My Messed-Up Life by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

At this time last week, I was in the hospital waiting for the doctor to hopefully release me. Which he did do.

I just wish it had helped. But while I may be out of the hospital, I still have to stay off my foot as much as possible; I can’t drive (It’s my right foot) or go to work. In fact, I got scolded for driving myself to the emergency room when my right foot hurt so bad. Plus, I have to have an infusion of antibiotics every day around the same time. So, between that and medical professionals coming in at all hours of the day, when would I have time to work?

And now I know the pain in my foot was severe, after all, several people at the hospital were surprised I could even walk at all because they had seen other people with the same sort of joint infection who couldn’t walk, they were in so much pain.

Maybe I should point out my high tolerance for pain.

Like my stepmom who fell back on her standard, “Well did you take anything for it?” When I told her I have a really bad earache. Then she ran for the phone when I told her I had not only taken Tylenol, but I had also tried a warm cloth.

From my stepmom’s point of view, it was serious because I actually took medicine!

And I’ve had doctors notice, most particularly my current one, that if I’m complaining about pain, it’s bad, like worse than what other patients tolerate.

He once asked me why I didn’t come in sooner; my answer was it didn’t hurt that bad sooner. I mean why bother with a doctor’s visit if it’s just a nuisance pain? Apparently, some people do.

Yeah, I tend to not call the doctor until the pain pills don’t work or it last more than a couple of days.

This makes me wonder about how accurate my pain levels are on a scale of one to ten compared to others. I mean I do feel pain, I’m not one of those people that feels no pain at all, but clearly, I can tolerate more than most.

I have also never once told a medical professional my pain level was higher than like seven, including when I was in labor. Though I might point out I was home and not around medical professionals when a jumping child fell on top of my very recently sutured belly. Believe me, that was more like a fifteen.

So maybe someone else would have said ten instead of seven? I don’t know. Doesn’t matter anyway.

I’m home and dealing with the aftermath. I just wish it wasn’t taking so long.

By the way, they determined eventually that I have septic arthritis. And yes, it is painful. It is also annoying that for several days I couldn’t put any weight on my foot at all. Bathroom trips were the hardest part to deal with. At least I don’t need help for that anymore.

Of course, the doctor at the hospital (not my primary) ordered in-home care for a while, which included not just physical therapy but also occupational therapy. This person seemed to think I would need to adjust to staying off my foot as much as possible while my foot healed.

The problem is, every time my knee goes out (thanks to EDS) or my gout or sciatica acts up, I have to stay off my feet as much as possible until it calms down, stops, or goes back into place. Let alone that I have flat feet.

I’ve lived in this place for nearly eight years, and I have places to sit near my sink, my stove, and my microwave, because I can not stand long at all. And where I sit in the living room and where my bed is positioned affords me the shortest possible distance from there to the toilet.

I don’t need help adjusting to doing chores like cooking and cleaning while staying off my foot because I’ve done that for years. I don’t need help adjusting my shower routine either. I already have a shower seat and a handheld showerhead. I’ve been using it for years.

The doctor didn’t ask me what I thought I needed or even asked what kind of aids I already had in place at home, she just ordered the occupational therapy.

I can see a nurse and physical therapist; I am getting intravenous antibiotics still and my foot was operated on to get the infection out, but little else.

I’m also a fast learner, so I don’t need that much help from the nurse.

Anyway, at least I can still write!

Happy Writing everyone!

Of Alarm Clocks and Phones by Konnie Enos

When I was younger it wasn’t uncommon for a family to have several clocks in their home. From nice mantel or grandfather clocks to face clocks and alarm clocks.

Nowadays I think they are less common.

I don’t think we’ve ever hung a clock in our house. The only clocks in our house are on the stove and microwave, including no alarm clocks.

I can remember the alarm clock Jerry had when we got married. It was one of those clock radio things where you could set the alarm to turn on the radio or blare an alarm. You could also set the sound level of the alarm.

This, of course, led to me shoving my husband out of bed because I was not expecting that blaring alarm to startle me from a sound sleep. I could say that was our first disagreement as a couple (we’d just gotten married).

