Just Call Me Lemony Snicket

Into every life, a little rain must fall, right?! A little is the key! I’ve had enough rain to last me a lifetime. I’m over my quota so it’s someone else’s turn. The Powers That Be seem to think my life doesn’t have enough stress. So last week Wed. (June 26th) our basement flooded again. 😦 It had only been two months since the last time! That’s some kind of record. Early that morning a heavy rain front had come over our town and just sat there. We got about 5″ of rain in a short amount of time. We’ve been getting a lot of rain this year and have only had to water the garden ONCE. That’s unheard of. Usually I’m out watering every single night. The roads were like rivers and hubby couldn’t get out of the driveway to go to work. First he called his boss and said he’d be late. Then after a few hours passed and the street still wasn’t clear, he emailed her and told her he was taking a sick day. It would be nice for him to be off under other circumstances. In this case, we’d both rather he went to work than have the basement flood again. It basically ruined the whole weekend. The city put out barricades so people wouldn’t drive on the flooded streets and that was it. The sewers can’t handle the excess water and back up (it’s fairly clean rain water but still) which gets SO OLD. We got about a foot of water in the basement. After a couple hours, hubby unscrews the standpipe and the water goes right down. Then we had to suck up the rest of it with our rug shampooer. Then shampoo the rug. It just never seems to end. I had clothes hanging down on the line which made it inconvenient. It’s better than one time when I had all the dirty clothes spread out in piles on the floor, ready to wash.

 

Flooded street in front of our house

Hubby’s been on his diabetes meds for just over 2 weeks and he still hasn’t got it under control. He is still taking readings 3 times a day and the best of the 3 is 2 hours after lunch when it is almost normal. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to us why it’s high when it is. I guess we’ll learn more over time.

 

My foot and legs have gotten a LOT more painful, just in the past week. This morning I woke up and it felt like I had polio. I could hardly walk. My foot was better but my right ankle wouldn’t bend. My legs are stiff and I feel hobbled. It is so discouraging to me. I am anxious to hear what the orthopedic specialist says next week. Yesterday I cut the dogs’ walk 4 blocks short. Today I did the whole thing but so much slower than usual. Plus it hurt like the dickens. Today is the first day where I can believe I’ll end up in a wheelchair someday. Of course, if I have anything to say about it, it won’t happen.

 

Friday we got a phone call with bad news from my mother-in-law. Greg’s older sister Linda’s cancer is back. She’s been in remission just under 3 years. She had such a bad bout with the chemotherapy for hairy cell leukemia in 2010 that we don’t know if she’ll go through that aggressive of a treatment again. She’s the strongest person we know and is a registered nurse. We support her no matter what she decides to do. She is leaving on a family vacation with her husband, daughter and son-in-law out to Seattle on July 5th. They are visiting her other daughter and her husband. She didn’t want to give up her vacation to start chemo since she’s afraid it might be her last trip and she was looking forward to it so much. Her immune system is compromised due to the cancer. Let’s hope she has a wonderful time on her vacation! This news was just another reminder to make the most of each day we have, even if they’re shitty ones.

 

I haven’t gone into detail about how my home life has changed since Mom’s dementia has gotten worse. I will probably write about it at some point. In the meantime, I’m going to include an incident here that happened on the day we flooded. I make my mom take a bath once a week. I try to do it while hubby’s at work. I’d planned to do it Wed. and then he ended up being home which turned out to be a good thing. We don’t have any special contraptions for the bathtub like railings or a walk-in or even a chair in there. It is just a regular tub. Mom’s always been able to get in and get out on her own. The past several months I’ve been getting everything ready for her. Filling the tub (she can’t regulate the water temp), getting towels ready, her bathbrush and washcloth, soap, etc. Then I pick out her clothes for after the bath. I draw the bath and help her get in. I put the toilet lid down and sit there and watch  her. I make sure she washes her whole body. To get in, she kneels down, facing the back and then turns on her side and then onto her back and then sits up. The last few times she’s been balking when it’s time to get out. She has to do the exact same thing in reverse. She starts yelling, “I can’t!” and then I tell her she can and explain how to do it. Last week she wouldn’t get out. She said she couldn’t and tried a few times and gave up. I can’t lift her out of the tub and I was kind of freaking out. All I could think of was that I’d have to call the ambulance to have them lift her out. Hubby heard us yelling back and forth (Mom’s deaf and her hearing aids are out so I have to yell) and came up to help. Bless his heart, he came in and helped lift her out. It was a living, breathing nightmare that was reduced to such relief.

