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So, we had to change my morning routine because of my feet. Remember that my body does not heal quickly. So, she cleans them at night and tends to them and then she has to put my socks back on because my body can’t handle NOT having compression on them for very long. And then, in the morning, she tends to them some more. It’s completely a process that’s killing us both! My Mom more so! We have figured it out to where I do not wake her up in the middle of the night but it’s quite involved at night before I go to sleep and in the morning as well!

I had messaged my neurologist’s office in MyChart a few days before regarding a prescription for new compression socks. And she had just sent over a prescription yesterday morning. The nurse suggested a different medical supply place that was close to my house. But when my Mom called there, they do NOT carry the brand of socks that I wear.

i’ve said before that I am NOT a guinea pig and this far into my disease, I have figured out what works for me and what does NOT! It has taken an extremely long time to figure that out and LOTS of trial and error.

So, my Mom called the place I normally get my socks from and we emailed the prescription there. We will be picking them up when we are getting our teeth cleaned because we will have rented a van. As she was on the phone handling all of this business, because it’s way too early in the morning for me to talk on the phone, I completed two puzzles instead. I just want to say that they were free and I did them for my Mom!

I chose the one on the right because that is my Mom‘s favorite color and I liked the flowers but she did not like that puzzle but I completed it anyway! I chose this one because she loves shredded wheat and I think that’s disgusting! We both laughed when I showed her my completed puzzle!:

This morning, she was talking to my aunt Linda and I just let her talk because she knows what she’s doing and I just have to sit there. I completed two other puzzles as she was tending to my feet and getting me ready to get out of bed:

My Mom has asked me how many puzzles I have completed and I have no idea but it relaxes me and distracts me from my pain enough to make the day bearable.

A day late but…

So, eI’ve been in the funk with the problems I’ve been having with my feet and I’m trying to get myself out of it. This song allows me to focus because I remember that girl and I really do miss her!!!:

But then I started listening to my, “Daddy Mix” and I just…

His birthday is coming at the end of the month and he would be 71. I’ve been really listening to these two specific songs I think that will always evoke emotion from me:

I have just finished filling my pill box for this coming next week. Currently, I am taking 21 pills a day. I bought myself the 21 dosage pillbox A couple years ago. I fill it on Saturdays after I have had my first two doses for the day. It takes me three rosaries to fill it. But today, I really started thinking about when I had that doctor appointment to get approval for Social Security/Disability.

I remember going to the place to get evaluated by a doctor. I was not nervous at all because I had already known that my working days were over at this point. I remember that it was cold. Not snowing but cold. I don’t even remember when I went for that appointment. I always seem to not remember specific dates about extremely important things. Maybe I do that on purpose or ‘on accident/on purpose.’ I don’t know!

I had already stopped driving because my vision and depth perception had already begun to diminish. When I was called over to complete the vision test, I was not embarrassed or surprised that all I could read were the first three lines. That was five years ago and I’m pretty sure that I could read even less now! I have since began wearing glasses with a prism over my right eye. I still wear my contacts (-7 prescription) but without my glasses and that prism on, I begin to see cross eyed.

When we first came in, the woman who was evaluating me before I went back and spoke with the doctor had me sit at a table where they were two napkins and a pile of quarters. I think that there may have been four or five. I don’t really remember. She told me to pick up one of the quarters and place it on one of the napkins. I was surprised at how difficult it was but I successfully completed it with a lot of effort!

I thought about this today because I have a routine of filling my vitamin box. I still use two of the ramekins that I got when I bought a complete Pyrex set for my first apartment. when my Mom came over that first day, she looked at all my Pyrex and told me that she would, “Have it.” I remember being surprised at that statement but I’ll let her leave with the box when she left our apartment. Sean and I went back to Target the next day and bought another box.

I keep those two ramekins on top of my pillbox with my therapy putty placed inside the smaller one. It’s really good that I gave her a complete set when I moved in to my first apartment in 2005 because just recently, I hit the table that has my pillbox and ramekins on top fell over and broke when I hit the table with my power chair. I was completely bummed until my Mom brought another set over from her house! It was from the box she told me that she would “Have” from my first department in 2005! And now, almost 17 years later, it is back in my possession.

