Oliver, as tiny as he was, left a big gap in the household. Even as late as Thanksgiving, I was still having nightmares about him.
One day, checking out Pet Supplies Plus next to the DaVita Bellemeade facility, I heard a familiar sound. Having gone into the store once before, I thought they only sold dog and cat supplies, but when I walked to the very rear, there, up over my head, were two small cages with about ten budgies total in them.

Over the month of December, I was in there once, maybe twice a week. There was a yellow adult female and the rest appeared to be juveniles with baby stripes down to their ceres. There was one problem: I'm 5'2" and these budgies were literally over my head. I wanted to see them close up. But I had three I had my eye on even from my lowly viewpoint: a yellow and olive-green one with very dark wings, a lighter yellow and green one (marked sort of the way Bandit had been), and a blue one with a white face. I was avoiding the very last, because I didn't want a budgie that looked so much like Oliver. I was worried that my memories of Oliver would overwhelm the new bird.

Finally, today I walked into the store and told the friendly employee who greeted me about my problem. He got permission for me to stand on a store stool and there I could look all those cute little budgie faces in the eye. It was warm and I was wearing my sun hat, and the birds looked a bit askance at it, but none of them was  panicked. I talked to them awhile, and it turned out that the blue one with the white face was the most curious. I was nervous as I paid my bill up front, and talked to the little guy all the way home.

I had already scrubbed out the cage and under the cage two weeks earlier. I filled the food and water containers, and then took the little fellow out of his cardboard carry box. He actually sat in my hands for a few minutes and let me scratch him under the chin before I put him in the cage. And then, to start him out on the right foot, I put on some Christmas music for him.

I said nothing to James until he had gotten to the top of the stairs, then commented, "You might want to check out things to your left." He blinked and looked searchingly at the bookcase, the secretary, the bird cage...and then smiled and said, "Well, hi, there!" The bird blinked back.

I'd thought about names even before I went to the store. When I got him home, he felt brave enough to pipe up a succession of baby chirps, and I remembered Disney's Piper, the short about the sanderling chick who learns not to be afraid of the water. What better for this piping fledgling but Piper?

[Later: I'm bringing this one up right. He's already watched Law & Order, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and sang along to the theme music!]

Labels: birds, budgies

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:09:00 PM

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James had dialysis two days in a row this week. Since Christmas fell on a Wednesday this year, and they obviously didn't want to take the dialysis patients away from their own celebrations, they scheduled James for Monday and Tuesday dialysis. Monday went fine. I bought last minute foods at Kroger and made gravy with boneless pork ribs for Christmas Eve dinner. James watched Landman and Battlebots on his tablet.

Tuesday seemed to go as well. James had dialysis. I did some last-minute grocery shopping. We had spaghetti and pork ribs and watched The Homecoming and some of Midnight Mass.

We had plans with friends for Christmas which went down the drain on Wednesday morning. After making and eating breakfast and post gift opening, James suddenly got lightheaded and giddy. It happened twice. His blood pressure was something like 83 over 45. I looked it up and this often happens after consecutive dialysis sessions. So we rustled the emergency turkey out of the freezer, paired it with Yukon Gold potatoes, and a cucumber salad, and had a Christmas dinner on our own after giving James some salt and more liquid, and we both had a nap. Then we watched this year's Call the Midwife special, which was fabulous; there were several intertwined plotlines, including a tense but sweet incident involving Reggie, the young man with Down Syndrome.

Before bed, it was time for The House Without a Christmas Tree. A quiet ending to a quiet day.

Thursday we had a better day: James was feeling much better and we drove out to Books-a-Million and then had lunch at Brooklyn Joe's. We got a large pizza and once again brought half home. [Later: We had it as another meal several days later.] On the way home we stopped at Barnes & Noble.

Early Friday morning we got a call from DaVita. They were shortstaffed and couldn't accommodate James at Bellemeade that day. They had found a seat for James either that afternoon in Hiram at three or Saturday in Douglasville at 10:15. We chose Hiram even though it was a chilly, wet day because Douglasville was just too far to drive. However, getting there at three meant James wouldn't be out any earlier than 6:30. It's only fourteen miles, but it would be in the dark. I wasn't driving back that distance in the dark. Driving the two miles to the one near the house had been bad enough. So I basically packed up the laptop and planned to spend most of my time in the lobby waiting for James.

