We went straight from James working to both of us being busy. Friday we had to go to the bank to take care of some checks. Next, we were off on a search for burritos. Since we can't find the Tina burritos (which have the lowest sodium content—well, their Beef and Bean flavor anyway—and are also the least expensive) at Kroger any longer, we've discovered they do have them at Walmart. So after leaving the bank we went to the Powder Springs store. Unfortunately they didn't have the right flavor, but we did make a swathe through the store and bought new underwear. (Yeah, this is big fun for adults. 😁 )

Then we ate a quick lunch at Krystal before going to the infusion clinic, the next to the last, thank goodness. Since we were just down the road from the Kennesaw Walmart, we went there, and lo, there were Beef and Bean Tina burritos. We also got a few of the Red Hots.

Saturday morning, for the first time in ages, we went to the Marietta Farmer's Market, which is still being held in the parking lot next to the Starbucks. We bought some dog biscuits (of course), James got some cookies and cranapple jam, I got some goat cheese, and we got a black garlic garnish. We also dropped off our empty jam jars with the guy who makes his grandmother's Hawai'ian sauce.

We also strolled around the artists' market; there was a used book dealer there and I found a nice copy of Lab Girl, which I've wanted for ages.

We got home in time for James to leave for his club meeting. Usually I stay home and watch videos when he does this, but today I decided to go renew my library card because I read online that the Cobb library now has Kanopy, where you can stream movies and documentaries. Seriously, the main library is pathetic. They have fewer books than when I went there last year. With the bright white lights, the metal shelving (and almost every shelf is 3/4 empty, at least in nonfiction), the blue carpet and chairs, everything is very sterile and cold. The lack of books is really noticeable. I used to love the Dewey Decimal classification 394, which is celebrations and customs; Christmas books are in this category. This used to be a very full 30 inch wide (at least) shelf with Christmas, Hanukkah, and a few other holiday books there, also books about parties and other celebrations. Today there were ten Christmas books there and nothing else. One brand-new book I noted last year about Yule is no longer available, nor is it in any of the other Cobb libraries.

For supper we went to Fried Tomato Buffet (yay, pork ribs), then stopped at the Dallas Highway Barnes & Noble, then finished our evening by having ice cream from the newly remodeled Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins down the road. Drove home through part of the Kennesaw battlefield park and think I saw a deer grazing—before we had to turn around and go another way because we got caught in the traffic backup for the penultimate day of the North Georgia State Fair.

And Sunday we passed another milestone: I cleared off James' faithful work desk, tossed a bunch of things we don't need anymore, put up his spare keyboard and monitor and mouse, and brought the desk downstairs in case one of us wants to use a laptop downstairs.

Labels: books, cleaning, errands, food, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 7:58:00 PM

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It was a usual "revised new schedule" this week. Monday I did the usual cleaning—cleaned the master bath, sorted medications, charged the flosser and the motion-sensor light over the toilet, unloaded and loaded and ran the dishwasher, washed towels, mopped the kitchen floor. The only thing I didn't do was wash the hall bath completely, instead I just cleaned the toilet and wiped down the sink.

Tuesday I ruthlessly pruned the nandina down to the level of the porch floor. I know you should do this in February, but I preferred people to be able to see the Christmas decorations in December.

Wednesday will be our new shopping day, and I was not going to do another mad dash like last Friday: three supermarkets, gulping lunch, and then the drive to TownPark and the infusion center to change the dressing on James' PICC line. So I did it myself. It's actually easier to shop without James because he wants to find new things and I shop to the list and almost nothing else. The exterminator came while I was gone and because James was busy at work, I had to call him back because James couldn't let him in to do the deck and the back door. But that got done for the quarter, and I also put away the foam shutters I made for the sidelight windows on each side of the front door. I think they have really helped keep our electric bill down this summer. Last September's bill was over $200. This year September was $178.

On Thursday, September 29, I did laundry.

It was also James' very last day of work. He spent the last hour composing a farewell message to his boss and his co-workers, and, for the final time, he logged off at 7 p.m.

And that, as they say it, is that. We were thinking we had to return his laptop tomorrow, but his supervisor Tim won't be in the office until next Wednesday, so we get to do it then.

Thursday night there was also a new Lower Decks (a crossover with Deep Space 9, nonetheless, featuring Quark and Kira), the season premiere of Young Sheldon (which was really more serious than funny), and the first standalone Law & Order for the season. I'm really liking the new guy Jalen Shaw and how he works with Cosgrove.

