Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Still on antibiotics and my neck/arms and shoulders are still sore…

 Monday was another day in bed. Karen came in and fed the hungry Dude, fed me, and put me on my side for a little bit. Now I get to add pressure sore to my list, I'm not used to not feeling good and having problems, and I don't like it! At least now, when I'm lying in bed, besides being able to watch TV and listen to music, I get to watch the birds flying back and forth between the birdfeeder and the trees. I could watch them for hours! It's really challenging to lay here and not be on the computer, but I'm doing a pretty good job of just making myself relax, although I've noticed I can't stop moving my shoulders… If I didn't know myself any better, I would think that I'm on some kind of drug where I can't sit still. Adriana was filling in for her mom, and she agreed to come in early and help me de-clutter and organize my bathroom; I love having these girls around because they not only cheer me up and take my mind off of my health… You're always so cheery and helpful. My bathroom looks amazing! And of course, the Dude was happy to see her because that means it's time to eat. She got everything done and left pretty early, so I have the whole evening ahead of me to watch TV and try not to move my arm. It was a really long evening, and then I eventually fell asleep. 



 Tuesday was a perfect day! Tuesday is one of my favorite days because Cindy comes in, and we always end up getting something to eat and finding a new beautiful place to hang out; Cindy is always so sweet, patient, and caring, not to mention funny… we always laugh a lot! Today I just had to go to the lab at the hospital and give some blood, so we decided to go and try The Crêpe Place and take it over to the harbor and eat at our favorite bench, the creeps were delicious, and even though it was cold, I had my little heated shawl, and that helps a lot. I noticed a couple of places at the harbor to eat, so one of these days, we're going to have to try them. After we cruised around for a while, we went to Safeway, where all of the aisles were bare, luckily we were just there for a few things and to pick up a couple of prescriptions. I noticed we were on our way back to the van that there is a warning flashing on the driving indicator on my chair, thank goodness it's nothing serious because I still able to do all of the functions… I hope my chair doesn't stop working. It always takes so long for this company to get everything together to come out and fix my chair, there are so many steps, and the lady at the reception desk goes out of her way to make everything miserable… I won't hear from her for about two weeks, and then I called her, and she says "I'm waiting for a prescription; I need a prescription from your doctor to start the procedure" I don't know why it doesn't occur to her that if she would let me know, I could get the prescription right away. Another two weeks go by, and I called her, and she says, "oh yes, I need to get a payment for the parts" again, it would be really nice if she would've called me to let me know. I would say something to her, but it does absolutely no good, and of course, the technicians always explain her idiotic behavior away. I think that somebody should put her in a wheelchair for two weeks just so she can see what we go through, and maybe somehow she can get some kind of empathy. We stopped by to get Rosa and then headed back home. Cindy went home after she put everything away, and Rosa fed the hungry mongrel; she put me to bed and then got me something to eat… I get famished, but then after a couple of bites, I just don't want to eat anymore. I've lost 10 pounds, so that's good, but not a good way to lose weight doctor is pretty concerned. She buzzed around and vacuumed and cleaned everything up and then went home. I watched TV for a while, listen to some music until I fell asleep.


















