Did you accomplish anything today?

[jbeany]

Yesterday, I finished my first week at my new job - and I almost feel competent at it...it's going to take a bit, but there's a lot to learn!
I also replaced the tail lightbulb in my car.  That may now sound like much to most of the guys, but any time I can fix something on it myself, I'm always happy!

Today - well, I've made a list of everything I need to do this weekend....and that's it so far!

[jbeany]

Today is payday from the first week of my first real, 5 day a week job since my kidneys went kaboom in 1998.     

[Riki]

I got out of bed.. trust me, that was an accomplishment.. at least, for today it was..

I have a headache that started in the last 45 minutes of dialysis yesterday, and the damn thing has not left me.. It was that bad that I didn't go to Aqua Zumba yesterday.. I just could not pull myself out of the bed

[CebuShan]

I got my linens changed, a load of laundry done, my Spring shower curtain put up & a new batch made! 

[cariad]

Today was a slow day. A few phone calls, some research on things to do with the kids. We went to the market to grab lunch and Dyl asked for - and then actually ate - a turkey sandwich with cheese, pesto and lettuce. The boys did a bit of school work and I should really go grade Aidan's practice SATS mathematics exam. Dyl is writing a fiction story about the the California gold rush. I want them to research and write about the Chumash Indian tribe. We saw their cave paintings yesterday and now I want to see more but most of the locations of those are closely guarded secrets.

[cariad]

My son really wants to go to the aquarium but when we got down there it was just too crowded so I asked him if we could postpone it for another day. Was not sure what to do with them, then desperation set in and I offered to take them to drive by my former home. I really hate these nostalgia tours. We went there and the place is under construction and I got questions like "Mom, did you have a giant lady's head in your garden when you were a kid?" There was one of those beautiful Indian heads just sitting in the middle of a patch of grass. You can now see the place fairly clearly from the road, you never could when I was growing up. It was sad for me, especially when I heard "Lucky!" from the boys and I told them that I wish I could afford to give them my childhood but I can't. I told them that I'd rather live like we're living with people who actually want me around than have all of that back. It's not like we live in poverty anyhow, I love our lives now, but yeah, I would so love to be able to let them grow up in a place like that. Then I took them to my former school that I went to before prep school. I told them that it was a pretty terrible school when I was there but it looks like they've done much to improve it. Aidan then asked me what the worst part of it was and I said that they had no idea how to handle instances of kids being ostracized or bullied. I also said the headmaster was an idiot. I did tell the boys that I had some great memories from there, too, because I do.

Then we walked up and down State St. There is a to-die-for shop there called Bettie Page and there are about 3 items there that I need! When Gwyn gets here I'll drag him in there and see what works and what doesn't. I better stop downing the guacamole or I won't fit into any of it soon. Check it out: http://www.bettiepageclothing.com/ They have quite a few locations across the country.

[MaryD]

Spent two hours moving 1/2 cubic metre of topsoil from point A to point B, half a bucket at a time.  I have some raised garden beds which I have been filling with composty things for two years and it's too slow.  Once upon a time I would have got the entire 2 cubic metre load done in two hours.  Now, half a bucket at a time, I'll be lucky if it's done in a week!  Oh, youth, strength and stamina - why have you forsaken me?     

A snooze is definitely on the cards this afternoon.

[Riki]

I did 23 minutes of Just Dance on the wii, then I spent the rest of the day playing Animal Crossing on the DS.. bad idea.. I'm having trouble reading regular text now, after playing on that little screen all day..

Tuesday was my busy day.. it started off fine.. I was sitting up in bed, on my computer, strolling through facebook (which is another thing I do too much of. *L*) and I stretched my legs out and felt a wet spot.  I got a wiff of it, and it was cat pee... I complained about it on facebook, and a friend asked me if the cat pee told my fortune.. I told him yes, it told me I'd be doing laundry in the near future.. *L*  I ended up having to wash all my blankets and sheets, and when Mom got home, she put a mattress cover on my mattress

[CebuShan]

I started a movie audit today. I'll be auditing "The Croods". All weekend, all 12 showtimes! 

[jbeany]

What the heck does a movie auditor do?

I may have managed to convince my new boss to hire me to work both the part time deputy clerk job I have now and the newly empty part time collections clerk job as well.  That would bump my hours to 39 hours per week.  It would still be part time, so no benefits, but since Ticket to Work is protecting my Medicare for the next 8 years, I'm good with that.  I can start my own retirement savings account for now - and invest in home improvements that will lower my heating and cooling costs long term, which will save even more.

[Riki]

According to the progress tracker on my Just Dance game, I did 26 minutes of activity.. though it took me an hour and a half to do it.. *L*

[conchman]

Woke up, always makes me 'Happy-Happy".  My wife and I looked a possible flooring options ..."9.00 per sq. ft" !!  likley not an option.  We went to spend time with her father, then off to "Q-BBQ" in Naperville, always quite tasty, everyone must try the "Q-Pups".  Home to install the Reverse Osmosis unit for the fish tanks.  After several choice words the install was complete and no leaks, well not yet...as usual, over did it, now very tired...off to nap before bed...
 