Labels: chores, food, health, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:59:00 PM

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First week on the semi-new schedule (new schedule will not start until James' full retirement), so all the Sunday chores are now on Monday. And there are only two more weeks in which I have to cook dinner! This is totally an occasion for rejoicing.

The dog got a bath this week. As usual, he hated every minute of it, and then gamboled around like a puppy afterward.

James got an e-mail saying that he had to spend any money he had in his HSA (health savings account) before his last day on September 30. He used part of it to pay the August hospital bill, then online we ordered a shower chair for the future, a new blood pressure cuff, and one of those KardiaMobile units that works with your phone and takes your heart rate. A fellow who calls into the Tech Guy said this unit noticed that he had atrial fibrillation and his doctor told him that it saved his life.

It was a busy weekend: we had Hair Day and Mel and Phyllis came for the first time in ages (they are having trouble getting both of their older cars fixed, so have no transportation), and then Saturday there was a dinner at Longhorn for David's birthday.

On Sunday we went to Iron Age Steak House for Aubrey's birthday. We had never done a Korean steakhouse before, and this was a blast. Up to four people sit around a grill. They bring you any meat you want (it's all you can eat) and you cook it till it pleases your palate). Well, I thought James would take over the cooking, but instead I did most of this, and, despite all my complaining about cooking, I had a great time cooking for James and Juanita and I. (We also had shrimp, but Alice cooked it on their grill, because Juanita is so allergic to shellfish that she will have a reaction even if she eats something that was cooked on a grill or in oil that was used with it.) The beef bulgolgi was our favorite, but the Hawaiian bulgolgi was good, too, and so was the pork. The shrimp came with heads and feet and even with them off, it was hard to peel the shell off the shrimp.

Anyway, this isn't any type of affordable option ($70+ for both of us!), but it was a fun experience. I have to work it into one of my fanfics or stories!

Afterwards we went to Barnes & Noble and had also gone to Hobbytown.

Labels: books, chores, dogs, food, friends, health, pets

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:22:00 PM

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James was indeed breathing badly by Sunday morning. So we ate breakfast, I packed up everything (including the C-PAP and his pillow), and we went to Emory St. Joseph. Last time we went there, I said James was having trouble breathing, and they whisked him right in. Today the place seemed chaotic; lots of nurses, no doctors. I finally asked if they could at least let him have some oxygen, and they did that. We finally went to the back and the St. Joseph's app still said we were waiting. So we cooled our heels for hours while they did blood tests and finally the x-ray: yep, more pleural effusions. He was back on the Lasix and a Foley cath and we had a room by dinnertime.

Basically he cooled his heels on Monday getting fluid stripped off him (but at the same dosage he was taking previously when he was on the furosimide/Lasix). I wondered why they just didn't keep him on it rather than putting him on the torsemide, but then I'm not a doctor. Thought he'd be there all day Tuesday, but they cut him loose just after dinner, back on the intermittent catherization and the torsemide. Watch his sodium! they said. We eat so low-sodium now—can we not even go out to eat?

The only good that came out of this was that when he called in sick to work, Tim was in a bit of a tizzy. James is basically the only person on duty on Sunday morning eight to ten. Tim had to call IBM to get a replacement for him on Sunday morning, and thus James lost his "reliable" status. For his last two weeks of work, he got put on Monday through Thursday, which was fine with both of us. James has been on Sunday through Wednesday for three years, and he's missed Sunday birthday celebrations all that time.

A few nice things happened this week. One of our floodlights has been out for at least a year. James is too unsteady on the ladder and if I go up more than two steps I get dizzy. If I had thought of it, I would have asked Clay to replace it for me when he was here two weeks ago. When I went outside to pay Alex (our lawn mowing guy) on Thursday, I timidly asked him if he would replace it for me. He went in the garage, got the ladder, I handed him the new bulb, and it was done. Must scrape up enough money to give him a little Christmas bonus when we stop having the lawn cut at the beginning of November.

We also ordered some meat from Patak's for the first time since they caught fire. Supposedly the store should be back open at the end of the month. We'll see.

Saturday evening we went to Taste of Smyrna. This was a little disappointing. There were no Asian foods at all, Mezzaluna and the 1911 Biscuit Company had already closed up shop two hours before closing, and all Copelands had left was white chocolate biscuit pudding (white chocolate has never, ever been any kind of chocolate). Everything else there was spicy or shaved ice, so all I really could eat was from the Atkins Park booth.

On the other hand, I made up for my three-year drunken pork drought by buying two servings of it (plus a chocolate peanut butter biscuit pudding dessert that I shared with James—quite good and not overly sweet) and then a third helping before we left (I'll have it for a lunch). James had some drunken pork as well, but skipped all the Mexican food left and instead waited in line something like 20 minutes for the busiest booth, which was Rodney's Jamaican Soul Food. He brought his home to eat.