We got there and they were slammed. Two ambulances delivered patients that they weren't ready for yet. One of the ambulances would have to wait until 3:45 and they were expected in Douglasville at 4 p.m. and the driver was fit to be tied. Anyway, after 45 minutes they finally called James back.

I took the truck back down a mile and gassed up at Sam's Club. I have never seen that Sam's gas station when it wasn't five to eight cars deep at each pump! Today, only ones and twos--maybe the damp, chilly weather? Next I went to the next shopping center over, got some candy and a cool gift at Five Below, then went to Michael's.

If you're not looking for anything on clearance after Christmas, Michael's has to be the most depressing place on earth. I did get James a storage box. Went next door to PetsMart to get cheered up only to find all their budgies gone and one poor little lone conure left; I feel bad that I didn't stay longer and keep him company.

Finally I bit the bullet and went to Walmart because I was out of yogurt soon, then went back to DaVita. The Hiram location is in an area with all doctors' and dentists' offices (except for a gym) and parking was wide open.

The waiting area at the Hiram DaVita had a lot comfier chairs, at least (Bellemeade has nasty bucket chairs). They had a sofa, but there was no electrical plug at either end, and my laptop is old enough that the battery only lasts about an hour. There was a plug at a chair next to the Christmas tree, so I sat there. (No one turned on the Christmas tree, either, so I did that, too!)

James got home way after seven, at which time it was raining lightly. We stopped by Dragon 168 and had Chinese for dinner.

On Saturday we didn't do a blessed thing except I made a meat sauce so we could have spaghetti for dinner and Tucker got his two daily walks. Watched season one of Law & Order on Hulu (this began on December 16 and I've been looking forward to it, because as many times as I've seen the show on USA, WEtv, Pop, BBC America, and Sundance, I've never seen them in order and, indeed, have actually never seen some episodes at all, as first season proved), and then the final three episodes of Bull. I liked this series pretty well; it was enjoyable watching most of the characters grow and change, especially Chunk and Dani and Taylor. Jason Bull himself wasn't the most likeable character, but Michael Weatherly made him fun to watch. My absolute favorite character in the series was Geneva Carr's Marissa Morgan. It was nice to see her get her due in the final episode of the series.

On Sunday we found out that Jimmy Carter had passed away. Of all the presidents, I think he has had the most notable post-presidential career, and was just all around Good Folks. God bless, President Carter. You're back with Rosalynn at last.

Labels: Christmas, errands, events, food, health, outings, sickness, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:52:00 PM

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Sigh. James' restless legs have done it again. Now he's torn a hole through the dark blue sheets. So I had to go to Walmart on Monday to buy new sheets because I needed a bottom sheet, and had to change the bed again, although I just changed it yesterday. Plus Walmart's "hotel quality" sheets aren't as good as when I bought the first two sets a couple of years ago: they now have a satin quality that, even with the deep corners and thick elastic band on the bottom sheet, makes the sheet slips on the mattress (and I can't find my sheet "garters," even though I know I still have them). Plus they no longer label the "top/bottom" on the bottom sheet so you know the short end from the long end. Faugh.

On Tuesday we were thinking of going to Canton, but we simply just went to Woodstock and had breakfast at the IHOP. Do you know they no longer have silver dollar pancakes for adults anymore? You can only get them on the children's menu now! The waitress was really sweet and said she would say I was ordering a short stack, but ask the cook to make me silver dollars instead. Except the cook didn't and I got the short stack, but the waitress talked to the manager and they gave me a complementary order of silver dollar pancakes! We tipped her really well and, as I could barely get through the short stack, brought the silver dollars home. [Later: We had them for breakfast Christmas Day!]

Wednesday I finally gave Tucker a bath. He was overdue for one when he got so sick last month.

On Thursday something baffling happened. We went to see Dr. Ahmad at the Doctors Building at Emory St. Joseph. This was basically a waste of our time as we had already seen Drs. Hobson and Keel; all he said was that he concurred with their diagnosis. (Well, if we could, we'd get it done, because now Dr. Keel is saying James needs a current echocardiogram because he hasn't had one since 2022. That is bullshit because he had one in the hospital in June when his kidneys failed and another either in July or in August. [Later: it was August.])

