khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
So I started this on Tuesday, and fell asleep in the middle. Completed it today, with a sucktastic ending. I'd say my life is a farce, but this entire fucking year is a farce. If only it will end.

So, Tuesday, I:

  1. Woke up at 5am. Realized I was hungry. Didn't want to get up, ate some sunflower seeds I keep on the bedside table for that purpose.
  2. Pill alarm woke me at 8. Realized I was hungry and that, despite how tired I felt, was unlikely to fall asleep again.
  3. Stood up (knees ok), went into hobby room and grabbed an eggroll from the fridge, and while eating it
  4. turned on kettle
  5. went to get my morning pills and my mug from my room
  6. went back to the hobby room to put my mug by the tea and
  7. realized i was still carrying bag with the other 2 egg rolls in it. Put it back in fridge.
  8. squeezed yesterday's teabags into rest of yesterday's tea (gasp! Sacrilege! STALE TEA!), put teabags
    into compost bowl, tea into mug.
  9. Realized still had some gypsy cold care tea left from yesterday, drank it all.
  10. got out vita tea (last bag - oh right, i ordered more yesterday), gypsy cold care teabag, and stared
    at tea selection. No, don't want more scotch breakfast, no cinnmon stick box, don't want china breakfast, plain no, golden chai no. guess it's constant comment.
  11. set up the teabags, kettle says 175, my knees aren't going to stand here and stare at it.
  12. I'm out of egg roll. Stare into fridge, nope, no brain, grab second eggroll.
  13. Sat down, eating eggroll. Opened 2 bills, notated envelopes, tea kettle goes beep.
  14. Stood up (knees ok...) Water into teapot, gcc mug, vita mug... no water to warm up tea from yesterday. Nope, no patience for doing the walk into bathroom, get brita, walk into hobby room, fill kettle, walk into bathroom, refill brita, dance. Cold tea it is.
  15. Sit back down, solitaire while I finished egg roll
  16. Then thought of writing this down. yay? something vaguely more ?useful?productive?acceptable? than solitaire.
  17. oh. i oculd have nuked my tea warm. doh.
  18. right, take pills.
  19. fuss with email a bit. oh gods, even traditional medicinals is on the pumpkin spice kick.
  20. (a moment for facepalm. sigh. discord beeps, check it out. bicker about politics for a few sentences)
  21. finished opening all the mail, sorted bills into 'due by' date.
  22. Finally, opened ledger (that I had actually brought over to the table, along with the checkbook, yesterday), grabbed the envelopes of coupon pays from tucked into front cover, and make sure I have everything.
  23. ..... looked at it all, decided I didn't want to stand up again and go find another check register right now. Spent about 2 hours watching Overly Sarcastic Productions videos (dionysus, hermes, don quixote, The Lancer) while playing solitaire. (2 hours ish)
  24. Took a deep breath and turned back to the bills. Stood up (knees ok?), found a check register in hte bill box in the storage room, grabbed 2 aspirin from my room, Grabbed a different mug of tea.
  25. Walked around the table to put my tea down after swallowing the aspirin, realize I need the toilet.
  26. Spent some time in the bathroom playing sudoku while my body did its thing
  27. did the refill the kettle dance
  28. killed what might have been a roach on my countertop (FUCK)
  29. grabbed 2 plums from the fridge and 3 chocolate bars (Nibmor brand,17g bars, one plain dark, one with cherries, one with blueberries) andsat down again to do bills.


-----
This was written Wednesday:

So then I actually did the bills, with various thigns on youtube, mostly stuff from Britain about the royalty (Real Royalty, I think, is the name of the channel. It has interesting things, but also very boring things.) I finished all the house bills around 5pm, and then by 7 I felt like I was falling asleep. I told the kids to just bring up dinner when it was ready, and I'd eat it when I woke. I went and laid down, but the activity of dinner being delivered to me didn't wake me. I woke up around 3am, just long enough to see the time. I woke at 4:30ish, ate the food left to me, and don't rememeber falling asleep again but woke at 6:45 for the toilet. Realized I'd never taken my midnight pills, figured the way I was going, the 8am pill alarm would wake me and I'd just take morning pills. I woke up at 11:45am with a headache.

I've now eaten the last eggroll, 2 plums, 2 cheese sticks. and most of my morning pills. I"ve found more evidence of the squirrel visiting the bathroom (that is apparently no longer visiting the rest of the house, unless it's pushing the door closed again behind it (which doesn't latch, alas)), and even tho I'm sitting in direct sunlight in the hobby room, I can't get warm. So I'm off to my bedroomden again, to wrap up in sweaterrobe and sit in the cradle office chair. maybe it will help alleviate the too-cool+headache and I might even wake up.

-----

To end: I didn't fall asleep. I think I took a migraine pill at some point earlier, tho I don't recall. Younger Kid showed up about 2:30 pm, to grab the bills and mail them. I couldn't think of anything I wanted to ask for for 4pm food, so I let him go off to do that. I also took the other migraine med about this time. Shortly after, I finally thought of something from the convenience store, called his phone, but he was home already (and hadn't told me. :( ) So I asked for 1 grilled cheeze sandwich and some tomato soup, in which I had Too Many Crackers. And took my pills.

I don't even know what I've done this evening. I've poked at mail a bit, I read twitter a little, I watched a couple of Overly Sarcastic vids, Dinner was brought up around 9pm. Ate half of it, put the rest in the fridge, and shortly after 11pm I was using a plastic toothpick around the base of my teeth and popped a filling out.

So now I shouldn't eat anything before seeing a dentist, which means tomorrow is going to be LOVELY. I also need to make an appointment to go to a bank and get a form ?authorized? not notarized, it has to be a bank thing, I don't get it, but it's what I was told was needed by some ?investment? thing that my (deceased in 2004) mother had money in my name in, and I thought I had put it in my name but maybe this is another? The person on the phone (last week or so) told me they couldn't tell me how much it was, but that it was under the limit of having the bank do the thing with it, which is 100k. Which is useful knowledge, and also slightly disappointing. I mean, one frequently imagines that suddenly found accounts are worth bajillions of cash, right?

Sending this off, might record my adventures tomorrow. Whee.

I must say, the ambient election dread is not playing well with my 'the last quarter of the year is shit'.
khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
TL;DR: syringe full of fluid drained from behind my knee. Cortisone injected through same needle stick. Could put my heel to teh floor immediately! Some pain still, followthrough telemedicine appt in 2 weeks. If still problems, refigure.

Longform:

So I posted on Wednesday the 15th; I heard back from PCP on Thu morning, on the patient portal, saying that she read all my messages, and I could contact this other doctor in her section, because he knows more about musculoskeletal things. The patient portal didn't have a way for me to make a telemedicine appointment with someone who was not already on my provider list, so I had to send a message of "please, I'd like an appointment with you" through a different section of the patient portal. (I didn't wake up till 3pm, and by the time I found the mail from the patient portal it was 5, so I couldn't call.) I did not hear back on Friday, and I was Very Mad. And hurting. I spent the weekend in slowly increasing pain. Even all my pain pills, and new patches on my knee overnight, didn't let me sleep solidly.

Monday (Yesterday, at this point) I woke around 2pm and found a message on my cellphone from the new doc staff. Called them immediately, and they were willing to have me actually come in without a telemedicine visit first. They offered 3:30 and 4pm, and I took the latter, cause I had no clue how long it was going to take me to get downstairs.

My youngest (who'd been put on alert that I was trying for a doc appointment and might not have much notice) wasn't awake yet - I tried his phone (figuring htat would wake him better than an SMS message). I moved as much as I could to get dressed. I finally yelled downstairs and got an answer. While waiting for him to come up I ate some food so I'd have it in my stomach when I was trying to be social, and coudl take my meds so I was already on some pain meds for the trip. He helped me get dressed, and spotted me down the stairs. Which didn't take as much time as I feared, as my other knee had gotten less unhappy (about taking over all the bending duties) over sleep.

I used my new scooter at the doc complex! This visit totally justified the expense. It was easy to set up, it was small enough to go through the doc office (yes, I know that wheelchairs could, but ther'es also the issue of length when turning corners in an hallway, and Youngest didn't have to push me) and into the exam room! Doc came in, talked to me (No, doc, never had something like this happen before.) poked at my knee slightly, used the ultrasound machine that was right there! to look at both knees. "Wow that's a big swollen knee." and "Ok, that's a tiny swollen, but the other one's big." Apparently I had a very swollen knee. So I had a gathering of fluid, which was being part in the front of the joint and part in the back of the joint, could have been set of by anything that stressed the knee, best idea is to drain the fluid with a syringe, inject cortisone, and see what happens. Yes, he could do it now. Woo!

He basically did what dentists do - he numbed the skin, and then injected a numbing agent, before actually using the ultrasound to guide the needle into the joint, to drain the fluid with a syringe. He apparently then left the needle in, rather than trying to guide another needle stick, and attached the cortisone syringe, and did the shot through that way. One bandaid, and done.

Cortisone takes about 2 weeks to completely take effect. So, on May 4th, I have a telemedicine appt to check up. If it's come back, or I'm otherwise miserable (his words!), he sees me on the 5th.

When I got off the table I could put my heel to the floor without thinking.

Did some ingress on the way home. Stopped at panera, ordered through the app on my phone, took delivery through the window into teh back seat of food for me and Youngest, and a pile of pastries. Getting up the stairs to the porch was difficult but not impossible - I couldn't pick up my knee high enough to use that leg to step up, but the other knee wasn't being that cranky. I stayed downstairs and had food and chatted and was in the SOCIAL AREA OF THE HOUSE WOO. And when I felt like my knee was getting stiff, I went upstairs. I did about 12 steps going up 2footed, and then both knees were unhappy, so I did the rest on my left leg, and sat for about 5 minutes, and did the upper flight with just one knee. And I napped a bit from about 7:30 to about 9pm, and I've been awake since. Knee didn't hurt all night. It's a little stiff at the moment, but I've been walking without the crutch all night (to the toilet and such). And I couldn't do that yesterday morning. Woo!

Oh, and I don't know if anyone knows my family well enough to have brought my previous post to the notice of my kids; Thursday afternoon (or evening, I'm not sure) I asked for help doing things, both kids came up to help me, and I didn't get any feelings of "don't wanna" from either of them. Happened the next day also. And one of those times made it so I could be more independent and not asking for help every time I wanted a mug of tea in my room. So yay on various fronts.
khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
Right now I'm in a lot of pain - physical pain. I don't know why. My right knee won't straighten completely - it feels like my hamstring is strung-bow-tight. My thigh, about 3-5 inches above the knee, hurts when I stand and walk on it, along with my knee feeling swollen. Most of the skin area around the knee is tender to the touch, tho if I'm not touching it, not standing on it, not putting pressure on it either by pressing my foot to the floor or otherwise levering teh knee, it doesn't hurt. I used the Embeda two days in a row, and then couldn't wake up yesterday, and possibly the day before? I've lost track... and today I'm awake, and in slightly less pain, and also started using a crutch on my left side, as a sort of cane. It's helping in some ways, but makes things more difficult in others. I finally had enough brain to use the patient portal and send a message to my nominal Primary Care Physician to see what I should do. I expect to hear back tomorrow at some point. It was actually 3 messages, because I recounted what's happened, I recounted the various pieces of my issues that may be relevant, I recounted what meds I'd recently been taken off of (they have hte list of what I'm on), and I expressed a path of action that might get this figured out. But I don't know how to make anything happen in these times of telehealth (doesn't work for physical exam/xray/etc) and 'if you don't have trouble breathing, just get in the back of the line'.

And what I miss is the way Otter would just... pick things up. He'd make sure dinner happened, he'd come up and try to find out if there was something he could do, he'd listen. I could ask 'rub bengay on it' and he'd figure out where the bengay is and when done make sure it was somewhere sensible, and not give body-language that made it seem like this is an imposition. That he was uncomfortable with me needing help.

He'd come up and check on me and give me a hug at random. I still find myself waiting for his footsteps coming into the house, cause then I'd get a hug.

My eldest comes up to check and hug sometimes. Usually in concert with asking about something, or telling me something that's wrong. If I ask for physical help, this is who is possibly more competent, and yet the more likely that I'll get "uncomfortable, imposition, i really don't want to be dealing with this" vibes from.