Today, as I filled my pillbox, it became quite apparent to me that my abilities have diminished greatly. I pour one of my vitamins from the bottle into the bigger ramekin and then I take two fingers and pick one up to put in my box. I noticed today that I have slowed down a lot in doing this because I can’t really control my hands as much as I used to so it takes a while. I have to be deliberate in my movements.

As I watched my fingers move very slowly, I remember my Parents joking with each other as my Dad‘s vision started to go. They would joke and my Dad would say that he is just going to be a, “Bead counter” I did not understand that reference and I asked them about it and they told me about a Sidney Poitier movie, A Patch of Blue. I just recently saw that movie and I thought it was horrible! I can’t believe that people actually treated blind people like that! I’m glad that I didn’t become disabled until after the ADA was established!

I’m not blind… yet. And my hand-eye coordination is definitely subpar! I appreciated thinking about my Parents laughing together and that warmed my heart. I don’t think I could be a a very good ‘bead counter’ anyway…

I was just thinking about it, if I am really talking about #DormLife, my favorite color back then was blue. But I have already talked about why I switch to my favorite color being purple. It’s actually aubergine.

The last time I slept in a twin bed was my freshman year in college but back then, I must say that I had a poster that still may be in my moms attic right now:

The last time I slept in a bed that size, I was a freshman in college. And now it has all gone full circle and I am 40 years old and sleeping in the same size bed! It’s good that I heard this song all the time and think of it fondly but I do have a ‘single bed’ now so it fits:

Well, it has happened. I was forced to do it because my disease got too much for me. After I cried as my Mom was, “yanking“ me out of bed. So then, my Parents stepped in and bought me a bed.

it was delivered on April 15 (Good Friday):

But I learned that first night that the bed was too low for my Mom to get me out of it and into my power chair. We figured out that I needed one more lift at the bottom of my bed. I just had two levels which was the most comfortable sleep ever but not sustainable because my Mom is my caregiver and it’s only us to get me out of bed. We called to get them to send people out to add the lifts because we didn’t want to mess with our warranty.

Two guys stopped by just as we were going to a doctor appointment for me so they started my ‘Four-fer.’ I slept in my bed for four days with two lifts and then I have been sleeping in it since then with three lifts:

This picture is seriously, #DormLife because you can see the window air conditioner in the picture! Hey, I’m on a fixed income and I have to live within my means!

Now, it’s a different sleep on three lifts then with two. If sleeping with two is a 10, I would say that sleeping with three is an eight. Still acceptable and better than average but not as good so if anyone knows of a young man willing to wake me up and lift me out of my bed every day at about noon, we can talk!

So, I am still very much trying to process all of the things that went on Tuesday. I’m really not getting okay with any of it. But one thing I will say is that the fourth thing I did was to get new shoes. Now, getting new shoes for me it’s not because I WANTED them at all but because I NEEDED them! My MS ridden feet cannot handle being in normal tennis shoes any longer.

This is kind of a big deal for me. I have always worn shelltoes. In high school they were white and now I wear black ones. Or at least, I did. But then I was diagnosed with MS. Within the first three years, I realized that shell toes were too heavy for me. (I went back to them after realizing that my Doc Marten’s we’re NOT going to work for me anymore!)

By the time I started teaching, I was already five years into my diagnosis and I had switched to just wearing chuck’s. I have written before how I never wore the same color chuck’s two days in a row and I had a total of 13 pair that I would rotate.

But then I started working out at Barwis Methods. There, they told me that I should no longer wear chucks because they were not supportive. Already being wheelchair-bound, I went back to wearing shelltoes. I switched from white shelltoes to black shell toes because I was wearing them to work.

I saw this video on Facebook this morning and I can’t just put the video here but instead can post the link so you can look at it:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1885383531850112?fs=e&s=cl

I showed this video to Sean this morning when he came to help me get out of my bed and I told him that I only did not wear socks once with my chucks!

The one time I wore those shoes without socks was when I received a phone call from my realtor back when we were living in our second apartment. He was at , “The Pelham house” and wanted me to come and take a look at it. (That was the house that I am currently living in right now!) Itold him to let me brush my teeth and put my shoes on and then I will be there. That’s what I did.