Anyway, when we left the Emory garage, the power chair was fine. The back was folded down. We left the garage, paid the attendant, the barrier came up, and we were on our way. We made the mistake of going to the Trader Joe's on Roswell Road rather than our usual Trader Joe's at Market Square. There was intense road construction right before Roswell, and we had to inch along for what seemed like ages. I went in by myself to get more orange chicken and other Christmas goodies that will disappear on December 26. This is a big open parking lot, no overhangs. Then we went to Kaiser Cumberland to pick up some prescriptions for James. Again, big open parking lot, no overhangs.

When we got home, the head rest of the power chair (remember, the back of the chair was folded down so it was over the seat) was bent 45 degrees. This headrest support is made from steel.

All James can figure is that when we went through the exit gate at Emory, it somehow caught on the head rest and bent it. How? We don't know. Why wasn't the rest of the chair damaged? Dunno, but thank goodness it wasn't!

Saturday we were planning to go out, but James didn't sleep during the night, so we slept late and had Zaxby's for supper and watched Christmas stories. Sunday we did go out, then went to Big Lots because we heard they were going out of business. The line was very long, but the two cashiers were very efficient. We got some cool bargains.

I'm bummed with Big Lots going out of business, though. Where will I get my shampoo now?

Labels: chores, Christmas, doctors, events, food, health, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:43:00 PM

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We had fun with friends this week; yes, these days it's such a rarity that I have to headline it. On Saturday we went to Hair Day, although we were the only ones there except for John Campbell. So we had some quality time with Ron and John while Sherii clipped hair. The house seems so large and echoing without Lin there. It must be so hard for Ron, still cherishing the house they shared but living with the silence.

Went home to wrap gifts and then had Game Night at the Lawsons. I was still feeling a bit sad from the morning and preferred to spend the evening talking with Jerry, David, and John Bouler rather than game playing. Alice and Ken couldn't come because poor Ken had another kidney stone. We munched on pizza and came home with enough leftovers to have pizza for another meeting.

Wednesday was my 69th birthday. I'd like to say I did something really special, but I didn't. I hit a couple of stores, but the most important thing I did was go to Drivers' Services and renew my driver's license. Because I was over 65, it said I had to go into the office and have an eye test. I had an eye test in May and tried to send them the info, but I apparently didn't have the correct info.

Well, to my surprise, it took me exactly one hour and one minute, per Life360! Now, we're only four miles from the Drivers' Services building, so that was no problem. I took my iPad with me, but I hardly had a chance to look at it. I got the friendliest clerk, who noticed it was my birthday, and she was nice to talk to, and then it was done. I had a paper license to carry until I get the new license.

Did manage to put up the 1940s Christmas village, minus the Christmas tree lot, and a bit squished together, on the mantel shelf rather than on the longer board that usually goes on the mantel shelf. Strung line for the Christmas cards under the mantel shelf (the rest of the cards went on the medial bookcase) and brought up the stuffed Max and Rudolph and the Charlie Brown tree (missing the red ornament to dangle on it) to sit on the hearth with Rusty the deer in a Christmas bauble collar.

Finally did put up a Christmas tree: I used the new tree I bought for the library, the four-foot tree. I decorated it only with the glass ornaments that came in boxes (the satin balls, the holly balls, the old McCrory's ornaments, the "snow dusted" red ornaments, etc. and a few of the cellophane wrapped "presents" and two pine cones. I put "Little Blaze" the star at the top and tinseled the whole thing in layers of icicles. It was set on a temporary circular table with a silver tree skirt I found at Hobby Lobby for half price, with the manger set underneath. I managed to crowd most of the manger pieces on the table or in the stable itself, but five figures didn't fit, so I tucked a small teak table that sits in that corner all year under the circular table and covered it with the tree skirt and put the remaining five figures (two wise men, a camel driver, a camel, and the boy piper) on that. It gave the whole thing a nice 3D look, and then the wrapped gifts went around the base of the table.

In annoying medical news, James went to see Dr. Keel, the guy who's supposed to do the "cement." Look, I'm glad this dude is being careful. I don't want him "just winging it" on this procedure. But now he's saying we need permission for James to go off his blood thinner for a week. Until he gets that, no treatment. Sigh.

Did a whole bunch of usual chores this week. Braved Walmart for yogurt, since neither Kroger nor Publix carry my flavor any longer. (Food Depot doesn't, either. I checked. We don't have an Ingles close by.)

James got an early seat at dialysis on Friday, and got approved for an earlier seat starting Monday. 10:30 is too early, but it's better than my picking him up after dark.

