The Chronicles of a Raving Lunatic

I really, REALLY need to do a much better job at remembering to log onto LJ and keep up with people. So... what's going on out there that I've missed?

With me, as you can see from a couple posts ago, I wasn't able to get my new knee last May. I had too many things that needed take care of first, ad I still have a few things that need cleared up before I can get surgery. If everything goes okay, hopefully I'll be able to get it by THIS May. We'll see.

Well, I guess I'll leave it at that for now. It's almost 5:30am, and I need to get to bed.

I can't believe that I haven't posted for months. I was closely following for a little while, but then I lost track of it. I need to pay more attention to LJ, I guess.

So much has gone on since I last posted. As I said in the last post, I got approved for disability, finally. Anyway, I had an appointment with a Orthopedist at the end of November and he decided that since I couldn't straighten my left leg and that there was a lot of Arthritis damage in the knee, he was going to go in and have a look at it and see what he could do. So, I went into surgery on December 12th (the first surgery I've ever had) and he looked at it and scraped out all the bone spurs and dangling cartilage, which left me with basically none. After I healed I did about a month and a half of physical therapy. I regained some range of motion, but not a whole lot.

The other day I had a follow-up appointment and the Orthopedist took new x-rays. He's not happy with my progress, or lack thereof, and has scheduled me for a total knee replacement. They don't like doing those until you're 50, or 40 at the youngest, but that's how bad it is, that I already need one at 31.

So, in May I go in and get a new knee. I'll be glad to get some range of motion back, but I'm NOT looking forward to recovery. Also, this will be the first time I've spent the night in the hospital.

I'm going to try to remember to keep up with LJ a bit more and to come back and post more, but no promises.

( Health stuff. Skip if you want. )

And, if you read that up there, you may have noticed that I said I have my new hearing date. The day before Thanksgiving. Which is pretty close. And that also means that unless the judge decides that day, I'll have to wait until probably the middle of December for a decision. But, you know what? That's fine. I just want to get this over with. I don't even care so much about the money, though it would be nice, I just want medical insurance.

I was going to talk about something else, but I lost my train of thought. If I think of it and deem it important enough, I'll post again.

I got a call from my lawyer this morning to reschedule the appointment I had scheduled for Friday. The reason it needed rescheduled? I finally have my hearing date! Moved my appointment closer so it will be a pre-hearing conference. Until then, she's going to go through my file agaun and request new info from the Drs, see if she needs anything else form me, etc.

I'm excited. My hearing is August 18th, so hopefully I'll be getting SSI by this fall Fingers crossed, everyone!

Note: I'm posting this from a phone, so please excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes. Not that that should be any excuse.

So, I told myself that I was going to do an update at the beginning of the year. And then I realized I was a month or so behind on my F-list. I decided to just go back to the first and catch up from there. It took me a week and a half to catch up. Then I wanted to stay caught up. And so I never got around to updating. So, today I decided to make sure I did it.

Let's see... what's been going on? Not much, really. I've had some ideas for writing, but I haven't really been able to write. I've mostly been... I really don't know. I seem to always be busy, but it doesn't seem like I've really been doing anything.

I did just go to the Dr. The other day. My liver numbers have been a little elevated and bouncing up and down for a couple months. Not really high, only 60-something, but it's been kind of steady, so she wants to check it out. Sometime before my next appointment I have to get a liver ultrasound. She wants to see if it's simply a side effect from the Methotrexate or some fatty deposits or what. She's not too worried about it being something bad because she says I'm not really at risk for anything major, so... I just wish I had had the time to get it done that day, but my youngest brother took me and he had class that day. We tried to hurry, but he ended up missing class anyway. Oh well. I'll just have to make an extra trip. If I have the youngest brother take me between classes (he has 4 hours between) it would be cheaper in gas than if I took Paul's car. Whatever. He didn't seem to mind. Especially since I bought him a big slush from Sonic. And I told him I'd buy him one if he drove me again.

That's really about all that's been going on with me lately.

hehe. I love me some George Harrison lyrical references. XD

Anyway, it does seem like forever since I've updated. When was it? No posts at all since the end of August? Wow, I've really been neglecting this thing. I know I haven't read my Friends page for nearly 2 weeks. That was mainly because dad was here and I had no real time to get on. He left the middle of last week, but I just haven't been able to find the time. I've been in my comp lately writing and such. But you can read about that over here. I really should get a Beta reader. Don't want to give away too much, but two of the major characters, besides the OC, are Viggo and Karl (minor) characters.

The last few days I've been kind of 'blah'. I don't know. I've been having my once a month Dr. visits, nothing new there. I had another PT/OT appointment last time. I didn't see the original PT, I saw the other one. He gave me some more stretching/strengthening exercises. I haven't been doing them like I should. I really need to pick them up properly again before my appointment next week. I should do them all tomorrow. :\

I...don't really have much else to say. I'm so out of the loop that I have no comment to make on anything.

