the bathroom downstairs. I asked Steve to look at the items. Folks, he took care of all of them.

* We haven't had a light in the downstairs bathroom in years. When James tried to fix it, back when he could still climb ladders, he could not get the light out of the cowling it was in. Steve was able to fix it—it turned out when James tried to replace the light bulb that burned out, the glass cover on the fixture was so tight he actually pulled out the whole fixture, which is why he couldn't get the light bulb out—Steve was able to get the clear cover off and just screwed in the light bulb.

* Steve used a special needle-nosed plier and got the broken light bulb base out of the overhead ceiling fan light in the library. This has been out of commission almost as long as the bathroom light, and it now has a bulb back in it! The cover is even back on it and the pull cords for the fan and the light back on. The screws that hold the cover were lost, but, since Steve had to go back to Home Depot to get a plug to cover the spray hose hole, he also picked up some generic screws so the cover could go back on. (It's not bright enough for the library, but I didn't have a 100 watt equivalent bulb that would fit.)

* I finally got our "Wizard of Speed and Time" poster reframed in the better frame I bought for it at least five years ago and Steve re-hung it in the foyer.

* Best of all, he got up on a ladder and was able to move our Leaf indoor antenna up as high as it would go (another four feet to the west and higher by at least 16 inches), and now we are getting Georgia Public Broadcasting again and Ion TV (I think we may have lost the better signal on "the Loop" which shows old black and white TV, though...oh, well). I re-scanned the television only two days ago and came up with 80 channels; scanned it again today and got 95. I've only reached 92 scanned channels previously, during the winter when the leaves are off the trees. Usually, once the trees leaf out we lose GPB completely.

Steve is definitely getting five stars and more from us!!!!!

(Also, he's a theater person and tech-y and knows the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company!)

So if you're in the area (Cobb County, Georgia, from Smyrna north to Acworth) and need some work done, check out Steve's Handy! These are all the things Steve does, per his Yelp listing:

Handyman assembly
Circuit breaker installation
Electric installation or replacement
Wire installation
Faucet installation
Garbage disposal installation
Handyman installation
Outlet installation
Handyman painting
Plumbing repair
Sink installation
Switch installation
Toilet installation
Water pipe installation
Handyman caulking
Electric inspection
Electric repair
Wire repair
Faucet repair
Garbage disposal repair
Light fixture repair
Outlet repair
Plumbing installation or replacement
Handyman repair
Sink repair
Switch repair
Toilet repair
Water pipe repair

Well, all this high had to have a downward slope, didn't it? It's the way things go these days. When James went to dialysis Wednesday afternoon, the PA looked at his fistula wound and thought it was getting infected. They put antibiotic on it and sent a tube of it home with him, and gave him IV antibiotics. They also said if it was worse by Saturday we would have to go to the emergency room.

Yes, I freaked. I did notice it was a little red on Tuesday. We have been doing just as the doctor ordered since the surgery: soap and water washing only, pat dry, a little Mupirocin on the incision. No bandaging necessary, even though the wound would rub against his shirt.

Well, it's going to be bandaged from now on, until we see Dr. Coyle next week (James called her immediately). So at night we are cleaning it out with wound cleaner, covering it up so the shower doesn't wet it, then re-cleaning it, putting Mupirocin on it, and bandaging it. DaVita gave him more intravenous antibiotic on Friday as well. They said it didn't look any worse and, since the doctor said I was treating it the right way (we sent her photos), just rebandaged it. (I hate the way they rebandage it. They put tape on his arms that pulled off some skin.

In good news, we got some stuff done on Thursday, and then on Saturday took a long drive up to Cumming to celebrate Jessica Clerici's 31st birthday. I loved seeing our friends, but Mellow Mushroom sat us outside so there was room for all of us to sit together. In the sun. In almost 80℉ weather. I had a migraine that kicked in immediately and with the glare and the heat, I had to retreat to a shadier seat.

Juanita had bought the coolest candle for the cake. It looked like a flower with long yellow pistels, but they were wicks. You lighted it in the middle and all the wicks ignited and the "petals" fell open and rotated while it played "Happy birthday."

We were in walking distance of a Barnes & Noble, so we walked around it for a few minutes and I bought a Christmas romance and something called A Werewolf's Guide to Seducing a Vampire for Hallowe'en reading.

The moment we got home we both took a nap. Sun takes so much out of us. Sigh.

Today I did a bunch of little chores including cleaning out the cart where I have all his bandages and medicines. With grim irony James calls it his "crash cart."

Steve left a tool here and is supposed to come back to pick it up. Maybe he will put up the new light bulb I bought at Home Depot on Friday. I walked in there and came face-to-face with Christmas! They had nearly two dozen Christmas trees (they're all so tall; what happened to six-foot trees?) and I actually liked a slim-line one, but I don't think it would fit all 200 of our ornaments. I suppose I could get rid of some...but I love them all.

