Good Morning;
Well it has been a week of running here and there for appointments and babysitting duties. It seems that 75% of the time was spent on the buses and trains just traveling back and forth.
Tuesday morning down to Monkee's in the morning to get meds., then to Jenn's to watch Devin while Jenn picked up Ed from school, then over to the Starbucks. As I stepped outside that evening about 8:00 pm. to make my goodnight call to Rachel I saw a familiar figure slowly hobbling across the parking lot towards a car. I went over and it was my friend Alan coming from the Whole Foods. We went over to the coffee shop and sat until close and then he gave me a ride to the shed, where we sat in his car for a few minutes talking and finishing catching up. We covered everything from his stay in re-hab as he was fitted for his new leg and foot and the therapy involved, to his mother's death a few days before he was discharged, to old jobs and old girlfriends. When I looked at the clock in his car it was 10 minutes of 2:00 in the morning!! We spent almost 5 hours sitting in the cold talking, and it felt like only 30 minutes had passed....lol.
I went into the shed and prepared for bed and my right foot and leg, (and to a lesser extent the left also), became alternately numb and cold, the kind of cold that feels 'hot'. It went down below 30 degrees that night and although the rest of me was nice and warm...I could not get my foot comfortable. I had padding and insulation under it and had socks on, and the feet were covered with the bag and a blanket plus an extra wrapping of another blanket. When I stood up and went out to use the 'tree' (...lol...) the foot would begin to warm up and the 'tingling ' began. When I was in the dental chair the Thursday getting x-rays the left leg and left hand and lower arm kept 'falling asleep'. It has to be either a nerve or circulatory problem, and I have an appt. Monday at the doctor, (my PCP)
On Wednesday I stopped over Jenn's to shower and leave my bags and headed to both the opthamologist and (I'm back finally, 10 and 1/2 hours after I started this post...lol. I lost track of time this morning and had to run and get the bus to Jenn's, and between dealing with the grandmonsters and doing laundry and bathing, plus having Rachel come over, and when she left the car and ran down the sidewalk to see me she fell and skinned both knees. The 'ex' came out of the car and I carrried her into the apartment and we cleaned and put Neosporin on the wounds. Rachel got very emotional and said that her knees were hurting her about 15 minutes after the 'ex' left, and she wanted to go back home to her mother's, so we called her up and they came back and got her. By then it was dinner time for the kids and then tom and Jenn stopped in to change clothes and head back out.....and it's 10:30 pm. and I'm just getting on the laptop........) then the optometrist and optician for new glasses. The determination was that the problem of waking up and not being able to see that I had a couple weeks ago was not a direct opthamologic or ocular issue, and most likely neurologic in nature. Which I kind of figured from past history. I came back to Jenn's grabbed my bags and went to the coffee shop until it closed. I ran into a gentleman named Jeff Singer, President and CEO of Healthcare For the Homeless, who I had met and talked to, casually, socially last spring. It was nice talking to someone with an idea of why a person like myself stay away from shelters, and understands the ruluctance to come into certain organizations to ask for help, without having to try to explain and ending up on the defensive, as happens so often with other well meaning but non-comprehending people. They then get angry or disgusted and turn their backs when you see them again somewhere.
I came back out to the shed about 11:00 pm. and it started to pour, all night and most of the next day. The shed stayed dry in my area, (and I had a drip loop on the extension cord...just in case....lol! Got that from you and the fish tanks, Craig....lol!)
On Thursday morning it was raining steadily and my feet were soaked before I made it to the bus stop. Turns out the last thin layer of rubber had worn away and the foam insulation was exposed to the street. It was not noticable when it's dry out, but when the ground is wet I'm walking on 2 sponges! Wonderful.....now I've got cultures growing between my toes for the tropical biology research labs...lol.!
I stopped at Jenn's to shower and leave my bags then went to the BCCC Dental Hygiene Clinic to meet Michelle for my 1:00 appt. More x-rays, (when the students AND!! the Radiology Instructor herself cannot get the sensors in position and/or stay in position, there must be a problem with the system.....so why do the students get a 'fail' if they have to re-take the x-rays???)
She had to make an alginate mold of my mouth and teeth, (2!, upper and lower!), and with a stuffy nose that I could not breathe through, (while the Clinic's Dentist kept stating and restating, "Breathe deep, breathe through your nose......"), and my sensitive gag reflex, (good thing I'm not gay.....LMAO!!!), combined with my extreme distaste for spearmint, (which the casting material was saturated with), it was loads of fun......NOT!!....lol! Luckily I only nearly choked to death, with no 'Technicolor Yawn' to decorate the lab with....lol. The rest of the session was Nirvana by comparison....lol. I got back to Jenn's and she asked me to stay the night and watch the kids as she and Tom were going in different directions to different meetings, so I did. Michelle texted me with an urgent plea begging me to come back at 3:00 pm. on Friday if at any way possible, and of course I agreed. For some reason I could not get to sleep thursday night and kept getting up to use the batroom and turning the TV on and off and on and off again.
On Friday morning I showered and packed up and Tom gave me a pair of sneakers he never really wore in what is usually my size, but which felt small and tight, so I put the now dry sneakers of my own on...and avoided any damp spots on tghe pavement and stayed off the grass. I'll see if they fit better after I see the podiatrist on Monday, and she works on my nails again with the heavy construction equipment...lol. I stopped at the library to return and renew books and headed to Friday's session at BCCC. It was much less stressful and I got to have my picture taken, digitally, with a tiny camera on the end of a wand shoved into my mouth....technology....Oy Vey!!!
Michelle took me out to dinner at the Paper Moon Cafe in Remington, which was the site of one of our first dates 10...no, 11 years ago. It is still as Brightly painted and funky as ever with toys hanging or glued to any and all available surfaces...and the food is excellent! She got the Portabello and Havarti Griled Cheese sandwich with Sweet potatoe fries and I got the Chicken with Avocado, Bacon, and Tomato sandwich with regular fries. Yummmmmm! She dropped me off at the Starbucks a few hours later and I closed it up and caught the buses to the shed and slept like a log for the first time in a while. I got up at 10:00 am. this morning after waking at 6:00 am. or so to kill the weeds.....organically, I'm doing my small part to 'Go green'......lol!, and going back to sleep.
I went to the Giant and bought some grond beef for burgers at Jenn's and stopped at the library, where I started this post, lost track of time until she texted me asking my ETA......and we're up to speed now!!....lol. I'm spending the night because Jenn and Tom went to the memorial service for Tom's friend and boss, and then had to drop off some DJ equipment to the person filling in tonight, (Johnny Dark....the DJ from WCAO in the '60s and '70s...he was the big cheese in pop radio in Baltimore back then.....I remember cruising all night long to him in my mother's yellow 1969 Chevelle Malibu with the black vinyl roof back in the day.....yeah I know some of you reading this out there who have recently reconnected with me remember that car..(Heidi&Terry??....Mike??......Patti??....I know you were all in it....and maybe Craig..or had I totaled it just before we met???...lol!).
Anyway, the battery is dying and I'm gonna sign off now.
Sunday's plans are still a mystery to me....
Later.............................Dave
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