JANUARY 2022 Chitchat

[agate]

Snuggles, by now I hope you've recovered but those UTIs can wipe a person out badly. And some of the meds that are prescribed for them can cause extra problems.

Virginia, you've given me hope about the printer. Mine is an HP inkjet too and I'm so encouraged to know that they can be maintained successfully for 12 years. I haven't yet really abandoned this printer. There are some more fixes I can try. I just have to figure out how to get hold of a way to reinstall the software if I uninstall it, which I'll probably have to do next.

I could manage without a printer except for one thing. I sometimes send packages by mail, and the only way I can arrange for a carrier pickup of a package of any size (over 10 oz.) is by printing up a postage-paid label on the USPS Website using their Click-n-Ship arrangement. I've done this for many years and it works well. Getting to/from a post office to mail packages wouldn't be easy at all.

[Virginia]

Agate, I think you need a printer. I don't use mine a lot, but when I do I really need to. I have worked on it a couple of times and I hold my breath and turn my mouth a certain way until it is over.

Eric is better and we talked on the phone for a long time. He couldn't believe that Doctor took me off my hormones. He says she has no common sense to do that when I have been on them for over half my life and at my age. He told me that many people die with MS and most of them are not as old as I am, so what is she thinking she is protecting me from. He told me he wanted me to write it all down so if anything happens to me he can sue her.

The lady in place of the Nurse was here this morning and she felt about like Eric. She thinks I should Doctor shop. She was astounded that someone would do that after more than 40 years. She told me to watch a movie, listen to music and eat ice cream.

I didn't have time to do wordle today or I should say Thursday now. I had planned on it, but I needed to vacuum the floor and do my exercises and cook some supper.

Hooray! no appointments in the morning, which means I am going to stay in bed as late as I want.

[SuzE-Q]

So glad Eric is doing better, Virginia!

It is not outside the standard of care to prescribe hormones long term for various reasons. It continues to be a debated topic, though as it is not settled risks versus benefits. It is definitely not an accepted standard of care for MS. But lots of off label treatments go on for us, MS is a potentially devastating disease, standard treatments don't have the highest success rates and newer treatments can carry a small risk of significant side effects. Therefore, our risk/benefit profile is very different, we are often willing to take different chances, especially when there is solid research showing potential benefit.

I'm sorry this sudden change was made and your new doctor has dug in her heels.

[agate]

Rose, they kept working on that leak, calling in experts of various kinds, and nobody could figure out where it was coming from. They got more alarmed than ever when a bulge appeared in the drywall over the laundry room doorway and it was found to be a bulge caused by water under the paint. I've been watched that bulge for weeks now but at least it wasn't getting any bigger.

They are letting us in to do laundry. I mentioned to the maintenance person that the last time we had mold removal done around here, it took many weeks and was quite disruptive for the person whose apartment was affected. She lived with plastic sheeting draped everywhere and some gigantic fan going. Half of her apartment was uninhabitable for weeks.

I was assured that this wouldn't be like that and that it's only a small amount of mold and that that time the people who did the job were money-hungry, etc.

It will be odd to be laundering with almost no walls or ceiling and all of the pipes and the rest of the building's insides all exposed but at least I won't have to send the laundry out. So far, I've been letting it pile up considerably and will keep my laundering to a minimum, just to ease up on the traffic in there. It was pretty clear that we'd better be quick about any laundering we do, probably because it's considered dangerous in there. At least one tenant won't go near the place now because she's allergic to the sheetrock dust.

[Lazarus]

Good luck everybody in the pathway of tomorrow’s blizzard. I am worried as here on this farm the winds can make snowdrifts twice the size of the ones already being predicted. It is going to be tough for me…one of those days when I wish we had retired from farming!

[SuzE-Q]

Looks like you are going to get a wallop, Linda! You, Ikoiko and ANN, please stay safe!

Also, could you please add your new hummus recipe to Cat's food thread? I want to try experimenting with a new recipe. Thanks. Please take care during this blizzard!

[Virginia]

Linda, I am sorry you are facing this added anxiety of a blizzard. Ikoiko and Ann you two take care too. I dread the wind more than anything. Next is the aftermath that they are predicting here which is snow that will melt and turn to sludge and then ice over. Wind and ice are not something any of us look forward to.

Linda you work so hard and then you have to worry about the weather. It does appear right now that it will hit your area pretty hard.. I listened to one forecast for us today and it was rain beginning later today and turning into snow overnight. I think the wind was to hit us tomorrow but not what you are looking at. I know you have much to do to prepare the farm as best you can. I am not sure what you can do.

Agate, hope the repair in your laundry room doesn't take a long time. I think that would be very aggravating. My first roommate in rehab was a retired RN who lives in a retirement building close to where I live. She told me she has two bedrooms and two baths. I didn't even know they had any that size. Anyway I asked her if she had her own washer and dryer. She still has to go down the hall to do laundry and she pays almost $4,200 per month. Now this does include some meals so it's not quite as bad as it sounds. But I feel sure there are some problems from time to time. The building is about the same age as my house so with all the usage it would require a good bit of maintenance. She is up higher than you are and has a balcony. She likes it, but she hasn't been there long.

[SuzE-Q]

Virginia, please stay safe, too! Make sure you have enough supplies, possibly ice for your fridge in case your power goes out. You do not want food wasted again!

