Day 308 of Sheltering In

Saturday. It’s still early to post for today, but I thought I’d start.

I’m home alone (yay)! My wife and son went to my father-in-laws to do laundry, play cards, and eat pizza. I was supposed to go but I woke up with a lot of leg pain and I was having trouble walking. I feared going down the stairs. My wife had my son pack me a cooler with ice packs and drinks, and I stayed home. I was right to fear the stairs. Dammit! I was carefully going down the stairs to make a sandwich. I didn’t exactly fall, but my left foot slid down about 3 steps further than I had placed my foot and twisted my ankle. I grabbed the railing and my cane tightly and stopped myself from sliding any further. Yes, left. The bad knee/leg. My wife needs to get several rolls of bubble wrap and wrap me up to protect me from freak accidents. Who gets off an MRI table and has their leg buckle and twist, falling to the floor, but stops the face plant by putting their hands on the floor? Who uses a cane and the stairway railing...and moves slowly and carefully, yet manages to slide about 3 steps past where they intended to put their foot, and twists their ankle? That would be me.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2021

Day 307 of Sheltering In

Friday. Did not leave the house today. My son wasn’t happy about that, but I think that’s the way it’s gonna be...not going out. All I’ve been reading, which is less than I had been, say that COVID-19 is going to surge. Which is odd. The Governor began allowing dine-in today. If there’s going to be a surge, who are we opening up? Doesn’t matter to us. We will continue to get takeout.

My memory is terrible. I don’t remember if I mentioned that my daughter signed paperwork for her apartment. As far as I’m concerned, she can’t move fast enough. I’m tired of expensive things we buy for her getting stolen, or broken. Her Nebulizer, mask and tubing that she needs for her asthma were stolen while she was on a home visit with us. Along with it, several Tv series boxed sets, several DVD’s, and a Bible. Who steals a Bible? My daughter had been trying to get the group home office to replace the Nebulizer, mask, and tubing, but nothing is happening with that since she reported it 01/09/2021. We know nothing was done because I gave my daughter instructions to call her insurance and her pulmonologist to get an order for the stolen equipment. If someone had already started this process, the insurance and pulmonologist would have told her. While my daughter was on a home visit someone also broke the blender I bought for her in December. She used it almost daily to make healthy smoothies.

Speaking of her moving into an apartment (very, very close to us). A friend of my wife’s anticipated that her family was going to buy her a lot of new kitchen stuff (she just bought a house), and she was going to give my daughter the duplicate stuff. Turns out her friend was mistaken, so no cookware, baking pans, or dishes. My brother-in-law wants to get her a bunch of stuff and my wife has been telling him to wait because the apartments weren’t finished and, we need to find out what the group home provides for clients moving into one of their apartment complexes.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2021

Day 306 of Sheltering In

Thursday. My wife and I ran an errand and picked up lunch from Chili’s. Had dine in been allowed it would have been more date-like. I had a gift card. Let’s just say that the kitchen staff were off point. I didn’t get a side salad I was supposed to get and my fries were hard, old and cold. The burger was also subpar. A burger is my go to at Chili’s if a steak is not in the budget. So I’ve had a lot of burgers there. (They need to bring back their jalapeño burger with jalapeño ranch sauce). My wife’s salad was not prepared the way she requested.

I had a nap before dinner time. I couldn’t fall asleep until 3:30am and I got woke up by a phone call at 9am.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2021

Day 305 of Sheltering In

Tuesday. Stayed home all day, as was the plan.

Question, do you know anyone who tells an untruth (lie), or embellishes something so badly, so fantastical that you immediately know it, or that it could have consequences neither of you expect? My spouse is one of those people. Yesterday when I wrote that I canceled my PT appointments, that was not accurate. My wife did me “the favor” of making the call. I don’t recall asking her to, but it’s possible that I did, but I don’t think so. In any event, she embellished too much. Truth...I have a cold. Stuffed up nose, watery eyes. That’s it. It’s a cold. I have NOT been exposed to anyone who tested positive or exposed to anyone with symptoms. However, when she called she said I had a cold and that our doctor wanted me to get tested for COVID-19 to be cautious. There was no call to my doctor. That was NOT true. It was also NOT true that he told me to get tested. I have a cold, that is true. Today I get a voicemail from the PT place asking if I got my test results yet. It has been our experience that it takes 3 business days, so I don’t know why I got called the very next day. The staff is probably freaking out. This is a HUGE problem. For Covid-19 tests members of my family have had, we were told to quarantine for 14 days after a negative test. I have my appointment with the orthopedic dr on Monday. If they hear about this entire mess of lies, they will cancel my appointment and won’t reschedule me for 14 days or more. Sometimes this dr gets booked out a month or more before you can get in. I can’t wait a month to find out what’s wrong with my knee/leg. This issue with my knee/leg is causing more balance issues. I can’t walk to turn off the light in the bedroom without my cane. Also, because my gait is affected by the knee/leg injury pain, it is increasing my back pain.

I’ve talked to my wife three times about this. Once when she told me the COVID-19 test embellishment, today after I had thought about the consequences, and before bed. I asked her to wait until we discussed this again Wednesday morning before she calls. I hope this doesn’t turn into an even bigger mess. 

