June 4 through 12

[chochiyo_sama]

Saturday, June 4

Today was quiet, cool, and gray.  Lily got home from South Dakota $113 richer after the big garage sale at Rachelle’s house and full of tales of how naughty Rachelle’s oldest daughter (age 4) has been.  From tantrum throwing to punching her grandmother in the face with her little fist because she did not want to surrender the cell phone when her auntie Randi called.  Apparently she was horribly rude to Randi as well, yelling at her, “Why are you calling?  I don’t want to talk to you!  I want to play my phone game!”

I cannot even imagine the dire consequences I would have been given if I had acted like that as a little kid.  Teeth might have been lost.  Pain would have been showered upon me like a rain storm.  I think Sophie got a four minute time out and the fun of punching her grandmother in the face and kicking nearly everyone else on the premises.

I am not hugely in favor of beating children—but in her case, I think I would make an exception.  A couple swats on the butt with a wooden spoon might do her a world of good.  Especially when she stomps on her 1 year old sister’s fingers just for the hell of it. 

The highlight of the day was watching the movie Australia starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman.  It was good.  I had seen it before, but long enough ago that I didn’t remember much about it.  The little guy who played the “creamy” child (half white and half aboriginal) was the cutest little boy I have ever seen in my life with his huge brown eyes and his sweet smile.

 

Sunday, June 5

Today was cold and rainy.  I didn’t do much.  I watched a bunch of stuff on TV and poked around on the computer most of the day.  DeAnn and I did not meet.  She is still recovering from Covid, and I did not sleep well last night because I had such a major pain in my lower back.  It’s been hurting terribly since the physical therapist had me do a bunch of standing exercises which were really hard on my knees and back.  If this is what physical therapy is going to result in, I will not be doing it any more.  This is the reason I stopped doing it five years ago in Kasson.  Then, it seemed to be doing the opposite of what it was supposed to be doing.  It was supposed to be strengthening my legs and improving my mobility.  Instead, my legs got so weak that I could not lift my legs to get into my house from the garage.  I could hardly walk then, and this time, I could hardly stagger to the bathroom from the bedroom which are right next to each other.

 

Monday, June 6

I had an appointment with Dr. Vita at the clinic in Owatonna today.  I got up early enough to take a shower so I would not stink the place up.  Lily arrived at 10 am to drive me there.  I had to get blood drawn at the lab, and on the way down there, we ran into Kari (Janka) Hoerle and visited with her a bit.   I showed her the picture of my sister Joni looking like a survivor of Auschwitz.  She was with one of her clients who looked bored stiff.  We chatted with her a while before getting to the lab.  The technician who took my blood was heavily tattooed, so we discussed tattoos for a while.  Hers all had a nautical theme.  Made me wonder if she or someone she loves was in the navy.  She did a good job of hitting a vein and drawing blood.  Many of them SUCK at getting blood out of me.

While we were in the lab, Lily commented on “Kari’s husband” not being as tall, fit, or good looking as she remembered him.  I laughed and told her that guy’s name was David and Kari’s husband’s name is Steve.  I figured it was one of her clients, and when she called me later in the day, she affirmed that David was indeed one of her clients.  Steve was in the background, so she hollered at him that our aunt had thought David was him, and he found that hilarious.  Steve is a very nice, handsome, and fit fellow.  David was nice enough but nothing to swoon over.  LOL.  He probably weighed two to three times as much as Steve and was probably 5-6” shorter.

My blood pressure was high—like almost stroke level high—but I blame two factors—the fact that I despise being in the clinic and in contact with medical personnel and the fact that I do not take my medications in the morning when I have to go somewhere due to the extreme issues with frequent, urgent, explosive diarrhea.  I do not want to shit my pants at the clinic.  And that’s what would almost certainly happen if I took those meds before going there.

My A1C was pretty good at a little over 7.  Below 7 is the ideal.  Also, the nurse practitioner wanted my liver enzymes checked as they were off while I was at the hospital.  They were all completely within normal parameters today—neither too high or too low. 

We talked at length about my prescriptions and the issues with never ending daily diarrhea.  She told me to cut my metformin doses in half and see how that affected the diarrhea.  After seeing how that affects my body, we will discuss possible changes in medication. 

She wants me to see an endocrinologist and a diabetes educator as well.  I told her I would like to get my second covid booster, so she said she would send the nurse into give it to me when we were done.  I got the shot and went on my way.  The last time I had a booster, I got really cold and achy that night and had to crank up the heat and put a lot of extra afghans on my bed and STILL was freezing. None of that happened this time.  My arm was slightly sore for a day or two and that was it. 

