Tag: hospital

This Week Has Sort of Sucked

Between me feeling sick for a few days and my mother going into the hospital with pneumonia and me dropping the ball on something at work for which I will never forgive myself and our new cat being very anti-social, it’s been a pretty crappy week. It’s only Thursday so you’d think there would be time to straighten everything out and salvage the week, but we’re going to a wake for a 20-something year old on Saturday and that is not exactly a day brightener, you know? We are picking up our new cat’s four month old kitten this weekend so hopefully that will lighten the mood a little. The cats were named Disco and Boogie but we are changing them to Robin (or Robin Sparkles) and Lily after two characters on How I Met Your Mother. Robin is mom and Lily is kitten, even though Robin and Lily were not related on the show. Give me a break, okay? It’s better than Disco and Boogie. I mean, I don’t want a kitten named for a synonym for snot.

I’m not sure what the issue was that made me feel sick. It was definitely stomach related, but it was different than the usual post-surgery stomach problems. I wonder if it just had to do with my eating schedule going down the crapper starting on Saturday and not clearing up until Wednesday. I had two stomach problems on Wednesday but they were the usual you-ate-too-fast-and-your-stomach-couldn’t-handle-it problems. Not a stomach ache that gets worse when you’re standing or laying down and gets better when you are sitting up straight. Yeah, I don’t get it. Hopefully that goes away and stays away.

My mother will be in the hospital into the weekend at least. They are giving her antibiotics for pneumonia and a UTI. On her second night they found that she was a little anemic but as of yesterday they haven’t figured out why yet. It’s all really scary and stressful, but we know she’s in good hands. We just need to put our faith in the hospital. I’m still worried though. My brother spent the day with her yesterday, and my sister will visit her today. I’ll be going back tomorrow. After that, I don’t know. There’s a chance she could be going back to the nursing home on Saturday. I don’t know how good of a chance, but there is a chance.

As for the cat, the two year old cat I mean, Robin Sparkles, she spent the first few days hiding, but she’s starting to do a little exploring now. She was very friendly to me for a while, but now she seems scared to death of me. I don’t know why, but I hope she gets over it. She’s more friendly to Jen, but still not too friendly. I want to give her a month or so to adjust before I pass judgement on her behavior. I’m curious to see how she behaves when the kitten gets here (on Sunday… or maybe Saturday if the stars align). When we first met them at the shelter, the kitten was the friendliest feline I’ve ever seen. Here’s hoping that hasn’t changed in the intervening week.

Okay, it’s 9:00am. Time to get to work. May your Thursday go better than my Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday have gone. Thumbs up, brothers and sisters.

Scream

That sound you’ve been hearing off in the distance since about 2:00am is just me screaming in fear and frustration and uselessness and incompetence and all sorts of things like that.

You know how things get at 2:00am.

Last Five Minutes of Lunch Break

There are only a few minutes left in my lunch break and I feel like I should add to the internet noise, you know?

3.5 hours left until the weekend. That seems like such a long time. On Saturday there will be rain in the morning, assuming the forecast I read today is correct. I need to rake some leaves, but that will need to wait until later in the afternoon. I need to go and buy clothes. My jeans are too big and need to be replaced. Almost all of my shirts, both work appropriate and otherwise, are also too big and need to be replaced. I am going to try going to a normal person store instead of a tall and fat person store. I expect I’ll have to go to both, but I really forget how to shop at normal people stores.

Dad has been moved from the hospital to a rehab. He moved last night and my sister was with him this morning. It sounds like he’s not in a very happy place. He’s not having a good rehab experience. I need to visit him tomorrow, if only for a few minutes. I also need to visit my mother, again if only for a few minutes. My aunt’s wake is Sunday afternoon. I hope to sneak a little more raking in before that, but we’ll have to see how far I can get. I expect that when the weekend is over we’re still going to have a front yard full of dead leaves. My aunt’s funeral is Monday morning. I took the day off from work so that I can go. There is a reception afterwards, but I don’t think my covid fear is going to let me attend. I’ll go to the church and I’ll go to the cemetery, but I think that’s all I can muster. I hope that’s enough.

The band has been talking again. Our singer has been the hang up, as he travels to Maine every weekend. We need to figure out how to get all of us into the same room at the same time. It will likely be a week night. We’ll see. I need to play at an obnoxious, obscene volume and I need to do it soon.

I am starting to get psyched up for Thanksgiving. The dinner itself isn’t a big deal anymore, as I can’t eat most of it and what I can eat won’t amount to a lot. No, the weekend after turkey day will see the kids coming home. That’s going to be awesome. Sure, we’ll start decorating for Christmas and I will bitch at how it’s too early, but that’s okay too. I don’t mind losing that fight. Not that it’s even a fight, you know? The weird thing is that I have this strange urge to start putting together a Christmas list. Insert demented laughter here.

Okay, lunch break is over. Back to work, red head.

Sick Day Tomorrow

I will be calling out of work for a sick day tomorrow. I actually scheduled it with my boss today, but I’ll send him a message in the morning to verify.