Labels: birthday, chores, Christmas, Christmas decorations, friends, games, health, illness

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

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Well, it was a bad week for medical solutions for James.

Dr. Connally was very firm that she wanted James to undergo some kind of aquatherapy, so on Tuesday we went to the place where he would have the therapy. This turned out to be a swanky retirement home that included a fancy dining hall with white tablecloths, flowers on the table, and Muzak; a little coffee shop type place, meeting rooms, a big gym, and a huge pool with a lift.

The therapist was very nice and said because James had trouble walking he would probably be better off going to their other location (on Dallas Highway) because their pool has only stairs and the Dallas Highway pool has a ramp. She said she was very confident that, especially once James had the "cement" in his vertebrae, the aquatherapy would help him regain some mobility.

Except he can't have the aquatherapy now because he has the permacath and it might get wet, even though he's only going into the pool waist-high. Which we kinda figured.

Then we saw Dr. Connally on Thursday. She was pissed off that James hadn't had the "cement" yet, as she had ordered that something be done immediately. James thought she was being unrealistic.

I've managed to rouse minimal interest in decorating for Christmas inside this week. On Wednesday I cleaned out the foyer of Thanksgiving decorations, ditto with the dining room and other bits of upstairs, and then later in the week did the foyer, and then the gingerbread-and-candy cane kitchen decorations and the dining room old-fashioned feather tree and the "1910 tree." I put up what was left over in the dining room boxes on the media bookcase in the living room.

In useful things, I got and used bolts to fix the hand truck (the last time I tried to use it, a whole bolt and nut were missing—how?—and another bolt was missing its nut), and also dropped off two full shopping bags of toys for Toys for Tots. I cleaned my desktop keyboard. I got my car inspected so I could renew my registration.

I've tested out the Christmas tree; there are still lights out on it. I don't feel like putting it up at all.

Labels: chores, Christmas, Christmas decorations, donations, exercise, health, illness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:32:00 PM

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Tucker did have the ultrasound to make sure he had nothing nasty going on inside him on Monday. He passed with flying colors.

Next day and on Wednesday James had doctors' appointments, podiatry on Tuesday and cardiologist on Wednesday.

We had a dinner invitation for Thanksgiving Day, but it was across town and we would have to drive home in the dark. Instead we spent Thanksgiving on our own; we made extra turkey so we could have leftovers (and indeed, we ended up eating turkey for weeks). With carrots and stuffing it was a sufficient dinner, and we watched most of the Macy's parade and the National Dog Show.

At night we got a treat: Lower Decks! Alas, the final season.

We were able to go to Second Thanksgiving, as we call it, at Alice's house. Juanita made a killer turkey and Kayla brought an even more killer ham. The company was even better than the food, even if I've been suffering from a lack of sleep.

All this was beside the point. We had gotten a call from James' sister some days ago. Her husband had been cleaning up some debris left over from Hurricane Helene and hurt himself. He was taken to the hospital to get checked out. The doctors found a virulent cancer throughout his body and gave him days to live.

He died on November 27.

They told my sister-in-law that the cancer was so aggressive that if they had taken the same tests in September, it would not have shown up.

Today I put up the outdoor lights and the candoliers, but I hardly feel like Christmas this year. I'd prefer to crawl under a blanket and forget about it.

Labels: Christmas, Christmas decorations, death, dogs, family, food, friends, pets, Thanksgiving

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

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After two meltdowns on my part, and Tucker finally being so fed up with me that he started growling and snarling at me, he slowly started to get better. On Tuesday he voluntarily ate small bits of meat. I had gone to Kroger and gotten cheap pre-made hamburgers out of the managers' special bin. I cooked the hamburger and fed it to him in quarters. First he ate the burgers alone, then with rice, then with vegetables and rice. A little bit more each night. One night I left miniature Milk Bones out. He ignored them for several days.

One morning they were gone.

Then he started eating his dog food again. He wouldn't eat the chicken flavor at first, just the beef, which was very puzzling. But he ate it, and that was a victory. And by Saturday he was dancing around begging for after-walk cookies again!

We also finally saw the film Hidden Figures and loved it! The scenes where Johnson has to run back and forth to another building just to use a "colored only" rest room made the point about prejudice so perfectly.

The other news wasn't as good. James' fistula is not "ripening" properly and he will need to have a catherization in which any blockage in the fistula is cleared. This will be done in January.

Labels: dogs, health, pets, sickness

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

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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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