So frustrated!

OH! I am getting so frustrated with this GI doctor's office!! It is impossible to talk to a live person. When his medical assistant called yesterday afternoon and told me there wasn't anything in the chart notes about doing a referral to a surgeon and she'd have to talk to the doctor, I asked how soon we'd be hearing back? She said she wouldn't be able to talk to the doctor about it until this morning. So, of course we hear nothing back this morning. At 10:50 I called and at least figured out how to navigate their menu to get to his assistant (voicemail of course)  and left her a message that I was following up on getting the surgeon appointment. 4 hours later now and still no return call.

I've tried getting through to her two more times and tried 2 other options on their menu to talk to a live person, even choosing "make an appointment" and still get a voicemail. This is ridiculous. While it wasn't emergency surgery he needed last Thursday after his endoscopy, I think a week is more than enough time to get this appointment taken care of! Especially after she found out yesterday that nothing was apparently in the works to get it done.

She's got one more hour to call me back or I'm going to try calling a surgeons office and see if I can set up an a consult appointment myself. I found a surgeons office in the same building as the endoscopy was done (part of the hospital and more than likely who he'd get referred to anyway by the GI) and it says they do gallbladder removal.

Dh is still feeling like crap and at this rate and just keep delaying, he's going to end up back in the hospital with another acute pancreatitis attack. I don't need another $35,000 in hospital bills!! I understand the GI doctor wanted to wait the month to do the endoscopy, to try to let his pancreas inflammation get gone as much as possible, as he said he would be able to see it better. But, now that he knows/thinks it's the gallbladder that is causing it and needs to come out, there is no reason for this stupid delay of getting an appointment for a consult with a surgeon.

UPDATE:

I called his primary care office here in town, first. She said his primary (the one he saw for follow up after getting out of hospital) is only in on Thursdays and Fridays, so won't be in until tomorrow. I explained what it going on and could I chat with her tomorrow about getting this referral done by her, since the GI's office has completely dropped the ball and I can't even get a hold of anyone there. I was still going to call this surgeon's office myself and talk to them and see if I could make an appt. Then his primary care office called me back and said they had just faxed over a referral to a surgeon. It turns out it was the same surgeons office I had found online and was going to call. Rather than wait for them to call me to set up the appointment (and wait who knows how many more days) I waited about a half hour and called them. She said she just got the fax, but hadn't entered anything in her system on it yet. She got right on it and at first she said the earliest available was 10/13, but then she said she can squeeze him in next Friday afternoon, on the 8th. I explained to her what is going on with the GI office and that I've been trying to find out from them for a week and she said "oh, they are the worst to try to get a hold of". I don't know how soon the surgery can get scheduled, but at least we are now moving forward with it all again. I have decided that if he does get another attack where he needs to go to the ER, I'm just then going to take him to the city hospital ER, where hopefully then they would just do emergency surgery to remove that gallbladder then.

I also ended up calling the primary care office back to see about getting him a refill on the omeprazole. When he was discharged from the hospital they gave him 30 days prescription. He ran out like last Sunday and coincidentally he has been feeling worse off since then, so maybe that was helping some. I have asked his GI office 2x now about the omeprazole and have not gotten an answer on that either. I'm sure no later than tomorrow his primary will take care of it and call the refill into the pharmacy. Seems like it might be a good thing for him to continue taking, at least until this gallbladder/pancreas issue is resolved.

Uncle

Without going back over my old posts, I can't remember if/what I have written about my uncle in regards to his will and comments he's made. I know I have talked about the fact that I really don't think he needs to inherit 30% of my mom's money at his age! (almost 80 now) He had told me a couple years ago that since he's not married and no kids, his will was leaving my mom everything and then to me, if she had already died. Again, we're not talking a large estate, by any means, but he does have a small house and a couple cars, one being a show type car. (and supposedly like $20k or something like that in cash a safe deposit box of money my mom gave him a few years ago?? I don't believe that!)

Then a couple weeks ago he called and asked for a copy of her will. He couldn't find his copy. I don't think he ever got the copy of her will that was updated in 2018. That was how I found out about her will change (and durable power of attorney with my step brother) in late 2019. I was visiting her and found 2 copies of her will, one with his name on the outside of it and one with mine. She apparently meant to give us the copies and forgot. Anyhow, I told him we had just changed her will, here locally, so that I would be the executor and not step brother, so I went ahead and emailed him a copy. I never could figure out why he would need a copy of her will to change his?? He said that he was changing his, that since she was more than well off, she didn't need to inherit from him. Again, I'm thinking to myself, what does her will have to do with his? He made it sound like I would be the beneficiary of his estate then, but I didn't press for more details. It's none of my business, really.

Then he calls me Monday. He's still working on his will with an attorney. He was kind of thinking...since I'm going to inherit a bunch of money from my mom, I really don't need to inherit from him, too...he was thinking of leaving it to my 2 kids, but he also mentioned " and all my other (great) nieces and nephews - most of which I've never met". What was I supposed to say to that? Like I'm going to say no, I don't think that's a good idea?! LOL. I just said you do whatever works for you. Like I've said to my mom for years, it's her money. Her decision. He said "well, I don't know if it just seems weird that I'd leave you out? I'm still thinking on it".

So, yesterday morning, after I thought on it some this is the conclusion I came to. If my mom dies first and he inherits 30% of her money, then that (unless he spends it all) is most likely going to be the majority of the money in his estate, when he dies. I was kind of ok with him getting her 30%, as then eventually some of it would just end up back to me, from his will (but more than likely the state will end up with it as he will most likely be in nursing care/medicare by then and they will take any inheritance he might get). But, lets say for some reason he does have quite a bit of it left, when he dies. So, these nieces and nephews (and maybe their kids?) get all his money, that was really my mom's money? haha! Again, another reason I really don't think she needs to leave him 30%! I'd much rather see my step siblings get that money then distant cousins. That money should stay in my parents immediate family, is my feeling.

So, kind of made the decision I've been struggling with, easier, to have my mom change him down to 10% on her beneficiary form with her retirement account and pass that 20% back to my step siblings. It was, after all, largely because of their dad, she has this much money. He made good money in his career and invested well. But, my mom also SAVED it all extremely well.

Then my uncle texts me the next morning: I don't know what I was thinking. You will be in my will. I don't know what I was thinking. I replied: No worries. Like I said and have said to mom over the years. Your money. Your decision. But thank you!

So, when it happens who really knows what it will be, LOL. I'm just not really keen on potentially a whole lot of my mom's money getting passed to relatives who he doesn't even see or talk to. His (and my mom's) deceased brother's 4 kids (my cousins) don't ever contact him. How does he know some of them aren't in the same position as me - set to inherit a bunch of money from their mom (divorced from my deceased uncle) or their spouses parents. I don't really even feel my uncle deserves any of my parents money, let alone it then getting passed on to cousins. Most people leave their estate to their child(ren), not to siblings or grandchildren. My mom's estate should go to her child(ren). I can understand someone super rich, doing that, but we're not talking uber rich here.

If my uncle wants to leave HIS estate to my cousins and not me, that's a-ok with me, but not if it's a result of all my mom's money.

Waiting on follow up

It's sounding like the GI doctor who did the endoscopy last Thursday dropped the ball in moving forward with the consult with a surgeon. The "patient instructions" paperwork they printed out and sent home with us after the endoscopy only mention on the first page  (of 6) "an appointment has been made (or make an appointment) to see a surgeon". No where else was anything mentioned about his gallbladder. Nothing in the "impression" or "recommendations" section. He just told us this verbally. As well as the anesthesiologist came in before the dr. to check on him and said looks like your gallbladder needs to come out. Then the GI dr. came in once he was more awake and explained it all.

So, I called the GI office on Friday and left a message asking to call me (my cell#) as I need to find out if their office handles getting the surgeon consult appt or does his primary dr need to do it? No call back. I called again this morning at 8:30 and left the same message, other than adding I had called Friday, too.

This afternoon the GI dr's medical assistant calls (our landline #) and asks for dh. I tell her I'll talk to her about it. She says she's calling to find out if he had his ultrasound done? I'm like um...well he had an ultrasound done weeks ago, before he even saw Dr S...or do you mean the endoscopy? (because they called it an "endoscopy w/ultrasound" when we were there). She kind of ummm'd and I said well he had the endoscopy with Dr S last Thursday and Dr. S said he needs his gallbladder removed and needs to consult with a surgeon and I've left 2 messages at your office to find out if your office sets that up or we do? She said no, we set that up....but I don't see anything here where Dr. S has that in his notes. I said there isn't anything in the paperwork sent home with dh either. She said she's going to have to talk to Dr. S and find out what is going on. Then she asked how he's feeling and I said not good actually. The past day and a half he's having stomach cramps, diarrhea and feels nauseous and we aren't sure what to do. I said that during the discharge I had asked Dr. S about the omeprazole prescription he was prescribed for 30 days by the dr when he was in the hospital, because he only has 3 days left and is it something he needs to keep taking or ? He didn't really answer me. Said "it's something we can look into". So, I told this assistant that he's been done taking it a few days now, so not sure if that could have anything to do with why his stomach is feeling worse, but she said she'd ask him about that, too. He doesn't have a fever. She just said if he gets really bad, then go back to ER. So, it sounds like basically we are in a wait and see when this surgeon consult is going to get scheduled. I asked when to expect to hear back from her on this and she said it will probably be tomorrow, as the dr is out for the rest of today.