I finished the weekend by transferring all my former Sunday chores to Monday. We didn't go anywhere, so I did load the dishwasher (again), tossed out a bunch of old or salty food I found downstairs (any salty food left was old, so it did not go for donations), put James' old TV in the Goodwill donation box, and vacuumed upstairs.

Labels: chores, events, food, health, organizing, sickness, work

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:27:00 PM

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So Sunday was James' birthday. He decided to take the day off, as well as Labor Day. I still did a few chores, but we had dinner at Longhorn (he was very circumspect, only an 8-ounce Renegade and mushrooms and onions; they told him to be good after his hospital stay and he's been trying hard), and they gave him a free dessert (vanilla ice cream with whipped cream, but at least it was decent vanilla, with chocolate syrup on it), and we went to Barnes & Noble afterward.

(I also decided I wasn't satisfied with the fluid I was getting from three catherizations a day—James' legs looked a little swollen to me, but his numbers had been fine when he was tested at the infusion clinic on Friday—and I added another, and hoped it would do. This is important to mention.)

Labor Day was quiet; I cooked St. Louis ribs with a low-salt Splenda and maple syrup glaze in the lower oven; they came out swell and we both had leftovers for a small lunch.

Two quiet days, and then we had a Thursday out: went to the first day of the Yellow Daisy Festival. Some of it was back out under the trees, but a lot of it was still on the street; once again, in the sun I was feeling hot and dizzy, and James kept getting lost on me and not answering his phone (because the volume was turned down low--not sure why this keeps happening; maybe because he uses the headphones during the week and they turn the volume down).

Well, it's happened: our Yellow Daisy days won't be the same from now on; the Country Pick'ns people are retiring after this year. I will miss them terribly, but I can't deny them the same status I enjoy. I have made so many shadow-boxes from these folks' things, most of which I have showed off on this page: my "me" shelf with other little miniatures I've added, a year-round autumn shelf in our bedroom, the seashore shelf in the hall bath, the kitchen-themed shelf in the kitchen, and the seasonal shadow-boxes (fall, up all year; Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and winter), the "our house" heart-shaped shelf, plus the tiny shadow-box with the nativity figures on it, a couple of little miniature items like tiny Christmas arrangements, and the two little gifts I didn't give out last year, but will this year. Well, since it was their final year, I wanted to buy something, so I got a few little extra autumn things for here and there, and then I got a brainstorm. I've been impossibly enmeshed in these fanfic pieces I've been writing since last year, and it's given me such pleasure, and I got the idea to make a shadow-box of the fanfic elements. I'll add some decorative buttons and it will work.

We had lunch at Chow King, then moseyed to our appointment with Dr. Kongara (nephrologist) to finish out the day. He was pleased with James' post-hospital condition and sent us on our way (this is important for what happened next).

We got home to discover that Queen Elizabeth II had died. We had heard on the news earlier that she was not doing well. Two days ago she had met the new prime minister and now she was gone. Prince Charles is now Charles III.

Friday we did the shopping and there was another turn at the infusion clinic (this will keep going until he has the PICC line removed). Got lucky and there was a box of free books there, for anyone to take. I found a copy of The Personal Librarian, which I have wanted, about the woman who arranged J.P. Morgan's personal library for him; it was not known until just recently, but she was Black "passing" for white.

Saturday James was feeling "off" and decided to go to his club meeting online. I was worried about him and didn't leave the house except to gas up Butch, because I had a terrible feeling something was wrong from the way his legs looked. I was up half the night listening to him breathe in short, staccato breaths.

So you guessed it: Sunday morning we were going to be back at the emergency room...

...to be continued...

Labels: books, food, health, holidays, news, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:15:00 PM

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A new "thing" has been added to our medical routine.

When we went to Dr. Jefferson on Monday, he removed James' foley catheter and we thought he was going to do a cytoscopy (urethral scan) as well as a void test. However, Dr. Jefferson has decided all this trouble is caused by nerve damage stemming from 20 years of diabetes; since it is uncomfortable for James and also a UTI vector, a long-time foley was not acceptable. He has been put on intermittent catherization, which means he has to manually empty his bladder three to four times a day. Unfortunately due to his back problems and mobility issues, he can't actually do it himself. Guess what! Yes, a new skill in my "nursing career." I got a chance to do it once, and then we got sent home with red rubber caths and lubrication. What fun.

