Saturday, February 16, 2013

Saturday Morning

How embarrassing! I could not stay awake last night while Bob was here and he finally just gave up and left. I took my bath and went to bed about 9:00. I slept well and finally got up about 5:30. That's later then I usually sleep.

The cellulitis is still with me. It does appear to be better..not quite so fiery red. Perhaps in another few days it will clear up for good. The makeup does seem to cover it fairly well.

I'd like to go to Lowe's in Bartlesville today and look for window treatments for the windows at the apartment. The landlord has long drapes at the windows now but the windows are small and the drapes look so 1950's. I want to get Roman blinds for the bedroom and den and perhaps the dining room too. I will look for something appropriate for the living room,bathroom and kitchen windows. I will probably end up getting everything at Penney's Home Store.

Monday is the day for my daughter's back surgery. It scheduled for 8:30. I will go to the hospital at 8:00 and take my kindle and read while she is in surgery. I hope this surgery goes well.

More later....

Bob and I had breakfast and then we planned to go to Bartlesville and look for window treatments. After lunch at McCalister's we decided to go to Owasso and look around at the Penney store there.

When I got back home from Owasso, I ordered the window treatments for every window but the living room. When I get them, I will take down the draperies and put the Roman blinds up in their place. I don't yet know what I will do about the living room.

Friday, February 15, 2013

A Big Day

It's been a big day. This morning I packed some more stuff and took it over to the apartment. Then I came home and fixed some grilled cheese sandwiches for Bob and me. Neither of us was very hungry.

After that, I met with my class reunion committee. Five came. I am not sure we can do it with just five on the committee but we will try. We will have a picnic type catered dinner at Cedar Bluff Lodge on May 24th at 5:00 and then the next day we will have a nice sit down dinner at the country club if Larry can get us a good deal. Sunday morning we will meet at Sirloin Stockade for breakfast. It should be fun.

I will be moving in the meantime...probably in March.

My face is a little better today again. It's still red but the makeup covers it up pretty well.

Bob will be back this evening to watch a movie. More later...

The class reunion committee was small but they seemed to know what they wanted. The plans are tentatively made and we are now just waiting for the prices, There will be something for everyone. The Friday evening festivities will be a catered picnic dinner at Cedar Bluff Lodge at 5:00. Saturday evening we hope to have a sit down dinner at the Country Club. Then Sunday morning we will all meet for breakfast at Sirloin Stockade. Mostly there will just be visiting. That seems to be what everyone wants most.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

To Make A Better World

On this Valentine's Day, I have been thinking about what would have to happen to make this a better world: Her eare some ideas:

I don't believe in utopias or divine kingdoms, but I do believe things are getting better worldwide if you look over decades and centuries.

Here are some trends that need to happen more fully:

1) girls education, equal opportunities and respect for women and minorities, access to birth control

2) economic justice (fair pay, cheap access to information, affordable education, corporate accountability)

3) realistic opportunities for the poor

4) adequate social safety nets (access to basic medical care, basic insurance)

5) social justice and the rule of law (more restorative, less punitive)

6) free and fair global trade

7) security: people need to feel safe to thrive

8 ) global awareness (knowing when your consumption is messing up someone else's life elsewhere in the world

I am impressed with the many foundations that are working to make this a better world. Foundations like the Gates Foundations and the Clinton Foundation and hundreds more we seldom hear about.

So what do you readers think?

Valentine Day

Today is Valentine Day and the church members have planned a nice meal out at a new restaurant in Independence at 6:30 this evening. My face is better but still red and peeling. I have piled on makeup to cover it. Bob and Phyllis F. and I will attend the dinner.

I will do some cleaning here today and perhaps some packing. I may take some more boxes over to the apartment. I'll just play it by ear.

