...and now to the side, now back again, let's go forward, then we twist, two-three-four and step, two-three-four... and now dip!
Am I dancing? Sounds like it, doesn't it? But alas, there is no dance of happy fun time in my world these days. Oh, nothing bad has happened, in fact a few very good things have happened. Let's talk about the few steps back before we go on to the very good things, shall we?
If you're reading My Bloggy Goodness, I am going to assume you've read last week's Goodness about making progress with a new doctor. Well, as it turns out, her plan for pain management failed. Failed isn't exactly the right word. It worked- in the sense that it took edge off the sharp, stabby, burn-y pain from various body parts. However, it also caused me to swell up. I didn't swell up with the ferocity that I did lo those years ago- wherein I lost feeling in my foot from the swelling in my legs. I had some mild swelling that actually disrupted my ROM. Yeah, baby, that's the professional lingo again... Range of Motion. The swelling stayed mostly in my legs, a little in my hands, and my jeans became uncomfortable, but not unwearable. So, mild failure. I stopped taking the Ibuprofen on Thursday evening (I followed orders for a week just to be sure).
I also started a blog to track any progress made by using Vitamin E oil on Fronkensteen. In fact, that's the name of the blog- "My Scar Story, Fronkensteen's Tale" I took a photo on Day One and planned on updating weekly with photos and whenever else without photos. But, alas, I'm one of a handful of people who get a mild skin irritation from Vitamin E oil. If you click that link up there, you can read the whole sordid tale.
I have the opportunity to meet some longtime Interweb friends this coming weekend (August 29th). One guy is flying in from Texas, meeting up with the few in Chicago and they're going to the Bristol RenaissanceFaire in Kenosha. So, I'm invited to go. Great, sayeth I, it will be nice to finally meet these people I've "known" for so long. But, alas, (yes, alas again), that Saturday is the Saturday before payday. We live on a fixed income. For those not in the know, we get a disability payment from the Veteran's Administration because the disabled guy is 100% service-connected disabled. We can pay our bills, buy food, and sometimes, have some cash leftover for fun or slight shopping (like if the kids need shoes or whatnot). We do all right, and on top of our usual bills, we're paying off medical bills in relation to my knee-replacement surgery. So, while we're "okay", things can get tight at times. Such as August. When school fees are due. This year, the fees required to register Jase and Ceej are around $200. That sounds like a lot (and personally, I think it is a lot), but it is much cheaper than when I had Kat in school as well. We're required to pay the $38 per kid for registration- so that's $76 we had to pay this month. Then, I had to buy school supplies. That wasn't much of a hit as I was able to get folders and spiral notebooks and such massively on sale (as in, for 10 cents for the spirals, yeah, no kidding). But, Jase is playing football this year. We had to pay for "camp" for a week. He needed to order a team T-shirt, but we had to do it before September. There is no "save up for August" because the money we get, we live on. Anything extra usually finds a home either in a surprise kid expense or, like lately, the high price of petrol. With the cost of everything going up, one would think the VA would give us a cost of living raise, but not so.
Needless to say, August is a "long month" in the way of finances. So, Kat agreed to pay for me (and her, because she's going along) to go to Bristol so I could meet my long-time online friends. She got a bit pissy about it lately and despite my paying her back the $40 or $50 I'd need from her ($20 admission) a mere two days later, I was considering not going so I wouldn't have to deal with her attitude.
Now, some of the good- today, my dad took their RV up to the RV place to have a special lift installed for my mom. Not a wheelchair lift as she isn't in a wheelchair, but like an elevator platform to raise her up to the steps so she could get into the RV. On Saturday, she climbed into the RV herself, but it was quite a task and it wore her out- but she did it! Well, I drove behind my dad so I could give him a ride home from the RV place after he dropped their huge RV there. And of course, I went in to talk to Mom. How lame would I be if I didn't stop in and see Mom? While we were talking about stuff like her climbing into the RV, TV shows she's been watching and such, she blurted out: "Richard!" (because that's my dad's name), "That thing we discussed? Are we going to do it?" He replied that yes, they were. So she said, "Why don't you do it now then?"
Dad walked into the living room and handed me $200 in cash. "For the school fees," he said. They knew I was on my way to the grocery store to somehow make $80 stretch till next week. Mom said, "Take that to the store with you." So, thanks to my parents paying for the school fees, we're not "tight" till the end of the month. Ceej can go to Magic Waters with her friends, I can go to Bristol to see my friends, and we've got enough for gas and groceries.
I have great parents.
Despite my setback with the Ibuprofen and my swelling, I got a letter from the VA scheduling team. I have a physical therapy appointment scheduled for September 11th. That's the step we need to get my arthritis officially diagnosed. So, that's a good thing. I have a follow-up appointment with Doctor Bones on September 3rd. So, along with everything else, I'm just plodding along and things are progressing as best as I can expect.
So, setback with the Ibuprofen.
Setback with the Vitamin E oil.
Setback with the money (but I knew that would happen this month).
But, step forward with my parents' generosity.
Step forward with the physical therapy appointment.
