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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