Labels: birthdays, chores, Christmas, events, friends, health, home improvement, home repairs, illness, medication, purchases, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:13:00 PM

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I look forward to October every year. It's my favorite month except for December, although the leaves here don't really turn until November, but there's such a possibility in October...that it might be cooler, that it might be colorful, that we can make all the wonderful things coming up like the book sale and the Apple Festival.

It started out on a bad note Tuesday. We'd had a nice day: went to Sam's Club for gasoline for the truck, went inside and found some nice sirloin steaks for a semi-reasonable price, and some nifty dark-chocolate covered nut clusters. Nuts are good for kidney patients, and these turned out to be really tasty, with flaky dark chocolate on them. We also went by Dunkin Donuts and got two more apple cider doughnuts, and James made chopped steak and ramen noodles for dinner...

...and forgot to check behind him to make sure the chair was there and sprawled out on the kitchen floor. We had to call the firemen to get him up, and he said he was okay—he didn't even scrape an arm or a leg like he usually does and start bleeding!—but over the rest of the evening he started to hurt worse and worse around his chest, and off we went at 10:30 to Urgent Care. Even though there were few customers, it took us until 3 a.m. for him to get an x-ray and then another 90 minutes for them to look at it. I had a screaming headache most of the time there; had taken three ibuprofin before we left the house and it barely touched it, and someone's alarm was going off constantly, and there was a baby crying, and it was hot in the little cubicle we were assigned to. We were so miserable we both considered just walking out, but we had to check...

So, they said no broken anything and sent us home on a couple of hydrocodone for James and absolutely no energy for me. We got into the house and just crawled out of our clothes and fell asleep on top of the bedspread with a couple of fleece throws at about 5:30 a.m. Ever since now he has this pain around his torso when he twists (can't figure out how it happened since he appeared to have landed on his left side), coupled with the pain in his back that has been so intense he has been taking, in ones and twos, the hydrocodone Dr. Coyle gave him for post-op. I have been wakened every night by his moaning in pain.

So, whap, apparently it was now my turn; tried to get in bed early Thursday night for the book sale on Friday and instead suffered nightmares and knee pain and nausea all night. It was a whole lot of fun for both of us. I staggered up long enough to help with breakfast and feed and walk Tucker, then crashed on the futon until it was time to get up for dialysis transport. I went straight to the book sale and bought thirteen books, and didn't feel fully human again until after supper.

So James ended up going to his club meeting online again, after making it successfully last month on his own (sigh...).

Over the week I also finished putting up a couple of more fall decorations, put the new signs up on the front porch (hopefully the plague of roofers will go away), brushed Tucker, updated my blog, and finally put away the charged power supplies (and sorted out the little woven crate they're in).

I also, happily and sadly, finished the very last Maisie Dobbs book, The Comfort of Ghosts. I've been reading the series since 2007, when I read a great review of the first book. Maisie started out as a thirteen-year-old servant whose thirst for knowledge was so great that she would get up at three a.m. to study in her employer's library to further her education. Her employer educated her, and she went to college but didn't finish due to serving as a nurse in the Great War. Now World War II has ended. Maisie is at the end of a long journey. It was a satisfactory ending, but how I will miss her!

Also, back in the day when James was working, one of the things we used to watch at lunchtime was the New Zealand-produced "reboot"/follow-on of Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds. They did a lot of fan service to the original series and we enjoyed it. However, Amazon Prime only showed two-thirds of the series. I just found out the remainder of the series was on Tubi.

Alas, now it seems our kitchen faucet is either broken or giving up the ghost. Like we haven't spent enough money.

Labels: accidents, autumn, books, dogs, health, illness, shopping, television, treats

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:02:00 PM

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...that we may have to break it into parts.

Might as well get the nastiness out of the way first. Hurricane Helene was in the news a lot starting September 24. Supposedly this monster was due to gather a lot of strength and not lose it after it crossed the Florida/Georgia line. I immediately began gathering every small power supply we had in the house just in case we lost power for more than an hour, as our internet and main computers are already on APC power supplies, as is the television and Roku, but they would be needed for emergencies. On Wednesday it poured and we took the rollator to dialysis because the power chair isn't supposed to get wet. On Thursday we heard that a 15-20 foot storm surge would probably hit Tallahassee when Helene made landfall, and then the damn fool thing was going to come directly up I-75 and hit Atlanta head on with 75 mph winds. These were the conditions predicted when we went to bed on Thursday night. Instead, we slept almost soundlessly until five, when rain lashed at the windows and we could hear the wind raging outside. By the time we got up it was sprinkling, and then partly cloudy, with some very blue sky visible. Just south of us the storm had turned east, so Atlanta and Chattanooga were marked "safe" except for some downed trees around town.

