Runners that need some nutritional accountability
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@swenson19d - glad you are getting a study area back and it sounds like you are getting very organized. It is so sad about your violin instructor's mom. So hard to lose someone to Covid, especially now when things are finally improving. I wonder if she may want to get back into teaching this summer to help get her mind off of it.
Cori does sound inCORRIgible like @quilteryoyo said! Silly cat!
I have seen Boy Interrupted before. What I find the saddest about it is how the family struggled to get him the help he needed and most of the doctors did not think it was really an issue. My family was fortunate that with my brother that his attempts were never successful but he wasn't diagnosed until he was around 16 or 17. I don't think bipolar was even a word or diagnosis then. They just said he had a form of schizophrenia and now he is just paranoid. Also the entire experience with lithium... he hated it too and eventually refused to take it. In general I think our society needs to invest in finding ways to help people with depression or other mental illness. I just don't think they do enough or have enough real research.
I have one of those 'soft' 10lb balls too. I use it to do weighted twists, standing and sitting (feet off the ground) as well as squats to a lift overhead.
@quilteryoyo - hope your stomach gets back to normal soon. I agree on the yogurt or pickles or pickled anything that you like. Also so good to see you back playing tennis and getting to visit with friends!
@CMorning99 - hang in there. The job will get easier and you will stop feeling so lost in it! Glad you are making progress on your mom's place!
I have dentist appointment in a little bit and we are having contractors come to give us a new bid for the work on our house. So much needs to be done! Dh is now talking about having a moving company come in and pack up everything and put it in storage while the work is being done. Too bad he couldn't have decided that before I worked for months packing up all the closets and cupboards and things... Oh well I will just be happy to get all the work finally done!
Food has been good, made sourdough waffles with strawberries yesterday and chicken and rice in the IP with Turkish Chile Lime seasonings with asparagus. It was delicious! Not sure what tonight will be. Have agility class so has to be something quick and easy, or take away...
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Hey all.
Wow life really happens. Been working shift so just living really. Sounds like everyone is doing well
I'm still struggling to stay on the wagon. So annoyed with myself still. But that's life really. Mostly managing appetite but occasional days of too much. I think that trying to lose weight while training for subsequent HM is almost impossible. Sigh.1 -
Today was a day. Started last night actually when my mom didn’t answer the phone in response to my daily call. Got the cops over there (she is way out in the country and it’s not fast for us to get there) and they called the EMTs because she had fallen and couldn’t get up. She somehow managed to convince the EMTs she was in her right mind but she wasn’t - for example she said she had her phone with her the whole time, and when I asked why she didn’t call for help, she said she was planning to just go ahead and sleep on the bedroom floor and didn’t want to worry us. Dude, we are HERE to be worried about stuff like this! Anyway apparently she refused the ambulance and they said she had nothing wrong with her vitals and answered all their questions fine. So, she has had a couple of spells in the past where she didn’t eat much all day and got dippy and was fine after, so we decided it was that, made her promise to eat something and call us in the morning. Morning comes no call and again she isn’t answering. Got the cops to swing by again and he says she doesn’t want to talk to him but we should definitely drive out there since she seems a little off and seems incapable of calling me as promised.
My mom is a very intelligent person, and as a professional writer very articulate - the whole time I’m on the phone with the cop she is trying to charm him and entertain him. And says to me, “So, have I convinced you I’m in my right mind?” Well, no, lady, you haven’t. I say we are driving to the hospital, get yourself dressed, and she can’t manage it, keeps sliding off the toilet sideways in the bathroom and is about as easy to get dressed as a toddler. Husband has to put her in my dad’s old wheelchair to get her in the car. And she is slurring her words. This is someone who ordinarily slings 50 lb bags of horse feed around.
So, we were worried about stroke at this point. To skip to the end, she did not have a stroke. She does however have a raging UTI and double pneumonia! Also a negative Covid test. And doctor assures me her bloodwork points to a bacterial infection not a viral one. She’s getting intravenous antibiotics and the best of care. And we are in charge of feeding and caring for the horses in the meantime.