I called Bob last night and we went to Brahms and had an ice cream cone for dinner. Then he later came over and we watched Nature and Nova on PBS. He left early because he kept dropping off to sleep. I turned off the TV and took my bath and went to bed about 9:00. I was awakened at 2;30 by Missy who wanted out. I took my meds and let her out and went back to bed. A half hour later, I let her back in. It was pretty cold out there. She is lying in the wicker chair by the window sleeping now.

I had worked very hard yesterday taking boxes to the apartment and had been up since 4:00 AM. I was exhausted. After I finally got back to sleep. I slept until 6:00.

I ate a couple of warmed up biscuits for breakfast. I was out of jelly so I put cinnamon/sugar on them. Then I took my antibiotic.

More later...

I fixed hamburgers and french fries for lunch. I knew we would have a large dinner at the restaurant this evening.

I took my special decorative switch plates over to the apartment and put them on and brought the others home and put them on here. I also packed the two curio cabinets and took the boxes over to the apartment and put them in the closets there. Tomorrow I will do some more packing and taking boxes over to the apartment.

We had a good time at the party and the food was good. The music was also very good but too loud. Dinner music needs to be soft so people can talk over it. There was a pianist and a man who played the sax very much like Kenny G. I left them a tip.

I will take my bath now and take this makeup off. I sure hope this cellulitis is better tomorrow. My face peeled some more this morning.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

A Busy Day

I did a lot more packing today. I packed all my crystal and china and took all the boxes over to the apartment and put everything away.

I woke up at 3:00 AM and couldn't get back to sleep for thinking about everything going on in my life. I worked all morning packing that stuff and then all afternoon I took boxes over there and put them in the closets of the rooms they will go in when I move. Now when the furniture is moved in, I'll just open the boxes and put the stuff away.

I still have lots to pack though. There's the corner curio and the rest of the Precious Moments collectables. There's the knick knacks on the end tables and the auxiliary speakers for the TV. Then worse of all, the computer will have to be disassembled and reassembled over there and the VCR and DVD players will have to be put back in the TV and installed. I think I will have to have Cox do that. It's Greek to me.

Bob came over and we finished off the tuna noodle casserole for lunch. I fixed some biscuits and we had cottage cheese and applesauce. Then we had some fruit for dessert. He will be back this evening to watch TV with me.

I'm hoping the cellulitis will be cleared up soon. I am so tired of looking at it and dealing with it. I have tried to ignore it as much as possible and go on working on my packing.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

High Hopes!

I took my bath this evening and removed my makeup. I was amazed that the cellulitis was looking better. Perhaps that makeup did some of that by protecting my skin. Who knows? Perhaps finally the antibiotic kicked in. I won't say too much this evening. I will need to see what the morning brings. This morning my left eye was nearly swelled shut.

More tomorrow morning...

Wednesday morning...

My cellulitis is a little better but this morning my face is peeling and is still very red. I'll probably wait to go back to work until Tuesday Monday is President's Day. A holiday in the office. The doctor said I could always develop a secondary infection.

Another Disappointing Day

I had high hopes that the cellulitis would be better this morning but it has spread to my nose and my left eye was nearly swollen shut.

I know it's only the fourth day but I sure hoped doing the intravenous thing on Saturday morning would have given me a head start on heading it off. Evidently not.

While I was at the doctor's office yesterday my landlord called to ask me to have the electric bill changed into my name. After I left I called him back to say I was within one block of city hall and would go do that before I went home. Unfortunately, they now require a lease (rental) agreement to do that. So I went home and drew up a lease agreement and took it to him to sign and I signed it myself then went back to the city hall and got the electric transferred. Now I will be paying electricity at two residences.

This gets more complicated all the time. I am fast going through my short term savings. Tomorrow I get my social security and can pay my bills and even my house payment. So now I am paying rent as well as my house payment. I hope the closing is not far off. They still need to do the termite inspection and mechanical inspection. The good news from my realtor is that the appraisal went well.

Today, I am taking the cakes to Independence and also going to the beauty shop to have my hair done. I will to call her to warn her of my looks. I will be coming right back home. Yesterday was the first day I had even been out of the house since Saturday when I went to the ER.