 Wednesday was a pretty good day. Susan came in and gave me a nice long massage; I'm still really sore and pretty much living off gabapentin… If I don't take it, my neck starts making really bad, and then I get a terrible headache. Karen came in a little early so we could put me on my side, and Susan found even more lumps when she finds when she presses on it, and it's the worst pain I have ever felt, but then when it lets go, it feels a lot better. Karen came in, and we did the usual personal care, these days; we have to stop at least twice so she can hit my neck a couple of times with the massager because the pain gets so excruciating, and I just can't take it anymore. As soon as I hit the hot water from the bath, everything feels so much better but only until I get out and she starts rolling me around to get me dressed. I've learned that if I take the gabapentin team first thing in the morning before she gets here, I normally only have to stop once to use the messenger, and it doesn't hurt nearly as much. She got me dressed up in my chair, and I took off with Dude to the wharf to cruise around and take pictures. The waves have been so incredible, and the battery on my phone usually goes dead within the hour for me taking so many pictures. I made sure before my phone died. I went down to the lighthouse on Westcliff Drive. I can see the waves from the wharf, and they are amazing. I was only able to take a couple of pictures before my phone died. One was of the steel on a big rock. For Christmas, I got my cousin a couple of mugs with a picture of him, his two dogs, and a picture of his dog who passed away last year with wings. Today is my little brother's birthday. I can't believe how old we are all getting. My older brother is 62, I'll be 60 in June, and my little brother is 58. My sister-in-law posted a bunch of pictures of him I stole them. I finally got around to calling Numotion about my chair. I really dread getting in touch with them only because the receptionist is so difficult all the time, but I really have no choice, so I call. Luckily she forwarded me to a technician and he was really nice. He had me take pictures of all four sides of my chair, plus I had a video to show them how the chair doesn't go all the way down. As usual, after two weeks, she gives me a call and says, "we need a co-pay, and it's gonna be $1000… For some bolts that have been missing since the last time, the tech came out?? Also, because the chair doesn't go all the way down, how does she know what parts I will need until the technician comes out? It's really so random and annoying, but I hear from other people the other wheelchair areas in Northern California aren't much better. The techs are always excellent. I just wish they would get a new and improved receptionist. They keep sending me a text with the date to expect the technician, but it keeps changing and then saying I need to go to the website. Still, when I go to the website, there's no place to sign in, just a bunch of information on the company…  Boy, would I like to add some information to the company webpage. We came home, and I tilted back and watch TV for a while until Rosa came in; she fed the hungry hound and then put me to bed and fed me. She vacuumed and cleaned up the kitchen, and then she was on her way. I watch TV for a while, and then I actually checked my Facebook account. I haven't been on any kind of social media for a long time… I don't know why I just haven't. I had many messages and notifications, and it was so overwhelming that I closed it down and made myself go to sleep.

































  Thursday was a really nice day. Karen came in and fed the hungry hound, fed me, and then got me dressed and up in my chair. I decided that Dude and I should cruise down Westcliff Drive, we have pretty much all day, and it's a gorgeous day. The ocean is so beautiful, and there were not a lot of people out and about. By the time I got to Westcliff, my camera was already slipping, so most of the pictures are crooked, and then when I crop them, I miss half the scenery. The last time my brother was here, he talked about getting me a gimbal, so hopefully, I can aim the camera in which direction I wanted to go with my iPhone; that's how I take pictures anyway. I think I'm going to start at Best Buy and see if they can help me, I don't want to just buy one on Amazon, and then I got the wrong thing, and I still really not sure what I need. As I predicted, the weather was gorgeous! I took so many pictures that I didn't even make it down to the second dog beach before my phone started dying. It's okay because I have to get home anyway to meet Joy at 2 PM. At least I got some wonderful pictures! As I headed down the hill towards the wharf, I ran into my friend Russell, and he was with his wife. I had never met his wife before, but one of my evening caregivers used to work with her. I see Russell all the time cruising around the boardwalk and the wharf. He usually has his trusty sidekick Sparky, but Sparky passed away a month or so ago. I talked to him for a couple of seconds, but I was headed down to the bottom of the hill to meet Vince; as I was cruising down the hill, he yelled out his window, "meet me at the bottom of the hill by the bathrooms" So I briefly said hi to Russell and his wife Trixie and rushed down to meet Vince. I just love Vince! He's always happy, always has a funny story, and always has great memories of his amazing past… I hope one day when all this is over, I would love to get together with him and his wife Margie, have a barbecue, and just hear more of their stories. I think he should write a book because they have had the most amazing life! For a while, I talked with him, and I actually remember to ask him to straighten out my camera for me, which he did. Thank goodness I can get some decent pictures of the ocean. The waves were so awesome! I took some pictures, and then I headed home. I leaned back in my chair for a while until Joy came in, and we chatted for a while. She's been giving me some advice for Dude… She is so knowledgeable about what seems like pretty much everything. After she left, Dude and I hung out for a while in the yard and practice some commands; he is so smart! Adriana came in and fed Dude and then put me to bed and fed me; she did some laundry, brush my teeth and wash my face, and she was off… I'm still trying to stay off the computer because of my right arm. The notifications and messages on my Facebook page will have to wait for now… I hope I get an appointment with a physical therapist soon. I watched TV for a while and then fell asleep.





























