The New Water Cooler
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Very lazy weekend. I did go to gym yesterday morning but not today like I had planned. Feeling tired and lazy. I cleaned the shower and toilet in our bathroom. That's all I've accomplished this weekend.
Tomorrow morning I see the rheumatologist. Lets see if she has anything earth shaking to offer me for my growths on my hand and arthritis pain.
Have a good Monday.
Jenny0 -
HUGS!0
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I saw the rheumatologist. These doctors of western medicine just grasp at straws to see what "may work" to alleviate a condition. This doctor is the second specialist I've seen since August regarding my hand. Now I will see a sports medicine orthopedic doctor tomorrow so he can do an ultrasound on my hand. This is because I wouldn't go in the MRI machine without sedation or being open sided. So I see this ortho tomorrow afternoon. The rheuma doc wants to put me on prednisone (nasty steroid) for a brief amount of time and see if it helps the cyst on my hand begin to go away. She said the ortho may refer me to a hand surgeon to drain the cyst. It goes on and on... 5 months with no answer or solution yet.
I am looking forward to our Thanksgiving Buffet at Axel's on Thursday. Russ is happy not to be cooking and I won't be cleaning up either. Our house needs a good cleaning and he hasn't finished the garage.
I work tomorrow and Wednesday and have a long weekend.
My brother-in-law hasn't passed away yet. Day by day...his breathing is changing and he is under 10 breaths per minute. We breathe at least 12 breaths per minute. Jim weighs less than 120 pounds. My sister, his wife, has been by his side and has had very little sleep. His family and friends have been to the house to see him one more time. I guess there has been lots of crying this past week. So sad!
I imagine you are getting ready for turkey day. I hope all goes well.
Jenny
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since we are having our dinner tomorrow night at my house I will take tomorrow off to try to get everything as ready as I can. House is relatively clean. I am kind of freaking out about the turkey. I am using the one we got at work (yes work gives everyone a turkey as a 'bonus' - most years I donate it, but kept it this year). Usually it's just the store brand, but this year its a Jennie-O - and I read an article Friday about a bunch of ground turkey JennieO recalled due to salmonella. Holy heck. I pray these buggers weren't processed in the same facility. I had salmonella poisoning about 13 years ago and it was by far the worst I have ever felt. God help me to not poison my family. Pleasepleasepleaseplease no poison.
I hope you get some answers and relief for your hand. Are you opposed to a short course of steroids? I know they are bad long term, but maybe a short burst would have some benefit? Good luck with the appointments.
Praying for peace for your sister and family.
HUGS and happy holiday to us all!!0 -
My first husband and I went to Cancun for our honeymoon in 1985. I returned and after 10 days it was apparent I was pretty sick. I was diagnosed with Salmonella and put in an isolation room at the local hospital for 4 days. I haven't been to Mexico since. I'm a little worried about eating in Baja, Mexico in February for David's wedding.
Ditch the romaine if you have any too!
Well today I saw an orthopedic doctor who I liked a lot. He says I have a lot going on with my hands. Osteo arthritis, a ganglion cyst, and carpal tunnel. The cyst is related to the arthritis but the carpal tunnel is separate. He is ordering an EMG for both hands to see how severe the nerve issue is that I'm dealing with. He says he can drain the cyst but it will come back. He thinks I'm eventually looking at surgery for carpal tunnel and removal of the ganglion cyst. I would like to wait until after David's wedding so I'm not hindered by it for swimming and other activities. On the other hand, should I do it soon and get it done so it heals and I feel better. It has worsened since September. He also mentioned my joint deformity in my thumb joints that I've had for many years. Severe arthritis which makes it difficult to unscrew jars, open doors with door knobs, etc. He says that can be dealt with too. He's the first doctor that hasn't patronized me, brushed me off since arthritis has no cure, and told me to take ibuprofen and live with it.
My BIL is still holding his own. I guess most of his family members (Dad, grandparents, etc.) have died on holidays. So maybe it will be Thanksgiving? Poor Jim. My sisters are very stressed and crying a lot as they sit by his bedside.
I work tomorrow and then a long weekend. Looking forward to days off again.
Jenny0 -
Marla, hope your Thanksgiving was a successful family event. Russ, Rory and I went to a buffet and a popular restaurant. The buffet was huge with breakfast items, turkey, prime rib, all the sides, Walleye, a seafood table, relish table, make your own omelets/waffles, and dessert table. However, it was very crowded and the restaurant that is in a hotel, put long tables in banquet rooms to seat everyone. Very loud and not very intimate. I wouldn't care to return next year.
Today I made sweet potato chews for the dogs (slice sweet potato/yam 1/4 inch slices and bake at 250 for 3 hours turning half way through). I washed our bedding but have yet to make the bed. We are going to go get Thai food for dinner and cook in tomorrow night. Lazy day.
