After to numerous I'm getting a new bed...

 Monday was a good day. Karen came in and fed the hungry pooch, fed me, and we got started with about program and ended with a nice long hot relaxing bath. She got me dressed up in my chair, even though I can't really go very far. The dude gets some exercise, and Rachel needs to practice putting me to bed. We had just enough time to cruise over to Cowell's beach, where it looked like they were trying to grab a baby seal that came to the store and was sick. When we first got there, I saw all of the mammal rescue vehicles, a couple of the wharf maintenance vehicles, and the lifeguard vehicle, so I knew something was up. As I started down the wharf, I noticed they had this big huge metal crate with big tall wheels for rolling along the sand; they all had these big wooden riot control sheets in front of them. They'll put a shield in front of them, and one guy went out front and captured the poor little guy with a net, then they all moved in and then corralled him into the metal kennel; it was really amazing. See how organized and gentle everyone was. They got the little guy in the cage and started rolling him in the sand towards the vehicle, and everybody cheered; I got most of it on video by my camera was aimed up way too high, so it's tough to see… I'm glad I got to see it! We cruised down to the end of the wharf and back. The weather was awesome, and the waves were amazing! While we were cruising back home, my chair stalled about four times; even going over a speed bump or a curb cut makes my chair stall, and then I have to turn it off, wait a few minutes and then turn it back on. I texted my aunt to come and pick me up, but she and my uncle were at Costco, and I passed them on the way back, I was almost home, but my aunt walked down to meet me and walked back with me to push me up the ramp… This is so frustrating! I watched TV for a while until Rachel came in. She fed the hungry little guy and then put me to bed, she is so sweet and caring, and at first, I was a little nervous about the language barrier; she doesn't speak English, and I don't speak Spanish… I know some bad words, but that is not helpful. I'm learning Spanish, she's learning English, and we are both learning a little bit of our own made-up sign language… It works out perfectly! After putting me to bed, she got me something to eat, did some housekeeping, wiped everything down, and then went home. She started dusting and mopping the floor every evening, and it sure has made a difference; I'm not sneezing at all, I've been sleeping so much better, and usually, she shows me what was on the floor, and you cannot believe how much dog care… Especially since she does it every night and there is still this much? I hope she stays here for a long, long time! Right now, I have the perfect group, my dream team! It's about time; my family is going to be coming up to visit between Christmas and New Year's, and hopefully, by then, my chair will be working really good also. We will have a super awesome cousins reunion! It also makes me feel excellent that the garage is getting all cleaned out, and I think by the time everybody gets here, my house and outside will be clutter-free, and I want to keep it that way. I'm still trying to rest my arm, so I watched some movies on the computer until I fell asleep.

 Tuesday was a sorrowful day; Omar and Cindy are taking down the outside Halloween decorations.  I had a video visit with someone from my doctor's healthcare team so they could write me a prescription for a new hospital bed, this one is about 10 years old, and the buttons are starting to not work, and I've had them fixed several times. Cindy came in and fed the hungry hound dog, fed me, and then started taking down the outside decorations. A couple of years ago, most of my caregivers were on vacation after Halloween, so the newest member and her friend took down the decorations; they just ripped everything down and shoved it in the boxes… We were all heartbroken when we took them out the next year; almost everything was ripped, torn, or broken… Needless to say, she didn't last very long. We decided to get rid of everything that was faded, broken, torn, or just worn out. Omar took them over to the wharf to see if they wanted any of it, their maintenance guys, and they're very creative, so if something can be saved, they can do it. I LOVE going on the wharf and seeing it decorated, and I hope they do the same for Christmas. I decided to stay in bed mostly because I wanted to give them more time to take everything down but also because I'm only getting about 3 miles out of my chair these days, and it's really not worth getting dressed and in my chair just to hang out in my room. Omar took the boxes they finished back to the storage until next year; I can't wait! I edited some pictures and added them to my blog, listened to music, watched TV, and talked to Dude. I bought those fluent pet buttons, and I'm going to set them up and try them with Dude, so they say you should constantly be talking to your dog, so he learns your voice and learns certain words; I talked to him all the time, but now I'm doing it even more, and we will see. Rachel came in and fed the knucklehead, fed me, and then just kinda cruised around and got familiar with the house and did some housekeeping; Rachel is so sweet, kind, and so eager to help! She truly cares, and you can tell! I had her she left to give me a couple squirts of that tincture so I can go to sleep and not use my mouse, my arms are so sore and rolling laying down I can tolerate it, but if I do get to get up tomorrow, it's going to hurt like heck. I watched TV until I fell asleep.