Dad is still in the hospital. Visiting hours are 10:00am to 6:00pm. I’ll probably leave here at 9:00am and get home by 7:00pm. I should be able to have a real breakfast before I go, and a real dinner when I get home. Only lunch will be a variety of protein bars and protein snacks. I’ll be able to hit my food and drink goals, I am sure.

I am worried about my father. I think my fear is that this hospital stay represents the snowball that is going to become an avalanche. I have no rational reason for thinking this, I am just gun shy after all the shit that has gone down in the past two years. I need to embrace the power of positive thinking. You can bet your sweet as I will do so when I’m with him, but when I am alone with my thoughts? I’m nervous.

I am not sure how this is going to effect our plans for the weekend. We don’t really have any plans, outside of hanging a couple of shelves in the kitchen and replacing some cabinet door handles and drawer pulls. I am just hoping to spend some time with my wife. I’ve been stressing out like crazy over the last week or two and I need to focus on her a little extra. I’d like to go away for a few days but with a huge trip coming up in less than 10 weeks and Covid still making us nervous I don’t think weekend travel is in the cards. Maybe we’ll just sit on the couch and watch whatever reality TV shows catch her eye. As long as we’re together it will be time well spent. A weekend in San Diego would be pretty sweet too. I’m trying.

I’ve been wanting to wake up very early all week this week and I keep waking up at exactly the same time. Wouldn’t it be nice to have my walkies/joggies and my breakfast done before Jen gets out of bed?

Okay, enough of my yappin’. It’s time to sit up in bed watching the last 70 minutes of Casino Royale. Talk to you later, universe.

Success

I ended up getting my blood drawn and getting home in time for work with about 20 minutes to spare. That’s enough time to start my work day right, but not enough to get my exercise in, and not enough to make a stop or two on the way home. I brought a film and a digital camera with me for the ride, just in case I might be able to grab a couple of shots of the Merrimack River in Lowell. Nope. Not this time.

It was okay though (get ready, I am about to sound like I know what I am talking about when clearly I do not and thus will just sound like a pompous asshole… ready? Hear it comes!), the sky was overcast and the light was blah and crummy. I want to see the sun on the water when I shoot the river, ya know? (See? Pompous asshole!)

I’ll get my 30 minutes of exercise in during lunch today. No problem (he said while really hoping there wouldn’t be a problem).

Crawling

It took me 40 minutes to get through registration. Now I’m in line at the lab itself. If they don’t see me by 8:30 I’ll have to walk out. I figured getting here around 7:00am on a Friday would have gotten me in and out quick. Color me wrong. This is taking forever.

Cross Your Fingers

Everyone cross your fingers.

We may have a positive development on my mother’s healthcare front.

PleasePleasePleasePleasePlease.

I know I have said this a couple of times already but this one feels closer than the previous false alarms.

Fingers Eternally Crossed.

PleasePleasePleasePleasePlease.

Friday Thoughts

I am going to dash out of work today as soon as my shift is over and run over to the hospital to visit with my mother. Yesterday was a banner bad day. Word is that today is a little better. Here’s hoping. I will be going back tomorrow morning and Sunday afternoon. I’m back to reality now so it’s time to pitch in. Gladly. Even though it’s going to be awful, I am ready to help.

That probably means a delay in getting the band back together. That’s tough, but necessary. I have a doctors appointment on June 30th, which means I will be 2/3 of the way to the Guitar Center in Nashua. I’m thinking that might be Stratocaster Trade In Day. What comes next depends on the book value of my Strat. I guarantee it won’t be enough for anything new. What if they have a used Deluxe Reverb in stock? What if they have a used Les Paul Junior in stock? Who knows.

I spent my lunch break exercising. Every day this week so far I have done a full 30 minutes of exercise in one shot. It’s all walking in place, but it’s something. I was most definitely not able to do that at any time over the last few years. It’s only since the surgery and recovery. I think I have actually done a single 30 minute workout for 10 days in a row. I am shocked.

Now, having said that, they are not exactly killer exercises. My heart rate is going up but it’s not going up as much as it should. Wednesday will be the six week mark, which means the restrictions on how much weight I can lift will start relaxing. The first thing I will do is change the cat litter. The second is to start thinking about maybe lifting some small weights? I might wait an extra couple of weeks before anything like that, but the thought is out there. I need to exercise to make up for lost muscle mass, or something like that. I need to do right by my new physical condition.

Television. I still haven’t finished Breaking Bad and I am so close. Something like five or six episodes left. I need to wrap that up. Season Three of The Boys has started. I think there are four episodes out. I’ve watched the first few minutes of episode one (so worth the herpes) and that’s it. Why have I not dug into it yet? I still haven’t watched yesterday’s episode of Strange New Worlds. Why? What the hell, Robert? I haven’t even thought about starting the new seasons of The Orville or Stranger Things. What is wrong with me?

I have a lot of recording I want to get to as well. One song ready to mix. Two ready for vocals and one ready for guitar leads. Come on, man. Get it done!

Okay. Work time.