(I told Dr. Jefferson: "Oh, like Airplane Guy." "Airplane Guy" is what we call the dude who advertises urinary catheters on whatever side channel it is, how he's happy he can now fly his airplane again with his cath.)

The rest of the week was a little more cheerful, especially as September 1 rolled around so that it's meteorological autumn finally!

On Thursday we did our monthly drive to Canton to eat at Uncle Maddio's (yes, one guy still running the entire show!) and Books-a-Million. To my surprise, I came out with no books, but I did find one for Emma. Then on the way back we stopped at BJs and stocked up on fruit cups and other items to get us through mostly payless October. This week we also hit Nam Dae Mun for the first time in months since Publix didn't have any slivered almonds for my oatmeal.

Saturday we bounced: Sam's Club to Costco to Best Buy in search of a television. Since James is retiring, I'm hoping he won't be spending all his time locked in front of his computer screen anymore. So I told him that as a birthday/retirement gift I would get him a new TV for downstairs. Combined with the Amazon Fire Stick we got as a Christmas gift, it would make good entertainment while he's modeling. Well, turned out neither Sam's nor Costco carries under 40 inch TVs anymore! (Funny, they were there a few months ago.) So we went to Best Buy, but the TV we picked out was cheaper at Target! So off we went up Cobb Parkway and got the TV, which I spent all afternoon setting up. It's a Roku TV, so not only did I tune in all the local channels, but all the Roku channels he'd be interested in. Or rather I had to tune out the ones he wouldn't be interested in, which took a while, since the darn thing loaded about 300 channels. (I'd be willing to bet James will be watching the Caught in Providence channel, since he watches Judge Caprio every chance he gets.) I also had to log in on all the other services we get, like Netflix, Acorn, etc. before I could carry it downstairs and actually plug it in. (It's better to tune it in upstairs, where the Leaf antenna gets the most channels. But this television seems to be stronger at picking up signals and he's getting most of the locals downstairs, except for GPB which we can't get upstairs anyway and what I call "the God Squad," all the local religious channels.)

But...that's done.

Labels: books, electronics, food, health, illness, seasons, shopping, television

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

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Summer's fading away...and good riddance. It's been a crap summer, from the temps to poor James' perpetual illness. I started the last full week of August by "drowning" the dog—Tucker always makes me laugh; he looks pitiful through the whole process but is happy and smiling once I'm done and enjoying his nice clean coat, and the inevitable cookie. The next day we had the first of James' post-hospital doctor's visits, to his GP. 3:20 p.m. appointment; didn't see the doctor till five. Sigh.

Started the weekend early as we had some friends come into town on Wednesday staying over until the next day. First I did laundry and cleaned off some of the kitchen, though; they didn't come over until this evening, where we finally exchanged Christmas gifts. I had a nifty little pocket knife and also a Barnes & Noble gift card, so maybe I will get Ali Hazlewood's new book after all. James got a knife sharpener, which I hope will improve the performance of our steak knives.

On Thursday we met Maggi and Clay at the Tin Drum at Perimeter Mall for lunch, and to our surprise ran into Lin Butler there as well (she was having a monthly lunch with her old Coca-Cola co-workers. They got both Clay's and my lunch wrong, so it took a while. Then we all went off to Penzey's (the spice store). James and I picked up some sweet curry and ground celery seed, and he wanted to try some Aleppo pepper. Penzey's is next door to Trader Joe's and we filled two Trader Joe's shopping bags with goodies like their orange chicken (which is a nice quick lunch) and the chicken apple sausage, and they finally had fruit bars. James has tried the fruit bars at Lidl, but says they are too much cookie and not enough fruit. We parted ways at Trader Joe's; Clay and Maggi went south back to Warner Robins and we headed home.

Friday was our only morning appointment at the infusion clinic, then we went to JoAnn, where I picked up a couple of gifts and a mug for me that says "I've been ready for fall since last fall." (That's not true; I've been ready for fall since winter was over, which in north Georgia is the end of February when it starts going up to 70...). James said he wanted to go to Hobbytown USA; he didn't buy anything for himself, but he bought me a gift to make up for the horrible hospital week, a miniature Squishable white-and-blue budgie I named "Robbie." He is the cutest thing (but nowhere near as cute as Snowy).



And then we got the truck inspected so James could renew his license plates for the year, and finally we had the podiatrist appointment and we could go home.

Because we didn't go grocery shopping on Thursday, we had to do this Saturday morning. It actually wasn't too bad, although after Lidl James was stuck in the truck with the A/C on since we got leg quarters on sale for $1.67/pound and three pounds of ground beef out of the "too good to waste" bin for $1.50! Had to play freezer Tetris when we got home. Saturday I also made "gravy" with the boneless pork ribs I got off the manager's special bin at Kroger. We'll have a pair of leg quarters tomorrow for dinner and then macaroni on Monday because it will be easy (cook the macaroni and warm up the sauce) after James has to go for his cytoscopy.

