Tag: mom

Less Than One to Go

On February 3rd, two months and one day ago, I was told to lose 5% of my weight in preparation for the weight loss surgery. I weighed myself this morning. I have 0.4 pounds to go. I would do the math to figure out what percentage I am at with 0.4 pounds to go but then you could use that to figure out exactly how much I weighed on that first day and I don’t want to let you do that.

I just drank my morning protein shake and had my morning vitamins and supplemented it all with a fist full of Tylenol because holy shit my back is killing me. I don’t know that my back has ever hurt as much as it does at this moment. Oh my shit, my back hurts.

Today’s plan involves going to my parents and picking up my mother and taking her to a doctors appointment. We’re going to get the results of her last blood test and see how her cancer numbers look. They’ve been pretty much perfect for the last year-plus and I am very optimistic that those results will continue.

After that I will come home and find some demo happening in the cellar. First on the list is the grid that until recently held the drop ceiling. After that it’s the rest of the ugly paneling on the walls. Most of the paneling came down during the flood clean up last year. You might recall me bitching about the paneling in the dining room recently. Suffice to say that the paneling in the cellar is 100 times uglier. Tomorrow the electrician is coming to replace the existing fluorescent lights that don’t really work anymore. There used to be six banks of lights with two tubes each. Only two of them still work, (it’s not the bulbs, I replaced the bulbs and the lights stayed dead) and one of those two only works some times. It’s been good the last week because it knows its end is coming and it wants to stay alive, but more often than not it doesn’t work when I flip the switch. Replace ’em all!

On top of that there is something going on at work that I am not going to be around for and I am feeling pretty shitty about that. I feel like I am dropping the ball. I don’t think anyone else feels that I’m dropping the ball, but I do so that’s that. Hopefully it will be quiet today. Fingers crossed.

Did I mention my back was hurting?

0.4 pounds to go. Oh yeah, and the surgery happens one month from today. Yikes!

Another Request for Happy Thoughts

I think this is the third time in two weeks that I have had to ask for this, but if you’re finding you have some cosmic positivity lying around that you can spare, could you send some my mother’s way today? She’s in the hospital right now. This one isn’t directly related to the last two trips, but maybe it is. I don’t know.

I’m a little late to the happy thoughts request this time. She got to the hospital while I was on the road to work and it sounds like they are already prepping her for discharge. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong this time, which is great, but it’s still really scary. Every little bit helps, right?

Thanks, internet people. It’s appreciated.

19 More Minutes

After stress-filled work followed by stress-filled* hospital visit followed by stress-filled start to putting the kitchen and dining room back together, I have only managed 11 minutes of exercise today.

My back is killing me and I don’t know how I’m going to finish before I keel over…

…but I’ll get it done. Somehow. Bet on it.

*The hospital trip wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. I got there at 1:00pm and she was discharged by 3:00. Most of the time in between she was snoozing. My sister and brother both had a rough time on their days and my day was easy in comparison. It’s not fair, but I do appreciate what they did. Always.

Mom’s Second Day

My mother’s having another rough day. She’s still in the hospital. Last time we went through this it took five days before they discharged her. My sister was with her yesterday, my brother today, and I’ll be there tomorrow. I had to juggle some things at work but everyone is being very helpful. I appreciate it. I work with good people.

The contractors are working like crazy in the kitchen. The end is in sight. At least for the stuff we contracted out. There’s stuff that we’re planning to do on our own and we haven’t been able to start yet. That should be fun and chaotic and fun.

I have two Record-Every-Month songs ready for car vocals. One of them is pretty bad. The other is really bad. I also started on volume seven of the ol’ Great Re-Recording Project of 2015 today. Bass and drums for one song. Bring on the guitar.

I learned something about the protein shakes I’ve been having for breakfast. Normally I make a shake in the morning using my little single serving electric mixer. When it’s done I put the mixer and the glass I drank it out of into the dishwasher. The next morning they are both sparkling clean. With all of the kitchen fun, we currently don’t have a hooked up dishwasher, or a hooked up kitchen sink, or a hooked up kitchen faucet. So I used the mixer on Monday and then didn’t get around to washing it until this morning. I tried washing it in the bathroom sink, but I couldn’t. The dregs of the protein powder had morphed into a cement like solid. Note to self, get that thing into the dishwasher each day, Stat.

Okay, back to work.

Admitted for the Night

My mother is still in the hospital. She’ll be there overnight. She has a UTI but she’s in a lot of pain. They are admitting her. That’s a good thing, I think, but she’s not happy about it.

Work has been stressful AF today, as the kids these days like to say. That combined with my mother’s situation has been enough to keep me from stressing over my own doctor’s appointment tomorrow. I am going to see the Cardiologist. I need Psych, Cardiology, and Dietary to sign off on my weight loss surgery. Psych is all set. Cardiology is next. Dietary will be on going for a while longer. I don’t know how much longer, I just know it’s on going.

I don’t know what they are going to do to me tomorrow. I’m assuming an EKG or something. I have my fingers crossed that it won’t involve a stress test. I need this to go well. I’m not feeling the terror I usually feel leading up to an appointment, but it’ll probably come soon enough.

The contractor is coming back this afternoon. There’s another one coming tomorrow. After that? I don’t know. My in-the-office day will be Wednesday this week instead of Thursday. That’s probably going to mess up my internal calendar in a big way. I’ll live.

Okay. Lunch break over. Back to work.

PS: It’s NHL trade deadline day today and the Bruins just picked up another defenseman. Also, I heard they extended DeBrusk? The guy who’s been asking for a trade all year. Interesting. I’m cool with that.

Okay, now back to work.

Send Some Happy Thoughts

My mother isn’t well today. Stomach pains. They drove her up to Lowell General to get checked out. Her plumbing is working fine so it’s not that.

Would you be so kind as to send my mother some happy thoughts and get well soon vibes? I’m sending off the mega powerful Red Head Vibes (yes, capital letters) already but we need all the help we can get.

Thanks, internet.

Another Song for May

Things have been pretty quiet here on Nana Sitting duty. She had a good night last night. Today started out all right, had a bit of a pain hiccup, but has since calmed down again. Fingers crossed for a quiet day.

I watched Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead last night. Eh. Not terrible. Kinda dumb, but not unenjoyable. I actually started it last night and finished it this morning. Every time I put it on my mother would come into the room and I’d pause it to avoid questions of gore. I was watching on my laptop with AirPods in, but I didn’t want to risk grossing her out. When I was 18 I probably would have just let it go. I guess I’m more mature now.

Speaking of mature, the 50 year old red head mixed a song. How grown up of me!

Have I mentioned my beloved wife bought me a new Les Paul for my birthday? Have I mentioned that all of the guitars on this song are that new Les Paul? Have I mentioned that I love my new birthday Les Paul? Not as much as I love my wife, but that gitter is sah-weeeet.

I’m not sure if I am going to submit this one to the RPM site for the Record Every Month thingie. I have three. This one, the last one I posted, and one more that isn’t mixed yet. I haven’t decided which one sucks the least.

Nana Sitting – One Day Early

Tomorrow night was supposed to be my next Nana Sitting night, but my brother and I swapped so I could go to Vermont on Tuesday and he could go to his daughter’s soccer games near the Cape tomorrow. I got here about 6:40 and my mother was asleep. My sister woke her up to say goodbye and she immediately fell back to sleep. She woke up as I was walking into her room to give her the 8:00pm meds. She’s heating up some leftovers for dinner now. I have a feeling it’s going to be a late night, but hopefully it’s a late night with manageable pain levels. Fingers crossed.

I watched the third period of the Lightning/Hurricanes game. As expected, Tampa Bay won. The Avalanche/Golden Knights game just started and the Avs are already up 1-0. As expected.

We had a very nice low key anniversary today. We went to a bakery in Windham that the kids clued us in to and picked up our anniversary cake. Then we just went for a drive. It was lovely. It dawned on me that as I am now 50 years old, driving around to nowhere on a Sunday morning officially makes me a “Sunday Driver”. I joked about trying to find a Bennigans or a Waffle House and Jen joked back that we should go to Cracker Barrel. Getting old sucks, but if you can’t crack wise at your own expense, what good is it?

The Avalanche just scored again. 2-0, halfway through the first.

When we got home the kids came over for an hour or so. We ate the fantastic cake and just spent some quality family time. It was awesome. Unfortunately, I think that’s the last time the four of us will be together before Bellana moves into her apartment in Vermont. We’ll see her tomorrow, but Harry won’t be there. If I stop and think about that, it’s painful. Instead I am choosing not to think about it. I’m choosing to focus on today.

Now I’m here at my mother’s house and I am missing my bride like crazy.

I love you, Jen.

Pill Distribution (Mostly) Complete

I did my Saturday Nana coverage duty. I filled the pill caddie for the week. Mostly. One med ran out so I technically filled the pill caddie for the next three days, and 99% of it for the rest of the week. The pharmacy should be calling for a pick up on the one remaining prescription later today. No problem.

Similar to last night, she was good until just about 9:00am and then, like a light switch flipped, she was bad. Probably not as bad as last night though. We will see. Hang in their, Mom.

Call it a Night

It’s 1:30am. My mother is still asleep. She woke up enough to get under the covers, but that’s it. Fingers remain fully crossed. My alarm is set. My CPAP machine is plugged in and the tank is full of distilled water. I think I’m good to go to sleep.

Wish me luck.