Tuesday was a pretty good day until it wasn't. Cindy came in and fed the hungry hound, then got me dressed and up in my chair. I had on my calendar that I was supposed to see Jennifer by an aesthetician at 10 AM, but after we got all the way over there, I figured out why she came out with a puzzled look on her face; my appointment is next week… Well, at least we were up early and out of there to get some errands done. We took a urine sample to my mom's doctor; she has ANOTHER UTI… I wish they would figure out why she keeps getting these and do something about it. Not drinking enough water? We came back, and Cindy fixed brunch, and then Jan and Shakti came by with Teak and Ember for a puppy play date; as we watched the dogs play and chat, I looked at the end of the driveway, and there was my neighbor Andrew and his dog Kona. I told him to come on in and join the party; I love it when all the dogs in a puppy play date get along really well. There's no mean bully and no growling. We had to cut the playdate short because I had an eye appointment with Dr. Florez. It's been a long time since I've been to the eye doctor, but I noticed that my eyes are getting worse, or so I thought, and they did get a little worse but not as bad as I thought. The last time I was in there, I got all signed up for cataract surgery, and then my aunt talked me out of it; she talked me into waiting a couple of years until Medicare would pay for the entire surgery. I hate wearing glasses because when my eyes itch and I try to scratch them, I just end up smudging the glass on the glasses, and then I get frustrated and just have to throw them down on the table, then the glasses get scratched. We got home and came into the house, Cindy went into the kitchen to get something, and I heard her say, " a fire truck just pulled up," and then I heard her say "Sydney," and then she ran upstairs. Dude wasn't here because Joy came by and took him for a walk, so as the door closed behind Cindy, I was stuck in my room; I had a button for the outside door, but the doors were not set right, and it doesn't work, and I couldn't open the door to go into the living room to see what's going on. I have a rope on the door handle for Dude to tug, so after trying everything else, I just wrangled the rope to my mouth and tugged it open; it was so gross! I finally got into the living room as Cindy ran down the stairs and yelled, "the firemen need a tampon." She told me later that the fireman said it was to stop her nose from bleeding, what a great idea! I would've never thought of that. I made it w to the living room just as they were helping my mom down the stairs and on the gurney in the living room; I was so relieved that she didn't look that bad. She had been having problems with nosebleeds for the past several months and ended up in the hospital because of a bad one and got Covid, bend ended up at Stanford Hospital and almost didn't make it. I think she was just tired of it; she quit answering anybody's texts, and then she would answer the text but say she didn't want anybody to ask her how she was. I can't even imagine how frustrating that would be! I called my brothers to let them know, and my brother Stanley called me back and said that he was getting on a plane and he would be here by 11 PM; Cindy stayed with me even though I kept falling asleep on her; she is so awesome! I told her she didn't have to wait, but to be honest, I was glad she did. Of course, after Cindy left, I was wide awake, so I played candy crush and watched 90-day fiancé. My brother got in at 11, and we chatted for a couple minutes, and then he went upstairs and went to bed; he looked exhausted. I watched TV for a little bit longer and then fell asleep. My little brother David called my big brother and said that he would be here in a couple days… I have the best brothers!!
Wednesday was a pretty good day. Karen came in and fed the hungry hound, fed me, and then we waited for the nurse to come in to change my SP tube. When she pulled it out of her box, my first thought was, "how cool, it's light blue!" It did strike a little caution in me because I had never seen the light blue one, but I figured the nurse should know what she was doing, so I didn't say anything; by the end of the day, I wish that I had said something. I was uncomfortable all day long, but I was hanging out and running errands with my big brother, so I decided to just ignore it. We went to Costco and did some grocery shopping; as we were leaving, I thought I heard a familiar voice by the door, and when I looked over, there was Jesse. Jesse worked for me for a while but then started acting more and more wired every day, and the last day she came in, she could hardly standstill, and she ended up walking out, and I never saw or heard from her after that... I didn't look at her, and she didn't look at me, and we just got the heck out of there. We went to Safeway to pick up my and my mom's prescriptions. My brother drove me over to my appointment with Corina to restore orthotics and prostheses; I wanted to get some new AFOs because I have about 20 years old. She told me they were no longer allowed to make AFOs for anybody who could not walk even though my feet dropped and turned under. She showed me a picture of the braces that she would recommend for me, and they look perfect. We came home, and by the time Rachel came in, I was in bad shape; I thought I was just feeling bad because we did some personal care, but as Rachel was putting me to bed, she showed me a picture of my SP tube site, and it was bright red… My mind went back to the blue catheter. Several years ago, when I lived in San Jose, one of the visiting nurses used a really stiff silicone catheter, and it gave me chills, a headache, and just made me want to go hide somewhere. I texted the visiting nurse when I realized I had another really rigid catheter in my belly; I texted the visiting nurse… She always tells me that if I have a problem, I can text her, and she will come right over, but I know and hear back from her. I also texted Karen; she wasn't home, I texted Cindy, and it took her a while to answer, so I texted Adriana… They were both just getting off work. I also texted my aunt, and she was not home either; I told Rachel that she was just gonna have to do it and I would walk her through it… It was a lot easier than I thought, and after we changed it, I felt better within the hour. The visiting nurse finally got back to me, and I told her that the catheter she used for me was strictly first-rate cathing. She told me to call triage and have them send a nurse out as soon as possible, but I told her we had already changed it… I'm so glad I didn't wait for her. It seems like the only time I get in trouble and need help, everybody is gone. I took a couple of gabapentin a cannabis gummy, but I still had a headache and got chills every once in a while. Stanley went to the airport to pick up David; it sure is nice to see both of them on this sad occasion. I eventually fell asleep watching TV; I just want to sleep whenever I don't feel good.
