Well, it looks like we are coming out of our “emergency” situation with husband’s shoulder. No, it is not that he is better, but rather that he can mostly deal with it. Last weekend he decided that he should try to get back to his normal routine. We had dinner out on Friday night. We ended up at Wendys and he ordered and carried the tray. When we have gone for lunch, I have had to go up and order and carry the tray - although for the lunches since then, I have been ordering and carrying the tray again. Saturday night we went to Ikea for dinner and then the movies. We have not gone to the movies since he hurt his shoulder - and normally we go every Saturday night. Sunday we even went to one of the Asian buffets we go to for dinner. I can touch his arm again without him screaming in pain. I have pushed him to open doors to different businesses we go to and he can open some, but some are too heavy for his shoulder. Biggest problem continues to be the seat belt sitting on shoulder when he drives.
We missed another reenactment event this past weekend. It was a new event and it all sounded complicated - since we were coming late everything we brought would have to be carried in. No parking for the event and looking at the map - we would be parking on residential streets on the far side of a wide main road, that we would then have to cross back - with our stuff - with no traffic light to help us. We would therefore have to travel very light. No bringing even our smaller box bench as it would be too heavy for me to carry - he certainly could not without much pain and making his shoulder worse. We would have to use the reproduction folding stools we have. (Husband made them.) Not a problem normally, but I knew it would be a problem for him right now. So I had him try one - the look on his face said it all. We got a piece of board from the garage workshop and he tried that across the stool - he said it was maybe okay. In the end we decided not to go. From the report on the event it was not a major loss. It is just that he feels that is he is giving in and weak as does he is not doing things
This has continued to be a week of dealing with medical things. I am hard to get blood from during a blood test. The nurse last week was good - I barely felt the needle. When I took off the bandaid when we got home, I was surprised at the bruising where she had done the test, but knew it would go away. Over the weekend we went to Costco and husband found a new canned soup that he wanted. We bought the 8 pack of soup and a small bottle of vitamins which were in a cart. I hate the Costco carts as they are too tall for me to push comfortably and when we walked out of the store I picked up the soup and handed him the vitamins with him protesting all the way about my carrying the “heavy”soup. The weather has been cold here and I have been wearing a long sleeved sweatshirt over my tee shirt. Sunday night when I suddenly was hot and took of the sweatshirt I saw that rather than healing, the bruise area had gotten larger. Of course husband looked it up and said that it was due to carrying heavy items - “see, you should not have carried the soup”. So I am waiting for my arm to be back to normal.
Wednesday we went to the doctor for our regular appointment. All went well, Doctor checked husband’s shoulder and said maybe another month to 6 weeks and it should be okay or we will “see” what else needs to be done - probably nothing.
Now, our state put in a new law maybe last year. Rather than writing out prescriptions and handing them to us, all prescriptions for people (as opposed to veterinarian ones for animals) have to be sent directly by the doctor to the pharmacy. This may be great for helping prevent and deal with addiction, but has been a nightmare for us in dealing with our prescriptions. I keep our prescriptions organized. We are given them 3 months worth at a time. I keep those bottles in our downstairs bathroom (no shower or bath tub to make it steam). I have smaller bottles in the kitchen cabinet. When I use up all the medications in a kitchen bottle, I count out 30 days worth from the ones in the bathroom into the ones in the kitchen and I make a mark on the lid of the bathroom bottle. It helps me keep track of how much medication we have left.
With the new system of no written prescriptions not only do we not see what has been sent through to make sure it is correct, the pharmacy automatically fills all of the prescriptions . Often we don’t need all of them filled and we have to stand there while one of the pharmacy employee wastes time reversing the ones we don’t need. (I am not upset with the pharmacy or their personnel - they go above and beyond as will be shown.) So this time I told husband that I was just going to take all the refills now - even if we don’t need them yet - except for his insulin. (The insulin has to be refrigerated or is only good for 42 days. We have a mostly full box and did not want a second box in the house in case of hurricane and no refrigerator.)
When we got to the pharmacy I explained this and it was no problem not to fill the insulin. We then walked around the store. Husband for some reason was not having a good day with his arm. I offered for us to go home and I would come back for the prescriptions - or they could wait until the next day (today). He insisted on staying. He settled on the bench near the pharmacy to wait.
The prescriptions were almost ready and we waited. Then we were called and I went up to get them. I had added up in my head that they should cost between $30 and $40 so when it rang up for $57 - I was shocked. I went over to husband and we while he checked that the medications were the correct ones, I looked at the charge card receipt - my medications had been rung up at the rate from my old insurance. I switched insurance as of this month - I used to buy my meds off the old insurance as doing so was cheaper - and had purposely brought the cards in a couple of weeks ago so the change would be on file. It was not. One of the employees researched it and switched it over to the new insurance and it’s lower rate. But to do this she had to take out half the pills in 2 of them as I take a half a pill not a whole pill and the insurance would only allow 45 pills for the 90 days, not the 90 pills I had been getting. Okay, I understand. I really appreciated the attention and time the employee put into this - and she was standing on crutches having been hurt in some way, so I felt really bad. She rebottled the pills and gave me a refund for the overpayment. My credit card slip for the original purchase had gone astray on their end during all of this and the search for it was close to 10 minutes before it was found. I was at the point that I had asked if they could just give me a reprint and employee was about to check - when it was found. I thanked her profusely and we came home - 2 hours gone. When I got home I realized that we were charge for the needles for husband’s insulin three times as much as it has been cost before.
We also get test strips to use in our Diabetes meters. When at the pharmacy yesterday, they told us that the doctor’s office had not included a diagnosis code and that we should call to have it resent to them. I did so this morning. This afternoon we went in and discussed the price of the strips - apparently he had been under billed in the past and this amount was correct. When they ran through my test strips they came up for almost $50. They are suppose to be free. I know from when husband switched to this insurance that the first time they charged him $5 and then when it was processed through, the $5 was refunded - but $50? Also they only had enough to fill one of our prescriptions. I had them fill husband’s prescription and I will have to call our insurance company to find out what is going on with the billing for my strips before I get them. I again thanked the employee (same one as yesterday). This all went much smoother when husband switched his medical insurance last year.
