Medical

Some beautiful babies, and a visit with the doctor

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First, the cuteness!

I got this photo of Brussel, earlier.

I wasn’t able to push the cat cave back into the cube, and it didn’t take long for Brussel to knock it over onto its side. When it was being used by the inside cats, they were constantly knocking it over, too.

Gosh, Brussel is a beauty!

My daughter and I had our appointments with the doctor today. When we got back, it was well past when the outside cats would normally have gotten their second feeding of the day, so they were all over the place – including Brussel. Once the kibble was out, I took advantage of the opportunity to fix the cat cave. I was able to taker her babies out and set them on one of the cat beds on the platform above.

What an adorable pair!

Also, they didn’t hiss or spit at me, or act afraid, while I handled them this time. We need to be really careful about handling them, as it risks Brussel moving them somewhere else if she doesn’t like it, but they do need to get used to human contact if we want any hope of socializing them.

I was able to get the cat cave pushed into the cube in the cage, then used a broom handle to push it in even further, and settle it onto the blanket on the bottom of that cube. Hopefully, it won’t get pulled out of the cube again, and the walls of the cut will keep it from tipping over.

Once that was done, I went to park the truck in the garage and, by the time I got back, Brussel was in the cave with her babies, and I was able to give her her wet cat food treat. If nothing else, the extra food we give her might be enough to keep her from moving her babies. I’ve found the mamas tend to move their litters several times before they get too big – sometimes to the empty farm buildings across the road from us, and we really don’t want her dragging her babies through the garden, across a rather busy gravel road, ditches on either side, and around a pond on the other property, before crossing the farm yard to reach one of the buildings they can get into!

We do what we can to keep them close, but with the ferals, there’s just no real way to do anything about it. Even Butterscotch, before we finally got her spayed and indoors, would move her kittens across the road, and she was a socialized cat!

We shall see how it works out.

In other things…

My daughter and I had our appointments one after the other – having the same doctor is very convenient! – in the afternoon, but we left a fair bit earlier. We stopped at the feed store in my mother’s town to pick up a couple of 40 pound bags of kibble (we’ll need at least 2 more, but I’m hoping to get them at the feed store to the north of us) for the outside cats. Another quick stop for drinks and some beef jerky for the road, and we continued on to the town the clinic is in. We got there in good time and hung out in the truck for a while, chatting, before going in. My daughter had her appointment first, and I was waiting in the examination room next to where she was by the time she was done and making a follow up appointment for next month. I could even hear her at the desk and made a point of checking my calendar to let her know what dates/times worked for me. My own appointment was for a physical, so I was booked for a longer time.

Last month, I had brought my medical files from the other clinic over, and was able to keep the hard copies after they were scanned. I finally remembered to go through them last night, and I certainly had some things to discuss with the doctor! I was quite perplexed by some of what I read in there.

For a number of appointments, there was a list of “no this” and “no that” for various symptoms. There was one in there that should not have been; every one of the lists included “no joint pain.”

????

I’ve been dealing with joint pain and osteoarthritis for 30 years – and the OA was never even mentioned in there! After one appointment I remember, it mentioned that I brought up about going on disability, but that it was not recommended. It did NOT mention why I thought I should go on disability – which was my joint pain! More specifically, I had so much pain in my hands at the time that I couldn’t even grip the door knob to my bedroom to open it. We actually switch to a lever style handle to accommodate me. That was on top of everything else, like needing to use hand rails and arm bars, just to take two steps, and using my husband’s bath chair to take a shower. I mentioned a few other things that should have been in there, but wasn’t, like my chronic cough, and the mystery pain in my side that, while getting better, has never really gone away.

While talking about the arthritis pain, I remembered to ask if the painkillers she prescribed to me were something you could get used to. She had doubled my dose (basically, so I could take the full dose twice a day, instead of once a day), but it was no longer really working. Especially at night. Lately, my hips have really been bothering my, making it much harder to sleep due to pain and constantly have to roll over. She double checked. The general answer was yes; our bodies can technically get used to any pain killer, but also yes for this specific painkiller.

I was already at the max dosage.

So that was going to need to be changed.

She asked me how I felt about getting hip replacements. I told her, I’ve never been referred to anyone about that, but I’m still pretty mobile, even with the pain, so it’s not really something I think I’m ready for.

Then she asked me about going on disability. As in, was this something I’d be interested in starting the process for.

That rather surprised me, and I asked if she thought I qualified and she said yes; with my OA, I most definitely did.

I found out later that she suggested it with my daughter, too.

So I’ll need to go online to find the paperwork to fill out – I did that years ago, but there would be changes in the forms since then. I also need to find out why my printer started to print things squeezed onto the page in landscape orientation, as if for a 2 page spread. I’ve gone through all the settings and can’t figure out how to fix it. Technically, we can still fill them out that way; it’s just that the print is really tiny!

Once we have the forms printed out, there’s parts we need to fill out, then parts for the doctor to fill out. We went through this with my husband, of course, so we already know they will probably be rejected automatically, and we’ll need to apply again, which will get accepted. I think that’s how they weed people out, since many won’t try again. Or they die, first.

While I was getting my physical exam, she was palpating the area in my side with the mystery pain. Which got rather painful!

It’s also no longer a mystery.

She explained that, since it was determined not to be related to any organs, it had to be the muscle (when I first noticed the pain, years ago, I at first thought I’d pulled a muscle). Not the obliques, though. I just had to look it up; the Latissimus Dorsi. They attach at the floater ribs and around to the spine. Which would be why I feel pain at the bottom of my ribs, and why I have a tendency to hunch to one side.

I told her, this is the first time any one has mentioned this to me in all these years. She told me, she wishes someone had, years ago! This pain goes back to somewhere around 2011-2012.

What I forgot to do was ask what I can do about it!

That’s okay. I’ll have a chance to ask her, next month.

It’s been ages since I’ve had my blood work done, so she wrote me up for that, along with an EKG. I got my regular prescription renewed, and the new painkillers to try. Since my daughter will be back next month, she said to double book with her again, and we’ll follow up on the test results, and on how the new painkillers are.

That done, I was going to do my blook work at the lab right there, but they had closed for the day by then. I’ll be going to my mother’s tomorrow, though, and will be taking her for her monthly blood work, so I can do mine – and the EKG – at the same time. My daughter had already called the pharmacy about her medications, including a new one, so I called ahead about mine. I told them where we were, so they knew they had more than half an hour before we’d get there, to have the medications ready for us.

So we made the drive in to pick those up, then run a couple of errands, since we were in town anyhow, before heading home.

I really hope those new pain killers work better. The last while has been particularly bad for hip pain.

I must say, I’m really happy with this doctor. More importantly, so is my daughter! It’s been so hard to get her to see a doctor – and to find a doctor that takes what she is there for, seriously. The last time she’d tried to see a doctor, it was for major upper back pain, and the doctor instead kept asking her about things like her periods – she quite obviously has PCOS, so that is legitimate, but it wasn’t why she was there! Now that we’ve found this doctor, she’s actually starting to be able to bring up various things she’s been ignoring for years, so it looks like we’ll be doing monthly appointment for quite a while. Which just happens to get me to finally see a doctor more often. I’m terrible for just not bothering. Especially after all those years of trying to find out why I have a chronic cough, or that pain in my side, and having test after test come back normal. After a while, the doctors start to look at you like you’re making things up, or that it’s all in your head.

So that is now done for this month.

Tomorrow, I’m off to my mothers to do her shopping for her, and get her to the lab for her blood work. She has an appointment already booked with her doctor in a couple of weeks, so we’ll be able to go over the results for that.

At some point, I have to get my husband to a lab for his blood work. He got a requisition in the mail, weeks ago, but between his pain levels, and both of us simply forgetting, it hasn’t been done yet!

He’s one that has pretty much given up when it comes to any sort of treatment or health care, even with his new doctor.

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer

Again! but some good stuff, too (plus a bit of a rant)

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First, the cuteness. I haven’t been able to take photos of the cats much lately, but I did get this adorable shot, yesterday.

Or was it the day before yesterday?

I’m losing track.

I was tending to the flexible hose for the emergency septic diverter, getting any liquid sitting in it, out, and the cats were very interested! Syndol, however, went for a post-eye view! 😁

This morning, I was just starting to feed the cats outside, when my cell phone started ringing.

*sigh*

There’s really just one place that calls my cell phone.

Home care.

Yup. They were short staffed again. This time for my mother’s morning meds.

Given what time it was, I quickly finished feeding the cats, grabbed my purse, then finished short rounds before heading to my mother’s. With what time she’s supposed to take her morning medications, I didn’t have time to change or call her ahead. So my mother got a bit of a surprise when I came in the door instead of home care this morning!

I wasn’t there for very long, but a lot happened in that short time. She has some confusion about her meds and that led to her making all sorts of assumptions and accusations. Then she commented on how the case coordinator we had a meeting with yesterday had said we’d soon be getting rid of the lock box. Very clearly, she said this, according to my mother.

Which is the opposite of what she actually said.

After answering her as best I could while doing her meds, I took her blood pressure. It is much better this early in the day than in the evening. She had already made herself some breakfast, but I was able to empty her commode for her. I offered to help her dress, but she was happy to stay in her warm and fluffy night gown today, as she doesn’t need to go anywhere. My sister will be coming by later, so she will be able to do more light housekeeping and laundry for her. Hopefully, she also found a hot water bottle and some Velcro shoes for my mother, too. Finding shoes that my mother can get her feet into is even harder than for me. She has massive bunions and bunionettes, so her feet are much, much wider at the ball of the foot, even compared to mine. My sister was also planning to bring some microwave dinners as well. Home care will be able to heat those up for Mom, if she wants them to.

As we were talking, my mother mentioned that our vandal and his wife had stopped to visit her not long after I’d left yesterday. !!! It seems they were on the way back from another chemo treatment. Apparently, he was so sick, he couldn’t sit down, but had to lie on the couch and, even while driving, has to lay the seat back.

If he’s that sick, he shouldn’t be visiting my mother.

But, he’s playing her like a lute, and it’s working. She feels so sorry for him, and started telling me how my brother and I shouldn’t be “afraid” of him, and that we should basically suck up to him because he’s sick. She heard the messages he’d managed to leave with my brother’s voice mail, and knows full well he claims we caused his cancer, among other far more vile things he said about me and my daughters. Unfortunately, she is easily swayed. I don’t know what he’s trying to get out of her (and I doubt his wife has any idea that he made those calls), but he’s certainly succeeding in getting her to feel sorry for him. I think my brother may need to keep an eye on her accounts to see if any checks made out for large amounts get cashed!

After I left, I decided to stop at the post office to pick up a couple of parcels. I have another that’s supposed to arrive tomorrow, and was going to pick them all up on my way home from getting the truck to the garage, but went ahead and got the two that were there today, anyhow. More on that later!

Once I got home and updated my family, I called up the case coordinator. She was actually in her office, so I was able to talk to her directly. I knew she would have heard the messages I’d left yesterday, but there was no need for her to follow up on those. I wanted her to know about how my mother had declared she had said the opposite of what she really said, about the lock box, and about my mother’s confusion with her bubble packs.

I also mentioned that our vandal had showed up yesterday. She is somewhat aware of that situation. We talked about how it would work out if my mother were in a nursing home. Particularly the one she wants to be in. I would hope that we’d be able to ban him from visiting her, but they don’t really have security. Their security is to keep nursing home patients from wandering off, not to keep people out. The only real way to keep him away would be if there were a court order, and we looked into that several years ago. My mother would have to go to court herself, which she physically can’t do. My brother, as PoA, could only do it on her behalf if a doctor declared my mother mentally incapable of doing it herself. That she is physically unable to doesn’t matter. Granted, her cognitive decline would make it difficult for her to do it, too, but she’s not far enough gone for the PoA to kick in, in that regard.

Either way, it’s disturbing that he keeps showing up at my mother’s, and that she lets him in. At least his wife is with him, so he’d be on better behaviour. Apparently, he’s so unwell, he can’t sit, and had to lie down. Even while in the vehicle, he has to have the seat back. Even the case coordinator wondered, if he’s that sick, why is he stopping to see my mother?

Once all that was done, I could finally make myself breakfast – brunch? Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Once again, I am giving up sugar and simple carbs. Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, that sort of thing. The first year I did that, it was not that difficult. Last year, it was oddly difficult. But then, it wouldn’t mean as much if it was easy.

I ended up making a creamy meat soup for breakfast, with bacon lardons, celery, mushrooms, ground beef, mushroom broth, cream, a can of mushroom soup and a handful of shredded cheese (cheddar and mozzarella). It turned out delicious!

That done, I finally got to opening the packages. One of them was the keyboard protector I originally bought for myself. March is a birthday month, though, and after talking to my younger daughter, I found that my older daughter would not want what I originally planned to get her. Knowing that she has the same issues with cats on her keyboard that I do – and her computer is how she makes a living – I decided this might make an acceptable gift, instead.

When I took it out of the box, I discovered some pleasant surprises!

This is what I got. (not an affiliate link) Just a basic acrylic piece in the large sise, that would fit over my ergonomic keyboard.

It was not the only thing in the box!

The cover itself came with self adhesive, no slip pads to protect the desk surface. There is also an optional back cover, with clear Alien Tape type stuff to attach it, if necessary.

Then there was the clear acrylic phone holder.

A colourful round mouse pad.

and… what the heck???

An odd looking stick and some brightly coloured fuzzy things???

The odd looking stick turned out to be a “fishing rod”, and the fuzzy things were the “lures”.

It was a cat toy, with two different fluffy “lures”.

I called my younger daughter down and asked her if she thought her sister would like it as her birthday gift. We knew she wouldn’t have much use for the phone holder, and the cat toy would, of course, be for the cats, but she said that yes, her sister would like the gift. So she took it upstairs to set up over her sister’s keyboard as a surprise.

Then she got the cat toy out and put it together with a highlight marker yellow lure, discovering that the rod was telescoping!

The cats went absolutely insane over it!

Unfortunately, one of them woke up my older daughter after parkouring off of her stomach to get to the other room and try and catch the lure!

So my older daughter now knows what she got for her birthday – and then promptly fell back asleep!

My younger daughter was able to get all the cats downstairs and played with them for some time. Only the three grandmas were completely uninterested, and stayed on my bed! Tin Whistle was the most insane with her leaping and twisting and flipping through the air. Amazingly, the cat that was almost as acrobatic was Tin Whistle was Cheddar! He’s such a big boy, I really did not expect that!

When she saw Tin Whistle actually starting to pant (cats should NOT pant!), she stopped and tucked it way into the bathroom, where the cats are not allowed, until next time.

I plan to get two more of these covers. One for my own keyboard and one for my younger daughter. While I did balk slightly at the cost, the extras that came with it more than made up for it! Only the optional back panel was included in the description.

I am getting quite the giggle out of this “Engrish” description of the large sized cover.

【large size】20”long x 7”Width x 4.7”high. 0.4” thick；- this is large enough to cover each of them with enough room for keyboard. It’s high enough allows boys with large palms to type without any hindrance. that you can use the keyboard easily. It’s thick so it can take the weight of you chonky adult cats easily. Compared with glass, the sturdy and drop-proof acrylic material makes it safer.

Boys with large palms!

You chonky adult cats!

Too funny.

On a completely different note, I’ve been chatting with the Cat Lady today. They’ve been in the US for the past while, combining a family holiday with her husband doing a presentation at a conference. It turns out he was offered a job and they are seriously considering moving. Or, more accurately, she would really like to move. He’s not too keen on moving. As someone who has moved so many times, I’d be more like her husband on this one! Plus, they’ve been in their house for less than 2 years. So why would she want to move?

Better weather (Florida).

Better healthcare (US in general)

No state income tax (her husband would get to keep 52% more of his income).

Better political leadership, both state and federal.

I can’t argue against any of those points. Especially right now, when our Liberal government has chosen a tariff war that will destroy our economy, rather than accepting the reasonable request of beefing up our border security, dealing with the fentanyl crisis and meeting our NATO obligations, all of which we should already be doing.

If you’re hearing about it in the news and the US is being painted as the “bad guy” in all this, and Canadians are all up in arms against Americans and boycotting, they are lying. We could easily have avoided a tariff war, but our governments, federal and most provincial, have decided to play a dick waving war. Most Canadians see that, but you won’t be hearing about them, in the media.

Like the quote, wrongly attributed to Sun Tzu, goes…

“An evil enemy will burn his own nation to the ground… to rule over the ashes“.

That is what our own government has chosen to do. Burn our nation to the ground, but now they can blame Trump for it. Our own government is the “evil enemy”, not the US.

Honestly, it’s gotten to the point where, if it were an option, I’d be moving, too. That whole “51st state” thing? That might well be the only thing that can save Canada. Lord knows, we haven’t been able to save ourselves. As I write this, Trudeau is still our Prime Minister, having stated his intent to resign after a new Liberal leader and PM is chosen, in a few days.

In our system. we don’t vote for our Prime Minister in federal elections. We have 338 elections for our Members of Parliament. The party that has the most winning MPs wins the federal election, and that party’s leader becomes the PM. The PM is supposed to also be an MP. Technically, he or she could still be PM if they did not win in their own riding, but they would not be able to debate in Parliament. In the rare event that this happens, an MP that did win would volunteer to step down. The party leader would officially move to that riding and be the MP in their stead.

On announcing his intent to resign, our Prime Dictator got the Governor General (who is supposed to be a neutral representative of the crown, but is a partisan T2 appointee) to shut down parliament. This was to avoid a planned vote of non-confidence which would have passed and triggered an election. The act was blatantly unconstitutional, but then, most of what T2 and his Liberals have done for the past 10 years have been unconstitutional and often outright illegal, and they’ve been getting away with it.

With T2 (not to be confused with his father T1, who was the most hated PM in Canadian history until now) saying he will step down when a new party leader is selected, there is now a leadership race. They managed to get rid of the one person that was actually competent (a woman born in India, and if there’s one thing our “feminist” PM can’t stand, it’s a strong, ethnic woman), so there are 4 people running for leadership. The one that they are blatantly working to install is Carney, a guy that hasn’t lived in Canada for more than 10 years, holds 3 passports, has destroyed the UK economy and, it turns out, has been advising our Prime Dictator for the past 5 years. So he’s been busy destroying our economy, too. Of course, he isn’t an MP, but that doesn’t seem to matter. He’s actually worse than T2. If (when) he is installed, he would automatically become PM – though when asked directly, when he would resign, T2 said it would be up to whoever won the leadership race. So… he might not resign after all.

Carney, meanwhile, has already talked about using emergency measures in Canada. My prediction (please, God, let me be wrong) is that, once installed into office, he’ll pull a Zelensky. Invoke the war measures act (aka: the emergency act) and declare martial law (because, Trump), and ban any elections. They can keep parliament from resuming, but can push through that “internet safety” bill they were trying to force through before parliament was shut down. This bill, if passed into law, would literally allow for people to be arrested for thought crimes and pre-crimes. Basically, anything anyone says that the government does not approve of can lead to charges, but it would also allow people to press charges against each other essentially for hurt feelings. It would allow them to ban opposition parties, start arresting anyone who disagrees with them, and give them the power to control the media, including social media.

It blows my mind that Canada has fallen so far. Worse, there are so many people who actually cheer this on.

So… yeah. I can understand why so many people have been leaving Canada (a trend that has been going on for years) for greener pastures, like the US.

I would certainly be sad to see the Cat Lady and her family go, but if they are able to escape, more power to them!

Thankfully, we live in the boonies. Things would be much worse if we still lived in a city!

I also mentioned to the Cat Lady about my having to cover for home care so many times. She completely understood our situation. Her mother had gone through the same with her mother (the Cat Lady’s grandmother. She had to be there almost all day, every day, because there were so many cancellations and screwups.

Suddenly, our situation doesn’t seem to bad!

When I got the call this morning, I confirmed that this evening’s med assists were still on schedule, and was told yes. I’m still half expecting my cell phone to ring, and be told they suddenly don’t have staff again.

What a mess.

Still, we do what we have to do, right?

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer

A quick update

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My brain is feeling fried, so not much to say this time.

While heading to my mother’s for the meeting with home care, I noticed the trip meter on the truck was already at almost 450km. It’s only March 4, and I reset it when I filled the tank at Costco on Feb. 28. Just over 100km of that was the trip home. The rest was the first three days of March.

If I keep getting so many calls to cover med assists like in the past couple of weeks, this is going to be a very expensive month on gas!

I got to my mother’s early, in case she needed help with getting dressed or anything like that. She was already dressed and ready. She and I are alike in one thing: if we have some sort of appointment, we can’t sleep the night before.

Yeah, I’m didn’t get much sleep last night, either.

We got to talking and my mother quickly launched into an attack on my brother. She started accusing him of keeping secrets from her again, and said a few strange things. One was how he “brags” about his technology (he doesn’t brag. Even the slightest attempt to talk about his work is so far beyond her ability to understand, he avoids talking about his job at all). Then she said, she doesn’t want his technology, but his kindness.

No one has been kinder to my mother than him. No one has done more for her than him. He has covered her butt for decades. But because he doesn’t tell her all his personal stuff, and doesn’t always agree with her, doesn’t allow her to treat him like her personal slave, that means he’s not kind to her – then she suddenly started saying that it’s his wife that controls everything. !!!!

There was one thing she said that actually confirmed something we’ve suspected for some time now. A matter of phrasing, really.

She is getting my brother mixed up with my dad.

He looks more and more like my dad as he gets older. My mother and my dad were always butting heads. A very dysfunctional relationship. We’ve noted that she’s treating my brother like she used to treat my dad. Today, she actually started talking about him as if he was my dad.

Then there was a knock at the door, and the case coordinator arrived.

We talked for while about all sorts of things. They’ve not been able to find exactly what happened with the morning no-shows. The best they could come up with is that there was confusion and lack of communication because a previous shift scheduler has been away for the past month, and there is come chaos with the people filling in for her.

I tested my mother’s BP so she could see how my mother has to move around when just shifting from chair to chair, so I could access her left arm. My mother and I had already decided that, at the end of the meeting, I would take her to do her blood work, so the case coordinator could observe how my mother gets into the truck, and moves around in general.

In the end, it looks like my mother will start getting some meal assists – all they can do is things like make her a sandwich, or reheat leftovers. My mother was indeed already scheduled for longer time in the mornings, for assistance in dressing and emptying her commode, but it hasn’t been happening, so that will be looked into. I don’t think my mother is in “bad” enough condition for her to actually get considered more urgently to get her into supportive living or long term care. Which is so very frustrating.

After the meeting was done, I got my mother to the lab in the local hospital with no doctors, just a few blocks from my mother’s place, for her blood work. Only one vial was needed, and no one else was there to get done, so it was really fast. Just that outing wore her out, though, and she was glad to be home. It was just coming up on lunch time, so I got some food together for her before I left.

And that was pretty much it. I had actually intended to go for a nap, I’m so tired, but after I had my own lunch, it just didn’t make sense to try and nap, or I’d screw up my own night. So I’m basically just dragging my butt through the day until it’s a reasonable hour to go to bed.

I need sleeeeeeepppp.

Thankfully, I don’t have any appointments tomorrow, so I should be able to have a recovery day. Unless I get another call from home care to cover my mother’s meds again! Then I have the appointment at the garage for the truck to do a whole bunch of relatively small things before they become big things, along with replacing the oil sensor. Which means a few hours in town, while it’s being worked on. I should have several parcels to pick up by then. Two are already in and waiting. One is something I finally broke down and ordered; a clear acrylic guard for my keyboard, to keep the cats from walking on it and digging under it! Ghosty in particular is truly dedicated to waiting until I’m in bed, then digging under my keyboard. She’s even knocked it right off my computer table at times! That and many is the time I’ve gone back to my computer and discovered all sorts of strange things have been opened, some of which I have no idea which keys got stepped on to find!

Anyhow.

Time to move on to things that don’t require much thought processing. Like laundry!

The Re-Farmer

Good, yet not good

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Well, I’m back from going to my mom’s for her med assist. I’m glad I went, in one sense, and wishing I hadn’t had to in another.

It wasn’t just my mother.

After I’d called my mom to let her know I’d be coming over to do her evening med assist, I had time to get a few things done. It was absolutely gorgeous out today, with temperatures just above freezing. I fed the outside cats early and took the time to check on the flexible hose on the emergency septic diverter. The black plastic had warmed up enough that I was able to get quite a bit of the thawing ice chunks out. It wasn’t in any danger of getting blocked by ice, but I still wanted to get as much out as I could.

While I was outside, my mother called back and left a message, asking if I could pick up some milk and croissants along the way. Since my sister introduced her to croissants, not that long ago, it has become her favorite thing to have with tea!

Which just meant leaving a little bit earlier.

The first problem was actually at home. We’re all pretty unhappy about how often homecare hasn’t been able to do my mother’s med assist, just in the short time since she got out of the hospital. My siblings have expressed their dissatisfaction, but they have also expressed their gratitude that I’ve been able to take care of it. It would be a lot more difficult for them to do it! My husband, however… well, along with his physical disability, he also has military related PTSD. With him, it was more anger, and he started taking his frustrations out on me. Which I don’t put up with.

We are not a couple that has arguments, as others do. We don’t raise our voices at each other, or anything like that. But when we disagree on things, and my husband recognizes that he is starting to get a PTSD rage response, he has medications and coping techniques to deal with them, which is what he resorted to.

I’ll just leave it at that.

When I headed out, my first stop was at the grocery store to get the stuff for my mother and, since I was there, to pick up more of the deli meats for ourselves that this store has at better prices than anywhere else I’ve seen. Then I went to the gas station to top up the truck and pick up my mother’s favorite fried chicken and wedges. I wasn’t sure if my mother would have had her supper yet, but I wanted to make sure she had something available so she wasn’t taking her meds on an empty stomach.

I’m glad I did. It looks like she was just going to heat up a can of cream of mushroom soup for her supper, and was out of milk to make it with.

After putting away her things, we sat down for our supper.

My mother was just looking for things to rage at today.

The first was about my having to drive soooooo far, just to give her her pills. The doctor wouldn’t want that! I told her, the doctor doesn’t care. He just cares that she gets her medications. Then she raged that she should can take her medications herself. I side tracked that. She started saying that home care should just come once a day, and leave her medications for the rest of the day ready for her. I told her, they can’t do that. They have very strict regulations they have to follow these days. They can’t even take pills out of the bottles, but only out of bubble packs.

Oh, you’re always taking their side, she says.

Then it came up about my brother visiting her yesterday, after having gone to the farm, first. I mentioned I had been out and missed them entirely, and that he’d just gone to tend to their truck, as a way of saying he was at the farm for a very short time.

Which my mother latched onto. She’d forgotten that they’d sold their property and everything was at the farm now. We weren’t talking about it, because if she remembered, she would end up telling our vandal about it, and that’s the last thing we need.

Well, I won’t get into how it went with that, but she went into another rage against my brother and started to literally invent scenarios in her head about how he was “keeping secrets” from her, among other far less pleasant things. It took some doing to calm her down and distract her.

All before we even finished eating our meal.

