OT December Chit Chat

[stillstANNding]

Hi Sunshine, thanks for taking the time and effort to stop in and bring us up to date.

Your house problems will be resolved. And it sounds like you have a caring team to help you get the SPS/MS under control. Including your husband.

Glad that they found the UTI and it’s being treated. You should have some relief after 48 hours of antibiotics.

I have started to be grateful for everything: a night of mostly sleep; the sun; a tiny, tasty meal; a text; a cat on my lap. It has helped me.

ANN

[agate]

Sunshine, moving is terribly disruptive no matter how hard you try to keep it calm. That's one thing I'm fairly sure of. But "Rome wasn't built in a day" and other sayings like "Slow but steady wins the race" come to mind.

And there isn't a race. If something doesn't get done today, maybe it will get done tomorrow. The important thing is to get your health back on as even a keel as possible.

With moving there's often the temptation to want things "all settled"--everything in working order and put away so a person can get on with life and stop worrying about Things--but that's a temptation that has to be resisted.

[Virginia]

Sunshine, thanks for coming on even when you probably did not feel like it. Listen to the hens above. They are giving you good advice (and leaving Howie alone today it seems). I do hope as the UTI clears up you will begin to feel better. It has got to be frustrating to just move into a new house and not be able to do the things you want to in that house. But you just must let others take good care of you right now. Think about the ocean and remember that when it gets warm again, you will want to be well enough to try a little surfing.


Nuthatch, thanks for thinking of me and the snow. It is supposed to start after midnight tonight. We scheduled for 3 to 6 inches. We will see. I am not sure about Howie, as I have been out for quite awhile this afternoon and have not had a chance to check on that area. I hope things are doing a little better in California, but I know they are not for the residence, or former residence of Paradise.

Howie, I always buy Eggland's Best eggs, but today Harris Teeter was out of them and I had to buy another brand. In looking around I saw some eggs that said on the side "love those hens". I thought of you and my thought was that there was one person who would probably not love a few sometime - when they were getting on him. Glad Cherie gave you some good advice. Hope you are feeling alright on all this new medicine.

[Sunshine]

The house stuff will resolve. The main problem is when the breaker trips and all of my phones do not operate until I can get to the fuse box which is not an easy thing for me. This will be especially true today because I am waiting for delivery of my medical marijuana and they rely on calling you to remind you that they are on their way.

I had a better night last night. Unfortunately I had vertigo when I got out for a couple hours but that seems to have resolved. And Nystagmus is nearly resolved to. Probably due to the reduction of Baclofen buy 10 mg.

I will try to participate when I can.

[Jeanie Z]

:) Friday the tree man came and cut down both mango trees in the front yard. They got picked clean by others anyway. Also the roots cracked my concrete drive and are getting in the neighbor's septic tank drain field.

Last night I wound up on the floor transferring from my desk chair in the computer room to my scooter. I pushed the panic button and ADC called and sent the paramedics. They used the code to get the key to the front door to get in.
They lifted me straight up to standing and helped me go to bed.

After they left I had to go to the bathroom an did and also cut off the lights that were left on. I am really worried that my legs are not getting strong enough for when I am tired.

Sunshine take it easy and enjoy your new house. Howie have a good birthday. I am happy to be in Florida and not have to worry about snow. I have the AC on. Jeanie :)

[Virginia]

Oh Jeanie, so sorry about you being on the floor again. However getting this set up through ADC is really a good thing. So glad you did that. I wish our Sally had done the same thing. I bet they were so nice to you. Try to keep doing your sit-to-stands. It takes a long time for you to see a difference. However, being really tired gets to me also. I felt better yesterday than in awhile and did quite a bit of walking, so today I am tired and not doing anything. Part of it might be because I stayed up too late.

We got snow - I don't know how much in my area. Probably 3 to 4 inches. Some will melt, but it is due to freeze over tonight. I will probably be in all week because it will refreeze each night.

I wonder if Howie got snow. Howie, if you feel like coming on tell us if you got snow and how much.

I bought another head of cauliflower yesterday. I washed and pulled it apart earlier. I had some finely grated parmesan cheese left that is still good and I always have plain yogurt and butter. It was so good last week that I decided to have it again.

Does anyone know if Gabapentin could possibly be the cause of me walking better yesterday. I was on 3 100mg capsules originally and did not like the fact that I am always hungry, so I cut the middle of the day one out several weeks ago. I was itching on my face so bad yesterday and a little bump had come up in the spot where I saw the first one when I got the shingles. Very tiny, but very itchy there and on forehead, so I took another Gabapentin before going out. Is it just coincidence or could the Gabapentin help me walk a little better? Anyone know?

[Howie]

Oh, I got snow, about a foot of it, and I just looked at the weather on the computer, and it's going to snow all night. I just talked to my brother in Roanoke Va. and he had about a foot and a half.

I don't need anything, I restocked Friday, and got my meds, so.....let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

[Virginia]

Howie, I hope it is a pretty snow. Mine is going to turn to slush I think and then ice. That is not pretty. Enjoy your warmth and Sam.

[Catdancer]

So, they're sending me home on Wednesday! TC is coming tomorrow to work with the physical therapist...they want to be sure he knows what exercises he's supposed to help with. Then I'm here Tuesday, then (assuming there are no other issues) I go home on Wednesday. They're arranging for in-house PT, too, once I get home. We've been through this before, so I know what to expect. It will be good to be home....

I'm sorry so many of us seem to be ailing right now with so many different issues, though!

[nuthatch]

Great news, Cat. See, you DO have 9 lives! You're a fighter, I'm glad to say! I'm happy for you.

[stillstANNding]

Great to hear you are going home, Cat! Your own digs, your own food, your own schedule and the cats! Best to you! Do you know if Parsi is OK?

Jeanie, I am sorry you ended up on the floor again. Maybe you could ask for some at home PT. They can see your environment and help you where you live w the aids you have or prescribe things that might help you better plus build muscle and strength. Or, you can go for appointments. Be well.

Virginia, I know you hate to be cold and the snow keeps you in. It probably cancelled the siblings dinner out tonight. It won’t last forever.

Sunshine, I am thinking of you.

ANN

[Howie]

Cat, like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz said, "There's no place like home".

[agate]

What good news, Cat! Keeping fingers crossed for your Wednesday homecoming!

Going to have to join the crowd and adapt to a smartphone, I guess. I've run into too many situations where it's assumed that "everyone" has one. This person doesn't because the free "Obama phone" I got 3 years ago wasn't a smartphone. It turns out that it really should have been. I finally got around to raising this issue with the Assurance Wireless people, and they agreed and promptly sent me a smartphone, an Android device.

I hoped for a user's manual but my son and DIL tell me that that wouldn't help me and what I really need is a manual for Android devices. So I'll be getting one of those soon--thanks to the very helpful son and DIL, bless their hearts.

I'm going to have trouble operating this phone with my fingers. My fingers don't work well enough. I can type but snagging a little bit of something on that small screen doesn't seem feasible. So I'll use a stylus instead.

Dealing with the arrival of this new phone has been unsettling but it's what I've been doing--when I've felt up to it--in the last few days. It's a beautiful phone and I'm trying to treat it well.

I'm astonished to find that these smartphones can be had for $20-$30 now. Thinking I might have to give up on this one, I went looking around to see if I could buy one, and learned how cheap some of them are. I'm glad that I at least got my new toy working well enough so I won't have to buy a phone--or the service. I'll get 750 free minutes a month as well as some texting time. Since I won't be sending any texts if I can possibly help it, I haven't paid much attention to that part. I'm just not much on communicating by this method.

Phone calls have been around all my life but I find texting to be tedious and frustrating. I don't like the way everyone is almost forced to use lots of abbreviations because of the limitations of the medium either.

Abbreviations are fine but when U R having to say tx and brb all the time, it gets to be less communication and more like shorthand.

[Howie]

Agate, I don't even know what a smart phone is. For me, a phone is for talking to someone. My cell phone does that just fine. My laptop gets me online. That's all I need.

[Virginia]

Cat, this is great news! I hope you do get to go home. I know TC will be so glad to have you back, and those dear little cats miss their Mommy. This is good news.

Agate, I am still putting off getting a phone that is more than my flip phone. I know that my fingers will not handle one. Too many years of Raynaud's have left them numb. However, I have checked some prices and they are very expensive and the plans that would be available to me are very expensive. So that is another reason I have put off doing anything. The only reason I would want one is to have Uber and Grubhub. Would like to know that I can call them if I need them, and I can't do that on the flip phone.

I am glad you have a smart phone and it sounds like you are going to be real happy with it. Knowing you, you will have everything about it down pat in no time.