Since husband was doing better - even if he does not think he is - and I knew that he could go out for lunch on his own, I told him that I am going to my client tomorrow as I have work that has to be done there - I did not make it there last month for other reasons and this month is quickly running out. (Plus I would like to get paid - we can use the money.) He was not happy, but understood. I told him that I would take our van so he could have the car as it is easier for him to deal with the door and seatbelt in the car. I know the van can fit in the municipal garage I park in as I have taken it there before. He insisted he would be happier if I had the car and he will deal with the van. So I called the client and I am going to work tomorrow. Something I normally look forward to, but am too tired to do so this month. (Oh, I need an extension cord for this client -and it is a special one as it has a flat plug as the outlet is behind a safe. I could not of course find this cord when packing this afternoon to go to work tomorrow - it is kept in my brief case. I finally found out that “the teddies in my little village had borrowed it”, okay, I had grabbed it to use for them until I got one for the village and forgot about it!)
Laundry is behind as we don’t want me carrying it upstairs and he can’t. I have not changed the bedding since he became ill as he has his pillows as needs them (which changes at times) and we don’t want to move them out of position. So I have gotten a lot of undone paperwork done, but other things are falling behind.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Know what your medical insurance covers and what it costs. Don’t be afraid to make sure that you get what you are entitled to or ask to have something changed to what you are entitled to. In the past we have had a blood pressure medication changed by the doctor at our request as one goes on a formulary and another goes off - they are the same category of medication.
Also if you are picking new medical insurance - and this is the time of year that happens - make sure that any medications or other prescription items that you take are on the formulary (list of covered medications) that the new company has.
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Friday, October 19, 2018
WHAT IF YOU OR YOUR OTHER HALF WAS UNABLE TO DEAL WITH THE HOUSEHOLD OR FINANCES?
Gosh darn! I did it again! I forgot to post yesterday!
Now, I was doing well, at the beginning of the week I had an idea for what to post about - which I forgot, but as I wrote this very line, the idea came back.
Husband has been having a bad week - his back now is down to an ache and it varies from worse to better - twice it disappeared completely for a couple of hours - but sometimes it gets worse when he takes the medication or when he soaks in a hot shower, the idea our doctor recommended. We happened to be at the doctor’s office today - before all this with his shoulder, I had made appointments for our annual visit and its bloodwork, and today was the bloodwork. Doctor said it could take 6 weeks for his shoulder to stop hurting completely - 4 more to go and neither can take much more of this - for him the pain and inability to go out and do things as he gets too exhausted and it makes his shoulder/arm/ - and now also - neck hurt more. He is frustrated with it all and I am exhausted from trying to help him. Every thing is a bit confused. I am not completely sure what day it is unless I check. (Good thing we have our pills in several day of the week boxes, so it helps remind us what day it and whether or not we took our medications.) When we go for lunch at Wendys I order and get the lunch while he gets the table - the opposite of what we normally do - which also confuses the employees - one fellow there lists me as Mrs. “husband first name”. Others just list with me his name. And then again, the weekend crew which does not know us as well asked for my name - I gave him my middle name to avoid having to spell my name.
On the other hand I have gotten a lot of decluttering done as we are home so much. I have finished scanning in the articles from the older reenacting magazines that we decided to scan the articles he wanted into the computer and then get rid of the magazines. They are now stacked up to take to next month’s reenactment unit meeting and pass them along to others who have joined more recently and not had a chance to read them. In one magazine he only had one article marked to scan - and that was two pages - see, we really did not need to keep the entire magazine at all. As these magazines leave, I have room for the newer ones. I started today scanning in the articles from the magazine from the national of my embroidery club. These magazines after they are scanned go with me to the meetings or places where we do a “stitch in public” and I give them out to people who might be interested in joining us so they can see the nice magazine they will get from national and also get rid of them without throwing them away (ditto the other ones we bring to the reenactment unit meetings). I also have been making telephone calls that I put off as we are not home and awake enough time to make the calls. I still have to call our eye doctor and make an appointment for us - but not sure when to do so as he can’t drive out there.
Okay, now the idea I had for this week. Have you done anything to allow someone else to take over running your household if they had to? For decades I tried to get my husband to pay attention to our finances - where we bank, what money comes in, what bills have to go out, etc. He never wanted to talk about it - it would be bad luck. I started paying his bills for him before we got married and kept doing so - “You’re an accountant. You do it. You are better at it.” I would say to him as I tried to get him to look at things and how I do them “What would happen if I was kidnaped and you had to find the money to pay them to get me back?” Death was not allowed to be mentioned. “I would tell them that have to put you on the phone to tell me where the money is so I could pay them.”
In December 2012 we were in a bad car accident - in front of the house next door to ours. We luckily were not only still alive somehow, but also uninjured. This scared him. He suggested to me that I should I make up a notebook with all the information that someone would need to take over our bills, deposits, running the household, etc. By this he meant, even more than himself, if someone had to take it all over because we were injured.
I started doing this and in the ensuing 6 years I have done parts of it and then redone so. To date it is in my computer and not in a notebook, but I am working doing so. I found a old looseleaf book to use. (Better to recycle it to this than have it sit in the closet and buy a new one.)
My first go around with this - back in 2013 - was to write copious notes about when each bill comes in, when it has to go out, how I write the check, and how I post it in my financial software. Second go around, I scanned one of each bill into the computer as an example.
Currently I am scanning in each bill (first page only) when it is paid along with the check that pays it, anyway, as part of my bill paying. I have to make new notes about each bill and put it the notebook. I also figured out that I would put in the information we receive annually about our garbage pickup, with written instructions to go along with it. I want to write up information about how to use the washer and dryer. How and what I clean (okay, plan to clean and don’t always get to). When things such as the oil burner inspection needs to be done (the company we have a contract with did not call last year - or this year and with dealing with husband and still trying to get to my client to go to work there (for 2 months work now) I never had a chance to call them to ask why I haven’t heard about an appointment for 2 years or set up an appointment. Where what Christmas decorations are stored in the basement and so on.
What prompted to me to write about this now is an article I read in a publication reminding me how hard this can be on the survivor(s). I have had several clients who had their home/family run traditionally. The wife took care of the house and the husband took care of the finances. In each case the husband died and I had to help the widow figure out what they had. This was in the pre-Internet days which was an advantage as for some items we just had to wait until the widow received something in the mail. In January/February one receives all the papers for income taxes so that helped. In addition in some cases we had to check the state unclaimed/abandoned property office (each US state has one - not sure what is done in other countries) to see if anything had slipped by us and had been turned over to the state for the state to hold until it was claimed. Especially important for all spouses (and/or someone else) to know about is any life insurance which has its premiums paid off as nothing may come in the mail from the insurance company.
In addition these days the items maybe sent by email - and one may not be able to check the spouse’s email. Generally items online are not something that can be inherited. By this I mean if your spouse had an (or more than one) email accounts and you do not know how to sign into them, you may not be allowed to get into them as they were your spouse’s account not yours. In addition if there is a Facebook account etc. you may not be given the information to sign into it - it is their account not yours. Do you and your spouse (by which I mean any significant other) share a book download account? If it is in your spouse’s name you probably lose the books in it as they are not for sharing and cannot be inherited.
So if you and someone share accounts make sure that both of you know how to sign into them and what the passwords are. In the article I mentioned, the poor widow was going crazy trying to figure out her husband’s security question answers to be able to set new passwords when she did not know what the passwords were to the accounts. Her husband’s first pet’s name - she put in what she thought it was, but it did not work. His first school - not the one she thought it was.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
None of us likes to think about injury or illness or death of ourselves or those we love - and we think that we have lots of time to deal with it. One never knows. Make sure that you and your other half -if you have one - or someone else who is close and responsible - know about each other’s accounts and log in info. Make sure that you both know what your (joint if applicable) financial situation is and how and when money comes in and goes out and from where it comes and where it goes. Make sure that both of you know about all insurances related to each other. Try to have a list of bills you pay monthly, quarterly, annually, etc. for reference. Have a list of incoming money and when, how and where it comes- especially money that is not a paycheck. If you own a house, car, stocks, etc. make sure both (or all) of you know where the ownership papers are for it. Bank Vault? Locked box in the closet? The back of several drawers? Also if you (or your other) has jewelry include the information about where it is, what it is, and if it is valuable. (My husband knows that the jewelry in the jewelry box on top of dresser is all junk jewelry of no value, but there is a small box stashed with minor items that are real jewelry and the rest is in our bank vault.)
Also if you have all this information organized, in case of an emergency you can take the information with you if you have to flee your home from any of these horrible weather situations which have become more common in recent years. I have a copy of the computer data backup I put in the bank in my “grab and go” folder which has copies of our car and house titles, insurance policies, and I put the bank statements when I reconcile them in the folder - and take out the prior month’s statement and file that one away. This way I have the most recent bank statement to come with us - including the ones for the two organizations that I am treasurer of.
Now, I was doing well, at the beginning of the week I had an idea for what to post about - which I forgot, but as I wrote this very line, the idea came back.
Husband has been having a bad week - his back now is down to an ache and it varies from worse to better - twice it disappeared completely for a couple of hours - but sometimes it gets worse when he takes the medication or when he soaks in a hot shower, the idea our doctor recommended. We happened to be at the doctor’s office today - before all this with his shoulder, I had made appointments for our annual visit and its bloodwork, and today was the bloodwork. Doctor said it could take 6 weeks for his shoulder to stop hurting completely - 4 more to go and neither can take much more of this - for him the pain and inability to go out and do things as he gets too exhausted and it makes his shoulder/arm/ - and now also - neck hurt more. He is frustrated with it all and I am exhausted from trying to help him. Every thing is a bit confused. I am not completely sure what day it is unless I check. (Good thing we have our pills in several day of the week boxes, so it helps remind us what day it and whether or not we took our medications.) When we go for lunch at Wendys I order and get the lunch while he gets the table - the opposite of what we normally do - which also confuses the employees - one fellow there lists me as Mrs. “husband first name”. Others just list with me his name. And then again, the weekend crew which does not know us as well asked for my name - I gave him my middle name to avoid having to spell my name.
On the other hand I have gotten a lot of decluttering done as we are home so much. I have finished scanning in the articles from the older reenacting magazines that we decided to scan the articles he wanted into the computer and then get rid of the magazines. They are now stacked up to take to next month’s reenactment unit meeting and pass them along to others who have joined more recently and not had a chance to read them. In one magazine he only had one article marked to scan - and that was two pages - see, we really did not need to keep the entire magazine at all. As these magazines leave, I have room for the newer ones. I started today scanning in the articles from the magazine from the national of my embroidery club. These magazines after they are scanned go with me to the meetings or places where we do a “stitch in public” and I give them out to people who might be interested in joining us so they can see the nice magazine they will get from national and also get rid of them without throwing them away (ditto the other ones we bring to the reenactment unit meetings). I also have been making telephone calls that I put off as we are not home and awake enough time to make the calls. I still have to call our eye doctor and make an appointment for us - but not sure when to do so as he can’t drive out there.
Okay, now the idea I had for this week. Have you done anything to allow someone else to take over running your household if they had to? For decades I tried to get my husband to pay attention to our finances - where we bank, what money comes in, what bills have to go out, etc. He never wanted to talk about it - it would be bad luck. I started paying his bills for him before we got married and kept doing so - “You’re an accountant. You do it. You are better at it.” I would say to him as I tried to get him to look at things and how I do them “What would happen if I was kidnaped and you had to find the money to pay them to get me back?” Death was not allowed to be mentioned. “I would tell them that have to put you on the phone to tell me where the money is so I could pay them.”
In December 2012 we were in a bad car accident - in front of the house next door to ours. We luckily were not only still alive somehow, but also uninjured. This scared him. He suggested to me that I should I make up a notebook with all the information that someone would need to take over our bills, deposits, running the household, etc. By this he meant, even more than himself, if someone had to take it all over because we were injured.
I started doing this and in the ensuing 6 years I have done parts of it and then redone so. To date it is in my computer and not in a notebook, but I am working doing so. I found a old looseleaf book to use. (Better to recycle it to this than have it sit in the closet and buy a new one.)
My first go around with this - back in 2013 - was to write copious notes about when each bill comes in, when it has to go out, how I write the check, and how I post it in my financial software. Second go around, I scanned one of each bill into the computer as an example.
Currently I am scanning in each bill (first page only) when it is paid along with the check that pays it, anyway, as part of my bill paying. I have to make new notes about each bill and put it the notebook. I also figured out that I would put in the information we receive annually about our garbage pickup, with written instructions to go along with it. I want to write up information about how to use the washer and dryer. How and what I clean (okay, plan to clean and don’t always get to). When things such as the oil burner inspection needs to be done (the company we have a contract with did not call last year - or this year and with dealing with husband and still trying to get to my client to go to work there (for 2 months work now) I never had a chance to call them to ask why I haven’t heard about an appointment for 2 years or set up an appointment. Where what Christmas decorations are stored in the basement and so on.