My brother in law is still with us. His body is taking the slow way out of life. My sister is exhausted. She has to turn him over and give him morphine and other drugs every 1-1/2 to 2 hours to keep him pain free. I don't think he is conscious anymore. No pulse in his wrists and heart rate and fever have spiked. Dear Lord, please let me leave quickly from this Earth. Amen!
My EMG won't be until January 7th and my doctor appointment to talk about severity and tx on the 15th. I'm guessing I will do hand surgery after we get back from Baja and David's wedding. I have a 2 week spring break which would be good timing, March 9th through the 24th.
Well I should make the bed before it's time to get in it. Have a great weekend!
Jenny0 -
praying for peace for your sister and release to his final victory for your BIL.
dinner went well, although I drank like three glasses of wine and was sick the entire next day. That's why I don't drink anymore for the most part. The couple hours of buzz is not worth the suffering. I am just not one of those people who can casually drink. Yet another bummer.
As far as I can tell no one is dying from the turkey. I didn't eat any - not because I was necessarily scared of it but just wanted the other stuff first and then was full.
My niece brought a boy friend (not sure if he is a full on boyfriend yet) to dinner. I hope we didn't scare him off. He seemed like a very nice young man. She deserves the best.
Did quite a lot of online shopping - but did not step foot out into the insanity of brick and mortar. People be crazy.
Had to come in to work for awhile. I had like a dozen emails of critical things that came in Wednesday. I just want to smack this one gal in HR - she had the beginning of the week to get the info to me, but was too busy and then slams it out on the day I'm gone. She has done this to me the other day I was out as well. I know it's not like she knows I'm gone that day, but she does have the info earlier and could get it to me so that is what is peeving me off. Grr.
I think Zach finally pinned down that he would prefer a Mac for college, of course too late to try to get the one that was reasonable for Black friday - hoping maybe there will be one for Cyber Monday.
HUGS!0 -
BIL still with us. His heart just doesnt stop beating. They can't even get Oxygen levels and his blood pressure is very low. My sisters are exhausted and my sister, his wife, is feeling agitated and confused. Fingers crossed and saying prayers he passes tonight.
Some women as we age have trouble metabolizing alcohol. I'm one of them.
Tomorrow we will put up the tree and decorate.
Do you have snow? Ours is gone for now.
Watching a Hallmark movie.
Jenny0 -
southern NE had blizzard conditions and sounds like up to 14 inches of snow - we only got a slight swipe of snow less than an inch - but did get a layer of ice which is frankly worse. I didn't let Zach drive today - it was still a sheet of ice on our road and most of the way to his school.
We may have located a vehicle that will most likely be for Caleb - he got his school permit Wednesday - and will be able to drive to school once he completes his hours - God help me I don't want to teach another one to drive. But, this vehicle is pretty nice. A 2004 Honda Pilot - they took it down to $4000 - it has been sitting for two months and they are ready to move it. I hope Bernie decides it is mechanically sound and goes for it. I think I will enjoy driving it until Caleb is. Park mine and drive this one. It has a nice ride and feel to it.
Still praying for your BIL and sister. Peace and hugs.0 -
C will be driving? Wow! Will you be a 4 car family? Hope you have a big driveway and garage.
My BIL finally let go in the early morning hours on Monday. They think he passed between 1:30 and 3:00am. Becky had given him his morphine at 1:30 and when she woke up for the next dosage at 3am, he was gone. I guess she broke down when the funeral home people took his body away. Hospice called them and came right away. They stayed and cleaned up all the drugs and disposed of the extra morphine. I guess that is protocol. I talked to Becky last night and she was numb. She said it felt weird to be home alone and know he wasn't there and never would be again. Her last 35 years have been helping him and taking care of his needs. It's sad to know he's not with us anymore but I'm glad he's at peace and hopefully whole again.
No snow here but very cold (teens). In a couple of months these temps will feel like a heat wave.
I had late conferences tonight so am tired. Long work day. Rory and I watched an episode of The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix. Good, but scary show.
I still haven't finished putting Christmas decorations out and ornaments on the tree. I'll get it done on Saturday. Then I need to do more sorting and organizing for house photos and packing. Add Christmas shopping to the weekend and no time for relaxation.
Hope you are having a good week. Good luck getting the Honda Pilot. Hope it works out.
Jenny0 -
I am very sorry for your sisters loss - and pray that she will find peace soon. Hugs to you too.0
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I came out of my last home visit and it had snowed lightly. The roads were so slick! I had two near misses driving home from work. Luckily a UPS truck saw that I was sliding and steered clear of me. It was that moment I decided to cancel my hair cut appointment. Not worth it and I would have to drive a little ways from my suburb to get there.