 

This past weekend we were at an estate sale and they had these suction grip handles for the bathroom. One was in the package, the other looked new and was out of the  package. We got them both for $5. We are going to try them this week on the wall and top of the bathtub so Mom has something to grab to get out of the tub. I hope it works! It will make my life a whole lot easier! This is just ONE thing I deal with on any given day…the fact that it happened on the day we flooded was almost too much to bear.

 

Super Grip Handles for the bathtub

Also on Wed. there was a message on our answering machine. Hubby and I had walked the dogs that afternoon to see how much water damage was in the neighborhood. It was Gottlieb Hospital calling to say that I’d had a mammogram on the 13th, something had looked suspicious and they needed me to come back for more views. My heart stopped before I even heard the rest of the message. For one thing, my doctor’s office had called and I’d had to call back the week before and they’d told me my mammogram was normal. For another, I’ve had to go back for more views a few times in the past (before they went to digital mammos, I think) and every time, they’d sent a letter, never called! I figured this was more serious if they were calling! The woman on the phone then went on to say “Wait a second, you already came back once.” I’m standing there listening, still in awe. I hadn’t gone back. Then she goes on, “Let me call you back, I think they gave me the wrong information. You are fine. You are to come back in one year.” Finally she said “Let me finalize this and I’ll call you back.” Of course, she never did call back!! That hospital is seriously fudged up!! I knew someone screwed up but still, how many things can they get wrong?! The answer: ALL OF THEM. I’ve been lucky not to really need much health care in my lifetime. It was just frosting on the cake of the day I had. Just call me Lemony Snicket. My life is A Series Of Unfortunate Events! 😉

 

So I don’t end this on a glum note, I have to tell you about the highlight of our weekend. On Saturday, our dogs had an impromptu playdate with a Shiba Inu named Asher. He’s 4 years old and weighs 48 lbs. He used to be 53. My Amber just turned 5 yrs. old and weighs 21 lbs. We’d met Asher and his human family a few times before and they’d played while on leashes. We were walking our furkids in front of their house and they came out and told us to wait. They all came out and brought Asher. He is a sweet dog but because of his breed, he gets afraid of other dogs and sometimes acts aggressively. It is only because others don’t understand how he is. He needs more socialization with other dogs but nobody else wants to take the time to let their dog go up to him SLOWLY. Amber is the same way. While Elvis and Ivy run up to anyone and want to be petted and kissed or play with other dogs, Amber has to be held back a few seconds. She has to just stand and look at the other dog and get used to him/her. Then I slowly let her get close and then she’s fine. Asher’s family wanted me to take just Amber in their backyard to play with Asher. I went but Amber wanted her brother and sister and didn’t know what to do. They were fine together but Amber wasn’t in the play mood. Then I came out with her and Greg took Elvis inside while the aunt held Ivy on her leash. Elvis loved it and was running like mad with Asher. He then came up to the gate and was looking at us wondering why we didn’t go in. So then we all went in and all 4 dogs ran loose and played and had a good old time. Asher really took to Elvis but then who doesn’t?! Neither Greg or I had our iphones with us but both of Asher’s parents, his aunt and grandma all were taking video of them playing. It really lifted our spirits and was so much fun. The dogs loved it and we loved it. I could’ve watched it all day! They told us several times to come back anytime. That we should ring the bell when we’re walking by and they can play again. Maybe we’ll have to do something like that over the holiday weekend and make sure we get some pictures or video!