Still Alive

Very tired. Moving slowly. Seeing a doctor on Wednesday because I can't eat.

Thanks for dropping by. Love you all.

Update

I haven't forgotten you. My hand is still stiff, I spen Wednesday and Thursday takng care of business and in the car. I'm resting but zonked.

Kate & I are having a good time.

Hi!

Here I am, safely in Sacramento.

Tired. Having trouble with my left hand. But here. At Kate's house. With one of my best friends in all the world. With Meyer lemon trees and a wisteria arbor. With wind chimes. Loved and cared for.

And needing to say thank you to all of you. For hanging in and waiting for me. For good wishes.

And for the incredible generosity that helped my kids pay for this move. There are no words that express my gratitude enough.

So these few will have to do. Thank you! There is no treasure greater than freinds. And I am a rich woman.

Moving Day

Saturday is moving day! MG will be moving from the assisted care facility in Anchorage to her dear friend's house in Sacramento, CA. She'll be staying there for awhile, until she's up and around enough, at which point the plan is for her to stay with my Grandma and my Great Aunt in Stockton. MG loves Sacramento and Stockton, except for the heat and the fact that they're not as pretty as Juneau (few places are, to be fair).

She'll have a laptop (another gift from Richard!) in Sac, so she'll be able to post more then. I'm thinking you may not hear from her until she's been settled a few days, though. At this point, she's still not sleeping much, only an hour or two a night, and so the work she has to do during the daytime is wearing her out. Hopefully that will be figured out soon. Sigh.

We're all looking forward to the end of this phase of recovery, looking forward to the next phase, which will of course have its own challenges to be met. One day at a time, as they say.

Thanks again to everyone for your devoted and continued support. It has meant a lot to me, and to Maya's Granny, and to Richard as well, even though he's not much involved in the bloggy world.

~J

Update

Hi All,

J here. Maya's Granny asked me to tell you that she's fine, but that she has been crazy busy with this and that, physical therapy and occupational therapy and dr. appts. and sleep studies and so on...so she hasn't had a chance to post, but she will hopefully be able to get to the computer soon. :)

Love,

~J

Errata

Masks:
You probably know that I use a CPAP machine when I sleep at night. And because of the long summer days in Alaska and the fact that my apartment had no curtains, I also use one of those Lone Ranger style sleep masks. It occurs to me that I look like the insect god when I sleep.

Amenities:
If you know anyone staying for a while in a hospital or extended care facility, among the things that will make life good for them, are:
books
CDs
their favorite herb tea
a real cup to drink it in
lemon drops or other hard candies to combat dry mouth
hand lotion
mustard and salt to "fix" the food
a small amount of fresh ground coffee to cover other smells
dried fruits
nuts
crackers

For Carol, and others wanting to get in touch with MG

Hi All,

Mom asked me to post instructions on how to get in touch with her at the Extended Care center for the next two weeks...her friend Carol left a comment asking how to get in touch.

You can email her using this page.

Select Providence Extended Care Center from the drop down menu, and she's in under the name Lilith Ward. She can't write back to you from this email address, but she will receive your message on a printout.

The phone really tires her out, so I'm not going to put her phone number here for folks to use. She can add that if I'm wrong. :)

Upnight Part 2

So, the cna who left me to "fall asleep".

After I had been up for a while and my legs had stopped twitching, I rang to be put back to bed. (And got some more sleep.) The cna and the nurse both came in. And, I said:

"What I want is to go back to bed, but I'm afraid to. If my RLS returns and I need to get up, I'm afraid that you will leave me in bed "to fall asleep" for 1 1/2 hours again, and I'll have to go through that torment again."

The nurse not only gave the cna what for, she reported it to the nursing coordinator.

We got two doses of Perkocet last night. However, I may be having a reaction with some other drug I'm taking, because they didn't last four hours each. The first lasted 3 and the second 2. I need the doc to amend the order again, to allow for a third dose (of 1/4 of a tablet -- it's not a lot) during the night if I need it. I wonder how long that will take. The nurse and I are hoping for today but I'm not counting on it.

Updatenight

So, here we are a few days later. The second night, same problems. About 12:30 I realize that my legs are doing Riverdance up the bed frame. Duuhh!! Restless legs. Had them for years, but I've been able to control them for the last three. One quarter Perkocet at bed time, another every four hours. But there is no way to get this cure now, because the nurse can't give me any drugs without doctor's instruction and there is no doctor available after 11:30. But, now I know what the problem is and can relax. Immediately that I pay attention to my legs, I begin to feel that the need to pee is not a need to pee, but a need to twitch! & then at 4:00 the attack ends, & I have the cna put me to bed. Just as I've drifted off, there is a lab tech to try for blood! This dialog is literally what I said.

"No!"

"It's doctor's orders."

"Young woman, has no one ever told you that to wake up a woman with multiple sleeping disorders just as she has finally fallen asleep two nights in a row is a capital crime? Run for your life!"

Which she did.

Two hours of sleep.

The next night, the nurse has told the doctor what the problem/solution is & at 9:30 brings me the Perkocet. I sleep for 3 hours & request the 2nd dose. Except it hasn't been ordered & it's past 11:30.

Three hours of sleep.

Yesterday morning the nurse tells the dr. the problem & requests orders for the second dose. 9:30, get my dose, sleep 3 hours & the nurse goes for the second dose, only to discover -- the doctor hasn't amended the orders. & it's now after 11:30*
So I decide to get up & sit out the attack. I signal the cna, she tells me she 2 people to deal with and then will help me up. 1 1/2 hous later & I'm twitching out of my mind, still in bed. My roommate & I both start to ring. The cna comes in & tells me she had left me on purpose! Knowing I'd fall asleep!

I dealt with that & will tell you later, but I have to stop & let my arm rest.

* I have now added a new sleeping disorder to RLS & apnea. Dr. Agnew's bedtime.

Night From Hell

Shall I start by telling you I survived? Yes, we will take the mystery out of the entire thing.

Friday, Saturday, & Sunday nights were rough because I kept waking to pee and not getting as much sleep as I needed. Falling asleep during the day. Low energy.

So, Monday the doctor gave me a new sleeping pill. I took it at 9:30. By 11, I had been up to the bathroom 5 times. Never much, but the need was there. By 3:30 I was in despair and asked for (yes, asked for) a diaper. Except that my mother trained me too well -- I can't do that. At 4:30 I had stopped needing to go to the bathroom, so knowing that my insurance only pays for me to be here if I go to physical and occupational therapy, I figured I would sleep till 10:30. Got the nurse to help me to bed, and discovered that the call light had fallen between the bed and the frame. Couldn't call the nurse to rescue it because. . .

Finally got it fished out, was starting to fall asleep, figuring now on maybe four hours of sleep, and in comes the woman from the lab to take my blood. When she told me why she was there and refused to leave, my hands under the covers turned to claws. Twice she stuck me, and twice the other person she got stuck me and all four times hurt and none, count them 0, got any blood.

By now it is 7:15 and the joint is wide awake and I know I'm not getting any sleep. So, up I get. And discover that the person who ordered this blood letting was the same person who ordered the sleeping pill. I have a little hit list. One doctor and two bad clumsy lab techs.

Oddly enough, I've had a great day. Go figure.

I Actually Saw These At The Time

Last year, Chancy at Driftwood Inspiration posted this lovely story about Exotic Gardening which mentioned a BBC broadcast I had seen when it was first aired in 1957 about the Swiss spaghetti harvest.


When I was in Philadelphia, the year Maya was born, the local paper ran an ad for The Taco Liberty Bell claiming the federal government, in an attempt to reduce the national debt, had sold the Liberty Bell to Taco Bell.

The full text of the ad read as follows:

Taco Bell Buys The Liberty Bell
In an effort to help the national debt, Taco Bell is pleased to announce that we have agreed to purchase the Liberty Bell, one of our country's most historic treasures. It will now be called the "Taco Liberty Bell" and will still be accessible to the American public for viewing. While some may find this controversial, we hope our move will prompt other corporations to take similar action to do their part to reduce the country's debt.

In a related release, the company explained that people and corporations had been adopting highways for years, and that Taco Bell was simply "going one step further by purchasing one of the country's greatest historic treasures."

I got this ready for April Fool months ago. This computer doesn't show the pictures, so I can only hope.