Labels: chores, dogs, food, friends, gifts, health, pets, seasons, sickness

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

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The rest of this benighted week has been at least better.

I had to hustle to Kaiser Cumberland on Monday morning so James would have his sevelamer (apparently his phosphorus is too high) in time for lunch, then I had to play grocery store hopscotch since there was no shopping on Thursday, then I had to wash towels, and finally the nurse showed up from Pruitt Health Services to show us how to do the infusion. This is so much easier than it was last January! There's no pole, no bottle to mix, no long tubing. The ertapenem this time comes in a little round ball (smaller than a baseball) with tubing attached. After sterilizing and saline injecting the PICC port, you just twist it on and pressure pushes the antibiotic into the PICC line and deflates the little ball. Then you flush with saline and then with heparin and you're done for the night.

Thursday was James' followup at the oral surgeon, who said it was healing nicely despite his cleaning regime having been interrupted by hospitalization. He said it would be fully healed in three months and then James could think about implants. The implants are $4200 each. Are they mad?

Friday had lunch with Alice and Ken, picked up 2023 calendars at Dollar Tree, and James had his first appointment at the infusion clinic (the dressing on the PICC line has to be changed weekly, so we'll be at Kaiser every Friday for six weeks).

And finally Saturday was Hair Day, so we got to see more friends, and that was nice, although we left fairly early because I had the headache from hell. Had to put a strong reminder on the Echo because twice this week I forgot to take the antibiotic bolus out to warm up, so James got infused late.

Labels: friends, health, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:59:00 PM

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Sunday night James had to send another note to his urologist: he was showing signs of a UTI again, and we had noticed that his urine output had been halved. He also had a low-grade fever all weekend, but it never got over 100℉ and the oral surgeon and the pain clinic both said what he had done could cause a fever. This is getting so frustrating. He does not want to go to Urgent Care; they'll just keep him there for hours and send him home with antibiotics and won't let me come in the back. So I spent Monday morning on the phone with Kaiser, and finally the urologist said to go give a urine sample. He worked a full shift and then we went racing to Town Center to make it before the lab closed at 8 p.m.

That should have been that.

So I sleep in on Tuesday and wander out to the land of the living to ask James, "Good morning, how are you?"

And he says, "I'm having trouble breathing."

Oh, why, oh, why, didn't you wake me up earlier?

He was so distressed I packed everything; if he was having trouble breathing I was sure they would keep him at the hospital, so I packed up the C-PAP and his pillow, and we went to the emergency room instead of Urgent Care. It cost more, but they let me go in the back. He had pulmonary edema, his creatitine was way up in the high fours, and all his blood values were crazy. Yes, of course they kept him, although he didn't get a room until almost midnight and it was a stuffy little triangle of a room; it looked like they kept junk stuff in there.

To sum up, he was in the hospital through Monday (the 15th, the Assumption, which would have been my mother's "name day"), infused with liquid furosimide and stuck with a Foley catheter. The infection in his bladder was e-coli and the nurses had to all gown up any time they came in the room. They stabilized him and got his creatitine down to 3.7 before they released him (although the first day they had him on so much diuretic that his creatitine went back up the next day!). He had prostatitis again, which was blocking his urethra and of course his bladder was backing up into his kidneys again and screwing up his creatitine and his GFR, but thankfully the IV antibiotics did not make him have breathing problems like the month of ciproflaxin did a few months ago. By the time Friday came he was tired of the hospital bed, bored out of his mind, and by Sunday I was so stir-crazy I was in tears. The Kaiser doctor said James couldn't go home without a PICC line to completely wipe out the e-coli, but they never put it in on Friday so we had to twiddle our thumbs over the weekend. After my meltdown I tried to put on a better face but it was really hard sitting around all day Monday first waiting for the PICC insertion and then waiting for the discharge papers.

In the meantime he couldn't take the second step post-oral surgery; he'd had five days of only rinsing his mouth out with salt water, now he was supposed to be irrigating the gaps where they pulled his teeth. I finally just got him a cup and salt from the cafeteria and he rinsed his mouth twice a day at least, but he confessed his gums were really hurting and we finally had to ask the meal clerk to send him meals that were easy to chew, as dry chicken breast just wasn't doing it.

