Taking care of business ...slowly

 

I'll be glad when I get back from my trip, as I can move forward with taking care of my legs.  Today, the thigh and calf muscles were "sort of" behaving, but my knees bothered me when I stood up.  Pain killers will help a little, but I bet that there will be more things wrong with me that the doctor has to diagnose.

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I didn't really start moving today until noon.  This time, my knees were bothering me.  So, I added some pain killers to my morning regimen of pills.  But, I couldn't go out until after 2, as I had someone from a financial firm I had to talk to.

In mid afternoon, a lady from the financial firm called, and we proceeded to start signing me up as a client.  Seems like the registration process stops when no beneficiary Social Security number is entered.  Although I got the information from RQS (she's going to be my beneficiary), their system wouldn't allow me to continue - there's a bug in the environment.  So, I'll have to make a phone call tomorrow.

Next, it was off to the drug store to get some pain killers.  While there, I got new passport photos for the foreign birth registry AND a digital copy of the photo for use when renewing my US passport.  Although the injectors (whatever you call the needles) were ready for me to pick up, the GLP-1 drug wasn't ready.  I had to give the drug store my Medicare ID again.  AARGH!   Let's hope everything is taken care of before I leave on my trip.

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With the possible exception of tomorrow, this will be the longest stretch of time I'll be spending as Mario for a long while.  I can't wait to get back home from my trip, so that I can schedule more doctor appointments, and in-between, spend some time as Marian again. 

 

Calling the doctor (another short post)

 

Today, I felt overwhelmed by circumstance.  I had to call the doctor regarding my X-Rays, and other stuff also came up as well.

But first....

It took me a while to get moving, and my legs bothered me when I did.  I fear my trip to RQS's place with my luggage, as well as the trip to the airport and on the plane.  So I waited a while for my doctor to respond to my emails, and then called his office around 11 am.    They didn't have much information for me at that time, but they wanted to do a tele-health call at 2 pm.

Clearing my schedule for 2 pm, I still had to wait for over a half hour for the doctor's office to call me.  It took a while for them to straighten out an issue with the statin my doctor was trying to get me to take.  Now, it will be added to my daily regimen for when I come back from my trip.  Next, the doc told me that when I get back, we'll need to schedule an MRI for my lower back.  Finally, I'm on track for the GLP-1 drug.  My problem is that if I start paperwork now, that I won't be around to pick up my doses until I return.  So, I'm not sure of what I'll do with paperwork for the Medicare Bridge Program.

During the day, I got more calls and emails, with the net result that there was a prescription waiting for me at CVS.  I'll take care of that tomorrow, as I don't want to go out of the house on a dreary day.  With that being said, I was able (without much trying) to crick my lower back as if I were cracking my knuckles.  Since I haven't been able to do that in a while, I consider this a temporary good sign for me, as I didn't feel too bad getting out of bed after a nap.

Keep your fingers crossed for me - I might just be able to enjoy my vacation after all. 

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Returning home with an empty car. (A short post)

 

Whenever I think of the problems I now have in getting around, I should think of our former president (pictured above).  He had polio in middle age, and yet, that didn't stop him from becoming one of America's greatest presidents.  So, if he could do that, I can handle the aches and pains I'll encounter when RQS and I leave on our next cruise.

But first....

It's hard to believe, but it was the first day in ages that I woke up around noon.  My body is telling me something, and that is to take it easy.  And I'm trying to do this before my upcoming trip.  RQS cooked me some breakfast (she's a great soul!) and I proceeded to get showered and dressed shortly afterwards.  Unlike most days, I wasn't going to risk slipping and falling just to shave my legs and other parts of my body.  That can wait until I get home.

Around 2 pm, I dropped RQS off at the drug store while I drove home.  I wasn't feeling too bad, but I knew that I wouldn't walk much further than up my steps and into my apartment,  For the rest of the day, I rested, and ordered a pizza for delivery around 7:30 pm.  Yum!  But by then, I needed my cane to walk to the doorway to get my pizza.

As you can guess, I can't wait to call my doctor's office and find out the next step I need to take for recovery.  More tomorrow.... 

Waking up without extreme pain (for now)

 

Last night, I tried resting on my side to minimize the type of pressure on a section of my spine that comes from laying on my back.  And I can't be sure that it helped.  However, I was functional when I got up, and had few problems when closing up my large suitcase and getting it ready to go down to RQS's place.  And I hope I can feel this way for the next few weeks, while waiting for doctors to figure out how best to relieve my pain for the long term.

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Don't think that I am not feeling "fine" today.  My legs won't carry me for long, especially with heavy luggage.  But I had to get my suitcase to RQS's place, and I had to move slowly to do so.  So, I lugged my suitcase down my staircase, one step at a time, and tossed it in my car..  And I started down to RQS's place at 1 pm on a Saturday afternoon.

Normally, I take a simple path to lower Westchester county, and then take the Hutchinson River Parkway to the Whitestone bridge.  Not today.  The Hutch was backed up, so I took local streets to bypass the jam, and get back on the approach to the bridge.  And then, traffic moved until I hit the area where I had to make a go/no-go choice: Do I take the Jackie Robinson Parkway to RQS's place, or do I drive through Forest Hills on local roads to get to her place.  Given that traffic started bottling up around Jewel Avenue, I took local roads.  

