Got Rid of TelemarketersI Yardsale

 The guy promised me my bed today. Today, I talked to him and he guaranteed I would get it sometime this weekend. I am annoyed. 

After I went to my graduation from therapy, I hit the sale across the street. I bought a curio cabinet for $35. It is small, about 7 feet by 20 inches wide, lights 5 or 6 shelves, mirrored back, glass shelves--the usual. It is sitting right next to front door, blocking Tommy getting to his chair. He is not happy. I am trying to get mower to move things around in the house. He is not answering his phone. Just now, half the pieces of glass clattered to the bottom, breaking most of it....grrr!

I also got an old walker that I intend to keep outdoors, about 50 books in tote bag, green square saucer. Plus, there was a plastic box of least $200.00 worth of cards with envelopes and gift bags. The cards are for many occasions. I won't need to buy Christmas cards for many years. Most of the gift bags are new and all sizes, especially smaller. There is beautiful tissue in Christmas designs. I found magnetic clips that are Christmas clothes pins to place on refrigerator where you can clip pictures, cards or whatever. 

Tommy managed to spill the whole thing in the hall. He picked up enough to come back down the hall. I told him to do so. Now, I am picking them up a handful at a time. He cannot bend so far, so he would have to pick them up with a reacher. 

I spent a total of $60 today. 

I was being driven crazy by telemarketers. Finally, when one would ask for me, I said, "she is dead.?"

IT WORKED. Now, I will probably have to fight tooth and nail to prove I am not dead. 

More Salmon

 We used the other rain check and bought another 8 cans of salmon. That makes one can every two months. Plus, we have a few more cans bought earlier. 

Tommy bought a new walker on Monday. Less than 24 hours later it was tearing up. Wednesday, we took it back and traded it for a new one. I hope this does not portend the future with this walker. 

Tuesday night, I slept for 7.5 hours, my basic need.  I could tell that mental tasks were less difficult. I could remember all ten numbers of a telephone number when told to me. That has been a problem for me. See, I am just sleep deprived, not losing my memory as Tommy keeps telling me--"Why can't you remember anything?"

On Tuesday night, I looked over the ads online. I was so happy that MW was $3.99. Well, I found an ad about a thousand miles away from me and for last winter. Today, we went to three stores to get the paper ads. Still nothing of interest. Only sale bscb is the thing that would have me buying anything right now. 

Dinner: I had bacon-wrapped sirloin, squash, tiny potato, carrots, and a salad with Romaine and tomato. Tommy had the other piece of bacon-wrapped sirloin, collards, potato, carrots. The two pieces of meat were cooked with the bacon attached, but thankfully Tommy removed the bacon from mine because, as he says, "You don't like two meats together."

When I ordered an Arby's sandwich that had bacon with the roast beef, I ordered the sandwich with the bacon on the side. I opened my sandwich to discover the four pieces of bacon were in a perfect square around the edge of the sandwich. I wish I had take a picture. 

Do you prefer not to have two meats in one dish or sandwich? Or, do you like your meats mixed? 

On the way to ER in a bit

 My heart has been beating erratically for over 24 hours except for little time it stopped and I slept. 11- 2:30 this afternoon. I am trying to get ready. And, Tommy fusses about everything, no asking how I am, not touch to comfort me...nothing. 

I insisted he get a new walker before I left because the other one loses a wheel and throws him. All my panties and towels are in the washing machine. Then, I would like him to wash black pants and other things. This can happen later. I need to clean up.

While I was putting prepared veg into the pan with chicken, there was this frantic--what about the potatoes? over and over again! I told him when they are peeled like he prefers, wrap them in foil and place on pan with cooking bag. 

If he comes to hospital, I have begged him to come in a Lyft for my sake. I do not need to be worrying in the hospital.

At least, I won't worry about him falling from a faulty walker. 

The humidity is dropping, so it is very pleasant even though it is 95 at 6 pm.

Edit--right bundle branch block. In other words, there is no electrical system working in half my heart. 

Thursday Blip

 Check out this clip. So cute! We watch this and laugh. There is sound as soon as it opens. You may have a hard heart if you don't enjoy this clip. Do you need a laugh?

I did not sleep a wink last night and had horrible dry heaves just as I went back to bed at 9 am. I yelled for Tommy as I could not stand for fear of falling. I had a bad experience an hour or so earlier where I was seconds from falling! I managed to get one finger on my walker without wheels that stays in the bedroom. I was really frightened. Finally, I slept. This afternoon, I drifted in and out of sleep in my chair. 