The other problem was that he was so wobbly when they brought him in they put him as a fall risk and put an alarm on the bed and the chair they finally let him sit in and he got pissed because he couldn't move around. James is not used to being still and having to sit in a bed or, later, in the chair next to the bed, is anathema to him. Supposedly he was supposed to get physical therapy; he only got it one day, and one night he didn't get his Ambien and couldn't sleep—the whole thing was a mess.

The nurses were fab, the doctors were good, but the hospital still sucks and the cafeteria still has crap. I ate at Hibachi Grill one day and from Lidl the next, but got a couple of meals down there. The fried shrimp was okay, but it was fried, and one day they either had alfredo chicken breast (barf-o'-matic for both the breast and alfredo, neither which is edible) or something spicy, so I ended up having a hamburger with brown gravy over it. The menu posted on the front of the cafeteria wasn't what they served, and everything's overpriced.

Plus by the time they discharged him on Monday it was too late to go to Kaiser to pick up his meds. Sigh.

Labels: annoyances, food, health, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:32:00 PM

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Well, now that the toe, and almost the teeth, are out of the way, it's time to attack all the other little irritants. This morning I got up at seven (ewww) and drove Butch to Advance Auto to see WTF is going on with him. Got a ride home and did various chores until the insurance adjuster came; pretty much what I thought: won't reach the deductible amount, which is $1,000. Well, I'll see if anyone knows a good tree service...

This actually ended...happily. Alex showed up to mow the lawn Wednesday morning and I went out there to warn him about the tree. He looked at it and said, "I'll take the wood and cut the poison ivy vine and toss them into the very back of the yard, and it'll be $30." Blink. Well, sure, I'll take it! (And "I don't deserve this man.") When I paid him for the lawn and the tree I actually gave him a little more because I was so happy to be rid of the fool thing.

Once the tree was taken care of, we had to head to Glenlake to get James his steroid shots. Now, when he made this appointment, they gave him no specific instructions, nothing about fasting, etc. So he was going to quit work at noon, we would have sandwiches, we'd go get the shots. Well, they called him at 11:45 to ask if he wanted to come earlier. We scrambled to get dressed and I made myself a peanut butter sandwich and he just had a 90-calorie brownie and scatted.

And then when we got there he was honest and said he'd had the brownie.

They hashed this out for ten minutes and then decided the 90-calorie brownie wasn't a threat. He got five shots in his spine and I picked him up in the truck.

Well, he wasn't supposed to drive home just in case he had a reaction to the shots, but just as we were leaving, Advance called and said Butch was ready. Oh, Butch's problem was that the camshaft sensor wasn't talking to the crankcase sensor. When they don't talk to each other, apparently the car's computer system has hysterics and just quits! (God, I miss Twilight. He had sensors, but he had sensible ones. This was only for the anti-skid system. When the sensors don't work why not just turn the anti-skid system off rather than the whole damn car?) Anyway, $311 worth of two tires and the sensor thing brought it up to $1100. Urgh.

On the way we picked up supper at Zaxby's. Good God, wings have gotten expensive.

James and I wrangled about this on the way home (and this took a while because the stupid Braves game was just getting out and the traffic was unbelievable) and so I let him drive from Advance to home, following him carefully. The spinal shots gave him no problems, no swelling or anything, although they warned him his blood sugar might spike. Boy, did it, it was in the high 300s when he went to bed!

Thursday morning I got up about 8:30, and I looked at the calendar and there was James' oral surgeon appointment at 11:15. But why did it say it was on the 11th? And then I realized he had never put the oral surgery on his calendar; this was the original appointment that was cancelled when he made the July 28th appointment. James called them in a hurry, apologized, and they said they could get him in at 11:30. Whew.

So I sat in the lobby on the free wifi, typing a story on my tablet while I listened to Rupert Holmes on my phone, until he emerged about quarter to three, rather bloody around the mouth. We stopped at Kaiser on the way home to pick up his pain meds and his antibiotic, and then went home, where I spent the rest of the afternoon putting on and taking off icepacks. He had a hydrocodone around dinner time: I made rice and gave it to him in some Campbell's chicken broth cut with vegetable broth and some squished up canned carrot and Lighthouse salad bits to give it a little body and a little ginger. It tasted pretty good. I just had the rice in broth.

By the time bedtime came he eschewed the pain meds and just took the Zolpidem and Tylenol. The bloody gauze for a while was pretty gross, but he took it out about nine o'clock and never put any more in, nor did he have very bad swelling.

He woke up Friday morning pretty chipper despite my having a crying fit about seven a.m. about what to do about the antibiotics: Kaiser shorted us; we only got twelve. By the time I got up, I was in a better emotional state, called Kaiser and got through the four hours (it seems like it, anyway) of COVID messages to talk to advice, who connected me with the West Cobb pharmacy, and they said they were sorry and said they'd prep a bottle with the remainder of the scrip for me to pick up. So, took the dog out, dressed, got $5 worth of gas at the BP so I could make it safely to Costco to eventually fill my tank, picked up the rest of the pills at West Cobb, went to Lidl, went to Publix, went to Kroger, and then came home with relief to lose myself into Law & Order: Criminal Intent and sit under the fan.

Saturday I helped him make the meat for his lunches since the steroids don't kick in, according to the post-procedure instructions, for three to ten days and his back was killing him. We were rapidly running out of acetaminophen, and I didn't want to go to Costco on a Saturday, so I actually got on the computer and ordered that and two other things and they were delivered by dinnertime; the $6 Instacart fee was worth not having to go there on Saturday. These things are so easy...we're starting to call it "phonewavium" by how we can get on the internet and order things so easily.

Labels: cars, chores, errands, food, health, illness, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:28:00 PM

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Well, I shouldn't have complained about a quiet last week. Within a week the Grim Reaper cut a swath through the entertainment (and sports, although I guess pro sports is technically entertainment) industry and we lost Paul Sorvino, David Warner, Tony Dow, Bernard Cribbins, Paul Coker Jr (with "Mad" magazine and Rankin-Bass), basketball great Bill Russell, Pat Carroll, and last because she was the crushing blow: the wonderful Nichelle Nichols. Every day was a one-two punch, especially Nichelle. I didn't think she was ageless, but she seemed timeless. Farewell, Bright Lady, now your trip to the stars has really begun.

In the meantime James was in such torment from his back molars he called the oral surgeon back and they got him in on Thursday for a consultation. The result of this was that he will have five teeth (!!!) out on Thursday the 4th, the day after his spinal steroid shots, so he will only have to go off Plavix once for both procedures. In the meantime, he's back to salt rinses and more Ambesol.

We also saw Dr. Friedman on Friday and he said the formerly infected toe looks great and the next time he sees podiatry should be for a trim.

I had to call the insurance company this week: a tree from our neighbor's yard blew into our yard. It broke right over the fence, gave a minor tap to the deck rail, and is now sitting there like a rolled-over 18-wheeler. Positives: it's not a big tree, but of course that means it won't meet our deductible, whatever that is, so we'll have to pay for it. But someone will have to do it, since the whole honkin' thing is covered with poison ivy. I got itchy just looking it over.

In the meantime, James is happy with the new food processor I picked up on Amazon Vine...

Labels: death, events, health, illness, Star Trek

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:19:00 PM

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Sort of a blah week, mostly chores and nothing much worth writing about, except that James finally got his Medicare card, so that we could fill out his Kaiser papers for Medicare Advantage. Oh, and we ended up going to two different Walmarts to find various little things. So exciting, eh?

Friday was a little more exciting because we went to "re-up" the post office box for the HOA and we also watched Encanto, which was colorful and fun, with entertaining characters. I love the aunt who always had the rain cloud following her around, and I felt bad for poor Bruno (who we really should have talked about 😔 ).

The other Friday event was a little more exciting in a way I didn't want it to be. When I took Tucker out for his nightly walk, we were accosted almost immediately by a rather...I guess I could say excited...pit bull type dog. He was not vicious or threatening, but Tucker felt intimidated and started growling at him, and this dog wasn't huge, but he was big and could have hurt either of us if "Little Caesar" there started being aggressive back. So I kept shooing him off and we did get back inside. But Tucker did need to get out and pee! So I finally loaded him into the car and went to the front of the complex, figuring maybe the dog belonged to or was visiting someone in the back. While Tucker was sniffing and peeing out front, I saw an SUV slowly coming down the street, and someone calling. When the car came abreast us, the woman driving called to me "Have you seen a blue pittie?" and I said yes, that he was down our street.

In fact the dog was just trotting up the street and was about two houses away. The lady drove her SUV up to him and I heard her say "You bad boy!" Soon he was whisked away and we got back in the car and drove the several feet home.

That's the most adventure I want in my week, thanks, unless I win the lottery.

Labels: chores, dogs, movies, pets, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:40:00 PM

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This was pretty much a work week: two straight days (Sunday and Monday) of regular housework and then chores that are done irregularly (plus loading the endless maw of the dishwasher). On Monday Peachtree came by to look at the thermostat. The reason the Smart Hub keeps dropping out is something about it being a low voltage line in competition with surrounding high voltage. Yeah, but we never had these problems with the old thermostat, so can't you fix it? He fiddled around and did a few things. It still drops out occasionally, but I guess it's not so frequent as before.

Tuesday was the Great Dog Wash and Great Dog Bedding Wash, which pretty much knocks me out for the rest of the day, leaving me to indulge my Law & Order: Criminal Intent habit...

James had to take a half-day on Wednesday because he can't see his cardiologist at the end of the week. Dr. Shosh said he looked okay and that it was fine for him to be off Plavix for five days before having any teeth pulled. Alas, after having a toothache for several weeks, the dentist tells him he has to go to an oral surgeon because his roots have grown sideways or some damnfool thing. In the old days you went to the dentist, and if you had a toothache they just pulled it, no muss, no fuss. Sheesh. So we found out we couldn't get an appointment with the oral surgeon until August 11, and then that was just for them to look at his teeth, so he has to go another month on salt rinses and Ambesol. We've already spent about $30 on Ambesol already and it's not helping a lot of times.

Friday was a little bit fun: we had to pick up a scrip at Kaiser and then went to Sonny's for barbecue (nice big portions, so we have another dinner). Hit the nearby Dollar Tree and they must be very shorthanded because it looked like a bomb went off in the store: merchandise on the floor everywhere. So avoid the Dollar Tree near Sam's Club at the Big Chicken. We also went to Book Nook, and I want to applaud the employees for even staying there, because the A/C is on the fritz and it's like an oven inside. I did find another John Douglas book and one about forensics.

Anyway, July 12 was Prime Day. This year I bought nothing but a three-tier cart, rather than anything electronic. I'd never seen a cart like this, with little hanging cups and dividers for the trays and hooks. On Saturday I loaded up the cart—not with fun craft things, but with all of James' medical supplies: the gauze, the Coban, the Betadyne, the stretch bandages, etc. out of the box on the floor and up higher, with extra supplies down below. Now I can just roll it out when I need it and put it back in the closet when I don't.

Did a bunch of other rearranging on Saturday, too, and felt like I accomplished something.

Labels: books, chores, dogs, electronics, health, illness, pets, shopping

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

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The week opened with fireworks! Nothing major, just Independence Day: James had to work as always, but nobody called, so we did our annual watch of 1776, and I put on the first five episodes of Alistair Cooke's America (from the Native Americans to the first westward movement). Used one of the pork loins in the fridge to make barbecue pork in the Instant Pot (pressure cooker settings) and it was quite yummy with sweet corn, plus watermelon chunks for dessert.

James went to the podiatrist on Tuesday. The antibiotic was already helping with the infection; the podiatrist cut away the left side of the toenail and then put acid on it to keep it from growing back. He has to soak his foot ten minutes in Epsom salts for a week and then I am to drown it in Betadyne and wrap it up each night. Business as usual, sadly.

The usual shopping on Wednesdays and then we had our monthly treat: driving up to Canton, having lunch at Uncle Maddio's (the owner is still running it alone), going to Books-a-Million, and then stopping at BJs on the way home for groceries and gas. I got three very interesting books in the remainder area: Law & Disorder by John Douglas, an FBI profiler (what I call my "Robert Goren made me do it" book); The Hunt for History by Nathan Raab, a historical documents collector; and also a creepy looking one about incels called Men Who Hate Women.

Hair Day was in the afternoon this month because Sheri had a baby shower in the morning, so we had time to drop by the Hallmark Ornament Premiere in the morning. I completed my "12 Days of Christmas" set, and got a Hallowe'en puppy, a miniature owl, and a "compass of my heart" that I couldn't resist. James got this year's airplane and the Mandalorian's spacecraft. Then we ate lunch at Okinawa and stopped at Petco for birdseed before going on to Hair Day.

The bad news is whatever recall work they did on Butch did not make any difference to the problem: the stabilization light is still coming on (and when it does the tachometer quits working!) and the car is still making stalling sounds and occasionally "starting soft." It did not thankfully stall out completely. Kia said "they couldn't diagnose the problem" (at least they didn't charge me for it!), so I'm going to have to call Mike. Also, the new thermostat is working fine but it's still saying half the time that it can't connect to the wifi or the "Smart Hub" (which is next to the A/C and is what really runs it), so I called Peachtree to come again and look at it.

Something kind of creepy: a celebrity I follow on Twitter posted pics of fireworks in NYC from their apartment balcony. Based on landmarks I could see and where the Empire State Building was in relation to the angle and then using Street View in Google Maps, I pretty much figured out where this person lives (at least the area!). Big Brother is indeed watching!

Labels: books, cars, chores, decorating, food, Independence Day, movies, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:58:00 PM

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