I'm really hoping the consult with a surgeon is able to happen soon and not wait weeks and weeks for it. I see a FB friend of mine (old high school chum) just had her gallbladder out a couple weeks ago and seems to be doing well.

Tuesday this and that

Now that we know the names of the potential new neighbors, and where they live in town, we were able to look them up on our states property listing website. They have different last names. I figured she was at least 70 (by looks) and the fact that she said her daughter is 50 years old. He looked like 70 to me, but hard to tell for sure, other than they said he was retiring in a few months, I figured he couldn't be much older than 70, then. I looked them up on zabasearch. She is 78! and he is only 65! I just cannot imagine being 78 years old and wanting to go through having a house built, but maybe he does most of the details, etc. Geez, by 78 I'm kind of planning on being done with my forever home, LOL. Time for a condo, haha. She must be a very optimistic person, haha. Her dog, she had on a leash, she said was 17 years old. And she's planning on taking her for walks up and down our street once they live here...ummm...that dog will be 18 or 19.....I hope when I am 78 I am that optimistic, haha.

At least this is only a 3 day work week as I'm taking off Thurs and Friday. I was originally planning to take this whole week off, with my friend visiting most of the week, but she would have had to cancel anyway. She is the one who's hubby of 35 years cheated on her with someone like 25 years younger than him. That was I think like 3 years ago now and he's still living with the girlfriend and he and my friend have not divorced. Who knows why they have not divorced, but he caught Covid a couple weeks ago. He's 60 and diabetic, so of course he's been in the hospital and going downhill. At first I guess he told the hospital, when he got admitted, that he only wanted his gf to have info. But, the gf would not at least even tell his daughter what was going on or how he was doing. Then he kept getting worse, and they had to put him on a ventilator and sedate him. Well, apparently the gf doesn't even know all his health issues, to pass on info to the healthcare team. Finally, she and my friend had a come to Jesus moment and she agreed to add her for contact and updates, at least for his daughters sake. Then a few days ago he was doing really bad, so they transferred him to a larger hospital. He is showing improvement there, but still by no means out of the woods. And who do you suppose is going to end up with all the hospital bills to pay? Not the gf, that's for sure! I feel so bad for my friend, she's had a rough few years and now this.

The cat toys and cat carrier I ordered arrived yesterday. The toys are a big hit, especially the scratching post with the spinning feather toys on top, but I'm disappointed it's not heavy enough in the base and he keeps tipping it over. It's kept him busy (and off my desk) though. Yesterday I renamed him the tiny terror, LOL. He did nap a bit more, though had to do it right in front of me or half on my keyboard.

The company I work for is in a suburb city, but for quite a few years we've had a small satellite office in the city. Right downtown. Well, our lease renewal came up a few months ago and they were increasing it something like 25% or 30%. Just crazy. My boss said the building was half empty of tenants, if anything they should have been lowering the rate. Not to mention the homelessness has exploded there. We had also put a lot of TI (tenant improvements) into the space when we moved in. In the end we decided not to renew the lease and seek another office space. My boss was there yesterday, overseeing the move out. She said that the restaurant tenant on the ground floor had to close up. Between Covid, the homeless taking over, and the huge rent increase, they couldn't afford to stay open. after being there almost 20 years. Just sad. I can't even imagine what this once beautiful city is even going to look like in another 10 years. 

DH was saying the other day that he should just start thinking like a libertarian and think all drugs should be legal. Let them do drugs if they want. I said yes, but all the addiction does is ruin every thing around it as evidenced by all these neighborhoods and cities overtaken by the drug addicts. Not to mention what it does to families. And we as taxpayers and just paying for it all in the end.

My Monday rant

Oh Mondays! So much fun and it's payroll day, which is almost always a problem. Let's see, I'm getting an error message trying to code a day of no pay for one employee. Can't get through to anyone at the payroll company (was on hold for a half hour and finally hung up) so I sent an email an hour ago. Then the payroll system kept freezing up and finally for a good hour I couldn't even access it. 

And dh is just on his constant rant about everything under the sun. Every. Single. Day. Yesterday he's back to convinced if that couple buys the 2 lots it's just going to be the end of his peaceful life. Get this - he's mad because when the couple walked up to our fence to chat with dh, the guy put his hands on top of the fence rail and leaned on it "like he owns it". OMG! Who cares if someone stands there with there hands or arms resting on top of the rail? Just ridiculous.

And now for some reason, it appears the major airport at the city near us has changed their flight path into the airport and now we have commercial airplanes going overhead all day. Very strange. We are north of the flight path and have never had this before, at all. Just another thing to get on the nerves he doesn't have any left of. And then he reads some stupid news article that now motorcycle drivers in our state will be able to split lanes and off on a rant about that. 

Then he wants to argue with me about his blood pressure. Pretty much the whole time at the hospital it was high, it's been high at every appointment. Of course the nurses taking it comment on it, say ok, I'm going to take it again when you are done seeing the doctor, and of course they never do. And whenever it's brought up/suggested he may need to go onto bp medication he just says "oh, it's always been a little high". Like that's normal for him, so it's not a problem. Then I heard him talking to a friend on the phone the other night saying "ya, my dad had high bp, too. it's just how we are". OMG. So, this morning I remembered him saying that and said "your dad was on BP medication!". Geez, he just didn't ignore it. It's not like he and his dad are some special cases where high bp isn't harming them. He says he's not taking medicine, it just makes him sick. I said most people tolerate bp meds very well, once their dosage is figured out and you won't know until you try. Not to mention you are now taking a prostate med and not having any problems with it, so you can't say the bp med would be a problem. Then he says he doesn't care.  I said well, I'm the one who's going to have to  pay all the medical bills and take care of you if you have a stroke or a heart attack! So, then he wants to rant some more about the same thing he was ranting about 2 hours earlier. 

I am so tired of him not acting like an adult and me having to act like his mom. He can't even take his own medication in the mornings (now takes the prostate med, and 2 vitamin supplements). He needs to take it a half hour after he eats, so I have to set my timer on my phone to remind myself to give him his medication! Good grief. He's a grown ass adult. 

Yesterday when I was coming back from the store a car in front of me pulled into our street (out of state plates) driving real slow as they pull in. I'm trying patiently wait behind them as we crawl down the road so I can get to my gate. Finally they realize someone is behind them about midway along our fence, between our 2 gates. They got over as far as they could and stopped and I went around them and pulled into our gate and then they continued on down the street. Most likely here to look at the lots for sale. DH saw this through the window and when I got into the garage he's throwing a fit "did they pull off onto the grass there along the front of the fence?! I said no, I don't think so, they just pulled pulled over to the edge of the road. Then he's ranting about that, so he goes outside to see if there are tire marks on the lawn (there wasn't). At that time our neighbor from down at the end of the street is pulling in so she stops to say hi/chat with dh. It sounds like he was just doing a bunch of complaining to her and she told him "it'll be ok". So, now for the past 2 days I've had to listen to him complaining she said that to him. . It never ends.

He is basically now back to the same person he was before we moved here. Just non stop complaining and every thing around him bothers him and he's just miserable. I even told him a week or so ago, well, if moving here didn't help him, then nothing is going to. He wants me to spend time with him outside, but every time I do (we just walk around our property, checking plants, etc) he spends the whole walk pointing out all the things that are wrong, or were built wrong, or he did it wrong in building/designing it. 

I haven't heard back on the message I left the GI dr office on Friday, asking if they are making the surgeon appointment/referral or we are supposed to have his primary dr. do it. Guess I'll have to call again after lunch. I did call that radiologist company on the billing and she said they got a reply back from his insurance that he wasn't eligible those dates. I said he was eligible with them through 9/4 and they processed all the other claims on the same dates, so she is going to submit it again.  

Ok, I'm done ranting. He wears on me, that's for sure. And I'm still not even able to get started on payroll because I can't get one day coded for one person. Dumb. Oh, and here goes by another small airplane (that air traffic has really increased too, for some reason).

Sunday ramblings

Even though the couple we talked to yesterday said they are buying the lots, it also didn't appear to be a done deal quite yet and there must not be an offer in (or if so, not accepted yet) as the listings are not marked pending yet. But, it sounded like they were very serious. They said he also has some of his own excavating equipment (being stored somewhere) so he can do his own site prep. That would probably speed things up, not having to wait on "excavator guy" LOL. And maybe they'll have a better builder, who brings out more than 2 guys to build a big house. She said they were heading back to their other house today, so it doesn't sound like they'll be back for a couple of weeks. She said they come every  2 weeks, but I'm not sure how long they stay, when they come over here.

It will be a slow process, just as it was with us. If they could close on it right away, it still unlikely he could get much site work done before winter and freezing sets in. We also heard there is a year wait in this county to get a well drilled. While that may be an exaggeration, I'll bet it's not far off. We are just glad it's an older couple, who also said they just want peace and quiet. Living next door to a young family with kids would not be peaceful.

DH got the gutters cleaned out yesterday, so that is done until next spring again. He also worked out in his shop to discard more stuff. He threw out (except he saved a few) all the old magazines, some old nextel 2 way phone/radios (god, I hated those things!) and I don't know what else. He emptied out 6 bins and freed up a pallet to get stacked with his other empty pallets (in the garage now). I don't think he threw away 6 bins of stuff, so I need to ask him where he put the stuff he didn't throw out, LOL. But, with that pallet of bins no longer sitting on the floor of his shop, he freed up another 16 sq ft of floor space. I know our huge garbage can is full. He did find the wood toilet seat that my grandpa made that I used to have in our guest bathroom for years. I don't even know if it will fit on our new toilets, as I think the new ones are more elongated now, but dh will take a look. It would be nice to use it again and be reminded of my sweet grandpa.

