Monday was a pretty good day. Karen came in and fed the hungry hound, fed me, and then she got me dressed from the waist down, and we waited for the physical therapist… She would come in and help us do some range of motion videos for my caregivers. Whenever I get a physical therapist, I like to do a range of motion and exercise videos to ensure I have the latest exercises. After the physical therapist left, she got me in my chair and finished dressing me; it's only 10 AM, so Dude and I have the rest of the day to cruise around this gorgeous city! My cousin Rich sent me a video of his dogs looking out the window and barking at a man working across the street; when Dude heard his dogs barking, he jumped up and ran out of the kennel and looked around… I think you recognize their bark and thought they were coming over to play. We cruised through Depot Park, down to Cowell beach, and as I was taking pictures, I could see something lying on the shore, so I got a little closer, and it was a seal… They don't usually just crawl up on the beach and lay down, so I knew that it was probably sick. I took some pictures then cruised down the wharf to see if I could find somebody to call wildlife animal control and have somebody come and get it; I know from past experience that when you tell somebody, they usually say, "oh yes, I'll call them and have it taken care of "... there's really nobody that's going to come out and certainly not in time to save the poor little thing. I saw Simon painting and told him, of course, he said he would call somebody; Omar said to me that usually, by the time they call and get wildlife animal control out, the animal is already passed away, so they typically take one of the tractors and dig a hole underneath the wharf and bury it after it passes. It always makes me really sad when I see an animal heart, especially when you know nobody's going to do anything about it, and it always makes me a little sad the whole rest of the day. I ended up just cruising up and down the wharf because I was so worried about the little seal, it kept picking up his little head, and a couple times, I saw him pick up his whole body and move closer to the shore and then plopped back down. I made myself move on; we cruised down to the end of the boardwalk and back, the little guy made his way over, and it almost looked like he was trying to get in some shade underneath the wharf. We cruised back home, and I watched TV for a while until Rachel came in; she fed the hungry guy, put me to bed, and then fed me. Rachel did some laundry, dusted the floors, cleaned up the kitchen, and then home. I spent the rest of the evening editing pictures and reminiscing about the poor little guy dying on the beach alone; it just broke my heart. I noticed that I didn't take any boardwalk pictures, and I don't know why. I saw that the camera was aimed way too high in all of the pictures, and it was hard to get photos of the shore. For some reason, it looked like the pictures were shot by taking a fisheye view; I think that's why I didn't take any photos of the boardwalk. I watched a movie before I fell asleep.
Tuesday was another great day. Cindy came in and fed the hungry little guy, got me dressed, and up in my chair. I didn't have time to eat because my first appointment was with Jennifer at 10 AM; I'm so lucky my face is hiding underneath the mask because my whiskers are getting so long. I mentioned to Cindy earlier that when I was down at the wharf the day before, I could smell somebody making hamburgers; it smelled so good, so she suggested that we go by the grocery store and get stuff to make sliders; we had to go by Safeway to get my prescriptions, we also got some ground beef, bacon, Hawaiian rolls, and cheese. We came back here so we did and they were so delicious! We piled back in the van, and Cindy drove me to my foot doctor appointment; he did my regular diabetes foot check and said my feet looked good. I asked him and the nurse about Botox for my feet, but both looked at me like I was crazy; I guess they had heard of that before, so I asked them about tendon release surgery because my toes were curling was making source on them. The doctor felt my foot and said my circulation wasn't good enough for the tendon release surgery. However, there is a doctor that will go in and put stints in your veins to improve circulation, and he was going to have them call and set up an appointment; if that doesn't work, I'm just going to have to start wearing socks and get rid of all my boots… That will be very sad. I just went through all of my shoes with the organizer and got rid of about half of them; I'm not ready to get rid of anymore. Outside of the doctor's office, I saw this really cool tree with these bit of berry-like things hanging off of them and tiny clusters of pretty flowers; we took pictures so I could look it up later and see what they were. They have the same trees along the path on Bay Street, and I always wondered what they were. We headed back home, and Rachel came in before Cindy left; they started talking, and I could see Rachel was getting angry, and her face was turning red. Cindy told me that she was asking if I was happy with her work; Rachel said that she was promised at least six hours a day, and she whoops told you would get a raise to $25 an hour. Neither of us said that to her; that's Rachel's goal for herself; Cindy said to her that neither of us promised that, and it probably wasn't going to happen. As angry as she got, I assumed that she would be looking for another job, so after Rachel put me to bed, I put an ad on care.com and Craigslist usually, I don't like Craigslist, but I have found a couple of excellent caregivers on there. She was reticent the rest of the night, I even told her that if she had her driver's license, she could get more hours by taking me to doctor appointments, errands, and grocery shopping, but it just seemed to make her angrier. Cindy told her that I was trying to learn a little more Spanish to feel more comfortable, but she said she didn't even care about that; she wasn't there to have a conversation. We just left it at that. After Rachel cleaned everything up and left, I put an ad on care.com. I was really pleased with her, but the night before, as I watched TV, I could hear her talking and laughing really loud on the phone right outside my door where the laundry room was, so when she came in, I asked her where you talking on the phone?? She said that she was, but she won't do it anymore, and I thought that was that. I told her when you're working, and on the phone, it makes me think that you're only working with one hand and half your brain, and it was not okay; I have never heard of a job where it's okay to be on the phone while you're working. I knew it wasn't the first time because my mom tells me that she's on the phone whenever she's in the kitchen or playing her music really loud. Unfortunately, I guess I will be looking for another caregiver or two… I usually have two caregivers to do the evening weekdays, but she wanted to do it, so I let her; there really isn't a problem unless she decides to call in sick a lot. My brain was really exhausted; I started watching ninety-day fiancé but fell asleep.