My youngest doesn't give me these vibes. I'm more likely to get a joke, or a wry comment, "why is the hair on top of your head more grey than the hair that was cut shortshort due to the psoriasis?" "Um. I dunno." So they're the one that I'm asking for things like 'rub the brush on my back to get rid of the psoriasis scales' and 'put the goop on my back' and are more likely to not seem like it's a problem when I search for a word.

ANd yet... both of them wait till I ask for something - sometimes more than once - before they'll take action on something. Tonight I was asked over discord about what I wanted for dinner, and I responded. Apparently Eldest didn't see a notification. ANd hadn't checked back, thinking that odd. In 2+ hours. Until I said something again. Mind you, youngest is on that discord, and hadn't said anything either, hadn't noticed the time passing. And I'm trying not to be bitchy about things cause I've *been* bitchy, and been called out on it, in a way that makes it feel that my comments about having perennial housemates into my future feels very very much that what I have are housemates. Oblivious, detached housemates. Who will only help with any problem I have if I ask, and ask ahead of time, and don't have any expectations of being even acknowledged, never mind helped. Never mind, "hey ma, you said you were hurting, do you need anything right now before I get busy with something for the next three hours?"

There is no one who acts as tho their priority is me (after themself). There's no one who takes action on things that need solving, without me noticing and pointing it out, and even stating the solution to the problem. If I say, 'this is one solution, there may be others' things don't happen.

I'm so tired of this.
khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
So, just after I've pretty much recovered, mentally, from me in hospital then FIL in hospital, and other Dealing With Shit... last sunday I started having an earache. It felt mostly outer ear, but my sinuses were weirdly clogged. So, since I was going to doctorville anyway for my regularly scheduled appt with the endocrinologist, I figured I'd see who else I could see.

Endo seemed not at all worried about the high numbers I had in the hospital. The test last week showed that the trend downward was still persistent. HOwever, it's been over 7 months and it's not come down all *that* significantly, and so he's put me on Victoza. Which is an injectable, and I got instructinos on how to inject it (it's got a pen injector, which is good), and is totally fucking piss me off why do I have to do this what the fuck is this shit my body is doing annoying.

So then I went down to my nominal doctor's office (i never see her, she's just on the list to fill the spot of 'primary care physician') and they didn't have any slots open, so I went to 'fast track' which is just the urgent care center 'cept you have an appointment rather than just waiting. I think I would have gotten seen faster if I'd been just waiting. :/ And so I have an ear infection, in the outer ear, whcih is making the area in front of the ear and around the TMJ swollen. Which means that's why chewing feels weird/wrong. ANd now I have ear drops, 4 in the ear 3 times a day, and I HATE FLUID IN MY EAR> I had problems passing swim tests cause I couldn't do a back float long enough cause weater woudl seep into my ears SLOW COLD AIGH Get it out!

My son has been announcing, "Hey mom, I'm here to torture you!"

It's mind boggling how much this is fucking with my mental processing. I can't concentrate on ANYTHING. If I have to plan or think, it's out the window. I"ve already had one migraine due to the sheer aggravation of FLUID IN MY EAR AAIIGGH.

I want less excitement, please. Soon.

A day

Jun. 20th, 2018 12:46 am
khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
i'm sorry, this really does end up better looking when I'm making a list, to be an html list. Much neater.


  • C dragged me awake at 9am to eat food so I could take meds, and also to do infusion. (circa 40 minutes task, eating happening while infusing)
  • I managed to get myself dressed and dragged downstairs to get my hair brushed/rebraided in time to half-doze for about 5-10 minutes. There was some delay but I can't recall what it was, just "doc will understand for this". We were out the door at 11:20 ish for a noon appt with Paindoc who is not-at-Doctorville.
  • Rehashed my hospital adventures for paindoc. Got an scrip for extra breakthrough pain meds.
  • Since I was almost falling asleep every time someone wasn't talking to me in the doc office, I declared a need for caffiene. Panera won out over the diner near paindoc, as I wasn't awake enough to appreciate the fact of a salad bar.
  • Got call from nurse visiting today who wanted to visit right then. Since I was walking out of paindoc, and had an appt at Doctorville at 3pm, that wasn't going to work. We settled on 5pm this evening.
  • Panera. Coffee. Strawberry Poppyseed Salad, in honor of Otter who ate it over everything else every time it was in season. Unfortunately for me, it may be the sweetest of their salads. stupid carbs.
  • Arrived at Doctorville at 2:20 for a 3 o'clock appt. Since they were fitting me in anyway (my appt was last week, while I was in the hospital. Oh well.) I didn't think it would matter. I was going to get the shot from the nurse, until she saw the IV tap, at which point she went to get the doctor. "No no, the shot is fine with that, but that isn't fine! What happened?" Rehashed hospital visit with AllergyDoc.
  • Got text that VisigothsPlumbers were happening: R had called them cause both tubs and 1 sink were refusing to drain. This was as we were leaving Doctorville. I texted back, asking if they'd stay long enough for me to talk to them, eta 15 minutes. It really is that close.
  • Talked to VisigothsPlumbers about what needed to be done, and what additional I wanted them to do while they were all up in my pipes. Then they tried to upsell me on the age of my water heater. I don't think they expected me to ask about a tankless option. See, back when we bought this house, my dad was head of maintenance at a YMCA, and was proselytizing the delights of tankless heaters. We just couldn't afford it in 1990, nor in 1996 when we got the one that's currently in place. But, I have money-to-fix-the-house now!
  • After negotiation, the plumbers went to plumb the tubs, and the visiting nurse showed up. That was an amusing bit of overlap. She untaped everything and retaped it, leaving the thing sticking into my arm. Also ran an infusion (which was late, but Visigoths) and took blood and vitals. Wheee.
  • R made dinner, and as we were eating I got a call from an "RN associated with your health insurance" asking me all sorts of bullshit. I suppose there are people who walk out of the hospital, even with a tap in their vein, and proceed to do all sorts of stupid shit. I patiently answered all her questions, making faces at R and C all the while.
  • After dinner (yummy hamburgers with garlic mashed in, cauliflower, and minor salsa (cuke, tomatoe, diced; add garlic, basil, very small amount of generic store bought balsamic vinaigrette)) C and I worked on making characters for the Pathfinder game that's starting up.


