Oct 24: Trip over something on my way to the bathroom, end up going to the ER despite the fact that I had not struck my head or otherwise injured myself. However, at the ER they determine that I have a collection of problems which require hospitalization. Among these include a kidney issue which requires catheterization, severe edema which is why my legs have been semi-functional. On Oct 30 they release me to a rehab center, which retains custody until Nov 21, when they decide I’m okay to return home.
Nov 21: I’m home. Of course, because of the Thanksgiving holiday I don’t get any visits from therapy or home health services until the next week. So I’m on my own to learn how to adjust to life with a walker.
Dec 5: I go to the clinic to have fluid drained from my belly (see previous report of edema). However, it turns out that my kidneys wouldn’t like this, so it’s back to the hospital, where they start flushing my system until it’s safe to drain my belly. They take out eight liters of fluid, which results in a noticeable reduction in the roundness in my belly. They finally decide it’s safe to send me home on the 14th.
Home again, and now I’m been in touch with home health services and therapy. Next week I’ll be seeing a nurse urologist, where my catheter may (or may not) be removed. I’m looking forward to that, even though I suspect that since I’m still going to be on diuretics I’ll be making a lot of trips to the bathroom.
I’m almost afraid to think about how else my life is going to be changing.
I have a local friend who I call every day with updates on my progress (which also serves as a wellness check). She had house-sat for me while I was at the hospital/rehab in November and now has custody of my cat, since I’m currently not capable of cleaning a litter box.
My family is in Chicago, and I will be doing a video call with my sister and niece on Christmas.
I had a follow-up video visit with a nurse practitioner today and we discussed my medication and other treatment changes. I’ve got visits scheduled tomorrow with a physical therapist and someone from home health services to set up future visits.
My biggest challenge at the moment is actually being able to go up and down my front steps. My legs still can’t handle lifting and lowering my weight.
My elderly father lives in Colorado, which is having weather (windstorm). I pit:
the weird way the utility is assessing and responding to risk, and communicating about it, which seems to be a combination of good sense and wild fear-based overreaction due to the December fires they had a few years ago,
and
the incredible anxiety-based drama this has created for my dad, whom you would think had never encountered a power outage before,
and
just… the culture, I guess. I’d love a society that actually worked together to solve problems instead of expecting each individual to tough it out separately or purchase their way out of difficulty. It makes me tired.
I let one of my credit cards (the plain ordinary one that I always use with Amazon) run a couple of weeks overdue. Or so I thought. Turns out, due to my absent-mindednness, that it was already a month overdue before that!
I paid the balance immediately and noted that on their website, but called their support line anyway to make sure they knew I had paid it. Oddly, they couldn’t confirm whether or not the card was blocked as it was apparently just going through the process, and there was nothing they could do to change the Almighty System. Which concerned me because I had just ordered a bunch of stuff from Amazon.
I asked to talk to a supervisor (yeah, I know, Male Karen) and that didn’t get me any further except for one thing. The supervisor had a very sexy voice that reminded me of an old girlfriend. I guess that alone was worthwhile!
I’m gonna rant about the imperfect Camry, even if one of youse is tired of hearing about it.
The old Sebring had a big LED screen that displayed the outside temperature and and also the compass direction. The Camry displays that, too, and a lot more. So much more, in fact, that much of it is hidden in such tiny displays within the instrument cluster that you need a gigantic magnifying glass to see it! (Except for the compass display, which is a sort of newfangled translucent little square in the rear-view mirror that I can see just fine.)
I am an Old Fart with cataracts. In all the times I’ve driven the Camry, I’ve had no idea what the outside temperature was. It was telling me, but I couldn’t see it without a fucking microscope!
I know this is supposed to be a very reliable car, and I trust that it will be. But the Japs who designed it apparently have superhuman vision and assume that everyone else does, too. Well, they don’t.
I used to get too hot if I wore socks in bed, but things have changed this winter, and now I’m too cold to sleep. I found some super soft Bluey boot socks that are just perfect. Cozy, warm, and soft.
I used to handle immigration at work acting as the liaison between our attorney and the company for H-1B employees. I gave that job up a few years ago when I moved from one area of HR to another. The two individuals who took over immigration are both leaving the company. We’ve hired a new guy, but he won’t be starting until after our current immigration “experts” are no longer with the company.
So far, so good. Since I’m the only other person in HR who has any immigration experience, I’ve been tapped to consult with our attorney and current employees to get an understanding of how things are done now, so I can show the new guy the ropes. I’ve been assured immigration isn’t coming back to me, but personnel changes necessitate me doing this to ensure a smooth transition.
My VP emailed me this afternoon about a situation. Now I’m in the middle of a panicking foreign employee and five VPs who all want to know what the hell is going on. They were told all the necessary information was sent to our attorney, but there have been no updates about what the attorney did with it. In my experience, foreign workers can get quite antsy, especially when Trump is in office, so I don’t blame them for being worried. But damn, I wish the people in HR who were responsible for this had done their jobs.
In my poking around I also discovered nobody has updated this employee’s I-9. The I-9 is required whenever you hire a person and it’s supposed to establish their identity and that they’re authorized to work in the United States. When we hired our employee, he was authorized and that’s reflected on the I-9, but the H-1B we have in our system is expired. You just need to complete supplement B of the I-9 to update their authorization documentation. Now I’m wondering how many of our foreign workers need to have their I-9s updated.
On top of it all, I’m supposed to go on vacation soon.
For some reason, I remember the amount of stuff people sent to the school, to the point that a representative had to kindly ask people to stop. A now-defunct local craft store even tried to organize something on Facebook…”We can make beaded snowflakes! They can hang them up in the gym and the children can come back to snowflakes!”
Inasmuch as Japanese cars in general – and Toyotas in particular – are renowned for their build quality, it should be obvious that I’m not trying to be offensive. And anyway, it’s just a contraction of “Japanese”, unlike far worst racist slurs going around for various ethnicities that have offensive connotations. Also, I love sushi!
The weather here has been just crazy after weeks of snowfall. It was nearly 15°C today (almost 60°F) and raining. It’s supposed to get rapidly colder later today, which will undoubtedly create treacherous ice everywhere. And then it’s gonna snow again. And then get unseasonably warm again.
There will undoubtedly be thousands of accidents due to morons who don’t know how to drive in these conditions. Accidents that I have to pay for because that’s just how the insurance business works. The fact that I’ve never been involved in any is of only incidental interest to my insurer. I am their cash cow – the gift that keeps on giving.