My mom did well last week. No phone problems and she sounded good. Though she did call me about 8:30 last night as she was looking at something on her computer and couldn't get it to close. Apparently no X anywhere to get off the page and from what she was describing I have no idea what she was on. Something about create an account. I was saying to myself "please don't ask me how to get on your banking, please don't ask me how to get on your banking". LOL. She didn't and I didn't ask if that's what she was trying to do. She hasn't asked me about her banking in several months now, which has been so nice. I just told her to shut her computer down and that would take care of the problem.

I have a bunch of overripe bananas so I'll probably make banana bread today. I thought about it yesterday, but after mopping, dusting and cleaning some windows, I didn't feel like it. Then spent 2 hours outside when we were chatting with that couple.

I've been waiting for an ebook through the library and it now says I'm #3 on 3 copies...um....so shouldn't that mean one is available now? LOL.  

The cat carrier I ordered arrived yesterday, so now I can take kitty in to the vet here soon. I'm kind of waiting to hear when dh's surgeon consult is, as my luck it'll get scheduled the same time I make a vet appointment. I used to have a cat carrier, but gave it to dd when she decided to keep our old cat, and then she got another cat after he died, so she's just kept it. Speaking of kitty, it's becoming a job to try to type all this out every morning with a cat pouncing on my keyboard. Not to mention, he'll get down and play awhile and then suddenly run and jump into my lap, digging his sharp claws into the side of my leg to get up. Ouch!! I'm only wearing my pj pants, so not much to protect myself. I need to bring a blanket in my office to lay over my legs.

I need to call my mom in about an hour or so, to make sure she gets her pill box filled up for the week.

Sold

Well, the 2 lots next to us are getting sold. One couple is buying both lots, so that is great. One more neighbor instead of 2. And we just talked to them for like 2 hours. SUPER nice couple. They are the older couple we saw out here a few weeks ago looking. They've lived in town for the past 10 years, but part time as they also have a home in Eastern Washington that they go back and forth between the 2. Sounds like they talked the guy down in price for the lots since they are buying both lots and are getting both for like $315,000. It'll probably take a couple years to get it all done, but it sounds like they will build a nice home and a shop and like to have nice landscaping, too. He's retiring in a few months, so that is why they want to build, as they will be living over here full time. And they want something bigger than what they live in now, in town. I think him and dh will get along great, he comes from a construction background, too. Also, as most people we meet here, they share the same conservative values. She seemed like a sweetheart and likes to quilt, so I told her she'll have to teach me how, as I've always wanted to learn. I can just see it now, dh will be over there every day helping the guy with their house build, LOL. But, I still can't imagine being in my 70's (she said her daughter is 50) and wanting to build a big house.

So, I didn't make it into town to get a few groceries. I was heading out to the shop to tell dh I was going to do that and saw him over at the fence talking with them, so I walked over to say hi and 2 hours later, it's now time to make some dinner. I'll just go tomorrow morning.

Hopefully, this is all turning out good, with nice new neighbors some day down the road.

Antics

Yesterday, while sitting at my desk and the kitty playing around me I hear this commotion going on under my desk. What is the world? Oh, just this!

Apparently there is a hole under my desk into the cabinet. LOL. I think he's putting some weight on. His spine and hips don't feel so bony now.

DH isn't feeling very well this morning, but not one of the things on the list to "watch for" after the endoscopy, so I doubt it's related (or if it is, not an issue) and I wouldn't think he'd have a problem (fever, nausea, vomiting) 2 days after. Seems like if there was some complication it would have shown up fairly quickly. Could be the burger he ate Thursday on our way home. I read it takes about 36 hours for food to pass all the way through...

Nice to wake up this morning and it's only Saturday and still have 2 days left of the weekend, after already having 2 days off.

I think today I am going to stain the whiskey barrel planters we have. They are kind of just a natural unstained color and we were saying yesterday they'd look better darker, to match the 2 we put at the front entrance and I think they'd stand out more against the rockery. We have extra stain and I think some leftover in a darker color. Shouldn't be too hard to grab a rag and wipe some stain on the barrels.

DH had an old friend call last night. I don't think he knew of dh's medical problems (he's not on Facebook), he just called to say hi and have their semi annual 4 hour chat LOL.

I didn't get a call back from the GI dr office to answer my question if they set up the appointment with the surgeon or we do it through his primary dr. I re-read the paperwork we took home and now do see where there is a sentence in the first section that says an appointment will be made with surgeon. I have a feeling their office was closed Friday or they probably only work a half day.

I need to run into town today and get a few groceries. I'll probably go into the city again next Thursday or Friday (days off) and pick up a big grocery order.  I'm hearing TP is getting rationed again, but thankfully I've been stocking up this whole past year and we have plenty. Water must be getting bought up, as the last couple of times they've substituted me different brands. I like the Dasani water, but I'm not paying that price.

We took a hike down the game trail on our river bank yesterday. Peaceful and quiet.

Our dog is not a swimmer, but he did wade in up to his belly. Finally, nice temps out and no smoke in the air.

Friday tasks

Nothing much to update today. Kitty has been up since 6:30 and non-stop playing and mischief. He won't take a nap, but I need one now. Dh is feeling ok today. Not super energetic and his voice is a little hoarse, but he's heading out to get the lawn mowed today. This might be a good time for me to put kitty in his crate and go take a nap, haha!

I'm glad I decided to take today off work. I have a call into the GI doctors office. I missed the part (if it was even clarified) that said if it was his office that would be setting up the referral for a consult with a surgeon or if we are supposed to have his primary care dr do that. The discharge paperwork they sent home didn't say. It's kind of strange. The paperwork even has color pictures from the scope done and the results and "recommendations", but nothing in the paperwork says about needing the gallbladder out. 

We're feeling a bit nervous about currently having only one working vehicle. Before dh got sick and went into the hospital he tried calling this transmission place he wants to have put in the new transmission in his truck, but they never called back. He called there twice and left messages. My car is now 11 years old and over 130,000 miles. While it runs fine (knock on wood), you never know at this point. If I broke down, he couldn't even come and get me, or if we had to put my car in the shop, we have no other vehicle to use. So, we are contemplating this situation. We are the folks, that unless we plan ahead and make sure all our bases our covered, crap always goes wrong. So, I just know that most likely, while his truck is down, my car will decide to break down. It's just the way our life has always worked out.

I just received a medical bill in the mail from some imaging company for the ct scans and xrays dh had while in the hospital. I'm not sure exactly what service they performed, as the hospital billing already has these scans listed and charged. Maybe to read them? It's for 3 CT scans and 2 xrays for a total of $765. It says insurance was billed but shows no adjustment or payment by insurance, and when I log into the insurance it doesn't show any claims from this company or this amount. I tried to call them, but they are closed at noon on Fridays, so I'll have to wait. It appears they billed insurance, didn't receive anything back from insurance, so just billed me in full. So many details to stay on top of with all this. Everything else I've been billed for, so far, I can see the claim on the insurance log in and the patient balance is matching what they are billing me. This claim doesn't even exist on insurance list of claims, not even as an "In process" claim. Ok, I looked up this company and it is apparently for a radiologist to read the scans. I'm not paying until I see that insurance has processed a claim, so I'll call them Monday morning.

Ok, I'm going to take a nap.

It's the gallbladder for the win

The endoscopy is done. They did put dh completely under for it, so now the charge makes sense...I guess, haha. Still so expensive for less than an hour. The end result is the dr thinks it is his gallbadder (and the sludge) causing the pancreatitis and he is recommending a consult with a surgeon as he feels it's best to have removed. So, that will be next on the agenda.

There was about an hour of checking in and prep time and I got to stay back there for that. Then they took him back for the procedure and I went back out to the waiting room. I waited about an hour and they came and got me to take me back as he was getting woke up. He was coughing a lot at first. And totally loopy!!! I'm like OMG, stop talking! haha! The nurse kept offering him water or juice and he kept saying "can I have Mountain Dew?" LOL. He kept asking "who woke me up?". That lasted a good 15 minutes or so and then he started getting normal and the dr came in and explained it all. Then he got dressed and walked out of there. Hungry, LOL. We stopped at McDonalds on the way home and he got lunch to eat on the way home. 

He's doing fine, though says his throat is a little sore, which is to be expected. Hopefully once the gallbladder is gone he'll start to feel much better.

Cat, call, and appointments

It's been awhile since I've had a kitten. Most of our cats (all rescues) were at least 6 months old when we got them. Playful and busy, aren't they?! LOL. More so today, as he seems to have 100% settled in here.

Last night we let him free roam the house. He was pretty intimidated at first, but then spent most of the  evening with me on the couch. At one point I put him back in his crate up in my office, which he apparently didn't like one little bit. I went back up a little later to find he had tipped over water and food and made a mess.

Today, I am just leaving his cage door open so he can go in and out (which he does often to eat and drink) and now that dh is up and about, I'm leaving my office door open. He did follow me partially downstairs while I was doing stuff in the kitchen and just stayed on the stairs observing. I need cat toys, but for now he's decided the 2 bottles of eye drops that were on my desk make good toys on the floor. Either that or he is on my desk trying to catch my cursor as I move it around on my screen. Like I said, busy little guy.

DD has tried several different cat litter systems over the past few years and settled on one she likes, so I think I will try it. She uses the Purina Tidy Cats Breeze litter system. It uses pellets instead of sand type litter and she just orders the refills on Amazon subscribe and save, every couple of months.