I talked to my doctor about Joni for a while—told her I was afraid that Joni would be dead by Christmas if something wasn’t done to get her health back in order.  I showed her the picture and she was shocked by how emaciated Joni has become.  She told me she could not discuss my sister’s health issues with me, and I told her I understood that but that I needed to tell her what was going on with her since she is not being honest with her doctor regarding her health.  She promised me she would call Joni that day and set up blood tests and a consultation with her in her office so she could see her in person. 

When Lily and I were on our way home, we stopped at Culvers and got hamburgers for lunch.  She got a turtle sundae, and I got a chocolate malt.  I have to stay away from nuts to avoid issues with my hernia and the diverticulosis, so I went with the malt. 

The only thing I got done in my house today was cleaning the litterbox in the laundry room and sweeping up the litter the little monsters kicked all over the floor. 

 

Tuesday, June 7

I had an embarrassing moment today—I had phone calls that woke me up and sent me into the living room as my phone was nearly dead and the cats had chewed up my charging cord for my cell phone in the bedroom.  I had to go into the living room and plug it in.  I was in my nightgown.  My mother had called after the clinic called to set up my next bunch of appointments.  I was sitting in my recliner talking when I realized the Culligan truck had pulled into my driveway.  I did not have time to get into the bedroom and put on clothing, so I had to open the door in my night gown.  I did not need any jugs of water for my water dispenser, but I sent him to the basement to check the salt for the softener.  He filled it with a partial bag that was in the basement, then he petted the cats and chatted a bit before going on his way. 

As soon as he was gone, I scurried into the bedroom and got dressed before I got any more surprises.

I cleaned the litter boxes in the breezeway, swept up the mess the little savages had made kicking their litter all over the place, and took a bag of garbage out to the bin.  I bagged up another bag of recycling, threw away some rotten stuff, and got the ribeye steak frying.  While it was cooking, I peeled and sliced up some very sprouted potatoes to fry along with the steak.  I had a bunch of dirty dishes, so while my food was cooking, I washed the dishes and tided up the counters.

The ribeye was especially tasty as were the fried potatoes. 

I was really tired after doing all that, so I took the rest of the day off.

 

Wednesday, June 8

I sorted the laundry and got it started then swept up all the scattered litter in the laundry room.  These kittens are driving me crazy.  It’s like they LOVE to make more work for me.  I know they are just doing what kittens do, but I get very frustrated with having to clean up the same messes constantly.  Peaches is such a good girl.  The only messes she makes are the occasional piles of puke.

I gathered up the bathroom and laundry room garbage and added it to the living room garbage.  I baked a pizza for my lunch—it was a chicken pizza with a white garlic sauce that Becky Lassahn’s kids had sold for one of their many fund raisers.  It wasn’t a very large pizza, and I was able to eat about ¾ of it.  It wasn’t the greatest pizza, but it filled my belly.  I threw the final ¼ away as it wasn’t worth keeping. While the pizza was baking, I cleaned and sliced up the watermelon I bought a while back.  It has a good flavor but a weird texture.  The middle part of the watermelon was all stringy—like a spaghetti squash.  I don’t know if I will end up eating all of that melon or not.  It was a small round one, seedless, not one of those giant oblong ones.

My shoulder and knees and back were very painful today.  I spent a good share of the afternoon and evening reading the book I have been working on—Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate.  It was a pretty good book about a family ravaged by shady adoption practices during the Great Depression.  It hopped between the way Georgia Tann (an actual person who ran the vile Tennessee Children’s Protection Society ( a real organization that did many horrible things to children from the 1930s till the 1950s) abused, neglected, stole, and sold children.  It hopped between the 1930s when the Foss children were stolen from their “white trash” river gypsy parents, taken to a poorly run and abusive  orphan’s home, and basically sold to wealthy people who wanted children and the descendent of one of those children who has discovered some things that just don’t add up about her grandmother and is searching for answers.  It’s a good book.  Not the best I have ever read, but good and not an insult to my intelligence. 

My incessant diarrhea has led to me throwing away the bulk of my underpants, so today I ordered 20 new pairs of underwear along with some new tee shirts from Woman Within.  They should be here in about 2 weeks.  I got a text from my eye clinic telling me that my new glasses and sunglasses are ready to be picked up.  I decided I would just wait until Monday when I have another appointment at the clinic.  No sense in making an unnecessary trip into Owatonna when I will be there on Monday.