He said he needed something that loud to wake him up. (Please note, it hadn’t woken him up. I did.) I told him to set it to wake me up and I’d get him up even if I had to shove him out of bed every morning. He hasn’t needed that loud of an alarm ever since. He now regularly wakes up to his alarm with me sleeping right through it. Thankfully, since I’m not getting up at 4 a.m.

But I wasn’t thinking about how Jerry is no longer a deep sleeper, but how few clocks there are in our house. We don’t need them. Everyone has a phone or some other tech that has a clock/alarm function. I have three devices with those functions. Other than glancing at the time while I’m on it, I’ve never used the clock function on my laptop, but I know it’s available, alarms and all. I’ve also looked at the one on my tablet but don’t use it other than to check the time.

My phone is a different matter. I do have several alarms set on it plus I use the timer. I also, out of habit, check the time on my phone when I get up in the morning.

I’m not looking for messages or missed phone calls, I’m looking at the time but in doing so, I usually find a text or two that was sent while I was asleep. Often it’s from one of my boys who tend to text me while on their breaks. Royce works graveyards and Tony has to get to work before I wake up.

One morning last week Tony scared the beejeebies out of me by calling at 6 a.m. Since I have a different ringtone for everyone listed as family on my phone, I knew it was someone in the family and woke up in a panic. I didn’t even take my CPAP off before answering it.

If someone is calling that early in the morning you just automatically assume it’s an emergency. And I assume it was. Jerry had the car but not his phone and Melinda needed the car. Melinda was not happy. She almost missed her appointment.

Though getting jarred awake by a phone call is not what got me thinking about clocks. It was my habit of checking my phone first thing in the morning to see what time it was. Mainly because Monday morning I picked up my phone to see what time it was and was greeted by a text message from Bonnie. The ding of a message coming through hadn’t woken me up but she’d sent it about 15 minutes before I did wake up.

And, of course, since it was that early in the morning, I assumed it was at least urgent though she hadn’t scared me half to death with an early morning phone call. The succinct text was more than sufficient to have me concerned.

After our brief conversation, it occurred to me that I probably would not have seen her text until I thought to check my phone again, or I heard the ding of another text coming through. While I know some people tend to keep their phones on them and check them constantly, I do not. I happen to know that I’ve missed messages, even calls, that came through while I was in the kitchen and my phone was in the bedroom. I didn’t see them until another message or call came through or I thought to check the time.

Melinda is the same way. Royce is not. He always has at least his smartwatch. Jerry tends to forget his phone. Tony will ignore his phone even when it’s beside him.

How often do you use/check your phone?

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

 

Of Snow Days by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

Last Wednesday, I jokingly sent Konnie a text asking if either Royce or Tony could come over and shovel my driveway because I was snowed in. She not only pointed out that it was a ten-hour drive but that her adult sons have never had to shovel snow in their life!

It’s not like they haven’t lived where there is snow. Both boys were born in Utah, however, aside from the first couple of years of Tony’s life, they have always lived in Oregon or Vegas. They haven’t had to deal with snow annually.

Which seems really weird since their mother grew up right here, in Idaho.

Konnie prefers staying in Vegas. I don’t mind living here, except when I get snowed in. The thing is, with my SUV riding so high and being all-wheel drive, I’ve been snowed in a total of one time – last Wednesday.

Had I still owned my Cavalier I’d be snowed in a lot more often because I honestly was snowed in three or four times a winter with that little car. With my steep driveway, and how low it rode, it didn’t take much to make it impossible to get out of my driveway.

And during that period when I was without transportation of my own, I had one friend get stuck in my driveway when she came to pick me up. We eventually had to call another friend to pull her out of my driveway. Not a fun evening.

Then I bought my SUV, and I was hoping I’d never be snowed in again. I clearly didn’t get my wish. Though I might point out that the big storm was actually on Monday night. And I was able to get out and back again on Tuesday, despite the snow being a good two feet deep. I mean if I still had my Cavelier, I’d have been snowed in for sure, since I got snowed in when it was only six inches deep back then.

So come Wednesday morning, with no new snow falling the night before, I figured I’d have no problem again. Boy was I wrong. My neighbor shoveled the walkway onto my driveway.

I had to call my friend who lives a few blocks away to see if one of her boys or her husband could dig me out. She homeschools and her baby is a rather tall teenager, so they came over and dug me out. I assume all her adult sons and husband were already at work for the day. She has more sons than Konnie has kids, so she’s a good choice to call for help.

But all this got me thinking about how Konnie prefers living where it rarely snows, and I’d rather live with six to eight months a year of snow than live in excessive heat. Ergo why I refuse to visit Konnie for our birthday. I told her, if she wants to see me in the middle of summer, she’s coming to Idaho, I am not going to Vegas, period.

I’m fine with going to Vegas for Christmas.

Actually, it’s quite fun watching people all bundled up in parkas and shivering because of how cold it is outside, and I’m there borrowing Konnie’s windbreaker because my winter coat is way too heavy for 50-degree weather!

And let’s face it, if you think 50 is freezing, you don’t know freezing! I promise.

And I have lived in warmer climates. I remember when our ride to class one morning back in Tacoma told us we were lucky they had an SUV, or they wouldn’t have been able to get out of their nice flat driveway over something like three inches of snow that all melted by noon.

Or the time I lived in Norfolk, Virginia and they closed the schools because of the “big storm” which hit the night before. I have a picture from that day – you can see the grass speckled with white dots. In Idaho that’s called a skiff of snow, nobody closes for a skiff.

Of course, there was also the time I was in the Exchange food court when I noticed tiny flakes melting into the flowerbed outside the window and figured it was nothing to worry about. A few minutes later a guy sent his chair crashing to the floor as he jumped up and announced, “It’s snowing!”

Within seconds, I was the only customer in the food court.

A worker came over and asked me, “Aren’t you going to leave?”

I glanced at the congestion now in the parking lot and said, “The roads will be clear in about 20 minutes.”

I lived a 20-minute drive away. The roads were clear of snow, and cars!

Happy writing everyone!

Of Habits, Hardships and Gifts by Konnie Enos

If you know me at all, you know that I plan ahead for any gift-giving events. I carefully budget each month so that I know I’ll have enough money for Christmas and still cover all birthdays then I start shopping for said gifts early.

Royce’s birthday is May 1^st and it’s not unusual for me to get both his birthday present and his Christmas gifts for the year by the end of February. Then I can focus on the next birthday I need gifts for. In this case, it’s ours. I generally manage to figure out what I’m getting Bonnie by the end of May and usually ship it to her in mid-June.

After that, I focus on my three daughters. First Kristina whose birthday is in August, then I quickly do Melinda and Clarissa. However, since I have to ship things to Clarissa, that also means I’m getting birthday and Christmas gifts for both my grandbabies and my son-in-law at the same time. I usually barely manage to ship that out just before hers, and my youngest grandbabies birthday in October.

By then I’ve done all necessary gift shopping for the year for everyone except Tony, Jerry, and our pets. But it’s already November and I hate shopping of any kind between Thanksgiving and Christmas (though admittedly online shopping now makes this less of a bother).

Though it isn’t unusual for me to be completely done with my gift shopping for the year by mid-November, and this covers birthdays that are in January and March of the next year (Jerry and oldest grandbaby).

This last year I wasn’t as proactive as I usually am and didn’t get Christmas gifts for Royce until I was also getting gifts for Jerry and Tony. I’d put off a great deal of my Christmas shopping because, for one reason or another, we’d had to use the money I was setting aside for gifts on other important things. I postponed all my gift buying as late as possible and got far fewer gifts for lack of money. I even made a few simply because I had yarn but not enough money.

This year, I started the year thinking more caution was called for because I’m not sure that some new catastrophe won’t befall our finances again. I’m thinking our heating issue also affects our air conditioning system and it’s going to be non-functional too. Meaning my gift money may well go toward either repairing our system or finding a temporary solution for the air conditioning as well, and we know fans won’t completely deal with it. So we’re thinking we might need a couple of portable air conditioners.

I’ve also had other things on my mind. Like prices going up for everything and we have a fixed income. Yes, we did just get a sizeable COLA but it’s based on past increases and since the costs are still rising, it certainly isn’t even keeping up with things. So while I’ve been setting the money aside for gifts, I’ve been wondering if I’m even going to be able to get Christmas gifts again this year.

However, I don’t spend that much on birthday gifts so I was reminding myself to figure out a gift for Royce. I just never got it done.

Last week, yeah late March, I realized it was already April and I had not even browsed for a gift to get Royce yet. I needed some ideas so I finally had a conversation with him about it. Even then I still postponed shopping for a few more days.

When I finally did get on Amazon, I figured I could also get stuff for Bonnie’s yearly gift box so hopefully, I could get it to her well in advance of our birthday. And it took me a while to figure out what I was getting.

After placing the order, I promptly forgot about it in favor of focusing on everything else on my to-do list. Because I’d so completely put it out of my mind, I was surprised when an Amazon package arrived for me on Monday.

Royce dropped it on my bed beside me and I asked him what it was. I then asked him to open it for me but he was already walking out the door and refused to turn back around to open it. It’s a good thing because that’s about when I realized his birthday present was probably in that box.

I got opened about when Royce decided he would help me with opening it and returned. I had to tell him what I assumed was in there and that he needed to leave again.

Yes, his gift was in the box.

Now I have some wrapping to do.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Of Glasses and Collections by Bonnie Le Hamilton

Later today, I will finally get my new glasses. Now normally I wouldn’t be so excited about this, I get new glasses regularly, but this time I’ve been without glasses for more than a month!

You see, I had cataract surgery last month, and, because I had them fix my near vision (which I need to do my job and to write) instead of my far vision, it meant that I couldn’t see well enough to legally drive until I get those glasses.

I’m so tired of depending on friends for rides!

I can’t wait until I have new glasses. I can drive again!

I also haven’t been going to my weekly meeting at the library because I didn’t want to ask for that many rides. It was bad enough, I needed rides to get to and from work, church, and the store. I just couldn’t add to it. My friends have their own lives to live too.

Anyway, this afternoon I’ll be able to go to that meeting again.

I’ll also be able to go to the store whenever I want and visit my sister-in-law on Saturdays without begging for rides. Which will be very nice. This past Saturday I couldn’t find a ride to visit her.

At least we won’t have that issue for Easter!

And yes I’ll spend part of Easter weekend with my sister-in-law. If Konnie lived closer, I would spend it with her. Across town is a whole lot closer than Vegas!

And right now, my foot is falling asleep because Patches is on it. At least my bed is big enough for both of us since he likes it a lot. Though he gets testy when I chase him off my spot.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve entered the room to find him sprawled inches away from my pillow and I have no intention of traipsing all the way around to the other side. That’s just too much work.

I guess I can get testy too.

Anyway, Easter is almost here, and I haven’t done any shopping for it. I haven’t had the money, time, or a ride for it. Not that I’d buy much, I shouldn’t have a whole lot of candy, but I love jelly beans.

Last year around Easter time I found out there are knickknacks that depict the empty tomb, and man, I want one! I still don’t have one, but it would be nice.

I do have the Christus, a couple of Christ at Gethsemane, and one of Christ with the children, and of course, well over a hundred of his birth, but I don’t have anything about Easter. Does anybody want to get me one?

Which gets me thinking about characters and what they might collect.

I have one story where the female lead collects figurines and teddy bears (the stuffed kind), and another where the female lead collects both teddy bear figurines and toys.

And if you are asking, I don’t collect those things.

I guess I could have one where a character collects gnomes because my sister-in-law does. Actually, she collects gnomes, angels, and clocks. And just recently she started collecting tiny pink pigs. She’s also got some squirrels.

To each his own. We all have our quirks.

I really should have a male who collects something. I do have a male supporting character who collects movies on video. Like a whole ton of movies.

Books are another thing a character could collect. I certainly do.

The last time I bought some books my aide said, “Don’t you have enough already?”

My answer? “Never!”

Sorry, I love books. And I honestly think my books outnumber my Nativities, but I could be wrong. It’s a close call.

Though I’m not all that sure what guys would collect.

I do have one male lead with a collection of model cars, but he is a mechanic, that’s kind of a given.

I know Konnie has a male character with a collection of spaceships (it is a sci-fi). So model airplanes would work too. And I’ve heard of men, particularly sailors having model ships, so that would work too.

And of course, there are those baseball cards they could collect. I believe there are cards to collect in Pokémon too, but that could be any gender collecting those.

Really any gender would collect most of those.

Though I guess it would be kind of weird for a man to collect knickknacks or figurines.

If a character was rich, maybe he could collect cars, either in general or from a certain category. I could see a guy collecting muscle cars or maybe luxury cars. I could also see someone collecting cars from the 1920s or 30s, which would be really cool, I could go for that.

Anyway, happy writing everyone.

Of Cold, Viruses, and Other Annoyances By Konnie Enos

 

Right now I’m not feeling well at all. I got so sick I finally went to the doctor. He prescribed antibiotics and within twenty-four hours I was feeling better. Sort of. I no longer have a sore throat.

I looked over the paperwork they gave me to see if they’d given me any recommendations for self-care that would help with my remaining symptoms. I saw that they’d tested me for covid, influenza, pneumonia, and strep. I don’t have any of those.

He did mention bronchitis. Being an asthmatic, bronchitis isn’t a good thing because it means your bronchial tubes are swelling shut. The doctor told me to take my nebulizer for the coughing, which I hadn’t been doing and put me on antibiotics.

Having been there many times before I figured I’d be feeling better within a day. And I was. All signs of a sore throat had gone away. However, now I do have a cough. I also still have a stuffy/runny nose, congestion, sneezing (lots of sneezing), and quite annoyingly a decided lack of appetite.

So I’m still very sick and quite sure I had not only a bacterial infection but a viral one. I’m working on my self-care. Plenty of rest, fluids, and regular doses of albuterol, plus I haven’t been skipping using my C-pap. I figure forcing air into my lungs every night has to be helping even if it is only a little bit.

I’ve also barely left my bed for a week now. I’ve canceled and/or rescheduled multiple appointments and forgone running errands that can simply wait. I mean I could use that skein of navy-blue yarn. Though it’s not like it’s a desperate thing. Yes, I’d like to finish it before the end of the year but I still have plenty of time to do it.

Now still being very sick while on antibiotics has never happened to me before so yesterday I started wondering what viral infections, that weren’t any of the ones the doctors tested me for, could give me the symptoms I’m still having.

I think Jerry hit the nail on the head last night.

RSV.

RSV is a deceptive little virus. For most people, it’s just a little cold. You get a few days of sniffles, maybe a little cough. No big deal.

But I know it is a big deal because it very nearly killed my baby twenty-one years ago. Believe me, you never forget watching a code blue called on a loved one, especially when it’s your less than a year-old baby. Generally, doctors say that babies under six months or premature are the most at risk. Though asthma is also a risk factor. This might be why Royce was diagnosed with it at a lot younger age than the rest of my kids.

I am also very much aware that RSV isn’t only deadly to babies. As a general rule, any chronic health condition that affects the lung (asthma, COPD) or the heart (CHF) or a weakened immune system (such as cancer treatment) puts you at greater risk.

Yeah, I have asthma. I’m also at risk for Congestive Heart Failure because of my overlying health and my family history of it.

I also know how RSV is treated. You treat the symptoms. Which I’ve been doing. You know, rest, fluids, nebulizing treatments, and oxygen. Thanks to my underlying health conditions, I can do all that at home. (a C-pap forces air into your lungs.)

So now it is just a waiting game to see how long I’m fighting this infection and I’m hoping it doesn’t require another doctor’s visit. I’m also hoping I’ll have enough energy, and brainpower to work on my writing while I’m stuck here in bed.

Of course, there is one more thing I can do to ensure I get better.

A blessing.

Jerry has already offered me one so that is something I will do as soon as I’m done with this post.

On top of all of that, my vision has been giving me issues. I’ve already seen my eye doctor and he has already diagnosed the problem and how to fix it. The doctor says the treatment should fix the main issue I’m having and then he can get me a new prescription. It’s just going to take a few weeks to get the treatment set up.

Fun.

Though I suppose it could be worse. At least I do most things on a screen where I can increase the magnification so it’s easier to read. If this had happened before the computer age, I’d have had a big problem with it.

So that’s where I’m at. How are you doing?

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Late Night Calls and Being Cranky by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

Last Tuesday, at some point, I panicked thinking it was my turn to post. I went so far as to check who had written our last post. Thankfully, it was me, so no worries. Konnie usually has her post done early and generally also reminds me when I have the post. I have no idea why I panicked, because Konnie usually reminds me, usually on Tuesday night, but oh well.

On this occasion, I had nothing to worry about and went about my evening. Everything was fine and quiet until after I turned out the lights were just starting to doze off when my phone started dinging.

Now I must point out that my phone is set on “do not disturb” from around nine in the evening until I get up in the morning; however, it has a feature that certain people I select can get through in an emergency, no matter the time.

At this moment, I’m rethinking putting Konnie on that list.

The thing is, she normally checks the clock before she calls, or texts, me. Had she realized what the time was in my time zone, she’d have known not to send me a text that late.

And honestly, if she’d stuck with just one text, I wouldn’t have complained, but she didn’t. After the third text, I sent her a text asking if she knew what time it was.

All I wanted to do was get some sleep without my phone dinging in my ear at regular intervals.

By the way, it was past my normal bedtime by about a half hour, and Konnie knows when it is.

FYI, after 9 (Mountain Time) it had better be an emergency or you send me one text, and one text only, or else I will get testy.

For that matter, I get testy when anyone tries to wake me up, for any reason. Not like our brother, Bryan, but still, don’t wake me up! Of course, with Bryan, trying to wake him up was like taking your life into your hands.

Many eons ago, when we first went to live with our dad and stepmom, our stepmom asked me to wake up Bryon who was still asleep, and it was nearly noon (It was summer); I told her in no uncertain terms that if she wanted him awake she could do it.

She tried asking Konnie and our big sister Jacki (AKA Dictionary) to wake him; they also refused. She got really mad at us asking what was so hard about going upstairs and waking up our brother. I told her to go ahead and try to wake him up, just try it.

She stomped upstairs muttering about the three of us being obstinate; we watched and waited. We knew what was going to happen; we grew up with him. It didn’t take her long to come charging back downstairs, but we never got a chance to ask her if she’d learned her lesson when she went straight to the cupboard and got out one of Dad’s extra-large glasses. Now those were Dad’s glasses, we didn’t use them at all. She filled it with ice and water and then returned upstairs.

We followed and watched as she leaned over the bed,  making sure she kept her torso and legs out of his strike zone, and tipped the glass just enough that water was about to come out of it and called his name.

He did open his eyes, and I can’t remember if that first drop hit him or not, but I’ve never seen him move so fast! One second he was lying down and the next he was in the far corner saying, “I’m up! I’m up!”

Let me tell you, by summer's end our stepmother could stand in his doorway, call his name, and he’d be in the far corner pronto. Though, if I recall correctly, he did get soaked at least once.

After that, we never had any problem with getting him up in the morning. Even a few years later when our stepmom was working graveyards and thereby came home after we needed to get up. There was at least once when I tried to wake him, calling from the doorway – way out of his strike zone, and he ignored me, I said, “Fine, Mom should be home soon, I’ll just let her deal with waking you.”

Boom! He was in the far corner.

And maybe I should put that into a story sometime.

Just so you know, Bryon would kick and punch anyone who tried to wake him.  We, his sisters, may be older, but we weren’t taller.

Anyway, happy writing everyone!