I got caught up with another month completed at work. Boss is happy and now I'm working on July stuff. Almost there! I really can't get caught up much more than 2 months out, as we don't get all our reports and info from some of our manufacturer's until 4-6 weeks after a month ends, then it takes me a couple weeks to get it all entered and reconciled. So, if I can get caught up with July by the end of this month I will consider myself caught up. That might be hard to do, though, as I have 2 days off this week and 2 days off next week, so I'm probably not going to get July done, but hopefully will by the first week of October.

DH has his endoscopy tomorrow morning. From reading the instructions that were mailed it kind of sounds like he is not put under anesthesia, just given something to make him drowsy and relaxed and then the "tube can be swallowed with surprising ease". Ok...if they say so, LOL. But, the estimate of (almost $6000!) costs I got from his "mychart" with the hospital includes $1440 for general anethesia, so I guess I will find out for sure if they put him under or not and make sure I don't pay for that if, they don't.

I have a call into the urology office nurse to call me back to explain to me why he's basically having a duplicate appointment of the appointment he just had Friday! Dr. told him he wanted him back in 3 months for a biopsy. So, if for some reason they need a second PSA blood test done, ok, but if it's just going to show same and he still needs a biopsy, then just tell him that over the phone and schedule the biopsy. He doesn't need another appointment to just tell him the same thing he was told on Friday! Just schedule the dang biopsy.

Update: Right after I posted this the urology nurse calls me back. OMG. I don't know why things have to be so confusing. I knew I should have gone back with dh. DH came out the car and said "ok. My PSA is 7.3. At my age that means I have a 1 in 4 chance of it being cancer, so I should have a biopsy to see if it is. I told the dr. I wanted to get through this pancreatitis and endoscopy stuff first and he said no problem, I can have it done in 3 months and someone will call me down the road to schedule it".

Nurse tells me the chart notes say that dr recommended the biopsy but patient declined at this time due to his other issues going on and would like to have his PSA retested in 6 weeks. I asked her if it was likely his PSA would change in 6 weeks, and she said well, it might go up and then dr would again recommend the biopsy. I said, but it's not like it's going to go down and no biopsy needed? well, not likely. Ok, then, there is no reason to retest it in 6 weeks, just to be told he still needs the biopsy. I said I would talk to my dh to make sure he will have the biopsy, but I'm pretty sure that's what he will do, so she said to just call back and let the front desk know. Good grief.

Meow

Well, this is certainly a friendly "people" kitty. He loves me already, LOL. I'm keeping him in my office for now, and shut my door and opened the cage. After a little petting, he came out on his own and wouldn't leave me alone. Likes to get up on my shoulder and rub his head against my head. I finally had to put him back in the cage, so I could respond to a work email. Stupid work. LOL.

He was a little miffed at me for putting him back in, but now is calm and stopped meowing.

While I've been wanting a cat for quite awhile, I didn't really want a kitten, LOL. Only because we live so far from a vet, that to take it in for all it's series of kitten shots is going to be a pain in the butt. I would have adopted a cat or at least an older kitten with all it's shots. Oh well, apparently this little one chose us, so that's what we will deal with. Now that he has food available he should start filling out and growing.

Last evening we all, even the dog, sat up in my office on the floor and let kitty get to know us. The dog was more afraid it it then the kitty was of the dog, LOL. 

DH got his covid test results on his mychart already and negative so good to go for his endoscopy on Thursday. Dumb that this hospital can have the results in less than 24 hours but the hospital here in town couldn't guarantee it even in 3 days. But, if we hadn't had to go into the city hospital and hadn't pulled up to our driveway right when we did, we'd most likely have never seen this poor kitten out there all alone, so it was meant to be. I doubt it would last much longer out there by itself. It's so young I doubt it even knows how to hunt for anything.

My mom's senior living place just started a new thing where family can log in and see what activities their person is partaking in and what the activity schedule is. That will be handy. I can even notify them through that if she's going to be away, visiting me for a couple days.

So this happened

We were pulling up to our driveway after going to get dh covid tested and just on the other side of the gate was a little kitten! OMG. Then it ran down into the culvert pipe. Meow meow. But wouldn't come to us. I had a new unopened bag of cat food in the house (from when that stray adult cat was hanging around our back door that week or so, months ago) so I put some in food in a bowl and tried to tempt it that way. It ran out the other end of the culvert, zipped across the lawn and into the other culvert, LOL. Oh boy. But, there was no way I wasn't going to try to rescue this little thing.

DH took awhile, but found our animal trap (one of those Haveaheart traps that don't injure the animal). We blocked one end of the culvert and put the trap at the other end with the food in it and went back into the house. Within 10 or 15 minutes kitty went inside.  I then had dh get out our old dog wired crate to set up. Originally for our dogs, when they were young and crated. Then we used for a while with our 2 barn cats until they got acclimated. DH set it up in my office and we put the kitten in there. It was scared but didn't seem mean. It got right to business, eating. A little while later I knelt down next to the cage and kitty started purring. Well, shoot, can't be too mean. I opened up and started petting it and warmed right up to me so I took it out and we loved on each other some. It's a little purr monster. 

Then I figured I'd better get some cat litter and a litter box soon. I didn't even know if our little grocery store in town would have a litter box! Maybe the little hardware store would. But, thankfully they had some litter boxes on the top shelf of the cat food area. I got some kitten chow, the litter box, liners and liners for the box. 

Ok, so is it a boy or a girl? I'm pretty sure it's a boy. Not that I've ever even looked with any of our previous cats. LOL. We'd just either get them already knowing what they were or the vet told me. haha. 

Most likely someone dumped it off. It doesn't belong to our neighbors and then the next nearest neighbors are a mile away. And it's been on it's own for at least a little while, seeing how skinny and bony it is. Who knows how long it's been out there in the culvert trying to stay alive.There isn't anything on the lost pets Facebook page of anyone missing a kitten. How did the universe know I've been wanting a cat? LOL. And it's orange. Our previous cat was orange, too. DD said are you keeping it? Heck ya I am!

Round and round the merry go round

On Friday Dh had gone back to his urology appointment by himself. He made sure he listened to what the plan is and got in the car and told me right then so I'd know/remember, too. He said the dr. said the blood work at the hospital showed his PSA at 7.3, which for his age means a 25% chance it could be cancerous. He said the next step is a biopsy, done in the office, to see, but it wasn't a rush and since dh was dealing with his pancreas stuff right now, he wants him back in 3 months to do this. Ok.

Then this morning a lady from his office calls to schedule a PSA blood test in 6 weeks. DH says I thought we were doing this in 3 months? No, it says 6 weeks. So, he needs a blood test and then come in for another appointment a week after that. Dh says is this to do the biopsy? She says no, just to discuss the blood test. Dh was just confused, but said ok and wrote the dates down for the blood test and the appointment.

This is dumb. Unless there's a chance his PSA goes down (highly unlikely it seems from what I read), why test it again? And if it is just to double check and high and he needs the biopsy then just schedule the biopsy. He doesn't need another appointment to come in and tell him he needs a biopsy. He just did that! I'm going to call the office back this afternoon and figure this out. 1. We don't need to pay for another "consult" appointment when from what dh understood, he needs the biopsy done and 2. we don't need another trip out in public to be exposed to Covid. If they want him to go into the lab here in town (that's where she's sending the order) and the results are the same and he needs a biopsy, then just tell him over the phone and schedule it. Why have another appointment to do the same thing he just did on Friday?

In additional news, his prescription for this is now covered by his new insurance. I think the first 30 days I filled (with no coverage) was around $20 (but I can't remember for sure, as I had filled 4 prescriptions total for almost $100), but with his new insurance the 30 day supply was a whopping $2.42. 

This morning we are leaving to go to the city to get his covid test done for the upcoming endoscopy. I showed dh on an online map exactly where we are going and told him the lady said it's ok to pull up to the sidewalk where they do the testing facing the wrong direction. He just needs to be on the side of the sidewalk when he rolls down his window and since he'll be driving, he needs to face the wrong way on the street, but she said that is fine. I figured showing and telling him all this ahead of time will save much aggravation when we get there! Now he knows exactly where were are going.

Lost and found

And of course the phone was found. Of course I looked in all the "hard" to reach areas first. In her recliner cushions, under recliner, in her loveseat cushions. Behind her desk. As I'm taking her bedding a part to make sure it's not down between blankets in the back of my mind was "where is her charger??" I went back to where she had plugged it in (per the Fri eve phone call) and no charger. Wasn't in her desk drawers or kitchen drawers. I went back to her bedroom and the 2nd dresser drawer I opened there it was. Plain as day! with the charger still plugged into it. Who knows why she put it there. She didn't even recognize it as her phone, since it's new and looks different. My only guess is that she didn't want to take it with her to watch tv at her bf's Friday evening and of course she didn't want any of those pesky people that always come in her apartment to take stuff, to take her phone, so she put it in the drawer. Again, who knows with her mind as it is now.

The battery was dead, so I plugged it in again next to her coffee pot and told her to leave it there at least a couple hours. I had her call her bf, to let him know it was found. The whole time I was searching for it she kept telling me someone must have taken it. I said nobody broke into your apartment. Your door and lock is fine. "well, maybe someone that lives here needed a phone and took it". I said well, they'd have to break your door lock to get in, since only you have the key and if someone did, they haven't used it, because there are no calls showing for it since you lost it. As soon as I realized the charger was missing too, I knew it had to be with the phone, so not down a seat cushion or at her bf's apartment somewhere.

