This and That

Is anybody else out there thankful for the fall-back time change? It was so easy getting up this morning. I wonder how long it will last. I suspect not long at all.

We spent the weekend basically dealing w/ my parents. On saturday, I had additional hurricane shutters installed. The house is now a veritable fortress. Finally. I also had the whole house rewired for cable and the cable company hooked it all up. Finally, each bedroom has cable for the first time ever. So long dish network.

I couldn't wait until I could end their dish network. some SOB salesman convinced by dad to switch and sign a 2 yr contract. They then proceeded to install the most complicated dvr/satellite system known to man. Even I had a hard time with the complicated remote. Never mind my over 80 demented parents who never quite got the hang of a VCR. Adios, is all I have to say. The new cable system is really really simple. They basically now have the "jitterbug" of cable remotes.

Of course, all this may be for naught b/c I got a call on sunday that my mom wasn't really responsive to the aide. Ico call in the hospice nurse, as my mom hadn't really eaten much of anything, and seemed less responsive. I noted that she was very unresponsive as well. For the first time ever, I was getting just a blank stare from her, with no recognition.

So, they put her on 24 hour crisis care, which means they put a CNA in the house 24/7. Her regular nurse saw her today, and continued the crisis care another 24 hours, as the sunday nurses reported that she failed to eat much at all. Clearly, something has happened. Whether it was a TIA or something more is unknown.

Good news is that when I dropped in today, she did recognize me. However the failing to eat remains problematic. We're hoping she snaps out of it soon. On an upnote, her vital signs are good and stable.

As has been explained, she could die in 2 minutes, 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years. just know knowing. So, I'm on telephone standby in case she takes a turn for the worse. There is no way in hell I can let her die with my dad still in the nursing home. If she takes a turn for the worse, I'll have to go and liberate him. If this goes on much longer, I'll have to go liberate him. Of course once that happens, there will be no getting him back in there. This decision is what is stressing me out the most.

On an upnote....when I returned to my office today, I found on my desk a lovely flowering potted plant and a balloon saying happy birthday, along with a card. It was from my secretary. Problem is, my birthday is not until February. That OK though, it made me smile and laugh, and I really needed one right about then.

T is in the tub with a plastic glass of diet coke. We're learning all about diffusion and she's busy dumping into her bath to watch it dissipate. Our conversation:

T: can I dump it in the tub?

Me: sure, you can do what you want with it, its your soda and bathwater.

T: can I dump it into the shampoo?

Me: ummm, no. not that. anything but that.

T: can I dump it in the bubble bath?

Me: ummm, no, not that either.

This kid keeps me on my toes!

Halloween Night

Here's everybody all dressed up waiting to start their night. T was both thrilled with her costume...which she described not as a flamenco dancer, but as a Spanish Princess... but also thrilled to be hanging out with the older girls. I thought she looked damned cute.

Everyone had a pizza party and the adults imbibed in some home made sangria. Yum. Yum.

Due to my back and neck pain, I was a Halloweenie, and stayed in the house as they went out.
The kids were out about 60 minutes in all, when they returned with an injury report. T, in all her melodramatic wonder, was literally crying b/c her foot hurt. She shoes had rubbed a blister on the side of her foot below the big toe. She was distraught. Kept saying this was the "worst halloween EVER!" Oy. She was also making noises like she could never return to school until it healed.


Unfortunately for T, her mom is wise to all the tricks and she went off to school the very next day. She was wearing tennis shoes which are wider, instead of her regulation uniform shoes, but that's the only concession we've had to make.

This last picture is of her class project. we just need to add some glitter to the thing. Its been a tissue-ball-rolling night around here. All the kids in her class are decorating turkeys, that will be used to decorate the carnival booth that auctions off a turkey. that would be the same one that the parents of first graders man during the event. I think it turned out pretty good, and T had a good time rolling and gluing.

that's it for now

Sometimes a girl just needs some chocolate

I'm thinking I need to rename this blog "Carol's Tale of Woe", as its seems all I have to report are calamities and bad luck. The newest calamity to befall me?

I was at popeye's today and didn't have enough cash on me since I forgot to go to the machine. So i decided to charge the 5.74 lunch. IT WAS DECLINED!

I came home and called them to find out why. Turns out my identity has been stolen. Someone called the bank today and changed the mailing address on all of the accounts I'm on there. They had my name, dob, and ssn all correct. Luckily they were unsuccessful in getting new cards issued on the accounts and it does not appear that any loss has been incurred. thank god they caught it. But, its quite troubling. I'll now have to be contacting the credit card reporting companies to determine if they do anything in the future. Oy. I also need to make a police report of the ID theft.

Ironic, since I was taking statements on an investigation today, that involves a boatload of ID thefts.

Only thing left for a girl to do, is break out the choco ice cream, which I did. Now in my choco-induced high, the good news is that I finally got in to see the othro dr. Based upon an xray, he thinks disc C5 and C 6 in my neck are herniated, and has ordered me to go to an MRI. He suspects b/c the spaces between the discs were markedly smaller than the other spaces. I scored some miracle drugs as well....anti inflamatories and cortizone steroids. After just one does, I'm almost pain free. Its a miracle!

ooops, i'm just now realizing I missed posting halloween. I'll do that later tonight. Again, a night of highs and lows, so stay tuned.

Better and Better

I'm happy to report that I no longer NEED to use the walker. Still using it, though, b/c the old back is still very dicey. However, I can stand up straight with no assistence. I figure that the walker will not be needed by tomorrow.

Luckily for me, I am able to do some work from home and not burn up all my leave time. So, in between the parade of investigators in and out of my house today and in between drafting arrest warrants, I've been laying in bed with my heating pad. One good thing about my house, is that its so centrally located, that its not a burden to ask my investigators to come here.

My fear from yesterday is turning out to be true....as my back gets better I'm noticing the neck/shoulder issue more and more. Bummer. (cue the Hee-Haw song)

I am very blessed, though, to have a cadre of friends who back me up in picking T up from school. I was able to get her to school today, by asking another parent to walk her in through the parking lot, across the basketball courts, and into the school. Didn't even need to get out of my van.

So, that's the report from rehab central. I'm off to wallow in bed for a bit.

My Newest Purchase

I'm thrilled with my newest purchase. Its a basket for my walker, that has an plastic insert so stuff doesn't fall through and also that holds a diet coke. Brilliant. I called up the drugstore, and they delivered it today within about an hour from my call.

Why?

Well, at approximately 8:45 this morning, as I was leaving to go to work, I bent over to pick up a piece of paper on the floor. I felt a pop and a tingle in my lower back. Its official. My back is out. Can't walk without a walker.

I don't think it's quite as bad as the first time I threw it out in 2006, as I can still stand straight up...barely.

This is just my luck. On an upnote, my neck seems a bit better. Don't know if that's because it actually is better, or whether it just doesn't seem as bad in comparison to this new malady. Hopefully, I'll bounce back from this fairly soon.

Still Surviving

T and I are still surviving. T is doing great. Me? Not so much. I apparently suffered a sleeping injury a few weeks ago. First noticed it the first weekend in October. Woke up with a pain in my neck. Figured it would go away in a few days. It didn't. Just getting worse.

I think that a disc in my neck is out of whack, and is pinching a nerve.

I'm popping advil and the occasional leftover pain pill like a mad woman. Pain is in my neck, shoulder, and often goes down my are to my hands, with occasional tingling sensations. The worst part of is all, is that there is no "sweet spot". That position that you get in, that makes all the pain go away. Occasionally it lessens, but it doesn't leave.

Unfortunately, getting an appointment with the prima donna orthopedist doctors is as easy as finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. My appointment is not until Nov. 1. Supposedly, I'm on a list to be called if someone cancels, but so for no word. I am, though, going to call on tuesday and try and get moved up. We shall see.

Meanwhile, my mom still is doing OK and my dad remains in the rehab hospital. No word on how much longer he shall remain there.

I'm in the Clouds....

...the new apple iCloud system, that is. This weekend was a totally techy weekend. I spent most of our free time on saturday updating my old iphone, in anticipation of giving it to T when I got my new one. Wasn't sure if I could continue to download to it after making the switch, so we were loading it up with games. T was in heaven...or the clouds.

Finally on sunday, I was able to actually buy my new phone. Luckily, I brought my laptop to the store with me, and the apple geeks helped me to set it all up. They now have this new digital back up system, that they call iclouds. Apparently, you send your information out into cyberspace (the clouds), where is securely stored for you in stead of or in addition to your laptop. That way when your laptop is destroyed/stops working/catches a virus/etc., you wont lose your stuff.

at least that's how i understand it. Its all very strange to me. Meanwhile, I love my new phone for the simple fact that once again, the camera has been enhanced.

So, my old phone has been rendered into an ipod. everything works on it but the phone. T is thrilled that she has one too. Unfortunately, I caught her with it under the covers last night, when she should have been sleeping. No more juggling flashlights and books for the kids today. Nope, they just have their ipods under the covers.

Still, they can't get away from that tell-tale "glow" burning under the covers when they try to pretend they were sleeping the whole time. Thank god for that!

Bad Blogger

Yeah, I've been a bad blogger lately. Seems I'm just a bit too busy. So....what's been going on lately?

• Dot turned 50 last week. My parents and I pooled our $$ and bought her an ipad. T was so excited she couldn't stand it, and hogged the thing all last weekend. Everytime Dot would try to do something on the iPad, T would see her, say that she could teach her, would worm her way onto Dot's lap, and take control not letting Dot touch the thing. Funniest thing you ever saw.
• We discovered love notes in T's bookbag. Two. She was writing them to Daniel. She wrote her notes on notebook paper, and fashioned them into paper airplanes. She gave one to him last week. It said, and I quote...."Will you be the jelly in my peanut butter sandwich" What does that mean? Apparently, she saw it on one of her cartoons (no idea which one), and decided it was the perfect phrase to express her undying love. Oy.
• My brand spankin new laptop computer stopped working. 17 days after purchase. Problem is and unbeknownst to me, best buy return policy on laptops is 14 frinkin days. who knew? I was sick. I went out to the store anyway, and presented it to their geek squad. The kid said they would exchange it. What a relief. Of course, trying to complete the transaction caused a flurry of conferences between the cashier and managers. They were balking and trying to get out of the deal. I kept insisting that the geek squad said it would be exchanged. Fortunately, they grudgingly "made an exception", and exchanged the thing. Finally, a bit of luck goes my way.
• I'm jones'in for a new iphone. I'm eligible for an upgrade, and the new one came out yesterday. My battery on my old one is awful, and doesn't last the whole day without charging. I'll wait a few weeks, though, for the crowds to die down. T will inherit my old phone. The phone won't work, but all the games will. So I need to download a bunch of games to it, before buying a new one. She's very excited.
• My parents continue to do as well as can be expected. Mom's hanging in there, and Dad continues to cooperate with rehab, while drugged to the gills. Better Living through Chemicals may be the new family motto!

Weekend Happenings

Hmmm, not much to report. Did errands on Saturday. My dad is one happy guy on the major psych drugs he's on. He actually cooperated with rehab. Remained happy on Sunday. I couldn't go visit today, but will check things out tomorrow. Can't wait to hear what the PT reports.

T lost her 8th tooth on Saturday night, and I had to play TF again at 2:00 a.m. Can't wait for this TF stuff to end, as its getting old really quick!

On Sunday, T and I hung out and trolled the mall. Her suggestion, not mine. Gotta love a girl who shouts in answer to the Q, "What should be do today", yells out "go to the mall"! Just warms my heart.

We had a fab lunch, scored some halloween PJs, and T shopped all by herself in Claire's. Claire's is every little girls dream of a store. Its chock filled with cheap-quality, over-priced accessories and makeup. T went inside, and I stayed by the entrance. After about 15 - 20 minutes of sheer little-girl heaven, T came running up to the front of the store with her intended purchase....and iCarly Diary, complete with padlock and key. T was in love with it, and kept talking about how boys can't read it, only girls.

I handed her a 20, and she forged back into the store, got in line, and paid for the item all by herself. She was very proud of herself. She was doubly proud of herself when I let her get away with pocketing the change. Sneaky girl, reminded me of myself a bit.

Anyway, apparently she brought the thing to school, with the key on a string around her neck hidden in her uniform. Apparently she was taunting all the boys with the key in aftercare. I'm not sure if an actual skirmish of keep-away broke out, but it sounds like it from all of T's reports. She was writing in it this evening that she is going to marry John Paul, from her class. He's her new love. Of course, this is in addition to...not instead of...her old flame Daniel.

You should have seen the look on her face as she was talking about him. She was frickin' glowing.

I'm still a bit stunned.

Still Here

We're still here. Dad was still at Mt. Sinai for observation and regulating meds through thursday, when I got a call out of the blue telling me that he was discharged and going off to a nursing home/rehab facility for rehabilitation.

I lost my mind. No one told me abount this. No one asked me for input into the facility. No medical person had yet to tell me what my dad's diagnosis was, what were plans for long term care, what are his physical abilities/limitations, etc. So, I had to drop everything and run off to this facility to see what it was about. I had wanted hime to have "acute rehab", i.e. 3 hours per day. Those facilities are less like nursing homes, and more like real rehab hospitals. South Pointe Park was not one of those facilities. It is more like a real nursing home and only does 1.5 hours per day. I was very upset. Miami Heart rehab would not take him back, after the 8 man scuffle with him in the elevator. Can't say I blame them. St. Catherines would also not take him.

Turns out the better facilities that are usually to capacity anyway, don't take patients on the drugs my dad is now on to control his behavior. They don't need to. That's not to say that the other facilities are better equipped to handle patients such as my dad, they're not. They just are not usually at capacity and therefore will take anyone.

I was doubly upset b/c when I visited my dad on thursday, the "edge" was back in his personality. I could tell that he was off or coming off his meds. No one seemed to listen to me and I waited 2 hours at the hospital to speak to the nurse, but she never would speak to me. Couldn't get the doc to call us either. I wanted to scream.

So, they transported him and I started getting calls later in the evening b/c South Pointe was unaware that he was coming there. Oy, the incompetance. I could also hear my dad screaming in the background asking why he wasn't driven home instead of there.

Luckily, when I checked on him the next morning, they had given him his meds and he was once again a happy guy and complying with his medical care. What a relief. I was so afraid that they hospital didn't release him with med orders, and he'd wind up right back there after a fight with the employees of this facility.

So, hopefully things will settle down. I was able to speak with PT, and give them background on my dad so that they can start working with him and discovering his physical limitations....and finally reporting to us.

So, that's that. We're going to go out today to get him some clothes for rehab. a few gym shorts and gym pants. His dockers and nice shirt were either lost in the transfer or stolen. Nice. When I mentioned the gym clothes to dot, her comment was that buying him clothes was very optimistic. She's right. So, we shall see.

Hope you all have a nice weekend.