Done Since 2018-06-24

[mdlbear]

So... Colleen spent most of the week -- Monday through Friday -- in the hospital again. Dehydration and a kidney infection. She's out now, but she'll be on IV antibiotics for the next two weeks. She's still pretty weak. I'm still worried.

(Part of the weakness might be explained by her not having eaten much over the last few days. It's complicated by the fact that a kidney-friendly diet and a Crohn's-friendly diet have comparatively little overlap, and she hasn't been eating enough.)

My left hand is, if anything, worse. That may be because even with a thumb brace it's impossible to completely avoid using the thumb on my dominant hand. I'd take N's advice and put the arm in a sling, but then I'd be unable to do much of anything. and Colleen can't do it for herself.

Sunday I went down to Seattle (the South End of the caravan) to go to the pride festival with N and m. Very loud, but the people-watching made up for it. That, and just going out with N and m and seeing them enjoying themselves. I miss them.

Had a good music lesson on Wednesday -- it's getting so that I can hear a difference. I brought Snuggles (the Martin) and sang "Silk and Steel". Hadn't sung it for at least a couple of years; pretty much nailed it on the third try.

So that was my week. Maybe the next week will be better. One can hope.

Lots of good links -- look through Friday for links about blockchain, many of which came off a thread on the SVLUG mailing list. Pay particular attention to Why You Can’t Put The Music Industry On A Blockchain by David Gerard. The book it's excerpted from, Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain, is also well worth a read. There's a lot of handwaving out there; remember that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Notes & links:

0624Su
  * up 5:15; W=201.4, S=6:39;
  : Apparently we still have a safe deposit box in San Jose.  In Colleen's name.
  * 8:30ish leave for Seattle.  Remember to take MAIL, cane, and, if it's warm, a frozzle
    -> forgot the cane.  Didn't take frozzle.  Didn't need either, so all okay
  * go down to Seattle to spend the day with N and m.
  @ Pride Parade | Seattle
    -> very loud; I could barely hear a conversation right next to me, which made me a
       little isolated.  I actually missed both a text and a phone call while standing in
       line for curly fries.
    -> The people-watching made up for the noise, though.
    -> The best thing, though, was just being out with N and m, and seeing them enjoying
       themselves.
    -> very little traffic in either direction; tourist traffic goes against the commute,
       so it didn't affect me.
  * my tiger balm arrived.  It helps.
  % 9:30 sleepy

0625Mo
  * up 5:30ish; W=201.4, S=5?;
    Ticia woke me 3ish with no mask; got 2:44 with after that.
  @ thnidu | Foil Blankets: new song by Talis Kimberley-Fairbourn
    Scratch vid of brand new song “Foil Blankets”... - Talis Kimberley-Fairbourn
  @ Healthy Aging: Sneaky Depression Triggers in Pictures
  * application at Nuna
    -> setting up call
  * ping back from Algorythmia - setting up call
  * help V load scooter into Molly
    -> C had to use the scooter to get out to the car.  I am _very_ worried.
  * 3:45 C Dr. Rochier
    -> C to ER - dehydrated.  There's a semi-permanent catheter that would have fewer
       problems, including less risk of infection.  Needs a gastroenterologist, and there
       isn't one on the island.
    -> V is still up there with her.
  * up to Coupeville with C's purple bag, phone, kindle, and wolf blanket.  Still in ER;
    wants me to go home 9:30, which will work well.
    -> 8:45 just saw doctor -- she'll be here for a few days.
    % somewhat sleepy and having trouble concentrating.  Going to give up and read.

0626Tu
  * up 5ish; S=5:47, ;
  @ Microsoft Buys GitHub: Three Weeks Later | Linux Journal 
  * 7:30 (:30 checkin time) 8am Dr. Rochier
    -> got confused, and left the house at 7:04 thinking I'd be late.  :P
    depression follow-up and annual wellness visit.
    bring paperwork.  Ask about blood pressure - IMO it's high.
    -> not high enough to justify adding a second drug (doxazosin is the first)
    -> follow up in 3 months
  * left for the hospital ~11am after leaving a note on the door for T'
  : C is sleeping.  Seems relatively comfortable.  Still dehydrated.
  * additional work on template expansion in S.S.net.  I have a plan now.
  * 3:00 call from Allyssa Stanley at Algorithmia
    -> sending it on to the team
  * 4:30 call from Lynn Niu at Nuna
    -> sending it on to the team
  : Rosie died -- probably bad starter, which would be ~$700.  So the question is whether
    to fix and keep, fix and sell, or trade as is.  I'll probably need to go down...
  % 9ish sleepy.  Unable to concentrate.
  % anxiety attack after getting in to bed