I didn't stay much longer after that and headed back home to salvage some of the rest of my day, haha.

Busy Sunday ahead

Well, my mom didn't find her phone. I just tried calling it one more time this morning in hopes she found it, but it still just goes to voicemail. So, I will have to go in to see her today to look for it. I got online with a Verizon chat agent to ask if I can't find the phone can I reactivate her old phone and if so can do it over the phone or do I need to go to a store. I was told due to the age and it being 3g old flip phone, once it was deactivated it cannot be reactivated. Hopefully, I find it, otherwise I am heading to the store to get another one. I'm going to just go by myself, if I have to do that. Wish me luck to find it.

Even though I love home decorating, I'm not one to decorate for fall, or any season, other than Christmas. Just too much work, LOL. Plus, I'd say for the most part my home is already fall colors. Not to mention with my new favorite color being pumpkin/cinnamon/burnt orange (there are various names), it fits right in with fall. My latest cheap purchase was this throw blanket for $10 from Amazon. It's very soft, I was actually surprised at the quality for the price.

Other than all the Christmas holiday decor for a month or so, I don't like changing the "theme" all the time. I don't want my house to look different every few months. 

Ha! just as I figured. Dh has been saying off and on for months (or even past couple years) he wants to change his cell phone # to a local area code/prefix. I finally looked it up on Verizon how to do it (it's easily done online) so I told him that and said ok, are you ready for me to pull the trigger? Um....no I guess not yet....I laughed and said exactly what I figured! He's had the same phone number since the beginning of cell phones, he won't change. LOL. What brought it up Saturday was when we were checking him in the dr's office and they asked for phone number contact (I always just give mine), later he was like "I hate giving out a different area code that shows I'm not from here. I want to change it". I said go ahead, I'll just keep mine. Too tied to work and too many people that I'm not interested in changing it. Then he says well, just do it. Then when it comes right down to it, he doesn't do it. LOL.

There's a Facebook group I follow for past several years. They run a dog boarding place as well as a dog rescue. It's family run with a couple extra employees it sounds like. One of their employees got Covid, then the main owner lady got, now her (adult) son has it. All have been vaccinated already. But, the really disturbing news is her employee. So sad. She's probably not going to make it and has been in the hospital for weeks now. The kicker - this lady 1) already had covid and 2) got vaccinated. And here she is fighting for her life (and a fairly young person, to boot). It appears there are no guarantees with any of this, is there? 

ok - Not!

Ok, so I guess I'm not ready to weekend..........my mom has lost her new cell phone. OMG. Her boyfriend guy calls me this morning to tell me she lost it. I only talked to him, not her. I said she had it at just before 7pm last evening as she called me trying to get her charger plugged in for it. I had told her to leave it charging for a couple hours and she said she was going to bf's apartment at 7:30 to watch tv for the evening. He says she didn't have her phone with her last evening. But, she always just keeps it in her pants pocket, so not sure how he'd even know if she had it. And by 7:30 she would have totally not remembered how long her phone had been on the charger. All's her mind is going to think is she has to take her phone with her everywhere. Just like she ALWAYS locks her apartment door and has her keys. She won't even go down to the end of the hall, like when we went to move her wash into the dryer (like 2 minutes) and come right back, without locking her door.

So, she's convinced someone went into her apartment and stole it while she was down at her bf's apartment. He says they've searched everywhere and keep dialing it from his phone, so he guesses someone did go in her apartment and take it. OMG. First off no one broke into her apartment. Second off, no one is going to steal a $60 flip phone! I told him I'm going to let her keep looking for it today and if it's still not found I'll come in tomorrow and figure out what to do. I know if I go in today or go get her another phone (or reactivate her old one) it will of course show up.

Then about 15 minutes later she called me from one of the downstairs office phones they let her use. She's totally frazzled and out of it, when she gets that way about something her memory is totally shot. I answered and she said "something happened...I'm not sure what..." I said your BF just called me and told me your phone is lost. Oh right...she says. Then I said I'm sure it just got misplaced somewhere or fell out of your pocket either in your apartment or his. She says they've looked all over, someone must have taken it from her apartment. I said no, I really doubt that. And then I hear her asking the lady that works there if the apartments are easy to get into when locked and I could hear her assuring my mom they are not and only a couple people have master key and she is one of them and she was the only one on duty last evening. I also told her to look in her bedding, as one time she lost it and that's where I found it (at her previous apartment)

A while later I thought I'll bet it's in her pants pocket in her laundry basket. I called her BF and he said they did look in there, even looked in the fridge! LOL. And she's constantly fiddling with her phone (new and old) and messing up the volume for ringer and calls. Probably why they can't hear it ringing, where ever it is. My guess is it's fallen down a chair or sofa cushion and they can't hear it ringing.

So, I'm hoping it's found today. Otherwise I guess I'm heading back in tomorrow morning to look for it and if I can't find it, either go get her another one or just have them reactivate her old one back on. DH was like "did she have a hot date last night and lose it?" I said I'm pretty sure that's what most likely did happen, LOL. I'll bet money it's somewhere in his apartment.

And it's obvious I do need to get her a landline phone as a backup. If I go in tomorrow (or next time, if she finds it) I'll ask at the front desk who is the service provider to use for landline service. I'm not sure if it's the same as the cable/wi-fi company, but it probably is.

Ready to weekend

DH had his urology appointment yesterday. I guess in the hospital one of the tests showed his PSA level, as well as the scan showed his prostate enlarged. The medication is working well and at the PSA level, along with his age (making it a more average psa level), the doctor said he's ok with waiting a few months, once he's past dealing with this pancreas stuff. Then it sounds like he'd like to do a biospy, just to make sure it's not cancer, since it is elevated a bit.

Again, going to doctors offices around here is so much easier and less stressful then living in a major metropolitan area. No traffic. Easy ample parking. We know exactly when to leave our house. The drive is 40 min, but easy (and for once dh didn't spend the whole time complaining about everything). This office was right near where my mom lives, just a few minutes off the freeway exit. The weather was cooler so dh decided to take our dog with us for the ride and we'd just leave him in the car with windows down a bit. But, after I got him checked in with his insurance, etc. the sun came out. We decided dh could be a big boy and go back to his appointment and discuss with the doctor by himself, while I went back to the car to sit with doggo and make sure it wasn't too warm. Mostly, ever since our other dog died, this dog cannot stand being alone. He whines and cries, poor guy. He had never been alone his whole life. Even if we left for awhile, the other dog was with him. I was going to take him out for a little walk (this office is right on the edge of a neighborhood), but then realized I never put his collar back on, so the leash in the car didn't much good. Then of course, later I thought, well, you dummy, you could have just made a loop with the leash that would have worked fine. DH did fine on his own.

Then we went to the grocery store and I ran in and got what we were out of. Next stop was Wendy's. I told dh just to get a single cheeseburger, but of course he still got a double, but no fries. He said last night he was feeling it a bit, but we'll see how he's doing today. For the most part, I think it settled ok with his pancreas issue, though obviously good it's not part of his regular diet. Since this was like 3:30 when we ate, later that evening he did have some pears and a salad.

Monday we drive back for a Covid test. Since we have an appointment for that and it's obviously quick, I might do up a grocery order to pick up at Walmart on our way home. Or maybe not, it's kind out out of our way, from where the covid testing is done.

Somehow my mom keeps dialing me, not meaning to call. Probably good thing I'm first on her contacts list, so probably why I keep getting called. For whatever reason she apparently just keeps fiddling with it and the buttons and then says "oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to call you". She called me yesterday while trying to plug in the charger. How, I have no idea, LOL. Yesterday evening's call, she did manage to get the charger plugged in but disonnected from me mid sentence. So I called her back to make sure she got it plugged in and then she said I'm really loud, it is loud on my end? I always have to explain to her that no, it's her volume on her phone, so I told her where the side button is and she got it turned down. This side button is at least easier for her to use, it seems, then her old phone. (Plus I had already learned where it was, as this is a common issue with her).

It was nice not working yesterday. I finished a book. It's an author I have been reading for years and years. I was disappointed to see him blatantly plug in his political views in the storyline. I honestly don't recall reading that in any of his previous books, of which there are many. I guess everybody's gotta make sure they do nowadays. I'm also guessing, that since this is a newer book, it hasn't been as popular, because usually for newer releases I have to wait weeks, if not months, and I don't even think I had to wait on this one, just out last year.

DH wants blueberry muffins for breakfast this morning (he's not up yet) and also mentioned the other evening cake sounded good. He was looking in the pantry and wanted me to make one that evening. I'm like it takes hours to cool down before you can put the frosting on - I'm not making it tonight! LOL. I'll make him one today. I think I have chocolate or a funfetti mix.

DH wants to change his cell phone number to be local number from here with this area code. I just figured out I can do that online with Verizon, so once's he's up I'll tell him that and make sure that's what he wants before I pull the trigger for him. I guess it will give several choices for the last 4 numbers, so i will let him choose. Eventually, I'll probably do same, but since it appears to change right away, I have to do it when I can also change my phone number in my mom's contacts, so she can call me without any confusion (well, no more than she already has).

Just looking at Zillow, it doesn't appear these 2 lots next to us have many views (compared to other houses and properties in the area). There at one point was 4 or 5 saves on one lot. Now they are down to 2 saves. 77 views is all in 40 some days.