By the time this saga ended I had been awake 26 hours. Today was supposed to be a run day. I didn’t run. I did walk two miles on trails across from the hospital, and I consider that a victory. Have not been to bed yet.5 -
@CMorning99 I love making lists. I have so many. I use an app called Habitica, but it is more of a game and you can connect with other people on it. I like it because you can set daily, yearly, and monthly tasks, which helps me to remember to do things like check the AC filters. I do seem to add more to my list than I ever get done. And, of course there are the one time tasks too.
Anyway, it sounds like you are getting some things taken care of at your mom's. Hope you start to feel more comfortable in your new role soon. I have confidence that you will figure out your eating and exercise again too. It's hard when you make such big life changes.0 -
Thanks @shanaber ! I totally forgot to put yogurt on my list, so, didn't buy any today. Hope your dentist appointment went well. I need a lot of work done on my house too. Just can't seem to get around to finding someone to do it.
@Avidkeo You can do it. But, you do need to make sure you are eating enough for your training load. That makes it hard. Maybe just try to maintain until after the HM and then back to loosing?
What an ordeal @rheddmobile ! Glad she is in the hospital and getting the treatment she needs. Those UTI's can be horrible. I hope she gets well soon and you get a good night's sleep!1 -
Omg @rheddmobile , your silly mother! I suppose she had no idea anything was wrong so she had no idea what all the fuss was about. I’m glad she is on the mend. I hope you get some rest knowing she is looked after.0
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Hugs @rheddmobile what a stressful day! I hope she improves fast0
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Wow @rheddmobile! I am really surprised that the EMTs didn't find that she had a fever from the infections. That alone with her age and the fall should have made the EMTs to convince her to go to just be checked out. I am so glad she is ok and the infections are getting treated. Hope you are able to get some sleep!
@quilteryoyo - I was thinking about the IRS issue. Any chance your state Representative/Senator could help? I know they do take up issues like that for constituents so it might be worth giving them a call or writing a letter detailing all that you have done to try to get the IRS to straighten it out. Might light a fire under someone at the IRS.2 -
Good morning!
I am in the base newcomers brief today…it is all day. It is really geared towards younger folks so it can be a bit of a grind for old timers lol
Not much is new today, trying to stay focused on healthy food today and be active. My Apple Watch said i took a grand total of 3k steps yesterday 😒2 -
CMorning99 wrote: »Good morning!
I am in the base newcomers brief today…it is all day. It is really geared towards younger folks so it can be a bit of a grind for old timers lol
Not much is new today, trying to stay focused on healthy food today and be active. My Apple Watch said i took a grand total of 3k steps yesterday 😒
3k steps…
My daily average is about 2 lol! I hit 7 the other day and am still on the couch… rethinking my life choices lol!2 -
I slept til 1130.
I was still not awake by time Dh came from his half day at the office at 1230. I’m a bit awake now. I hung the zebra blinds that came in today to replace the gross expensive ones that came with the house. I’m all for nice window covering/blinds, but I’d rather buy cheap and replace them when they far nasty and dusty. So hard to clean. I ordered a stained glass look window film for the arc window in the bedroom and it is too small, I’m sure I can find a new window for it. Perhaps above the front door.
I ate a salad.
Darn good salad at that! Yay, making better choices! I made a Thai soup yesterday. Dh loved it. I thought it was a tad boring since I had no lime and the red curry sauce wasn’t hot enough, I think it needed some hot bean paste or the “*kitten* sauce”, sriracha. Haha. Kids thought that was funny when they were teens.
@rheddmobile you find a kitten yet? You can have Cori. Dh made him come in last night and he ran and attacked dh’s feet in a very playful way. Hmm, mr happy go lucky has a bit of an angry streak. Hope your mother is doing better today.1 -
@CMorning99 I hope you were able to stay awake during the newcomers brief. I usually learned something about the local area from those - like how to avoid being eaten by an alligator and how to tell the difference in a coral snake and their non-venomous look-alikes. (Those are the 2 things I remember when I moved to FL. LOL) Hope you can stay focused on healthy food and exercise.
@swenson19d Glad you were able to sleep in. Hopefully the extra rest will help you feel better. Sounds like you had great food choices today! Yay!