Wednesday was another great day. Karen came in and fed Dude; we decided to just get right to it so I could get up and adhere, which is some personal care, a nice long hot bath, then Karen got me dressed in up in my chair. I've been trying to eat better and drink at the fun of water, and it seems to make personal care go by smoother; who knew eating right and drinking lots of water would help everything? Dude and I took off for a nice long cruise; now that the weather is getting nicer, we're trying to do like 5 miles a day to keep Dude in shape and me sane. I decided to take all of the pictures today without zooming in, and it was kind of cool; I could get a wider viewing picture, but it looks like you're taking it through a fisheye… I usually try to make everything level, so it's hard for me to get used to the fisheye view. As I was cruising down the wharf, I looked over, and I could see smoke, and I remember thinking, "oh no! Not another fire?" I got to remember to watch the news tonight. I decided to cruise down to the farmers market, I used to get this yogurt delivered from this company, and after a while, I just got tired of it and stopped, but now I'm craving it again, so I cruised in to get some and Deborah was working today. Deborah is the lady that used to deliver the yogurt, she didn't recognize me at first with my mask on, but then when I told her how I was, she remembered… Of course, she recalled, Dude. We cruised home, and I tilted back to relax and watch TV until Rachel came in. Rachel came in and fed Dude, put me to bed, then got me something to eat. I got a couple of boxes from Costco, gloves, baby wipes… It's so much better to order it than to have my caregivers have to drag it all out to the car and then back in the house; this time, however, we were having a puppy play date when they delivered it, so they left it on the front porch and my mom had to bring it in… It looks so heavy, and I felt terrible that she had to do that, but somebody would've taken it for sure. I just love these beautiful days when the weather is excellent; I get to just cruise around and take pictures. After Rachel went home, I watched a movie before I fell asleep.
Thursday was a pretty good day. Karen came in and fed. Dude fed me then we waited for the physical therapist. Today Karen recorded some neck exercises that I can do while laying in bed, I'm really tired of having a stiff neck, and it doesn't look like I'm going to get a massage anytime soon. Karen got me dressed and up in my chair, and then she set up the yard for the CCI puppy playdate to put out some water and some boo chips and flavored flat pretzels. Unfortunately, I was so excited I didn't take any pictures; I guess I was so excited because it's been a long time since I've seen anybody. Eight people showed up, and there were six dogs; it was so fun to watch them play! One of the dogs kept digging in the water dish in emptying out all the water, and there was another one who was trying so hard to get anybody to play with him, but everybody seemed to be ignoring him; these dogs are so adorable! Ronald from Hill-Rom came by with a strap for my mattress, so he put that on for me, and I actually saw where he disconnected the squealing noise that the bed was making when you take off the brake, so I made a mental note to tell my brother when he came to visit… I asked both him and the guy I called for tech support, but they said they could not disconnect it because it would be a safety violation. I tilted back in my chair and watched some TiVo shows until Rachel came in. She cleaned up the yard, fed Dude, put me to bed, then fed me. I played candy crush and edited videos until she left, and then I watched a movie before I fell asleep.
Friday was a perfect day! Karen came in and fed the hungry knucklehead, fed me, we did some personal care than a nice long hot bath. Before we get started Dude always jumps up on my bed, and we have bonding time. Then Karen brushed his teeth and cleaned his ears; while he was sitting on the bed, the doorbell on the TV behind him rang, and he thought it was my doorbell, and you look straight up at the monitors, he is so intelligent! After I got up in my chair, the visiting nurses sent over a diabetes dietitian to answer some questions. I went through the diabetes classes a couple of times, but I still just don't get it; I'm doing a lot better now, but I still had a couple of questions. I asked her about kimchi; I love kimchi, and it's supposed to be really good for your digestive, but it is cabbage and has a lot of salt… Basically, she said everything in moderation! She gave me a couple of charts of how much of each food group you should have on your plate for each meal; it looks like I can eat as much salad and vegetables as I want. As a rule, I generally eat pretty well, but that's only because my friend Heather cooks for me. She knows all the food rules, what's good to eat when you're diabetic… Ever has been such a great friend for as long as I've lived here when I first moved in, she lived at the end of the block, but on and off we have always kept in touch over the years. She's one of the best people I know! After the diabetes dietitian left, Dude and I went out for a short but beautiful cruise down to the end of the wharf and back. I kicked back and listened to some music while I edited my photos, watching TV until Rachel came in. She fed the hungry little guy, put me to bed, and then fed me. I am slowly but surely getting rid of all of the series that I TiVoed, the ones that I have already seen three or four times, and I'm trying to watch more movies on Amazon Prime, Hulu, Apple, and Netflix. I bet I could save a whole bunch of money getting rid of DirecTV and just watching shows from the other streamers. After Rachel went home, I watched first Madagascar and then fell asleep.
Sunday was just another relaxing day. Cindy came in and fed the hungry little guy, fed me, and then we decided to go through all these piles of papers all over my room and organize them… I love it when my room is all cluttered. She went home, and I spent the next couple of hours editing pictures and writing in my blog. Can you believe I almost caught up? That is so exciting! I hope I can keep up with that every night. Karen came in, and we did some personal care than a hot relaxing bath. Susan, my massage therapist, was in an automobile accident and hurt herself, and it seems like whenever she tries to go back to work, she tries to do too much and goes back to square one. When I was looking at the new wellness center on E. Cliff Dr., I noticed that they do acupuncture and have a chiropractor. I will have to check it out and ask Karen and Roger when I see them on Tuesday. After my bath, Karen put me back to bed and then ate something to eat. She brushed my teeth and then went home. The rest of the evening was mine; I listened to some music while I added pictures, watched 90-day fiancé, and then watched another movie before I fell asleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment