Sunday, April 30, 2006

Time Sink

I think this phrase was invented at the advent of personal computing but I am not sure...I suppose I could Google it ...but I am not sure how long I would be there reading the first few hundred hits out of a few thousand and I want to post this blog today while Sonnyboy is still asleep. I want to play Beauty Parlour
when he wakes up, he needs a shampoo, manicure, and pedicure not to mention a bath, a poop and a complete linen change, He has been sleeping for 31 hours, long but not a record for him. Also, Hubby has mentioned that Sonnyboy needs his beard trimmed. Last time I was suctioning his trach I noticed his beard hairs have grown considerably since his one sided shave in the hospital. Time does heal all wounds (Geeze how cliche). Sonnyboy loves to play BP so I will wait until he wakes up. He is in one of his deep sleeps and I could do it all (except maybe the poop) without waking him,but, I ain't got no bus to catch and I am out of doritos. Lately ,I have been possessed by the dark soul of a preteen boy and have been blogmenting excessively on Dirk the Feeble's blog called Afraid of the Dark. I'm afraid I have been very, very, bad. Those of you who actually know me will not be surprised. I can feel the breeze from your collective head shaking ;I have been posting a lot of updated , formally abandoned poems on my other blogs. C'mon
fairsCaPe just wants to have fun...

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Tahiti

There are two places in the world I have always wanted to visit. I'm not sure why, but for as long as I can remember I have wanted to travel to France and I have wanted to run off to Tahiti. Maybe it's one of those past lives things or maybe some junior high slideshow presented by our French teacher Mde.Du Mott. Not that I enjoyed taking french, it was my worst subject. I only scored 89 on the regents exam and our teacher Dr. Smith(who spoke french with a southern fried accent - Bone Jurr Claass) raised an eyebrow and stared at me for a full minute when he read my grade. Like I cheated and he was waiting for me to confess. Right in front of everyone. But no. monsieur, Je ne Cheat pas, merde tete. Anyway,I guess the only reason I took french instead of Spanish, (which could have been useful) like everyone one else is that my mother studied french in college. I thought she could help me -NOT! Mommy managed to go though menopause right as I was going through puberty(take notes all you late in life moms) and we found it best in those days to "communicate" through my father, in writing or not at all. So much for the french tutoring. Added to that is the fact that the people with whom I have had the worst dealings with in my life have all had french accents. Except of course, Haitian people. I love Haitian people...but they killed off all the french in a revolution didn't they... but I am really wandering away from the point here. The recent events of my life have pretty much closed down any notions of traveling and the riots in france have quelled my fire for travel to france in particular . As for Tahiti, when the kids were small and were being kids, I used to tell them If they didn't behave I was going to "run away to Tahiti". Of course they blew me off until one day, poor dear, sensitive #2 son was watching TV and called to me from the next room.

"mommy,mommy look on TV, there really is a Tahiti"

"yes #2 son , that's right"

"does that mean you are really going to run away?'

He was obviously upset,I guess he was less than 7 yrs. old.

"no, honey, mommy just says that when she is crazy, besides auntie L. went there and she said everyone has a garbage pit in their front your filled with Mc Donald's Takeout Garbage."

It seems that having a compost/garbage pit in the front yard only works if the roaming pigs can actually eat the garbage. Trashy wrapping papers are a nonconsumable. Even for pigs.

"beside that, I heard it is way too hot"

"so you're not going?"

Nooow, I would like to think he was afraid of losing me and that by promising not to go I made him feel better, however, in retrospect, it is possible that he was more thinking about McDonalds at this point and how daddy would let them eat it if I were gone because I wouldn't let them while I was there. Little boys have their hearts connected to their stomachs at an early age.

Well Sonnyboy's feeding is about to finish, he needs to be turned and I need to eat something. I'm sure it's lovely in Paris (sigh -April in Paris) and they probably have sorted out that garbage problem in Tahiti by now...After all #2 son isn't a little boy anymore... So please don't turn me in to some tourism spammer,OK?

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Fabulon-ous

It has been a while since we have had floors refinished, so I didn't know who to call. None of the ads in Pennysaver had familiar names ; ditto for the yellowbook. A few calls reaped nothing but answering machine messages so I went down to our local Hardware store for advice. Well actually I sent #2 son down and he came back with a name .Joe. Called him and got his wife Sue. Nice people and they love the Hardware store too. Well, the bedroom floors were done in half a day and the price was reasonable. He used Fabulon. My Dad used to use it and the finish always held up great. I'm sure the new tenant will love the floors. Now I've got to get the downstairs washed and waxed. Had them redone a few years ago and now they look sad compared to the upstairs. New laminate floor in the kitchen looks great though with the new frig and range. Got the GE white on white up at PC. Can't wait to show it all to the new tenant. She loved the place even before we spruced it up. She seems like a sweet girl with a nice kid. Hope this all helps her feel at home after all her recent troubles. Sonnyboy is just bob bob bobbin' along with the red,red robins. Ah Spring...

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

I blame Christopher Lowell

That's It

And he owes me a lot of money.

For the last 25 years I have been a small time landlord. I have prided myself in how perfectly clean and how pristenely white my apartments have been when my new tenants move in. They usually stay for years if not decades. When they leave I set to work restoring these centuries old places to their former glory. Lately I have discovered an alarming trend. Color! Totally outside the terms of their leases and without even asking I have had one tenant after another painting rooms and even whole apartments in color. Peacock blue bedrooms, orange dining rooms, teal living rooms ; dark saturated intense colors. Colors that are taking 2-3 coats of primer to obliterate. And to what end? So that the next Christopher Lowell watching, House and Garden reading, Home Depot shopping tenant will come in and paint over my beautiful white walls with some impossible color. Christoher Lowell you owe me.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

People who need people...

are the bloggiest people in the world...

I never liked BS as a singa...too schmaltzy for my tastes. A lot of people do like her though and not just gay guys,right? Anyway I do like her as a comedic actress...she really nails it with her parody of a sex therapist in that Focker movie. I like to watch comedies sometimes when Sonnyboy is asleep. I have to be careful though not to laugh out loud. There I sit with headphones on, neck pillow on backwards over my mouth, staring at the silent TV giggling hysterically. Hey, it's healthier than taking those drugs the doctor talked about. No side effects except looking quite odd.
Ha ...I just found the spell check...old dog huh? Well, now all my msspllngs will be intentional.
Really though,blogdom has replaced the well in the center of town as the place where people can get together and share . Births , laughs, death, tears and the occasional perversion,its all out there, just a point and click away. BTW, that dodgeball movie was funny...watch it all the way through the credits...I cried.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Into the fray

Ah

Well looks like some changes have already occured. Hubby has jumped in with a companion blog, so far it's technical but who knows where it will go. I can see he's already been making some alterations right here at the draft site.Who knows what will happen next...hahaha...only the persistent fool knows. Music?Pictures?Video?Counters?Links?Ads?Flashy unreadable gobbledygook?Look out blogger, ta ta ta da...the poor mans website is about to be Hubbysized. Or not. Only time will tell.

Friday, April 21, 2006

Recuperation

home care

Well, I wish I had something funny to tell you all but since I don't I'll just update you on how things are going. Sonnyboy seems about ready to go off to sleep. He woke up late yesterday afternoon and stayed up all night with the nurse. Hubby and I each got a bit more sleep than usual. It really makes a difference on the nights she is here. Too bad that's only twice a week. Hubby is taking some time off to look for a new job. He has been very happy at "the lab" but he is looking for something closer to home or something where he can telecommute more. He gets so much more work done at home without the distractions at the office. The person in charge should hire someone to handle all the stupid phonecalls. Hubby is not a secretary, and he is too nice and too helpful to just blow people off even though most phone calls are a total waste of his time. Also, he is required to go to meetings that have nothing to do with his projects, While he finds them interesting, they to take up too much time and are more social events than anything else. Another big problem is that the bathrooms are inadequate for the number of people working there and totally lack privacy. I remmember one time while I was undergoing pelvic radiation and I just had to go while we stopped by for a visit, Ohmygod how embarrassing,I could see why no one would want to have to use the loo there on a regular basis. I practically had to crawl over some one to get in and out. Even running the water didn't cover up the sounds and there was no vent fan, It was so mortifying that I never went back again... So he's dusting off his resume and checking the ads,probably start calling and emailling by monday. Everyone at work has wished him well and has offered to give him references. He has been their go to guy for so long that they will miss him when he is gone, but, he seems to think he has trained everyone well enough that they should be able to work their way through any problems, Of course, he'll only always be an email away. Most everyone has been so wonderful and supportive over the past few years what with Mom's final illnes and passing, my cancer, Hubby's Mom's passing and everything with Sonnyboy. I don't think Hubby's manager even knew Sonnyboy was just in the ICU again or she wouldn't have been such a ***** lately. He is finally doing well again. Back to his baseline. Smiling and happy just watching tv or listening to us talk or just staring out the window at his beautiful flowers. I
have the best husband in the whole universe. Without his love and support I couldn't keep my Sonnyboy at home. Big Kiss...