C is now asleep on the couch in the air conditioning, and I want to work more on the character but I'm hitting my head against rules. Also, need to infuse. So I'm going upstairs and maybe poke at it there. Or maybe play wow. Or maybe find another book to read.

I CAN DO ANYTHING YAY no not that.
khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
With the information I have today, I think it's probably Not A Good Idea I go as far away from civilization as Baitcon. I strongly suspect the MedStaff will be happy about this decision.

tmi about condition )

I had my first dose of the new antibiotic around 5pm, and sure enough, my pain levels went nuts about 3 hours later. It took me another half hour to make the connection. I'm hoping that the pain level rise is associated with that, cause I don't know what it is otherwise, I'm taking more tramadol daily.

But no, I'm not taking my home-IV up to Baitcon.

Will miss you all!
khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
So Tuesday started with me throwing up about an hour after I took my morning meds. I felt shitty the rest of the day, and didnt' eat anything. In the afternoon my temp was up to 102, so R dragged me in to Urgent Care associated with the pile of doctors in a few buildings clumped together that I refer to as Doctorville. Most of my unwillingness was just in dealing with just moving (unusual sharp pains in the groin joint of my hips), down two flights of stairs and then in the car to go 20 minutes (assuming no traffic) with a tummy still scared of nausea.

There they discovered a BRIGHT RED PATCH on my undertummy (the part I can't see cause of the edema flowing over) and 20k white blood cell count. So now I'm in the hospital with IV antibiotics. If the infection behaves well, I'll be out by Friday, and will be able to attend the interment of Otter's ashes, along with the small pile of family and more friends coming in from out of state.

If I'm not discharged by Friday, I'll think about doing the 'against medical advice' thing of walking out, and then coming back in. Which one of my overseers said was a REALLY BAD IDEA NO DON'T DO THAT I NEVER REMINDED YOU ABOUT THIS POSSIBILITY NOPE.
khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
I've been doing a lot of stuff that doesn't look like much.


  • Conversed with R about $THINGS. The primary thing coming from that is that we're moving up the timeline on househunting. Since I want to have overlap between getting a new house and selling this one so that I'm not frantically trying to pack, and the main reason I was setting it off 1-2 years was so that C would have a geopolitically appropriate address for his school, we can disconnect looking/moving and C's address need, and just leave him in the house on his own for a bit. So now I'm actually looking at the not-quite-spam mail that I'm getting from the three websites, and have brought R in to the ONE that lets you connect someone in (WHY IS THIS NOT A GENERAL THING???) and we're leaving comments for each other on houses.
  • Three of us went to a set of 3 open houses this past Sunday. First one was a house I wouldn't offer on, because it doesn't have the minimum accessibility I would need, but it was very local and a good learning experience. I also proceeded to inform the people manning the open house exactly why I wouldn't offer for it (there was much more than just the lack of accessibility, such as the complete lack of insulation in the attic, with sunlight visible in multiple places under the eaves). Second one, the people who were opening the house failed to show, it being after 2pm on a 1-4pm open house. We left. Third house was up in Bloomfield, move in ready, with some oddments that all older houses have (like, why was there a deadbolt on the door between the kitchen and the basement?) and all the accessibility I'd need. However, parking is minimal, and there are things (like one of the sets of steps from the house to the back yard is in the way of getting anything large *to* the hatch to the basement) that means that it's probably not actually the right house for us.
  • I had a week+ of doctor visits, that ended up with a small twinge in my back that I've had since about 2 weeks after Otter died flaring wildly. Paindoc thinks I might have gotten another compressed nerve, wants to MRI, and agreed to wait till I got insurance. That pain hasn't quite settled down, and is affecting my ability to do much. I've also felt lower energy since Sunday and the three open houses where I was walking around on uneven ground (looking around the houses) and doing stairs.
  • I came downstairs this past Monday to do bills and stuff, and was so out of it that I didn't even realize it was after 7 before I actually got moving on paper/mail intake until I was suddenly handed dinner. I meant to come down yesterday, and failed, ending up taking migraine meds, and extra pain meds. Today I woke up at midnight (top fo the day) and fell asleep again at 7, barely managing to eat food and take morning pills; ended up taking an extra pain med some time later; woke up just before 4pm pills, and dragged myself down here to at least do bills if not the phone calls, only to find that the fucking ATT bill is not here yet. *sigh*
  • Exiting Housemate has slowed down her exiting, due to her own health issues. Completely reasonable, but I'm getting antsy to have stuff gone. It's at the point where it's mostly just stuff to be put in trash and recycling, and I'm beating my head against C to do that, because R is doing EVERYTHING ELSE and we're really done.
  • To the point where R caught a cold (or something, it apparently came on faster than usual) and was sleeping a *lot*. A bunch of takeout later, a bunch of barely-touch-into-the-oven later, a few Inform-C-he-was-cooking-and-could-just-be-pissy-if-he-wanted-but-that's-it meals, and R took some money and slept in a nearby hotel for a few nights so that the allergen load would be less/different. Also, finally went to doc even tho temp never got over 101, and was given antibiotics anyway cause former smoker.
  • The kids, finally, after literally 2 weeks of nagging, moved the Forester out from underneath the dangling slate.
  • Finding a roofer to take on our roof has, again, been special, with 1 ghost on an estimate, 1 'you'll hear from us in a couple of days' that turned into two phone calls and a voice message later saying, "yeah, we do slate but not jobs that big" (WTF?), 1 semi-reasonable estimate, and 1 that said 'you need a whole new roof'. We have the lower estimate for the small roof that was damaged by the tree set to happen next week, and then we work from there, I guess.
  • May is the first month that I'm paying bills out of the account made with the life insurance money. Of course, the car insurance 6month is due this month, and the house insurance is due June 1, so there's going to be a huge dip to start with. Hopefully financial guy won't get nervous. :D
  • The car insurance customer service guy actually called late last week - later than he had said, but he *did* call back. Apparently C's good student discount is valid for, at least, this cycle of insurance payment. Yay! $2900 for 6 months is annoying as fuck.
  • I think that's all.


    To Do Soon:
  • Contemplate agitating at ATT to change billing date.
  • Try to take Skitty to the vet for checkup when C is home.
  • Do more of the stuff that needs to be kept up with.
  • Find out when annual taxes are due
  • Arrange to actually get the roof fixed. IN PROCESS
  • call tax assessor office 9a-3p Barbara 9087692906 AFTER 12:30 WEDNESDAY as of 20180208
  • Decide day of month I need to pay bills. (2 days before end of month is not enough time)
  • Clear out envelope of Bills Since Death and sort into records, bills, whatever.
  • Figure out what to do about cpap machines (company emailed back, saying donate or whatever) (in process)

Talk to R about:
    Things I need:
  • Container specifically for estate stuff. - Catbag?
  • Container for my paper notes on phone calls.
  • Container for medical records current year, bills and other
  • Container for keeping records, current year (currently back half of step sorter that R got from Staples, and repurposed wire mesh phone stand)
  • Container for medical records specifically for past years.
  • Containers for keeping records for past years, to hold paid bills and record keeping.
  • Container for tax info papers bundled by year for past years.
  • Container for my frustration and sanity. (Research ongoing. Last marble was found in dice bag, perhaps something similar?)

sigh

Jan. 25th, 2018 05:15 pm
khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
Yesterday, the migraine leapt up and bit me again. I pretty much slept all day. At one point I asked R to help with the compression stockings on my legs, because I was overdue for dealing with that, and between the pain in my shoulders, and the migraine, I couldn't properly reach. That was overly exciting, as I found out when I got a phone call, R in the supermarket, wanting to know what I wanted for dinner, having forgotten all about coming back in an hour to put compression back on. *headdesk*

Similarly today, headache making it hard to sleep, I've been awake and in pain unrelieved despite taking pain meds. Neck and shoulders, not *quite* at the level of headache and I really don't want it to go there, either. :/ I'm gonna try to play some wow and hope that I can be up for doing something other than maintenance.

Today, I

Jan. 18th, 2018 03:18 pm
khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
am doing nothing, having woken up with a muscle spasm at the juncture of my left shoulder and neck. It didn't respond to my normal morning pain pill & muscle relaxant; it didn't respond to the Embeda. Now it's a flector patch and a hotsock, and hopefully no aggravation. I'm not going downstairs; I'll probably poke at WoW for a bit.

disgruntle, I have things to do.

Today, I:

Jan. 16th, 2018 07:52 pm
khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
I don't recall doing anything yesterday. I came downstairs cause I didn't want to sit alone in my room, but that's it.

    Today, I
  • Had brunch at Panera with C, who was my driver today.
  • Went to SocSec office and talked to someone, giving them information to fill in a form. I will be getting $255 lump sum payout as immediate death benefit, in a couple of weeks, direct deposit. He also filled out a form to go with the disability hearing that is pending, to hurry it up and to have everything decided at once; if I am declared disabled, I get socsec payments immediately. Otherwise, I have to wait 4 years.
  • Stopped by the Paindoc building and had C go up to the office and pick up the forms for handicapped parking placards.
  • Went to DMV with two titles in hand, and the form to fill out for the missing title we've given up on finding. Got distressed and flummoxed by the forms, looking for information I didn't have and didn't realize I needed. Gave up and went home.
  • Got C and R to get me the odometer readings adn VINs and such, which involved jump-starting one car that had run out its battery somehow. (Because with new cars, there is no dial, you have to have the car on to see the odometer. *headdesk*. Filled out ALL THE FORMS.
  • During this, had a small snack, cause it was pill time.
  • Went BACK to DMV and waited on line for a bit; someone came through checking forms and said I was ok, and that it was ok to sit on this chair near the front and leave C on line for me. Ended up having to go through the line twice: the first two titles were put into my name, and the new duplicate title was done, and the handicapped parking placards, for $189. And then I had to fill out the new title to put it into my name, for another $64.50. (4.50 to move the registrations along with them, on each car.)


I believe it was about an hour or so total, it just felt like forever. I'm fried, aching, and going to bed soon.


    To Do soon (so that the checks mailed earlier this week have a chance to reach them):
  • Find notes re: calling credit union branch manager directly about making an appointment to close/change accounts
  • Call Credit Union, make appointment for showing them stuff. FIND L8 FORM!!!!! fuck. (note: Can be downloaded from http://www.sussex.nj.us/documents/surrogate/itl8.pdf )
  • Find notes re: talking to various companies/entities about adjusting late fees etc wrt extensions.
  • Call PSEG, ask for late fee to be removed? Check what needs to happen to be considered up to date?
  • dammit, there was something else and it just fled my mind. Had to do with other things on those notes.


    To Do SOON!
  • Cannot do until make payment! Waiting on Life Insurance. Call Mortgage, ask for late fee to be removed.
  • Fill out forms for 401k
  • Call number at town hall about making appt to talk to folks about putting house/bills in my name only. (look for business card. Catbag? DeathCertEnvelope?

    To Do Later
  • Read in detail, and evaluate, life insurance mail from credit union BY JAN 25
  • read in detail, evaluate, car/home insurance offer from AAA
  • JANUARY 23rd: Call old trash service AGAIN adn make sure account is CANCELLED.
  • Get onto Otter's computer and look for the file he left me.
  • Deposit checks received (2017-12-22: 1 to date.)
  • Figure out what to do about cpap machines (company emailed back, saying donate or whatever) (in process)
  • Find out wtf to do about the argument with the insurance and the roof
  • DO NOT LOSE PRINTED FILLED OUT FORMS BEFORE DEATH CERT SHOWS UP!!!!!



    Things I need:
  • Container for current month bills before they are paid. R picked up a mail sorter thingie.
  • Container for medical records current year, bills and other
  • Container for paid bills, current year.
  • Container for record keeping, current year
  • Container for medical records specifically for past years.
  • Containers for record-keeping for past years, to hold paid bills and record keeping.
  • Container for tax info papers for current year
  • Container for tax info papers bundled by year for past years.
  • Container for my frustration and sanity.
khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
Yesterday, I


  1. Ended up... at this point I can't recall if I was awake all night, or just woke up hella early. I think the former, because I was up and in WoW when C came up to make sure I was up.
  2. Discussed with C the thought of leaving about an hour early for my doctorville visits and going to the bank Otter had accounts in to close them out, that's also the bank that has our mortgage.
  3. Also took my morning pills despite not having food.
  4. Went to the bank and was seen relatively immediately. However, it took on the order of 45 minutes for the Customer Service banker to research what needed to be done to a) turn a joint account into a solo account, and b) turn a solo account into an estate account. This involved filling out 2 L8 forms, one for each account. (Then why is there room for more things in the space to list items? o.O) We left with the first done, and the second waiting for me to get the estate tax number, leaving only 15 minutes to get to doctorville (which takes about 20).
  5. Got to Doctorville not that late, which also didn't matter much as the first visit was to give blood to be analyzed for my endocrinologist visit on the 22nd, and wasn't time critical. The intake person was sympathetic to my dubious insurance status, and offered to simply bill it as if I was still under the same insurance..
  6. (Right now, I realize that I *was* up all night, because I had been required to fast for the blood work, and so wanted to be awake to make sure I had food right up until I couldn't, so I wouldn't be cranky/whiny at the point where I was needing food.)
  7. Was poked for blood which only hurt a little bit, and only needed one poke. yay! C had, indeed, recalled to have food available, and I got down the elevator to the next floor before I was overcome with FOOD NOW and sat in the hallway to wolf down the cheese and crackers.
  8. Went to allergy office and registered there, completely surprised by them not asking for insurance info (which is usually asked for at every intake) or copay.
  9. Talked to office assistant and accepted condolences; doctor, who gave the shot, and assured me that, while Doctorville did not take *new* patients with medicaid, they did accept it as 'changed circumstance' for established patients, and that he personally would be happy to see me to administer the shots without charge, as long as the shots were paid for by medicaid, which he expected would be.
  10. Talked to office staff to make next appointment, where I was told they already had the next shot in hand, and would be happy to get "samples" from the company to use on me until insurance was settled.
  11. Had lunch at the Doctorville Cafeteria while I waited the requisite time to ensure I wasn't having a negative reaction to the shot. (Yes, every time. It's weird that way.)
  12. Acquired the estate tax number while at lunch, taking advantage of Doctorville's wifi and having the internet in my pocket.
  13. Texted with R while at lunch regarding the fact that we'd run out of oil, again, what the oil company said about when they could get to us, and what we could do in the meantime.
  14. Hit Doctorville's art for Ingress making it the appropriate color again. By this time, I was starting to feel achy, my tummy being more and more gassy, and generally unhappy.
  15. Went back to bank to set up estate account. The person I'd worked with before was busy with a long task, so I was seen to by someone else, who had to research how to do what I was asking to be done, because apparently the change to the joint account wasn't being reflected in the system yet, she didn't realize my name was not the same as my husband's, she couldn't figure out how to convert the solo checking account to an estate account, and took a while to decided it would just be closed and an estate account opened, and then had problems doing that because, as I overheard her on the phone to her guide, the correct buttons weren't showing up when she was trying to create an account. This took over an hour, all told.
  16. Decided not to go to the optician to get the one pair of glasses that have come in, despite the fact that it's the pair where they put the old lenses into a plastic frame to hold me over, and they've been making me crazy, and instead
  17. Came home and went directly to bed, taking one of my higher end pain killers instead of my usual one, it now being pill time, and generally being in large amounts of pain and aggravation. Yes, the shots often make me feel out of sorts, and eventually (like, hours later) uncopeful, but I don't recall deep ache over most of my right side being a symptom before. Also, tummy was massively more unhappy, and I don't think I ate anything.


I ate a little bit of dinner when it happened (chinese delivery, roast pork w/snow peas, carrots, and ?bok choy? without any gravy) and went back to bed. Around midnight I had some toast to take my pills with, and a little later a microwaved potato with a pile of shred cheese, and then went to bed again. I woke up around 8am, to the alarm I've finally programmed on my phone, feeling still a little achy but much improved. I ate some food, had my pills, read a little bit of the latest(?) Liaden book, and am now downstairs as of around 11am to deal with the day.

Also, on the 10th, I called up att customer service and did a one-time payment by phone to make sure it was paid before the due date of the 11th for service cutoff. Interestingly enough, the letter I was sent said "pay by the 11th" and the phone service said "pay by the 10th".

So far today, I


  • Cleaned out the main teapot, and made tea
  • Opened all of the mail from the past two days, sorting into trash, shred, records, and bills.
  • Ignored a phone call, and then listened to the message, it being the paindoc's office saying the forms for DMV about the handicapped parking placards were ready to be picked up.
  • Ate the lovely lunch that R made for me.
  • Called the old trash company, and was put on hold.
  • While on hold, Addressed envelopes to send out the L8 forms from the bank yesterday, stuffed them, sealed and stamped, now waiting for being mailed.
  • While on hold, Sent email to Otter's company's HR person, regarding absence of communication from life insurance company or COBRA management company, asking if she can find out if they've sent me anything, or give me a contact more direct than hitting up the web.
  • After 35 minutes on hold, Talked to Adrian who gave me the final payment number, and told me that since there is a suspension of service due to being unable to pay, he could not actually cancel my account, and I will have to call back AGAIN to cancel the account after the payment is received and posted. *headdesk*
  • Called up oil company to see what arrangements could be made about paying other than having it automagically put on the credit card (which explains a lot about why the credit card is so loaded). Talked to Ruby, the credit manager. Put a reminder on my calendar to call in May about getting on the monthly budget plan, and to talk about getting on the price lock plan.
  • Sent email again to Otter's HR person: We had wanted to find out when we had maxed out our out-of-pocket expenses, and had needlessly continued paying copays, so that we could go have an argument with our healthcare providers regarding that money, and hopefully get it repurposed to cover any uncovered costs. Otter seemed to think he had to go through HR, and I asked if that was true, or if I got to wade through United Healthcare's phone tree to find the info.
  • Tried to look up on the web if the ingredients of Macuhealth interfered with Synthroid. Was only able to find those ingredients in combination with multivitamins, which is usually in combination with minerals, which do interfere with Synthroid, so was unable to conclude anything useful. Meh. (trying to figure out how to apportion out pills across the timeslots.)


