Day 134 of Sheltering In

Saturday. My sister has an infection in her leg. (Swollen, red, hot to the touch.) The ER gave her a prescription for a very strong antibiotic and support stockings. My wife is sporting them also for her swollen legs.

Had a short, mask wearing, socially distancing visit without my daughter. I went to Walmart first to pick up some frozen fruit for her. Nutjob asked if I would get her 2 liter bottles of RC Cola, however many I can buy with the $4 she had. I was there, I got her 4. Maybe it will earn my daughter some peace.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 133 of Sheltering In

Friday. I am both concerned and LIVID at the same time. 

Concern:  Please pray for my sister. She is in the ER right now with probable blood clot(s) in her lower legs. The front of her calves are swollen, red, and hot to the touch. I have been saying all week she needed to go to the doctor, urgent care, or the ER. She doesn’t listen. This is serious, and I told her so. She just doesn’t seek medical care until a limb falls off, j/k. She has a super high deductible. I guess if you get something serious and die you don’t need to worry about a high deductible. I don’t get it. Here’s another vote for one of us was switched at birth. I go to doctors and specialists ASAP when I have an issue. If Dr Google says go to the doctor or ER, I go. My sister consulted Dr Google Monday and waited until Friday after work to go to urgent care. Urgent care sent her to the ER. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Livid: My daughter texted me to say her counselor told her the Day Program is opening in less than 2 weeks. Hello! The county it is in and that we all live in is having large spikes of positive cases. The Governor is talking about rolling back parts of opening things in our area. Also, I just watched the weekly update from the corporate office that runs the group homes and Day Programs. In J town since 07/24/20 there have been 6 staff and 6 clients who have tested positive for the coronavirus. What on earth are they thinking? Also, why on earth did counselors on their way out of the group home mention the Day Programs are opening? All the clients in the group home that my daughter lives in are FREAKING OUT! So am I. I can tell by my son’s behavior that his sister told him. My daughter has several underlying health conditions that make it very dangerous if she were to get the coronavirus. 

How about:

1.) Don’t have counselors tell clients on their way out the door for the WEEKEND!

2.) Don’t have counselors do that without explaining what precautions will be in place! 

3.) Don’t have counselors do that without explaining what will be done to keep clients with underlying conditions safe! Will those clients remain on lockdown in their group home?

There is no way on earth with what is going on in our county that they should even consider opening Day Programs. This is completely irresponsible. 

I really want to email the Director and give her a piece of my mind, but I feel like a fool after my daughter asked for my help advocating for her, and then she contacted the Director herself regarding different issues this week. Also, we can never tell if we got the whole story on things. I’m going to talk to my wife more after her brother leaves. I also think we should contact Anastasia because her wife works for the place. 

I

Need

A

Drink!

My brother in law was over doing yard work and brought fruit and veggies from a farm stand near their Dad’s house. I paid him as soon as I got home from grocery shopping. Thank goodness I didn’t buy fruit! He’ll be back tomorrow to continue with the yard work because he got here very late today. My wife made extra stuffed peppers last night and is serving them to him for dinner.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 132 of Sheltering In

Thursday. I made 2 batches of Taco Dip to bring over to my daughter’s group home. One for each floor. For home I made my version of a supper club kidney bean salad. I made it because beans are high in magnesium and my wife needs to eat foods with that to help with her edema. She’s not a fan of many recipes that use beans, except this one and my chili. Since it’s to hit for chili I made supper club kidney bean salad. When that is gone I’m going to dust off my Mexican Bean Salad. Several kinds of beans, diced peppers and red onion, lime juice, and cumin. It’s da bomb. I haven’t made it in a long time because my daughter had to take corn out of her diet. Since she’s still on lockdown, I thought I’d make that for my next high magnesium salad.

My daughter called this morning. No staff showed up to pass morning medications. The email reply I got from the Director was that by state law they cannot pass medications more than an hour before the usual 8am, or more than an hour after. I had to jump up and down and throw a hissy fit to get them to give her the hormone pill she takes once a day to shrink her ovarian cyst. I insisted! Since it’s once a day there is no harm in giving it later. I was not going to allow them to mess up her dosing again as they did earlier this year and it screwed up her cycle. 

I spent the morning into the afternoon to try to find out if the “medication rule” was true. I called our pharmacist, who said there was ample time until the nighttime medications. I made 8 calls, spent forever on hold with various departments of IDPH. Basically, after talking to 3 actual live people... 

Survey says:

1.) I don’t know, call this department.

2.) Yes, that’s correct.

3.) No that’s wrong, they can still pass medications.

So there you have it. The Illinois Dept of Public Health can’t get a consensus to an important question.

I have too much to do Friday. I’m overwhelmed, I’m having migraines, and I can’t remember shirt. I’m locked in “screw it” mode, which is “screw it, I’m not doing it Friday”. The things that make it impossible/impractical to get the laundry done at the laundromat, or go grocery shopping, go pick up my daughter’s prescriptions and drop them off with the Taco Dip, is that we are meeting our older couple friends for breakfast...at a restaurant...dining outside. The wife is having tnr surgery Tuesday, so it’s not like we can reschedule next week. I’m still not comfortable with eating at a restaurant, even outside. Would it be rude to do a rain dance? 😂

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 131 of Sheltering In

Wednesday. I had my last PT appointment scheduled for 5pm today. I really dislike that time. By the time I’m done and get home it’s nearly 7pm or shortly after. If my wife fell asleep while I was gone (very likely since she has been having trouble sleeping), that means dinner at 8/8:30pm depending on what was planned or make a plan. Anyway, today I called and asked if I could come earlier. I had a feeling since this was my last scheduled appointment, I was going to get the boot. Done. No more PT because I knew Nathan was heading that way at Monday’s appointment. I thought, let’s change the time and catch him off guard. I got a 1pm appointment. I did all the usual torture exercises. He was nice enough to adjust the hand bike (just like it sounds, you pedal with your arms to build up your arm and shoulder muscles). He adjusted it perfectly. When he had me by the bands to show me some new exercises I showed off my progress. 

My son was 3 years old (he’s 25 now) when I had a bone spur removed from my L shoulder. Although the surgeon was highly recommended, he was an ashhat and refused to order PT. I never got full range of motion. I could only lift my left arm straight out and maybe 3 inches up. Very much like a Hitler salute. Everything was like it was locked and I couldn’t lift it any higher. Guess what? Now I can do a real high five with my left arm. I can lift my arm all the way up! Now it’s not without pain, I do sometimes get the popping/grinding in the socket where the top of the humerus fits into the scapula. It’s not bad compared to the R arm, but pain is pain. But I can raise my L arm completely up and can do a high, high five. I haven’t been able to do that since 1996! I’m serious! I literally discovered I could do it Tuesday night. So this was my show of progress and Nathan was excited! He admitted he had plans to give me the boot, but said we can work on strengthening the L shoulder and arm so I can maintain this range of motion. Can’t fix the popping/grinding, only surgery can do that, but he’s going to “pump...ugh....me up” Lol! He said we would continue work on the R shoulder and he set me up with 2 weeks of appointments.

The team lead for my daughter’s group home is leaving and moving out of state to home school her kids. Hopefully they will get a decent replacement, someone who will grocery shop on a regular basis and get the items requested. My daughter’s buddy who used to work in the office, but now works in a shop for the group homes called her today. She sorts and organizes new and gently used clothing, shoes, and accessories. She is going to bring my daughter several polo shirts to replace the brand new ones she bought before the lockdown. She bought them for work because they changed the uniforms from shirt and tie to polo shirts or button down shirts. They had a mice problem at the group home and the mice found her cotton polos delicious and ate several large holes in her new shirts. So her buddy is going to bring her some clothes to try out and will bring over all the items the other ladies request. 

My daughter is already ruminating on the new team lead, whoever it is. Will they be nice, will they get what the ladies need?

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 129, 130 of Sheltering In

Monday, Tuesday. Monday was paperwork all day until it was time to get ready to go to PT. I worked on my daughter’s leave of absence paperwork and set it aside until Tuesday to go get a signature. I printed a lot of stuff and I’d like to know why the blue is barely showing when I put in a new Cyan ink cartridge Monday. I swear no matter what brand home printer I buy I get ripped off on ink cartridges. I’m pretty sure I’ve owned all the major brands, several HP, a Brother, and now Epson. Grrr. I got most of the paperwork done for a different project and never got started on the insurance. I think I will save that for Thursday and Friday because it’s going to take a lot of research.

