Jan 31: Quick updates, nothing exciting

Gee, where to start. It's Sunday night, I'm on call and watching the Grammy Awards. Need to pack a lunch, decide what to wear in the am and get to bed.

Should check my INR, but my feet are cold, which means I can't get enough blood for the sample. Of late it's been taking 4-6 sticks to get enough for a sample. I may have to relent and stick my finger, which hurts more and often continues to hurt for a day or two. It was high 10 days ago, then mid-week was a little low. No explanation.

Zerla is much better. I put a little footstool next to the couch and she joins me for TV time, which isn't as often as you would think since most of the time I'm doing stuff on line and watching in the dining area. The footstool was so successful that I wrestled up from the basement a long shelf thing meant to expand shoe storage, then glued carpet remnants from the upstairs apartment on top for paw stability. This now is at the bottom of my bed, allowing her to jump up on the bed, which currently has a down comforter, a cat's dream place! Just today I moved a box and chair around in the dining room area to allow her to get on top of the radiator cover, which beats even the comforter! When she's been lying down for a while she is clearly stiff, but getting around pretty well, active and playful.

My tenant Marilyn is planning on moving out end of February. Houses are so cheap that she got a bank repossession for a song and her mortgage is the same as what she's been paying in rent. (Of course that doesn't take into account all the things that come up with a house....) With sound traveling down so easily to my area I only wanted one person living there. So, I dropped the price. And found someone! Nice guy named Dave, construction worker, has offered to mow the lawn and help with lifting things. But I'm going to miss Marilyn!

Working out how to survive on my lower hours at work. I kept trying to learn how to do the pacemaker interrogations, but just couldn't get the hang of it. I read the book, asked questions, had a lot of time with the people who do the interrogations from the manufacturers but it just wouldn't click. Honestly, I think it's the brain damage from the surgeries. Everyone says I'm exaggerating, that I'm back to what I was before, but that's not true. It's frustrating, but understandable. My heart's been stopped five times for a total of over 11-12 hours, how can that not affect those little neurons? It's a well documented phenomenon, so it's mystifying to me why my bosses don't believe me. So, I lost those hours. And since the older doctor retired they hired a third PA for the hospital, but that gives a 'spare' for vacations, etc. So I'm down to just 24 hours a week, plus whatever on-call time I can get. My biggest concern is how the lack of hours will effect my health insurance, but that's a story for another time....

As a side note to the brain thing, Michael was asking before his heart surgery about 'pump head'. This is the result of having your heart stopped and being on bypass, your brain is just stunned. I said it was indescribable, the closest was trying to think through a brain full of cotton. A very disconnected feeling, frustrating because I felt like what I was trying to express was on the other side of a thick glass wall--could vaguely see it, but couldn't reach it. So, as we went to lunch the other week he started the conversation with "Oh My God--pump head is horrible!" "Isn't it?", I replied, "How would you describe it?" He said "Well, you and a couple people told me that it was like trying to think through heavy wool, and that wasn't it, but I can't think of any other description." "How do you explain the unexplainable?" said I. He agreed--there just are not words that adequately can give the picture. I still get sort of that feeling when exceptionally tired.

Trying some different things for the pain, alternative stuff. If it works, then I'll talk more about it!

Ok, gotta get to bed! More later, thanks for checking, Laurie