Thursday was another good day. Karen came in, fed the dog, fed me; we dressed them up in my chair. Dude and I took off for a cruise down to Cowell Beach, down to the end of the boardwalk, then back home. There were rumors that my mom would get to come home today. Stanley took me over to Costco to get some supplies I needed; on the way out of the door, I looked over, and I saw Jesse; she used to work for me but just walked out one day. She kept asking me what was wrong, went to go get my dinner, and I happened to look up at the camera, and she was gathering all of her stuff and walking out the door; she texted me, "I'm done, and I'm outta here!"… That was the last I saw or heard from her. We got home, then Stanley got the call; they would release my mom to come home. Stanley and David went to get her, and I just kicked back and watched TV until they returned. My mom sat in the living room for a while, but it was clear she was exhausted and went upstairs to sit on her couch; I'm sure it felt great to be home. Rachel came in and fed the hungry pooch, put me to bed, then fed me. She did a couple loads of laundry, cleaned up, and then went to school. David was setting up my computer in the kitchen, and I was supposed to be reinitiating all of the programs so we could switch the computers out tomorrow. Still, I couldn't remember what I was supposed to do, and I was too embarrassed to ask; my memory just seemed to be getting worse, so I tried to write everything down, but of course this I didn't. I decided to just watch TV until I fell asleep.
Friday was a perfect day. Karen came in and fed the hungry knucklehead, fed me, and we did some personal care and a nice blowup hot bathtub. Stanley, David, and I went to Costco; we invited uncle Dick, aunt Kathy, Fred, Joanne, and cousin Rich over for dinner tonight… As we were leaving Costco, I saw Jesse at the exit again checking tags, I went to the other line, but as we got to the entrance, my brother stepped over and said hello to her… I kind of felt bad that I didn't say hello to her yesterday, and I mentioned it to my brother; she said hello to my brothers, said hello to me, and then said hello to Dude and said that she missed him. My brothers are the best cooks that I know. We got steaks, lobster, broccoli, asparagus, baked potatoes and yams, ciabatta rolls, a white chocolate cake with cheesecake filling. Stanley got the ingredients to make some lobster mac & cheese. The dinner was terrific! I ate way too much, and I know I'm going to be sorry tomorrow, but tonight I'm just going to enjoy it. I haven't had macaroni and cheese because although it tastes delicious, it's not very good for my body, Heather made some for my mom the other night, and it was so delicious, so I ate it, we liked it so much that Stanley decided to make it again. We had a really lovely time, but unfortunately, my mom wasn't feeling well enough to come down and join us, but at least she's back home. Rachel came in, and Since I wasn't going to bed, Rachel started to clean up a stain on the front porch, it had been there for so long, and every time I looked up at the camera, I could see it. I got some concrete cleaner, and I asked her to use that, but she decided instead to use bleach. When my aunt came over, she got really angry with Rachel for using bleach on the front porch and wet the front porch while I was having people come over… I felt terrible because it was my fault; I asked Rachel to do it, not even thinking it would bother anybody. Rachel fed me; my uncle or brothers usually helped me, but it was nice to have Rachel there to do it so everybody could visit. After we ate, my brothers cleaned up and put the table and chairs away, Rachel not only did the dishes down here, but she went upstairs and did the dishes and cleaned up my mom's kitchen; I'm starting to really like Rachel! Rachel put me to bed and then went home. I watched TV for a while before falling asleep; I could already hear my stomach growling.
While Karen was giving me a bath, I think Karen knows me better than anyone; we somehow started talking about special needs. I am the worst person to get a spinal cord injury; I'm OCD, so if somebody's not doing things the same way all the time, I get nervous. If everybody doesn't put everything back the same way, do my care the same way or leave a covered open, a light on, a drawer open, I get uneasy. I don't like to be touched or to hear anything nice about myself; I'm learning to focus on the television, music, or the Internet so that I don't feel so awkward. As long as I have known some of these ladies, it just doesn't seem to get easier; my privates are no longer private.
Sunday was a typical Sunday. Karen came in and fed Dude, fed me, then we did some personal care and a nice long hot bath in my blowup bathtub. Karen put me back to bed, and I was really looking forward to an extra-long Sunday by myself; since Cindy didn't come in this morning, we got to get everything done really early. That means I can do and watch whatever I want and actually see the whole thing without legs and arms in my way. I watched a movie, and before I knew it, it was time for Stanley to come down and feed Dude then get me something to eat. I need to take it easy for a couple of days because I went overboard while my fathers were here, and I'm paying the price… It's not really worth it, but I keep doing it. I added some pictures and listened to music until it was time to sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment