Sunday, April 29, 2012

What happened to our beautiful weather??

Monday didn't turn out to be such a great day but the weather wasn't the greatest so I was glad I didn't get up. Sunday evening my evening caregivers  brother was taken to the hospital, he is also a quadriplegic. He's in ICU and it doesn't look good but they don't know what's wrong with him yet, he's young and I really hope he pulls through. He has such a great family.  My personal care took a long time again but I'm glad it's over. Another day of just relaxing and staying in bed.

Tuesday was a really good day and the weather was nice but it was a little breezy. I took Robby upped sunshine Villa to get myself a manicure/pedicure, I picked a really dark cobalt blue and I love it. Teresa has a big test today and a big test tomorrow so clear and clean my bedroom and reorganized the shelf behind my TV and then put me back to bed when I was done. My Bose system keeps shutting off and my brother said it sounded like a heat thing, part of it is in a cupboard, so we took it out and put it up on the shelf so hopefully it will shut off anymore. Robby and I sat outside in the sun for a while until Karen was finished cleaning and then she put me to bed and went home. Heather came over and cooked, She brought me over some absolutely killer crab cocktail.

Wednesday I got my massage and my nice long hot bath. I had to stay in bed today anyway so I figured I might as well take advantage of it so I can get up on Friday, it's supposed to be really nice. I found out today  that my weekend evening attendant's brother has serotonin syndrome, it happens when the body gets too much serotonin. My massage therapist is also his massage therapist and says that he is in pretty bad shape, he is in a coma. I have been really sad all day and thinking about him, I hope he is going to be okay.

Thursday I had an appointment with Dr. Owens medical assistant  to get my depo shot. It was really nice so Robby and I cruised around the wharf and the Boardwalk for a while and then came home. I had an appointment with Dr. Hurray in the afternoon and then I just came home and went to bed. The sore on my heel just keeps looking better and will be gone in a couple of weeks, FINALLY.

Friday was my moms birthday and Teresa volunteered to make her a killer dinner. I ordered a honeybaked ham, that's what she wanted for Easter but we didn't get to order it in time. Teresa made some scallop potatoes and spinach au gratin and my uncle and aunt came over and we had a really nice dinner. I got my mom the jewelry cabinet for the back of her door, I think she really liked it. My little brother and his family sent her some dipped fortune cookies and they looked really good. Lee and Claudia, my aunt and uncle came over to play cribbage. My uncle got some carrot cake muffins and Claudia brought some peanut butter cookies, I think everybody ate a lot that day but it's only once a year? My uncle usually brings over some popcorn, he makes the best popcorn ever. I went $3 and Claudia was my partner.

Saturday my personal care took a long time so Karen didn't get to go home until 2 PM and then Teresa came in at 4 PM to give me a bath so I will be ready to just get up and go on Sunday, I'm going to a birthday party in Los Gatos.

It's only a wheelchair...
Do you see me as you pass my chair? I do exist, I am really there The wheels are my legs and they get me around Even if my feet never touch the ground I'm not as tall as you but I have my own view And my voice is as loud as yours too I hurt inside when people avoid looking at me I'm only disabled, not invisible you see My smile means the same as on any other face I can spread it around in any old place So how do you feel when you happen to look down? Do you see a man or a useless little clown? I can hear and see but I cannot walk If you look and listen you will know when I talk I am a friend that wears out tyres instead of shoes I can't dance but thats nothing to lose Look at me, I exist, I am really there After all Its only a wheelchair When you pass me by please don't stare down the street Try looking at me, I think we should meet Are you so scared of me, do you really not care? About this man who happens to sit in a chair. — with Eliecer El Chepe Silva and Fiends On Wheels.

Sunday was such a nice day. We went to Charlie and Terri's  for a birthday party, number 4, for Parker. It was really nice to see everyone, I got to see Angie and the kids briefly a week ago but other than that I haven't seen them for a long time. Charlie designed and built my house and I couldn't have asked for a better place to live. I used to hang out with Terri all the time and after she had Angie I hung out with all of them after school until my parents picked me up to go home. Those were really good times. It started to get really hot and everybody was leaving so we decided to leave also. Because the van was sitting in the sun and because it was so hot I thought I was going to roast and my mom nor my uncle could figure out how to turn on the air conditioning. I finally asked them to just pull over so I could take off my shirt, while we were taking off my shirt we figured it out and the van started cooling down really fast. Once I get overheated it's really hard and it takes a long time to cool me down. Robby got a really nice work out with their dog Mondo. I came home and Teresa put me to bed, I can't believe I didn't get any pictures AGAIN.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Finally we are getting some summer weather…







Monday was such a nice day outside and I thought I was going to miss it. Susan came by to give me a massage, she usually comes by on Friday so I get two this week… I'm going to be so relaxed it's not even funny. By the time I got up I only had a couple of hours before my caregiver was coming in to put me to bed so I thought I'd better take advantage of it. Robby and I took our regular cruise and ran into a guy with a CCI puppy, he said it was his 3rd one. We talked for a little bit, a really nice guy with some really good friends. I gave him my e-mail and Facebook page name and hopefully I will hear from him, I think you said he lives in Walnut Creek. We cruised back just in time to catch other cooking in the kitchen, I can sometimes smell it coming up the driveway. I talked to her for a while and in my caregiver came to put me to bed. It turned out to be a really great day.

Tuesday was also a great day and a little cooler than yesterday. I got up and took Robby for a cruise before I went to Sunshine Villa to get my hair done, my roots were growing out and you could see my gray hair. After I got my hair done Robby and I went for another cruise around the boardwalk into the end of the wharf and back just enjoying the weather before we had to go home and turn in for the night.

Wednesday was another really nice day, I just love that. I got up and took Robby for a cruise and then came back in time for Teresa to take me to my appointment with Dr. Hurray, my podiatrist. Everything is healing so well and I only have one pressure ulcer that needs to be bandaged now. The bubble wrap around my feet at night is working out really well, I haven't had any marks at all on my legs. I can't wait until one day I can afford to get my exercise bicycle and build back up the muscles in my legs, or keep them the same that they are as long as they don't get worse. I got my surgery today and I'm so excited, I can't wait to see how much it will do for me. They have classes in June and Teresa is going to take them, maybe I will tag along. We videotaped how to change the dressing on my pressure ulcer so that I won't have to try to remember how to do it, it's pretty simple though.



Thursday was such a great day. It was really busy and I was running all over town and I love that, unfortunately Robby was at the vet all day so he didn't get to enjoy it. He needed a bath, 2 shots and to get his ears and teeth checked… everything looks good and he smells a lot better. I had an appointment with Dr. Owens because I'm having stomach problems again, I'm so tired of this. She set me up with some herbal stuff and a nutritionist so hopefully we can figure out something. She always tells me to quit looking stuff up on the Internet because she is the Dr., I always go there thinking that I know what's wrong with me because I saw it on the Internet. It was really nice to see Dr. Owens again and we set up a date next weekend for a puppy play date, Robby needs one so bad. I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon that went really well, she said my teeth look really good. I get them cleaned every 3 months because I don't floss them, she told me about a new air floss machine that does a great job. I have a WaterPik but it just makes a huge mess. I haven't been to the dentist for about 4 or 5 months  and my teeth still looked pretty good, I love hearing that.  I got home and there was a message on my machine that said Robby was ready to be picked up. He went in for a bath, a couple of shots,  to get his allergy shots adjusted and to check his ears and teeth… everything looks good and he smells so much better. I came home and Heather was cooking in the kitchen and it smelled wonderful. My uncle came over to borrow my camera to take pictures of the cracked foundation on his house, a guy on drugs ran into it a couple of times and of course has no insurance.

Friday was the usual relaxing day. I got to sleep in, I got a nice long massage and just relaxed in bed for the rest of the day. We were supposed to play cribbage tonight but everybody was too tired and that's okay because I was pretty tired myself, I just wanted to watch a movie on pay-per-view and go to sleep.