People around me have been talking about having hot dogs lately, so I decided that is what I was going to have for dinner. I usually eat 2 turkey franks with a small can of chili and one slice of bread. I don't keep buns around. Anyway, when I looked in the freezer, all I had was regular franks which had been in there a long time. I thought they might still be okay, so heated them up. Umm. Nope. Freezer burned. So, I had to throw them away. I went ahead and had the chili on the piece of bread. Not quite the same, but almost.2 -
@quilteryoyo I hated hot dogs as a kid and when we had them it was just bread and chili for me. Still my favorite if we have hot dogs unless Dh gets brats. I’ve been eating beans and toast before bed lately. I also was weird and ate only butter and parmesean cheese on my spaghetti.2
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@swenson19d No kitten yet, which is good, because I’m all out of spoons right now.
@quilteryoyo I keep meaning to ask, do you get the 17 year cicadas where you are? We don’t get them in West Tennessee but I know they do in some parts of East Tennessee.
@shanaber Stupidly she has no fever! But you would think that the EMTs would care that a woman who lived by herself wasn’t able to walk across the room.
So, I keep hesitating about posting because my situation is so terrible it feels like a joke.
My mom is in the hospital, which means I have to drive 2 hrs a day to feed horses, fair enough. I also went to visit her because she doesn’t function well on the phone at the best of times due to being deaf, and at the moment she is still confused and keeps hitting mute, etc. also the nurse indicated there were some issues such as medication not being ordered in a timely fashion that really needed an advocate on site.
Protocol right now is a person in the hospital can have one visitor per day and if you leave the building you can’t go back in. You have to have a visitor sticker which has the time and date on it. They give you a mask but I wore my own mask because the person who hands out masks puts her fingers all over the part that touches your mouth. What are people thinking?
So I got my sticker, headed up to my mom’s room, and there’s a sign on the door saying no one can enter, sterile procedure in place, visit the nurse’s station. The nurse on the phone had mentioned my mom was pulling her peripheral line out so they were placing a mid line and I figured it was that, but it freaked me out a little. Head to the nurse’s station and they say they have no idea what’s going on, go wait in the hallway and see if anyone eventually comes out. So I am waiting in the hallway, set up a timer on my phone to see how long it is (because otherwise it feels like eternity) and text my husband. About then, housecleaning pops her head out of the door across from my mom and says, and this is an exact quote, “Is there a nurse or something? Someone dead in here.” And leaves, leaving the door open.
So, I note the extreme lack of interest from the nurses and such in the hallways. No one comes running, there is no code called or anything, everyone ignores the housekeeper and the dead person. But eventually (it was 20 minutes) someone ambles over to check and says to me, “What patient are you supposed to be visiting? You can’t be out here, this is a Covid ward.”
Um, what? My mom does not have Covid. I specially asked three different doctors including the hospitalist if there was a chance she might have a false negative test and if they planned on running another test to make sure, and they said it was extremely unlikely since her bloodwork specifically indicated a bacterial infection, plus she is fully vaccinated.
Now, I have been very careful for the past year and a half. THIS HOSPITAL IS LITERALLY THE FIRST ROOF OTHER THAN MY OWN I HAVE BEEN UNDER SINCE LAST MARCH. I am vaccinated, but I am also high risk, and we have identified the Indian and Brazilian variants which possibly can evade the vaccine in Memphis, so I was still being careful until more was known about that. And now I am standing in the middle of a Covid ward, surrounded by people with Covid and people who touch people with Covid all day, breathing their air through the gaps around my clearly not an n95 mask. There is not a single sign anywhere indicating anything about this being a Covid ward, or anything other than a normal hospital wing. Later I realized some people had face shields but I figured that was just a thing now. And there are carts full of PPE outside in the hallway but I also figured that was just a thing now. I haven’t been in a hospital since this started.
Also, my mom is an 84 year old woman with double pneumonia. She does not need Covid. Even being fully vaccinated she has a 1 in 5 chance of vaccine failure because of her age. That is literally worse odds than Russian Roulette!
So, the nurse tells me my mom is still out of her mind and has dangerously low blood pressure which isn’t surprising because she hasn’t received any medication. She was given broad spectrum antibiotics at the ER the night before but pulled her line out and wasted them, and none have been ordered since, despite the culture having come through since then. She tells me my mom is listed on their paperwork as negative, and she is there because “That was the room that was open.”
Which, by the way, there were stretchers backed up in the hallway of the ER with people who were basically living on them. One poor tiny little old man was there in the hallway when we arrived and still in the same spot when we left hours later, never having had anyone even glance at him. I don’t know what was wrong with him but I do know he had hiccups the whole time, it was pitiful.
My mom is maybe a little perkier? But not fully functioning at all.
So the patient advocate comes in during my visit to ask my mom, who is out of her mind, questions about her living arrangements and if there’s anything she needs, which she doesn’t understand and can’t answer. This is why I am there in the first place, risking my blankety-blank life, because people in the hospital need people to take care of them, they can’t advocate for themselves. And I demand to know why my mom is in a Covid Ward when she doesn’t have Covid and he is very surprised to learn that she doesn’t have Covid, looks at the paperwork and goes, uh, maybe they are assuming she has Covid until they run the long test? Nope, I asked the doctors that already, there is no test pending. Uh... That is definitely a question I will raise with the doctors, about getting her room switched. But they might say no.
At this point I am all out of spoons to throw a fit and thank him politely. But I am gathering spoons to go down, find the hospitalist, and rip him a new hole until she gets moved. Also if either she or I get Covid as a result of their foolishness I am going to have to stop my husband from literally going down there and hurting people, because he is unspeakably angry. He has been running errands for a year to keep me out of danger, but couldn’t do this because I have my mom’s power of attorney. So he was already on pins and needles but figured a hospital would be safe, they would take care of people. Um, nope!
So, that’s where my life is right now.3 -
@rheddmobile omg. I am so sorry about the lack of quality care! Jeez. Putting her in the COVID wing is dumb and seriously risks her getting it. It’s absolutely absurd. Can she be moved to a better facility? Can you hire someone or get a family friend to feed the horses? You may let your Dh rip into people for you. I wonder if you can get a hold of some people in administration to light fires.
I’ll be sending motivational thoughts to the hospital workers, and spoons to you.
*I couldn’t spell “absurd” and asked Dh. I told him he was wrong, it absolutely starts with an “O”. So I ask dd. Nope. I just can’t spell. Dh had to switch into counseling mode and ask about my childhood developmental delays, lol! Well. It is what it is.1 -
@rheddmobile That's the worst situation I have heard of in a long time! Is there a possibility that her primary care doctor can get her moved to a different hospital or at least a different wing. It's hard to believe that they would put her in a CoVID ward when she doesn't have CoVID AND not let you know! Crazy! I'm glad you are there and sending spoons and prayers that she gets to feeling better and you both get out of the situation without getting CoVID.
And the poor person who was dead. Seriously waiting 20 minutes before doing anything. Surely to goodness they were monitoring the person and had to know they were deceased. Yeah, I think you need a different hospital, if possible!
I do get the cicadas here. But, so far I have only seen one near the house. Have seen three at my gate. Some areas have hundreds already. I guess they are just a little slower emerging here. I'm sure they will be here soon enough.
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@rheddmobile - OMG I would be throwing a fit at that hospital! I know the staff at most are overwhelmed and oh so tired but still, that is no excuse to not follow up on the monitors that you know they have to have and be with someone when they are dieing! If they are that burned out I would be so worried, as I know you are, about the care your mom is getting. Also putting her in a covid ward! What are they thinking! If they don't have room send her somewhere else. I agree with @swenson19d - maybe hire someone to look after the horses for a week to take that off your shoulders.
I have heard the cicadas are going to be late this year. I also heard there is some weird disease that is affecting them when they do emerge.
Hot dogs - I loved them when I was a kid, especially when we could roast them in the fire pit. I am not a huge fan any longer but will have a BBQ one once in a while in the summer.
@swenson19d - when do you get the lifts for your shoes, or the shoes with the lift in them? I really hope it helps you be able to be more mobile.
I have discovered, honestly should have realized a while ago, that I am really tired on Tuesdays after running and agility on Mondays. I plan for a strength workout and it just never seems to get done. I have always taken Sunday as my full rest day but I think I am going to have to switch that up so I get strength work in at least 2x/week.