My kids have been very good about staying in touch and have called every day. My daughter and her husband came by Sunday after they finished cleaning up after the dinner.

That's another piece of scarey news. My daughter has to have serious back surgery. She has a disk that has completely blown out. She will have an anterior lumbar interbody fusion. Her surgery is scheduled for February 19th. The time has not been set yet. I will want to be off work that day to go sit in the hospital and wait. Some of us are going to try to cook dinner for them after she gets home from the hospital. Cyndi or I will try to coordinate that.

Later....

I got an awful lot done today. I took the cakes up this morning and got my hair done at 10:00. Then around noon, I put my makeup on and met Bob for lunch. After that, I stopped by Keith and Joyce's and picked up several dozen boxes. I packed the books from the roll top deck in the dining room. and stacked that box in the garage.

I went out to my daughter's house and picked up the meat and then went to the Independence Wal Mart for groceries.

Then I loaded up four boxes that I had packed for cleaning supplies and the bathroom stuff and took them over and unloaded them at the apartment. I threw a bunch of stuff away that I was never going to use anyhow. I need to take a tape measure, screw driver and scissors next time I go over there and also a storage unit I keep under my sink in the larger bathroom here.

I want to continue to take boxes over there and put them in the closets in the rooms where they will go when the furniture is moved. Then it will just be a matter of unloading the boxes and putting stuff away, hanging photos and pictures and it will be home.

Sometime before I move, I want to get my Roman blinds and get them up and get his drapes down and pack them neatly away.

I don't think I will go in to work tomorrow. I need to but I need the time to heal worse.

Monday, February 11, 2013

More Bacterial Infection

I was so in hopes the cellulitis would be better this morning but if anything, it's worse. It has moved up further around my eyes. I will not even try to put my contacts in. I will just wear my glasses. When the doctor's office opens, I will call him and try to get in to see him. I am disgusted with him because he did not take me seriously on Friday when I told him about the sore glands and the tenderness around my right jaw. The redness did not become really apparent until that afternoon. The full blown cellulitis did not show up until Saturday morning.

I will also have to call my eye doctor to cancel my 10:30 appointment. I can't show up over there looking like this and with my eyes nearly shut.

I reached my supervisor at work yesterday evening at her home. She was sympathetic and told me they would get along and for me to take care of myself. What else could she do.

I am discouraged. I had hoped it would be better by this morning. I expected yesterday to be worse because that is what the emergency room doctor had said.

Yesterday morning after I had taken my antibiotic, I noticed the bottle said "one a day". I got out my release paperwork and it said "two a day". I called the emergency room nurse to find out which was correct. She said "two a day" was correct. I am to call the pharmacy this morning and ask them to re-read the prescription. It had been sent electronically so should have been perfectly legible. Problems! I am just so glad my brother-in-law was there and had heard what they said at the hospital. He was just sure they said "two a day". Luckily I called early enough that I did not miss a dose. Incompetence reigns!

More later...

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Bad Bacterial Infection

Dr Christensen was right about one thing..that's for sure. He said this infection would get worse before it got better and this morning, it is worse. It has spread further across the right side of my face and is very taut and tingles even more. When I got up at 2:30 to take my meds, I also took a couple more Tylenol. I was running 100 degrees of fever most of the evening. Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in soon and this will begin turning the infection around.

Not only do I look terrible but this is such a scarey infection! If it were to get into my brain, it could cause meningitis. It is already a toxic infection. It is caused by either strep or staph so can be very serious. Luckily, I went to the emergency room immediately when I discovered it. If not treated immediately, the bacteria can spread quickly through the body and cause sepsis which can kill a person.

I will not be going to church today. I am not going to go out of the house until this is gone. We have a salad luncheon there today and a guest minister but they will have to get along without my salad.

I will also have to call in sick tomorrow and not go to work. I have an appointment in the morning with my eye doctor but I will also cancel that.

Enough of that depressing news!