Tuesday. I had a quick visit with my daughter to get her signature and drop off meds and the items she requested that I forgot on my birthday visit there. Our visit got cut short because I had to race home to pick up my wife and take her to the hospital emergency room. She had gone to the doctor Monday due to ankle swelling and had bloodwork and an X-ray. While I was at my daughter’s she got the call that she needed to go to the ER. Apparently something in the bloodwork showed that she may have a blood clot. Drove home, dropped off my son and picked her up. Drove up the hospital ER drive and the parking lot there was empty and no one was loitering outside or on the walk up ramp. She ran in and I waited to see if she’d come out and let me know if I could go in. She didn’t come out, so I asked the valet guy, who said nope, only patients are allowed in. I thought I’d check considering how so many of the lockdown rules have gone out the window. That’s why it was a ghost town. She got into an exam room quickly and then alarms went off and all hell broke lose (I’ve used that saying forever, but in print it looks stupid, oh well). A young gunshot victim was brought in and the hospital immediately went on TOTAL lockdown. There is a lot of gang activity near that hospital and anytime a gunshot victim comes in it’s TOTAL lockdown time. My wife didn’t say it, but from what she relayed about her conversation with a nurse, the kid didn’t make it. So sad. My wife had her oxygen levels checked, more X-rays, and a CT Scan. Everything looked good so she called me to say she needed a ride because she was being released. She needs to continue with 2X a day water pill, keep her feet elevated, walk, and follow up with our doctor Friday. Our couple friends from my wife’s former work, the guy was hospitalized for 2 weeks with blood clots in his lungs so this whole episode was quite concerning.

I am exhausted. 3 round trips to J town and nearby, may not seem like much, but for someone with chronic back pain, shoulder pain and knee pain, that’s too much time sitting, being so anxious and tense. That tension  woke up any pain that had calmed down on my first trip. I love driving, and the Buick is very comfortable with the heated seats and seat memory, the anxiety and tension really did a number on me. I may just get to bed at a decent hour for once.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 128 of Sheltering In

Sunday. My wife treated for McDonald’s breakfast this morning. (Her Mom’s friend has been paying her for running errands. Not much, but it’s something. I felt bad having her pay with her earned money, but I think her treating made her very happy since she hasn’t been able to work for so long.)

Barbara didn’t show up at the group home today so they had to wait for staff from another house. This is a usual thing on Sundays. I told my daughter to let me know if Barbara or any other staff bully her Monday. The Sunday night house staff knows better than to cross me. She has worked there since the very beginning of my daughter moving in there and she knows how I roll.

After my daughter lets me know about Monday’s morning house staff I will finish up my email to the Director. I also have to work on my daughter’s leave paperwork on Monday. PT is at 5pm, so I should have plenty of time.

The birthday party at my father in law’s was nice. My brother in law gave me a Cubs coffee mug and an Under Armour polo shirt in a big pink gift bag. Lol! I wasn’t expecting anything. He had given me a Bears shirt the day he came to mow the lawn. (That may have been to butter me up to work on his tablets, but I would have done them for nothing.)

My father in law’s wife actually did go to work. 👏 So it was a pleasant afternoon. I worked on my brother in law’s 2 android tablets while everyone else played poker. Oh the trash talking! My son has been the big winner for the last 3 times we have been over there. I don’t care to play poker there. They can get quite loud and I had a bad headache today. I had to enter the info for my brother in law’s new hotspot on the old tablet and set up Zoom on the newer one so he can participate in the next bus driver meeting virtually and not have to go in person. I tested Zoom by setting up a Zoom meeting with my phone. It worked, so he’s good to go. 

I got a set of Mpow airbuds with a gift card I got. I charged them, but haven’t paired them to my iphone yet. Nearly ALL my music in my iTunes disappeared 3 updates ago. Since there have been scary issues with Microsoft updates I have not used my laptop. I’ve been afraid to even turn my laptop on because of the warnings about the blue screen of death that has happened to some people installing the update, 2 updates ago. I’ve been trying to wait it out until I read that they have an update that is confirmed it’s resolved.

Now for something completely different...A friend of my wife’s has called her twice complaining because my son attacked and destroyed her villages in a Facebook game. She called last week and she called Saturday. The same complaints both times. Both calls she told my wife to tell him to stop attacking her villages. No joke! I feel the need to see if I can play the game under a pseudonym. Anyone else care to play and destroy her villages? Maybe you think I’m out of line? I was downstairs for one of the calls and I heard my wife’s friend YELLING at my wife telling her she better tell my son to stop attacking her village.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020