Also, I guess my journal's getting paid when my brother gets his income taxes back, so early to mid February. :\

The nurses in the Doctors office actually got the Pharm chick to see me a week early to teach me how to give myself injections. This past week was my first completely self injection. It's very weird. Feels strange. She gave me a bag of syringes, needles, alcohol wipes, and band-aids. And I got a little medical waste container. I have to take that into the office when it gets about 3/4 full for them to dispose. And I just tell them when I'm getting low on the stuff in the bag and they'll give me more. Anyway, he couldn't work it so I get my MTX from them because it's technically a Chemotherapy drug and is pretty dangerous. Like, I have to have my little medical waste container marked with "CYTOTOXIN" so they know what's in it. And a lot of pharmacies aren't certified to carry it. The pills, yes, but not the injections. So I have to buy it. BUT, it turns out, an entire month's supply is only about $20-25. Only, I got a better deal. Seems the Pharmacy couldn't get ahold of the vial size that I was prescribed, so they got me a much larger vial with preservatives (the smaller ones don't, so I have to toss what's left in the vial) that will last me 10 weeks. And it was only $18. And when I went to Meijer to fill my other prescriptions and I gave them my new Rx card, my total for 3 meds was only $16. Score. And from now on I'll only need to go to the doctor's once a month for blood tests and the occasional chest x-ray and my appointment.

I got the costumes done a little late. As in, the afternoon they left, a few hours after they wanted to leave. But it wasn't my fault. Paul was supposed to pick up a few odds and ends I needed to finish, like thread and ribbon, on Wednesday morning before he got home from work. But he decided to come home and go to sleep instead and didn't get to the store to get the stuff until Wednesday evening. That set me back a few hours. Also, there were some issues with Corie's. See, I made Paul's with only a slight guide for the flare of the bottom of the robe. And I had a home-made dress form we made. Well, i didn't have that for Corie. They went to the trouble to make it, but he never went and got anything to stuff it with, so hers was done with a little guide and NO FORM. So it ended up being a little small in front and I had to add some material, but that worked out okay. And then the top of the chest area was too big an puffed out between her chest and neck, so I had to temporarily tack that so it fit. And her collar was a little off. Though, they got that kind of figured out and fixed this morning. Sometime before next year I'm going to scrap the front and just remake it. Paul had to, of course, make a comment that it "looks like a 5-year old threw it together" this morning (Friday) before they figured it out. And he called from the road twice Thursday just to make make comments about being tired because they had to leave late. I hung up on him all three times.

Oh, and to top everything off, Just about the time they were supposed to leave Thursday, they got called into the school. Thomas got suspended for 5 days because he threw a chair at one of the teachers/teacher's aides (not sure what she is). She's 60. Apparently she was limping and had to go home and file Workers Comp because he hit her right in the knee. But, of course, since he's only 7, he doesn't really understand suspension and just knows he gets 5 extra days off school. And he was a horrid brat yesterday and today. I don't expect him to be any better the next two days, either. That's okay, he's already going to be in HUGE trouble when they get home that my constant yelling at him and his grounding is going to be a picnic.

And now, I'm off to bed.

I guess it's time. I haven't really felt like updating lately. Or doing anything, really. I just can't get motivated. And I've been getting distracted so easily. I've just been having these crazy mood swings lately. It's from the stupid Prednisone. The Dr. and I were talking about it the other day. He was telling me how he's on 60mg short term and it's giving him crazy mood swings. I realized that why I had a REALLY depressive day like, a week and a half ago. I just wanted to stop taking all my medications and just go to sleep and just sleep for days. And the day I went to the Dr, I was fine in the morning. I was actually in a decent mood. By late afternoon/evening I was just in a terrible mood. And it didn't help that people kept getting on me about all kinds of stuff. Not that they really knew I was in a bad mood, but that's not the point. They shouldn't have been acting the way they did in the first place.
( cut for length and depressive crap )
Also, I've actually been reading lately. As far as my challenges go, I've got most of the V.C. Andrews books read. I'm going to slip "The Time Travelers Wife" in there next, though. I want to watch the movie first. The way I see it, if I read the book first, I'll ruin the movie for myself. If I watch the movie, I'll just find there book that much better. I really wish i was feeling more up to doing things and wasn't getting so distracted all the time so I could fly through books like I was at the end of last year. Hopefully that will get better as I wean off the steroids.

I keep trying to work on that Conan smut I started a couple weeks ago, but I keep getting distracted. I'll open it up and then I'll go check my mail and then I'll end up on Facebook, then here, and never get to it before I go to bed. It's starting to annoy me. But watch, tomorrow night I'll open it up and not be able to write anything either.

I also need to write some non-smut. Seriously. I feel bad for anyone on my F-list that doesn't like smut (how many of you are there, anyway?), so can't read any of the stuff I write. Not that I think I'm a great writer or anything. I do have one story I've been wanting to write for years. I have some rough character sketches and a general outline for it in my head, but I've never been able to start it. I may have to just write scenes randomly and fill it in.

Anyway, that's about all I can think of and make myself do. I'm honestly going to try to be a little more present around here. We'll see how it goes.