Now, driving through this section of Forest Hills is almost pleasant on a Saturday.  The Orthodox Jews are not driving their cars because it's Shabbos.  This means that half of the usual traffic isn't there.  And I made it through this bottleneck with relative ease.  Then, I was on predictable local roads the rest of the way to RQS's place.

Next was the headache of finding a parking spot.  Like many older, more densely populated neighborhoods, there is never enough parking for residents, much less their guests.  I was prepared to drive around for a while, but I found a space less than half a block away from RQS's place - I was very grateful for that, as my legs were weak, and I couldn't walk far or long.

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Once at RQS's place, I knew we weren't going to go far for dinner.  Luckily, there was an old standby 2 blocks away.  That put me at my limit for the day.  Tacos were the only meal in walking distance, and I could barely finish what I ordered.  At least, I will likely not eat too much while on the cruise.... 

 

You aught tp be in pictures. OUCH!

 

Now, I know what's likely wrong with my legs, and it has nothing to do with my legs, save for the nerves that lead to them and signal pain.

But first...

Today, I woke up early (and with pain in my legs) to get dressed and go to the x-ray location of my health care network.  Getting there around 11 am, I had to wait a little bit, and got up when the x-ray technician called for another person with my same first name.  Then, a few minutes later, I was called, and I was hurting.  Once the x-rays were taken, I was told (not officially) that I will likely need surgery on my back.  AARGH.  I'll have to suffer for at least another month before a surgery date can be scheduled, and then be out of commission for another 6 weeks or so.  

Once out of the radiology area, I called RQS to tell her the news.  I didn't want to say to her that I might have to ask her to go on the cruise alone.  But I'll make up my mind on this within the next week.  Then I went home to rest.  Later on, I ended up chatting with Vicki for a couple of hours, and then decided to go to dinner at the local diner.  Initially, she wanted to go into problem solving mode, when all I needed was an ear.

Around 7 pm, I met Vicki at the diner and we continued the conversation we started over the phone. From what I said, she has a low opinion of my doctor, and recommended a different doctor to try out after work on my back is done.  Hopefully, all necessary procedures will be complete by year end, so that I can start cruising again in the spring.

 

My legs didn't hurt when I got up, but....

 

OK, I'm not talking about pantyhose today.  But I figured my readers would want to look at something more interesting than my aching legs.

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When I got up today, my legs didn't hurt much getting out of bed.  But they did remind me that I couldn't count on them too much.  Yet, they gave me an idea - if I keep getting up and moving around, the muscles that support me will stop degrading, and start building up strength.  Let's see what happens....

The key task I had on my docket for today was to start packing my suitcase for my upcoming trip.  Somehow, I have misplaced many of the items I depend on for long distance travel, and I've had to reorder some from Amazon.  Even with that being done, I still have to pack my bag and get ready for my trip.  And that's where I have the problem.  It's no longer something I can automatically do, the way I did last year.  I need to have the kind of "go kit"  with a dedicated place to store stuff, so that I can load a suitcase, and unload it as needed.  Clothing is easy.  It's the other stuff that can be a problem, as I'll always need travel adapters for electricity, chargers for my phone and tablets, etc. to leave the house for a week or two away from home.

I didn't bother bother rushing to pack my suitcase, as I have tomorrow to finish this task.  But I got a lot of little things done, and that's the important thing for me.  So, around 5 pm, I showered, made up my face, got dressed, and headed out the door for game night.  After a brief stop for dinner in a trusted diner, I was off to game night.  And then, I was in for a surprise - I was the only guest there!  Everyone else bailed out for various reasons, and I was caught by surprise.  Well, I ended up playing a couple of games (lost both) with the host, hostess, and their son.    It was a nice evening, and even "Murder Mouth" (their dog) was taking a liking to me.

All too soon, the evening had to end.  I called RQS on the phone and chatted for a while.  When I got home, I put a 25-pack? in a shopping bag and carried it upstairs.  It was at the upper end of what I could do.  But it gave me home for when I have to bring my bag to RQS's place prior to our trip. 

 

 

 

The day started slowly and in a little pain, but....

 

There's a part of me that feels like I should have been in a hospital bed this morning.  The walking I did yesterday, coupled with transiting my staircase several times did me in.  My legs didn't want to support me when I got up, and I made sure that I was going to call for appointments to go to the foot doctor and get the X-Ray done.

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With the above being said, I decided to stay in bed much of the day, not snacking, eating or drinking.  That wasn't because I didn't want to do these things, but because my legs didn't want to do them.  Yet, by the time I decided to get up in the afternoon, things had changed a little.  So, I made my appointments and decided to cook something before taking a shower.  (As I thought about things, I realized that my weekend will be spent presenting as Mario.  But that's another story for another post.)

I exchanged a couple of emails with my doctor about the name of a drug that my pharmacy isn't filling.  All the doctor would do would have me contact the pharmacy to find out why.  I may do this, but I'm concerned that he's passing the buck on tasks he (or his office) doesn't want to tackle.  But I was able to set up a post-trip appointment with the foot doctor, and found out when I could go into the radiology practice to get my spine X-Rayed.

Even though I was feeling better later in the day, did I go out?  No.  Instead, I took it easy, and planned to work on packing my suitcase for the trip.  Did I even do that?  No.  I didn't want to be uncomfortable.