0627We
  & wakened by Ticia ~3am.  Managed to get back to sleep
  * up 6:35; W=200.8, S=5:44; shower
  * change CPAP filter and pillow
  * bring C's cranberry tablets.
  * arrive at hospital ~10:30
  * ordered some books recommended by the dietician - Specific Carbohydrate Diet
    it's for kidney disease; there are conflicts between it and the recomended diet for
    IBD/Crohn's disease, so we'll have to be careful.
  : The hospital's net connection is marginal.  Works intermittently; has a lot of trouble
    with DNS.  Probably some kind of filter.  I'll write or program.
  * Lunch at the hospital.  Very circuitous route due to construction.  Not all that good,
    but cheap and there are lots of small tables by the window.
  ~ go to singing directly from hospital if necessary (Plink in car)
    -> actually there was time to stop at home and swap Plink for Snuggles.
    -> Sang "Silk and Steel".  The third time I pretty much nailed it.
  : C called:  she has infections in both kidneys; it's serious enough that tomorrow she's
    going to be transferred to one of the UW hospitals -- don't know which one yet --
    presumably for a urologist, although she also mentioned that there was going to be a
    gastroenterologist for the Crohn's.
    -> 10pm apparently they've decided to keep her up here for now.  C is still terrified
  @ Designing for Blockchain: What’s Different and What’s at Stake 

0628Th
  & wakened by Ticia at 2-something.
  * up 6:30ish; W=201.6, S=7:18;
  @ As Cloud Computing Providers Post Record Profits, One Company Wants to Make Them
    Obsolete | Linux Journal private storage with a blockchain-based(?) cloud
    connection.  The company is AXEL, but I can't find a link.
  @ Building a Voice-Controlled Front End to IoT Devices | Linux Journal
    uses Google text-to-speech API, which is cheap but not free
  @ Documentation
  @ Why I attended PyLadies London as a man – MrMattWright – Medium
    Be accomplices, not allies | CODEPINK
    Resistance Manual
  : C's doctor says that she will have to be on IV antibiotics for 2 weeks; she'll be
    getting a PICC line later today.  (That's a Good Thing -- it'll be a lot less painful
    than a regular IV.)  Still an open question whether she'll be getting her antibiotic
    at home or at the MAC clinic -- see 06-29t10:30.
  : when I got back from lunch C was off getting her PICC line installed.
  * spent most of the day writing; mostly imperative/oo/functional languages
  @ The Only 100 Positive Affirmations You Will Ever Need (ysabetwordsmith") Um... no.
    " I don't know about anyone else, but for me affirmations seem to work better when I
      read them in the second person. If I read something that starts out "I..." I
      immediately dismiss it as manifestly untrue. If it starts out "You..." I can take it
      as meaning that somebody else thinks this about me.  
        I can rephrase negative self-talk, sometimes. "That was a stupid thing to do"
      instead of "I'm stupid". "Following my intuition and my heart keeps me safe and
      sound", to give a random example from the list of 100, ... not even close. That's
      usually what got me into whatever mess I'm in. "
  
0629Fr
  * up 6am; S=6:54;
  : The little Lenovo netbook has been dead for at least a week or two.  Doesn't even try
    to boot.  I've seen this behavior on other laptops when the battery is dead, but
    usually it charges at least enough to boot.  So not clear what the problem is.
  @ RIP Harlan Ellison, Grand Master of Science Fiction & Fantasy, 1934-2018 | Tor.com
  @ "Find your passion" is bad advice, say Yale and Stanford psychologists — Quartz
    " people who have a fixed mindset—the almost mystical belief that passions are
      revealed to us magically—seem to be less curious and motivated than those with a
      growth mindset, who understand interests unfold as a process. "
  * Additional troubleshooting on the lenovo s10-3 -> bad power brick (or not plugged in)
    power light comes on with an iGo 706 connector.  NOT the old-style Thinkpad charger; I
    think it may be too short.
    -> actual problem:  the little 3-outlet expander with pilot light wasn't staying
       connected.  :P
  * 9am leave for hospital
  : rejection from Nuna.  Not surprising.
  % I don't have to feel bad about not working on job apps from the hospital -- hardly
    anything is accessible.  (OK, I could be tethering my phone.  :P)
  x 10:30 meeting at hospital.  Discharge planning.
  ~ 1ish discharge -> more like noon
    Cronic kidney disease - CKD - she was stage 5 on admission, now stage 4.  That's bad.
    First I'd heard about it; not clear whether C had been told earlier.
    She's on Ertapenem IV for the next two weeks.  Eeep!
  * 1ish home.  C very weak, shaky, and scared.  So am I, though not as much.
    % Very tired after getting the scooter out and back into the car again.
    % I haven't had lunch -- that's _my_ main problem.
    : C immediately went to bed after using the bathroom.
  * 2ish wake C
  : the tegaderm patch around C's PICC line is coming loose; put paper tape on it as a
    temporary fix; that will hold it until tomorrow according to the person we got on the
    phone. 
  @ underground_rail | All Hands on Deck
  @ Why Blockchain Could (One Day) Topple Google – Bharath Ramsundar – Decentralized
    Protocol and Deep Drug Discovery Researcher [SVLUG] lots of justifiable skepticism
    on the SVLUG list.
    Blockchain Explained: IBM Blockchain Blog sounds a bit like snake oil
    IBM, the GDPR and “blockchain” — whatever that word specifically means | Attack of
    the 50 Foot Blockchain 
  @ amaebi | Writing to my legislators - good examples of letters; both parties.
  @ Why You Can’t Put The Music Industry On A Blockchain - hypebot 
  @ bought Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum & Smart Contracts:
    David Gerard, Karen Boyd, Ben Gutzler, Christian Wagner 
  @ Researchers release app that masks printers' tracking dots - Help Net Security
  @ Marketing Firm Exactis Leaked a Personal Info Database With 340 Million Records 
  @ Nutrition Guidelines for People With Short Bowel Syndrome | Memorial Sloan Kettering
    Cancer Center
  : I'll probably have to stop using tiger balm -- toxic to cats, and Desti wanted to lick
    my hands.  As if we don't have enough else going on.

0630Sa
  % awake 2:30ish; toothache.  Took ibuprofen  Tried dental floss; no effect.
  : 4:05 power outage -- shut down Nova.  Going back to bed may not be an option now.
    Outage map
    they say estimated time restored is 6:30, but it's not on the map.
    Thought briefly that it might be a blown breaker, but it glitched a couple of times
    before finally going down, so no.
  & back to bed for about 2 hours; didn't think I actually got back to sleep, but I
    remember bits of a dream, so I must have.
  * up 5:55; s=3:48;
  : Power came back on at 6:17
  : Someone started a Skyline West neighborhood in Nextdoor
  @ Hyperledger 3 years later: That's the sound of the devs... working on the chain
    ga-a-ang Apache Foundation blockchain project
  @ Can Your Cat's Purr Heal? | Animal Wellness Magazine (ysabetwordsmith)
  * posted mdlbear | Songs for Saturday: A new story series, with music
  @ Kidney diet and foods for chronic kidney disease (CKD) - American Kidney Fund
    Top 15 Healthy Foods for People with Kidney Disease - DaVita
    ... many of which might not work well for Crohn's.  Need nutritionist
    Welcome to DaVita Diet Helper
  @ Waterfox - Wikipedia
    The Waterfox Project
    FF fork that supports legacy plugins, removes telemetry and DRM
  * 1:30 MAC clinic -- I wasn't sure we needed an appointment.  Apparently we do.
    -> will probably be the same time going forward
  : C seems a lot weaker than she was even a week ago.  So, for that matter, do I.
  @ Blockchain or the Chaingang? | CREATe Jeremy Silver
    blockchain and the music industry.  Global Repertoire Database.  Right.
    actual paper [PDF]
  * pasta shells with cheese sauce for dinner.
  % feeling overwhelmed.  Choice paralysis on software; discouragement; blarg.
  % still very worried about C - she's awfully weak, and she's sleeping too much.
  : Mirror disk not being seen by Nova.  Bletch.  Something's flaky; I could see it for a
    moment on cygnus, but it went away.  But that means that the data is probably ok
  @ Apple's number is finally up - and why we've gone our separate ways while I continue
    to use macOS
    " All — the laptop, desktop, monitor, and speakers — covered (within 100 GBP or so)
      from the money to be returned from Apple for one, badly designed, under-powered
      notebook. ... So, that’s where I am. A happy Hackintosh and Chromebook/Linux user. "

Comments

[jcfiala]

I wish you luck - as someone who's had their wife stay in the hospital far too much recently, I know how scary and disruptive that is. (Ever feel guilty because you're not at the hospital? I have.)

I hope things improve quickly.

[mdlbear]

>>Ever feel guilty because you're not at the hospital?<<

Me, too.

Thanks.

[amaebi]

Sounds like lots of alarming ness in your week. :( I'm sorry-- and glad for the good things.

[mdlbear]

Thanks. There have been good things. Sometimes it's hard for me to remember that.

[jenk]

Eep! Glad Colleen is home. Are you able to do IVs at home or is that elsewhere?

[mdlbear]

It's at the hospital; about a 25-minute drive. The actual IV infusion takes half an hour, but between travel and prep it uses a couple of hours.

[johnpalmer]

I'm really glad it's outpatient at least, but yikes, that's disruptive. I'm hoping with the late response that there's been no worsening (and upon having that thought, looked ahead - darn it, no glorious "it's over and wonderful!" but I'm happy with stability if that's all I can get).

Good luck with all of this.

[mdlbear]

Thanks