Instead Helene barrelled into western North Carolina like a gigantic watery freight train. All the beautiful towns and villages there were lashed and pounded. The "Rainbow Bridge," a little tribute place where you could fasten a memory of a beloved pet, was washed away. The gatehouse at Biltmore Estates was 2/3 covered in water. The little town of Chimney Rock was completely washed away. Big chunks of the freeway in eastern Tennessee and western NC are gone, as well as smaller roads. The Blue Ridge Parkway has been chewed up in many places. In fact so many roads are out that they cannot bring in supplies to many places and are resorting to helicopters, small planes, and, in one case, a mule train! Mountain Mule Trackers have been using their mules to get supplies into that part of the state. Fall is the time when much of western NC and eastern TN make money due to leaf peepers. They'll have no business this year. Dolly Parton personally donated a million dollars to recover efforts.

James' sister, in Gaffney, South Carolina, lost power, but they are in the country and have a generator. [They only had power restored on October 6, thanks to tree cutters shipped in all the way from St. Louis, Missouri, followed by the local linemen. Electrical linemen are the GOAT. These folks need to be paid more money, not overstuffed politicians and performers.]

So while Nature was doing her damnest, we were able to carry on: I cleaned out under the bathroom sinks and used shelves to get extra storage space; we stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home from James' surgical followup and found lots of fall goodies; Thursday it was cool enough for me to go for a full walk!; on Saturday after Hair Day we drove out to the Costco in Paulding county, gassed up my car, and found more Belgian chocolate mousse in the handy little glass containers as well as lamb chops for $5.99/pound; and stopped at the local Walmart and finally found some of my yogurt! I bought two weeks' worth and need to check the local Wally Worlds for more.

In James news, Dr. Coyle seemed pleased with his fistula so far, even though he complains he cannot feel what they call "the thrill," the buzzing that a successful fistula makes. I can feel it plain as day, it vibrates like a purring cat. The skin around the surgical area has also swollen up like it's supposed to, which the original fistula did not do. Oddly, his blood pressure was rather low on the visit, but she did not seem concerned. And Friday he got lucky and got an early chair at dialysis!

Sunday he got the nicest surprise of all. His best friend J.P. called ... um, from wherever he and his wife are living now; I've totally forgotten. You should have heard them on the phone exchanging their health challenges. Apparently J.P. also twitches in his sleep and has been diagnosed with narcolepsy.

We had some of the lamb chops tonight, in the air fryer, with mint jelly. So good!

Labels: chores, errands, food, friends, health, local, relatives, sadness, shopping, sickness, storms, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:26:00 PM

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It was another doctory week, but not overwhelmingly so, like the "day of three doctors' appointments." James had dialysis the usual three days, on Tuesday we went to see Dr. Mobley and on Thursday James had an MRI on his back, ordered by Dr. Mobley, to see what's going on with his back. Friday before dialysis we had a visit with James' cardiologist and had enough time to stop at the Perimeter Barnes & Noble and stopped by MicroCenter on the way back to get a new bluetooth keyboard for my phone. My faithful Freedom Pro seems to have given up the ghost.

The house also had to see a doctor, or rather the garage did. There are thin, taut metal cables on either side of the garage doors that roll up when the door rolls up, and then unspool and stay taut when the doors are down. One, on the truck's side of the garage, had quit spooling up over the weekend, and the other quit as the week started. Apparently this is Very Bad and can warp/break the garage door panels. So we had to have "Don't Panic! Garage Door Repairs" come to fix it. It cost nearly as much to fix as the garage door panel repairs back in 2014. Gah.

So, we had some good things this weekend: while we had to give David's birthday party a miss (my lower GI was in an uproar) on Saturday, we had a great time at Aubrey's birthday "do" on Sunday. The cake was based on Hazbin Hotel, a fandom I hear about on Reddit, but haven't investigated, and, best of all, the company was wonderful. Alice made it so we could take the power chair up to the back door and then James was able to limp in on the folding walker.

I also finished and posted a story I began on September 15, finished on the 18th, and posted on the 21st. It seemed to be well received.

In a very annoying development, DaVita will not allow me to go back and help James set up his stuff any longer. They say it's against the rules. Now, when we first started going there in July, the rules clearly said that if the person having dialysis could not get to the chair by themself, they needed to have a helper come in with them. James can get from the power chair to the dialysis chair if the power chair is next to it, but he cannot park the power chair out of the way and walk the few steps to the dialysis chair without help. The nurses are not supposed to do this, so he would get out and I would park the chair, then help him get his stuff set up, wait for James to get a finish time, then leave. Now the clinic manager says I can't do this anymore. If I want to do this, I have to get a doctor's note. Once I have the doctor's note, we have to take a conference class, and then answer a questionnaire...what the absolute f*ck? Just to help him pull stuff out of his bag?

The funny thing was that when I went to pick him up, the clinic manager had gone home and the nurse on duty just let me in. She didn't want to deal with the power chair and didn't mind me coming in the back at all. So it's just one person with a stick up their butt...

