Life

 Life goes on. Now we start a new round of pre-op testing with back to back appointments. Every night when my insomnia hits I fantasize about my She Shed. I want to get started on organizing. I have put it off to garden and get the outdoors more to my liking. I don't want to start unless I can really make some headway. But I want to get started before winter!

We had appointments with our primary doctor tomorrow. Those had to be rescheduled in favor of a stress test that will have us up and at 'em at 6:30 AM to get there in time. I did toy with the idea of doing both appointments tomorrow, but the offices are in different cities and we would be cutting it close if everything went on schedule, so I rescheduled. 

HeWho has two appointments this week. One is tomorrow and one is Thursday. Same location. Why they are unable to accomplish both tests in one visit is a mystery to me. To further confuse issues, the scheduling person called HeWho instead of me. I heard the conversation on his end and he repeated the times and dates, so I was sort of okay with it until later in the day when another call came to me from the same office. She asked to speak with the man who cannot hear without the volume all the way up. His phone is already set at ear bleed level and I prefer that he not reset my phone. I suggested that she call his number or deal with me, after telling her that he had already spoken to this office earlier and had the times and particulars already.

She then decided to just give me the information for the appointment tomorrow. It did not match the information that "Julie" had given HeWho is the patient. I said as much and she proceeded to "take a look". Then she told me that the two appointments were for the same test and to just choose which day I wanted. That would solve the coinciding appointments in two different cities, but I suggested that she might want to get with "Julie" and make certain about the duplicate tests. This went on with her consulting the appointments and the information she had while keeping me on the line.

After nearly 20 years of being a slave to the phone, I can honestly say that I do not enjoy having it attached to my ear any longer than necessary. After encouraging this woman to talk to the person who called earlier no less than three times and call me back, she finally let me go. I may be retired, but that doesn't mean I do not have things to do. I should be able to do what I want when I want!!

I had four bags of mulch staring at me, waiting to be spread as sweat rolled down any avenue it could find. It is not that hot, in the 80's, but I sweat an excessive amount. After I hiked up the driveway and was making lots of progress with the mulch, my phone alerted me again. I knew it would be the caller from the cardiologist office ("sorry, I didn't catch your name, since you chose not to identify yourself, I have dubbed you 'Incompetence'"). She says she was confused, that we should simply do what Julie told us to do. She is from a different office and "was just trying to help out". 

Confused yet? So now I have three appointments in my near future. One is tomorrow, then the next day, then next Monday. The one on Monday is for both of us. This one I want to go to. I want to hear the results of the lab work to see if the Crestor is working as it should and then the results of the thyroid function for me. She discussed the numbers being "off" last time they drew blood. She wanted to get a second one done to see if they improve or indicate more testing, as it may have something to do with all the sweating I do. This is the second time I have had to reschedule this appointment. 

I want at least two full days to devote to the She Shed. I don't want to get started and have to race to an appointment or skip a day for another appointment. I like to complete what I start, otherwise it will have me awake all night.

HeWho likes to think about a project before even starting, then plan a trip to purchase what he may or may not need before he starts. You might recall that we removed the light diffuser for the lights in the kitchen shortly after moving in here. That took three days. He started, then stopped to ponder the advisability of doing this and I finally grabbed my step stool and ripped the rest of it out while he slept one morning. Then I researched ceiling panels and alternate lighting possibilities after cleaning up my mess. That was about 6 months ago. The ugly flourescent shop lighting was still there all this time, despite the new light that lingered on the porch just waiting to be installed. Occasionally I would mention that it would be nice to actually finish the project since I had ordered and received the replacement panels 5 months ago. The day they came in, he rushed to the hardware store to procure the correct adhesive and now has no idea where it is.

So, now that he has been restricted to lifting no more than 10 pounds, I come back from my gardening adventures to find that he has picked up the ladder to bring it onto the porch and is applying WD-40 liberally to the moving parts. When asked about this, he looks at me like I may be mentally incompacitated and explains that he needs the ladder to reach the ceiling to replace the lighting in the kitchen. I had not said anything about this lately and certainly not during his healing process. The ladder is light weight and he is past that first 48 hours that would cause the clotting factor to not work on his arteries. I really didn't think he would move past phase one of this project. The ladder was clean and shiny and in my way on the porch, causing me to fold it and lean it out of the way to be about my business of animal feeding.

In my absence, the next day he removed one light fixture and balanced it precariously on the table on the porch and left the ladder leaning against the water dispenser in the house, blocking my chair to the table. I moved it back to the porch and carefully moved the bulbs to a secure location. The next day he tried to remove the other fixture, but one of the screws was stripped and much ado proceeded as he removed the bulbs and wrenched the fixture from the ceiling, mangling it and ripping it from whatever it was adhered to. I cleaned that mess up and once again removed the ladder to the porch.

Day number three of the lighting adventure. I forgot to mention that before the ladder grooming, he opened the new fixture and read all the literature that acompanied it and left this arrayed all over the flat surfaces of the porch. I went out to mow the dog yard and he waved me down to tell me he had to go to the hardware store to get a meter to test electricity. This new meter will be used once then added to the growing collection of duplicate tools. I know I unpacked at least three of these when I organized his tool shed, he has since done his own organizing and nothing can be located easily.

He returned and sat holding the recliner to the floor as he held his new toy and watched TV. Later, I went back outside to mow another area and upon my return saw the new light fixture dangling form the wires waiting to be attached to the ceiling. He was sitting in the recliner and saw me look up at the unfinished project. "My leg started hurting, so I stopped. It won't fall. I will finish later." says the man holding down the recliner, oblivious to gravity and the job it does.

I was sweaty and tired, so I rinsed off in a cold shower and put dry clothes on to rest a bit. I mention that It would be nice to have the light on while I prepared our dinner later. Good news, the light worked while dangling! At this revelation, I decided that resting was over-rated and I went back out to hack away at the mountain and pull weeds. The light still dangled as I headed to the bathroom and took a shower and put on more dry clothes.

To my utter amazement the light was affixed to the ceiling when I came out of the bathroom! I was bare footed and the ceiling dust and grit assaulted the bottoms of my feet and had me hunting the broom. He says he vacuumed, but if he did, he did a very poor job. The counters were covered in ceiling dust and the pot rack items were covered. Took awhile to clean it up as I heated leftovers. Today I will take everything down and clean it properly. I didn't even do my dishes last night and went to bed at 8:00! Insomnia had me still awake at 2:00 am.

Life does, indeed, go on.