M

[RichardMEL]

I guess this as good a place to put this as anywhere else.

Last Thursday I attended a pre-transplant information session put on by my renal team. I was asked to be a speaker and found it  a great honour because I have often said I wanted to give something back and help others if I could and well they listened to me!

About 8 years ao I went to a similar session put on and found it so very helpful, even though my actual tx was 6 years later. It was exactly the sort of thing that I needed I feel to prepare me. Plus being on IHD helped a lot too.. but at the stage I attended I did not know about IHD, so it was good in the sense that they didn't sugar coat anything - when I went the speakers they had were of a successful transplantee and one that had had problems with theirs to contrast, and they also went through the (then) stats on success rates and the like.

So this time I was one of 4 speakers invited. I had thought that it would be like the first one that I attended where the Transplane Co-ordinator (TC) would ask a series of questions based on our experiences to draw out issues (eg "So how did you feel when you woke up" or "How do you cope with the meds post tx and taking them on time?") with some general questions allowed from the audience. However when I got there with my sister(who I thought would find it interesting) the TC said "OK I want you to take about 10 minutes to just talk about your experiences and don't  sugar coat the negatives - just be honest and talk about how it feels now and your journey" so I had like 90 mins to panic and think what the heck I would say.

In the meantime they had her and the head of renal discuss all the tx options - live donation, cadaveric, "the list" and the general tx procedure, and post discharge concerns (eg skin cancer, dental health, etc).. all of this we all know. I thought they were pretty good and covered all the important issues - not in massive detail, but to give an idea.

So then came time for us to speak. As I said there were 4 of us. There was myself, a lady who had her tx 3 years ago and spends 3 months of the year living in France (hard life!!) and how she dealt with having supplies of her meds, and getting help when in France, or other european countries. Turns out her local hospital in France when she has had to visit have actually kept in contact with the renal team back here and shared info and stuff which is pretty good, and for more intensive stuff she can go to a place near Cambridge in the UK where they look after her (free) and it is all covered. The other 2 were a mother and son, the mother donated to her son.

What made these last 2 of special interest was that this gent has had 33 operations - yes *33* and post-tx had steroid induced diabetes and other complications, and endured (wait for it) EIGHT biopsies of his kidney in just 12 months (they joked he held the hospital record). Even more amazing when it all started due to a fall from a surfboard. He mentioned in passing to a small group of us that he had been on TV. I fund the youtube, and here is the story up to his tx: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiSnvVwJ9AI - it's 13 minutes, but really well worth it in the end as it's very positive.. and meeting him just 4-5 mnths after he became stable is a tribute to both his strength and also their willingness to share further with others the benefits, despite it all, of tx. I really admired that effort.

So I got up after the "South of France" lady. I thought it was a heavy topic and a lot for the crowd to take in. Oh there were about 50 I would say and I have to say that I was a bit saddened to see quite a number of younger faces there - either D patients or family members perhaps consiering donation.. either way tough issues and situations for anyone to face. So I thought I would try and add a bit of humour eg joke that some might think the wost side effect so far to tx was a surprising strong interest in horse racing (true), or that my "caregiver" was my cat who isn't much help with keeping track of the meds etc... I got a few laughs. My sister said I spoke well(that's her job of course!) and that I kept people's attention, but honestly I just hope I helped just one person there in any way to get a more positive idea of tx and stuff then I feel it was worth it despite my nerves. I really tried to mention to be as informed as possible and I did mention my membership of an internet forum (I thought with the head of Renal sitting there I decided to not specifically name IHD, but hoped someone would ask me privately, but nobody did). I did get some questions from the audience like how I looked after kitty post-tx (so they did listen to my joke! LOL) and travel and stuff so I think that was good.

SO yeah that was pretty eventful. Not sure if I will be asked to do it again, but I am glad I got the chance to help!

that afternoon I had a skin cancer survey which didn't discover anything so that was a bonus too!!! YAY!

[jbeany]

Nice job, Richard!

I had big plans this weekend that didn't involve even leaving the house - taxes, house cleaning, organizing my notes from work and laundry.  If I had time after that, I was going to hem a dress for a friend.  Instead, I got invited to a party yesterday, which was only supposed to be for a couple of hours in the afternoon, and made plans with my nephew at the last minute to go to the local sculpture gardens and see the spring display of 1000's of live butterflies in their massive conservatory.  I didn't get home last night from the party until 10.  Whoops, so much for taxes and hemming.  I did get the rest of the stuff done, though!  Maybe I'll be ambitious enough to work on taxes when I get home from dropping off my nephew....surrrre.

[Poppylicious]

... and for more intensive stuff she can go to a place near Cambridge in the UK where they look after her (free) and it is all covered.

That'll be Blokey's Hospital where he had haemoD and we had our transplant ... we have a brilliant kidney team there. And well done on being an inspiration (as I'm pretty sure you would have been to some of the folk there!)

 

 I've done sod all today, except go to the cinema and tease my Qyzie.

 

[cariad]

I've had a clusterf@#k of an afternoon.

This morning, after all my relatives stampeded into town over the weekend upon hearing that I was trapped there, I innocently check my flight out of town, through Denver. My departure out of SB with the boys was delayed by 2 hours, arriving 3 minutes before our connecting flight was due to take off. I called the airline with some questions, yes the flight was delayed, no they would not hold the second flight. They said they would put us on another airline, but then the only airline that still had room did not have an agreement with our airline so they wouldn't do it. I asked about leaving out of LA but that would involve a change fee and they still couldn't make it work. This trip is so complicated because it involves 5 different families in 2 states, each with different schedules. G was oblivious on a plane over from Heathrow. Frontier could only get us there for Tuesday night, giving Aidan only 1 day to see his Milwaukee friends. I made an 'you only live once' decision when I saw I could get a seat for Aidan on Gwyn's American flight out of LA using miles (25,000!!!). So, I take 2 seats on the Tuesday flight for Dyl and me and ask for a refund for Aidan's ticket which was apparently a complicated procedure but she did it.

Whilst on the phone I have trouble logging in to American Airlines and by the time I do the seat is gone. Gah!!!! I have been on the phone 2 hours by now. I ring up AA, explain the situation only to discover the call's been dropped. Phone back, plead with them to just work with me. She can put Aidan on another flight and, since I have Gwyn's reservation number, I can change his flight, too. (Reservation numbers: guard them with your life!)

Then I frantically throw all of our stuff in mother's car, my father hands me his mobile (we have done nothing but shout at each other, so this is awkward) and we go bombing down the coast. Gwyn knows nothing of this but I figure we will explain all when we surprise him at the hotel. I arrive at the hotel, no Gwyn. Try his mobile, call won't go through. Try his friendwho came up to meet him for a few hours and no name on voicemail, so leave one of those 'hope this is you' messages. Meanwhile, gwyn has received an email from the airline that they changed his flight, so he goes to the AA desk and demands they change it back. Gah!!!!! times a million!

Luckily, he happened to see an email that Aidan was now on his flight and told them he had no idea what was going on, but change his flight back. His friend rang back and eventually we all had dinner at Macaroni Grill. (This friend was our support person and his first words to me were: hey, happy three years. WOW! I forgot totally on the actual day, well impressed he remembered.

So, I am in an LAX hotel with three dozing males. Yay! Together again, separated tomorrow, then reunited Tuesday night (for 2 weeks). C'mon visa!

[jbeany]

Lordy, Cariad....that is a mess!

Well, it's a no go on almost-full-time hours.  The judge said yes, the HR department said no.  New Obamacare rules apparently prevent them from hiring anyone for more than 29 hours per week on average without benefits, unlike what they used to do.  Since the budget doesn't stretch to benefits, they have to get someone else for the other 19 hours per week. 
Ah, well, it never hurts to ask!

And I'm still employed at a job I really like with a lot of great people!

[Riki]

I did 34 minutes on Just Dance, hoping that it would somehow miraculously have me drop the 25 pounds I need to lose to go back to being active on the transplant list.. no such luck.. oh well.. Aqua Zumba tomorrow.. maybe 45 minutes in the pool will do it... here's hoping

[Lexxtech18]

I managed to draw my own blood today with my non-dominant hand! lol Since I can only be drawn on my right side and I am coincidently right handed, I drew myself with my left hand! Usually I'm such a hard draw my co-workers have a hell of a time getting me so it was by chance (or possibly just pure skill?) that I was able to draw myself!

[Riki]

that's cool.. I'd never be able to do that.. that's why I have dialysis nurses.. *LOL*

[MaryD]

Lexxtech

I'm sure it was skill, along with a good dose of daring!       

[RichardMEL]

I am in awe on two counts....

I know it is your job to draw blood but to a) do yourself and b) with your non dominant hand/arm?

well done!! 

[Poppylicious]

This friend was our support person and his first words to me were: hey, happy three years. WOW! I forgot totally on the actual day, well impressed he remembered.

Happy (but belated) three years!   

[cariad]

This friend was our support person and his first words to me were: hey, happy three years. WOW! I forgot totally on the actual day, well impressed he remembered.

Happy (but belated) three years!   

Aw, thanks. This was sort of a major one, yet I still managed to forget everything about it. Never been sentimental about transplant....

[cariad]

You'd be forgiven for mistaking the following for an advert for OxyClean.

Last night while watching the Phil Spector film In bed, I splashed red wine on my aunt's lovely duvet cover. Gwyn wanted to put it through the wash, but I doubted that would work and we were not sure of the material so worried it would shrink or be ruined. So, we bought a small pot of OxyClean. Gwyn spot cleaned the duvet cover, rinsed liberally with water then put it through the dryer on low heat. You cannot see a trace of the wine.

Yes, OK, Gwyn did the actual cleaning, but I did supervise and update him on IHD news as he treated the stain. We'll share the credit.