Labels: annoyances, birthdays, books, computers, friends, health, home repairs, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:58:00 PM

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James had his fistula surgery this week, on the 10th.

The week itself did not start auspiciously; James Earl Jones died. "The Voice," and the talented man attached to it, is gone. End of an era indeed.

Monday evening we stuffed James with food at about 11:45, then valiantly tried to get 3 1/2 hours sleep. If was mostly fruitless, and we could have waited and gotten up at four anyway, as the freeway was totally clear and we got to the surgical center so early that the only people there were the security guards. So we parked and closed our eyes until the lights went on. We weren't the only people there early, either; there were about six other patients...well, patiently waiting.

James' surgery was scheduled for 7:30, but he had to be here for 5:30; I think we waited a bit longer than that. Finally they brought us back to a room and I helped him undress and waited under unforgiving fluorescent lights until they shooed me out. They would send me texts on James' condition, and I could also look on the electronic board. The café was open by then and I had something called "breakfast porridge," a bagel and cream cheese, and milk. I couldn't finish the porridge. I didn't mind the Cream of Wheat texture, but it was apparently pumpkin spice and virulently sweet.

Labels: health, illness, surgery

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:57:00 PM

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 4:00:00 PM

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Emotionally, it's been a bummer of a week.

The saddest part was finding out a friend had died. I met Rose Marie Badgett on my first trip to a convention with friends rather than with my mother. There were six of us sharing a room: Rosie (from Kentucky), Alice and Maggi from Georgia, Mary from Massachusetts, and Gail and I from Rhode Island. We had a wilder weekend than we expected than at a Star Trek convention because all of us were supposed to leave on Monday, but Sunday night a big snowstorm blew into New York City, flights were suspended, Amtrak was running about twelve hours behind...and the hotel offered us another night at the con rate. We had a room party and James Doohan showed up, except we missed it because Gail and Rosie had gone out to dinner, and the other four of us were in Holly's room, Mary and Maggi because they wanted some quiet, and Alice and I were watching Backstairs at the White House.

Rosie was one of the Space: 1999 fans in the bunch and I saw her twice a year until she moved to California and then I moved to Georgia. I think I saw her last in person in 1985. But we reconnected on Facebook. Apparently she had been ill for a while and passed away on Sunday.

My consolation is that she and Lin have probably found each other by now and are telling tales to each other.

Less hurtful but still mournful was the fact that we made our monthly trip to Canton on Thursday and Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint was no more. They must have closed right after we went last month. So we made our monthly pilgrimage to Books-a-Million, then ate at a pizza place called Brooklyn Joe's. It was very good, but they don't make personal pizzas; however, they will make half a pizza one way and half another, so I got my usual bacon/black olive/no cheese and James got all the cheese and onion and mushrooms and burger he wanted on his half. Next time we will get a medium, though; we brought half of it home and had it for a meal a few days later.

Sunday we also sort of "don't care"'d and didn't go to the Yellow Daisy Festival, either. Just not the same for me since the Country Pick'ns folks retired. We already had maple barbecue sauce anyway. I would have liked to have looked at the opal rings again and gotten James a new glass nail file (the one I bought him last year was broken and the "replacement" I got from Amazon is terrible—you have to saw at your nails to file them).

Got some useful things done this week anyway: James had his preop for his new fistula surgery on Tuesday, I backed up the hard drive on the desktop, got gas for my car, picked up a prescription at Kaiser.

Did you know there's a "lost" episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent? There is; fortunately it's a Nichols and Wheeler episode...I do dream about them finding a "lost" Goren and Eames! This one was about favoritism in picking out an Olympic site and apparently the Brazilians didn't like it, so it's neither on the DVD set nor in reruns. Someone recorded it when it was first broadcast, though, and that's what I saw. It was an underwhelming effort anyway. Jeff Goldblum overacted terribly in an interrogation scene with the female suspect. The best parts were insights into the ongoing Major Case storylines at the time: Megan Wheeler being interrogated by the FBI due to her fiance's involvement in money laundering and then throwing out her wedding invitations (very sad scene), Ross and Nichols arguing over the latter's decision to go see Breakfast at Tiffany's for insights into the case, and Nichols learning Wheeler's likes and dislikes.

On Saturday we had fun at Taste of Smyrna; this time we went early (1) when it was cool and (2) James could have a meal before his club meeting afterward. We tasted the usual "drunken pork" and creamy grits, rice balls, elk and bison meatballs (I was disappointed; they were quite bland), and a very sweet bread pudding. No Asian food at all this year.

Labels: books, conventions, errands, events, food, friends, loss, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:35:00 PM

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Labels: dogs, DragonCon, dreams, emotions, events, exercise, family, food, friends, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:55:00 PM

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Went to Kroger this afternoon as has become my habit since James started dialysis to find the dairy cases completely rearranged and my favorite flavor of yogurt nowhere to be seen, and no more space for it on the shelf. First it's disappeared from Publix and now it's gone from Kroger. After I came home, I checked Chobani's website to see that they still do make the flavor, then called Publix hoping I could order it. The manager said he would look into it for me.

