Category Archives: Ramblings

Confrontation

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10

This morning, I couldn’t help but be a bit aggravated with Dad. This is becoming more and more frequent; not this specific event but the aggravation. I know he’s 87 years old and isn’t the man he used to be. But…

Last summer, when our propane company came out to refill the tank, they noticed it was unlevel so they scheduled that to be done asap. Well, it must have rained for 2 weeks straight and they had to wait for the ground to dry out before doing the job.

The ground finally dried out and they came to level the tank. It was a quick fix and Dad signed the work order to show the work was done. Dad was told there would be no charge for this job.

Last month, Dad got a phone call from the propane company and was told he had an outstanding bill. Dad asked what the amount was and was told that it was $55.00. Dad asked what the bill was for because no idea what it could be. You see, Dad always pays his bills ontime and there’s no way propane only cost us $55.00! The woman told him it was for (the date) when they came out to fix a gas leak. Dad said he had no gas leak and explained that a guy came out and leveled the tank. I couldn’t hear what the woman was saying but Dad told her to send a bill because he never got one.

Dad and I discussed this afterward and he decided that he was going to have to call and challenge this bill. I mean, why not? He was told there was no charge and it was for leveling the tank not a gas leak. I told him they may find that they made an error and that there was no charge after all. He agreed. When the bill came, we had the same discussion with the same conclusion.

This morning, I remembered about the bill and asked him if he ever called the propane company. He said no and that he just went ahead and paid the bill. I got mad and asked him why he would do that when it may have been a mistake? They just screwed him out of $55.00! He then got mad at me and said he’d rather pay it than have them decline to refill the tank when he orders propane next time. OMG. I told him that they may have found that THEY were in error and deleted the charge from his account. He just walked away. WTH?

Is he so afraid of confrontation that he won’t call and fix errors? He’s getting awful about this type of thing. Not that we get billed for things/services never received, but when a telemarketer calls he sits there on the phone for longer than necessary, telling them over and over that he is not interested. He won’t raise his voice. He won’t tell them to stop calling. He won’t hang up on them! Good grief!

No one likes confrontation but Dad always did what had to be done before. Now he just goes with the flow. Like that parking ticket he got from a state he hadn’t been in for years – he paid it with absolutely no question. I’m afraid this is going to get worse and worse.

I know many people have dealt with elderly parents with problems like dementia or just a decline in their mental health. Is confrontation something that older folks shy away from? Is this normal?

I Just Don’t Get It

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6

I can’t help but wonder what the hell is wrong with the people who are bitching about Taylor Swift being at football games? Who cares? She’s there to support her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. Do they bitch about other women at football games? News flash to the idiots out there: Some women go to football games to support their boyfriends, husbands, sons, or other men in their lives. And some women just like football! Who cares?

Ok, I am not a Taylor Swift fan, or a Swifty, as I believe they are called. I wouldn’t know her music if I heard it. I don’t know if her music is good or bad. I don’t have a clue if she’s a good songwriter or a bad songwriter. I really don’t care. What I do care about is people trying to squash another person’s fame or passions. Taylor Swift is famous, for whatever reason, and she’s a terrific role model for young girls and women everywhere! She’s strong and knows what she wants and has worked her ass off for everything she has accomplished! Props to her!

Is the fact that she is one of the highest-selling music artists of all time that ticks people off? Maybe it’s that she’s the richest female musician and the first billionaire in history with music as the main source of income that gets panties all knotted up? Or maybe it’s because she’s with Travis Kelce and not you? Maybe you’re just a loser.

So, whine if you must about how Taylor Swift was at the Superbowl and how the camera was on her a few times for a few seconds! How could that have ruined the game for you? Is her popularity so hurtful to your egos? Give me a break. Grow up.

And one other thing, I’d like for the idiots out there (you know who you are) to explain to me how the hell Taylor Swift being at a football game is helping Joe Biden’s presidential reelection… Go on, explain it.

Seriously. I just don’t get it.

Happier Than A Drunk In A River of Whiskey

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5

Well, friends. My power lift chair’s replacement hand controller came yesterday afternoon and I immediately got to work! Dad helped me tip the chair to its side and I plugged that little sucker into the motor. I pushed a button and it didn’t work. I literally started to cry. I didn’t think I could sleep in my bed one more night because I was in so much pain. I needed DESPERATELY for my chair to work!

Dad heard that I was upset and asked me, “Is the chair plugged in?” I looked, and stupid me, the chair was NOT plugged in. After plugging it in, I pushed a button on the hand controller. It worked! And it cost a mere $25 instead of the cost of a new chair that I cannot afford! I kissed the hand controller, zip tied the excess cord to the innards of the chair so it wouldn’t get caught in the moving mechanisms, tipped the chair right side up and sat in it for the first time in over a week!

I am happy to say that BobCat, Alice, Jack, and I slept in my chair last night and slept better than I had since the damn controller died. I think they were just as happy as I am! I’m so thankful that the problem wasn’t a much bigger/costlier one. Hallelujah!

El Sucktomento…As My Dad Would Say.

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4

So far, this year has sucked royally.

We suffered through over 30 days with a clogged kitchen sink. We couldn’t do dishes, rinse canned beans, wash produce, or even rinse our hands! We had to do everything that required water in the bathroom. Trust me, washing dishes is never my favorite thing but washing them in the little bathroom sink sucks balls! So does rinsing beans and veggies over the tub! I tried several different products to try and unclog the drain, and wasted time trying to plunge the damn thing. Dad finally gave in and called a plumber since my son, apparently doesn’t have time for us, and after a whole 30 minutes, our sink was unclogged! It was an expensive 30 minutes because the guy got lost and he was on the clock the whole time he was trying to find us. It cost us a little over $300 bucks! Ugh.

All was good after the sink was unclogged and I thought things could go back to normal. But no. Things would not go back to normal. Last Tuesday, I got ready for bed (I sleep in my power lift chair) and when I tried to recline the chair, the hand control wouldn’t work. I thought the cats might have stepped on the power strip and turned it off, or knocked the plug to the power strip out of the wall. Those things have happened before. I checked and nothing looked suspicious. I made sure the plug was all the way in, making a good connection. I sat back down, and the hand control worked so I proceeded to recline and get comfy for the night.

At 3:00am my bladder woke me up and when I tried to raise the chair to a sitting position, the hand control wouldn’t work again. I thought, boy am I screwed! I tried again and the chair started to move but it moved in the opposite direction I wanted it to go and wouldn’t stop! I had to wake Dad up with my emergency call button. He put a footstool under the footrest of the chair to keep it steady while I scooted off the damn chair! I was so damn mad. I mean, I haven’t been able to sleep in my bed for years because it caused me too much pain and now my chair is dead. Where the hell am I going to sleep? Where the hell am I going to sit to relax? I can’t sit in Dad’s recliner because it rocks. I can’t sit in any of the other chairs in the house because they rock, too. I’m stuck with my wheelchair. It’s the only chair I can get in and out of now. Ugh. Can things get any worse?

I’ve been sleeping in my bed, uncomfortably and painfully. It’s making my leg and back problems worse. I’m not sleeping well at all. New chairs are too expensive. I tried to find a used chair. That wasn’t going well either. My poor chair. It’s been good to me for about 5 years now. It was used and only $200. I think it’s given me $200 worth of comfort! But…

Yesterday, I got to thinking maybe it was the transformer that went out because that’s happened before. Last year, I bought an extra transformer (a universal one) so I switched it out to see if my chair would work. Nope. So that wasn’t the problem. I didn’t think it was but it was worth a try. I wanted to try that though before I bought a new hand controller. I found a universal hand controller on Amazon and ordered it. It will be here Friday and hopefully, it will solve my problem so I can sleep in my chair again!

Stay tuned to find out if my chair will be brought back to life!

What’s Eating Aunt Debbie?

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7

The last 3 months have been awful. It all started just before Thanksgiving when I did a few chores to get ready for guests.

I’m not kidding myself about this crappy house. I know that no matter what I do, the house will still look like ass, as my sister would say. But there were a few things that needed to be done and if I don’t do it then who will? One of those things was the cat litter box that needed to be dumped, cleaned, disinfected, and refilled. I use clumping litter so it lasts a long time but I always push it because it kills me to clean it out.

So, I did the dirty deed of cat litter duty and proceeded to fuck up my lower back, resulting in a pinched nerve. The pain in my spine was minimal but my legs (mostly my left leg) began to fall asleep all the time, while I was standing or walking! If I was on my feet for too long, then it would start to burn like hell.

I went to see my NP, who is kind of on my shit list at the moment (more on that later), and she gave me a steroid injection. It helped tremendously but only for about 24 hours. She told me to come back for another injection, which helped but not as much as the first. I’ve been patiently waiting for the inflammation to go down. My NP said it may take some time and here I am still having issues with my left leg falling asleep. I will see her this week if I can get in. I’ve been putting it off.

My NP is a great person and she seems to know what she’s doing. She treats me like I’m human and not some reject from one of Rob Zombie’s horror flicks. She’s easy to talk to and seems to really care. My problem with her is that she lies on my records, or at least it appears that she lies. I’m not sure if the person transcribing my records has made the error or if my NP has truly lied. I went to the online patient portal to see my records from my last visit and I was truly shocked and pissed off at what I found. In my records she states, “patient declined weight loss medication,” “patient declined referral to dietitian/nutritionist,” “patient refused referral to orthopedist,” and “patient refused referral for pain management.” She also said when speaking of lymphedema therapy (as I had a few years ago), that I said “they can’t do anything more for me.” These things were all regarding my last visit and none are true! None of those things were ever offered and we never spoke of lymphedema at all since I had the therapy a few years ago. I mean, good grief!! Now I think I may have to find another provider but holy crap I have yet to see a doctor that I like and doesn’t 1) treat me like I’m stupid, 2) fat shame me, 3) act like he/she can’t be bothered with my questions, or 4) doesn’t do anything to help (probably because of my insurance). I’m up shit creek with no paddle to whack the hell out of anyone.

Other shit going on includes our kitchen sink drain being clogged. I have tried several different products and nothing works. We literally cannot use the kitchen sink because the drain won’t…DRAIN. Ugh. My son has other things going on and I guess we aren’t important enough for him to come help. Dad won’t call a fucking plumber and we can’t continue washing dishes in the bathroom because lugging the washtub full of dishes to the bathtub is a royal pain in the ass. Dad fell doing that and broke half the dishes we had just washed! We use paper plates when we can and that helps but this shit is getting old. Hell, it’s past old now. If I were able-bodied I would have gone out to the ditch with the auger and unplugged the damn drain myself a long time ago! Dad can’t do it any easier than I can because if he falls out there and can’t get up on his own, I can’t get out there to help him. He said he’s going to have to try, anyway.

Dad’s falls are becoming more frequent. He fell off the recumbent bike twice because he fell asleep while he was sitting on it. He wasn’t using it, just sitting. He hit the side of his eye on the handlebar and still has a black eye. That made 3 falls (including the dish-breaking incident) in just as many days. Two of those falls were in the same day.

We haven’t had hot water in the washing machine for over a month. The spigots got filled with debris (how the hell that happens, I don’t know) and my son replaced the cold water spigot but then the other wouldn’t work, so we had to get a replacement part for that. Dad said he could do that himself but he just got around to it yesterday. I now have hot water in the washing machine! Hot diggety damn! I haven’t washed kitchen towels, cleaning rags, or bath towels all this time because I needed the hot water. Good thing we have lots of towels and rags! Now I have a ton of washing to get caught up on. Ugh.

I’m trying to stay in good spirits…and the spirits in the alcohol cabinet are looking pretty good! Seriously though, it’s hard to stay positive, especially with my pain and mobility issues. The other problems would be easier to deal with without those issues. I’m told all the time how strong I am. I don’t feel very strong. In fact, I break down at least once a day. Still, I keep going. Who’s going to take care of Dad if I don’t? I thought that at this stage of my life, I’d have family around. Boy, was I wrong.