Of course, I accomplished nothing today--NOTHING! I had nothing planned, so all is well. If I get anything decluttered, it will be after this movie. I am watching the saddest movie I have ever seen--Cheyenne Autumn. I have seen sad movies, but this tops them all. It is about Cheyenne displaced and trying to return home. 

Whatever it was, I suppose it is over. I don't think I ate anything to cause this gastric distress. I do still carry around a tiny wastebasket everywhere I go in the house. 

It is still hot and dry. Tommy came in from watering and said it rained in downtown Birmingham. He was exasperated as well as sweating from his efforts. 

I tested myself by eating a can of tuna and MW on bread. It caused me no undue distress, thankfully. 

Dinner: Tommy had a portion of ham slice, corn, and collard greens. He opened two cans. I had baked chicken on Romaine, tomato, grated Parmesan Cheese, and Ranch Dressing. I still have not made a dressing yet. 

He went out after 7 pm to get more chopped Romaine. I think we might go to the house in Bessemer where the guy sells produce for more tomatoes tomorrow. It was great. I cut the small watermelon we bought at the Farmers Market last week. I took half to sit and eat. I could not finish it, so Tommy did. Then he said there was no room in the refrigerator for the rest, sitting on a plate with wrap covering the watermelon half. So, he cut it in half and put it in a storage bag. Good enough! Perfect!

We are making a list of things to do tomorrow out of the house. The only thing on the list for tomorrow so far is the return we did not make because we left the item at home. 

What is on the list/agenda at your house on Friday or Saturday? 

My Tumble

 

I have never used my walker except as a portable sitting place. Until this Friday, that is all I needed. When my knee became so painful that even limping along holding onto things around here did not work, I had Tommy get it out of the back of the Rogue. 

Saturday night, I slept for about two hours and then needed the walker. Remember, it has four wheels and a seat and backrest sort of thing. I don't remember what I did, maybe a drink of water, maybe I used computer, maybe I went to bathroom. But, I came back into my bedroom and wanted to get something from a clothes basket where I had folded clothes and had not put them in drawers. 

So, I pushed the walker up to the basket and bent over the seat part to retrieve the item I wanted. Well, that is where everything went sideways. I just cannot do justice to what happened next and all at once. I leaned too far as I was holding onto a rolly thing, started over, and barely touched the backrest. I screamed as I tried to get up and regain my balance. That never happened. I just kept going. I tumbled right over and rolling forward a bit. 

I landed with neck up against a chest of drawers, sort of on my side, sort of on my stomach and thoroughly tangled in the walker. It was just terrifying. I screamed on the way down. Once down, I yelled Tommy's name. He never alerts me that he has heard me no matter what. So, I panicked and kept screaming his name louder and louder and "help me." 

"What happened?" Just give me my phone. I called the police, told them I could not get up, to come help me. I could barely talk because of my position in the metal walker and head/neck against the furniture. 

I asked Tommy to help me get the walker off me. He just grabbed it and pulled, never allowing me to tell him what way to pull or allowing me to get out a leg, foot, or arm before he kept pulling. I was terrified I would get a scrape or cut that would be hard to heal. Wound care does not seem like somewhere I want to go, so I was screaming bloody murder at him. That was the most traumatic part of the whole ordeal.

He went to the front door and opened it to look out. He came back and said he could see lights at the park. The ambulance service moved into a building next to Senior Center building that is also in the park. 

I had landed on three or four clothes baskets, squashed them and undid any sorting or folding. Finally, after sort of throwing the baskets around after I pulled them from under me, I could sit up. But, I was up against a pink bin. Ugh!

Well, five guys piled into my room and asked what happened. I cannot get my feet under me enough to be pulled straight up. So, I directed them to take my boom box off the stool by my bed, put boom box on bed, and put stool beside me. Then, they pulled me up onto the stool. THEN, I could help lift myself to my feet. Once they saw me take a step or two, all five walked away. 

Tommy was talking to them as they went down the hall. Tommy told the guy he saw lights in the park and asked was that them. The guy told Tommy that they knew where the house was located because they saw him standing in the doorway. That made me laugh. How many people are standing in the doorway at 4:30 in the morning? 

By the way, Sluggy's tale of the stool traumatized me so that I will never get one of those. Mine is a homemade stool that I got at a yardsale for $1. The only thing wrong with this stool is that someone had gotten paint all over it and threw it in a trashpile by the road. I easily got the paint from the varnished stool. 

My neck tendons, both sides, hurt for several days. There were no scrapes on my legs or arms. My knee suffered no further injuries. Unlike my usual falling events, I did not hit my knees as the walker kept me off the floor. On Monday I noticed a lump on my midriff that was very painful. It got worse on Monday night, and I was concerned as to why I had developed a hard, painful lump. Today, I decided it must be from the handle of the walker.

Every day since, I have made a move to pick up things by bending over the walker. I never get to the bending part, just stop and think about what I am about to do. So far, I check myself and move the walker to one side. It only takes me once to realize I will hurt myself. Today, I am not using my walker at all. 

So, that is my tumble. I would not classify it as a fall, just like the time I fell off the bed, an incident brought on by the mattress sliding off the bed. And, I don't need advice on how to use a walker, thank you, or to be careful. I think it is dangerous to use as is my cane! 

I love the color. Someone at Tommy's church offered it up and I asked. So, it is mine.

Has one of the walkers with wheels and a seat ever seemed treacherous to use? 

Stressful Situation that Became Calming

Wednesday night, I slept a whole two hours. Maybe I slept another four hours, but when I awoke at 8:30, I knew I should stay up as I had things to do. 

I was stressed to the max because the doctor's office I was visiting refused to get me from the curb. Last time, I had to ask a stranger to get me pushed inside. Then, I had to ask another stranger to push me to elevator, then another to get me into the elevator and to doctor's office. In the meantime, no medical personnel would help me. 

This was so humiliating, making me feel unloved, uncared for and just hopeless. 

I cancelled an appointment a couple of weeks ago since I did not want to sit in the rain in a wheelchair and hope someone would help me. 

The building that houses the doctor's offices is a bank, I think. They will bring a wheelchair to the curb and leave me to fend for myself. 

After the doctor treated me and was about to leave the room, I told him there was one more thing. He was soooo nice! I told him I really liked him as a person and a kind doctor, but I could not come to him again because of lack of access. He immediately said he would allow someone to help me. I was one breath away from asking him to recommend another doctor. 

Tommy had used canes to get to me in the wheelchair. I hold his canes. He struggled to push me. I had him come into the doctor with me. The doctor looked at him. I told the doctor Tommy could not take one step without help, unlike me. I also told him about my spine problem, telling him I needed help for any distance. 

Because of hand injuries and torn rotator cuffs, I cannot wheel myself anywhere. 

The doctor was so sympathetic to both of us. He told me to call and someone would help me next time. When I told him the person at the desk had refused to come down and push me, saying they were not allowed. The wheelchair they brought me was for a very huge person and the woman had trouble getting it into the room and especially out of the exam room. He had a nurse push me back down. I had Tommy start down since he is slower than a wheelchair. He is also slower than me pushing a walker. 

I cannot walk far even with a walker! He can walk far with two canes or a walker. I  can walk farther than you might imagine if I can sit often. But, going to a doctor is often not possible without help. 

All in all, it turned out to be a pleasant and fruitful visit. I was going because of the bump in my ear that is way down near the eardrum, but not on it. The doctor I saw on Monday told me it had a little white top to it. He could not see that top but said he suspected it was a sebaceous gland. He can do nothing short of surgery, but is trying to make it go away. I have some sort of drops to put on a cotton ball and put that on the bump. 

This sebaceous gland wants to be a virulent problem. I wonder why it comes and goes. I also wonder if the Vit D3 is helping it stay fairly small. We discussed that. He thinks maybe that is so or at least is a possibility. He was shocked I was taking a 50,000 units dose twice a week. Me, too. 

Thursday started out so stressful and ended on a calming note, thankfully! I had a two-hour nap and managed to heat hotdogs and chili sauce, no beans, and make slaw. So, we are fed. This meal was planned last week, but I was in no shape to even stir slaw. 

Oh, I looked at Tommy as he sat down in the exam room. He had on permanently stained and torn pants with a huge grease stain on the shirt. One of the stains on the khakis was some sort of glob of tomato sauce. I was horrified. I made sure they knew I did not know of this. He kept saying he thought he was going to sit in the car the whole time. GAAA! Let's clean up, anyway.