Once we were done eating and got her table clear, I got her supper meds out for her to take, while I made notes for the next home care person to see, then prepared her before bed medications and puffer, before putting everything else back into the lock box. Then I got her blood pressure machine, which she had hidden away in a closet, and tested her.

After that, I started changing her garbage and doing some clean up, when she asked me to do her water bottles. She fills various bottles of water she uses for drinking and cooking from a tap in the laundry room that has softened water, and they were all empty. So I took care of that, then washed her dishes, before getting ready to head home.

As I was getting my jacket on, I reminded her again to take her last meds between 8 and 9pm, when she told me she’d already taken her puffer.

…

What? When???

It turns out that, while I was filling her water bottles, she decided to take her inhaler dose.

This is not the first time she tried to do this with me. During one of the past evenings I’d gotten her evening meds ready, she suddenly decided she should take her puffer dose right way. I stopped her and said to take it with her before-bed medications. This is supposed to help her with her breathing at night (I don’t think it’s actually making a difference, but it’s a trial). It’s not going to help her much if she takes it too early.

When I found out she’d taken it, I told her all the same things again. She seemed surprised by it. I have no idea why she gets it in her head to take it so early. She takes a puff twice a day. With her morning meds then, about 12 hours later, with her before bed meds.

Thankfully, doing this won’t harm her, but if she can’t be relied on to wait 3 hours before taking her before bed medication, I may have to stop getting them ready for her on nights like tonight, when home care is short staffed for both evening med assists. I will have to go home, then come back 3 or 4 hours later.

She’s already losing it over the fact that I’m coming at all. If I start having to come in twice in one evening, I don’t know how she would handle it. She certainly would think that her own actions have anything to do with it, but it does add another layer of concern.

Thankfully, we’ve got a meeting with the home care case coordinator in a couple of days. I should give her a call tomorrow, just to let her know about my mother’s behaviour, as it’s not something I could tell her about, with my mother there. As concerning as it is, perhaps this is one more thing that will get my mother into long term care, as she has been wanting for months now.

I didn’t stay too much longer after that. Thankfully, the days are longer now, so it was still light out during the drive home, and I could actually see the deer, well in advance!

Once home, my priority was to update my siblings – and apologize to my brother and his wife. My simple comment about him coming out to the farm and why set her off, and now she’s going to be even worse towards him because of it. My mother keeps saying how she loves all us siblings equally, but her actions belie her words. The twisted hatred she has developed towards my brother has been getting so much worse. It bothered me less when it was directed at me, the first couple of years we were living here, than it does now that it’s directed at my brother. No one has done more to help her and take care of things for her than he has, for so many years. He deserves so much better than this!

*sigh*

So, on the one hand, I’m really glad I ended up going to my mother’s, today, as she ended up needing help with other things as well.

On the other hand…

*sigh*

It is what it is, and there is little we can do about it but, my goodness, it shouldn’t be this way!

The Re-Farmer

Well, so much for that…

/ Re-Farmer / 4 Comments

Today was supposed to be a home day. And it mostly was.

Then I got a phone call.

From home care.

They don’t have anyone do to my mother’s med assist for her two evening visits.

Which means I am going to soon be on my way to take care of that.

My mother came home from the hospital on Feb. 10. Today will be the 20th day since she’s been home and her meds set up with the lock box. In those 20 days, this evening will be the 4th time I’ve had to do a med assist due to short staffing. Technically, 7 times, since she has two evening visits, and I’ve had to prepare her before-bed pills, too. Plus, she has had two morning no-shows, where someone was scheduled to show up, didn’t, and they don’t know why.

It’s a good thing we’ve got a meeting already set up in a couple of days. I had no problem being the one for them to call if they are short staffed, but that was supposed to be a fairly rare occasion.

This is ridiculous.

The Re-Farmer

Home care follow up

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

Today, I took my daughter to the town north of us for a medical scan appointment she had. After that, we went to the livestock supply store to pick up four 40 pound bags of kibble for the outside cats. My daughter hadn’t been to this store before, so she got to spend some time looking around before we headed out.

I had just started the truck to head out when my cell phone rang. Talk about perfect timing!

It was the home care coordinator, following up on the messages I’d left. The last one I left, I told her I was going to be out, and to call my cell phone.

The first thing to talk about was the med assist visit that didn’t happen, two mornings ago. Under normal circumstances, if a home care worker didn’t fulfill a med assist, a note would have been sent electronically to the case coordinator, letting her know why.

She never received any such notice. They only thing they have is a record saying the visit was not fulfilled. My mother was home, awake and waiting for the home care worker, so it’s not like someone knocked at the door and there was no answer. In fact, if that did happen, they would have contacted me about it so that a wellness check could be done.

They are still investigating, to find out what happened. This is the second time this has happened since my mother got out of the hospital, so in only a couple of weeks!

The other thing to talk about was my mother’s extra bubble packs being on her fridge. I know that, when my brother got the larger lock box, all the bubble packs were put into it. He’d even commented on how well they fit. So why were the unopened packs taken out, with only the active pack inside the box? None of us know.

I told her about my own evening med assist visits after being called because they were short staffed. I explained I’d made notes of what I’d done to include in the lock box for their records. She asked if the bubble packs were all in the lock box again and I explained that I was going to do that, but my mother started to get very angry and demanded the inactive pack be put on the fridge, so I did, but made sure it was pushed back far enough that my mother couldn’t reach it herself. I talked to her about my mother saying these would be her “emergency” pills, if no one showed up again, and about what I found when I got her old packs to take to the pharmacy, and brought the loose pills in an organizer I’d found. I explained to her about how my mother had through the pharmacy had changed her prescription in one medication because it looked different, when the only thing that changed was the supplier for that medication.

We also talked about my mother now having a folding, indoor walker on loan from the Senior’s Centre, to use instead of her cane, because of her fears of falling. We talked about her increased memory issues, some of which my mother recognizes, some she doesn’t, and my mother’s own concerns about her finding it harder to communicate.

I did remember to mention that my mother needs an assist for her feet to trim her toe nails. That is something that home care should be able to arrange though the system. If not, my SIL found the name of someone local that does foot care, assessments, nail trims, etc. that we could call.

The coordinator was quite concerned about my mother’s memory issues, as that has gotten noticeably worse, and there is the increase concern for her safety due to reduced mobility. She wanted to talk to my mother directly. So we booked a time for next week at my mother’s, and I will be there.

Then, as my daughter and I were driving home, my phone rang again. Not a number we recognized, but I figured it was probably home care about being short staffed again. My daughter answered and put it on speaker phone.

It was the home care scheduler, letting me know that they did not have someone to do my mother’s med assist tomorrow morning.

🫤

So I will have to do that. She was scheduled for 8:55am, so I will make sure to show up around that time. I’m doing the Costco run tomorrow anyhow, so I can just leave earlier and stop at my mom’s along the way.

Once we got home, I phoned my mother to fill her in. When I told her about the appointment next week, which will be at 10:30am, the first thing she said was, why isn’t it in the afternoon?

*sigh*

I told her, because that’s the time the case coordinator had available!

While we will be talking about the missed visit, which is still being investigated, I told my mother the coordinator will be asking all sorts of things, so this is the time to talk about her worst days. None of this “oh, I’ll be fine, I can manage” stuff! She wants to be in a nursing home, so she can’t be making light of the issues she’s having!

Then I told her about tomorrow morning, and how I am going to the city anyhow, so it’s not problem for me to stop along the way.

Her response?

Can’t you tell them how far way you are?

I told her, they know where live. I am the closest. This is how it works. If they are short staffed, they call me.

Can’t I just do my own medicines?

No.

I didn’t even try to explain about doctor’s orders again.

Then she started to say, when she missed her medications, she felt fine, so it wasn’t a problem. Basically, implying that if they can’t come in for the med assist, she can just skip her medications and it’s fine.

I reminded her, most of her medications are preventative. They’re there to keep her from having a problem, so she isn’t going to notice anything if she missed them once here, and once there. But if it happens too often, then it can cause problems. One of her medications, for example, is for stroke prevention. If she doesn’t take that medication, she isn’t going to feel a difference – until she has a stroke!

To which my mother started saying, do you remember that oval yellow pill? The one for stroke? Do you remember that pill?

I told her, I don’t remember exactly which is which, but I do remember the yellow oval pill.

My mother then started saying, the pill is different now. It’s smaller.

I reminded her of the last time she had issues with this, when the pharmacy changed suppliers and the colour was slightly different.

Oh, the colour is the same now…

I told her, that wasn’t the point. The point is that not all suppliers have exactly the same appearance, but the medication would be the same. So it would be just as strong? she asked. Yes, it would be the same prescription. That has not changed.

I’ve been looking through her bubble packs in the last couple of evenings. Aside from one new pill and one changed dosage, neither of which are oval yellow pills, her pills look exactly the same as always.

When I once again confirmed that I would stop at her place on my way to the city, she started going on about how I go to the city sooo often.

I reminder her, I go to the city twice to stock up, at the end of the month, when pay comes in. That’s it.

We’ve had this exact conversation several times now. To her, it just seems like I go to the city all the time, because she isn’t noticing that an entire month has gone by since the last time we talked and I mentioned I was going into the city.

We got some more snow that started while my daughter was getting her scan done, and we’re supposed to get more, off and on, through the night. It should be done during the wee hours of the morning. Not heavy snow, but I’ll definitely have to be careful about slippery highways tomorrow. Our expected high of the day is supposed to happen around 7am, and then it’s supposed to keep dropping for the next 22-24 hours, when we’re supposed to reach an overnight low of -25C/-13F on Saturday morning. We’re supposed to go from that to a high of -10C/14F on Saturday, and keep warming up to a high of 1C/34F on Sunday! Monday is supposed to be 3C/37F! After that, the highs are supposed to drop to below freezing again, but not by much.

Just a few more weeks, and it’ll officially be spring. We might even have most of the snow melted away by then!

Won’t that be nice!

The Re-Farmer

Well, almost…

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

We’ve got another gorgeous day today. Our high ended up being 3C/37F, and things were melting all over the place. Even when I went out to do my morning rounds, when it was just below freezing still, it was just grand! I’m even finding a lot of extra trail cam files when I check them, triggered by cats going back and forth through the gate during the night. That camera is set to take 1 still shot, then a 10 second video, and the activity makes for some entertaining clips!

Also, those reflective collars work really well, glowing just like their eyes do in the infrared light. What I found interesting is that I can identify the feral tuxedo that had the injured eye so long ago. Only half of that eye reflects in the infrared light.

Yesterday, my bank app notified me of a pharmacy purchase, which I expected would have been a standard refill for my husband, to be delivered on Thursday. Since I was going to be in town anyhow, I decided to leave early enough to go to the pharmacy when it opened and pick up the meds before dropping off the truck. My husband asked me to pick up something else from a store across the street from the pharmacy, so I left a bit earlier to do that, too.

I left too early. 😄

The pharmacy turned out to be a very quick stop. There was no medication to pick up. They had forgotten to charge for my husband’s last refills. Since his medications are covered by both his private insurance and our provinces public insurance, sometimes he gets covered 90%, sometimes 100%, depending on the medication.

So that was a very quick stop, and picking things up across the street was also very quick. I ended up dropping the truck off at the garage more than 30 minutes early. Which is fine. I was expecting to just leave the keys with them and do other things. My appointment was at 10, but I viewed that more as a drop off time, depending on how busy they get.

They turned out to have an open bay already!

The owner/mechanic I usually talk to wasn’t there, though. He was sick, and there was another mechanic covering for him that I’d never met before.

So I went over with him, what was to be done besides just an oil change, and why. We got to talking about that check engine light being on and not being able to tell if it was the same sensor problem, or a new problem, without having to do an OBDII scan every time. He told me that he was constantly having to deal with sensor problems like that with GM vehicle. He’s got two, himself, and he has a hard time keeping up with them, lighting up his dash like a Christmas tree!

I hope the newer modals have fixed this issue!

After talking to him about the moisture in the system that has been causing issues, and that our mechanic is quite familiar with it, he said he would call our mechanic at home, just in case, to get any details he might need. I asked how long before I should come back, since I would be walking around town and might not hear a call or text. He said to come back around 11. I did make sure to mention that the needle on the oil gauge was at 0. He said that would be because of the sensor.

As I was leaving, I messaged the family and realized it was still only 9:30! Too early to go to the nearest places for breakfast.

In the end, I decided to stop at a grocery store I don’t usually go to. 1) because it’s in the middle of town, with tighter parking and 2) their prices tend to be a lot higher.

They did have a few things on good sale prices, though. I couldn’t get anything that needed to be refrigerated, though, so no taking advantage of the meat sales this time. Then, because all my bags where in the truck, I went ahead and bought another hard sided bag to carry it in. We can never have too many of those! They only had insulated ones with lids in the hard sided bags. More expensive, but worth it.

I used up enough time that I figured I could go to the DQ for “breakfast”, but…

They weren’t open?

The windows are tinted, so it’s hard to see if the lights are on inside, but the “open” sign wasn’t lit up. Eventually, I could make out someone inside wearing a high viz vest, but I couldn’t see anyone behind the counter.

Hmmm.

So I headed back to the garage, thinking I could stop at the hotel next to the garage and see if the Chinese food restaurant was open. The hotel’s doors are locked until 10am. I knew the restaurant was closed for their own holidays, but I couldn’t remember if they had reopened yet.

They reopen on March 21.

Okay.

I didn’t want to be carrying the bag around with me, since I can only carry heavier bags with my right arm, due to nerve damage in my left elbow, and that gets old fast. I thought I might be able to put it in the truck, but when I got there, it was up on the lift. They were okay with me leaving it in the office, though.

As I was leaving the office, the owner came in – and headed straight for my truck! He was sick and couldn’t work, but he still came in.

From there, I decided to try the DQ again. This time, I could see more people inside, including staff behind the counter. Their sign was still off, though. I went in and, sure enough, they were open. After placing my order, I told them about the sign. They had forgotten to flick the switch! 😄

With all the walking around, it was coming up to 10:30 by then, so I didn’t have to linger too long with my food before walking back to the garage. It was early, but I knew I could stay in their office waiting area if they weren’t done yet.

They were done.

When I sat at the desk to pay, I saw my keys with a note paper under it.

Hmmm…

As for the work done, they did not replace the sensor, but instead gave it another cleaning. That started off working, last time, and took almost $200 (including taxes and labour) off the final bill. Which was nice!

Then I asked about the list on the note paper.

The guy that worked on the truck noticed a few things that will need to be addressed. Things like the tires wearing more on the inside, so we’ll need a wheel alignment, a small tear in something I can’t remember the name of that might let grit in where it shouldn’t (we had that happen with our old van, too). Most importantly, it seems he found the source of an oil leak. The last time I was at the garage, he topped up the oil with half a litre. There is a plate on our vehicle where other, newer vehicles have a warmer, and the seal on that plate is leaking every so slowly. Which would explain why we never see any sign of a leak under the truck! There were a couple of other things he noticed, too. Nothing to stop us from using the vehicle normally, though. Our mechanic promised to message me a detailed estimate, including which things would be more of a priority. Fixing that oil leak would be really cheap, as it just needs a new gasket.

The final bill was $257.72 after taxes. I was expecting closer to $400. Most of the bill was the oil change and labour. The oil system cleaner was only $20, and the new filter was less than $7.

That done, I was ready to head home, started the truck and…

The check engine light was back on, and the oil gauge was at zero.

???

So I went back in and told the owner/mechanic.

He was very surprised when I told him this, and went to see for himself, and I gave him the keys to start it up (he walks faster than me! 😄). He was very apologetic and said he’s hope the cleaning would have been enough, but obviously, the sensor will need to be replaced completely. They will have to order it in.

So, I will be back for that. We’ll figure out when, once he orders the part and gives me the estimates for the other work.

*sigh*

The truck is purring like a kitten, though.

Since I did my errands earlier, I didn’t have to make any other stops and was able to head straight home. Which was good, because I had time to try and nap, having had a very sleepless night.

Now I’m extra glad I got that nap.

As I was writing the above, I got a phone call from my mother. While we were talking, my cell phone started ringing.

I saw an unfamiliar number and had a feeling I needed to answer it.

I was right. It was home care.

The scheduler was letting me know they did not have anyone to do my mothers supper and evening med assist for tonight AND tomorrow.

I had my cell on speakerphone, so my mother could her this, and said that no one showed up this morning.

!!!!!

I relayed that and she checked. Sure enough, her sheet said my mother’s morning visit was unfulfilled – but there was no reason given.

I asked her to see if she could find out and let me know, while confirming I would go my mother’s med assists for tonight and tomorrow.

My mother is really ticked off, because she feels she can, and should, be going her meds herself. She doesn’t want me to have to drive all that way to do her meds. I told her, I get to visit her this way. So she changed track and said, who is going to pay for the gas (she gives me gas money and has been very generous with that, so it’s not an issue right now). I told her, there is a program available where they cover the cost of fuel; I just have to find out how to apply for it. That seemed to satisfy her a bit. She was still staying, she can take her own medications, and she should be doing it herself. I told her, DON’T (the extra bubble packs are stored on her fridge for some reason). This is doctor’s orders, for her safety.

I then told her I wanted to call the case coordinator about this, because this is a real problem. Not that they’re calling me to do a med assist, but because this is not the first time since my mother has had the lock box – which is just a couple of weeks – that someone simply didn’t show up, and I never got a call about it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get off the phone fast enough; the office had just closed. So I left a message.

Then called back and left another message with my cell phone number, letting her know to call that number, because I’m going to be in the city tomorrow.

My daughter will be coming with me to assist, as needed.

As for me, I am going to be heading to my mother’s soon. I want to get there before she starts trying to get those bubble packs off her fridge and decides to take them early. I got the times her visits were scheduled, so I can work about that.

Time to boot up and heat out!

So glad the truck is done and checked over.

So glad I got that nap!