First, before I forget, I had a very...odd? dream last night. Like, it wasn't totally weird, but it was one of those ones where you feel weird after you wake up. But maybe no one knows what I mean. IDK, it's hard to put into words. Anyway, so I'm standing on a street and for some reason I can see inside the Tonight Show studio. And they're recording that night's episode. Well, for some reason Andy or someone says something to me/asks me something and I answer. Conan apparently liked the answer, because he started asking me questions, the first was who's your favorite founding father? To which I answered "Jefferson" without hesitation. (IDK. *shrugs*) With a smile on his face and heading back to the desk he says, "alright", or something to that effect and then continues talking to me. The next thing I know, I'm waking up (in the dream) and start telling people about the dream. Because it felt so real, I want to make sure I and others watch, just in case. Then Corie finds this notebook open to these pages that have Conan's and my exact dialogue from the dream in it. Now I'm more convinced than ever to watch the episode, because something is just weird. And of course, just before it's time for the episode to start, I wake up irl.

Ooh. I never mentioned it before, but my cousin told me about SafeLink Wireless after she saw a commercial. SafeLink is a government program for low income people to get a free phone and free minutes every month so you have a way to stay in contact. You get one of two cheap, simple phones and 68 minutes a month. Though you can add minutes on your own. They go through TracFone, though, and TracFone has the most ridiculously expensive minutes out there. They're supposed to be coming out with SafeLink airtime cards soon and I can only hope they're at least a little more affordable than TracFone. You get service time for a year, at the end of which you have to re-apply. I had heard a vague mention of it some time ago, but wasn't sure what it was all about. So I went onto the website and decided to apply. I got ok'd and just a couple days ago I got my phone. It's really cheap and has NO bells and whistles and only 68 minutes a month, but it's something I can use when I'm home and no one else is there and I need to call the Dr or something. It's basically only good for making and receiving calls. And you can text.

Did I ever mention that I got my denial from SSI? Because I did, back in October. I applied for an appeal. I also got a lawyer. She actually got my aunt her disability after she'd been denied several times over 2 years. I still need to get one paper in to her before she formally accepts the case, but she said, with my Dr.'s cooperation, it looks like I have a good chance.

Also, I'm still waiting to hear from my Job & Family Services caseworker to see if I'll be getting medicaid. I should really call her and ask tomorrow.

Let's see, phone, SSI, Medicaid...that's all i was thinking of last night...No it wasn't. One more thing.

One of the cats (kitten, really) over here died yesterday. Or more accurately got killed. Okay, accidentally killed by Thomas. ( rest under a cut for those who would like to avoid it )

I've been sitting here with the update window open for a couple hours now. I really don't know why I haven't just written the entry and hit post. Every time I get ready to I just... don't.

I guess I should start with the fact that dad was in the hospital for 5 days starting last Wednesday night after he got off work. He felt an infection in his leg and went in so he could get an IV antibiotic in the ER like he has to from time to time. He never ended up showing up afterward. Tried calling him all day Thursday, but his phone would go straight to voice mail and he never called. I figured they probably kept him overnight, as they often do. He never showed up that night or Friday either. I called his phone again Friday a few times, same result. I finally decided to call the hospital to see if he was admitted. They just connected me to his room. He said he hadn't called b/c he didn't know if brother's number was considered local or not and his phone was almost dead. They did some cultures, which didn't come back until Saturday. Meanwhile, they kept switching up his antibiotic to find one that would work. Turns out he had MRSA. And it was in his blood. They were worried it would get (or may have gotten) to his brain. The Dr. told him that if he had gone home and gotten a high fever, he could have passed out and never woken up. Guess it's a good thing he felt that infection and went in. They had him on IV antibiotics until early Monday evening. Like, he was supposed to be checking out, but they pumped 2 more bags into him in about 3 hours just to be safe. They sent him with a Rx for an antibiotic.

I had MTX shot #10 Wednesday. Also had a follow-up with the podiatry clinic. Not the same Dr. I'd been seeing, since he was out, but the other one. Anyway, my toe was slightly infected so he put me on an antibiotic. Funnily enough, it's the same antibiotic Dad is on. I'm still torn about it. I mean, I had to pay for it, which I don't with Keflex. It was only $7 for 10 days, though. Also, it doesn't give me, what I've dubbed 'Keflex breath'. That's definitely good. BUT. You can't have dairy within 2 hours of taking it. Before or after. Of course, I was told this after I got some ice cream. And dad bought cream pies. And I realized nearly everything around here to eat is LOADED with dairy. Yeah, it's been a fun couple of days trying to work around that. And I've got 8 more days. fun.

Gonna be watching the kids tomorrow and most of Saturday. They're going to a concert tomorrow night up in Detroit and then staying the night so they can go over to mom's (halfway across the state) to go pick up the presents she got the kids since she's extra busy at work. She's not going to get any time off until January. They're going to love the gifts. She got them bikes and Snuggies. They have been asking for Snuggies forever.

As usual, when I thought of this post earlier, I had other things I wanted to say, but I can't think of it now that I'm actually typing. Figures.