 Saturday turned out to be a really great day although in the morning I had my doubts. I have been really exhausted in the mornings because of bloating and really bad spasms all night but this morning when Karen put me in my chair I got really dizzy, my arms were really heavy and my eyes were blurry. We took my blood pressure and it was normal and the symptoms went away as fast as they came along… what is up with that? Robby and I cruised over to the dog beach by the lighthouse to meet Dr. Owens, Nana and their 2 dogs Bella and Ozzy for a puppy play date. I hung out at the wrong beach for a while and then decided to wander down to the other one, I couldn't remember which one they liked the best. I ran into Jim and Robby's grandma Inez and not far behind was Resa and their latest puppy that they're raising, they said they turned the puppy in in may. She said the human race is coming up and asked me to join them again this year, it starts really early in the morning so I have to talk one of my caregivers into coming in real early… I hope it works out. I talked to them for a while and then went on to the other dog beach and Dr. Owens was just leaving. She said that she would take the dogs back to play with Robby for a while, Robby really needed it. When I left the house to walk up towards Westcliff it started getting really hot and I was hoping I wouldn't get too overheated. When I got there it was a lot cooler because of the ocean breeze, almost too cold. I had to wait up on the hill because there is a bunch of stairs going down to the beach but Dr. Owens took a lot of pictures, they always have so much fun and Robby is sleeping like a big baby tonight. I noticed in one of the pictures that he was drinking the salt water so I hope he doesn't get sick but they definitely had a great time. I came home and went to bed and my uncle came over to see if we wanted to play cards since we couldn't do that before. My uncle and aunt,  Lee and Claudia and my mom and I played about 4 games and we kicked butt… my mom was my partner. Of course while everybody was here towards the end of the evening I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open  but as soon as everybody left I was wide awake and burning up.

Sunday was a pretty long and boring day so I just ended up staying in bed. Sometimes by the time I get up in my chair I have maybe an hour or 2  to cruise around before it's time to go to bed… it's not really worth it and since Robby was pretty tired from yesterday I didn't feel guilty. My 2 nephews, Robert and David, stopped by to say hello before they went to a concert here in Santa Cruz. It's always so nice to see them.











Monday, April 9, 2012

Getting back to the old routine…



Monday was a really long day. I planned on getting Up but personal care just took too long and by the time I would have gotten up it would have been time to go back to bed. Luckily Otis came by to do the yard and had his three dogs with him so Robbie got to play in the yard practically all day, he is exhausted. I had to call Roto-Rooter out again to fix the sinks in the to downstairs extra bathrooms, I don't think I should be having problems this soon? Angie came by with her son Parker and her two daughters, the twins Piper and Phoebe. I don't know how she does it, she was juggling three kids and still carried on a conversation with my mom and I… makes me glad I only have one dog.

Tuesday it pretty much rained all day so no long cruise for us. For some reason I wasn't feeling really great, I hope I'm not getting sick. We have tried just about everything for my nighttime heel lift boots, everything seems to make a red mark from rubbing, so we decided to try… I know you're going to laugh… bubblewrap. I think it's making me really warm but there is not a mark on my leg from rubbing, it has been 3 nights. Tonight we tried leaving my feet uncovered and tomorrow I think were going to try to figure out how to put my bed fan back on the bed, that I can turn on and off with my computer… thank you David. I have an appointment at Dominican rehab with Andrei and Eric to install my new lateral on the right side, I think it's going to work out great. I also inquired about using the electronic stimulation bicycle there for a while to see if it would work in my home, I hope it does. On the way home we stopped at Charlie Hong Kong's and I got some pad Thai noodles with garlic tofu, as usual it was awesome. I met this lady online who has Robby's sister, she is a really nice lady. It turns out that she grew up with James Durbin's cousin. I told her that I wanted to go see him in the record store downtown but for some reason I couldn't get up that day. She told me that she would have him sign a CD for me. She just message me and asked for my address because he is going to send me something, I'm so excited I know I won't be able to sleep now.

Wednesday was a pretty good day. We called the plumber back again and he finally figured out what was wrong with the water heater, the return valve needed to be replaced because it kept putting cold water back in… something like that. I had another appointment with my podiatrist and everything is looking great, we told him about the bubblewrap and his reaction was just like everyone else's… 1st he raised his eyebrows and then he thought about it and said “that makes sense as long as it's not too warm”. While we were there we saw some seamless diabetic socks, I'm always having a problem with the seams making marks across my toes, so I came home and found some on Amazon. We stopped at pizza my heart and split a salad and a fig, bacon, feta cheese and fresh sage pizza… it was amazing. I came home and took a nice long hot bath and went to bed happy for such a wonderful day. Tomorrow and Friday we're supposed to have thunderstorms.