Step forward with my recovery, so to speak. (well, it wasn't a setback, so to me, that's a step forward).
Am I dancing? Sounds like it, doesn't it? But alas, there is no dance of happy fun time in my world these days. Oh, nothing bad has happened, in fact a few very good things have happened. Let's talk about the few steps back before we go on to the very good things, shall we?
If you're reading My Bloggy Goodness, I am going to assume you've read last week's Goodness about making progress with a new doctor. Well, as it turns out, her plan for pain management failed. Failed isn't exactly the right word. It worked- in the sense that it took edge off the sharp, stabby, burn-y pain from various body parts. However, it also caused me to swell up. I didn't swell up with the ferocity that I did lo those years ago- wherein I lost feeling in my foot from the swelling in my legs. I had some mild swelling that actually disrupted my ROM. Yeah, baby, that's the professional lingo again... Range of Motion. The swelling stayed mostly in my legs, a little in my hands, and my jeans became uncomfortable, but not unwearable. So, mild failure. I stopped taking the Ibuprofen on Thursday evening (I followed orders for a week just to be sure).
I also started a blog to track any progress made by using Vitamin E oil on Fronkensteen. In fact, that's the name of the blog- "My Scar Story, Fronkensteen's Tale" I took a photo on Day One and planned on updating weekly with photos and whenever else without photos. But, alas, I'm one of a handful of people who get a mild skin irritation from Vitamin E oil. If you click that link up there, you can read the whole sordid tale.
I have the opportunity to meet some longtime Interweb friends this coming weekend (August 29th). One guy is flying in from Texas, meeting up with the few in Chicago and they're going to the Bristol RenaissanceFaire in Kenosha. So, I'm invited to go. Great, sayeth I, it will be nice to finally meet these people I've "known" for so long. But, alas, (yes, alas again), that Saturday is the Saturday before payday. We live on a fixed income. For those not in the know, we get a disability payment from the Veteran's Administration because the disabled guy is 100% service-connected disabled. We can pay our bills, buy food, and sometimes, have some cash leftover for fun or slight shopping (like if the kids need shoes or whatnot). We do all right, and on top of our usual bills, we're paying off medical bills in relation to my knee-replacement surgery. So, while we're "okay", things can get tight at times. Such as August. When school fees are due. This year, the fees required to register Jase and Ceej are around $200. That sounds like a lot (and personally, I think it is a lot), but it is much cheaper than when I had Kat in school as well. We're required to pay the $38 per kid for registration- so that's $76 we had to pay this month. Then, I had to buy school supplies. That wasn't much of a hit as I was able to get folders and spiral notebooks and such massively on sale (as in, for 10 cents for the spirals, yeah, no kidding). But, Jase is playing football this year. We had to pay for "camp" for a week. He needed to order a team T-shirt, but we had to do it before September. There is no "save up for August" because the money we get, we live on. Anything extra usually finds a home either in a surprise kid expense or, like lately, the high price of petrol. With the cost of everything going up, one would think the VA would give us a cost of living raise, but not so.
Needless to say, August is a "long month" in the way of finances. So, Kat agreed to pay for me (and her, because she's going along) to go to Bristol so I could meet my long-time online friends. She got a bit pissy about it lately and despite my paying her back the $40 or $50 I'd need from her ($20 admission) a mere two days later, I was considering not going so I wouldn't have to deal with her attitude.
Now, some of the good- today, my dad took their RV up to the RV place to have a special lift installed for my mom. Not a wheelchair lift as she isn't in a wheelchair, but like an elevator platform to raise her up to the steps so she could get into the RV. On Saturday, she climbed into the RV herself, but it was quite a task and it wore her out- but she did it! Well, I drove behind my dad so I could give him a ride home from the RV place after he dropped their huge RV there. And of course, I went in to talk to Mom. How lame would I be if I didn't stop in and see Mom? While we were talking about stuff like her climbing into the RV, TV shows she's been watching and such, she blurted out: "Richard!" (because that's my dad's name), "That thing we discussed? Are we going to do it?" He replied that yes, they were. So she said, "Why don't you do it now then?"
Dad walked into the living room and handed me $200 in cash. "For the school fees," he said. They knew I was on my way to the grocery store to somehow make $80 stretch till next week. Mom said, "Take that to the store with you." So, thanks to my parents paying for the school fees, we're not "tight" till the end of the month. Ceej can go to Magic Waters with her friends, I can go to Bristol to see my friends, and we've got enough for gas and groceries.
I have great parents.
Despite my setback with the Ibuprofen and my swelling, I got a letter from the VA scheduling team. I have a physical therapy appointment scheduled for September 11th. That's the step we need to get my arthritis officially diagnosed. So, that's a good thing. I have a follow-up appointment with Doctor Bones on September 3rd. So, along with everything else, I'm just plodding along and things are progressing as best as I can expect.
So, setback with the Ibuprofen.
Setback with the Vitamin E oil.
Setback with the money (but I knew that would happen this month).
But, step forward with my parents' generosity.
Step forward with the physical therapy appointment.
Step forward with my recovery, so to speak. (well, it wasn't a setback, so to me, that's a step forward).