THURSDAY TRIUMPH(S)

[helia]

Wow, that is a triumph, Lilac, to get that surgery done. ((HUGS)) to you and dh. I hope he heals quickly. How handy that dd1 and dsil have medical knowledge.

I don't drink enough water either, lucylee. I had foot and leg cramps all night Tuesday night. I had jogged that day, and I believe I didn't drink enough to stay hydrated. I'm trying to drink more too.

Dinner has been made, eaten, and cleaned up. The table has been wiped off. Toddler J put away all the placemats for us. Counters are clean, dishes are washed, and the dw is running. A couple items will wait until it's empty tomorrow morning. I wiped down the edge of our stove. To properly do our stove top takes a lot of time. Dh didn't come home for dinner so it was just dd17, R, toddler J, and myself. Dh and dd20 had dinner together before the show. I have lots of chicken cacciatore left over now.

I'm going to finish grading exams in a minute. I'm drinking some herbal tea. That should count as water, I think. No caffeine, no calories. . .

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Lilac, Cathy's idea of a portable urinal is excellent.

I'm on the treadmill. Will have to be here at least until 9. Still haven't cleaned up the kitchen from dinner. Getting panicky about all that has not been done.

The cigarette smell in the bedroom is worse now. After I got dressed this morning, I shut my bathroom door. That kept the smoke in. Dh opened it when he emptied garbage cans and told me to leave it open because the smell was really bad.

Really? What does that tell you? The smell is blowing into the apartment. If I open my door (and the apartment windows and balcony doors) the smell is better. Not because something magical is happening, we are just diluting the smell throughout the apartment. But now that it is dark, it is cold outside and I've had to 1) put on a sweater and 2) close the patio door in the living room and the spare bedroom window.

Now the smell is bad in my bathroom, the hall and my bedroom. It is coming in my bathroom vent which is currently blowing/falling into my bathroom. Same with dh's bathroom. The issue is that dh's bathroom doesn't have a door on it so the smell from there is getting into the bedroom.

I'm put plastic over the vents, held in place by magnets for now and we'll see if it helps a bit. Not a tight seal, just a proof of concept. In the meantime, my throat got sore and a headache started. I suspect I'll just sleep in the spare bed tonight unless the vent covering reduces the smell. If I close our bedroom door, my bathroom door and the spare bedroom door, the smell shouldn't get into it.

Since it's going below freezing at night, we are not allowed to have our windows open (as in, if the pipes freeze we pay damages.) So the smell will get stronger and stronger through the night.

Since we have never noticed the vents blowing into the room before, I am wondering if something was turned off due to the roof work or perhaps the power outage yesterday. I have had the smell come in but leaving the door open was the solution since the fan was still sucking air at that point.

grumble....

All day the noise distracts me and at night it is the smells. Dh and I had a fight over the distraction by smell this morning, when the smell started I couldn't finish the sentence I saying. Literally. All I could think of was OMG I have to deal with this smell which makes me sick. When dh said I was being overly dramatic because I stopped talking and started sniffing, I just stopped talking to him entirely since smells don't bother him at all.

[Harmony]

Well, I think I'm basically in trouble with the water / sodium thing. I don't make a habit of keeping a water bottle with me all the time. I do drink too much coffee (probably 4 mugs ) and 2 6oz glasses of water with my vitamins / meds. So now I have to cut out the coffee (except for my morning cup I refuse to stop that one, I won't wake up) and take my pills with tomato juice. I can't see doing that for the rest of my life. Lucylee, this is likely to be a forever thing. I guess coffee and tea is the same as plain water in that if one has an imbalance of electrolytes, liquids without those minerals dilute and wash out what little is in the body. Since I don't drink lots of water, I only have coffee to cut out. Blast!

Lilac, I had missed that your DH's surgery was today. I'm glad everything went well, though too bad he fell. Walking with crutches is an art I guess, one must get used to it for a while. Crutches made DH's shoulders sore when he tried them. I hope his recovery is 100%.

So, I am paying for having the morning off, goofing off with my 2 girlfriends at the pancake restaurant. I never did get the dishwasher unloaded and I had to wash today's dishes because there was no place to put them. We got interrupted a couple times during dinner and I had to reheat some.

I got the berries brought in from the Mulberry tree, the broccoli and tomato from the garden in and washed. Some paperwork done. Tomorrow I will catch up the rest.

Kathryn, that is too bad about the smoke. Isn't there someone you can tell? I have a friend who had to sell her villa because the attached villa next door was occupied by a smoker and the smoke entered her unit. She sold to a smoker who didn't care.

I never said what my foot exrays showed. I have 3 broken toes, all three right at the area where they join the foot. The 2nd toe is diagonal across the others are straight across. Dr. put a foam pad into the bottom of my tennis shoe (which feels the same as a sock that has bunched up down underneath a foot). My lump on other leg is a hematoma and I'm to rub it with vit E to help break up the blood in there. The green down the front of that leg is because of the lump (blood under the skin) which will eventually go away. Dr. said the green would all eventually turn yellow then go away. I'm not supposed to go back unless the pain doesn't go away. He could see the breaks were healing.