Thursday turned out to be a great day even though there were supposed to be thunderstorms, there wasn't… it was beautiful and warm. I took Robby and left here early so we could cruise around before the weather started getting nasty. We took our regular cruise and then came back and practiced a couple of our commands and then it was so nice we went for another cruise and then hung out in the driveway for a while. A couple of days ago when Karen came into work she said I was acting really weird and just seem to be out of it and we couldn't figure out what it was. Tonight Teresa gave me some sleepy time she, all-natural, and I started feeling a little weird. We looked at the box and you're not supposed to take it with any kind of something inhibitors… I take 600 mg a night of Gabapentin for nerve pain, again it's all natural and it won't hurt me but it just makes me feel weird and I don't like it. Unfortunately I drink most of it before we looked at the box and didn't drink anymore after. Luckily I get to sleep in in the morning and hopefully I will be fine by the time Susan gets here for my massage. I was sleeping really good until the loud thunder woke me up at 2 AM.

Friday it was so nice outside I'm kind of sorry I didn't get up. I had my massage and we did personal care so I wouldn't have had time to do anything before I had to go back to bed in time to play cards anyway. Heather came over and cooked and made a bunch of really wonderful stuff. My uncle made some turkey noodle soup from the left over turkey from Easter and were going to have some tonight before we play cards, I hope it brings me good luck. Supposedly we just had a small earthquake, 3.5, in Aromas California… wherever that is. I didn't feel anything. Lee and Claudia brought Lee's sister with them to play cribbage, it was really nice to see her again. My uncle and aunt made some turkey noodle soup and it was awesome, my aunt made a salad and they brought over some really good sourdough bread… I got to find out where they get that bread. The was my partner and we did pretty good, we lost a couple of dollars but then got it back plus 1.

Saturday was a really nice day also. I have an appointment to get my taxes done, yes I always wait until the last minute and I really couldn't have waited any longer because the 15th is not only the deadline but a Sunday. After I had my taxes done I went out to lunch with Heather, she had been telling me about this really great Greek restaurant called Vasili's and it was really great, I could only eat half of whatever was there. Robby and I cruised down some back streets and we almost made the mistake of going down to the wharf/Boardwalk, I forgot it was the last few days of spring break and it was packed… I could see it from the bridge above as we went by. I came home for a while and was going to go cruising again with Robby and Heather came over so we just hung out for a while.

Sunday it looks so nice outside and I really wanted to go to the Catch a Wave event on the beach by the Wharf, a guy that I went to high school with founded it and it's always so much fun to watch the kids with disabilities get to surf. Unfortunately I didn't make it out of my bed except to take a nice long hot bath. Dr. Owens also called to see if we can put together a puppy play date, that didn't happen either. At least tomorrow I will be able to get up early and get out of here with Robby, it should be a really nice day.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Easter…









Monday it was a little warmer out, it seems like it's getting warmer every day. I got up and took Robby on our regular cruise, I didn't realize that the boardwalk had opened and I was wondering why it was so busy. When I was at the end of the boardwalk I remembered that I had someone coming over to change the battery on my alarm system anywhere from 2 to 3, it was 1:40 PM, I made it home in 20 min. Of course he didn't show up until 4 PM so we could have cruised around a little bit more but at least my house alarm is not going to go off at 1 o'clock in the morning anymore. I came home and Heather was cooking a bunch of really awesome looking food, her and I are both trying to eat healthier. I always love going to bed, turning my heater on and settling in to watch TV for the night.

Tuesday I had an appointment for manicure and a pedicure, it had been 6 weeks and my fingernails were getting so long that they were breaking off. One of them I chewed off on the trip because I couldn't text anymore, that just seems wrong but I did it. I cruise Robby around for a little while but everything was still really crowded, I forgot it was spring break. When we went to the boardwalk guess who was there? SpongeBob Square pants and Patrick, I wanted to get Robby's picture taken with them but the line was so long so we cruised down to the end of the boardwalk and I was going to do it on my way back through but they were gone… maybe we'll get them next time. It's good practice for Robby to ignore people. I came back and Karen put me to bed. She also got me up and cleaned the house while I was gone so I know she's exhausted tonight.

Wednesday was a really busy but nice day. The visiting nurse came after I had breakfast and then we did some personal care and then a nice long hot bath. After my bath my ceiling lift broke but luckily on the bedroom side and not on the bathroom side, in their way all we have to do is we all my bed underneath the lift and lower me down on the bed… it's not that hard it's just a pain when you're used to doing it so easily. After I got up I was still a little chilled from the bath so I sat outside in the sun for a while, it felt great except I forgot I was taking antibiotics so I shouldn't be doing it. They took Robby and went for a cruise and found myself leaning back in the sun again at the lagoon, stop it. I was going to go down to the end of the wharf but it was too cold so I just cruised through the boardwalk, I wanted to see if any more characters were there today… I didn't see any. They started to build the stage on the beach a couple of days ago and looks like they're almost finished, I think they announced the lineup for the concerts this month… they start in the middle of June. I came back because I had an appointment with Dr. Hurray, the podiatrist. Everyone in the office is so nice and he gave me another way to address my wounds because they are getting better, he said it will take about a month but they will be gone. I came back and Teresa put me to bed, she took me to my doctor's appointment. Mitch from Pacific shine came and washed my van today, it was so filthy and there were bugs were plastered all over the windshield… it's really nice to look through a clean van again.


Thursday turned out to be a great day. My uncle came over in the morning and asked me if I wanted to go to Cosco, I would never turn down a trip from Cosco. After we got back it was beautiful outside so I decided to take Robby on a nice long cruise. We went down through the lagoon and stopped to rest for a while in the sun and then we proceeded to the work all the way down to the end and back and then to the boardwalk. There was a lot going on after work. They had a battle of the bands so we got to sit there and listen to some really cool music. I finally found a place that I could see. I was right above the stairs and back a little bit and the nice thing was that there was a security guard their clearing everybody out from the stairs. It's amazing how people will just walk and stand in front of you, they had to go around me to stand in front of me… I don't get people. On the way back we ran into SpongeBob and Patrick again, this time they were just walking along 4 o'clock. When I was out on the Wharf there was a kid out there fishing and he reeled in at baby stingray, I have never seen one that close it was really cool. When it flipped over it looked like it had a little face smiling underneath, I'm sure he wasn't smiling with that look in his mouth but then the gym and put him back. I came back and sat in the sun for a little while because it felt so good and then I went to bed.

Friday was the same old Friday routine. Susan came over and gave me a nice long massage and then we did some personal care. Gabe came over to look at my van because when my uncle took me to Cosco the day before the check engine light came on again, when am I going to stop having problems with that thing. The visiting nurse came over and I release them from my care because my podiatrist wanted me to. My brother and my niece came down to stay for the weekend, the rest of their family will be here tomorrow. Lee and Claudia, my aunt and uncle and my mom and I played cribbage. We didn't do as good as we did last time but I only lost two dollars.

Saturday was such a beautiful day. I got up and took Robbie for really long cruise but I think everybody decided to come to Santa Cruz for Easter weekend, everywhere we went was just packed with people. I came back and Janea put me to bed and then cleaned up the back porch in the yard for Easter tomorrow, we're having an Easter egg hunt in my front yard and it looks like it's going to be nice enough to have Easter outside. We have about 15 people coming over and I can't wait to watch the kids do the Easter egg hunt. This is the 1st year that I haven't dyed Easter eggs or decorated my house, everything just happened too fast after getting back from my road trip. Janet and my 2 nephews came to visit and we decided to play a couple of games of cribbage, I started out with Corinne as my partner and we were kicking butt and then she got tired of playing and my brother Stanley was my partner, we also kicked butt.

Sunday was such a great day, it was Easter. We were going to have Easter Dinner at my uncle and aunts house across the street but it got moved over to hear, I can't believe I didn't decorate this year. We had an Easter egg hunt for my cousins to little girls and then one for the bigger kids, it is always so much fun to watch. I didn't get any pictures of the Easter egg hunt but I got some dinner. We had a really nice dinner and I missed out on playing cribbage before everybody left.