August chitchat

[agate]

Well, my Internet service provider, CenturyLink, apparently was doing such a bad job that many people in this area were affected in recent days and there were so many complaints about no Internet that there was an article about it in the local news. Maybe so many people were unhappy that from now on Century Link will do better but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Virginia, are you OK after your recent fall?

Tim, you are so right about what a delicate balance has to be maintained when it comes to doing just about anything. I find myself planning when would be a good time to try to bend over to retrieve a sock that was left drying on a bathtub rack but fell into the bathtub. Later in the day would have been better but I managed it in the early morning--big achievement there.

[Prot]

agate Virginia How are you both doing? Today I've done less independent walking. Have not felt up to doing more.

[agate]

I'm celebrating because I've just been relieved of quite a bit of extra work. It's only been postponed, probably, but at least I don't have to have this place ready for a full-scale inspection by this coming Wednesday.

A new manager here does the monthly calendars somewhat differently. She listed several inspections this month but with no detailed information about what kind of inspections these were to be. So I went ahead and cleaned the oven but wasn't looking forward to doing the rest of the stove, the refrigerator, and a number of other jobs around here in less than a week. I did actually clean the larger venetian blinds the other day.

Today I decided to do the obvious thing and ask the manager about those inspections. It turns out that there is really only one that I might need to worry about and that is a couple of weeks away.

I'm also celebrating because the weather has been staying cool lately, even though August is my idea of high summer. Lucky us here.

Virignia has been getting hit with brutal rain and I think brutal heat too.

[jingle]

This morning I went to Lowe's and ordered two storm doors... one for each of my doors. I wasn't allowed to do that until a man from Lowe's had been here to measure each opening. They have them in stock so they should be delivered before the first of October. This afternoon two nice men were here to assemble a cabinet I had ordered, a nice shelf for the laundry room and install a couple curtain rods. What a joy to have such things finished. Moving, so many changes, has been difficult. I'm too old for such work.

[agate]

Your new place had no adequate storm doors? Too bad you're having to deal with getting them but the Lowe's people are probably capable of handling the worst of it.

When I first moved here there was no storm door, nothing but the mostly-glass patio door. It got cold and drafty in that room, the bedroom. Because rain kept pouring in and making the carpeting quite wet, the bulding management finally decided to install storm doors. What a difference! No more rain coming in and no more chilly drafts. And this type of storm door has a top section that slides down and turns into a screen. On warm days I can use it as an open window.

I hope your storm doors turn out to be just as satisfactory.

[jingle]

My new place has very adequate doors but I want good storm doors with up-and-down screens so ... well, so my cat can look out. She loves looking out. And I really like storm doors so I can look out too.

[Virginia]

Jingle, I see that you are totally owned by that cat How do our animals get so adept at training us and getting us to do exactly what they want us to?

Agate, I saw the sun today. Yesterday was rainy again, but I didn't really care since I was suffering extreme fatigue from overdoing Sunday and Monday. Two days in a row is just too much, especially since grocery shopping was on that list for one of those days. How I would love to have a garage to just pull my car into. I am not sure when it is due to rain again. I missed the forecast tonight. Since your weather is cool there, you can send a little of it here.

Tim, I am doing alright. Like you, every day I hope to get better, but we both know it doesn't happen. How are things going for you? When is your next dental appointment? I have another one to get my permanent crown on the 28th. I will be glad to get this over. I can only imagine what it is like for you. Mine is only one tooth and it is taking 3 very long appointments.

[agate]

Going to see if this can be transferred over from Facebook:

[agate]

I didn't mean to cover up your post, Virginia. Getting a crown at last can be a wonderful moment because that almost always is the last stage in a tedious process. There are always appointments for making molds and so forth before that. I'm glad you're about to come to the end of that process.

Because there's likely to be an inspection in this building soon, I actually cleaned my oven, something I don't have to do often because I do so little real cooking. The problem was how to clean all of its interior without taking the door off.

In the past I always took the door off so as to be able to reach inside but I wouldn't attempt that now. Oven doors are heavy, and once a helper who was cleaning my oven actually dropped the oven door and broke the glass in it, which then had to be replaced. That's exactly what I would do--and I'd probably also drop the door on my foot and break some part of me too.

So I made a baking soda and water paste and smeared it around the oven, using a reacher with a wet paper towel to apply it in the parts I couldn't reach. To remove the paste, I used the reacher/paper towel again. I did have to keep going back and redoing it because the baking sode didn't want to come off completely. After a couple of days of these wipe-downs, the oven finally looks presentable. They turn on all of the burners and the oven and look them over during these inspections.

That's what I've been doing. I also mopped the floors in the last couple of days and did some laundry.

[Prot]

agate next dental appointment on the 20th. Lower teeth being extracted. Then a few months later will be able to have yearly infusion for the osteoporosis.

[agate]

I've heard about the infusions but don't know much about how they work. You have to go to a hospital or clinic for it? Is it a long trip?

About how long does the infusion take? Have you had one of these before, or will this be the first?

[Prot]

My daughter most likely will take me,or one of my granddaughters. It will be done at the Great Western hospital Swindon, which is about 16 miles/26 kms from where I live. Had to look up how long it takes.



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The duration of an infusion for osteoporosis can vary depending on the medication used. For example:

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[Virginia]

Agate, that is an ordeal with the oven. I probably would just never use mine if I had to go through that.
I enjoyed the cartoon. Reminds me of when I have wanted to say to a doctor "Oh, I didn't realize you had MS too." So far I have refrained but who knows what might happen some day.

Tim, you have your next dental appointment before I do. I hope it goes well and the healing process will be easy. I think there are some more bone density drugs other than the ones you mentioned. Many are given orally. Many years ago I tried one and started having chest pain. My doctor just told me to stop it. It was Fosamax. Many people could not take it. Since then they have come along with others.

If it is sunny where Jingle is like it is here today, she and her cat probably have a book and are sitting by the door, which is a good thing to do.

[Prot]

Virginia,Thank you. It's because of the Barrett's oesophagus that I'm being switched to an infusion. My lower teeth are in a worse state than my upper teeth were. Whether that's good or bad re them being extracted- I don't know.

[agate]

I like that reply to a doctor better than the cartoon, Virginia. A few doctors might actually have "invisible" MS but they are rare, and any doctor with MS would probably tell you that right away. As long as you're sure the doctor doesn't actually have MS, I'd say you'd be on safe ground saying that. I probably wouldn't ever have the nerve to say it though.

It's too bad you had the bad reaction to Fosamax. I was concerned about its side effects too and that is one reason I refused it for many years. So far I'm really lucky that I haven't had any bad reactions. At first I was burping quite a bit during the day when I took it but that was the only thing that was odd. I'm really careful about taking it with 8 ounces of water and not taking anything else by mouth for at least an hour afterwards and not lying down again after taking that pill.

I just read an article about how senior citizens are being allowed to wait many hours, even more than a day, in hospital emergency rooms. They can't find anyone to help them to the bathroom or to get them food and water while they wait, or to help them take meds they need. They just get worse and worse while waiting, and they're there in the hopes of getting better.

There's a lesson here for anyone over a certain age: Try to stay healthy and stay out of the ER. If you do need to go to urgent care or an ER, try to find someone to wait there with you.

[jingle]

Many years ago I took Fosamax prescribed by GP. Then my new neuro saw it on a list of my meds and threw a fit. He said I had to stop Fosamax immediately. It was a dangerous drug that
could crumble your bones, not help them. I quit Fosamax but never learned anything more.