The Re-Farmer

Well, that didn’t turn out as planned

/ Re-Farmer / 8 Comments

We’re looking at a gorgeous day today. Bright and sunny, with an expected high of -5C/23F. Which we are as I write this, shortly past 2pm, with a “feels like” of -1C/30F

My one outing planned for the day was a trip to the dump, which is open long hours on Saturdays. I was up at my usual time, which is when all the cats seem to want to use all the litter boxes at the same time, and start getting antsy for the kibble. I topped up their bowls and closed up my door so Butterscotch could use the litter without being harassed by other cats, then tried to get a bit more sleep before heading outside to feed the yard cats, then load the truck.

Butterscotch, however, decided she really liked having the room to herself (Freya was there, but she just chills on my bed after she’s dong eating) and was racing all over, before finally settling down on the cat shelf by the ceiling.

She may have settled, but quite did not happen. Instead, I got a phone call.

It was home care, letting me know there wasn’t anyone available to do my mother’s med assist this morning.

So I quickly got up, updated the family, then called my mother to let her know there was no one available this morning, and that I would be there within the hour.

My mother is convinced that no one is showing up because they want to “fix her” – meaning, keep her from getting care and med assists, so that she would die. I told her, they are short staffed. They’re always shorted staffed. There could be many reasons no one was available.

She refuses to believe that. 🫤

After reassuring her that I would be there to give her her pills, I took care of the outside cats then headed out.

The outside cats were loving the relatively mild morning! Rolando Moon (in the second photo) was just rolling in the snow.

I noticed something about the kids in the isolation shelter, though.

One was missing!

No Grink!

I eventually found him, eating in the kibble house. It’s the first time I’ve seen him out of the isolation shelter in weeks!

Anyhow…

I had reached my mother’s town and was about to turn down her street when my phone started ringing. I don’t have hands free, so I left it to ring, but I immediately thought that it was home care again. As I got to her building and parked in my usual spot, there was one other vehicle there. Again, I felt sure this was home care, and that they’d found someone to do my mother’s meds.

After I parked, I checked my phone but did not recognize the number. I was about to listen to the voice mail message when a woman with a clip board came out from the car.

Yup. She was from home care, and she had just called me, hoping to catch me before I left, to say my mother’s med assist was done. We have never met in person before, but she said that when she saw my truck turn onto the road, she just knew it was me!

She updated me on how things went with my mother. The person who was scheduled to visit my mother this morning had called in sick. The person I was talking to was the weekend schedule coordinator, and she had tried to find another home care worker to visit my mom. Unfortunately, none of them would have had the combination for the lock box in their sheets, so she did it herself! She said she would be back to see my mother again, for her other med assists.

Since I was there anyhow, I went in to see how my mother was doing.

She was complaining, so she was doing well. 😄

She was making a big deal over my having to drive all that way, and how it was such a bother, etc. etc. I told her, this is my job, and I’m happy to do it! Moving out here was not just about taking care of the property, but to be close enough to help her when she needed it, since my other siblings live so much further, and have jobs. Mostly, though, she was demanding my brother come out at the drop of a hat, even though he lived the furthest. Especially after the title of the property was turned over to him, so that it would no longer be in the will, due to the antics of our vandal. If it were my brother who had driven all this way out, she wouldn’t have had any such feelings. If anything, she would complain that he didn’t do enough. Which is how she behaved before we moved out here, and he did come out more often.

While I was talking to her, I noticed her pulse oximeter was still on her table. I’m actually surprised she hadn’t hidden it away. So I got her to sit back and relax while I set it up.

Her heart rate and O2 levels are better than mine!

Then I asked her if there was anything I could help her with, such as getting dressed for the day or empty her commode. She said no, but that’s when I found out her morning visits have not been going this. They were supposed to be scheduled extra time for this, and it sounds like this hasn’t happened.

I’m going to have to call the case coordinator back and bring that up. I’m also going to have to bring up another issue…

As my mother was griping about home care not making it in (no sympathy at all that someone had called in sick, nor appreciation that someone else went out of her way to get to my mother and give her her med assist) and it’s such a bother for me to drive aaaaalllll that way (which is about half the distance my sister would have had to drive, and a quarter of the distance my brother would have had to drive, though neither of them were available)…

It came down to her meds being in a lock box, but if there is an “emergency” like this, she could just take her pills herself…

…

… as she indicated to the top of her fridge, where there is a pharmacy bag with her unopened bubble packs.

The only bubble pack in the lock box is the one that home care aids are actively using, along with their duotang of forms they initial every time they do her meds, and her inhaler.

I suppose it would be a tight fit, but doctor’s orders are, my mother does not have access to her meds, because she messes with them.

I didn’t do anything about it at the time, as it would have brought about a rage reaction, but I did tell her this was not a good thing – and that her continuing to rail about how her medications shouldn’t be in a box, and to leave them on the fridge, and don’t tell anyone they’re up there – we all examples of why she needs to have her medications in a lock box to begin with!

I’ve already updated my brother on that, but will also be talking to the case coordinator about it. It might be having all 4 weeks of bubble packs in the lock box made things a bit tight, but when my brother and his wife brought the new, bigger lock box, everything fit in there just fine. They should never have been taken out. The home care workers had been putting them on the fridge, out of my mother’s reach, before we got the lock box, but apparently, my mother can reach them. If nothing else, she could use her cane to simply knock the bag down.

So… that was a thing.

I asked my mother if there was anything else I could do, and she remembered a couple of things we forgot to put on her shopping list yesterday. So I went to the grocery store to get those for her, as well as a sandwich and a drink for myself. I hadn’t had breakfast yet and was starting to feel ill and dizzy.

That done, and once I was sure nothing else was needed, I headed to the gas station to top up the tank again. Before heading home, I updated the family, adding that I would back the truck up to the house so we could load it for the dump run.

It’s been a while since we’ve done a dump run – there was no way I was going to do it while we were being hit with the worst of the last polar vortex – so there was quite a bit. She moved the bags into the sun room for me, then I took them to the truck. She can only use one arm for this, since her ganglion is still really painful. Once the regular garbage and recycling was loaded, we had the very careful job of loading the bags from the honeypot. It’s been warm enough, only one of them was partially frozen. Even with using the stove pellets to absorb liquid, some of them definitely got extra care in loading! With four adults, with always at least one person having digestive issues, it seems, we’ve had to change the bags out quite a bit!

Double bagged, of course.

Once loaded, it was a quick run to the dump and then home. Before I left, though, I had a quick talk with my daughter.

Last night, my husband brought up the idea of going to town to a restaurant, just to have somewhere to use a real toilet again, instead of the honeypot. He would have done right then and there, if it hadn’t already been too late in the day for such a trip. I did, however, go through the budget and crunched some numbers, and found that we could manage it.

So I asked her to bring up with my husband and her sister (who was in bed after her night’s work) about this being an option.

When I got back, we were talking about my taking my husband and younger daughter out for a lunch, then taking my older daughter out for supper, after she’d had her full day’s sleep. My husband, however, had a really bad pain night and was simply not up to it an outing, and asked us to bring something home for him, instead.

So my daughter and I headed out and chose to go to a newer restaurant in town, that is associated with a brewing company. The city we lived in before we moved out here had a HUGE craft brewing community, and my daughters enjoy good beer, so we used to go to these whenever we could. I don’t like beer, myself, but I was willing to taste test theirs. 😄 This is the first time we’ve got to a restaurant/craft brewer since moving out here, so… more than 7 years.

We ended up both getting bison burgers (both skipping the jalapeno and I skipped the tomato). My daughter upgraded to a poutine with hers, while I got the coleslaw instead of regular fried. The burger was really good – and very messy! My daughter really liked her poutine, too. My coleslaw was surprisingly bland, though. It wasn’t bad, by any means. Just not what I expected. Both our meals also came with a couple of spears of pickles, with the cucumbers pickled in their own signature beer brine. My daughter also got a pint of one of their signature brews, which she quite enjoyed.

Once we were done there, we stopped at the DQ to pick up a meal for my husband, then headed home.

For now, I’ve got a bit of a break. I’ll be heading outside again to do the evening kibble and warm water soon. It’s so night out, I might not even bother putting on a jacket! I certainly didn’t wear my down filled parka today.

Then, I intend to wrangle my older daughter out of the house for supper. Knowing her, she will try to refuse. She has barely left the house – even to just go outside in the yard – in years. A down side to living in the boonies. Her work is all digital, so she doesn’t have to go anywhere, and since she works nights and sleeps days, she’s not around to go on trips into town or whatever.

What I really want to do right now, though, is go to bed! I got very little sleep last night, my attempt at sleeping in failed, and instead of just one outing today, I have had three, with one more in the works.

I guess it’s a perk that, with all this extra running around, I get to use public washrooms and eat food other people cooked but, to be honest, I would be just fine staying home. I do want the rest of the family to be able to get out, though. I really wanted to get my husband out. It’s been a rare thing for him to have an outing that doesn’t involve medical appointments!

I really, really hope my brother can get that pump working again, tomorrow. This is the longest we’ve had to use the honeypot, do sponge bathing, etc. yet, and we’ve had all sorts of plumbing problems since moving out here. At least we do have access to hot and cold running water. We just can’t let it go down the drain to the septic tank in any usual amounts.

Ah, well. It is what it is!

The Re-Farmer

Getting things done

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The main thing on my schedule for today was to go to my mother’s and help with her grocery shopping, but of course, there was plenty of things that had to be worked around the time I would be gone.

Part of my morning routine is to top of the dry kibble for the inside cats, luring (or chasing) them out of my office/bedroom and closing the door, leaving only Butterscotch and our elderly Freya in the room. Freya doesn’t bother Butterscotch, ever, so that works out. Once the other cats are out, I keep them out long enough that she can use the litter box without getting harassed by some of the younger cats, eat and drink, and just de-stress for a while.

She seems to be getting use to the routine, and has started to go around more and more of the room, like she used to when she first was brought in from outside. Which means that every now and then, I’d come back into the room and I can’t find her in any of her usual spots.

Today, I found her up by the ceiling!

She hasn’t gone up there in ages! It used to be one of her favourite spots to take naps, but it’s a favourite spot for a lot of the cats. I didn’t dare move too close and startle her away, but I did manage to zoom in for a photo.

Clearly, she was not trusting me, even though I didn’t come any closer!

Once the inside cats were done, it was time to do the outside cats. While we still have lots of donated wet cat food, since it’s too cold to give any to the outside cats, we were getting low on dry kibble in the bin. I reached a level where it was a mix of regular store kibble and a particular brand of feed store kibble. It’s been a while since they had that kibble, so I thought they might be willing to eat it again, after changing things up, but nope. I can see by the trays that they are actually picking out the other brand of kibble, and leaving the feed store kibble behind!

Getting more kibble from the feed store got added to my to-do list – just not that brand!

Once the outside stuff was done, I had time to look up some things and found we had at least on package ready to pick up at the post office, so I would leave a bit earlier to do that first.

I also decided on a style of camp commode honeypot to use in place of the bucket we’re using as a honeypot right now. I ended up choosing this one (not an affiliate link). It was the tallest of the ones I was looking at, has the elongated opening, can handle a lot of weight and still be stable (at least, that’s one of the selling features), has a padded seat, and can be folded up to take less storage space.

Plus, it was on sale. Bonus!

It has already been shipped, and should get here in about a week. Our septic pump should be working again well before then – I hope!!! – so this will be for the next time we have septic or plumbing problems!

With the way things have gone since we’ve moved here, I’m resigned to having some sort of septic or plumbing problems pretty much every year.

Another thing on my to-do list was to call the home care case coordinator. After talking to my mother on the phone on Monday, and finding out that no one showed up for two of her med assists on Saturday, I had left a message with the case coordinator. Today is Friday, and I hadn’t heard back yet, so it was time to call.

The case coordinator was in her office, so I got to talk to her right away, rather than leave another message. When I told her why I was calling, she was right on top of it, and had been looking into it.

According to my mother, when the person who was supposed to show up on those two med assist visits on Saturday showed up for the Sunday med assists, she told my mother she didn’t go to her place because she thought my mother was still in the hospital.

The case coordinator had confirmed she had visited my mother on the Thursday previously, so clearly, she knew my mother was home. There was nothing on the files to say that she did not visit my mother on the Saturday, either.

If my mother had been in the hospital still, she would never have been on their list to visit at all, but she was. There is no reason for the home care aid to have not shown up at my mother’s on that day.

The incident has gone up to someone higher up on the authority chain, and we should be hearing from her soon.

Since I had her on the phone, we covered a few other things. I let her know about the monthly bloodwork requisition forms I got yesterday, and that these would be stored in the lock box, so the care aids will know there will be something extra in there that they don’t have to deal with, other than leave them there.

I also asked if there was any progress in getting my mother into supportive housing or long term care. When it comes to the paperwork part of things, the case coordinator I’d started this with, who now works in the town the hospital my mother was in, had done as much as could be done at their end. Her file is just working its way through the system. It’s just really hard to get someone into long term care from the community, rather than from a hospital.

She did, however, talk to me more about the things to look out for that could help the process out. Basically, anything that makes it unsafe for my mother to be at home, both physical and cognitive. Physically, my mother is very concerned about falling, because that wrecked knee of hers now sometimes gives out. Frustratingly, the fact that she hasn’t fallen, and has managed to catch herself, means that they consider her okay to be on her own. With cognitive issues, my mother isn’t one to wander off and not know where she was going. Even if she did tend to wander, she physically can’t go very far, so that’s almost a moot point. There is her memory failures, though. Something my mother is noticing herself and quite alarmed by. So far, though, they have not been the sort of memory failures that would endanger her. She couldn’t remember until I questioned her, what day the home care aid didn’t show up, for example. She wrote it down, which is good, but then she couldn’t remember where the paper she wrote it down on was. None of this is endangering. Forgetting the stove on would be an example of endangerment – but my mother is aware enough of her own increased forgetfulness that she is super careful about that and constantly checks to make sure the stove is off (she does not use the oven at all).

Still, she gave us more things to keep an eye on that could help get my mother into the long term care she wants to be in.

The call done, it wasn’t much longer before I had to start heading out. By the time I got to the post office, a second parcel had been processed, which was nice. If it hadn’t been, it would have had to wait until Monday.

From there, it was to my mother’s town, early enough to go to the feed store and get a 40 pound bag of kibble, in the brand that cats will eat. While there, I asked about my order for 4 pounds of lysine (they come in 2 pound containers). I’d ordered some a while ago – before we had run out – but it still wasn’t in, the last time I was there. I had asked for it to be ordered again. This would have been at least a couple of weeks ago.

I’ve been there often enough that the guy is starting to remember me, but he couldn’t remember anything about lysine. He looked my file up but couldn’t find any order made. He was going to order it for me again when I happened to see something tucked into the shelf on the other side of the reception area that looked about right.

Sure enough, there were two 2 pound containers of lysine there! They don’t carry it normally, he knew nothing about it, and never noticed tucked into the shelf until I spotted it.

I bought the lysine, and he cancelled the order he had started, since this will last us a few months. I’m glad I spotted it. We’ve been out for a while, and I’m starting to see more coughing among both the inside and outside cats.

That done, it was off to the gas station to top up a bit, and pick up my own lunch of fried chicken and wedges, as my mother was getting her Meals on Wheels today. From there, I could finally go to my mother’s – and was even earlier than I told he to expect me!

Which gave us a chance to chat and visit while we waited for her meal to arrive. I was able to go over the bloodwork requisition forms with her, and she was happy with the idea of putting them in the lock box for safekeeping. I also updated her on my conversation with the case coordinator.

When it came to keeping an eye on things with her, I made a point of saying (again, though I doubt she remembers) that if someone like a doctor or nurse asks how she is feeling, this is the time to tell them the worst of how she if feeling! Not to brush things off by saying, “I’m doing all right”. My entire family is horrible for this. We could be sitting there with blood gushing out of a wound, and if someone asked how we’re feeling, we’ll say we’re doing just fine! It has taken me so many years of effort to get out of that habit, and I still fight it at times, so I totally understand what my mother is doing, and why. My mother’s response was, nobody wants to hear the bad stuff. I told her, when it comes to the doctors, they NEED to hear the bad stuff!

I honestly don’t think she got it, but at least I tried!

Meanwhile…

As I was getting some things from the cupboard for her, I took a look to see how stocked her fridge was, and noticed a container of what looked like soup, that looked out of place. I had immediate suspicions.

As we were sitting and chatting some more, my mother suddenly started telling me that our vandal has not been doing well, that he’d had to go to the hospital for a second time after his surgery, and that he was scheduled for more chemo today. She knew so much, I asked if my sister had been telling her this, since my sister is sometimes still in contact with our vandal (we all used to be very close to him). My mother immediately started to look sheepish.

No, they (he and his wife) visited.

Yesterday.

*sigh*

There is just no use in telling my mother she needs to cut ties with him. You’d think all those years of horribly abusive messages he left on her machine would be enough, or all the things he “borrowed” from this property when it was empty, and never returned, to the point she asked us to move here, but nope. Apparently not.

They had left her the mystery container of soup I saw in her fridge. My suspicions were correct.

I didn’t bother saying anything, though. There was no point.

Then her meal arrived, and we had our lunches together. I had suggested we go through her shopping list before hand, but it turns out she hadn’t made one! That is a first. She had gotten into sorting through her papers yesterday – she has a terrible habit of keeping way too many things that should be thrown out – until 1am, and never got to doing her shopping list!

So after we finished eating, we worked on her list, and even had a recent flyer to check out some sale prices.

That done, I was soon at the store, and even took advantage of some of their sales to get stuff for ourselves. We are still avoiding dirtying dishes as much as possible until we can use our plumbing again, so I wanted to pick up more sandwich meats at the deli. There are a few cuts that they have at the best prices I’ve seen anywhere. When I got there, I saw that most of this group had actually gone up in price – but they were still well below even the sale prices I’ve seen elsewhere. One type didn’t go up in price at all. So I could basically get twice as much meat as what I got at the other store – at sale prices – and still paid less. There were a few other things at sale prices I was able to take advantage of, though this being close to the end of the month, the budget is pretty low.

The good thing is, our temperatures have warmed up enough that I could leave the bags of my own purchases in the box of the truck without using insulated bags, and not worry about things freezing for quite some time! In fact, as I write this, it’s past 7pm, and we are still at a lovely -13C/8F right now! Granted, the wind chill is -21C/-6F, but after getting hit with the polar vortexes, that isn’t too bad at all!