UPDATE: My wife called and straightened it out. Everything is fine.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2021

Day 303, 304 of Sheltering In

Sunday, Monday. Sunday was just a relaxing day. Monday I had a phone appointment with the new doctor I can’t stand. I was so nervous I was going to get “yelled at” for not doing my “homework” from my previous phone appointment. With all the trouble I had finding an in network MRI place, I was not going to go through 3 pages (2 columns per page) of providers that were emailed to me in December. Why waste time researching them, calling them, leaving a message if my list is not current? Especially since it’s January and not all providers have finalized their contracts with my insurance. Not only that, I’ve spent so much time on the phone with my insurance, their affiliates that specialize in a particular type of provider,  MRI/Imaging. Then I had 2 days of paperwork for my son. My PT appointments, and my down time, elevating and icing.

Monday my son and I ran errands. Picked up prescriptions, grocery shopped. Then came home to elevate and ice. 

I canceled my PT appointments for this week and Monday. Monday I see the orthopedic doctor. Probably his PA. I don’t feel comfortable going to PT anymore before I find out what is going on with my knee/leg. I don’t want to do more damage. I went online to research. Not Dr Google. YouTube. Most of the videos I watched were physical therapists. Some showed how you can tell (by how you are able to move) if you have meniscus damage, torn ACL/MCL-? What I saw did not make me feel comfortable about going to the 2 PT visits I had scheduled this week. Monday I had to cancel regardless because my dr appointment and PT were at the same time. It’s hard to get an appointment at this dr. I know this because I’ve been seeing him for my shoulders and the mild arthritis in my right knee.

My daughter is bugging me to run some errands for her. I had already picked up 2 items while I was at Meijer. She’s making a list! Omg! She can’t possibly need so many items she needs to make a list. Before she returned to the group home I made sure she bought toiletries. 

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2021

Sunday Stealing A-Z

Sunday Stealing: A to Z

Taken from Ned the Duck 

A - Annoyance:  Incredibly rude people at the grocery store. They block the aisle chatting with someone they know that they probably wouldn’t give the time of day if they saw them in the grocery store pre-pandemic.

B - Bestest Friend[s]:  My wife.

C - Car:  Buick Enclave. (My Honda Pilot still sits in my driveway. If our mechanic doesn’t diagnose the problem, I’m going to have to say goodbye. 😢 230,000 miles. The most I’ve ever put on a car.) I don’t like sharing the Buick. Saturday my wife went to her Dad’s to do laundry. Too long a drive with my knee injury. So I was trapped at home. I don’t like being trapped at home.

D - Day or night:  Night. I’m a night 🦉.

E- Easiest person to talk to?:  My wife.

F - Favorite Month:  November.

G - Gummy Bears or Worms:  Either. They are the same, just different shapes.

H - Hair Color:  Light brown with a lot of gray. A LOT!

I - Ice Cream:  Pistachio.

J - Jewelry:  Watch, rings, bracelet. I really miss wearing them. (I don’t wear them because of the coronavirus. Too much hand washing or glove wearing, and currently just more things that could pick up a droplet containing the coronavirus.)

K - Kindergarten:  1966. We had several white glue eaters and 1 crayon eater. Found out in high school that the crayon eater had 14 brothers and sisters. She was probably hungry.

L - Longest Car Ride:  WI to FL to Disney World. I went twice. It’s a toss up as to which trip was longer. First trip was with my step-grandma, cousin, aunt, and my sister. Second trip was just my sister who was a stick in the mud. Unless we were on the grounds of Disney or Epcot, she wanted to stay in the room. I wanted to go to the hotel bar. I thought it would be interesting to possibly meet others on vacation, have some interesting conversations and if all else failed, watch tv.🤷🏻‍♀️

M - Most missed person:  My Mom. She passed away in 1984. When I had my babies I was so jealous of other women who had babies and their Moms visited them in the hospital, helped with the babies, some even move in for a month to help. I had no one. No one to ask questions. When my daughter had jaundice I called my pediatrician freaking out. Turns out just take them out in the sun or put their car seat by the window. Jaundice gone.

N - Number of Siblings:  One.

O - One regret:  This question comes up a lot. Maybe not worded this way. My answer will always be not going to CA to get my exhb, and moving out of state without a trace. My kids most likely would be leading normal, healthy, productive lives. They wouldn’t have gotten a mental illness if he hadn’t been there trying to manipulate them and not providing proper adult supervision at his girlfriend’s house so my daughter wouldn’t have been molested by her boys. And just so many other things. 

P- Part of your appearance you like least?: 

Being overweight.

Q- Quote:  

"When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free."--Barack Obama

R - Reality TV Show:  I don’t do Reality shows. 

S - Shoe:  My old school white Adidas sneakers with the 3 black stripes.

T - Time you woke up:  Saturday was 9am. Earlier than usual. Friday 12:30pm-bad night sleeping.

U - Unpredictable?:  The weather.

V - Vegetable you hate:  I don’t think I’ve eaten any I’ve hated.

W- Worst Habits:  Procrastination. If I have something I need to do that has a fairly firm deadline, you can find me doing an all nighter, or all day being rushed and panicked. Case in point, Friday. Monday I will be berated by a new doctor because I haven’t made an appointment with a therapist. I hate this guy, but for now I’m stuck. I have too much going on to find a new doctor. Also I’ve run into too many approved providers that when I try to make an appointment they say they are out of network. (Approved 2020, forms not turned in for 2021.) Maybe next month. I injured my left knee 12/09 getting off an MRI table, my leg buckled and twisted. A lot of pain. Insurance issues delayed getting an MRI until 01/13.

X - X-Rays:  Left knee, both shoulders, right knee, spine.

Y - Year you were born:  196?...can't give the scammers ammo to work with.

Z - Zoom:  I’ve had a few doctor appointments via Zoom. And I watched an AARP Zoom having to do with Medicare that I learned nothing new from.

Thanks to Bev for the questions. Join the fun here.