Short day, but I'm done, as I'm dozing off again. Wheee. Stupid sleep cycles. I wanted to do stuff this evening.

    To Do Monday 15th (so that the checks mailed earlier this week have a chance to reach them):
  • Find notes re: calling credit union branch manager directly about making an appointment to close/change accounts
  • Call Credit Union, make appointment for showing them stuff. FIND L8 FORM!!!!! fuck. (note: Can be downloaded from http://www.sussex.nj.us/documents/surrogate/itl8.pdf )
  • Find notes re: talking to various companies/entities about adjusting late fees etc wrt extensions.
  • Call PSEG, ask for late fee to be removed? Check what needs to happen to be considered up to date?
  • dammit, there was something else and it just fled my mind. Had to do with other things on those notes.


    To Do SOON!
  • Cannot do until make payment! Waiting on Life Insurance. Call Mortgage, ask for late fee to be removed.
  • Find the mazda car title. (R found the other two)
  • Fill out forms for 401k
  • Call number at town hall about making appt to talk to folks about putting house/bills in my name only. (look for business card. Catbag? DeathCertEnvelope?

    To Do Later
  • Read in detail, and evaluate, life insurance mail from credit union BY JAN 25
  • read in detail, evaluate, car/home insurance offer from AAA
  • JANUARY 16th: Go to SocSec office and deal with death stuff.
  • JANUARY 23rd: Call old trash service AGAIN adn make sure account is CANCELLED.
  • Get onto Otter's computer and look for the file he left me.
  • Deposit checks received (2017-12-22: 1 to date.)
  • Figure out what to do about cpap machines (company emailed back, saying donate or whatever) (in process)
  • Find out wtf to do about the argument with the insurance and the roof
  • DO NOT LOSE PRINTED FILLED OUT FORMS BEFORE DEATH CERT SHOWS UP!!!!!



    Things I need:
  • Container for current month bills before they are paid. R picked up a mail sorter thingie.
  • Container for medical records current year, bills and other
  • Container for paid bills, current year.
  • Container for record keeping, current year
  • Container for medical records specifically for past years.
  • Containers for record-keeping for past years, to hold paid bills and record keeping.
  • Container for tax info papers for current year
  • Container for tax info papers bundled by year for past years.
  • Container for my frustration and sanity.

Today, I:

Jan. 9th, 2018 12:27 pm
khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
Jan 8 didn't happen. Every time I thought I was awake, I fell back asleep.

It's noon ish now. I've been awake since aout 5am, but I'm only now getting to the point of doing things.

Bleah.

    Today, I
  • Called paindoc and talked to some staff member, who said of course he'd be willing to fill out the dmv handicapped parking form. I didn't ask if she was sure, I hadn't even given my name, but I'm not going to argue.
  • Called Doctorville about getting anti-hive shot, appointment for Jan 11
  • Called Doctorville about lack of synthroid. Made appointment for bloodwork, and followup exam.
  • Realized that I was flailing, decided I was hungry, C offered to make me food. Ate it.
  • Printed out handicapped parking application (had R set up the printer, realized that attaching it to the dining room desktop involved crawling under the table, swapped to my laptop and printed it from there)
  • Filled it out which involved realizing that it wants the signature of the registered vehicles' owner, and determining that by the time I hand them that piece of paper, I will be the registered vehicles' owner....
  • Sent R off to drop it off at the doctor's office, which is what the staff person on the phone said to do.
  • Processed all currently unopened mail - some with intake undated, some from 12/23. Sorted into bills to pay, things to process wrt death, things to look at soon, things to laugh at, trash, shred.
  • Pulled out my ledgers from when I was paying bills regularly, created new pages and filled in current data.
  • Wrote out checks and put in envelopes for everything but the mortgage (last day the 15th), the Home Equity Loan (I have weird mail that I need to talk to them about) and the cellphone bill, which they sent me mail that I got today saying they'll shut it off if not paid by the 11th, so I need to talk to them tomorrow about paying that in person somewhere.


---

    To Do TOMORROW:
  • Call old trash company and cancel the account
  • Call Mortgage, ask for late fee to be removed.
  • Call PSEG, ask for late fee to be removed? Check what needs to happen to be considered up to date?
  • Call ATT, tell them check in mail today, or where can I walk in and pay? No online, thank you.
  • Call Credit Union, make appointment for showing them stuff. FIND L8 FORM!!!!! fuck. (note: Can be downloaded from http://www.sussex.nj.us/documents/surrogate/itl8.pdf )


    To Do SOON!
  • Find the mazda car title. (R found the other two)
  • call oil company about account and payments etc.
  • Fill out forms for 401k
  • Call number at town hall about making appt to talk to folks about putting house/bills in my name only. (look for business card. Catbag? DeathCertEnvelope?

    To Do Later
  • Read in detail, and evaluate, life insurance mail from credit union BY JAN 25
  • reqad in deatual, evaluate, car/home insurance offer from AAA
  • JANUARY 16th: Go to SocSec office and deal with death stuff.
  • Get onto Otter's computer and look for the file he left me.
  • Deposit checks received (2017-12-22: 1 to date.)
  • Figure out what to do about cpap machines (company emailed back, saying donate or whatever) (in process)
  • Find out wtf to do about the argument with the insurance and the roof
  • DO NOT LOSE PRINTED FILLED OUT FORMS BEFORE DEATH CERT SHOWS UP!!!!!



    Things I need:
  • Container for current month bills before they are paid. R picked up a mail sorter thingie.
  • Container for medical records current year, bills and other
  • Container for paid bills, current year.
  • Container for record keeping, current year
  • Container for medical records specifically for past years.
  • Containers for record-keeping for past years, to hold paid bills and record keeping.
  • Container for tax info papers for current year
  • Container for tax info papers bundled by year for past years.
  • Container for my frustration and sanity.

