Author: Jen Rios

2-fer and Pizza

So, when I got diagnosed with osteoporosis, (it was a Friday). The following Monday, I did two things. I can’t remember which one I did first but I think I called endocrinology first because I knew that it would be a while for me to get an appointment. I called on February 5 and my appointment is Not until May 16.

And then called my Naturopath’s office and was able to get an appointment to be seen on February 21 where Dr. Clark gave me wafers to take. I take four a day for now and I will go back on March 20 to see if anything further needs to happen. I originally said that they tasted like, “Sawdusty bottlecaps” but I have recently changed my mind and think they taste like teething biscuits that my nephew used to have when I was 13.

Today, we had to vote. I have been voting absentee for the past couple years but today, I had to go into my precinct to vote. That would take place before we got our teeth cleaned.

Before we left to go to my precinct to vote, we decided that we were going to get pizza today. Pizza and lasagna are the only things that I can still eat. Both options are quite, “carb-y” but I think in this weather, that seems to work out better for me. I am at a point where I get weighed every six months, and I need to keep weight on me now so the prospect of eating these things is not problematic for me at this point:

I had to wake up early today because it was a “2-fer” with voting and the teeth-cleaning. I am currently sitting in my house, and I had just finished my two pieces of pizza and then beginning to feel “The Crash” begin. We both voted and we both got our teeth cleaned. So February was success in terms of what I needed to get done next month is haircut and primary care physician appointment. Both of those days are a single day rental.

But I LOVED it!!!

My Mom put this movie on when we were putting on my compression socks, and I absolutely knew it from the very beginning at the sound of the snare drums!

These two trailers do NOT start with the snare drums like they do in the movie. My Mom wasn’t a fan, but I LOVED it!!!

I still know all of the words and my Mom asked me how many times I have watched this movie, and I thought about it for a moment that I have at least watched this movie 90 times that was when I was 13, I would watch it three times a day while I was home sick with the chickenpox! My Dad was also home and sick being that he just got out of the hospital!

My Mom and I laughed at the fact that my Dad hated that I watched it so much and the fact that he tried to hide the movie in his papers!!!

Realization

I came to a realization last night just after I finished flossing my teeth. It startled me annd ultimately made me cry! Let me ‘splain ya:

I came to the realization that I needed to write about this when I saw this on Facebook right after I woke up:


I did that yesterday and here’s what happened: I have been flossing my teeth to this song for a while now:


So, last night, as I was flossing my teeth, I felt the need to tell my Mom why I have been listening to this song so much. This song is my JAM! This song is me test driving a car (WITH MY FEET?!) that I would ultimately buy. This car ended up being a lease that was changed over to a purchase because I needed to affix a chair tapper to the roof of the car to house my wheelchair I drove.

This car was going to be equipped with hand controls that ultimately I ended up totaling a couple years later, because apparently, cars DON’T float! I did not realize this as I was driving to work in the rain and pitch blackness before the sun comes up that Dix was not properly irrigated!

This song clearly reminds me of that test drive because back then, I was so much more able than I am now! I love that empowerment song, because, “Everything [I] got, best believe [I] bought it!” I was explaining that to my Mom who is in the kitchen.

But then, mid-expectation, my voice cracked as I put my hands Inside my sweatshirt and put the heels of my palms against my eyes. My shoulders shook a lot more than I thought they would but I just let them shake. because the realization I have now is that in my second apartment, I was supposedly “Miss Independent” but my voice cracked just before I told my Mom, “Now I am homebound, and have a caregiver?!”

This definitely is a tough pill to swallow, because I never thought it would get like this in 1 million years! But this is where we are. It’s really quite sad if I think about it for too long…

A Bit MORE ‘Plant-y’…

I’ve been drinking nutrition shakes for breakfast for a couple years now. Eating is no longer easy nor enjoyable and it’s getting more difficult as time passes… For example, on Saturdays, I Pillage, so I have a shake for breakfast and another one for dinner as I am filling my pillbox.

I usually order the shakes in packs of 12, three a month, but I also have a fourth one hanging around because I will need a few more! I did that this month, I ordered them from Target but my Mom said that she saw them at Meijer and I just needed a few. I had one from Meijer this morning:

Umm… hold on a minute! That’s not what it’s supposed to look like?! My Mom read the shake box from Meijer and it sounded correct but I think this new packaging has thrown me off! Companies have done that a lot in the last 23 years…

The shakes from my Target order arrived today, so they are on the floor by the couch, and they look like they always do I guess Meijer has a different ones. These are the ones I got from Target:


I had to switch my protein shakes to nutrition shakes at the suggestion of my dietitian! Even though they look different, they taste the same, perhaps a bit more ‘plant-y.’

Scammed Again?!

Yesterday was ‘go time’ and it was difficult! I was able to get in to see Dr. Clark and we discussed my osteoporosis. I will see him again on March 20.

I had two things to do yesterday, so that’s ALWAYS difficult but After I made my orders for Target and Amazon, I saw a strange item that was ‘pending.’ Just after my doctor Clark appointment, Just after my Mom got me secured into the van, I told her about the ‘pending transaction.’ We headed to my bank just before we got our haircuts.

My Mom has been on my account for a really long time and it was good because she could handle it as I sat in the car. She handled it all and brought paperwork to the car for me to sign. Now I am just waiting for my new debit card. I really can’t believe this?! scammed again?!

Sawdusty Bottlecaps

I just looked at my new supplement:


I took the first two wafers with my lasagna, and I just swallowed them. They were a little tough to get down! When my Mom got back from taking the van back, she asked me if I chewed them and I told her that I didn’t but then she said that dr. Clark told me to chew them:


It was a big appointment for me! Dr. Clark told me that the endocrinologist might suggest getting shots. He is going to wait for what they say. I took two more wafers after my Mom laid down, it tastes like sawdusty bottlecaps. You remember that root beer flavored chalk tablets that were called Bottlecaps? That’s what it taste like! I am drinking a lot of water and trying to get it out of my teeth!!!

A Lifetime Ago…

As I sat in my naturopath’s office, we discussed what to do about my osteoporosis diagnosis. He had three different supplements to help with that but he’s mindful that money is an issue for me. He decided on some wafers. I need to take four a day. I told him that it would be like I am going to church! But he told me that the hosts taste a little bit better than this.

I will see him again on March 20 but I don’t get to see the endocrinologist (I have one of those now) until May 16?! I think that I am starting to wrap my head around this new development but as I sat there and waited for his decision, this song came on and I was more able-bodied, still teaching, and still driving… this all seems like a lifetime ago…

Mindlessness

So, I found a new game:



I really am digging the mindlessness of this game!:


It’s relaxing to follow the arrows on the car to get them all off of the screen! However, I haven’t been driving in about a decade and I think it shows!:


I will admit that I have hit a few pedestrians, and I also have ran a few red lights as well. Maybe, more than a few red lights! But I think I have finally gotten to the level where I cannot pass, but I die trying every day!:

I only get 32 moves and I can’t quite seem to have gotten the right order yet!:


I guess that I am out of practice, but the mindlessness of this, I really dig!!!

Now, it’s a Two-Day-er?!

I blame my eyes 23 years after diagnosis! I think it’s either that or disease progression. When I really think about it, it’s disease progression but my eyes can’t handle watching TV for to long!

we did this a couple weeks ago and we watched The Sound of Music. Well, actually, we started watching The Sound of Music and my Mom went to sleep. I enjoyed when the captain and Maria were dancing and I wanted to see it again before intermission but here is where disease progression takes the cake!

I could not control my hands enough to properly give the commands to rewind it just a little bit so then I just gave up, took my contacts out and decided that we would finish the movie tomorrow! I was having difficulty seeing on the TV to understand the commands. I’ve said before that my hands are just ‘for show’ and now it’s pretty much that’s the way things are All of the time!

My taxes are finished, and my Mom is going to drive to H&R Block tomorrow to sign for them because I no longer can sign. I didn’t sign for my wheelchair when we got it in December so I think that’s not a thing for me anymore.

But back to my eyes! Yesterday, we finished this movie, which was just as epic as I remember, when I was a child!!!:


it IS Lent, so it just seemed fitting! I’ve accepted that my eyes can’t watch a three hour and 42 minute movie and be okay! It kind of stinks that now, it’s a two day-er to watch any movie with an intermission. But all of these epic movies are from my childhood have an intermission so I will HAVE TO be okay with a two day-er. I wonder how many times I will see this movie this year before Easter?!

I was Wondering…

Today is the first Friday of Lent. I was trying to remember, but I think I started going to stations of the process every Friday When Sean was in third grade? I went by myself his freshman year, and I want to say one Friday, he came with me.

I was wondering how I would react to seeing Jesus Christ Superstar since it has been a while since I saw it last. Well, it affects me just the same! I cried when the lepers are pleading with Jesus and I could feel myself making a face when he was talking with God and singing.

I think this movie will ALWAYS affect me…