What prompted to me to write about this now is an article I read in a publication reminding me how hard this can be on the survivor(s). I have had several clients who had their home/family run traditionally. The wife took care of the house and the husband took care of the finances. In each case the husband died and I had to help the widow figure out what they had. This was in the pre-Internet days which was an advantage as for some items we just had to wait until the widow received something in the mail. In January/February one receives all the papers for income taxes so that helped. In addition in some cases we had to check the state unclaimed/abandoned property office (each US state has one - not sure what is done in other countries) to see if anything had slipped by us and had been turned over to the state for the state to hold until it was claimed. Especially important for all spouses (and/or someone else) to know about is any life insurance which has its premiums paid off as nothing may come in the mail from the insurance company.
In addition these days the items maybe sent by email - and one may not be able to check the spouse’s email. Generally items online are not something that can be inherited. By this I mean if your spouse had an (or more than one) email accounts and you do not know how to sign into them, you may not be allowed to get into them as they were your spouse’s account not yours. In addition if there is a Facebook account etc. you may not be given the information to sign into it - it is their account not yours. Do you and your spouse (by which I mean any significant other) share a book download account? If it is in your spouse’s name you probably lose the books in it as they are not for sharing and cannot be inherited.
So if you and someone share accounts make sure that both of you know how to sign into them and what the passwords are. In the article I mentioned, the poor widow was going crazy trying to figure out her husband’s security question answers to be able to set new passwords when she did not know what the passwords were to the accounts. Her husband’s first pet’s name - she put in what she thought it was, but it did not work. His first school - not the one she thought it was.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
None of us likes to think about injury or illness or death of ourselves or those we love - and we think that we have lots of time to deal with it. One never knows. Make sure that you and your other half -if you have one - or someone else who is close and responsible - know about each other’s accounts and log in info. Make sure that you both know what your (joint if applicable) financial situation is and how and when money comes in and goes out and from where it comes and where it goes. Make sure that both of you know about all insurances related to each other. Try to have a list of bills you pay monthly, quarterly, annually, etc. for reference. Have a list of incoming money and when, how and where it comes- especially money that is not a paycheck. If you own a house, car, stocks, etc. make sure both (or all) of you know where the ownership papers are for it. Bank Vault? Locked box in the closet? The back of several drawers? Also if you (or your other) has jewelry include the information about where it is, what it is, and if it is valuable. (My husband knows that the jewelry in the jewelry box on top of dresser is all junk jewelry of no value, but there is a small box stashed with minor items that are real jewelry and the rest is in our bank vault.)
Also if you have all this information organized, in case of an emergency you can take the information with you if you have to flee your home from any of these horrible weather situations which have become more common in recent years. I have a copy of the computer data backup I put in the bank in my “grab and go” folder which has copies of our car and house titles, insurance policies, and I put the bank statements when I reconcile them in the folder - and take out the prior month’s statement and file that one away. This way I have the most recent bank statement to come with us - including the ones for the two organizations that I am treasurer of.
Thursday, October 11, 2018
COPING WITH HUSBAND IN PAIN
We ended up going to the doctor on Friday and husband’s pain is muscle related. Doctor felt a “knot” in husband’s back. Since the hospital had taken X-rays of husband’s back, the doctor would have access to them - he was not sure why he had not received the info about the visit as we had specified him as the doctor. He did send husband for X-rays of his neck. He called in prescriptions for husband to our pharmacy. (By law in our state there are no longer written prescriptions allowed for people.) He had the Xrays taken. We had lunch on the way home at Wendys that we passed, so it would be the most like a normal lunch for him - although it was a terrible Wendys, not like our regular wonderful one, I settled him in at home and picked up the prescriptions.
One is an anti-inflammatory and one is a muscle relaxer. He was also to take extra strength Tylenol with them. The former drove his blood glucose up high (doctor said it would). And between the other medication and his pain, he could not drive - which meant he would be staying in the house.
Until Saturday night he sat in the kitchen at the table watching TV. At my suggestion, I brought him his laptop so he could go online. His chair (well, the chair I brought him to use instead of his) blocks the way to the bathroom, the pantry, and the door to the basement - especially if he sits back from the table which he was doing. So, little got done. I still have one load of laundry from last week which has not been brought up and folded yet - and I just started this week’s laundry - but at least as of Saturday night he felt well enough to go upstairs to his computer.
Through Sunday night I was picking up lunch for us and bringing it back (Wendys, of course) and picked up dinner Saturday night. Sunday I made him hot dogs for lunch and then we had Wendys - picked up by me - for dinner. Thank goodness the big "Dr. Who" season start was Sunday afternoon and gave his something to watch.
Monday he decided that he was going out for lunch and drove us to, of course, Wendys. I ordered and picked up the food as he normally would and he got the table as I normally would. We did the same yesterday and today (Wednesday) also. I have been cooking dinners that are “soft”as he does not want to use a knife to cut - it hurts too much. I had been going out and running errands without him. The weekend and Monday (a holiday here) the post office was closed, but yesterday he decided that we would go, as normal, on our way to lunch to mail what I had to mail out and see what was in our box. That went fine and then I left him at home and went to the supermarket as while running errands I found that some items we normally buy were on sale (who had time to look at the circulars received?) and I wanted to buy them. Today we went out for lunch, stopping at the post office on the way. Afterwards I had to go to the bank and he wanted to buy a new remote reading thermometer as the one he has in our holly tree to let him know what the temperature is outside, broke since all of this started. Walmart has discontinued the thermometer, so he has to find an alternative. Walmart and the supermarket next to were both too cold for him and it made his shoulder hurt more. I knew I should have left him home.
Strangely I did manage to get a lot of things that needed to be done finished. My cell phone won’t work with this (or my other) laptop and I wanted to transfer and organize photos that I took so I don’t buy (any more) duplicate bears. While at my desk I always feel that I should be doing work, work or household books and such so I don’t get to it - so I used this opportunity to sort the photos and copy them. While he was upstairs I got the downstairs bathroom cleaned - I hate to admit to being “at least”a month behind on this - now I have to do the upstairs bathroom. I made some phone calls that needed to be done. I did an IRS form for my embroidery club (I am treasurer of same).
I always said that I needed more time home and more time driving - unfortunately it took his injury for me to have more of both.
He feels better than he did - although when today started he felt worse. I can see from how he moves and how interested he is in things that he is doing even better than he thinks he is. One problem is that he is afraid that cold air will make his arm hurt worse. One theory on where the injury came from is that I had turned on the a/c for him when I left for the meeting as it was hot in the room and his shoulder got cold - so he is trying to avoid cold air. Unfortunately we are having temperatures which are more summer than fall and we are both sweating and hot and I think the discomfort from same is keeping him from feeling better. It is also making our bedroom smell like a gym locker room - I have changed the bedding and keep spraying with Lysol.
I was to go to a client this week - I called and told her what happened and I would call next week for an appointment. I need to do the work and I also get paid quarterly and need the check.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
“Stuff” happens.
One has to figure out what to do to keep life going as normally as possible. One has to take the time to take care of one’s loved ones - and one’s self. Time and money have to be reappropriated when needed. I am glad he did not have a heart attack and can put him with the 4 year old child that he is when not feeling well. If driving out and picking up his regular lunch keeps him happier, that is fine with me even if it would be easier to make him lunch at home.
If organizing falls a bit further behind, well, that it is how it is.
One is an anti-inflammatory and one is a muscle relaxer. He was also to take extra strength Tylenol with them. The former drove his blood glucose up high (doctor said it would). And between the other medication and his pain, he could not drive - which meant he would be staying in the house.
Until Saturday night he sat in the kitchen at the table watching TV. At my suggestion, I brought him his laptop so he could go online. His chair (well, the chair I brought him to use instead of his) blocks the way to the bathroom, the pantry, and the door to the basement - especially if he sits back from the table which he was doing. So, little got done. I still have one load of laundry from last week which has not been brought up and folded yet - and I just started this week’s laundry - but at least as of Saturday night he felt well enough to go upstairs to his computer.
Through Sunday night I was picking up lunch for us and bringing it back (Wendys, of course) and picked up dinner Saturday night. Sunday I made him hot dogs for lunch and then we had Wendys - picked up by me - for dinner. Thank goodness the big "Dr. Who" season start was Sunday afternoon and gave his something to watch.
Monday he decided that he was going out for lunch and drove us to, of course, Wendys. I ordered and picked up the food as he normally would and he got the table as I normally would. We did the same yesterday and today (Wednesday) also. I have been cooking dinners that are “soft”as he does not want to use a knife to cut - it hurts too much. I had been going out and running errands without him. The weekend and Monday (a holiday here) the post office was closed, but yesterday he decided that we would go, as normal, on our way to lunch to mail what I had to mail out and see what was in our box. That went fine and then I left him at home and went to the supermarket as while running errands I found that some items we normally buy were on sale (who had time to look at the circulars received?) and I wanted to buy them. Today we went out for lunch, stopping at the post office on the way. Afterwards I had to go to the bank and he wanted to buy a new remote reading thermometer as the one he has in our holly tree to let him know what the temperature is outside, broke since all of this started. Walmart has discontinued the thermometer, so he has to find an alternative. Walmart and the supermarket next to were both too cold for him and it made his shoulder hurt more. I knew I should have left him home.
Strangely I did manage to get a lot of things that needed to be done finished. My cell phone won’t work with this (or my other) laptop and I wanted to transfer and organize photos that I took so I don’t buy (any more) duplicate bears. While at my desk I always feel that I should be doing work, work or household books and such so I don’t get to it - so I used this opportunity to sort the photos and copy them. While he was upstairs I got the downstairs bathroom cleaned - I hate to admit to being “at least”a month behind on this - now I have to do the upstairs bathroom. I made some phone calls that needed to be done. I did an IRS form for my embroidery club (I am treasurer of same).
I always said that I needed more time home and more time driving - unfortunately it took his injury for me to have more of both.
He feels better than he did - although when today started he felt worse. I can see from how he moves and how interested he is in things that he is doing even better than he thinks he is. One problem is that he is afraid that cold air will make his arm hurt worse. One theory on where the injury came from is that I had turned on the a/c for him when I left for the meeting as it was hot in the room and his shoulder got cold - so he is trying to avoid cold air. Unfortunately we are having temperatures which are more summer than fall and we are both sweating and hot and I think the discomfort from same is keeping him from feeling better. It is also making our bedroom smell like a gym locker room - I have changed the bedding and keep spraying with Lysol.
I was to go to a client this week - I called and told her what happened and I would call next week for an appointment. I need to do the work and I also get paid quarterly and need the check.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
“Stuff” happens.
One has to figure out what to do to keep life going as normally as possible. One has to take the time to take care of one’s loved ones - and one’s self. Time and money have to be reappropriated when needed. I am glad he did not have a heart attack and can put him with the 4 year old child that he is when not feeling well. If driving out and picking up his regular lunch keeps him happier, that is fine with me even if it would be easier to make him lunch at home.
If organizing falls a bit further behind, well, that it is how it is.
Friday, October 5, 2018
I WAS FINALLY CATCHING UP A BIT AND...
Well, here I am again, posting a day late. Did I forget? Did I play games with my computer again? Was there a blackout? No! But please forgive my late posting - again.
I had a tax return to finish for a client - (USA) deadline for late filing on extension of individual tax returns is October 15. This particular client tends to file on extension every year, but usually I get his information and prepare the return earlier in September. This year he did not contact me until mid September to set up an appointment - which was a week or so later. He lost his wife late last year and has been in and out of the hospital himself - he was going back in the day after he gave me his info. Even now, the return is finished and out to him, but I need to discuss his final estimated tax payment for 2018 which is due in January 2019 before I can fill in and send him that file.
My embroidery guild chapter needed someone to teach some stitches at the October 3 meeting and I got volunteered - I had to do prep for the meeting and try out some stitches to see what I would teach - and have some samples of it for the members to see what they looked like.
I finished same in time for the meeting and was finishing teaching the first stitch when my cell phone rang with my husband’s special ringer. I figured it was a text message - he never calls me as he only has 100 minutes a month (and almost every month ends the month with none of the minutes used) and while they were stitching I opened the message - only to find that it was phone call from husband. I called back (must be important if he called) and he told me that he did not feel well - his arm hurt which pain killer OTC pill should he take. I told him and went back to teaching. In 5 minutes - 10 at the most - he called again, just this side of crying about how bad it was and it was his left arm. That set me panicking. I explained, made my apologies, grabbed as many of my samples as I saw (plus my other stuff, including a piece - the raised work butterfly - that I had brought in for “show and tell” and ran out the door. We live maybe 5 minutes drive from the meeting.
He was upset and in a panic. I looked up the symptoms of a heart attack - yes, pain radiating in the left arm, even without chest pain could be a heart attack. Now, husband and I are the type of people who avoid doctors as much as they can, but we were both worried. Question became which hospital emergency room to go to. We have a large hospital which was owned by the county until it sold it, but it still serves the purpose of the county hospital near us. Further away there is a Catholic Diocese run hospital. I suggested same, despite it being maybe 10 minutes futher away as we had been “happy” with two other hospitals so owned - one for his cataract surgeries and one when his mother had heart surgery - and if he needed same, he would be transferred to that hospital, one of the top in the country, if we went to this hospital, plus our GP is associated with it. Why a question as to which one to go to? Well, his mother died at this hospital and that sticks in his mind. I pointed out that while it was the same building, it was a different hospital now, with new ownership (had been a private hospital owned by doctors before).
He made sure that he had his medical insurance cards (we are both on Medicare - me as of this month, him as of last year) and we were off. He had to drive as he has motion sickness - which is also why an ambulance, which we thought to be overkill any way, was not in question.
When we arrived I remembered a problem with this hospital - most of the parking is at the rear of the building far from the doors - and the emergency room is at the front. We looked in the small lot by the emergency entrance - no spaces. I had him stop the car and get out and I drove it and parked it at the rear of the building - at least the parking was free, at the county hospital they charge - and should not for so many reasons. He actually went in alone without complaining or whimpering. (He does not like to do things alone.) I had figured he would be waiting for me, but he had the good senses to start things going. I parked at the rear of the building, and ran (well as close to running as an overweight, out of shape 65 year old woman can run without having a heart attack herself) around the side of the building, in the entrance (halfway to the front) and started following signs while briskly walking - emergency luckily was a red sign with white writing and easy to spot to see which way to go. I got to the front of the building and it ended? I saw an elevator and pushed the ground floor button and then ran out and followed more signs - arriving at the emergency waiting area just as they were taking him in.
I was impressed with the computers on wheeled stations so that the staff could come to the bed and do the computer work right there. Staff was nice and understanding. While one employee settled him into the bed, the nurse took info from me - she was rather impressed that I had a list of our meds (they only needed his of course) in my cell phone. Based on the errors we made in info while trying to recall things while in panic, I will also enter in additional info, including family history for both of us as we forget when they asked that his mother had heart surgery as well as his cataract surgery and to mention that he is allergic to most raw fruit and many nuts. I did remember that he was allergic to penicillin ,but he insisted no - and that I was allergic to same. He has always said that he was allergic to penicillin to me and I am allergic to sulfa meds. (“Aren’t sulfa meds penicillin” he asked me later when we were discussing this.)
Once he was settled in, it became wait and wait. Staff and the woman accompanying the patient in the curtained area next to husband all were constantly upset that I was standing and tried to get me to sit. I prefer standing as it hurts my bottom to sit for long times (I lost weight there) and we were concerned about -yes - bed bugs. Standing for an afternoon is nothing to me, but it kept bothering everyone - and I was less in the way in the tight quarters of his area standing than sitting and could more easily get out of anyone’s way.
We had explained that he had excruciating pain in his left shoulder radiating down his left arm and that we were concerned if it was a heart attack, as well as what it was if it was not.
They did blood work (something husband fears and it was not done well - there was blood on the sheet). They hooked him up to a machine. A man came and took him to X-ray, not knowing it was around the corner in the same room I asked if I could follow along - husband asked me to stay with him the entire time, which I had expected and planned to do. They did other things in a flurry of tasks. Then it became wait.... wait....wait...
We had arrived around noon. It became 2:30 - our normal lunch time. Neither of us had eaten that day as the 2:30 meal is usually our first of the day. We are both Type 2 Diabetics. I can do passably well not eating, but he needs to eat or his blood sugar drops. He said he was okay. By 3 pm he was heading into trouble. I went to the nurse and explained and asked if they had some orange juice which is what he usually will have if he has a low - and she gave him same and offered turkey sandwich, which they have in a fridge in the unit. So he had a bit of lunch. (I had sort of thought that he could not eat, which is why I asked for the juice, just in case surgery was needed.) I thought of running out and looking for something for me (we have cheese cracker packages in the car - figured some place to eat in the building or at worst, Burger King was 3 buildings over on the road). But I decided I felt okay and waited.
Over the afternoon we were told his blood tests were okay. Later we that he would be moved to an observation section where he would wait until they did a second set of blood tests as they needed to compare them - ok, makes sense. I asked the doctor who told us this, about checking about other reasons for the pain he was in - “We have to rule out a heart attack first and then look at muscular-skeletal reasons.” Okay, makes sense.
It took an hour or so before he was transferred to the observation section. This was a room with larger curtained areas where one could move about (me - not him, he was again hooked up). After he was settled in and we knew that nothing would happen for awhile, I nervously asked him about leaving for about 15 minutes to run back out to car and get cheese crackers to eat. He said it was fine and that I should check for a cafeteria in the hospital. I went back out a little more leisurely and checked the lunchonette type restaurant in the building - $8 for a burger? Did not see if that included fries or something, but would only not want same anyway and $8 a bit high on the budget, so I continued the car. As I had walked through there was a photo exhibit - it reminded me that husband had exhibited his cut paper art works in the hospital (before his mom died) several times. I went out to the car. On a chance, I drove the car around to the front of the building and found an empty space in the small lot in the front near the emergency room to make leaving easier. Problem - only one package of cheese crackers in the car. I guess I did not replace them when we (okay I) ate them in the past.
So I took the package back with me and ate the crackers. They brought him dinner - lunch? at 4 pm - the Diabetic diet - macaroni in tomato sauce, spinach, diet pudding, diet ginger ale, and coffee - artificial sweetener on the side of course. He ate the macaroni and spinach. Eventually they came and took the second blood tests - and had to stick him all over again, I thought the tube they left in his arm would be used, but no they had to stick him again. Those tests came back fine.
So, I started asking what they were going to do next about the pain. No, they were done - he should go to his doctor or an orthopedist about that! So we spent 8.5 hours there and left with a couple of holes in arms, papers, hungry stomachs, and the pain in his arm still there.
He had trouble falling asleep last night - did not do so until 6 am - so when he finally fell asleep I let him sleep since he had not had a full night sleep the night before, hoping when he finally awoke he would feel better. No, it may even be worse. So tomorrow we will go see our regular doctor, who hopefully will be able to help him.
I ran out today and ran the most pressing of the errands I was suppose to do yesterday such as transfer money so I could mail out bill payments due out.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
1 - Be prepared. (Even if you are not a Boy Scout.)
I know what medications we each take, but was getting confused and the list of same in a memo in my cell phone helped. The personal and family histories in the phone would have been of great help.
If I had remembered to replace cheese cracker packages when we (I) ate them, I would have had more of them to eat as a lunch - and not have been shaking with low blood sugar when we got home. (We ended with me going out and picking up Chinese take out for dinner, as it was too late to cook - and we got foods he did not need to cut.)
Have something on your cell phone (or tablet) to keep you busy - without wifi as there was none. I spent the time in the observation area playing cards on my phone. (The TVs did not work in either room.) While in the observation room he spent his time annoying his sister with text messages telling her where he was and why and NO she should not come or send her husband. (I have not mentioned it to my family yet.)
We thought we were prepared, well I thought I was prepared for both of us, but we were not. If I had been the patient, he would have had even more problems.
2 - Simple things can be complicated and one needs to keep thinking and come up with ideas quickly.
He needed his insurance cards and had to juggle it out of his pocket while being hooked up to machines - I took the wallet from him and shoved it in my pocket for the rest of the time we were there and added his cards back to it for him. (He would not give me his cell phone to hold except during the X- rays.)
When he went to eat the turkey sandwich we asked if he could/should take his pill that he would normally take with lunch - nurse checked and the doctor said yes. He tried to wrangle his pill box out and was getting frustrated. We both take that same medication. I told him to stop and pulled out my box and handed him one of mine - I took one back from his supply later. Much easier than him trying to get it out.
Eating the meal they gave him was a bit hard as the tray table was too far from him no matter how I positioned it. He is a sloppy eater and did not want to drop food on himself. I finally figured out to turn the tray 90 degrees so it could stick off the table and still have enough tray on the table not to fall off. This way the tray stuck out so it covered him lap.
3 - Go with the flow
Yes, it is a trite expression, but there was no other choice. We were there - I could not run the errands I intended. The soda bottles and donation items will wait. The visit to our bank vault to exchange this month’s data backups for last month’s - well, last month’s will work until next month’s goes in. Nothing to do to change the situation - just go along with it and be glad that he did not have a heart attack and hope that the doctor can help (easily) with the pain in his shoulder as he is currently pacing the kitchen as he is trying not to take the next OTC pill until closer to bed time. Oh, I forgot to mention that he found one of our old kitchen chairs the most comfortable thing to sit on and has planted himself on it (I brought it over for him from our studio) at our kitchen table in front of the door to the basement and blocking the path to the pantry closet and the downstairs bathroom. This making doing chores very hard to do as I either have to climb over him or ask him to move. Last night’s laundry is being done tonight.
I had a tax return to finish for a client - (USA) deadline for late filing on extension of individual tax returns is October 15. This particular client tends to file on extension every year, but usually I get his information and prepare the return earlier in September. This year he did not contact me until mid September to set up an appointment - which was a week or so later. He lost his wife late last year and has been in and out of the hospital himself - he was going back in the day after he gave me his info. Even now, the return is finished and out to him, but I need to discuss his final estimated tax payment for 2018 which is due in January 2019 before I can fill in and send him that file.
My embroidery guild chapter needed someone to teach some stitches at the October 3 meeting and I got volunteered - I had to do prep for the meeting and try out some stitches to see what I would teach - and have some samples of it for the members to see what they looked like.
I finished same in time for the meeting and was finishing teaching the first stitch when my cell phone rang with my husband’s special ringer. I figured it was a text message - he never calls me as he only has 100 minutes a month (and almost every month ends the month with none of the minutes used) and while they were stitching I opened the message - only to find that it was phone call from husband. I called back (must be important if he called) and he told me that he did not feel well - his arm hurt which pain killer OTC pill should he take. I told him and went back to teaching. In 5 minutes - 10 at the most - he called again, just this side of crying about how bad it was and it was his left arm. That set me panicking. I explained, made my apologies, grabbed as many of my samples as I saw (plus my other stuff, including a piece - the raised work butterfly - that I had brought in for “show and tell” and ran out the door. We live maybe 5 minutes drive from the meeting.
He was upset and in a panic. I looked up the symptoms of a heart attack - yes, pain radiating in the left arm, even without chest pain could be a heart attack. Now, husband and I are the type of people who avoid doctors as much as they can, but we were both worried. Question became which hospital emergency room to go to. We have a large hospital which was owned by the county until it sold it, but it still serves the purpose of the county hospital near us. Further away there is a Catholic Diocese run hospital. I suggested same, despite it being maybe 10 minutes futher away as we had been “happy” with two other hospitals so owned - one for his cataract surgeries and one when his mother had heart surgery - and if he needed same, he would be transferred to that hospital, one of the top in the country, if we went to this hospital, plus our GP is associated with it. Why a question as to which one to go to? Well, his mother died at this hospital and that sticks in his mind. I pointed out that while it was the same building, it was a different hospital now, with new ownership (had been a private hospital owned by doctors before).
He made sure that he had his medical insurance cards (we are both on Medicare - me as of this month, him as of last year) and we were off. He had to drive as he has motion sickness - which is also why an ambulance, which we thought to be overkill any way, was not in question.
When we arrived I remembered a problem with this hospital - most of the parking is at the rear of the building far from the doors - and the emergency room is at the front. We looked in the small lot by the emergency entrance - no spaces. I had him stop the car and get out and I drove it and parked it at the rear of the building - at least the parking was free, at the county hospital they charge - and should not for so many reasons. He actually went in alone without complaining or whimpering. (He does not like to do things alone.) I had figured he would be waiting for me, but he had the good senses to start things going. I parked at the rear of the building, and ran (well as close to running as an overweight, out of shape 65 year old woman can run without having a heart attack herself) around the side of the building, in the entrance (halfway to the front) and started following signs while briskly walking - emergency luckily was a red sign with white writing and easy to spot to see which way to go. I got to the front of the building and it ended? I saw an elevator and pushed the ground floor button and then ran out and followed more signs - arriving at the emergency waiting area just as they were taking him in.
I was impressed with the computers on wheeled stations so that the staff could come to the bed and do the computer work right there. Staff was nice and understanding. While one employee settled him into the bed, the nurse took info from me - she was rather impressed that I had a list of our meds (they only needed his of course) in my cell phone. Based on the errors we made in info while trying to recall things while in panic, I will also enter in additional info, including family history for both of us as we forget when they asked that his mother had heart surgery as well as his cataract surgery and to mention that he is allergic to most raw fruit and many nuts. I did remember that he was allergic to penicillin ,but he insisted no - and that I was allergic to same. He has always said that he was allergic to penicillin to me and I am allergic to sulfa meds. (“Aren’t sulfa meds penicillin” he asked me later when we were discussing this.)
