2001
| April 7, 2001 Time for a spring makeover......It is It is It is. While I wait for the CPA to hit me with taxes that I will probably owe - but I can't for the life of me see how. My younger son's been in bed all week - since Tuesday night - time to get him out of bed. Time to get off the drugs. (Vicodin is the correct spelling) Time to take those $60 powders (not covered by insurance). Some chemical imbalance. I forgot one packet yesterday. Should not be serious - it was a "little" low - not serious. Phosphorous. They tried to make it fruit flavored. They failed. Time to get him up and walking. Maybe. He has refused to go to the hairdresser with me (in San Jose). I'm going to Center Stage. My son has suggested that I get a crewcut - go to work as a Dike in my leather pants. People say I scare them - he thinks I should go right ahead!. (This conversation is in reference to the hairdressers. Who are of interesting persuasions. They are very good at cutting hair. Do my older son's hair often.) Somehow I don't see myself in that role. Butch with leather. I am more of a curly girl. But I am tried of coping with long, thick, unruly hair in the midst of all this traume - although I do put it into scrunchies, often it is so heavy I get headaches. And I need to reduce time in the mornings. And evenings. I have other things to do. Like get the @#$%$%^^& Merchant account up and running. And round up other authors who want to put a story or two on-line. Later, I am planning on trying to drag the boy out to Blockbuster. We are tired of watching our 600 movies - and he has decided that he doesn't want to watch the Disney movies - animations - because they are for children. Of course we've all watched them countless times. Time for DVD - I need the shelf space. And AT&T cable, in an effort to bore people out of their minds, and force you to digital cable, have made their line-up so pathetic it can drive you nuts - hours and hours of "dead zones" as my son calls them. They run the same movies (movies we own) over and over and over. It's working - I may disconnect cable. However, instead of digital cable, I may go right for a dish. My older son has one and loves it. I'm not sure he watches it that much however. He has two synthesizers and is getting really good (and serious) about his music. He has called recently - how much money can I give him. His Dad is helping, etc. etc. Of course the $1500 I gave him already went for the truck and not the laptop. So he's back to nagging. I'll think about it. He wants a 500 MHz G4. I'm waiting to see if he stays with Cisco. All his stock options went south - if he stays, they will come back. If he leaves, he looses. Nasty trap. Golden handcuffs. Stock options are always a gambol. Mine are worth something - just not very much. So I will wait. Meanwhile, my younger son being bedridden has set him back on his road to independent motion and recovery and since I have meetings all week long - and must stay at work almost the whole day - he must get up and walk. I only have one urinal - and I was trying to get him into the bathroom instead of using it - so we try again. Today and tomorrow. Besides, I am tired of his running joke - he fills up the urinal and then uses an empty Gatorade bottle! This foot thing is a minor set-back I hope. It's the feet again. He also is bored out of his mind - at least if he can get around he can put in tapes and he can sit up at the computer. He had also progressed to opening soda and making popcorn - all positive activities. Now I have to work him through the recovery process again. And he resists my nagging. We have not made the gym - and I have not made the gym in caring for him. So I now have sore hips - yes, exercise makes the pain go away. And I am out of eggs and milk. I made a hit on the grocery store Tuesday while he was in the clinic - before we had the collapse. But I forgot eggs and milk. No ice cream. And not a lot of perishables since I wasn't sure how long I would have to wait to pick him up. But I am going out for awhile today - which may or may not be wise. What happens is, when I leave him to his own devices, he gets up and tries to get around. (It's how he got mobile enough to sneak up on me while I was on the computer and scare me hysterical.) If I'm home it's too easy to call Mommy. He needs to get over falling. He actually can move his toes - the fall bent them and now they are not so frozen. Hard way to recover. And he must get off the narcotic - today's the last day I will allow it - he should not be dizzy if he's not on the drug. But we are to keep him ahead of the pain. Not let it get ahead of us. We can but try. Fortunately, I never let him have more than 2 pills a day (6 were prescribed). I always manage narcotics that way. As long as he could handle the pain level, handle it. He is angry that no one thought he might go through the reaction - he says he remembers this pain. Trouble is, his case is so complex that we can't tell what causes what. He can stumble to the bathroom leaning on me. I am a portable walker. I can put him into his wheelchair - must do so since I must change his bed and wash the sheets and vacuum. Must wipe the bathroom down with Clorox again too. I do at least one load of dishes and 1-3 loads of laundry every day. While he was in the hospital, I did one load of dishes per week (I rinsed things at the hospital or ate cafe food). And I did one load of laundry - my sheets, etc. Now we have PG&E bankrupt - and rates climbing - I went from $200 to $400 a month before the extra loads. It means I need new lightbulbs. It means I stay in my bedroom with the smaller set instead of lighting up the family room with the 45" set. It means trying to do laundry at night - not always possible. I have the pool down - still - and am thinking about solar panels. Must find someone to do that. Maybe redo the deck to hold them. Could light up the night and run the pool. I want my spa running. I need it. So does my son. One other little screw up with the "helping" process - no one told me about PG&E - they have a special program - I can get a higher baseline because I have a disabled and temp-sensitive patient at home. The rates depend on the baseline. Takes 45 days for that to be in place. Might just offset all the extra machine activity. Too bad they did not tell me sooner. |
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