Non panic update

 The weather is still fiendishly hot in the high 90's today, had to go across town for an appointment then quick stop at the store and home again. Today's visit was... less than exciting though another impressive show of how far technology has come.

Can't see them well but there are at least three crows in that tree that tried to drop branches on Rocky and myself when we were walking on the lawn. 

 A bit of backtracking though, both Jon and I slept in late, did not sleep well for myself so didn't wake up until around 9 after fits and starts and one foot cramping. Need to figure out what's triggering that for sure, was fine for a few weeks then it suddenly came on again. Anyway, woke up this morning and saw an email from something called ResMed Night Owl something and since I was still groggy and thinking it was spam I marked it as such then blocked the sender as well. I got some other email from Cricket that was spam so thought I was getting something else I didn't sign up for. 

So today was the Home Sleep Apnea Test consult to pick up the 'equipment' I would need in the Pulmonary department. Turns out, the nurse who saw me, had sent me that email for the app to download for the sleep test. DOH! She said don't worry about it, not the first or last time and she printed up the information and code I would need to activate the app. 

 

So yeah... an app and a tiny finger sensor I wear when I go to bed. The ResMed NightOwl....just what the email was about. The oval piece is no bigger than my fingernail and the white bands are as long as my finger. Those are to keep it on my finger overnight like a bandaid strip. If there were serious sleep apnea problems picked up by this then they would likely refer to a lab monitoring situation. Like the heart monitor it will take about two weeks for the receiving lab to check the results and get back to my doctor. Still waiting for the results on the heart test as well.

Didn't cost me anything, there was a form she had me sign but she crossed off the cost of keeping it longer than needed. She said I get to keep this (why I have no idea maybe for self monitoring??) so there was no cost. Like the heart monitor it collects the data and registers it on the app for any activity. If it falls off during the night or it doesn't register for some reason, in the morning when I check the app it will say so and I can do the test again the next night. There are 10 bands included in the pack but they only want me to do this for one night. Really. It took me longer to drive to the appointment than it took for her to explain how to use it. I have one other appointment next week but it's really close to home in Santee so no worries about needing gas until end of the month. But that's another added cost that's going to be higher than usual. I have four appointments almost all across town next month.

Oh, I finally just clicked on the AMR link to set up a payment plan, lowest they had was $50 a month for 5 months. But apparently there's no pressure, if I need to pause it or whatever just have to go to the website and click on a few things. I set that up for the first of the month and may well do that first payment then see about an option for assistance or whatever.  Because I have two other medical bills one being paid on and the other still nagging me for $250.  

Week and a half to the end of the month. We have makings for food, Jon had some money left so we were able to pick up milk, bread, cereal, tortilla chips and 2 jalapeno so I can make some salsa. Made some chicken thighs in the frying pan today with spicy gravy. I combined what was left of my taco and rotisserie chicken seasoning on the chicken then used the pan juices and some butter to make the gravy. White rice and refried beans and we 'ate like kings' as he says. 

Oh yeah, the refried beans, from scratch, in the slow cooker (this is a before picture when I just started them). Cooked for 4 hours on high, stirring a few times, turned it to low for about four more hours so they were still cooking by midnight. Tried to mash them a bit but some of the beans were still a bit toooo 'al dente'. They'll be okay as they get reheated in the future. We have enough to feed a full on family of six or eight. If I still had that smaller crock pot would have used that but followed the directions for army sized portion using 2 pounds of beans. They turned out okay but should have soaked the beans overnight first. Definitely not restaurant quality, a little burned tasting, seasoned like my usual method so Jon likes them. That's good because I bet he's going to be tired of them after a week. But then he's part Puerto Rican, beans and rice are everyday foods.

We have food to fix, running out of ideas and 'incidental' foodstuffs though. I tried making some shrimp salad sandwiches yesterday, Jon was not a fan and just had the beans, rice, taco meat with lettuce tomato and onion on top. I told him about the shrimp and he did have some but turned down seconds. Oh well. It was okay but I didn't have any dill fresh or dried but it was edible. Had mine on a toasted hamburger bun with some of the last white sauce on the bun with lettuce, tomato and onion. Used the last flour tortilla in a makeshift burrito using the other sides on hand.  

Oh speaking of makeshift, I made a grilled cheese with pepperoncini sandwich for a snack last night. It wasn't too bad but could have used some shredded meat or maybe beef bologna. So I put mayo on the inside sides of the bread, laid a piece of American cheese on either side, added the pepperoncini slices then closed it up. Buttered the outside of the bread (one side at a time) sprinkled with some garlic powder. Flip that into the pan, butter and garlic powder on the other side and brown to perfection.  It wasn't half bad really. The warmed peppers reminded me of a Quiznos sandwich almost, so many good places to eat that are gone now. Oh well.

One last picture as a personal note on my mental state of the world right now. I want to live long enough to see certain people pay for the damage they've done to the world and our country but am afraid to live that long as well.