Monday March 16th 2026

Woke up to my alarm clock going off at the same time my cell phone emitted a tornado warning and the rain was pounding on the window. Okay, okay, I'm awake! Tornado warning ended 10 minutes later. Now I have to get dressed and get ready for the meeting. Whoop-dee-do.

I'm sure I'll be back later to fill y'all in on the latest.

Good morning.

Joe, hope the cat is okay.

Stars, hope the meeting goes well and you can come up with a good discharge plan.  Although I know your discharge plan is to not discharge at all ever.  

J22, there are some older folks like that.  Some are extremely anal retentive about taking the medication exactly on time as prescribed no matter what.  When they come to the hospital the get agitated when we do have their home regimen.  Others are the "I don't like taking pills" type and worry about overuse.  

I'm probably addicted to my sleep hygiene medication regimen but don't care.  I need sleep.

I should have stayed home from work yesterday as I wasn't fully recovered but I thought I could trudge through which I did.  When I got home my temp was 102.9 and I just went to bed and stayed in bed for 14 hours.  I was seriously thinking about having best friend stay with me and maybe going to the freestanding ER because I was having some abdominal discomfort.  The steroids I'm on for my IBD lowers the immune system.  Anyway I was able to sleep it off and still am not well so won't go bowling.  

Hope I snap out of it.  

Anyway, that's my sad tale.  I oriented another charge nurse from our sister hospital opening up out of town and she seemed nice.  She didn't seem as full of herself as the other did.  Although I did get the "this is how we do it where I come from....." which annoys me.  LOL

I haven't eaten in over 24 hours so I guess I should eat.  I much have been really dehydrated because last night I drank tons of water and couldn't satisfy my thirst.  Hunger though is non-existent.

Sorry for the TMI.   

Nannie will be discharged on Sunday the 22nd by 11 AM. SiL will pick her and her stuff up, then take her to get a manicure (and possibly a pedicure) before she brings her home. Nannie has to be back at the daycare by the 24th or she will be put back at the end of the waiting line to get in again, but she will be back in that daycare routine as of Monday the 23rd. WHEW! So she will be at daycare Mon, Weds, and Fri., plus will have the CG that was here with her before, every Thursday afternoon. I'm not sure that they will be sending an aide to help with personal care, because SiL said she could do any showering needed, because she said she thought Nannie would do better with getting back into the home schedule. SiL gives the fastest shower of anybody I know, and gets Nannie in and out and dressed in record time.

So we will get two weeks worth of her meds, but neither of us know what meds have been changed since she was last at home. SiL will be getting her to her PCP and get the meds straightened out to how they were before, and she is telling their pharmacist that we will have them prepackaged as before. I get to keep her on the AM and PM med schedule as I used to give them to her and give them crushed and mixed in with chocolate pudding instead of handing her the med cup and encouraging her to swallow a pill so she could take the next pill. That'd be toooo much trouble to not crush them. She always said "YUM!" when that chocolate hits her tongue. Oh yeah, and we can let her sleep late, and we can serve her her meals on a tray, as before. SiL said she can feed herself, but we sat with her as she had her lunch and SiL kept putting food on her fork and handing it to her or just putting it in her mouth; then handed her the juice straw and held the glass for her. No dawdling with SiL!! She wanted to get her through that lunch so we (she) could leave, but to do what, I don't know, as she always seems in a hurry. She is one of those that can't sit still and do nothing (unlike ME!?)

So I still get a few more days to myself before the renewal of my habit of being glued to the sofa. The staff told us all kinds of important things, like "Don't let her be alone, don't ever let her walk alone; remind her to lock her wheelchair use the arms of the chair she is in, to push herself up to standing. Use a gait belt, take her to the bathroom every two hours," and blah-blah-blah. But they have to fulfill their part of giving their discharge instructions, because not everyone is used to taking care of old folks, I guess. (unlike ME! ?)

I'm not sure Nannie even knew who I was; all she said to me was that we were wearing the same colors (navy blue). But it matters not to me, as I'm who she gets, and I reckon that I am the only one who is staying with it until the bitter end. I told SiL that BiL will have to give me a check so I can get Nannie's choc pudding, the yogurts she likes, and the cranapple juice, little frozen meals, desserts, etc. I'm not so inclined to cook for her as I am for making something from scratch for myself. Occasionally I will make an actual meal, but like I said once before, the only thing wrong with cooking is that there are even more dirty 'dishes' to wash (even though we use paper plates.) 

Yah, so I am going to take it easy for the rest of the day; maybe see if there is an old movie on TV, or whatever. I am not thrilled about the discharge but it is what it is.  It is too bad we can't get this house re-done, like with new windows, maybe knock down the wall between the kitchen and dining room, repaint, pull up the disgusting rugs, etc, so I can get more $$$$$ when I go to sell the house. That IS, after all, my entire RETIREMENT FUND, and I am not giving it up to anyone, except whatever the small percentage is that BiL and SiL get from the will. The rest of it is MINE! And I will have to be very stringent about my money after that, because other than social security the money from the sale of the house and property is all I will have to live on. Hope when the time comes I will be able to find a small place to live in that isn't too old (ie needing repairs) or too costly. But that will be down the road a while, because Nannie will have to leave this planet before I can start searching for my "forever home". (Can you tell I watch too much HGTV?)