We have been eating pretty well. Yesterday we went to Costco early and had breakfast late and no lunch so I didn't eat enough. We had the leftover IP chicken and rice though for dinner and it was still really tasty.1 -
Good morning!
@rheddmobile What an ordeal! The healthcare system can be such a challenge. My Mom's doctors would just shuffle her from specialist to specialist and they would just all order the same tests and never call back with results and in the mean time prescribe another pill that would do no good. When she passed I thru away 2 tall kitchen trash bags of medications that she never even took.
I was tired yesterday and sitting in a hard folding chair for 6 hours HURT! At the end of the day, I just went back to my room and stretched out on the soft bed LOL I think I got 2K steps yesterday ...oof I think calories came in right at maintenance according to my best guess on food and my apple watch.
This morning I got up on time and did a 4 mile run. I felt good until the last mile when I hit a solid headwind and 1% incline LOL. I am work now and my boss has signed me up for a bunch of training. I am grateful but it is odd how he is just dumping it all on me. He is also out of touch with the military and has signed me up during a few morale events for the military (BBQ).
Today I need to get up to the estate lawyers and sign some forms to try and transfer some compushare stocks. I keep getting different answers on how to do it, I call them and get one answer and then get a letter saying a different thing. The lady did warn me I need to get on it b/c they can be declared abandoned by the state. So that is my 1 "to do" for the day.
I go on leave starting Saturday and so my head is not in the game.2 -
@shanaber Sounds like you need to make Tuesday your rest day.
@CMorning99 Glad you are getting some things done on your mom's estate. Still hoping that your work becomes more routine for you soon.
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Thanks for the support, guys, it means a lot.
We got a hold of someone for an explanation about the room and his version of the story was that that USED to be the Covid ward but now there is not a dedicated Covid ward anymore and Covid patients are scattered throughout the hospital, so there’s really no greater risk there. In fact he said he would rather be there because at least the staff are used to Covid protocol and actually follow it properly. I am thinking that the implication that the staff in other parts of the hospital are not following protocol isn’t what he intended, but hey.
Baptist memorial is pretty much considered a world class hospital and the best hospital in Memphis, there’s not really a better place to transfer her to. So that’s that. Hospitals are hospitals, it is never safe to leave your loved ones in them without someone to advocate.
So anyway, I arrive and they won’t let me in because the front desk says that is a restricted room. I demand answers and it turns out that some unknown busybody apparently noticed that there was a room in the Covid ward that wasn’t on the restricted list and “fixed” the tag. No one can figure out who did this, but the nursing staff and the administration said it never should have happened because “absolutely we are treating this as a negative patient” and remember it’s not supposed to be a Covid ward because there isn’t such a thing. So.... yeah. I was eventually allowed up.
My mom is not quite right but making much more sense now that they have her on the proper antibiotics. She actually ate something which she didn’t yesterday, and is well enough to know that she doesn’t feel well and be concerned about stuff that needs done at home. But not well enough to do things like use her phone properly or figure out how to untangle her tubes to get to the bathroom.
Someone contacted me about home care visits. In Tennessee a certain number of weekly 15 minute check in visits are covered automatically so they really push them. But actual, useful home help is not covered at all. I think we all nearly died of exhaustion when my father was ill and needed care, despite spending a small fortune on part time nursing help. The system really, really wants you to give up and put people in nursing homes and makes no effort to support people in their own homes.
I am feeling cautiously optimistic since my mom was up and walking a little. They are worried about her kidneys, they did an ultrasound but I didn’t hear what the results were. And they were trying to collect urine to monitor the amount but couldn’t get her to comply, she keeps removing the little collector thingy from the toilet before using it. They didn’t mention this, but I know she had a CT scan with contrast when they were worried about stroke, and she’s on metformin which often causes kidney failure with contrast dye. I’m on met myself so I’m aware of this - it’s actually a really startlingly high number of people, like 1 in 8 people on metformin have at least temporary kidney failure after use of contrast. When they have time they take people off the metformin for a couple of days first, but obviously that’s not always possible.
I am so tired, and the tough part is not foreseeing any time in the future when I will be less tired. Keeping on!4
