Archive of Marcia's Musings August 4-10 2003Long Story
Got time? I do.
So Wednesday was dull and boring. I read and read-- I'm working on the Harry Potter 5 book and lovin' it. I was also working my way through the first part of the software for my sewing machine's embroidery stuff. At the end of next week, I hope to be able to "digitize" ANYTHING to be able to stitch it out onto anything but the end of the "lessons". I talked to the doctor at one point during the day which produced yet another grocery list for Brian to stop at the store and get-- poor guy, he's all but living at the grocery store these days!!
Thursday dawned with one thing that I needed to do: call the vet's office to figure out why Sally (our food hound) was not eating well. Brian had had to get on the floor with her and literally spoon-feed her dinner to her the last two nights. Obviously, this isn't good. In the mornings, I was having to cram her pills down her and she wasn't touching any kibble so I didn't bother to put it down.
I didn't get to call the vet's office in the early morning because the landlord and her appraiser walked through the house. The landlord wants a "line of credit" so she can buy more houses for rental properties so she is using our house for that credit. (Probably because its in the best condition since Brian is taking care of it, not Fred!) Anyway, I ended up on my feet for close to 30 minutes with them and was tired when they left. I sat down to read again and rest.
One thing lead to another (that happens when you're reading Harry Potter, let me tell ya!) and pretty soon it was noon and my friend Nina was calling. We talked about our dogs (she's got one that's sick, too) and I finally remembered to call the vet's office. They wanted to set the appointment time but I couldn't get her in there before 7:40pm when Brian got home-- I can't lift her into the truck, which I pointed out to the vet's office. They said okay and that's what time we set the appointment-- cool.
About 30 minutes later, they called again: one of their techs would come by to help get Sally into the truck and follow me over to the office to get her out (and of course, back again). Wow!! What service!!! When we pulled into the office parking lot, four techs came out to the parking lot to help me and him get Sally out of the car-- amazing service, eh?
The doc (Dr. Patty this time) ran some blood tests, gave her an injection and sent us on our way (with an escort) with another bag of pills for Sally. Last night, she had an appetite for the first time in days!!! Cool-- but most important, now you see why I love our vet's office so much-- they are really great!!!
By the time that Sally and I got home at 2:30, I was exhausted! I lay down but then ended up talking with my co-worker, Lee, for about a half hour so it was 3:30 or 4 before I actually fell asleep. Brian called at around 5 and then got home at 6:30, waking me up then. I was exhausted, indeed!! It was a hard and full day yesterday and I've learned something: when I get to the point when its tooooo much, I start to perspire. Its good to have a signal, let me tell ya!
I've got more to do on the software today-- if anything exciting happens, I'll let you know later or tomorrow.
Thanks for your patience on my posting schedule-- I appreciate it and the emails, etc.
Take care of yourselves and have a great day!
Tuesday, August 5, 2003Yeah, Well I'm Working On It!!!
No, I'm not consistent but I'm here. That's 95% of the struggle these days.
As an update, there are pictures here from the weekend of Sally and me. This morning, she's either feeling particularly finicky or has a touch of upset tummy cuz she doesn't want to eat her breakfast. Considering the kinda food hound that she is, it must be the latter.
Me? I'm okay, I guess . . . all things considered. Yesterday was fun-- NOT!!
When I talked to the HR people about this disability leave, they told me that the company "pays" me for the first seven days without taking any PTO (Personal Time Off) from my stash. I had 97 hours (give or take) on the last pay period but when I got my stub from the last pay period, I only had 41. Hmm, now I did use 24 hours for the three days before my surgery but that still doesn't add up. So the first order of business yesterday was figuring out where that time went and how it was going to get "fixed". I found out that what they do is take my PTO first and when the benefits completely kick in, they "pay me back" the time that they took.
Of course the fact that I have a heart-attack in the meantime trying to figure out where my time went is not important, I guess. ARGH!!!
The next order of business was dealing with HR-- again!! I received a letter from the company paying the disability benefits that I had to fill in the paperwork again in order to receive my benefits. My doctor's office would also have to complete their portion in order for me to receive benefits-- again. Since this had been done back in June, needless to say, I was curious as to why I had to do it again. I mean, if they are missing information, let me know what it is and I'll fill in the blanks-- don't make me complete ALL of the forms AGAIN!!
It turns out that even though they had all the information, they wanted the information again. The HR rep called the company and reminded them of the other two times that she had already sent the paperwork to them so they decided that two copies of it was enough-- for now.
Yeesh!! What aggravation!!! No wonder I haven't ever done this before!!!
Pain Management
I haven't taken any type of pain meds or anti-inflammatory meds in more than 24 hours. There's still a touch of "pain" but it is more aggravating than anything at this point. The "Bland Diet" seems to be helping over all but needless to say, I can't keep that up forever!! I'll start working "real food" into my diet by the end of the week so that I can be normal but it is helping to have a more bland diet for the time being.
So that's the current status-- thanks again to all of you who have sent cards, emails, etc. It is great to hear from all of you!!
Thanks for your patience and tolerance on the site, as well-- we're going to try something new for the format to make it easier for you to know that I've updated. Note at the top of the page that there is a date-- that'll let you know, without having to page down, that I've been here.
Let me know if you have any comments!
Thanks for stopping by-- have a great day!!
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