Once he was settled in, it became wait and wait. Staff and the woman accompanying the patient in the curtained area next to husband all were constantly upset that I was standing and tried to get me to sit. I prefer standing as it hurts my bottom to sit for long times (I lost weight there) and we were concerned about -yes - bed bugs. Standing for an afternoon is nothing to me, but it kept bothering everyone - and I was less in the way in the tight quarters of his area standing than sitting and could more easily get out of anyone’s way.
We had explained that he had excruciating pain in his left shoulder radiating down his left arm and that we were concerned if it was a heart attack, as well as what it was if it was not.
They did blood work (something husband fears and it was not done well - there was blood on the sheet). They hooked him up to a machine. A man came and took him to X-ray, not knowing it was around the corner in the same room I asked if I could follow along - husband asked me to stay with him the entire time, which I had expected and planned to do. They did other things in a flurry of tasks. Then it became wait.... wait....wait...
We had arrived around noon. It became 2:30 - our normal lunch time. Neither of us had eaten that day as the 2:30 meal is usually our first of the day. We are both Type 2 Diabetics. I can do passably well not eating, but he needs to eat or his blood sugar drops. He said he was okay. By 3 pm he was heading into trouble. I went to the nurse and explained and asked if they had some orange juice which is what he usually will have if he has a low - and she gave him same and offered turkey sandwich, which they have in a fridge in the unit. So he had a bit of lunch. (I had sort of thought that he could not eat, which is why I asked for the juice, just in case surgery was needed.) I thought of running out and looking for something for me (we have cheese cracker packages in the car - figured some place to eat in the building or at worst, Burger King was 3 buildings over on the road). But I decided I felt okay and waited.
Over the afternoon we were told his blood tests were okay. Later we that he would be moved to an observation section where he would wait until they did a second set of blood tests as they needed to compare them - ok, makes sense. I asked the doctor who told us this, about checking about other reasons for the pain he was in - “We have to rule out a heart attack first and then look at muscular-skeletal reasons.” Okay, makes sense.
It took an hour or so before he was transferred to the observation section. This was a room with larger curtained areas where one could move about (me - not him, he was again hooked up). After he was settled in and we knew that nothing would happen for awhile, I nervously asked him about leaving for about 15 minutes to run back out to car and get cheese crackers to eat. He said it was fine and that I should check for a cafeteria in the hospital. I went back out a little more leisurely and checked the lunchonette type restaurant in the building - $8 for a burger? Did not see if that included fries or something, but would only not want same anyway and $8 a bit high on the budget, so I continued the car. As I had walked through there was a photo exhibit - it reminded me that husband had exhibited his cut paper art works in the hospital (before his mom died) several times. I went out to the car. On a chance, I drove the car around to the front of the building and found an empty space in the small lot in the front near the emergency room to make leaving easier. Problem - only one package of cheese crackers in the car. I guess I did not replace them when we (okay I) ate them in the past.
So I took the package back with me and ate the crackers. They brought him dinner - lunch? at 4 pm - the Diabetic diet - macaroni in tomato sauce, spinach, diet pudding, diet ginger ale, and coffee - artificial sweetener on the side of course. He ate the macaroni and spinach. Eventually they came and took the second blood tests - and had to stick him all over again, I thought the tube they left in his arm would be used, but no they had to stick him again. Those tests came back fine.
So, I started asking what they were going to do next about the pain. No, they were done - he should go to his doctor or an orthopedist about that! So we spent 8.5 hours there and left with a couple of holes in arms, papers, hungry stomachs, and the pain in his arm still there.
He had trouble falling asleep last night - did not do so until 6 am - so when he finally fell asleep I let him sleep since he had not had a full night sleep the night before, hoping when he finally awoke he would feel better. No, it may even be worse. So tomorrow we will go see our regular doctor, who hopefully will be able to help him.
I ran out today and ran the most pressing of the errands I was suppose to do yesterday such as transfer money so I could mail out bill payments due out.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
1 - Be prepared. (Even if you are not a Boy Scout.)
I know what medications we each take, but was getting confused and the list of same in a memo in my cell phone helped. The personal and family histories in the phone would have been of great help.
If I had remembered to replace cheese cracker packages when we (I) ate them, I would have had more of them to eat as a lunch - and not have been shaking with low blood sugar when we got home. (We ended with me going out and picking up Chinese take out for dinner, as it was too late to cook - and we got foods he did not need to cut.)
Have something on your cell phone (or tablet) to keep you busy - without wifi as there was none. I spent the time in the observation area playing cards on my phone. (The TVs did not work in either room.) While in the observation room he spent his time annoying his sister with text messages telling her where he was and why and NO she should not come or send her husband. (I have not mentioned it to my family yet.)
We thought we were prepared, well I thought I was prepared for both of us, but we were not. If I had been the patient, he would have had even more problems.
2 - Simple things can be complicated and one needs to keep thinking and come up with ideas quickly.
He needed his insurance cards and had to juggle it out of his pocket while being hooked up to machines - I took the wallet from him and shoved it in my pocket for the rest of the time we were there and added his cards back to it for him. (He would not give me his cell phone to hold except during the X- rays.)
When he went to eat the turkey sandwich we asked if he could/should take his pill that he would normally take with lunch - nurse checked and the doctor said yes. He tried to wrangle his pill box out and was getting frustrated. We both take that same medication. I told him to stop and pulled out my box and handed him one of mine - I took one back from his supply later. Much easier than him trying to get it out.
Eating the meal they gave him was a bit hard as the tray table was too far from him no matter how I positioned it. He is a sloppy eater and did not want to drop food on himself. I finally figured out to turn the tray 90 degrees so it could stick off the table and still have enough tray on the table not to fall off. This way the tray stuck out so it covered him lap.
3 - Go with the flow
Yes, it is a trite expression, but there was no other choice. We were there - I could not run the errands I intended. The soda bottles and donation items will wait. The visit to our bank vault to exchange this month’s data backups for last month’s - well, last month’s will work until next month’s goes in. Nothing to do to change the situation - just go along with it and be glad that he did not have a heart attack and hope that the doctor can help (easily) with the pain in his shoulder as he is currently pacing the kitchen as he is trying not to take the next OTC pill until closer to bed time. Oh, I forgot to mention that he found one of our old kitchen chairs the most comfortable thing to sit on and has planted himself on it (I brought it over for him from our studio) at our kitchen table in front of the door to the basement and blocking the path to the pantry closet and the downstairs bathroom. This making doing chores very hard to do as I either have to climb over him or ask him to move. Last night’s laundry is being done tonight.
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