Which meant that I didn’t have to hurry off after putting away my mother’s groceries. I was able to do some light housekeeping for her before heading out.

Before leaving, I messaged home to ask one of my daughters to meet me at the garage to help carry things in, so I wouldn’t have to pull into the yard or make two trips. Since I was the one carrying the 40 pound bag of cat food, I went ahead and did their evening feeding and warm water top up, while my daughter put away the groceries.

I am absolutely convinced The Grink has not left the isolation shelter even once, since the ramp door was opened!

Then, since we have lysine again, I broke out the Bullet. The lysine powder is pretty granular, so I grind it to a fine powder that will stick to the kibble. The first couple of batches were ground with raw pumpkin seeds until I ran out of seeds. That jar went for the outside cats, as the pumpkin will help them combat worms, and I’m sure the smallest cats are small because they have worms. Putting something in their food is pretty much the only way we can treat them, since most of them are too feral to catch, even if we could afford to take them to a vet.

The inside cats got cat soup with lysine in it.

Of course, there were dishes to be done. Since the septic tank is full and can’t be drained until the pump is fixed, we can’t drain water down the sink. That means doing dishes in one basin, rinsing in another, then tossing the dirty water outside. We keep pots and bowls in all our sinks right now, so we can still run water before we fill a kettle, wash an item or two, wash our hands, brush our teeth or sponge bathe, then take the containers outside to dump out the dirty water.

Inconvenient, but not as inconvenient as not being able to use the toilet!

Hopefully, this will only be until Sunday, when my brother comes out. I’m really, really hoping the pump can just be fixed, and we won’t have to find somewhere to buy a new one. There’s only one place that I know of that carries the one brand that still makes these pumps, and I have never seen them in stock. The city locations don’t seem to ever have them in stock, which makes sense. City people aren’t on septic systems.

Well, it is what it is. We deal with the hand we’ve got!

What else can we do?

Today, at least, I’ve managed to get quite a few things done while also being able to help my mother out, which saves on multiple trips! Tomorrow, if all goes well, we’ll load up the truck and I’ll finally make a trip to the dump. We’re supposed to reach a high of -4C/25F tomorrow!

I am so looking forward to that!!

The Re-Farmer

Well, that took a lot longer!

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Longer by a few hours!

My daughter and I planned to head out early for our appointments and errands. Before that happened, I’m happy to say the electric company showed up to replace the bulb in our yard light. It hasn’t been working right for quite a while. I’d submitted a repair request through their website, but the only way to do it was as a “report street light outage”. I never got a response, so I sent out another repair request about a week ago. This time, I included both versions of our physical address, neither of which exist on online maps, so I also included our section number. Which is what our electric bills use as our address already. Last time, the section number was the only address I’d given. I guess it worked, because today, they showed up!

The repair guys were just leaving when I headed out to warm up the truck, so I had a chance to talk to them. We now have an LED light, which should last longer, and should also be brighter. My daughter and I got home late enough today that it was actually on, confirming that it’s working again.

Yeah. It took that long before we got home!

We were on the road pretty early, which worked out well. Our first stop was at the clinic to get my medical files printed out so I could transfer them, but before that, I made sure to get the bloodwork requisition for my mother.

I spoke to the receptionist about my mother needing these every month, and that the doctor I’d talked to on the phone had said they could mail it.

Her eyes got a bit wide on that.

The frustrating thing is that they’re now allowed to fax the forms to the labs. I’d thought it was just some labs, but nope. None of the labs in our province are allowed to accept faxed forms.

It’s a government thing, it turns out. It basically comes down to them assuming everyone is able bodied and mobile, has access to transportation, and lives close to clinics and labs. If you’re someone like my mother, but don’t have family or friends who can help out, you’re SOL.

After confirming that my mother will be getting tested for the same thing every month, she came up with the idea of simply printing me more copies. I got 7 of them. My mother’s doctor likes to see her patients in person at least once every 6 months, and my mother hasn’t been in since last summer, so after my mother gets her first lab results in, I’ll see about getting her in to talk to the doctor about the results, follow up on various other things, and get her physical. Until then, the forms can stay in the lock box with her medications.

I was very happy that she could do that!

Then I got my own medical files printed out and paid for. After that, my daughter and headed out and parked near our new doctor’s clinic, where we could also walk over to a Subway for lunch. The plan was to have lunch, have our appointments, and hit the grocery store, without ever having to move the truck!

Which would have been very convenient. 😄

The first thing I noticed was a sign on the clinic doors stating that they were not taking any walk ins today. I hoped that would mean we would be seen on time.

We were not.

I dropped off my medical files while my daughter and I both checked in, roughly half an hour early for my daughter’s appointment, then we waited.

And waited.

Happily, my daughter through to bring her knitting along. She got quite a bit of progress on the cuff of the sock she’s working on!

By the time she was called in to an examination room, it was more than 40 minutes past her appointment time. Mine was supposed to be 15 minutes after hers, but I didn’t get called in for another 45 minutes – and my daughter wasn’t done her appointment yet!

While I was waiting, though, I remembered to ask about my medical files. I’d brought printouts, which would have been scanned into they system. What was going to happen to the paper copies?

It turns out they get put into a secure box for shredding.

I asked if I could get them back when they were done with them (I did just pay $35 for them!), only to find out they already were. The receptionist got the keys so she could get them our of the shredder bin for me! So I now have a physical copy of my files. It should be interesting to go through it all!

Once I got those, I kept waiting. Even after being called in, I was waiting long enough to get a message from my daughter telling me when she’d made her next appointment, in April.

My own appointment was pretty straightforward. I was following up on the new prescription pain killers. With the dose she gave me, I was to take one or two capsules, once a day. I told her, I’ve been taking 2 before bed, which have been helping get more pain free sleep, but it doesn’t help me any during the day. After confirming details on the medication, she updated my prescription. The dose per capsule has been doubled, so I can just take one instead of two, but I can also take them twice a day, if I feel the need.

That done, we talked about her now having my medical files, so my next appointment should be for a physical. Once we worked that out, when I left, I booked my next appointment on the same day as my daughter, so we can just make one trip again.

My daughter had gone ahead to the truck and sent me a message while I was updating my calendar. My husband had let her know that the pharmacy had called about her prescription, and wanted to know if she needed it filled right away. I told her to say yes, and that we could go straight there once I was done.

When I got to the truck, my daughter was talking to our pharmacy, so I quietly let her know I needed to talk to them, too. Once she was done arranging for her prescription to be done, she let them know I needed to talk to them, too.

I explained that my prescription had been modified, but they had not yet received the fax. I told them where we were driving in from to get my daughter’s prescription, which gave them an idea of how long we would be, and she said she would keep an eye out for the fax for my prescription.

Our plan to go the the grocery store we were parked next to went out the window, as we needed to get to the town our pharmacy is in before they closed. Part way there, my husband messaged my daughter to let us know the pharmacy had called him again, saying that my new prescription was received and being filled.

We got to the pharmacy in good time. We even had enough time for my daughter to pick up the melatonin the doctor recommended she start taking, and she reminded me to pick up some antihistamines. I don’t know what I’m allergic to, but I’ve been reacting to something almost every morning of late.

From there, we popped to a store across the street that had something my husband requested, and then we went to the grocery store for the stuff we intended to get after the doctor’s appointment. Mostly, food we could use to make meals with as little cooking and as few dirty dishes as possible, since Sunday will be the earliest my brother can come out to fix the septic pump – hopefully!

We’re going to be eating sandwiches a lot, over the next while!

From there, it was one last stop to get more gas in the tank, and we could finally head home, several hours later than we expected! As soon as we got home and the bags were brought in, I immediately left my daughter to put things away while I got a jug of warm water, then headed outside to feed the yard cats and top up their food bowls. It’s the latest they’ve been fed for quite a while. I usually make sure to feed them before it starts getting dark, as it gives them a chance to eat before and skunks or other critters show up.

From the smell of the sun room this morning, we did have a skunk visit last night!

While it made or a longer day than planned, I’m glad we were able to get everything done today, before things started to close. Tomorrow, I’m out again to help my mother with her shopping, and bring over those bloodwork requisition forms. If all goes well, on Saturday, we’ll be making a trip to the dump. Then, starting on Tuesday, things really start to get busy for us, first with taking the truck back to the garage to get some work done. Then we will have our stock up shopping and another medical appointment for my daughter.

Oh, she got another referral today. She remembered to bring up her ganglion. It has gotten so painful, she can hardly use her left hand. So she has been referred to a plastic surgeon to start the process for surgery. She was hoping to avoid it, but it’s gotten really bad. Hopefully, it won’t take very long to hear back. She’s been referred to an endocrinologist, at her last appointment. They are part of our medicare system, so I don’t expect to hear from them for a year or two. Plastic surgeons are private practices that also do medicare cases, so I would expect to hear from them much more quickly. It was certainly that way when I had my medically necessary reduction mammoplasty with a plastic surgeon.

We shall see how it works out.

All in all, though, I’d say it was a rather productive day! We don’t get a lot of those, this time of year. 😄

The Re-Farmer