Frustration

Jan. 5th, 2018 04:41 pm
khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
    Today, I:
  • Laid in bed for 5 hours, during which I did not sleep overnight. I expect this is due to having woken up around 8pm yesterday after taking migraine meds and letting my body be unhappy.
  • Received a phone call from the doctor's office where I had a 10:30 am appointment to get my anti-hive shot. Apparently, they had not received the medication from the specialty pharmacy, and thus we need to reschedule. They gave me the number of the specialty pharmacy so I could kick them
  • Got dressed and got downstairs about the time I would have if we were going out to the doctor.
  • Called the Surrogate's office for the county Otter died in (which more than one person had said was where I needed to go), to find out where it was, and also to ask about the fact that the DMV website said that, to transfer the title, it needed stuff from the county he lived in. Turns out 'county he lived in' was correct. They gave me the number to call them.
  • Called the Surrogate's Office for the county we live in, got directions, and was told I didn't need to bring any proof of what he had, or any papers like that, they'd figure out everything there.
  • Went out with C to have breakfast at the diner, as it was on the way to the county admin building.
  • Stopped at the eyeglass place for C's glasses, as it was also on the way. His were ready, mine were not. (unsurprising, both.)
  • Got to the County Admin Building and walked from where the car was parked through the long hallway and into the Surrogate's Office section in mostly one fell swoop. A slow swoop, but a swoop nonetheless.
  • Waited for a while, and then talked to the assistant surrogate or something the like, and found that while they were not going to question me about the value of anything, they really did want the checking account numbers and the VIN of the cars. She was willing to type it all up and leave 'currently unfindable' in place of the info we didn't have. I poked my phone onto Kelly Blue Book website to get the values of the cars, which she persistently lowballed. I received "Affidavits of Surviving Spouse", which apparently stands in for Surrogate's Certificates when the estate is worth less than $50,000. Yay, we're poor?
  • Got directions, and went to DMV to retitle the cars, it being almost 30 days since Otter died, and that's what the DMV website tells me is the grace period for this. As it turns out, if I don't produce the titles, I can't just create titles in my own name with their database info and the relevant paperwork. I must *first* ask for copies of the titles as they currently exist, at the cost of $60 per title, and THEN I can ask for the titles to be changed over to my name, at the cost of $60 per title, with the registration carrying over for $4.50. We have three cars.
  • Noped the fuck right out of that and came home.


Partly due to pain, partly due to 'i am not paying nearly 400 dollars to do this', and with the gentle words from the nice police officer who had drawn duty that day in Somerville's DMV office, who told me that as long as I don't do Bad Things (tm) (like commit crimes, or do things that might cause people to try to find the owner, or try to register the cars again in the decedent's name) that I won't be hassled over it.

Oh, and I also called the pharmacy to find out why I hadn't gotten my synthroid refilled along with everything else. Apparently I'm out of refills.

    To Do
    • Jan 8, Early In The Day
    • Call paindoc again re willing to fill out handicapped parking forms.
    • Call allergy doc about resched shot.
    • Call old trash company and cancel the account
    • Call endocrinologist about getting more synthroid

    • Jan 8, anytime
    • PAY BILLS
    • Find the mazda car title. (R found the other two)
    • call oil company about account and payments etc.
    • Fill out forms for 401k

    • Any Wednesday
    • Call number at town hall about making appt to talk to folks about putting house/bills in my name only. (look for business card. Catbag? DeathCertEnvelope?

  • JANUARY 16th: Go to SocSec office and deal with death stuff.
  • Depending on paindoc answer, DL handicapped parking forms from DMV and get him to fill out, if he's ok with it.
  • Get onto Otter's computer and look for the file he left me.
  • Deposit checks received (2017-12-22: 1 to date.)
  • Figure out what to do about cpap machines (company emailed back, saying donate or whatever) (in process)
  • Find out wtf to do about the argument with the insurance and the roof
  • DO NOT LOSE PRINTED FILLED OUT FORMS BEFORE DEATH CERT SHOWS UP!!!!!



Things I need:
Container for current month bills before they are paid.
Container for medical records current year, bills and other
Container for paid bills, current year.
Container for record keeping, current year
Container for medical records specifically for past years.
Containers for record-keeping for past years, to hold paid bills and record keeping.
Container for tax info papers for current year
Container for tax info papers bundled by year for past years.
Container for my frustration and sanity.
khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
Since Chessiecon, I've had no mental energy. I spent 2 days with a migraine that suddenly left (and hasn't even been lurking)... 3 days, it started Sunday at Chessiecon ... And when Otter decided he wanted to go out Ingressing while it was still double AP to push for L11, I was all rah rah let's go. But otherwise... I'm randomly falling asleep. I sit on the edge of the bed and see no reason to bother shifting stuff around to get onto the computer. (I've acquired some collection of crap that ends up living either on the computer chair or the bed, depending on which I'm inhabiting. It involves moving in a slightly bent over position, yes, that one, exactly, that stresses the back out unduly, and is why I haven't been able to do dishes by hand for ages.) And when I do, finally, do so, I read atlas obscura, or cruise imgur, or go back a few years in someone's blog and read forward (ursula vernon's stuff on her own website, currently). Launching wow is too irritating.

I'd be happy to play a game iwht someone. R doesn't really find it interesting, and is sick with con-crud anyway. Otter is having sitting/laying down/existing problems with his back, and the last two days his right had has suddenly started aching progressively, and he's on skype with his gaming buddies, anyway. C is on the computer with his skype/roll20/whatever friends.

This is why I used to go out Friday nights. To go be with people, to find some sparkle or interest. Even when all I'd do is sit in the Adult Club and watch other people, cause I had no one of my own to do anything with, I'd at least turn it into writing practice, decribing the activities and finding new turns of phrase.

I don't have anyone to tease me out of my house. I can't shower (well) on my own, and would be achy enough from doing so that I wouldn't really want to drive. Not that I've driven in years, from said achyness, and not knowing if I'd have a pain flare from trying and be unable to grip the steering wheel, or move adequately to safely drive home. I can't pick up my toybag, which is now a toy storage container, cause the bag had holes in it and I don't have anyone to use it with anymore and don't need to have it available.

I don't want to be sitting here alone with nothing I want to do, but going anywhere else in the house isn't going to change it. And trying to write is just going to spiral down into a chuckhole of shit, like this is doing.

Done now.

Profile

khatru: KItty goes yay (Default)
khatru

February 2021

S M T W T F S
 1234 56
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28      

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 6th, 2025 09:52 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios