And then.... it's more complicated

 Everything's fine, nothing has gone wrong, but just got off the phone with the doctor office about the sigmoidoscopy. As far as prep goes, I prefer the other one. This is going to keep me up all night. Literally.

They wanted it done ASAP which means first schedule opening is Monday. This coming Monday... with a check in time of 8:20 AM. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get this done properly.  Seriously.

Prep involves two doses of 'Mira Lax' the day before and then sometime 6 hours before I have to check in I have to do two enemas. That puts it at 2 am. I just now noticed there are two different sets of prep instructions and have no idea if I'm supposed to do both or one only or what. Of course they called around 4:30 so being after 5 now, the office is closed. I haven't gotten any notice from the pharmacy that I told the nurse to send the prep request to. My innards are now tied up in knots with anxiety about this and realize I should have asked for another week rather than immediately. Too late now because it's now $100 cancellation fee to postpone it.

Standard no eating after 2pm the day before and clear liquids only which is going to be putting me in a bad mood already. They want you to eat a 'good breakfast and lunch' before 2. My inclination is eat lightly so there isn't as much stuff to expel. I think that's where I got into trouble the first time but I'm not double sick from medications at least. Oh dang, forgot to ask about taking my blood thinners which was mentioned in the instructions. I think I need to hold off on those for the evening and morning dose if I remember correctly. Too late to call or message now since it's Friday and everyone's gone home. So stupid, I really should have just postponed it for a week.

I am so anxious about this, I just messaged my GI office and hope they get it before Monday. 

More as this develops. 

A little bit better, as always

 Seems to come in cycles apparently but still can't be far from a bathroom for more than an hour or two. Feeling better today than I did three days ago luckily and am still hoping for a not so invasive fix to this situation.

My current knitting project for photo. Can't tell but there's a third color at the top and will soon transition to the next color and a shift in the pattern. There's enough yarn of each color left over for making a similar style scarf. Hoping to get that done for a Christmas present for someone.

Jon had his regular doctor appointment Tuesday and everything went well. Doctor said he looked a bit dehydrated and suggested getting more electrolytes like Powerade. He drinks a lot of water but if you don't have enough potassium or electrolytes it won't absorb. She made sure he was taking 'real' Tylenol, told him she needed a fasting blood draw in the near future but other than that everything looked good. We both had to drop by at the lab for bloodwork and then off to home. We made a quick stop at the store and luckily Powerade was on sale for less than a dollar a bottle, yay! I'm still waiting for my GI doctor to call about the next step for me. Bleh. Powerade seems to be helping I think since I'm only taking a few swigs every hour or so and not guzzling it down. I noticed on my last bloodwork Potassium was dipping low again hence why I am also drinking the powerade.

 Jon's laptop has been getting less and less functional so I finally asked Amber if Wellman knew how to work on computers, turns out, he does. Shorthand told Wellman what was happening and he said if it's fixable he can do it. They came by on Wednesday and picked it up, Jon telling him in his own words what was happening and thanked them profusely. Didn't take very long for that to get looked at, about the amount of time for them to get home and boot it up. Turns out Jon's is an older laptop with a mechanical hard drive and it was getting full so it slows down. A solid state drive (SSD) of the same size works 500x faster, downside it runs about $200.  SIGH. If we had decided to do this at the beginning of the month when we had the extra money it would be a slam dunk. I told Wellman that and given our budget would have to wait for another two months to save up money. He answered back that he'll take care of it, call it an early Christmas present and it would be 'a fun project' for him to work on. 

So hoping in the next week Jon will have his computer back and zooming along faster than he's ever done on his own. He paid his storage using my computer and was shocked at how fast it worked. He kept saying 'you don't know how different this is'. I told him, I most certainly do know and remember what it was like to have a snail pace computer that wasn't on dial up and then get one that was 100 times faster. I was showing him how to access the browser and other things on my computer and when he got a little impatient I told him, I'm showing you where things are in case you have to use my computer and I'm not here. Not like he's going to remember but it's a start.

We don't have the extra money but we still have plenty of food in the freezer and fridge so some of the 'bank' money isn't as needed. We went to Costco for Jon's portion of the 'monthly' items. He spent $140 but got two packs of TP (because we're both extra full of it lately) and coke flats were on sale for $15 (yay!) so he got two of those. I'll get another two on Sunday or Monday when I get food money.

We went to our favorite Mexican place for lunch and went dutch because it's less of an individual strain on money. I had figured out roughly how much it would cost for each of us and it was affordable. Wasn't paying attention but asked for a receipt (which seemed to be only the card receipt) and didn't look at it until we got home. My meal was $17 and change...that's about $4 more than I expected... the meal was only about $12 and the drinks maybe 3 and with tax it still shouldn't be almost 18. Jon looked at his and she hadn't charged him for a soda. Aha.... so for whatever reason she charged me for two sodas instead of one. The whole point of going dutch is a lower cost maybe she mistakenly charged me twice and then just made up for it on his. But still. Felt kind of cheated out on that.  I had two beef tacos, rice and beans and he had fish taco combo. All delicious as always not too much food, just filling enough. They had a 70's era Mexican drama on the tv apparently (since FIFA is over now), I could barely hear what they were saying (which seems to be more frequent with me lately not hearing) but it was really hilarious being able to tell when it was filmed and made low budget shows in America at the same era look high quality. All I could tell was it had to do with a hacienda some small adobe town and 'mob boss' (can't remember the Spanish name for it) type situation, girls getting pushed around and absolutely cheap stunt fist fights. 

So digressions aside, it's hot as summer usually is, garden is languishing with only the greek oregano still growing. Haven't been able to get out and water in a few days but nothing is growing so.... it'll get watered when I get supplies again. I never did get around to getting the hose or fertilizer or soil for the garden. Oh well, but will make an effort to at least get the fertilizer and soil this time.

More updates on that when it happens as usual. Keep cool where you need to and dry and warm in other places.  

 

 

Getting so tired of this situation.

 I wasn't like this six years ago, I wasn't even like this three years ago. Our apartment is now mostly cleared of smoke from oil that got too hot while I was having to break for the bathroom suddenly.

 (Another shot of Rocky guarding my ipad because there's no other pictures worth posting)

We decided to have crispy chicken sandwiches for lunch and I decided to try and make 'cottage' fries again (and again failed on the potatoes). In past years doing this I was able to get through the entire cooking process, prep and eating without having to run to the bathroom at all. So just after I finished the potatoes and then dropped in the first piece of chicken, my bowels decided it was an emergency. I had just turned the heat up on the burner too and failed to turn it off when I had to run to the bathroom.

So I'm stuck in the bathroom not knowing what was going on in the kitchen, 15 minutes later I get done and the place is full of smoke. Jon had asked if he needed to turn something off, but failed to tell me it was a near fire situation. 91 degrees outside and we have to open up everything and turn the AC off. It was bad and I am wondering why Jon wasn't coughing up a lung and opening up the windows and door. So I look at the pot of oil and all the debris from the first piece and the fries has turned the oil black. I turn down the oil and finished cooking the chicken, which was tasty but I was not happy. 

He now has the kitchen cleaned up and it still smells like burnt oil and will continue to smell like that until we open up after sunset. I looked at the test results and, as I suspected, it came back negative for 'C-diff' (not 'fetus') which is a marker for infection. So it's not infection, I'm not responding to the treatment and, in fact, seems like I am getting worse. It cycles through but feels like the 'bad' sessions of 'emergency' runs is going on longer and worse. Or seems like it.

I hope something is discovered to take care of this and not drastic measures like colostomy.  Will probably get a call from the doctor tomorrow or Tuesday about the next steps involving the second colonoscopy. Going to be an absolute mess from now until December and maybe beyond.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, in the digestive end of the universe

 Got the call back from GI doctor office, and the calprotectin is still very high which it shouldn't be with my treatment schedule. So. The current plan is get another stool sample to check for infection of some sort (it sounded like she said 'fetus' but I know that's not right). Then if there's no sign of infection then, they want to take a few biopsies of the inflamed areas doing a different type of colonoscopy. It's called a 'flexible sigmoidoscopy'. Sounds like it's named after someone but it's actually just the lower third of my colon called the 'sigmoid' or something like that. 

So anyway, need to go pick up the test kit first and then do that before the end of the week, bowel prep after that for the scoping is same day so no long prep and ugly nasty tasting prep solution.  It does involve other prep which is.... almost as bad but hey, if they can figure out what the heck is going on and get a fix for it I'll do it. Not going to like it... gonna hate it, but sometimes gotta do bad stuff to get better right?

Rocky guarding my ipad before I got into the shower.

Other than that, it's hot outside. 90 today but lower humidity thankfully, only got a brief waft of wildfire smoke the other day from a fire that's north east of us (I think that's where it is). I got out and cleared the last of the sad veggies from the raised bed instead of trying to water. So tired of hauling out that hose and getting all dirt. I'm looking at retractable reel hoses and frankly, not much out there and don't trust them. Those slinky style hoses are not very heavy duty and have been known to split after the warranty runs out. Standard hose reels either are huge cumbersome things or you have to attach them to a wall. I can't do either. There was one hose stand that you push into the ground but then I would need an extra ten feet of hose to connect it to the hose bib. It would also be out in the weather and also be used by the other two 'gardeners' which would increase use and possible damage. Then there's the cost, which is always a factor. Sigh.  

Anyway,  that's the update for now, heart is good bowels not so much but still working on it. 

Oh! Cooking. Bought some more bacon so we had BLT's for breakfast and I've been saving the bacon grease in a jar in the fridge for whatever frying I might want to do. I had tried to do pulled pork in the crock pot last night but for whatever reason it didn't work out (thought cooking it on high for 4 hours would work, I was wrong and needed more time but was still tasty and cooked through).  So semi-bbq flavored pork meat was in the fridge. I then got a hankering for a Ronto Wrap from Galaxy's Edge. Went down the check list of ingredients:

 

White 'peppercorn' sauce... easy peasy to make, still have all the ingredients. Done and done last night.

Pita bread... x-large flour tortilla will do folded in half

Sausage... Kirkland hot dog as a substitute

Pork 'loin' slices... pork of some sort sliced, seasoned and reheated in microwave.

'Tangy slaw'... bought shredded cole slaw cabbage the other day for just such a situation 

 

Hot dogs... that'll do, extra large flour tortillas folded in half subbing in for a pita bread, check... bought the shredded/coleslaw cabbage mix the other day so got that.... Huzzah! So for lunch I whipped that up. Fried the kirkland hot dog (actually pretty dang good as a substitute for the sausage), sliced up a few pieces of the pork and heated that up in the microwave.... it was spectacular! Gonna be a do again for dinner tonight. Yeah..that was dang tasty.

I augmented the sauce by adding in a little extra mayo and about two tablespoons of sour cream and extra fresh ground pepper. Tangy, sweet, spicy and perfect. Base recipe for a reminder is 'Bob Gibson's White Sauce' only makes about a half cup or so.

All done now, it is now 95 outside, a comfy 80 inside and I think I'll go do some knitting while Jon takes a nap. 

 

 

 

 

 

Another interesting day-heart is A-ok

I had my CT angiogram today which was an adventure to say the least. Nothing horrific, nothing dramatic, just involved. Medical update: Heart is A-ok.

Picture of one of the garden roses I like to smell when they're in bloom. That is all.

Anyway, if you've had a CT scan it's noisy but not as much as an MRI but if you have one done with contrast, that gets a bit involved and briefly uncomfortable. 

So with it being a scan of my heart they needed to get my resting heart rate at or below 70 to get a good picture of it. So I did a double dose of my beta blocker in the morning which slows the heart down, and then when I got there they hooked me up to a portable ekg and even as I was sitting there my heart 'hiccuped' a few times in real time. I had noticed feeling it do that a few times the night before which is unusual because it's been 'quiet' for the past few months. 

So because they had the IV in my elbow area I couldn't bend my arm so had me lay down, got the ekg leads on me then had to get both arms over my head and my left arm as straight as possible. Talk about trying to relax and yet in an uncomfortable position. As insurance they gave me an IV form of the beta blocker just before the scan and a nitroglycerine tab under my tongue. That was interesting and something new for me.  My only knowledge of that is for people having a heart attack. Oh when the nitro tab finally dissolved it was slightly sweet then it was kind of burning under my tongue. Odd sensation. The scan went fine, just 'hold your breath' then 'breath normally' in a mechanical computer voice was difficult to hear the first couple of times. Also hard to hold your breath with your arms over your head.

After all was said and done, I was only vaguely light headed and had to walk a bit slower but that was all. Had me go to an office space (according to the nurse they were borrowing it so I could change and the cardiologist on the floor could give me the results). Got changed out of the gown and then the doctor said everything looks good. No clots, no damage or signs of heart disease so I'm good to go.  That was all. Which is what I suspected all along and told him that all of this was because my potassium dropped so low it triggered the afib. He agreed that could very well be the cause then went to tell the nurse to get the iv shunt out and send me on my way. Only instructions were to stay hydrated to flush the contrast out my kidneys. No problem there.

That was it.  Hit the bathroom on the way out of the building then headed to our second favorite (least favorite??) In-n-Out because we were both starving. Least favorite because it's right next to the freeway, has little to no parking that is convenient and way too noisy outside. I have decided that in a pinch, it's a good burger but the fries still suck. They are always more dehydrated potato sticks than good fries. If I have to go back to that medical building we'll drive a bit further to somewhere else for food. Despite having burger and fries we were both still hungry...oddly enough for the same thing. We wanted rolled tacos. Stopped out one of our neighborhood taco places and got an order of 5 rolled tacos on the way home. 

So, water being consumed along with sea salt caramels from Costco and can relax the rest of the day because it is 90 something outside.  Oh also, with all the extra money we got in, I was able to pay all my bills this month without asking for help. YAY! May not be so lucky next month but am hoping with what little I have left over it will be enough. 

That's it, that's all she wrote and all that's fit to print for now. 

So it's been interesting-Rocky escaped

Infusion went fine on Monday, Tuesday was more shopping and food, Wednesday...well that's a different story.

Visit with GI doctor went well, I never got a chance to ask him about the connection of gut issues and the leg cramps. He asked how things were going regarding symptoms and I told him  honestly, I don't think it's working. Diarrhea is still there and actually got worse the last week or so. He was disappointed in that and he talked about maybe stepping up the frequency of the infusions but  has to time it after surgery or maybe before. He ordered another poop test kit to see how the calprotectin was doing and mentioned another drug but had to research whether insurance covered it or not. There is another one but he is very reluctant to use that one with my history of cancer.  He then said that if the number from the test was still high he'd order steroids again for short term relief. Asked if I had any other questions (and of course I always forget the ones I wanted to ask), thanked me for being a trooper about all this and ushered me out. He's a great doctor but most of the time I'm listening more than asking questions so information is mostly one way and that's all on me. Oh and he kept calling what I have colitis not Crohn's but in my official list of medical issues it's 'HCC Crohn's' which is Crohn's without complications. Oh well. Whatever, the two are different in the way they attack the gastric system so might ask him what the definining is for what I have.

 

Now then... since it was very warm we had the AC on and Rocky was inside all day until around 7:30 last night when he started to get antsy about going out.  Got his new tag on the harness and all that, took him out as usual. Well... the little bugger found a divot under the back fence that likely was dug by other feral cats or wild animals. It was luckily the parking lot of  another complex that I can see from my window. Phoop...and he was under the fence and on the other side before I could move fast enough. DANGIT! Called Jon and said come downstairs need to go find Rocky. Explained what happened and off we went.

Drove around to the next street and parked first spot I could find that was close to the complex where he disappeared. Now... me being his owner for the past 8 years I know how he thinks for the most part. He was going to be in that parking lot and look for a way back out. We got out and walked down the cul de sac where there were some kids hanging out (the same court area that we hear them yelling and stuff) told them what happened, parents came out and we explained again what Rocky looked like and where he had gone. Me knowing full well this was just a precaution and he was still in the other parking lot, made for the street again and the next door complex.

Which happened to be owned by the same person because our complex is Sundance Terrace and this complex (also 55+) is Persimmon Terrace. It is also code gated.  DANGIT. Luckily a lady came out of her apartment beause she was bbqing on the patio and asked if she could help, explained again what happened where we lived etc, and she let us in to go patrol the parking lot adjoining ours.

Okay.... we're looking and a voice from an upstairs apartment..much like our situation and one that I can see from my window, asked if we were looking for a cat. Much explaining, her saying she saw him under a car with a cover, we're looking and I'm thinking, no he's not under there he's moved on... so me seeing possible openings and other escape areas feared the worst but instinct told me no. He would follow the fence line. So the upstairs lady kept saying 'I have some treats' and then exclaimed pointing at the side fence 'there he is!'. Sure enough Rocky walking gingerly along the fence, Jon walked over and scooped him up with no complaints from Rocky. 

I thanked the lady and then took Rocky from Jon and we thanked her again and made our way to the front gate. Rocky was struggling so I put him down but hooked up his leash. He immediately tried to eye the very solid and very straight wood fence like he was going to try and jump it. He wanted to go HOME. I had to pick him up again and cradle him like I do sometimes and he looked up at me, like he does and we finally got to the car. I am thankful that I desensitized him to the car and he doesn't freak out. He wanted to get up in the front seat area but had to push him back because Jon would not have him in the front. Safety issue as well. I didn't have enough time for Jon to grab the carrier for him, time was critical to get to where he was. Got home carried him to the stairs then put him down and of course, he wanted to run right up the stairs but I still had him by the leash. He didn't like that, but oh well.  After I got his harness off he went and hid under the bed. Go figure. 

He only scratched my little finger with his back claws on the first struggle so I could tell he was traumatized. He thought he could just slip under the fence and then mom would follow right? Yeah, no. He realized his mistake after the novelty wore off in about ten seconds. I am thankful that I made the time to get a new tag for him with the new number. My only concern for him was him encountering wild animals (skunk/possum) or another cat and getting injured. I told everyone we encountered that if he sees an open door he will bolt for it thinking it's his home. He's friendly but will be skittish in a situation like that he is not familiar with. 

So I'm not sure if he's going to want to bolt for the fence again or avoid it. No matter what, he's staying inside for a few days and then will be out on leash only. Need to get a new retractable leash for him anyway.

So that was our excitement yesterday. I got the medical refunds in the bank finally, was kind of worried about that because they were pending then they disappeared and took another extra day for them to show up in my account. I was just having a minor anxiety issue about that but all is good now. Had to go to Costco to resupply on toilet paper (yeah going through a lot), got some pastries, found a deal on zip lock bags while we were there and then had lunch at the food court. Feeling flush with money we opted for the turkey provolone sandwich and a soda instead of our usual dog and a slice cheap lunch. It was good, not good enough for a do again (in my mind) but it was good.

And there we have the last three days of our whirling, swirling retired life. Feline Furball is still a resident and part of our little nucleus family. Sleeping peacefully on my side of the bed currently.

 

 

And more unexpected money, sort of

 

The weather is now warming up to standard summer. 90 today and we were out at my infusion appointment luckily. In air conditioned, comfy cozy treatment center. When we got outside on the other hand... not so comfy cozy but we dealt with it.

Anywho

I had to get gas so we head out around noon because Jon also needed to pick up a prescription. Well when we got to the pharmacy, four people deep in line and at least one person at the window was less than insightful and did not look like they were going to finish sooner rather than later. The lady in orange ahead of us seemed to be having a conversation with herself as she pulled out two empty pill bottles from one of her bags.... I told Jon, we'll come back after the appointment and he agreed. Getting gas was much smoother and we got to the appointment ten minutes ahead of schedule yippee!

In the waiting room I did a row of knitting on some socks then decided to pull out my phone for some odd reason to check on the world. I saw a notification that I had a refund from Sharp. Say what? Oh right! The assistance I had been approved for would refund any payments I had made. Zippideedoodaah for me! The one I saw was for 64.56 and thought well boy howdy that covers gas today. I showed Jon but somehow had scrolled up and when I looked at it, it said it was 85. I continued to scroll and realized it was 4 payments of $85 and the $64.56. That was pretty much all the payments  I made on the hospital bill plus one other. 

Some karma wheel turned somewhere for me for sure. That's over $400 back in my account in the next few days.  It's such a relief really, despite having the other extra money (which I was planning on letting Jon use some since it's his money). Now it really is extra money but will still be careful to spend thriftily as possible. Jon, poor guy and his not so nimble fingers and thinking... went to buy a full run of a particular comic on ebay and instead of hitting 'pay over time' he hit 'pay now'. So he blew $200 right off instead of the $12 a month he was planning, no way of stopping the transaction since it's ebay from what he could tell. Oh well. Feel badly for him and as I said, will try and make it up for him.  

I found a 'refurbished/renewed' Apple pencil for my ipad on Amazon that looks identical to the one I have and says it's compatible with my pad for only $70. that has yet to go through my account so am holding that amount out in my mental accounting. Am I going to get some yarn with this money? Maaaayyybeeee. Am I going to spend some of it on a nice meal out for us? It's possibull, it's possibull. New clothes and shoes? Yes!

I found a skein of yarn at the same maker that I'm doing the shawl from. It's called Opal and of course that's my birthstone so I put it in my cart. Still thinking about it though since it's a washable merino wool (really really soft) and mulberry silk (silky type fiber processed from the mulberry tree). I thought at first I could make socks but it's so soft and not really sturdy it wouldn't really do well for socks. Maybe fingerless glove/mitten, it's $30 plus shipping so I'm still thinking about it. I have already bagged up a lot of yarn that I am never going to use and will be taking them down to goodwill since I can't find a charity group to contact.

Next on the list is garden supplies. Most definitely need fertilizer and soil, have been trying to figure out how to make a more raised bed for the in ground areas. Without costing an arm and a leg. Going to be a toss up between garden supplies and yarn. 

So many choices, so far some money. More news after I see GI doctor Keller on Wednesday.