Yay Friday and more doctors

Another thing I just thought of, in relation to getting tax breaks or discounts on dh's medical bills, is with the amount I am going to have to pay out this year, we should more than qualify for the healthcare deduction on the tax return. The total I will pay out should exceed greatly the 7.5% threshold, so that will also help reduce my tax due on my return (at least for the portion I don't pay out of my HSA). In a quick estimate I should be able to claim an additional $10k of the medical expenses on my itemized deductions, lowering my tax owed for this year.

I'm so glad we put in a heat pump for our heating and a/c system. Running the a/c all summer long in 95-100 degree heat and my highest electric bill this summer was only $125. And having a/c that does the whole house comfortable, rather than a window unit (like we had for years and years) is so much better. Right now were in the in between month where we don't need a/c or much heat. I have turned the heat on a little bit a couple of mornings, but then it's warmed up to 70's outside for the day.

Since the week dh went in the hospital I have cut way down my calorie intake per day. I ate small light dinners the 9 days he was gone. Then since he's been out, he's been trying to eat what works for him, which for the past month now most of his dinners are either an omelette or soup. Most of the days he has an omelette I just have a bowl of cereal for dinner, though sometimes I make myself an omelette (now that I'm an expert omelette maker, LOL). I rarely have an evening snack anymore. Have I lost any weight? Nope. What the heck?!

This afternoon is his appointment with the urologist. This was a secondary issue the hospital doctors noticed and recommended he have checked out. They also gave him a prescription of Flomax to start taking and he has noticed a big difference since starting that. Hopefully that is all that's wrong and this doctor today will just say carry on with taking it. If he does, he current bottle runs out Sunday. Our town pharmacy isn't open on weekends so I'd have to get in there before they close today and not sure if we can make it back in time, depending how long his appt. lasts. I might ask the dr if he has any samples of it he can give until I can go in Monday and get filled - or better yet, if he did have like a week or 10 days worth, I could just then have them call in the prescription to the mail order pharmacy with his insurance. That's usually a cheaper route and get 90 days worth at a time. If not, I'll get the 30 days at our local pharmacy and switch to mail order after that.

After the appt. we'll run over the to grocery store so I can run inside and get some things we're out of. I'm making dh stay in the car. He doesn't need to get covid before he's supposed to have his endoscopy next week. Mostly we are out of gatorade, orange juice and oranges. He's been drinking and eating a lot of that lately. I only have like 10 things on my list, so should be a quick in and out. DH has been craving a cheeseburger, so we will probably stop at Wendy's for that. But, I have a feeling he's going to regret it...I'll bet his pancreas won't like it. I'm going to suggest he get a single rather than his usual double.

I have today off work. I didn't even tell dh, LOL. I'll spend half my morning up here on my computer anyway. He'll probably end up either out in his shop or out mowing, if the lawn dries out from the dew early enough before we have to leave for his appointment. I can get my desk cleaned off (again!). 

Yesterday mac and cheese and corn bread sounded good, so that's what I made for dinner. DH isn't a corn bread fan, so he didn't have that, which is a good thing, because it tasted horrible! I didn't even finish one piece. It almost tasted like soap or something. I have no idea why. It's just the boxed cornbread mix, eggs and milk (the milk is good). Disappointing and then I had a bit of a stomach ache for an hour after eating it.

Making more room

My dogs injection vials arrived (next day!) but now I'm confused on the needle/syringe. I'm pathetic LOL. When they gave me the vials before, at the office, they gave me a bunch of individually wrapped needles/syringes. This time, with the vials she sent, is one needle/syringe, kind of fancier, enclosed in kind of a clear plastic case.  So....I use the same one for each of the injections? or do I just need to get more of them on my own? or just buy more needles? I don't even know where to buy them and to make sure I'm getting same size. They say they are 22gx3/4, whatever that means. I feel dumb to call again....geez. But, she knew it was for 5 doses....wonder if I can just buy some at the town pharmacy.

DH is making some progress. A lot of it is just rearranging his stuff, that is in better spots, so more room. But also just more room, too, as he's throwing some stuff out. Now he can get back to the far corner stuff and start working on that. There are like 4 pallets of stuff in that corner, but the very back corner pallet only has like 3 bins on it and he said it's mostly stuff that can be thrown away, so once he does that, that will be another 4 square feet of space open on the floor. I think if he would get the back wall loft built and then everything stored up there that he wants, that will make a huge difference on the floor space. 

Apparently what is in those 3 bins left on that very corner pallet is years and years of car magazines! He had saved them since was a teen and for however many more years he subscribed to them. He said like 15 or 20 years ago he wrapped bundles of them in plastic wrap. Then they got stored in boxes and moved into the plastic bins when we moved. He's supposedly ready to actually just throw them all away. I'll believe it when I see it. But, like Meg B. mentioned in my last posts comments with her dd, it has to be their idea/decision. When he said he was just going to throw them away he had this look like he was so unsure and wanted me to confirm. I just said, that's probably best. He said he is going to have to go through them, though, as there are 2 of them that have his best friend in them, that he wants to keep. Very old! I know one issue, his friend was on the front cover, so that will be easy to find. I'm not sure about the other issue he was in.

He was very proud of himself last night to get things moved and arranged better. He said this is the first time he isn't embarrassed about his shop inside. He has the old tbird now parked (with cover) inside the shop at the end where the big tall door is. To the right of that is the corner with the 4 pallets of stuff still needing to be gone through. He said now, when he wants to start going through a bin, he can back the tbird out of the shop and have that empty space next to the bins to pull a bin out, see what he's got, and make decisions what to do with it. Some of the bins have all his nuts and bolts/bolts bins that he used to have on a wall in his old garage. Once he builds the loft area, I think he plans to put the bolt bins attached to the wall under the loft. It must be really conflicting emotions he deals with in relation to his hoard and his need for being so organized and neat. On the one hand he has to keep everything, on the other hand he wants everything to be perfectly organized.

As I was helping dh get the old truck chassis pushed into the garage (I was pushing with the quad) my mom tried to call. I called her back like 10 minutes later and no answer. I tried again 2 more times every 15 min or so. Oh great, I thought. She's probably accidentally turned her ringer off. Finally, about an hour later she called me. "did you call me?" well, ya, because you called me, LOL. She didn't remember. Then she said she'd been down at the singalong activity and that she and her guy friend went down together. I looked on her call log this morning and I think what happened was about 20 minutes before the singalong she was trying to call him and called me by accident, as right after that call to me, she called him. Well, at least she is sort of figuring out how to make calls. She only has like 5 contacts in her new phone that I put in. Me, uncle, dd, her apartment front desk, and her boyfriend. Figured the less contacts in there the easier it would be for her.

I was so tired after work yesterday. I so could have just napped during the evening. I hate that feeling. DH was trying to tell me about his shop and what he still wants to do/get rid of and I just kept yawning. I've been taking a multivitamin for a few months now and then dh's dr wanted him to take a multivitamin as well as vitamin d, so I've started taking the vitamin d last week, too. I've seen zero change in how I feel or my energy level since starting vitamins. Kind of seems like a waste of money.  I have tried vitamins over the years and always just end up stopping them and not paying the money. I'm kind of feeling like that again. I've also read many articles that say vitamins really don't do much at all. Have you seen ads for supplements like Balance of Nature or the Relief Factor that is supposed to help with pain? I'm always seeing those commercials and wondering if it would help dh....so my side job boss emailed me that her stupid (her words) hubby used the company credit card for some personal purchases so she was reimbursing the company and one of the charges was to Relief Factor. I asked her if it works? She said probably not. Her dh is a sucker for ads like that and since he spent the money he wouldn't admit it didn't if she asked him LOL. So, that didn't help me much, haha.

Medical this and that

I've been giving our dog the monthly injections of Adequan for his arthritis and that seems to be helping a lot, but I've run out. I called the vet office yesterday to see if there was any way they could just mail me the vials and I pay over the phone, so I don't have to drive an hour each way. Or if that wasn't going to work, maybe they can give me the prescription to fill online or something. But, she said no problem, she can send me some vials. She's not set up to take a payment over the phone with credit card, but don't worry, she'll include the invoice with the vials and I can send a check in. This is when I love small towns, LOL. She said she might not get it out today, but tomorrow for sure. I said no rush, I have 2 more weeks until he's due for his next injection. One more item checked off my to do list.

I'm getting comfortable now at giving him the injections. My only problem is trying to get the last 1cc out of each vial, without a bunch of air. Each vial is 5 cc's. He needs 2 cc's a month, so a vial lasts 2 injections, but then the 3rd injection I need the last little bit of 1cc left and then 1cc from the next bottle. The stuff is very expensive, so I don't want to waste it. I'm sure there is a good/easy way to get the last part out, but all's I seem to do is end up with a bunch of air in the syringe after I manage to get the last cc out. A nurse, I am not! I think the reason he's giving it in these vial sizes is that it's actually the horse dosage, but for dog only use 2 cc's. He had mentioned it was cheaper this way, than actually getting it in the dog application version. I just need to figure out better how to get the last cc out, haha.