I just sorted through my Halloween and Thanksgiving decor and through a lot of junk away. The rest with exception of 3 items are going to a parent that I work with. She loves decorating her whole house inside and out and seems to like a lot of decorations. Crazy to me but she loves Halloween. She said she would take whatever I have. I have to see if Rory wants any of the masks and if not, I'll drop them at Goodwill next spring when we move.
I still haven't put ornaments on the tree. Maybe I'll start with a few tonight and do a little each day with a goal of being done by Sunday. I'll sort those too and see what I don't use anymore.
Snowing again!
Jenny0 -
us too - system moving in today - raining right now -but the temps are dropping and hovering at 33 - great - it could be a sheet of ice when it's time to go home -
no bueno
also calling for significant snow too -
busy since it's month end so I would prefer to not have to stress about snow
glad you got home safe0 -
storm supposedly moving in- thank you all that's wonderful powerlifting that was scheduled for tomorrow is canceled!!!
a mad dash to the store tonight for supplies and then I plan on hunkering down
have a great weekend!
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TGIF! I'm tired. Busy week after work with events. I still need to get the ornaments on the tree. I was going to do it tonight but it'll wait until tomorrow.
Stay safe with your storm.
Jenny0 -
Bernie got sick this weekend - I drug him to urgent care yesterday - right now they are saying cellulitis - which has both of us a bit freaked - I have known people with that really struggle with getting over it and spend weeks in the hospital. Hoping he responds to the home antibiotics and heals quickly.0
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I've known a couple of people that have had that and it was hard to get rid of. How did Bernie get it? Awful to have and also not good around the holidays. I hope the antibiotics work for him and it is short lived.
Staff development day today. Our program has had some stress and issues so our supervisor decided to make it a fun team building day. In the morning she set up stations in the room with cookie decorating, games, coloring...and we could choose what we wanted to do. If you won your game she had prizes. They had a cookie decorating contest and awarded prizes. Then the whole group played Bingo and more prizes were won. I played many games of Uno with 9 other people. It was lots of laughs. I never Bingoed:(
I have so much to do to get boxes ready to send to David and Jeff for Christmas. They like their stocking stuffers but don't want other gifts. I'm going to buy the usual stocking stuffers and give each a $200 VISA card. David and Chantrelle bought a house, Jeff and Karah moved in to a loft, and Rory wants to pick out a tent at REI. This weekend I need to get to Target and Walmart and get their socks and underwear for their stockings.
I also have to plan my knitting group dinner for next week. I'm hosting and thinking of making a comfort food hotdish and a salad. A friend is going to bring the dessert. It will be the last thing I have to host in this house. I already hosted book club this year at the Thai restaurant.
Well I hope Bernie feels better and you stay well.
Jenny0 -
That's really awesome the boys just still love the stocking stuff -
Lots has happened in the last 24 hours. Bernie spent most of the day yesterday at Columbus ER getting more tests and looked over by the docs here. They decided he wasn't responding and they made arrangements for me to take him to an Omaha hospital to be admitted and be seen by some infectious disease specialists. The roads were poor so that added even more drama to the whole she-bang. He has been run full of lots of antibiotics. Today the specialist checked him over and feels that it is so far surface and starting to respond to the drugs and that she doesn't think the limb is in danger. If all goes well he should only be there a few days. I have idea how long of a total recovery - but we'll take the upbeat news for now. And go from there.
Not the way I thought I would use my vacation days...0 -
Wow! Did they confirm it was cellulitis? If it's just surface does that mean they caught it early?0
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as best they can tell they are calling it a strep/staph infection/cellulitis in his leg. He had none of the usual problems that can cause it - diabetes, obesity, injury... so we can't tell what caused it, but the docs felt like they had gotten enough iv meds in and the swelling started to recede so he was discharged last night and I brought him home. He is on two home antibiotics and I am hopeful he will finish healing quickly. I only finally saw his leg yesterday and it is nasty. His whole bottom right leg is covered with enormous blisters that are filled was bacteria. It was starting to go up his thigh but isn't anymore. But I can't imagine how long it will take for all that to go away. Now that I'm not as worried about losing his leg, I will worry about him not having to be away from work for too long. Even though this qualifies for STD I still worry about missing to much work.
I drove back and forth several times to try and keep things as normal as possible at home for the boys. They are so close to the end of the semester I am worried about Zach especially falling apart in his homework. He would wait up for me and look at me and ask if dad was going to die. I tried to keep it as positive as possible, but I couldn't promise anything because I there are no guarantees and I didn't want them to later think that, 'she promised he would be fine and he isn't!"
I don't know.
Here hoping the excitement is over.0