So here I go, resting with my feet up, and I am about to turn the TV on and see what's available to peruse. 

Ummmm, Tweety, you are NOT 'addicted' to your sleep medicine. You rely on it, or you take it routinely to help you, and THAT is NOT an addiction. There is a big difference between medicine and 'drugs'. My doctor up in Asheville explained that to me once when I balked at taking a certain med (don't recall now which one it was). He told me it was no different than a diabetic having to take insulin or someone who is bipolar who has to take meds to keep on an even keel. THEY aren't 'addicted'. As long as it is taken as prescribed, it is NOT an addiction. So maybe you don't like to rely on something to help you sleep, but you know as we all do, that sleep is VERY important, especially the older we all get. 

I know you know all that, but I am trying to remind you that taking care of your needs is not a bad thing. And as we all know *I* am not especially good at taking care of my needs, but I can say I am speaking with love and from experience. In other words I don't want you to feel bad and beat yourself up mentally over it.

Okay, lecture over!

Joe, I hope the cat is fine.

Tweety, you were too sick to be at work! Hope it passes quickly and you find your appetite.

Stars, I hope today's meeting truly is "discharge planning" and not a sneaky way of discharging her today. 

dianah, sorry your dh was struck by the bass. Ow! 

I am impressed with J22's gardening skill. I have none. But I am pleased to say that my hosta separation operation was successful. I started with 2 big plants, and I can see at least 3 sprouting up through the soil, so I will declare that a win.

The boys went to a "murder mystery dinner theater" Saturday. It was planned for a friend's birthday in February but postponed due to weather. It sounds like it was a really fun evening.

Maybe I am becoming like those people who worry about their meds. Apparently I have iron-deficiency anemia. I suspect that omeprazole is to blame. I'm not sure how long I've been taking it regularly, but let's guess 3-4 years. When the MA from the doctor's office texted to tell me the doctor was prescribing an iron supplement, I asked her to ask the doctor whether omeprazole might be interfering with iron absorption and the reply was yes, it can, so take it at least a couple of hours later. I always thought doctors didn't really want to prescribe medication to treat the side effects of other medication. I'm inclined to see if I can do without the omeprazole. 

I guess I will just follow her directions (taking this magic iron supplement and a Vit D supplement) for now. Follow-up labs in 3 months.

Thanks for the reminder Stars.  I don't think like that but it is indeed medicine for me and doctor says "you only take it once a day right?"

My GI doc specifically said stay away from PPI's and even Pepcid.  I think for their ill effect on the microbiome but he didn't say.   I take Tums instead.  

One of my coworkers that was recently hospitalized for anemia said they determined it was an h. pylori infection.  Who knew?

I also am very fond of Ibuprofen which I can't take because it could contributed to colitis condition and it interacts with the steroids.  I take Tylenol instead.  

I am one of those "I don't like medications" because do we really know all the side effects and interactions with other things?  But I'm also one "if it's going to help me, I'm going to take it" types.  I'm very compliant.  

We're about to get hit with significant thunderstorms and then what follows will be very cold temperatures.  

There was a tornado that touched down in South Charlotte. I have never heard of an "EF-ZERO" tornado, but that's what it was. It was 1/2 mile wide and was on the ground for 1 + 1/2 miles, ripped part of a roof off a warehouse, and some trees came down, with high winds, (I think they said the wind was in the upper 30's?). But we are a pretty good bunch of miles North of South Charlotte.

And at least we are not "in the high country" (Boone, and Northwestern N.C. and Northeastern Tennessee) where they are supposed to have SNOW. But that's okay because that's where several ski slope areas are and that snow makes 'em happy to be able to have the slopes open, when the winds slow down a little. And tomorrow starts our REALLY COLD weather, for about 2 days.

Git out yer scarf, toboggin hat, and mittens, Mabel! 

Geeze, sorry, but I have to post a correction....the tornado winds got up to 85 mph. We here are having the winds in the mid to upper 30's, which still can knock trees down, but minus the tornado activity. Not that it makes a heck of a lot of difference to any of us, but I think there's a big difference between 35+ mph winds and 85 mph winds, and I felt compelled to make a note of it!

Tinker says it is TIME for her SUPPER, so, BYEEEEEEE!

Hullo. It's very rainy here. I took the dogs out when it stopped briefly, but we cut the walk short because it really started coming down. It's much warmer today, in the mid 50s. I've been doing laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, watching a series on Netflix. I have a Zoom meeting tonight for the education team. Dh was trying to talk me into organizing these totes with supplies and I finally said I am not the person for that job. I am not a good organizer. I can learn someone else's system, and follow it, but thats my limit. He sort of said he wasn't suited for it too, so maybe he will find someone else. 

I don't like taking pills either, but for me, sleep is therapy!  To me, addiction is a complicated process and doesn't happen overnight. When I read about limiting narcotics after surgery, I think that is just stupid. I try to avoid things like omeprazole, unless I'm really in pain. If tums don't work, I find saltines and a little milk help with reflux. 

Dianah, I hope your dh's head is okay. 

We undertook a big renovation about 15 years ago. I don't know that I would choose to undergo that again.