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Milestones

home care
Here it is Easter Sunday and everyone is still asleep. What fun it was when we were kids to go one one of Dad's Easter Hunts. I tried to create the same fun for my guys when they were little. We'd all be up at the crack of dawn looking for the first clue in the hunt. Funny how it was usually under Dad's pillow...the Easter Bunny would send them down to the basement to the dryer and there would be candy there with a clue to look up in the attic, then to the garage, then back to Mom and Dad's room. All in all there would be candy hidden in about 30 places . One year the Easter Bunny forgot to number the clues and we were finding candy for months after because someone found something out of sequence. The only rule was not to eat any candy until after breakfast which the kids happily helped to prepare. Don't think they didn't sneak a little bit before though... then after they ate as much as they wanted. It didin't matter if they felt icky afterwards, it helped them to learn to set their own limits. I loved my childhood as much as I loved being the mother of three boys. Not that things were always perfect, far from it, but I treasure the happy memories. Life goes by too fast. Don't blink...

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Mother was right

home care
Mother was right,you have to send mail to get mail. I guess she would give the advice today that if you want your blog read, you have to read and comment on blogs belonging to other people. What an interesting "little" community we are, eh? One of my new favorite things to do here in the blog zone is to go from blog to blog by clicking on the next blog icon at the top right hand corner of the page. I get truly miffed if some one has customized their blog so that this icon is removed, especially when you stumble on a truly yucky blog with someone doing something impossible with their body parts. I just want to get out of there before the image is permanently burned into my brain. I try to click next blog but I'm trapped, the icon is missing and I have to think and scramble around with my mouse to get out. Ewww! then Phewww! and I'm out. The other thing that drives me crazy are the blogs with a black background and print so small that I wonder if they want anyone to read the blog anyway.
Here on the homefront Sonnyboy was asleep for 2 hours after being awake for 34 when I got up at three am ,but, then he yawned, set off the low pressure alarm on the vent and woke himself up. He has been off the antibiotics for a few days now but the poops are relentless and scorching. As my mother would say, this too shall pass. Hope so. Now click on that next blog icon and I'll see you tommorrow.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Response

home care

Dear Anonymous

Thank you for visiting my blog.Certainly you have a right to your opinions as do I. A more appropriate forum for Commrnt on CB's blog might have been in her comments section.Perhaps you tried and she refused to post as she enables comment moderation. I don't. CB would not have posted my comment if she found it offensive. Also,I do not post anonymously so that CB and anyone else reading her blog will know with whom they are talking.

As for you not getting my blog, it is a record of the days (most likely the last days) of my beloved son. If you had read from the original post on this might have been clear. As I spend most of my time in his room here at home I do not get out to see friends and family. I have very little energy left for phone calls at the end of the day so this is a way for them to keep in touch with what is going on with him. It is also a record for me, for later, after he is gone.

I like the character portrayed in CB's blog and have even recommended it before in my blog to my friends. Her drunkalogs are reminescient of those I used to hear when I attended open meetings with my ex. He as the member, I was just a "civilian".
If CB's blog is her true real life or a well constructed fiction is unknown at this time. No matter. Thanks for caring enough to check out the phone number.

Monday, April 10, 2006

home care

home care
Well,asleep for 4, awake for 15, asleep for 4 at this point. I tried unsucessfully to get up at three but I guess I had a few more nightmares to get out of my system. Sonnyboy is cruising on the vent at a rate of ten which means he is in nonREM sleep which means he'd be apneaic off the vent or even on CPAP. He is satting at 97-98 even with his brady at 35-37. That's my boy. Now that he's off the flagyl and the cipro we are hoping his digestive track goes back to its old sluggish self. I will not complain about having to give him dulcolax supp. again. He was happy while he was awake, smiling and laughing at us and at the TV. I'm so happy they have kids13 on cable at night since noggin goes off air from 6pm til 6 am. All in all he is not doing too bad for someone who was given 6 months to live a year and a half ago. I tend to think they underestimated because of a lack of experience with his combination of problems. Is Sonnyboy writing medical history a new chapter?

Sunday, April 09, 2006

home care

home care
I should know better. Every time I wash my hair Sonnyboy takes a poop. This time it was 3 giant tsunami poops in a row. He finally woke up while we were changing him for the third time. He had been asleep for 31 hours anyway,so,he was due to wake up. He has only been awake for 13 hous now yet he appears drowsy,as if he could fall asleep any time now, We just turned and suctioned him so he may just be feeling cozy. I managed to get up at three so Hubby can get some sleep. It is harder for me to get to sleep in the evening since the time change. Having Comedy Central on helps to drown out all the cares of the day not to mention the machine noises and alarms in Sonnyboy's room across the hall. The vent,feeding pump and oxygen concentrator aren't too bad ,but that suction machine sound like one of those gasoline powered leaf blowers that landscapers use. Does anyone make a quiet home suction machine ?

Saturday, April 08, 2006

home care

home care
It sure is easier to blog since I realized you could do it from the toolbar that says Blog This. I am so computer semi-illiterate. Well, Sonnyboy has been asleep now for 23 hours.
He has slept through the turns, the suctioning, peeing, partial bath and giant tsunami poop diaper change. He could wake up anytime now. I hope he wakes up smiling today, that makes it all seem worthwhile. The guy from yet another wheelchair company has blown us off. Makes an appt. and then just doesn't call or show up. Is it me? Is it something I say? If I had not been through this at least 8 times now over the last year and a half I wouldn't believe it. We are past wanting to access our insurance (which sucks worse than medicaid) or our backup medicaid, We know what the chair will cost and we are willing to purchase one. Should I try to contact Invacare directly?

Friday, April 07, 2006

home care

home care

Well Sonnyboy fell asleep around noon yesterday but was awake by three pm. Basically,he has been awake now for 64 hours with a 2 1/2 hour nap. The nurse couldn't come last night so Hubby is tired. I didn't get to bed til late as Sonnyboy was having a restless evening. He is still restless. I wish he could tell me how he feels just once in his whole life. Perpetual nonverbal babyhood (21 1/2 years) can be difficult. When people say of babies "Oh,don't you wish they would never grow up?"you can't imagine how I feel. Mostly sad, a little angry, and fully incredulous at just how clueless some people are, truly, they are the ones who have never grown up. Am I being too harsh?

Thursday, April 06, 2006

home care

home care

Sonnboy has been awake for over 40 hours, not a record but disturbing all the same. I have had it brought to my attention that a doctor ?Carl Brazil at Columbia? is doing research on sleep disorders related to Keppra. I am not sure about the connection between Keppra and Sonnyboy's sleep problems because of everything else that went on at the time he first started taking the drug. It will be interesting to see how things turn out with the study. I wonder if thy will find that Valium seems to offset the Keppra just a bit as we have, and I wonder if they will come up with any recomendations for treatment, It would make life a lot easier if Sonnyboy could sleep at night and be awake during the day in some sort of predictable Circadian way.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

While I was out...

Life goes.
We've been to the Hospital and back again(inpatient).ugh...

While I have not been blogging myself I have been reading other blogs. If you have not stumbled into it yet yourself do visit The Company Bitch and do read it from its rather anonymous inception to the present. It currently is getting up to 70 plus comments per post which are often as funny as the posts themselves. Reminds me of my misspent youth.

Sonnyboy is doing pretty well except for a raging case of the poops brought on by all the antibiotics.

Thanks for the advice on the vent label. It "came off" while I was cleaning it the other day.

G Tube teeding about to finish.Gotta go...