Update, August 3 2024

News

Saturday

Saturday I continued my readathon, but I got close to the same number of minutes read for all day Saturday as I did on Friday night from 7pm till midnight. It was fun, though. I’ve been trying to take days off for reading once a month for a while, but haven’t found the right day. Maybe I should take a “relaxation weekend” once a month where I don’t try to be productive – I just do my hobbies.

In the evening, D14, my friend Liz, and I went to Little Shop of Horrors at the Guthrie theater. They did a fantastic job! It was the Aquacentennial in Minneapolis, though, so we had to compete with traffic that slowed our trip home by 30 minutes. 20 of that was just sitting in line at the parking ramp.

Sunday

Sunday, I exercised on the stationary bike for a short stint, then went to work. Afterwards, D14 and I went to Frozen Junior, which was well-done. I took her to dinner, then home. We might have had family night afterwards, but one and then the other adolescent was occupied. So I called an early night for IL5 and myself. (Since IL5 cooperated, I guess he was tired, too.)

Monday

Monday was a difficult day. I had to cancel all of IL5’s activities because he hadn’t pooped properly in 8 days and I was trying really hard to get him to poop. No success, though.

On top of that, dad started the morning screaming at me because I asked him to tell me how far he walked and for how long so that we could keep track for the next peripheral artery disease physical therapist. I guess it reminded him about how angry he was at the last therapist, so he took it out on me.

Because the day was so stressful, I mostly relaxed, trying to keep myself functional. In the evening, I read to D14 for over an hour, and she had a fun time listening to my theories about her book. We did that while sitting with IL5 in his bed because he wanted to cuddle under a blanket in bed, as he wasn’t feeling well.

Then, the hard day continued when I got a letter telling me one of my pen pals had died. He’d been sick for a while and hadn’t been answering my letters, but I’d kept writing because I knew how much letters can brighten up a life. That makes two non-RL friends to die recently.

Tuesday

Tuesday was busy. After arriving home for work, I tried to fill the pillboxes for dad, M12, and myself, but only finished dad’s because I realized that I had forgotten to pick up his prescriptions last week, and I had to go get them. (So of course I never got to mine or M12’s, which became apparent when M12 went to take them in the evening.)

Then dad and I went to his dermatology appointment, followed closely by a virtual appointment with D14. I had to leave that appointment early to get to dad’s balance PT intake. Dad, thankfully, seemed pleased with with the therapist, and actually did his exercises later that night.

Before driving home, I needed to call dad’s doctor’s office to tell his clinical pharmacist that we would be 15 minutes late to her phone appointment, but luckily she was running late, too.

I was relaxing after that busy day, when IL5’s gastroenterologist’s nurse called and suggested we try magnesium citrate to get him to poop, and that she’d talk to the gastroenterologist and get back to me Wednesday. I told her I would do my best, and rushed off to the drug store.

IL5, of course, didn’t drink the magnesium citrate after any amount of cajoling and bribing. He didn’t even try it. And because we cajoled him to drink that, he decided not to drink anything we wanted him to drink…so we switched to trying to bribe and cajole him into drinking his normal daily laxatives. That became a big argument, because he wanted Dairy Queen, and we wouldn’t give him Dairy Queen until he drank his daily laxatives. That went on over an hour until finally he said “ok, I’ll take ice cream from the freezer instead.” That sounded like a stalemate-breaker to me, so I gave him some ice cream from the freezer. After eating that, he agreed to drink the medicine. I went to work before seeing that happen. He thus completed his 9th day without pooping.

While the cajoling was going on, M12, Aaron, and I played a game of Settlers of Catan.

Wednesday

Wednesday was a tough day. Aaron’s work downsized and he got laid off. Everyone was stressed about that.

IL5 pooped overnight, but not 10 days’ worth. I got a call from his gastroenterologist and they ordered an x-ray and told us to go in on Thusday or Friday if he didn’t contine pooping.

Aaron and I took M12’s trombone in for maintenance ($400, and they’ll have it for 6-8 weeks. They gave us a loaner, though.) M12 hadn’t been taking it apart and putting it away daily, despite being told to, and I suspect it was stepped on. New rule: put it away, or he’s grounded.

Then Aaron and I picked up some cupcakes – something we’ve been buying from a bakery to help M12 keep his weight on. I don’t get any, but I color code the rest so there’s no confusion.

And then we spent some of my saved up for-fun money to go out and eat and get lunch and a beer. We needed to discuss plans for insurance, etc. Luckily I can get insurance through my job. Probably not great insurance, but we’ll get by. We left D14 babysitting, and when we got home, D14 was babysitting while on a video call appointment. I felt so bad that I forgot about her appointment. It was supposed to be a private appointment, so it wasn’t on my personal schedule, and I just forgot. But both she and the provider were very understanding.

Then I had a bariatric MD appointment. She prescribed a med she thought my insurance might cover, since the ozempic is a no-go. This one has a generic, and isn’t necessarily a weight loss med, so might slip by. Of course, my insurance is about to change, but I doubt it’s better than what we had.

Then I called insurance and made sure my insurance covers step-kids, as they need to be on my dental and will qualify for Minnesota care through the state for medical (they’d have to switch dentists with Minnesota Care dental). My insurance will cover them, thankfully.

After that, I wasted time sitting around feeling stressed. Soccer was cancelled due to rain, so now I have 12 kids’ worth of snacks to get rid of.

Thursday

Thursday, I took IL5 to an appointment and then Aaron took him to get an x-ray while I was at work. I worked a couple hours extra to help save money, and it was a bit disorienting to get home at 5:30. But if they let me do so while Aaron is searching for a job, I’ll do that.

D14 had a friend E spending the night, and M12 was playing a fun computer game that IL5 really wanted to play and felt left out with E around, so Aaron got out his computer and we played the game with IL5 for the rest of the night.

Friday

Friday morning after work, I took IL5 to speech therapy. Then we packed up the cars and headed out for our last camping trip of the year. (Just the guys and me, again. D14 is with her mom.) We set up tent and chatted for the evening. IL5’s x-ray results came in while we were lounging. Apparently the radiologist found a “small-to-moderate stool burden,” but the gastroenterologist disagreed and said it was “a larger burden.” They will call on Monday with further steps, so I get to worry all weekend about potential hospitalization.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

One letter Louisiana
One letter Massachusetts
One letter Michigan
One letter Washington

Reading to myself

Behave, by Robert Sapolsky
Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami
Mr Ballen podcast
Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan

Reading to IL5

When Glitter Met Glue, by Karen Kilpatrick
The Three Little Guinea Pigs, by Erica S Perl
Super Rabbit Boy Blasts Off, by Thomas Flintham
Super King Viking Land, by Thomas Flintham

D14 reading

Queen of Shadows, by Sarah J Mass

Aaron reading

The Book of Lost Things, by John Connolly

This is a sweet story of friendship where each friend brings out good qualities in the other. IL5 wanted me to buy him glitter glue after reading this book.