 

Thursday, June 9

I continued to work on my laundry.  I had an unsatisfying chat with Amber, my physical therapist, about the unacceptable  level of pain the physical therapy has inflicted on my knees and back.  If this is the way this is going to affect me, I won’t be continuing it.  The pain is bad enough, but it has also made my legs very weak and affected my balance so that I stagger around like a drunkard, clinging to walls and furniture to get where I need to go.  This is what happened five years ago when I was trying to do physical therapy in Kasson as well.  I am not very impressed with physical therapy.

My take-away is that they want to push you too fast to “show progress” instead of focusing on whether or not your old and broken down body can handle it. 

I made my grocery order and called it in today.  I ordered mostly produce, but a lot of what I ordered was not available, which was disappointing.  Packages of cubed ham were on sale, so I bought two of them—they work great for potato soup and quiche.  I may make a ham and cheese quiche with asparagus and onions next week.  I intend to put the ham in the freezer till I use it.

Joni has her appointment with Dr. Vita today.  I am hoping that she will keep Jeff out of the office as I asked her to as he intimidates Joni and keeps her from telling the truth. 

I finished the book Before We Were Yours today.  It was a satisfying read.

 

Friday, June 10

Today, I cleaned all four of the litterboxes and swept up the litter they had kicked all over the floor. I don’t think I have ever seen cats that produce this much poop and pee before in my life.  If cat excrement was worth money, I’d be so freaking rich I could build my own rocket ships and colonize Mars.  I locked the monsters in the basement so I could clean the litter boxes without their “help.”  I also was able to get two big bags of recycling out to the bin without dealing with felines hell bent on escaping into the wilderness.

Once that was done, I cleaned and cut up my cantaloupe which is absolutely perfectly ripe and delicious.  It is so much better than that disappointing watermelon. Ross delivered my groceries, and I put them away.  They accidentally sent me two beef roasts instead of one.  Sally took my order and she is not the sharpest crayon in the box.  I could have put the second one in the freezer, but my freezer is so full already that I didn’t want to try to squeeze it in.  So I called Jack and asked if he’d like the gift of a beef roast.  He said he’d be glad to take it.  I asked him if he’d take out my heavy kitchen garbage when he got it and he said he would. 

I put the other roast in my roaster and peeled and cleaned my potatoes, carrots, onions, and cabbage and stuck it in the oven.  I also fried up the hamburger with onion and made a pan of tator tot hot dish.  It turned out really good.  I’ve been hungry for tator tot hot dish for a long time.  I had two bunches of celery in the fridge from last week, and I was working on cleaning and cutting them up when Lily came over.  She brought me my mail, three cookies she had baked, a package of 6 mini raspberry bismarks, a piece of bread pudding, and two lemon bars.  She nagged me that I was “wasting” too much of the celery, but I do not like the celery that is too hard, bitter, and stringy.  I throw those pieces away.  Just like I throw away the wilted, dirty outer leaves of the cabbage.  I love Lily, but some days I get really tired of her lecturing me about the way I prepare my food or live my life.

Joni called me in the afternoon to thank me for talking to Dr. Vita about her.  She told me what they talked about and how Jeff was not allowed to be in the room when she saw her.  Dr. Vita wants Joni to get away from Jeff for a while so she can have some peace, get some rest, and not be hounded constantly.  I think they should put her in the Waseca facility where I went to recover from the appendectomy wounds and infection.  They were good to me there and the people were very kind.

The Schwan’s man also came today—I bought 4 microwave bowl meals—two teriyaki beef bowls and two Mexican chicken burrito bowls.  They are handy to have for a quick meal.  I love the Schwan’s man.  He just walks in and puts the stuff right in the freezer.  He has my debit card on file, so it just automatically gets paid for.

I worked so hard today in so many areas that I feel half dead.  It will probably take me two days, at least, to recover.  My whole body aches.

 

Saturday, June 11

Jack came this morning to get his beef roast.  He took out two bags of garbage for me and brought me a copy of the paper that had Cora’s valedictorian speech in it.  It was a good speech—very inspirational and filled with hope and enthusiasm for the future.  We chatted a little bit, but he could not stay long.  He had a bunch of stuff he needed to do for his wife and to get ready for Cora’s graduation party next weekend.

I had a pretty quiet day.  It rained a bit.  I ate a piece of tator tot hot dish and some celery sticks stuffed with cream cheese for lunch.  I am really enjoying the celery—it is very fresh and delicious.