[agate]

You east-coast people must be tying everything down about now in preparation for the winter storm. I hope the forecasters will be wrong, as they quite often are!

Virginia, I'm planning to try the laundry tomorrow as the laundry is piling up significantly around here. They have to fix the leak, now that they've finally found it. Plumber is reportedly coming on Tuesday to do that. They also have to treat the mold. Then they have to replace all of the sheetrock they've torn out and paint it. There's also the very ruined carpeting in the hall but they might be able to patch that somehow though it would be a very large patch. The carpeting might not be done for a long time yet.

[Ikoiko]

Thanks for the well wishes during the storm, but I moved to Maryland in November. We are expecting a little snow, but nothing like my seaside home near Boston.

I am trying to get into the MS clinic at Johns Hopkins University. You have to apply and hope to be accepted. It seems to be about as hard to get into as Johns Hopkins University as a student!

[Virginia]

Ikoiko, I hope you can get into Johns Hopkins. They do have an excellent reputation. Didn't you go to a good MS clinic in Boston also? Good luck.

[Ikoiko]

Virginia, I went to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. I really prefer going to an MS clinic at a major teaching hospital. BIDMC was associated with Harvard. I believe you go to Duke.

[Lazarus]

My husband goes to Deaconess to a heart doctor. I live near Springfield and the local hospital almost killed him with procedures that did not work and their silence about this. Deaconess is great to and for him.
My 4 neurologists have all been researchers and it makes all the difference.

[agate]

Just butting in here to say that the East Coast people must be getting hammered with Weather just now. Hope everyone is doing OK in spite of all of those flakes out there. Not to mention the wind.

[Snuggles]

it"s cold here in Pittsburgh (19 degrees) but sunny. I am looking forward to mid-week when the temperatures are going into the 40's.

My son in Boston sent us pictures and they are getting pounded with snow and wind. I hope everyone in the storms path stays safe and warm.

Agate, my pcp did tell me to eat yogurt daily for the probiotics that the antibiotics kill off. She says it takes 4-6 week for that gut bacteria to normalize. I hope our laundry situation is taken care of promptly. I would hate to have to go to a laundromat during this omicron outbreak! Maybe you do a few loads at a time just to keep up so you can have clean clothes to wear.

Virginia, I just read about your caretakers in the hospital and I hope if I ever have to go to the hospital I have caretakers like that. It sounds as if they truly cared about your well being. I think that is rare especially when you consider what hospital workers have been through in the past 2 years. They are really heroes for working through this pandemic.

Stay safe and warm everyone.

[Virginia]

Ikoiko I don't go to Duke for my MS. It is much too hard to get into the area that I would have to go to. I am talking about getting on little train like cars and then walking when you do get close to where you are going. I couldn't do it. I go to Duke doctors for my other needs, but they are located here in Raleigh. I think Duke found a way to make a lot of money. They opened up a lot of satellite offices all around here and call them Duke Primary Care, but in reality the Doctors were not trained at Duke. Duke just hires them from all over and puts them in these offices. I go to the one that is closest to me.

[Lazarus]

Interesting. I posted recently about 2 companies that run mobile urgent care clinics. The more I researched the better they seemed! I think all our healthcare needs will be met by good service closer to our homes.

[Virginia]

I didn't get much bad weather thankfully. I got a dusting of snow over night and it is so cold that some places have ice. I haven't been out but my brother Eric came over to do a couple of things in the house and he said it was really cold. Then a neighbor stopped in and said the same thing.

I would love to hear from Linda and find out how the farm and she and John fared.

It would be nice to hear from Ann.

Snuggles, I had much better care from the Nurses in the hospital than I did the Doctors. Hannah was probably the most compassionate and honestly caring person I have ever run into. I still have to face going to the new Cardiologist in two weeks. I dread it.

For those of you who have heard me complaining about my PCP taking me off hormones that I have been on for over 40 years. I read an article in WebMD to my brother about hormones and MS. He was already furious at this Doctor. He thinks at my advanced age and the number of years I have been on them that it makes no rational sense. He is going to talk to a Pharmacist to see if they know something that I can get over the counter that might have some of the same ingredients. I don't believe there is. If I could get a Rx I would try to get them from Canada.

I just heard that there is 80 plus thousand people in Massachusetts without power. It might be awhile before we hear from our people in that area which makes me jittery.

[agate]

Virginia, I heard about 110,000 people without power in MA. I understand being jittery about power outages. There's not much I can do during a winter power outage but sit and shiver and pile on more clothes and blankets.

My son recently had a gas fireplace installed in their place. I believe it will give heat even during a power outage. He says it heats the whole place. I think one reason they got this had to do with that 6-day power outage they had last winter, when they spent at least one night in a hotel but William wasn't able to settle down, and the hotel didn't have any amenities like room service on account of COVID. I suspect they'd like to spare themselves any more experiences like that.

Snuggles, the laundry room is open for limited use, and I actually went there today and did a load. Next time I go, which will be tomorrow, I plan to take a flashlight so I can look up into the insides of the building and see the mold they were talking about. I'd like to know just what it looks like. All I can see right now is a vast network of pipes and lots of plastic sheeting. Supposedly the leak has been taped up until the plumber comes in a few days.