 Wednesday was another relaxing day. Karen came in and fed the hungry knucklehead, fed me, and then we started another round of personal care and a nice relaxing hot bath. My arms, neck, and shoulders are hurting worse than ever, and the only time they really don't hurt is when I'm in the hot bathtub. It feels like the bones inside of my arms are splintering and rubbing together, especially when I turn from side to side, get dressed… Pretty much everything hurts. I don't know what to do about it; if I stay in bed, it feels a little better, but I have to try to remember not to use my mouse and rest my arms if I get up; my arms just hurt all day long. I decided to stay in bed today. Wednesday is the farmers market in Santa Cruz, and I really love to go but not today. I'm trying to get more into watching movies, listening to music, podcasts, audiobooks… Anything so that I don't have to use my arms. I keep waiting for the pain to ease up, but it just isn't. Rachel came in and fed the hungry hound, fed me, and folded up many boxes that we would use for organizing because they got wet and threw them away. She did some housekeeping, washed my face and brushed my teeth, and then went home. I again spent the rest of the evening trying to do anything where I don't move my arms; the weather is getting a little bit nicer, my body feels better when I'm out in the sun. I watched TV until I eventually fell asleep.

 Thursday was a pretty good day. Karen came in and fed the hungry pup, fed me, and then wheeled my chair out to the front porch. Thanks to Roger, EVERYTHING will be fixed today, I haven't been able to go more than 3 miles for a couple of weeks because my batteries keep dying, and they just keep bringing me new ones… They're also bringing motors this time because I guess my motors were going out, so hopefully, that was the problem. Roger used to work at the wheelchair clinic at Dominican rehab, so he worked with all these people and knew who to call. Anytime I have a severe problem with my chair, and I just can't take it anymore, I call Roger although my friend Julie said I could call her; also, she is to be a visiting nurse, and she also knows everybody, but now she works with the ALS group. I was supposed to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with my cousin, his daughter, and her little girl, but Lexi decided not to get vaccinated because she's pregnant with twins, so she would be able to go… You have to have proof of vaccination for a negative test within 72 hours. I message my friend Beth that I used to work with at Xicor, she was going to come up with her daughter to Santa Cruz and have sushi, so I messaged her and asked if they would like to go to the Monterey Bay aquarium, so I changed the tickets for a different date. It is so nice knowing that I get to have my chair working like it's supposed to; I had to cancel with Andrea because I wasn't sure what time the guy would be done. He got everything done and said it works great, so Karen put me in the chair, and Dude and I went for a nice long cruise. It felt so amazing to be out and about again! My plan was to stay out until Rachel came in at 4 PM, but unfortunately, I forgot to set the time on my chair back at daylight savings time, so I got home, and I kinda cruised around another hour; I changed the time immediately. I will not go out again; by the time I get down to the end of the wharf and then down to the boardwalk where they were already starting to decorate for Christmas, it looks so awesome! It's time to come back, and I'll have to rush, so I will go for a nice long cruise tomorrow. I kicked back and watched TV for a while until Rachel came in; she fed the hungry little guy, put me to bed, fed me, and then did the normal stuff she does around the house. Before she left, she washed my face and brushed my teeth, and she was gone. I watched TV for the rest of the evening, edited some pictures before I fell asleep.

