Done Since 2019-07-07

[mdlbear]

Not a bad week. (I hesitate to say "a good week" mostly out of force of habit.) Colleen had the Home Health nurse replace her external plumbing, it seems to be helping. She's much stronger and happier -- almost back to where she was a year or two ago. I'll take it.

My back has been giving me trouble; also something around my right TMJ. What the fsck is up with that? (Non-techies should note that fsck is the name of the Unix file-system-check utility.)

I went through the exercise of flagging all of Colleen's major medical events, with dates, to make them easier to list with grep. (I'd gotten tired of repeating her medical history every time we went to a new doctor's office.) It was kind of appalling. In the last decade Colleen was hospitalized about a dozen times, we moved four times, I changed jobs three times (2 were layoffs), burned out, and retired. And Curio died. I've been Colleen's primary caregiver that entire time. And that's not counting the medical emergencies in N's half of the household.

I came to the realization that my main problem isn't anxiety or depression, it's stress. (N was surprised that I hadn't figured that out already; bears can be a little slow at times.) The next day I looked at a couple of lists of "the most stressful life events". Um... Okay, then.

Notes & links:

0707Su
  * up 7am; S=6:43;
  / worried about C -- tried a flush last night; nothing in bag this am.
  % TMJ problems?  that or a muscle spasm, somewhere near the right TMJ
  * singing with N Under His Hat He Had Things, The Ballad of the Shape of Things,
    Riverheart, The Rambling Silver Rose, Bells of Norwich, The Mary Ellen Carter
  * took N to the ferry.  Looked like at least a 2-hour backup for cars.
  * Charmers for brunch.
  / C asked me to get her some "swimmer's ears" ear dryer.  I also got some wax remover,
    which is what actually solved her problem.
  # colleen-medical needs to move out of Journals because it's putting a lot of noise into
    grep reports, and it's really redundant.  Good idea but perhaps not all that useful.
  * my first chat with an actual listener on 7cups.com.  Got some useful suggestions out
    of it, including taking time for myself when V is taking care of C.  Bus into town?
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  % 8:45 sleepy

0708Mo
  & awake 3:30ish;
  * Up 4; S=4:55;
  % A reconsideration, after trying to track down C's hospital stays and looking back over
    my notes:  2012 and 2015-2018 were particularly stressful.  We moved four times
    between 2012 and now, and C was hospitalized at least 10 times.  (WTF?!)  At least
    two of those were very nearly fatal.  I changed jobs three times, and retired.  Curio
    died in 2015.  Looking back objectively, I think I have to admit that I'm in
    surprisingly _good_ shape, considering.  [from a chat on 7cups.com, slightly edited]
    -> I guess that means that I have to change the question under discussion from "how
       can I reduce my depression and anxiety?" to "how can I cope with stress?"
       So... improving my coping and self-care skills. And reducing procrastination, which
       is not just a (broken) coping mechanism but also one of the few sources of stress
       that's actually under my control.
    -> N was surprised I hadn't figured that out already.  Bears can be a little slow.
  : amusing bug.  7cups changed "So..." into a link.  Must have matched a regex for FQDNs
  % very sore around right hip -> naproxen; feeling bloated from dinner
  : (family history) A box containing (some of?) Shirley's manuscripts got slightly wet on
    the bottom from a drink spill; I rescued it.

0709Tu
  * Up 6:40; S=7:09; laundry
  @ Zoom Zero Day: 4+ Million Webcams & maybe an RCE? Just get them to visit your
    website! (lifehacker) exists on both MacOS and Windows.
  : call from Wheelchair + Scooter Repair.  found a tech.  Thomas will call soon.
  @ stressful life events at DuckDuckGo lots of different lists.  But guess what?
    Holmes and Rahe stress scale - Wikipedia
    10 Most Stressful Life Events adds 7 more not on the scale, plus things to do
    It's per year, so for best results I should do each year.  Not going to bother.  yet?
  : Went through the family history box.  Lots of duplicates/different revisions.  Needs
    at least one more pass.  There were other things, including what appears to be a
    complete set of back-issues of HyperSpace Expressions (!) and some loose filk.
  % I'm not a hoarder (I don't think), but I hate to throw away something that is, or in
    some cases might become, useful.
  % saw that my 7c therapist was online, so was able to have an extended conversation
  % exploded at Colleen after telling her _and_ L that I needed to concentrate (on 7c),
    and they would.not.stop.  Not C's fault -- she may not have heard.
  * SL: heavy duty staples (surebonder), wall faceplate screws, beer (for Welsh rabbit)
    -> not much variety on staples and couldn't tell what it wanted.  Bought a staple gun
       that was on sale for $10, with bog-standard T-50 staples.

0710We
  & Awake 3:09am; S=3:54; bed 5ish
  * up 7:30; S=5:27; 
  * down to Rest Stop to work on closet shelves.  Bring tools and N's laptop cord.  Also
    bring the little Targus charger, since it appears to have the correct tip on it.
    -> both work; taking the original one back to the box because slightly worse fit
    -> there's a lot more room in N's closet now
  : call allegedly from the Chevy dealer offering to "buy back" Molly.  Huh?
  & staying at RS for dinner.
    % mildly concerned because low on sleep.  Will have to be careful going home.
  * home ~9:25.
  
0711Th
  * up 7:15; W=201.6, S=7:13; shower 866-975-0247
  * 9am Libby 3 hours $30/h - will finish up Fr 3:30-8
  * 1pm C home PT Amy
  $ $30 AX to EFF (501(c)(3))
  * guitar: a few minutes of noodling
  * SL: B12 1000ug (for C); pick up for L
  % 8:30ish suddenly a whole lot of lower back pain.  What did I do?
  : Cygnus repeatedly shutting down after boot.  Thermal?  Left it unplugged and upside-
    down in hopes that cooling it off would help.

0712Fr
  * up 5:30ish; S=6:22; cuddle
  * tried cleaning Cygnus's fan with canned air.  Worked.
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  : followup call from Wheelchair etc repair -- no, tech still hasn't called.
  * schedule yearly appointment at UNW 206-668-8555 -> 0812 need PSA tested
  * called Freeland Clinic; will have triage nurse call me. - scheduled
  / C cancelled prescriptions:  Sodium Bicarbonate (not covered); Rochier wants to talk to
    her first: Diltiazem HCl 30mg, Aripiprazole 2mg, Bupropion HCl 100mg, 
    Cancelled by me as duplicate: Diltiazem (Cartia) 300mg; Still needed? Warfarin
  * 9:30-11 C Carla followup antidepressant
  & L called; reminder on radio to check gas connections after this morning's earthquake.
  * 1:45 Dr. Crosby Freeland Clinic.  -> no obvious problems; last major workup was March
  & gave C a set of earbuds (originally bought for phone) -> now she can listen to CDs on
    her DVD player without anyone else hearing anything.  Win.
  * 3:30 -> 5:30 Libby (L') will be gone for 10 days
  % 8:15ish: noticed unilateral (R) headache while driving back from dropping L' off at
    the shuttle stop.  Some pain around the R TMJ.
    -> naproxen; will probably take tizanidine later.
    -> Most of the pain is around the TMJ; muscle spasm?
    -> 9:30 may be starting to ease up.

0713Sa
  * Up 6:50ish; S=6:12;
  % back still hurts, though not as much as last night.  Headache gone, thankfully
  : my monitor keeps blinking off and back on, at irregular multi-minute intervals.
    May need a new one soon.  Growf.
  % 9:45 and now the headache seems to be coming back...
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  * SL: roach traps, swiffer pads, ginger, garlic, black bean sauce, rye bread, cottage
    cheese, earth balance, shallots, tomatoes, avocados, bacon; med. priority mail box
  / C went out onto the porch with V and d (V's grandson).  They installed the deer
    screening, and C did a little container gardening.  There was dirt on her feet when
    she came in.
  & C mentioned guacamole.  There were 2 avocados I'd bought for BOATs.  Forgot the onion.
  # N suggested "Prism" as the name of the North End house.  I'm waffling between that,
    "Spectrum", "Raindrop", and maybe just "North End".  Ask the other residents.

Comments

[acelightning]

I forgot to mention this when I saw you mention buying fluticasone in an earlier post. That's FloNase anti-allergy nasal spray. Costco sells their house brand of a completely identical product, in a package of five 30-day spray bottles. This package of five costs less than what you pay for ONE 30-day bottle of brand-name Flonase in Target (whose pharmacy departments belong to CVS)

Fluticasone proprionate

[mdlbear]

I still have a prescription for it, since long before it went OTC, so I mail-order a three month supply and Medicare Part D covers it. I've been getting the generic since _that_ became available.

Re: Fluticasone proprionate

[acelightning]

I'm not terribly sure it's doing very much for me, but the OTC/generic "Allegra" doesn't do much either. And all my doctors want me not to take pseudoephedrine to keep from drowning in post-nasal drip. And I don't always have the time nor the spoons to use the neti pot.

But I was astonished to find the fluticasone so cheap.

[rainydaysandmondays]

Clever using that Linux code instead of the F-bomb.

[mdlbear]

Not original -- it probably predates the Internet :) *looks it up* It's from Usenet, which makes that likely but not certain. Definitely predates Linux.

See http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/F/fscking.html

[rainydaysandmondays]

Nice!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D