Tuesday we had to go back to Kaiser Townpark for James to get the examination on his eyes to see if the Plaquinel is affecting them (it's not, so far). We discussed the computer glasses and were told that his distance glasses—the ones with the transitional lenses that "have to be trained"—are the ones he should be using for the computer.

Wednesday was another dialysis day, and then, success on Thursday! I finally found the rub-ons I need for the porch. They were in the same places I had already looked a couple of times. Perhaps it's the little blue guys again. In the afternoon we went back to Townpark so James could have a new echocardiogram. We had lunch at Pacific Buffet and I bought some books at Barnes & Noble.

James bought a DragonCon streaming membership and we were able to see a little bit of the convention this afternoon: a Star Trek: the Next Generation reunion panel and then the John Cleese panel. I believe Cleese is here for the entire convention, but he is only doing one panel, and this was it.

Sunday has its own entry...

Labels: conventions, crafts, food, health, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:23:00 PM

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I mentioned James got new glasses earlier this year. Well, he's been a bit discontented with them. The transitional glasses he ordered don't get dark enough, even enough in full sun, and to see the monitor on his computer with the "computer glasses," he has to bend way over the screen. So we went to Costco today, only to be told the transition lenses have to be "trained" by holding them up to the sun! Also that his computer glasses aren't going to work for the distance he is from the screen (31 inches).

Who heard of lenses having to be "trained"?

I ended up buying a new vacuum cleaner, another Dyson, at Costco because the price was so good. I love the old one, because it is so light, but the beater bar quit working and I wager it would cost as much to fix as to get a new one. I like the new one, but it is too darn heavy.

I finally made it to the bank this week to re-work the CD that I was unable to renew when it expired. The bank happily worked with me putting it into another CD with a good interest rate (4.5 instead of .01!). I also cashed out about seven expired savings bonds that were no longer gathering interest and added those to the CD.

The big thing that happened this week is that I bought a Sunday membership to DragonCon. I am really scared about it because it means I'll have to leave James alone for the day. But he really wants me to go; he even bought a tray for his walker so he can manage to make his breakfast and then eat it at his desk.

Labels: cleaning, conventions, errands, financial, problems

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:50:00 PM

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This week we had a new wrinkle: James' pulse has been slow. We called up Kaiser and they got us an appointment on Tuesday with a Dr. Carpenter. We thought for sure he would ship us off to Urgent Care, which was, providentially, empty, but he ordered an X-ray and a blood test, and then took an EKG. He said because we were going to see James' cardiologist the next day, he felt safe just doing that. And so we did; Dr. Shash said that dialysis needs to take more fluid off of James. Both he and Dr. Carpenter think he should be on some kind of diuretic to help him shed fluid, but DaVita doesn't think so. They did take him off his high blood pressure meds, which they thought might have been the cause of the low pulse. He really doesn't need the medication anymore due to the dialysis.

I hate that DaVita and Kaiser don't talk to each other. It's Kaiser I'm paying for medical service and to keep James healthy, and I don't like DaVita sticking their fingers in the pie.

In happier news, we went downtown on Thursday and wandered about, visiting the new Italian grocery and goodies store, the candy store for sugar-free candy, and the Corner Shop (the British store).

The only other notable event was a horrific thunderstorm on Sunday; everything got dark, the wind whipped up and the rain lashed down. But it cleared up in time to reveal a beautiful full moon!

Labels: errands, food, health, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:25:00 PM

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It was an okay week, although we are worried that James' lungs may be accumulated fluid again. When we saw Dr. Salazar on Friday we asked him to listen to his heart and lungs. He said they sounded okay, so we're going to leave it to DaVita to take the proper amount of fluid off him per day.

We did have a couple of fun excursions this week. On Tuesday we went to Ollie's discount outlet to get new vinyl bungie cords for the big trunk we keep in the back of the truck. The sun rots them after awhile and we have to buy a new set. We bought two sets, so we'll have a spare next time when the new ones get broken and can go looking for another set while still having a usable set. We also got a new bungie cord to go around the tarp cover for the power chair. The last one rotted out.

On Thursday we drove out to Canton, went to Books-a-Million, had dinner at Uncle Maddio's, and finally stopped at BJs for fruit cups, maple syrup, and also AAA batteries. Remember when everything took double As? Now it's almost always triples.

Friday we got a call that the infectious disease doctor at Urgent Care thought Augmentin wasn't good enough for James' UTI. They want him on Fosfomax again. Sigh. The Augmentin was doing well, too. I could tell the the Fosfomax isn't going to work. It will kill the UTI for a week and then things will start up all over again.

I spent Sunday looking for the damn rub-on letters I need for the signs on the front porch ("Dog loose in house" and "No sales or solicitors"). I'm getting so tired of those fripping roofers knocking on the door at least once a week. Still can't find them.

Labels: annoyances, excursions, food, health, shopping, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:08:00 PM

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Empty. The house is empty, even though Ollie didn't chirp all that much in the beginning and didn't make many noises even when he was sick. No one to share my peaches and plums with. No one to eat out of my oatmeal spoon. "How quiet, how quiet the chamber is..."

It wasn't exactly the world's most sterling week otherwise. We saw a different vascular surgeon (Dr. Austin is off for two months) and apparently the fistula James was so proactive in having put in last August is not viable at all (Dr. Austin had the choice of his inside elbow joint and the wrist and he did the wrist because he said the vein was bigger, and now it seems the elbow joint should have been the place after all), so James will have to have fistula surgery again in September. Dr. Coyle said if the fistula won't work in the inside elbow joint, she will just do a graft instead, so he will have some sort of port besides the permacath in his chest which is Not Safe. (Ironically, the graft will be ready for dialysis before a fistula will be. But if he has the graft, he has two wounds to heal rather than one.)

And we spent the entirety of Saturday afternoon at Urgent Care because the Fosfomax they gave him last time we went there for a UTI did not work (I could have told them it wouldn't work; it never works). This time he has Augmentin.

The one good thing that came out of this week is that Bruno finally got off their duffs and the chair lift "actuator" arrived at Mobility Works on Monday. We dropped the pickup off there on Tuesday afternoon and it was fixed by Wednesday morning and James could finally wheel himself into dialysis.

I miss Oliver.

Labels: birds, events, health, pets, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:45:00 PM

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By this week, Oliver had turned into Beth March. He seemed sometimes to gain ground—once, for instance, we uncovered him and found him up on the high perch that both Snowy and Schuyler had favored—but despite the antibiotics and the anti-inflammatory, he never seemed to totally gain. I was losing him little by little as each day went by. I think he's been sick for so long that, like Beth, he just couldn't fight the tide going out any longer. He'll pretty much just sit in my hand and fluff up and sleep.

Tuesday I totally forgot the appointment with the vet wasn't until Thursday and took the poor guy all the way over to Vinings. Dr. Bostick wasn't even in the office, but the nurse tried to cheer me up. On the way home, as we were turning off South Cobb Drive, a big wedge of geese flew overhead, right over our heads, honking loudly. I told Oliver maybe someday he could fly with the geese.

He was so droopy Wednesday morning, plus he had fallen off his perch at one point (I put some hand towels at the bottom of the cage so he had a soft place to land), but after eating some millet and being vaporized he seemed to perk up. And then I took a nap and when I got up to dress to pick up James, he was doing badly again. He bobbled when he sat on his perch, and otherwise he's asleep or sort of out of it.

He was so bad by the time I had to leave I took him with me because I thought he was dying. Cuddled him for the rest of the night. Instead of letting him sleep in the cage, I put food and water in the carry box and covered him with facecloths and he slept on my night table Wednesday night. At six he fell off the perch and I had to cuddle him before putting him back in and going back to bed.

Our appointment was today at eleven and I knew what I had to do. Oliver went flying with the geese at about 11:30 a.m. Dr. Bostick took one look at him—but she didn't have to, I already knew. They were all really sweet once they saw how bad he was.

Fly, little one, second star to the right and straight on til morning.


My dad died on August 1 in 1985. God, I hate summer.

Labels: birds, budgies, death, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 5:46:00 PM

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Well, now I know I'm depressed between James' medical troubles and Oliver being sick: I took about an hour to myself on Monday, since I had to go to Kaiser after dropping James off at dialysis to pick up some meds for him, to go to Barnes & Noble to cheer up. It didn't work. I was totally miserable walking around, even though I did buy Leather and Lark and Ashley Poston's new book. If going to a bookstore can't cheer me up, how will I manage?

Something very odd happened Monday night. We buy snack cakes for desserts; you know, Hostess cupcakes, things like that. We had a box of Ding Dongs which we had already eaten two of the cakes. When I opened one for dessert and took a small bite of it, a terrible chemical smell came out of the cake, like...I don't know, like some kind of floor or counter cleaner. I opened the cake I was about to give to James and it had the same smell! I threw them both away, and Tuesday I was terribly sick, sleepy and nauseated and burping all day, so I just threw the rest of the box away, too. So glad I didn't ignore the smell and eat the whole thing, or let James eat it.

We had leftover turkey and rice for supper on Friday, and a good thing because dialysis caused us to be ready just in time for Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. Bon spectacle on the Seine for sure, although some stuff was just bizarre, like the decapitated Marie Antoinette projections. We were surprised at all the furor about "the Last Supper" because we watched the whole thing and never interpreted what happened in that manner. Later they explained this was a tribute to pagan gods or whatever? Ah, well, they're French after all. (Just kidding.) Anyway, I loved that they rang the bells of Notre Dame for the first time since the fire! Also the wonderful light show from the Eiffel Tower and the fact that the Olympic torch is actually a balloon in honor of the Montgolfier brothers! Enjoyed the fact that the countries' teams got to ride in boats down the Seine as well, but felt bad for everyone being drenched with rain.

I had no idea why Snoop Dogg was getting all this attention and Lady Gaga performing was okay, but Celine Dion singing was quite beautiful. I looked up the "stiff person" disease that she has and the symptoms sound gruesome, and even loud sounds can trigger an attack. I hope she was okay after the performance.

Saturday James got his new glasses. Finally! Costco was a mess to navigate on a Saturday.

I don't see any improvement in poor Oliver. He's asleep most of the time although he has been eating, and I've been vaporizing him every day. Sometimes I can get him to eat fruit or some oatmeal, but he is letting me cuddle him more and more, not because, I think, that he is getting used to me and likes it, but because he's just too worn out to fight back.

Labels: birds, books, budgies, food, Olympics, shopping, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:18:00 PM

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We are getting into the rhythm of the three-times-a-week dialysis, but still had a horrendous Wednesday.

It looks like Monday will be my day at Kroger, to pick up milk (alas, at a higher price than the Mableton Kroger) and yogurt, and burritos if needed (and of course I could always survey the manager's special meats). Maybe I can do Publix on Wednesdays.

Oliver went back to the vet on Tuesday. She said he's not worse, but not a lot better, but she stopped the medicine and asked me to just keep him warm and vaporized and encourage him to eat, and she'd see him in two weeks.

James has been doing well with José, the physical therapist. He is giving James exercises to take down the back pain and also a way of walking that helps his diaphragm expand properly. We also have Shanté (the occupational therapist), who comes once a week and gives him a different set of exercises.

Thursday we couldn't rest from our long, long Wednesday because we had to go to Costco in the afternoon to order James' new glasses. We also tried out the "new" gas station: they added four pumps so that now there are twelve—that Costco gas is always packed—and they also have lights on the uprights to tell you which pumps are occupied.

Wednesday was the real bear: James had another 7 a.m. chair so we could go to his afternoon eye appointment that it took us three months to get. Up at six again with only three hours sleep; after I dropped him off, I figured, hey, who's going to be at Publix at this hour? and I was right, only two other people were there. Also noticed that milk is cheaper now at Publix; who would have thought it? So I got that done, except they didn't have enough Smart Balance to restock the fridge (I took care of that on Friday after I dropped him off; drove down to the Publix across from Sprouts to get three more tubs—now it should last until the next time Smart Balance is on twofer).

Anyway, when I picked him up at eleven (never having gotten any more sleep) we had to go directly to Kaiser Cumberland for James' followup appointment (from Urgent Care on the 13th). The appointment was at noon, but we didn't see the doctor until 1:30, and it was so cold on the front side of the building that even I was cold, and James, with his anemia, was absolutely freezing. The nurse didn't have a blanket, but she brought him a sheet that we doubled up as a shawl.

When we arrived, I'd had half a stale Poptart and a slice of toast with butter to eat. I mentioned this to the nurse this--I'm terrible with remembering names and I don't remember hers, but she's always so nice--and she gave me her homemade fruit cup! She said I needed it more than she did. She makes them on weekends so she has them for the week: grapes, strawberries, and pineapple. (I shared the pineapple with James.) Very thankful for small kindnesses.

And then we had to hotfoot it up to Kaiser Townpark for the eye exam. Pushing James in the rollator at TownPark is So Much Fun. Not. By the time we got home, James could barely make it up the four steps to the foyer and the chair lift. Canned soup was all we could manage for supper.

Saturday we slept in and, after walking the dog, all I did was watch the ChargeTV marathon of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and I fell asleep several times during that!

Sunday we got to do the one fun thing for the week: Juanita's birthday party at Longhorn. Unfortunately they're building an Olive Garden next door, and half the parking lot is gone, so I had to drop James and the rollator off and go park the car elsewhere. It was hot and sticky, so no love. But seeing everyone was so great!

Labels: birds, friends, health, pets, shopping, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:28:00 PM

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This has been an eventful week in many aspects.

Our own particular hell started on Monday evening. At two-thirty, I dropped James off at DaVita, bought a couple of things at Kroger, and went home, sorted meds for the week, cleaned the master bathroom, chatted with a friend, edited a story. At six fifteen I went to pick up James. Out we tooled to the truck. James got into the passenger seat. I rolled the chair on the lift, it started to lift, got about two inches high, and then it dropped back to the ground with a bang.

You guessed it, guys. The lift broke again. This time the hydrolic pole that lifts and lowers the platform broke.

At this point we were stranded, because, while the chair has the range to trundle home, the truck can't get anywhere dragging the ramp behind it. I called AAA, to see if they could get me a rope, because I could (barely) hold the ramp closed and lift it up, and if I could tie it together, the truck could get home. But when I tried to tie it up with a bungie cord, it snapped in half. AAA says they couldn't get me a rope; they could give me a tow, which wouldn't work.

Well, God/fate/someone sent Eduardo, who was doing business a few stores down. He had a ratchet strap in his truck, and he lifted and tied the ramp upright with it, and then we had a couple of shorter bungee cords to keep the folded-up base parallel to the lift pole.

Now I started to worry. What if I drove home and it let go? And James would have to trundle the entire two miles home by himself. What if the chair lost power or he had some medical problem? He's only out of the hospital ten days.

Eventually, I called Alice. To make a long story short, she and Aubrey [her daughter] came to the shopping center, and Alice drove home behind me to watch the ramp (it did drop vertically slightly, to the point I couldn't get the truck in the garage due to the curve in the driveway), but we got it home. And Aubrey walked all the way home with James. She found the easiest route via Google Maps, with the least ups and downs, and after about an hour Alice and I saw them approaching on Life 360 and we walked out to the corner to meet the wayfarers.

There's that saying "God never gives you more than you can handle." God apparently thinks I'm Supergirl or Wonder Woman. If I'm not at the end of my rope, I can see it from here.

For the rest of the week I had to trundle James around in a wheelchair, and later in his big rollator, which I didn't realize that I could push if James tucked his legs up (the rollator is actually easier to maneuver than the big wheelchairs). The rollator is heavy, though, and my back is really feeling it.

Wednesday was really a nightmare: because James had a followup appointment with Dr. Mobley in the afternoon from his sojourn to Urgent Care earlier, we had to be at DaVita at seven in the morning, the only seat they had. We both had four hours sleep. I went to Kroger, then went home to get more sleep, but it doesn't seem to be helping. Friday I did a Lidl/Publix run and made chicken cacciatore for supper.

Tuesday Oliver went back to the vet. He scolded Dr. Bostick the entire time he was in the weighing box. She took him off the medicines! But she wants me to continue vaporizing him and keeping his cage enclosed so he's warmer. I wrapped three sides of his cage in Glad Press'n'Seal so he gets more light; maybe it will perk him up. He looks so sad. I am wondering if he's suffered neurological damage from being sick for so long, because when he's not eating or sleeping, he just sort of sits, sometimes with his head down, looking sad. And she says to make him eat.

Thursday we took the truck to Mobility Works. This new part will cost $1700. Now we're nearly up to the price of a completely new chair lift. Plus Bruno [the manufacturer] apparently can't believe the lift is breaking down like this. They keep asking if the chair isn't heavier than the lift can tolerate. Well, dudes, when the idiot bashed in the previous lift at the Kaiser Glenlake office, we sent the specs on the chair to you, and this is the lift you sent. This is on you, not on Mobility Works or us. The manual says the chair weighs 326 pounds, the scale at DaVita says it's 317, and that's what we told you.

Anyway, someone finally called to make an appointment for a followup about the fistula and why dialysis doesn't want to use it. It would be with another doctor. It also wouldn't be until August 20 and I was very disappointed. I logged on to Kaiser to put all of James' appointments on his phone, and only then realized the fistula appointment was at the Southwood office. No. Just no. That's an hour's drive on a treacherous stretch of highway and every time we have had to go down there we have had our hearts in our mouths because the traffic there is so bad. It's either bumper-to-bumper or racing at 90 mph with cars darting in and out of traffic. There's a reason we quit driving to Warner Robins although we miss seeing Maggie and Clay.

I sent Dr. Austin a terse note that said neither James nor I were in fit health to make a trip to Southwood, and wanted to know why Glenlake was not an option. I also asked straight out for the results of the two ultrasounds of the fistula we had at St. Joe's. (Someone did eventually get back to us with an appointment for Glenlake, and, as a positive note, it's sooner, on August 2. We got no report about the fistula.)

Saturday should have been a fun day, but after we went to Hair Day—James was so tottery that Ron left the driveway clear and we came in through the garage; it was a busy day for Sheri, too, as she had a bumper crop of haircuts—we had to go up to Urgent Care, because since James got out of the hospital, due to the Foley catheter he wore all week, he had another UTI. It wasn't crowded and we weren't there all that long. This time the doctor is trying him on two doses of the powdered stuff, Fosfomax. I don't hold out much hope for it to work, as it's only two doses, and James has had it before, three doses, and it didn't work.

This all paled to what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, at a rally for Donald Trump. Despite all the Secret Service presence, a shooter was able to get on the roof of a nearby building. Luckily Trump turned his head and all they knicked was his ear, but a man who was at the rally threw himself over his family and was killed. The shooter was some kid—twenty is a kid to me!—who had researched killing both Trump and Joe Biden. Of course now this has made a martyr out of Trump.

Labels: birds, events, friends, health, pets, repairs, sickness

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

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