 Friday was a pretty good day. Karen came in and fed the hungry pooch, fed me, and then got me dressed and up in my chair. Usually, we do some personal care on Friday and a nice long hot relaxing bath, but I needed to get my suprapubic tube changed… I was supposed to get it changed a week or so ago, but Cindy and her family came down with Covid and had to quarantine for 10 days; Cindy is the only one that has a driver's license, so she usually takes me to all of my appointments. I have a pretty bad UTI, and although I finished my antibiotics, the tube site isn't looking excellent, so I called to see if I could get an appointment this morning and have Karen go with me; my aunt drove. After a little confusion, I did get my tube changed, and I felt much better. I was a little nervous because you could see a hole in my stomach, and it looked like infection was leaking out, but it was the balloon sticking through, which isn't supposed to happen, so he put another 10 mL to hold the balloon in place. I thought I had another granuloma around the site, but the doctor didn't seem very worried about it, so we just came on home. After we got home, we did some personal care and a nice long hot relaxing bath, and I just went back to bed and stayed there. After we finished everything, Karen went home, and I just watched TV for a while, edited some pictures, and watched TV until I fell asleep.

 Saturday was a pretty good day. Cindy came in and fed the hungry mongrel, fed me, and then got me dressed and up in my chair. We cruised down to the lab because my doctor wanted a urine sample, it seemed like I had another UTI, and they gave me some antibiotics that I finished, but they wanted to make sure that it went away. Usually, I don't feel so good, but I don't feel bad, but my doctor said if it doesn't away, and they want me to go into the hospital and get IV antibiotics, I definitely don't want to do that. I'm trying to make sure I drink a lot of water, kombucha, and Pedialyte to make sure I'm getting enough hydration. I have been craving calamari for the last several days, so we were on a mission to find some good calamari, I usually order from this Thai restaurant, but I haven't seen it on the menu the last couple of times. We decided to cruise over to the wharf and hit the fish market, I also wanted some crab for a salad, but the guy told me that they hadn't had crab for about a month… There's just no crap to be found. I ordered some calamari and chips, some candied salmon bites and some prawns… On our way back to the van, we saw the candy store and decided to go in and get some ice cream. On our way back home, Cindy's mom called and said that she needed Cindy to come and pick her up from work, so she put my calamari and chips in the microwave, the shrimp in the candied salmon in the refrigerator, and the ice cream in the freezer so I can have it later after I went to bed. I watched TV for a while until Rachel came in; she fed the hungry pooch, put me to bed, and then fed me. I noticed when she was feeding me but there was more salad, bronze, and candied salmon than calamari. I know that you think she's doing me a favor by not giving me the fried calamari, but that's what I wanted, and it cost me $22. I thought maybe she was saving it until last, but suddenly, she took the tray back in the kitchen, and I was done. I was a little frustrated, but I didn't say anything. I know it's not gonna be as good tomorrow, but that's my only choice. She cleaned up, brushed my teeth and washed my face, and then went home for the evening. I watched TV for a little while, listened to some music, and watched more TV until I fell asleep.

 Sunday was a perfect day. Cindy came in and fed the hungry little guy, fed me, and then decided to break out the Thanksgiving decorations and decorate. She is always so creative and makes everything look fun; I like Cindy because she takes pictures of everything before leaving. Karen and Omar also do, and I really like it because I can go through the pictures at night after everybody leaves, and it just makes me smile. I almost decided I didn't want to decorate anymore just because it seems to be too much of a hassle anymore, but luckily none of them listened to me, and they decorated anyway, and I'm so glad they did. Omar came by and decorated a little bit outside, fixed a couple of things, and then took a run to the dump. I saved a bunch of boxes for the organizer, but they got put underneath the pergola, and they got all wet and ruined. Karen came in at noon and fed the hungry Dude, got me something to eat before we started with personal care, and ended with a nice long hot bath. She put me back to bed then went home for the evening. I edited my Thanksgiving pictures, listened to some music, and tried to catch up on my blog before I fell asleep.