Category Archives: Bad Days

Rot & Bones & An Uh Oh Moment

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Last Wednesday and Thursday my son was over to do some repair on a couple of floors in our house. I say repair, but it was more like demolition and replace. It was a horrid mess. Old houses. What are you going to do?

When my son pulled back the carpet in the spare bedroom he found serious rot, as expected. Half the room had to be pulled up. Some of the joists were rotten as well. He also found some animal bones. I’m pretty sure they’re skunk bones. We’ve heard commotion under the house so many times over the years, and then had the pleasure of “skunk” for days afterward. Just awful.

There’s a small area in front of the front door that has been a bit soft for a while. My son decided to fix that, too. When he pulled up the linoleum, it was a big rotten mess, too.

The job got done, Dad supervising most of the time, and helping a little. Thank goodness we had air conditioning or that Italian blood my son has running through his veins would have boiled.

 

Yesterday is one of the days we take our garbage up to the dumpster, which is about 1/4 mile up the road. I gathered up the garbage, Dad loaded up the car and ventured up the road. He was gone an awfully long time so I started to worry. At first, I thought he just ran into someone up there who liked to chew a guy’s ear off, but Dad knows not to hang out too long because he knows I’ll worry. 12 minutes had passed. It takes about 4 minutes, 5 tops to get up there, toss the garbage and then drive back. 15 minutes passed. Great. What the hell was I supposed to do? I’m disabled and Dad has our only vehicle. I wondered, Should I call 911? I knew something had happened and I was really worried. About that time, a beat-up pick-up pulls into our driveway. It looked like the passenger might be Dad so I waited.

Sure enough, Dad got out of the truck and I opened the front door. I asked him what had happened and I seriously thought he had run off the road or got hit or something serious. He told me that he left the car running while he unloaded and dumped the garbage but he remembered that he forgot a big box in the backseat. So he opened the car door, pushed the button on the fob, accidentally locking the car. He didn’t realize it until after he slammed the car door shut! He knew I was going to worry!

He tried the closest neighbor which is right next door to the dumpster and no one was home. He then went across the road to the other neighbor’s house. He hoped someone was home who could drive (the man who lives there is very old and disabled) so he could get a ride back up here to get my fob. He sure didn’t want, nor did he need to be walking 1/4 mile back home, UPHILL in this HEAT!! Thankfully, the elderly man was home and he was able to drive. So, he drove Dad home to get my fob and then back up to the car.

After a couple of minutes, Dad was back home safe and sound but exhausted and a bit stressed. He’s 82 years old, after all.

The Chair

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About 3 weeks ago we had a thunderstorm that zapped my power lift chair. I could have still used it had it not died in the “up” position! I had so hoped it was just a loose connection but no such luck. The next thought was that perhaps there was a reset button underneath, somewhere near the motor. Nope. Do you want to know what my next thought was? No, you don’t. 

For a week I thought I was going to have to buy a new motor. I didn’t even want to go online and search for the correct model. I did though, and it wasn’t as expensive as I thought it would be, but wondered if we could even manage to replace it ourselves. I didn’t know how difficult it might be.

The more I thought about it, the more I thought that it wasn’t the motor after all. The power box would have been hit by a power surge first. The light on the box wasn’t lighting up, indicating that it was not getting power. So, I searched for a replacement. Luckily it was much less than the motor would have cost. Less than $20 compared to just under $100 for the motor…the more favorable is obvious! I ordered it and waited patiently for Amazon to ship it. 

In the meantime, I struggled to get in and out of my old recliner. I had to have help a few times. The damn thing was just too low, too soft, and it rocks. That made it difficult to get out of without twisting and turning and my bones just can’t handle that these days. My back (and knees) hurt like hell because of all the twisting but I shoved along…praying that the new power box would indeed, fix the problem with my power chair. 

Day of delivery came (June 21) and I was terribly disappointed when I received word that my shipment wouldn’t arrive until the following Tuesday. I checked the tracking information and found that on June 20, it was in MO where it should have been but for some idiotic reason the damn thing ended up in Minnesota! So I had to push through a few more days of hell.

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By the time Tuesday came, my back hurt so bad that I was nearly in tears. When the power box finally arrived, I was so happy but still worried that it wouldn’t fix the problem. We pulled my power chair out of the corner, plugged in the new box and gave it a test. IT WORKED! I was so happy! 

I’m back in my power chair, careful to unplug if we’re going to have a storm. I need to get a surge protector next time I venture out. I don’t want to do this again! My back is slowly beginning to feel better. I find I can get up from the power chair sometimes without using the lift mechanism because it’s firm, not so low and it’s stationary. But at least I have the lift when I need it. 

A Tuesday Thunderstorm

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Ka-Boom! Thunder cracked and I yelled out. Cats are hiding under my bed. If I could get under there with them, I probably would!

Our satellite lost its signal and we have no movies to watch. Boring, boring, boring. I could read but the power is flickering on and off. It won’t be long and we’ll be sitting in the dark.

I hate when the power goes out. When you’re on a private well, that means there’s no power for the pump to fill the water tank. You have to make do with the water that’s already in the tank but when it’s gone you’re SOL. If you’re lucky the power will come back on before you use all the dishes in the house or more importantly before the toilet is “all fulled up” as Dad says.

The second big thunder strike took out my lift chair, while it was in the “up” position. Damn. I’ll have to look and see if there’s a reset button. I doubt it. Guess it’s back to the old flip-lever recliner.

I miss my Wi-Fi. I’ve had the modem and satellite box unplugged for fear of losing it like I did my chair. Using my phone to write, upload etc. I have 4g but it’s not the best signal out here in the boonies. This is going to take forever…and a day.

Pushing Through, Again

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The pain new medication I started a week ago seemed like it was helping with the arthritis in my legs but wasn’t doing much for my knees. I had every intention of giving it at least 2 weeks, but after a week I realized the pain in my knees was worse. I was using the wheelchair for the last 2 days because the pain was so severe.

I didn’t sleep well last night due to a burning sensation in my knees and I woke up feeling like I could just take a nice leap off a cliff…. I didn’t like the depressed mood I was in. I called my NP as soon as the office opened.

She told me I could stop taking the Celebrex and that she would call in my Diclofenac, the pain medication I had been taking for the last 6 years or so. I realized it must have been working better than I thought. I was feeling its absence, most definitely.

I had some Diclofenac left from before I started the Celebrex so I took one at my usual time. Within 4 hours, I was feeling a little less pain. Now, it’s that time of the day when my pain level is higher and I have a harder time doing things, so I should be in better shape tomorrow morning. We’ll see. I will need to go pick up my prescription soon.

I am seriously tired of being in pain 24/7 but I keep pushing through it because the alternative is worse. I can’t give up. I can’t quit.

Walmart & Cousin Eddie

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I headed out to Walmart today but I had three strikes against me that never even occurred to me until I pulled into the parking lot. 1) It’s always busy on Friday, 2) It’s the 1st of the month/payday, and 3) there’s a storm coming in. Luckily, I thought, I just need my prescriptions and a few grocery items.

Now, let me give you a little perspective here. I live in a very rural town – actually Wikipedia describes it as an unincorporated community – of less than 200 residents. Our nearest grocery store is 16 miles away, in a town with a little more than 700 residents. Our nearest Walmart is 28 miles away, in a bit larger town of just under 3,000 residents. That town also has a grocery store, a few small eateries, auto parts store, several small locally owned businesses, a few gas stations, several banks, and many churches. It’s insignificant in comparison to towns with a much, much larger population. So, you can imagine our lovely Walmart to be rather pleasant and not too ridiculously stressful…..

…..Unless it’s a Friday, the 1st of the month, and there’s a storm coming in! I didn’t realize what I got myself into until I got there. I was lucky to find a disabled parking spot. I was equally lucky there was a scooter available inside. It was the last one, so I was very lucky! There were people everywhere. I think everyone in the county was in that store! 

I went to the pharmacy first, to pick up my meds. I was annoyed right away because after I paid, the pharmacy technician told me I had to step to the side window so the pharmacist could bag my purchase. Umm….I don’t know what the point of this is really, because the pharmacist didn’t tell me anything about the medications, nor did he look at the labels to see what they were. He looked at the receipt to see that I had paid for them, tossed them in a bag, stapled it shut and handed them to me. The pharmacy tech could have done that!!

Like I mentioned before, I had very little to pick up. On my list were vitamins, Dramamine, cat food, wine, rock salt, small ziplock bags, and a 6 pack of half-sodas. I figured it wouldn’t take long for me to gather those things and get the hell out of there!

Boy, was I wrong! Every stinkin’ aisle I wanted to go down had people blocking the entire path. I mean, literally standing in the center, not off to one side or another. There were some blocking one end or the other, having conversations with others. I almost ran over a few people, who saw me coming towards them but still stopped and blocked the path. I had to back-track a few times, thinking the path would be clear when I came back but that was a fruitless effort. I was in Walmart for an hour longer than I needed to be!

I know everyone has things they need to get done. People have jobs they can’t be late for, kids to get home to and meals to cook, someone to pick up from somewhere, errands to run, appointments to get to. I get it. I have things to do, too. Why can’t people be more aware of others around them? Why can’t they just be more courteous?

When I went to check out, all the lines were several people long. So, I just picked one. There was a man with 3 items who looked about as exasperated as I was and I told him he could go in front of me. I really didn’t mind but I swear, this guy was someone’s Cousin Eddie! You know, the cousin of Clark Griswold in The National Lampoon movies!

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He talked my ear off until it was his turn to check out and he was gone. When I got out to the parking lot, he was still putting things in his trunk and talking to himself. I tried to look inconspicuous so as not to draw attention. I swear, I must have a weirdo magnet attached to my hip or something! Seems to be every time I go somewhere, the weirdos all find me. Today just happened to be someone’s Cousin Eddie!