I texted Hope to see how she was doing and to let her know she could come to clean whenever she felt up to it, but NOT to come to clean unless she was well and up to it.  She wanted to come tomorrow, but I told her I had to Zoom with DeAnn on Sundays.  On Monday, I have appointments with the diabetes educator and Dr. Vita. 

 

Sunday, June 12

DeAnn and I had a lovely Zoom in which we caught up with all we have been doing for the last two weeks.  She is feeling much better but is still being affected by the covid brain fog, weakness, and exhaustion.  My back still hurts enough to make life unpleasant, but it is better than it was.

Today was quiet and sunny but not overly warm. 

Not much else of note occurred today.

Comments

[the_godiva]

So Lily make $113 selling all of the crap she hauled back from Texas? Did that even cover the expenses of doing it?

Sophie sounds like my brother's kids when they were little. Anthony spit in my Dad's face and he slapped him and my sister in law hit the roof. Well, maybe she should have taught her kid some manners. There is a difference between child abuse and discipline. Kids can't process well under the age of 4-5 so a spanking is sometimes necessary to drive home, no, you don't climb on a chair and put your hand on the stove and such. After that age, you can then start the reasoning coupled with time outs and no desert and no TV. But under a certain age, they don't have the mental capacity to process or remember that. I would have taken the phone from Rachelle and if she punched me should would have got a slap in the face just hard enough to surprise and startle her. Then she would have been put in her room and ordered to stay there until she was given permission to leave and rejoin the family. Every time she disobeyed and left before permission, time would be doubled and toys would be removed and locked up. When you don't discipline children at a young age you end up with the spawn and ShitForBrains. That stomping on her sister's fingers for no reason would have gotten her a swat across the butt with a leather strap from my Dad. He only had to do it once and after that, you did exactly what he said with no backtalk. That would have stopped that behavior immediately. She also would have learned that trying to continue on the sly would still get you caught and another swat. Shrinks say they refuse to diagnose Sociopaths under the age of 18 but I think some of them are born and Sophie could be one.

Looked up Brandon Walters. He's married with two kids now and has decided to go back to acting. He's had a few roles, one was an appearance on Mystery Road. I've watched that on Acorn TV. They have a few Australian shows as well as British and Canadian.

Never saw Australia but will keep an eye out for it now that I know it has a happy ending. Not a huge Nicole Kidman fan but I do like Hugh Jackman.

One of the perks of sharing doctors. Before the privacy stuff my original family doctor treated all of us and when I called about being nauseous taking Erythramycin he told me my Dad was allergic and I probably was too. That instant diagnosis isn't possible these days. I would have been taking it until I got jaundiced. At least you had a chance to inform the doctor and give her some warnings on how to handle Joni's appointment.

Does the litter box not have a cover on it? Or are they managing to kick the litter out the entrance door? Do you use just the little scoop or do you use those sifting liners?

I agree, I think the PT pushes you too hard too fast. I also suspect that some of the things they have you do is wrong and making you worse instead of better. My experience with Kaiser is that they diagnose and treat you based on "average" and "majority" rather than treat you uniquely as a person to make sure they got it right.

When I can't get fresh I go to canned or frozen, but mostly I try to buy what is in season because it is usually cheapest.

Those outer tough celery stalks (I love them with peanut butter) can be sliced up and put in soup stock along with the carrot, onion and potato peelings(but not the sprouted eyes). I don't like the leaves or the inside pale celery so I cut that off and toss it in too, along with limp parsley if I have any. If I have a chicken carcass from either a roasted chicken I've eaten or a raw one from cutting the meat off it goes in too with some chicken bouillon. If I have cooked beef bones, then they go in. The dogs get the raw beef bones. Then you strain and freeze the stock. I've been meaning to get some of those 1 cup silicon ice cube trays for freezing stock. That cuts down on the vegetable waste, although I have worms so they can get everything except protein, dairy and citrus.

Any progress on Joni getting away from Jeff or relocation of the animals? I don't think she is really going to make progress getting better as long as she is at home with Jeff. She is going to kill herself taking care of the animals, Jeff and herself, plus he will be forcing her to drink with him since he apparently doesn't like to drink alone.

He's another one that needs to be taken care of with "kindness" just like Kevin. Just keep giving him cases of his favorite poison in the largest bottles you can find. He has no self control so he will drink himself to death. All you can do is accelerate the process as much as possible.