November 30 to December 2

Tuesday, November 30

Joni’s surgery went well.  The entire thyroid was removed.  It was so huge that they have to enlarge the incision to get it out.  Yikes.  The average thyroid is 2 cm, and hers was 13!  The surgeon said she will be able to go home tomorrow around 11 am.  She is doing well and is not suffering any pain.

I worked on my laundry, gathered the garbage from the bedroom, bathroom, and living room and put it into the breezeway to go out to the bin after I clean the litter boxes.  I spent a long time working on my DW journal entries and got very close to being caught up.  It was so reasonable outside that I left the front door open to allow fresh air into the house.  I love to let some good air in.

The second Lego set for Atlas arrived today via UPS, and the prescriptions I called in on Sunday arrived via Fed Ex.  I had a nice chat with the delivery lady—she is such a nice person.  We always have a brief but meaningful chat when she delivers stuff to me.

Nothing else of interest happened today.  I cannot believe that we are already done with November.  I have to take my mother to the clinic for her macular degeneration shot in the eyeball tomorrow. 

 

Wednesday, December 1

I woke up this morning with a very sore left foot and absolutely no idea what I did to it.  I took a super hot and very long shower this morning, hoping that would loosen up whatever made it hurt so much, but it didn’t help. 

I have to leave my house at about 1:15 today as I want to get my mail before I pick up my mother and fill my car with gas after I pick her up.  I’m down to ¼ a tank of gas, and I don’t like to have it get that low.  Despite my sore foot, I managed to fold my last load of laundry and take the basket of clean clothes into my bedroom.  I did not manage to put the clean clothes away, however. 

I was aghast at how much mail was in my mailbox. It was literally STUFFED full.  I brought one of my largest reusable grocery bags along, and it was full to the top.  I hoped to get the big bag of mail sorted while I waited in the parking lot for my mother at the clinic. 

Filling the gas tank was hard as my foot was hurting even more.  It took $45 to fill the tank.  Ouch.  But, on the bright side, my mother paid for it since most of my gas was run out of my car in taking her places.  My car almost never leaves the garage except to take her where she needs to go. 

I dropped her off at the door of the clinic as she is still weak from her bout with Covid and finds it hard to walk or stand for more than a minute or two.  The parking lot was packed.  There were only three open spots to park in, but fortunately one of them was next to the helicopter landing pad by the lake, so I got to enjoy the loveliness of the lake while I parked there. I began working on sorting my mail and also had a nice text conversation with my friend Godiva.  So much is going on in her life right now.  I worry for her stress levels.  I know she is a very strong and capable person, but I love her dearly and do not want her to suffer.

Mom was only in the clinic for about 45 minutes; they called to tell me she was ready to be picked up.  It took me a couple minutes to put away the mail, buckle my seat belt and get to the pick-up circle.  By then, she was standing on the sidewalk instead of waiting in the building like she should have been.  Both lanes of the pick-up circle were packed with cars and buses and vans, but fortunately, she saw me at the stop sign just outside the circle and was able to walk to my car and clamber in.  On the way home, we stopped at KFC where I bought an 8 piece bucket of chicken which will provide me with several meals.  Then we went to Taco Johns where I bought two beef burritos which will also give me two meals.  Mom did not want chicken or beef burritos, so we went to Dairy Queen where we got malts.  She got chocolate, but I got my favorite banana malt.  From there we went to McDonalds where we each got a fish burger.  I had not eaten anything due to the never ending issue with diarrhea triggered by my morning meds.  As a result, I was starving.  I wolfed my fish burger down like a starving animal. 

We took the back roads home till we passed Clarks Grove, then we hopped on the interstate for the rest of the way.  Mom was exhausted after her outing.  She couldn’t wait to get into her recliner and have a nice rest.  When I got home, I carried in my big bag of mail, the bag of KFC chicken and TJ’s burritos, and the bag Mom sent home with me of leftover dressing, raspberries, and olives from Thanksgiving.  I was able to get all of it put away in the fridge before hustling to the bathroom.  Then I spent the rest of the evening going through the bag of mail.  Most of it was junk mail and a million (ok—slight exaggeration) catalogs. 