 Friday was a really long day. Karen came in and fed the hungry pooch. Then we did some personal care, I really hate doing personal care, but at least it's generally going by fast and as much pain as automated while were doing it. As soon as I hit the bathtub, it's all gone, and it's just a fading memory. Until I go back to bed and I'm not cleaned out, and it starts all over again, well, it looks like I'm staying in bed today. We ended up doing some more personal care, but the good news is I got another bath, and this time, we were really done. Karen put me back to bed and got me something light to eat because tonight is taco night! I love love love these Birria queso tacos. I usually only eat to a buddy, usually get three just in case. I watched TV for a couple of hours, and then Adriana came in; she is always down for tacos, so she went to go and get them for us. They were as delicious as I remember and I think I ate three! I haven't really had much of an appetite, but on taco Friday, I just can't seem to get enough. Taco night almost didn't happen because Adriana had to take her son to ER because he fell off his skateboard and hurt his shoulder. They did x-rays, gave him a sling, and said that the bones would grow back together since he's so young. She brushed my teeth, wash my face, did a couple of loads of close and then she was gone. I watched TV for a while and then I fell asleep. I'm so glad that I'm able to sleep these days; my Apple Watch says I'm getting 5 to 7 hours a night.



















 Saturday was a nice relaxing day. Cindy came in and fed the hungry boy and then fed me. It was a long week, and my neck is really sore, so I decided to just stay in bed and try to get some rest and maybe try to catch up on my blog; I've been trying to rest my arm, hoping that will make all this pain go away faster, but I decided that catching up on my blog is mostly dictation and adding some pictures so I'm going to stay in bed all day and see how much I can get caught up and how much I remember, sometimes I'm happy that I have pictures because it helps me remember what I did during the day… The calendar also helps. I've been trying to write everything down on the calendar, so I don't forget anything. Adriana came in and fed the hungry pooch and then fed me. She did some loads of laundry and cleaned up, and then took off. I listen to music, edited some pictures until my arm started hurting, and then just watch TV until I fell asleep.

Sunday was a pretty good day. Cindy came in and fed Dude and then made me a breakfast burrito with chorizo, vegan eggs, hash browns, Monterey Jack and feta cheese and salsa… It was delicious! I only ate half of it, but it was perfect. While actually Adriana and Cindy, we decided to clean the garage again; it just keeps getting so cluttered… I need to quit buying stuff. For some reason, at night when I'm lying in bed, I get so frustrated and sad about everything that's going on, and shopping makes me feel better, but then I get frustrated because I don't know where to put all the stuff that I purchased. Omar finished up the fire pit that he made out of a wine barrel, and it looks amazing! I ordered the rocks to go inside of it, but we tried it out, and it's pretty awesome! My cousin Rich came by and dropped off some half wine barrel planters that he had up on the hill, and he was trying to get rid of; I've wanted to get some for a long time, so I figured I will keep some and get the rest away. Omar said he can fix them and screw the rims around, so they don't slip. Since I haven't been able to get out and take some pictures, I just saw some random awesome pictures online and reposted them; most of them are from my friend Lo… She works at the tollbooth on the wharf, so she gets to see a lot of really cool things. I hope she doesn't mind that I stole them off of her Facebook page and reposted them. Karen came in at 2 PM, and we did some personal care and a nice long hot bath; it hasn't been taking us very long because I've been trying to drink a lot of water. She put me back to bed, and I watched TV for a while, and I was out.






























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