Harriet, how is your back? Better I hope.

[Sunny]

Lilac glad to read that dh's surgery went well. ((Hugs)) --- you take such good care of him!

((Harmony)), so sorry you are needing help with the sodium again. Hope the next test is good. Oh, my--((hugs)) for your broken toes. I'm glad the dr. could see that your foot is healing!

LadyM, hope dgd4 is feeling better. Glad you are ready for any weather now that the new generator is in. Always nice to spend some time with dh!

Harriet, what a nice way to spend the afternoon in the museum. WTG for dd impressing the director!

Oh, Kathryn, I hope you can block the cigarette smell and get a good nights sleep. I don't blame you for being frustrated with the smells. Cigarette fumes give me a headache and upset stomach.

Our triumph today was a second trip to the VA this week for dh. Monday was the orientation and blood test. Today we went back so he could have his picture taken for the medical id card and to sign more papers to have lab work papers faxed to his primary doctor. We drove a different route today and found it was better; the road was one we are more familiar with and is easier to drive. We stopped at W-M on the way home for Rx refill and a few groceries. Dh has an appointment with a new primary dr. in two weeks.

Hello to everyone. I'm going to hit post now before I get interrupted again!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Nobody to tell. I'll mention it in the morning to the office and ask that my vent be checked for a blockage.

This is why I'm on month-to-month rent. And why I'm preparing to fight them to make the building non-smoking, although that doesn't really help because federal law trumps all and the feds now allow medical marijuana. Plus all current smokers are grandfathered in. Since there are no smokers in this end of the hall, I can only hope that it is a visitor and not someone who has moved in on another floor.

The issue for most residents is that it comes and goes. Once someone complained, came home from work and found the manager in her apartment with a mask on but claimed the smoke wasn't too bad!

Another time, someone borrowed equipment and proved the smoke in their apartment was above the city bylaws and threatened to get the health department in. When threats like that happen, something sort of is done. One resident said she'll call the fire department the next time she smells smoke in the hall because it isn't suppose to get into the halls the way the building is pressurized (to keep the halls clear of smoke when there is a fire.) Our guess is that with the fans not working right, the smoke builds up and overflows into the halls, where the smoke then gets sucked into other apartments.

This is a 50 year old building with radiators so sometimes the smoke comes through the holes in the floors between the units for the pipes (but not in my case today.)

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

To add to my frustration, Windows Media player decided to reindex every audio file I have on my computer, thus rendering the software unusable for playing music. So I didn't have any music while on the treadmill and didn't walk as fast as a result. Plus I nearly deleted the software from my computer but decided that might be cutting my nose off to spite my face. But I was very tempted and had even opened add/remove program.


Edited to add: had to go into the bedroom after the treadmill and in 32 minutes the smoke smell had left so blocking the vents worked and I'll sleep in my bed tonight (unless the person finished a cigarette and starts up again before I go to bed.)

[Harriet]

((Harmony))

It was my thigh that was hurting along the sciatic nerve. By that evening, with some anti-inflammatory and lots of water, staying out of vehicles and sitting differently at my desk, the muscle strain was over and it was much better.

Have been going to bed earlier and that's a good thing.

I have the evening dailies done so I think I'll hit the hay. We have a friend visiting in the morning and HRH will stay home through the a.m. to enjoy him.

[Lilac]

I had bought dh a portable male urinal when I bought the bath seat. So far, he has resisted using it. Dd1 and I went for a walk earlier this evening. I left the urinal bottle inside 2 plastic bags with a roll of paper towels nearby, in case he needed it before I got back.

I tell you, there is nothing like dealing with a health situation to make you realize how for granted we all take good health.

Db2 went to the dr. today and his heel is healing like it should. They took out the stitches and he is now in a cast for 6 weeks.

Kathryn, I feel for you dealing with the smoke situation.

Harriet, I am so glad that your sciatic nerve pain has eased up.

Harmony, what a relief that your toes are healing.

My Fitbit says I have climbed 64 flights of stairs. Yikes! Seriously?

[Ramblinrose]

Just a quick hi cause I hate to think some of you are hurting from legs/toe/foot cramps.


I have two words for that.... Yellow mustard straight from the jar. It is what marathon runs use when running same with Spartan and Tough mudder participates. A tablespoon to begin with. Sweetie has suffered from terrible cramps all his life. He treated it with more water. He laughed at me when I told him abt the mustard.... Not any more. When his cramps hit he runs for the mustard and so do I. Water doesn't always work especially if you drink a lot of it because you can flush out the potassium when you pee.

[lucylee]

Rose is right. I've seen football players squirt mustard in heir mouths straight from the bottle.
Yuck. But they swear it works.