Peaches needed some cuddling after being alone for a few hours, and I putzed on the computer a bit.  Denis Bastien is having another big sale to eliminate old inventory, so I looked at that.  I ended up buying 6 pairs of adorable red boots for my little girl dolls and two little boy dolls—one with red hair and green eyes and the other with blondish hair and blue eyes.  The girls still vastly outnumber the boys.  I was feeling a little bit sad and neglected as no one in my family except Lily got me so much as a birthday card this year. 

Speaking of which, I got a very nice birthday greeting from sweet Minoan Miss!  I squealed in delight when I found it in my big bag of mail.  Thank you for remembering me.  *hugs*

By the time I toddled off to bed, my foot was hurting so much that it was hard to walk on it at all. I went to bed hoping it would resolve itself over night like my arm did a few days ago.  Usually that happens.

 

Thursday, December 2

My sister Joni called early this morning to let me know she was feeling so much better.  She is hoping that the removal of the thyroid will put an end to all the crap she has been going through.  The surgeon told her that its size was crushing against her esophagus and heart which was causing much of the issues she was dealing with.  She did tell me that her husband was a complete asshole to her one she got home from the hospital, again accusing her of “faking” her issues “for attention” and bitching about having to do her horse chores.  I told her she needed to boot his ass out.  Life is too short to put up with that level of disrespect and abuse.  I have to get him a few gallons of booze for Christmas to encourage him to drink himself to death, the bastard.  Also, I need to advise Joni to put as much life insurance as she can on him.

After talking to her, I had to get up to pee—and my foot was so painful that I had to grab the walker and use it to get to the bathroom.  It was so much worse this morning.  I still have no idea what I could have done to it.  It feels like a sprained ankle, but more on the outside edge and top of the foot.  Once I grabbed my clothes for the day and staggered back from the bathroom, I read my morning devotional, tested my blood, and took my pills.  Then I slathered a ton of biofreeze on my sore foot and hoped for the best.  I managed to get to my recliner to put my foot up.  Later, I made my slow way to the kitchen where I heated up some dressing and a burrito for my lunch.  An odd combination, I do admit, but it was satisfying.

Lily called in the afternoon.  She was on her way home from a doctor’s appointment and let me know she wanted to stop so she could pick up the things that I had ordered for her great grandchildren’s Christmas.  She brought a bunch of stuff that once belonged to my grandmother—nothing of much value, but she did give me a picture of my great grandfather which I will cherish.  She also brought me a bowl of apple dumpling left over from her dinner party last night. 

She wanted me to order a little train thing for Chloe, so I found it on Target.com and ordered it for her.  We visited a little bit about random things.  She wanted me to go with her to a chili dinner at her church on Saturday.  Ugh.  Not a chance.  Ellendale is thick with covid right now, and I am not going to hang out with all those trumplicans who won’t get vaccinated or wear masks.  She also asked if I would come to their next Wednesday dinner party as they are going to be one short to play canasta.  NOPE.  None of those people refrain from running all over the place.  I haven’t been isolated this long only to get the new variant of Covid and die of it.  I know she was disappointed on both counts, but I just don’t enjoy that sort of thing. 

Lily was kind enough to take a bag of recycling out to my bin when she left.  I have been going through so much stuff and recycling all that I possibly can.  It is very light weight, so I don’t feel guilty about asking her to take it out.

After she left, I called my mother back. She had called just as Lily arrived to tell me when her next appointments at the clinic were scheduled.  I got them programmed into my calendar then we chatted a bit.  She told me some things that Joni had told her but not me.  Joni was only in the hospital two days.  She had foolishly given Jeff her credit card to put gas in his vehicle.  That crazy bastard put $7,000 on that card in that short time.  How can you even spend that much in two days?  It’s insane!

He is constantly hounding her to pull money out of her retirement fund for foolishness.  He just doesn’t get that her retirement fund has to last them for the REST OF THEIR LIVES.  She so needs to get rid of him.

That’s about it for the events of the day.  The good news is that my foot seemed to get better as the day progressed.  It is still sore, but I can walk on it without wanting to scream or cry.  Whatever was wrong seems to have worked itself out.  I am hoping that it will  be totally back to normal by morning.  I need it to get better so I can get into the breezeway to clean the litterboxes, sweep and mop the floor, and take the kitchen and other garbage outside to the bin.