DH has been working on his hoard - a bit. Again, very baby steps in actually getting rid of stuff, but I think I mentioned over the weekend he got a a wheelbarrow full of old planter pots thrown out. Then he showed me another wheelbarrow, that was super old and needed to be thrown out. He got part way with it, LOL. He took off the plastic "barrow" part and threw that away. The bottom part is made of wood (that's how old it is, haha) so he wanted to know if he should make a wood box for it and we can use it as a yard flower planter, like in the rockery area. That would be good, but at least the part that is left is taking up less room in the garage, until he gets the box for it made, then it can be put outside. But, then yesterday he mentioned he might just throw the bottom part out too. I said that is fine with me. He also threw away a few things and got rid of some extra boxes (he doesn't need so many!) out in his shop. Then he moved some things taking up floor space up onto his car trailer. Now with that clear floor space (and a little more finagling) he's going to move our old T-bird back into the shop for the winter. It's been sitting under a car cover in our garage, but he wants it in the heated shop for the winter, since our garage is not heated. That will leave some open space in the garage now, so that's good. As I've tried to tell him before, just starting to get rid of stuff, even if its not much, will leave room to get to other stuff he can start looking at to see what to be done with it and eventually he'll start seeing some room to actually move around in! Well, ya, that's the idea, but it will never completely happen. I just thank God he's never hoarded in the house, because I couldn't stand living like that. Our house is big open space, LOL. No clutter. He's a very bizarre hoarder, LOL. He's OCD and has to be extremely organized. Nothing is ever just tossed somewhere, so it's strange that he can stand so much stuff. Some of it must go back to his childhood, where as one of 5 kids in a poor family, none of them had anything of their own, until they got to be teenagers. DH said even birthdays were shared, which is really weird. DH and his younger brother were 15 months apart. On dh's birthday, the little brother got gifts, too, and I guess the same went when it was little brothers birthday, dh got gifts. Whatever they were given was pretty much understood it belonged to all of them. Even if as a kid, he earned some money and bought something for himself with it, it really wasn't his. So, maybe when he got to be an adult he had this need to keep everything, now that it was his and no one else's. I also think he thinks if he holds on to something he's keeping the memory intact, though why he needs a hundred plastic planting pots, is beyond me, LOL. But, hey, at least they are all stacked and organized and in their own labeled bin. Whenever I buy a new outdoor plant I have to get the pots into the garbage can right away. If they sit around too long, he will end up saving them.

DH has to get another covid test done before his endoscopy next week. They had originally told me he could do it at the local hospital here, rather than having to go into the city. But, a lady called yesterday and that's probably not going to work. He can't have it more than 5 days before his procedure and it's taking at least a couple days, if not more, to get the results back, out here at our hospital. They also don't do testing on weekends (Saturday is the first day he can get it done) so he couldn't get it done until Monday and they can't guarantee the result would be back before he procedure Thursday morning. So, on Monday we have to drive into the city, where that hospital has a drive up testing station and she said the results will be next day and assured before his procedure. If they would just let him have it on Friday afternoon, we will already be in the city for a different doctors appointment, but nope.

I'm not sure how long an endoscopy takes. If it's going to be awhile I might just either run over and see my mom or go get a little shopping out of the way. At least we know right where to go. It's on the same floor as where he had his ultrasound done, just down at the end of the hall.

Tuesday this and that

Another thing I've noticed with my mom, is that it doesn't appear she's opened her email in the last month or so. I go in regularly and delete any spam that makes it way past the filter (more lately, for some reason) and her investment broker guy does this weekly newsletter to his clients. There are now 5 of them in there, she hasn't read. I'm guessing she's now getting to the point she is forgetting about email completely or how to access it. I can see why she'd start to forget it, because really, other than that weekly email, she doesn't get anything else. Occasionally a friend will email her, but I think they have probably come to the realization she's not emailing back - or when she was checking her emails she'd leave the email in her inbox and then send another reply to them a week later, not remembering she already answered it.

I think she is still doing her crossword puzzles. She still has books next to her chair, but I didn't look to see if she's got them filled in or not. Usually, I can tell when I bring her to stay here, she will work on them for something to do. 

DH is starting to feel a bit better. He's gradually trying some of his normal foods again, like a lunch meat and cheese sandwich on wheat bread for lunch and some chips....and a dang Mountain Dew, but he hasn't been having more than one a day and some days, none. The doctor at the hospital also gave him a prescription for Flomax, because his prostate is enlarged. He said this med has been helping, which is good. He has an appointment with a urologist on Friday to check into that more. Hoping he can just keep taking this med, since that seems to be helping quite a bit. I hardly ever hear him get up in the middle of the night to go now and when I do hear him he's got much better flow now ;) Funny, the urologist office is right by where my mom lives, like a block away. Probably because all the old folks places in that area, haha.

DH got the lawn mowed again yesterday. It is getting a bit easier, as it's not growing so fast now. Soon he will be turning off and blowing out the sprinkler system (within a few weeks, I think) and be done for the season. As soon as the temps are going to start freezing at night.

I gave the dog a good brushing after dinner yesterday. So. Much. Fur. LOL. I really need to do it more often, then it probably wouldn't look like I have another dog sitting next to me, with the huge pile of fur I brush out. He's like triple most dogs amount of fur, since his fur is really long (flat coat retriever).

Two of dh's friends (long time friends) called him up last week. You'd think it was to see how he's doing..no, no. As usual it's because they want something or need information he has. One was an ex employee of dh's, who now has his own small construction business. He had moved to the other side of the state, got married, started his business, etc. It looks like he's done well and I'm sure he has, he was a good, smart worker, but it's a lot easier when you can register your business as a double minority, eh? Anyhow, after a dozen or so years living where they have been (smaller, rural side of state) they are feeling the change in demographics and politics and he wanted to know more about Montana and our area. He heard there weren't many DBE business's so he thought this might be a good place to move his family (one kid still left in school) and take advantage of bidding work as a DBE. Anyhow, he just wanted to know what it's like living over here, I guess. Then the friend who bought property over here a couple years ago and and has slowly been working on finishing the log cabin it came with called to get info on something over here. DH didn't know and for once didn't offer to figure it out for him, LOL. He's slowly learning. But, at least one other old friend (also used to work for dh......that was his problem in business...he was friends with his workers and that's not the way to run a business) called and truly did just call to see how dh is doing, so at least that was nice. 

When I took my mom to the Verizon store to get her new phone, you don't know how tempting it was to upgrade my phone, LOL. But, I didn't. I'm always way behind the new phones. I still have an iphone 6s, haha. But, it still works, so I'm just going to keep using it. When I bought it, it was already an older model, but new they were only charging $99. I was hoping maybe I could now get a 7 or 8 for that price. I keep checking, but they are all now just certified/pre-owned models and it appears the cheapest new phone I can get is an SE(2020) for $400. No thanks. I'll keep hoping mine works for awhile longer (and dh's iphone 7, too). Maybe a pre-owned one would be fine, but since I like to keep my phones for as many years as possible, I like to buy them new. Or maybe I should ask my boss....seems like one time she mentioned to me she has old iphones at the office, from when salespeople upgrade (they all have company phones), maybe there is one I can get from her for free and get my service set up with it.

Calm Sunday

Yesterday was a calm day. I was honestly expecting my mom to call several times. I called her about 10:30 in the morning and she seemed well. She said she was thinking of calling me, but she figured I had spent enough time with her the day before, LOL. So, she at least had some memory of the prior day's activities. At least I knew her new phone was working/ringing and she can answer no problem. It also sounded like a very "clear" call on my end with her, compared to her old phone. I didn't hear from her the rest of the day, so that was a good sign.

I keep checking the new shrubs we planted to see how they are doing. I can't tell on the lilac. I know the leaves are supposed to brown and fall off in fall, so I'm hoping that's all this is. The rhody's looked good until I noticed yesterday morning the leaves all curled inward. GRRR! I'm so tired of not being able to have things we plant in the ground live! I was due to give it some of the Miracle Grow for rhody's. It said every 2 weeks, so I gave them that. I looked again last evening and they looked back to normal. Whew. Maybe they just aren't getting enough water. I will keep a close eye still these next 2 weeks, in between the miracle grow applications.

DH spent some time Saturday getting rid of a bunch of old planter pots we had sitting in a wheelbarrow. Just stuff we aren't going to use here at this house or stuff old and broken. He was able to organize a bit more after getting rid of that stuff and some more space in the garage. Then yesterday afternoon he spent some time out in his shop. He threw out a few things (that's very hard for him to do, as a hoarder). Then he decided, since he knows he won't be using his car trailer (flat bed type) anytime soon (until his pickup transmission is fixed) he decided to move some stuff on to it, to store, thereby clearing up that much extra floor space, where the stuff had been. So, between what he threw out and more floor space, there was a little improvement. Now that lumber prices are starting to come way down, he'll probably want to work on getting his other loft area built this fall/winter. Well, after we figure out what is wrong with his pancreas and gallbladder, because at this point he's convinced he's not going to live much longer (rolling eyes).

We had 2 cows roaming the neighborhood yesterday, LOL. They made their way into our young neighbors yard, then started down on the other side of our street towards us, but then crossed over the main road and kept going. A few hours later I heard one of them mooing and saw them heading back where they came from, but way over on the other side of the main road. No one knows who's they are. Mr. Neighbor knows and has phone numbers for the others in our area, who have cattle, but they all said they weren't theirs. The closest cattle (that I know of) is at least 4 miles away. Hopefully they got rounded up and home. I'd hate to see them get hit by a car, let alone someone in a car having to deal with damage to their car, etc.

I ordered some covers for our patio furniture, from Amazon. The chair cover is supposed to be big enough to stack the chairs and cover under one cover and I got one for the table. They weren't too expensive, $20 each, and had good reviews. Plus I had a $3 gift card code from my monthly Verizon up rewards.

We typically just keep the back seat in my car (small suv crossover type) folded down and an old twin duvet with 2 twin comforters inside it laying on the back (for the dog(s)). It of course gets covered in black dog fur, as most times if we run to town for anything, he gets to ride along. I used the lint roller on it, to get most of it off, then got it washed. I need to get the comforters stuffed back inside it today and put back in the car. 

We didn't see anyone come and look at the properties next door this weekend. They have been on the market now for 38 days. I'm sure they would sell, but probably going to be harder to find a buyer at the price he is asking for the lots (double what we paid). If he doesn't sell them before winter hits, I doubt they will sell until next spring/summer, then. Kind of hard to see what a property looks like when it's covered in snow, haha.

My dd and her dh went on a 4 day camping trip with her in laws. They had to pack a lot of stuff in their pickup canopy covered bed. She is an EXPERT packer. I mean dh let her pack the Uhaul when we moved. Her mind just works it all out, haha. Well, she got frustrated because when they were getting ready to leave her FIL was trying to help load their truck and just kept throwing everything in there. She kept saying hold up. I have to put stuff in certain places, otherwise I can't get it all in here. He wouldn't listen and was insistent he knew what he was doing. Sure enough, the cook stove then wouldn't fit....she had to take half the crap out and repack it like she knew it needed to be. She gets so frustrated when people treat her like she doesn't know what she's doing. Usually either because she's a girl or she's young. She can back a trailer in a spot as good as any guy, LOL. She can also guide someone back in to exactly underneath the hitch, too, if need be ;)

Keeping it real

I hope I am not coming across as that I don't understand my mom can't help her memory problems or that I don't know this is going to get worse. I completely do. I know she can't help any of it. I know that a lot of figuring out how to move forward and live with it is trial and error and just when we get in a routine for one thing, it changes or something else comes up to deal with. I have done quite a bit of research on best ways to do things for her to make things easier, etc.

I know she will need more help as time goes on. At this point, where she still knows and thinks she should be able to do things, it's a balancing act to let her feel like she still has some of her independence that her mind is telling her she should have with the reality of it. Shoot, she still tells me all the time she wishes she still had her car, she shouldn't have gotten rid of it! I just say oh it would have been too hard for you to drive here, since you don't know the area and you would have had to take the driving test.

At some point soon, I will hire some help to look in on her and do laundry. Someone that can fill in to check on her since I can't be there daily. She will quickly get used to it and in short time most likely think it's how it's always been. It would be nice to have someone at least come in weekly, do her laundry, check her meds/pill box and even just make sure her phone is charged up (I think her charge lasts quite awhile since she only uses her phone for a couple calls a day). Make sure she's taking a shower. At this point she seems to be showering regularly. I can tell if she hasn't by how her hair looks.

With my mom, I am completely calm and never let her know I am frustrated. If she's getting upset she can't find her keys in her purse I say "it's ok, let me take a look" or if she's called me 5 times in the last hour, I always act like it's perfectly fine and she's not a bother at all. I guess the good part of the memory loss is that when she's upset or something, she quickly forgets she was.

It's just here I can vent and post and laugh about the craziness of it all. It's only going to get harder.

Just shoot me now

I went in this morning and took my mom to get a new cell phone. I'm sure I'm going to wish I hadn't but I'm tired of her always saying she needs a new one, my uncle saying she keeps telling him she needs a new one and then yesterday her "boyfriend" saying she needs a new one. 

We didn't have a wait at all at Verizon, so that was nice. I showed the guy her really old flip phone and said we need something as close to this as possible. Just for calls. We got one very similar in looks with the keypad as hers, just a bit bigger. The guy got it activated with her same # and we were on our way. Then we stopped at Walgreens for a few things she needed. It was a bit early for lunch, but since I was planning to stay at her place for awhile, we stopped and got Arby's to take to her place. By the time we got checked back in, she found her keys, etc, it was 11:30 so a good time to eat.

I seriously HATE her purse. I'm seriously going to get her a new one! It has like at least 6 zippered pockets. EVERY trip somewhere is opening and closing each pocket to find her keys...find her wallet....find her grocery list...find her mask...Somehow she misses seeing it in the pocket it's in and start over. We go through this every single time. And as I'm looking in her wallet for her credit card I see that her medicare card is not there. Her health insurance (advantage plan) is, but not the separate one she has for dental. I have her look when we get back and found the dental one, but not her medicare card. Who knows. I think I have a copy here. I'll have to look for it or see if I can order a replacement. Good grief.

She has not done laundry in who knows how long. Both machines were free, so I grabbed it all and took it down to get into the 2 machines. It almost needed 3 loads, but luckily they are good sized machines. So many socks and undies. I don't know how many tops. Lots. She will say "oh, well, I just wash my undies in the sink when I need them.." I'm like you still have to do laundry! Then I looked in her drawer and there were zero socks or undies. I said well you don't wash the socks in the sink, do you? well, no...and there's no undies drying (I never see any when I'm there) so what were you going to do for socks and undies tomorrow? Well, I would have washed them this afternoon....then she tries to make excuses...well, they told us there are some days we can't use the machines. I said that was the 2 days the housekeepers were washing sheets and towels and there was a sign that it was Thurs and Friday between certain hours. That sign isn't there anymore and I told her even so - there are 5 other days a week that they are open to use. Sometimes she tries to use the excuse she doesn't have enough, but I told her this time she is way over due to get it all done. Then she says (as always) she doesn't know why she doesn't do it, so I said let's get the lady hired to do it. No, no. I can do it. I said well, then you need to have one day a week that's your laundry day, so she said to remind her. Honestly, I think it just overwhelms her or scares her or something to go use them. 

I decided to just stay the whole time it took to get them done. She kept trying to tell me she could finish but I said it's no big deal, I was planning to visit and the wash can get done easily while we visit. I didn't want to put them in the dryers and leave and have her forget it was there (it appears someone else did that as I had to take some stuff out of a dryer and it was still there when we were all done. I just waited until it was all dried and we took it back to her apartment. I did let her go ahead to get it all put away, though.

Then I made a stop at the grocery store for a few things. So busy inside, but I had no way of knowing how long everything with mom was going to take.

Of course the little bit of difference in this new phone is throwing her for a loop. Getting to the contacts is different. I did my best to do a bunch of test calls to and from me with her. She tried to call uncle but he didn't answer. I left her a step by step instructions I wrote out on how to make a call, but I doubt it will help much.

Then my uncle calls after dinner and said he called her and something's wrong. She sounds really down. I said she had a busy day of me taking her several places and got a new phone. I'm sure she's just overwhelmed and tired or was napping. Then an hour later he calls and says she can't figure out her phone and has called him like 6 times, would I call her? ok.........ya........just what I've been telling you for the past months was going to happen if she got a new phone! I told her the phone is fine (she was apparently just trying to figure out how to look at contacts and kept dialing him by accident she says), she's talked to both of us today, so lets just leave her phone be for the rest of the evening. Hopefully she'll remember.

Hopefully she will get used to the new phone soon. It looks same for the keyboard, just bigger, but what is intuitive to a normal person what the unmarked or marked with a symbol buttons are for, are not for her. Like the unmarked big center button. We all know that's the main "enter" button. She doesn't. The button that looks like the old style telephone (the call button) she doesn't know what that is. Then she tells me she couldn't find the box with the instructions. I told her I took it, it's teeny tiny writing on folded up paper and she wouldn't be able to read it or understand how it works.

When I was looking in her dresser drawers of course I found more old receipts paper clipped together. What makes someone think they need to keep every receipt from every shopping trip? These were from a couple years ago, when she still lived in her house. I swear to God, when I have to clean out her place when she dies, I'm still going to be finding receipts and slips of notes clipped together!

I got home around 2:45. DH had actually thrown some old things that are in the garage in the garbage! Made a bit more room and made him happy.

I think I'm going to go soak in the tub this evening. I've earned it, LOL.

Mom's memory

Those of you who've had parents with dementia, alzheimers, memory issues in aging......was there any medication doctors have given them to actually help with it? Neither of my mom's doctors (where she lived before and her doctor she has here, now) has said there is anything to give her that would help her memory. I have had more than one person say something like "check with her doctor" and again was suggested that today by her "boyfriend".

She called me earlier from his phone saying her phone stopped working. I asked if she's got it charged? she said yes and I heard him in the background saying "you need a new phone, it's dead". Ok, well time to get a new one then. (she's had this flip phone FOREVER). I told her I'll come in in the morning and take her to get a new phone. Then a few hours later she calls me from her phone. Oh, she says, I guess it was just something I was doing wrong. Then she said her friend wanted to talk to me. He said her memory is getting bad and she can't remember how to use her phone. Come to figure out, she apparently didn't realize she had turned her phone completely off. He thinks I need to take her to her doctor and see if there is some medicine she can take for her memory.....I told him I've discussed her memory with her doctor, but I don't think there is anything that will help.

Like what? is there really such a thing? I've never come across it, other than read a few things about medication for people to try for early onset alzheimers, to try to hold it off as long as possible. From everything I have researched, at her age, we just have to deal with it, it is what it is. Some days are better than others and then throw in something like accidentally turning off her phone, she gets upset and worried and then I'm sure him trying to help her, just gets her more overwhelmed. Been there with her like that, more than once. Maybe I should have her get a landline phone, as back up. They make phones where you can pre-program a few number with person's picture or name for easy dialing. 

The only things I have been told by her doctors (and from what I've read) is she needs to keep as active as possible, have socialization and eat balanced meals, which she gets where she is living. I don't think there is anything they can give her to reverse what her brain is doing. She's had an MRI of her brain done by her previous doctor.