My current house is about five minutes from my apartment complex. It took me five minutes to get to the house he was at (where I am right now) when I showed up and walked up the walkway, he was shocked!

He told me that women always say that they are going to be right there but they never are! I laughed and I pulled my sweatpant legs up and told him that I wasn’t even wearing socks!

I recounted that story to Sean about not wearing socks and he told me that my shoes are the same size as the one in that video! I’m still trying to get used to these shoes but they are comfortable. It’s just change and I’m not good with that…

I am still trying to process my four-fer day out but I just want to say that I went to get my haircut the day after. Sean drove me and my Mom in his truck. My Mom had to come to sandwich me between her and the door while Sean is driving. He gets me in and out of the car and into my manual wheelchair.

As an aside, I heard this song and it took me back to my youth and my cousin Melissa!:

*** I wrote this post last night because I couldn’t believe that we got so much stuff done! But, I wrote it in present tense because I wanted to post it as if I was posting it today but I got my haircut today and my eyebrows waxed so I am exhausted. Even the excitement of my four-fer does not negate the extreme exhaustion when I leave my house. Here is the post and forgive me for the length. There is a lot of things going on in this post that is going to take me a while to digest and figure out what to do:

Okay, Yesterday started out as a two-fer. While I was sleeping on Monday, my Mom called the doctor and was able to get me an appointment in dermatology. You see, there is no Espace between me and myMom! So, after she made the appointment, she called and reserved a van for us.

I had an appointment scheduled to have techs from Ashley Home Store at my house to adjust my bed. The bed, by the way, is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! The legs just need to be raised up one level because after I have slept in it for the night, the mattress is somewhat compressed and it’s impossible for my Mom to get me out of my bed and back into my wheelchair.

Sean was here to scoop me up out of my bed in the morning for a few days, and yesterday morning, my brother, Ray, did it.

So, my brother came by in the morning to get me out of bed and then we started getting ready to leave the house. It takes me a moment to wake up and they have to take my vitamins and my protein shake. After we finished a bathroom routine, we were ready to get into the van. My Mom had secured a back loader which is easier for me to get Into alone. I mean that I can more easily maneuver the joystick to guide my chair into the van.

My Mom was in the process of strapping my chair down and then she exited the back and I did not see her but I saw a man wearing black get out of a truck that was in front of my driveway. We had moved the rented van into my neighbor’s driveway so I had more room to get into it.

I sat there with my feet throbbing because I was not wearing shoes because they had sores on them but then I see a second man get out of the truck and go into my house. I figured those two men were the techs who were supposedly canceled but I guess they weren’t because she told them what they needed to do and they added a level to the base of my bed. My mom told me that everything was handled regarding my bed as she pulled out of my neighbors driveway to head to the doctor’s office.

My Mom had made an appointment for dermatology because I have blisters and sores on the sides of my feet. Once my Mom discovered the sores and blisters on my feet, she went into action immediately! We had decided the night before that we were going to drive to the lab at Henry Ford and Dearborn to get my blood drawn because a previous doctor had ordered a bunch of bloodwork for me. That is why it was going to be a, “Two-fer” But now with the tech coming out and adjusting my bed before I even left for my appointment made it a, “Three-for!”

So, this dermatologist, looked at my feet and conferred with another doctor (as he was just a resident) about my care. We talked about my necessity to have my compression socks on all the time. But now, with my new bed, my Mom can take them off at night and the bed allows her to put them on again in the morning.

They took my disability into account and decided to do bloodwork first to make sure my liver can handle the medication they want to put man. Then, they want to manager me and then six weeks do another blood draw. I thought this was okay because we were going to go to the lab down the street to get my other blood work done. But the nurse in the dermatologist clinic told us that we just needed to walk across the hall to get the blood work done.

We walked across the hall and talked with the woman who was going to draw the blood. We asked her if she could also draw the blood from the other doctor and she told us that because they’re hungry for a doctors, she can do all the bloodwork at one time!

We definitely we’re getting things done! So much so that my Mom told me that we can go buy new shoes for me. We were out in West Bloomfield for the dermatologist appointment and the shoe store was in Southgate so we had to book it to make it there by 6 o’clock!

We made it just in time! I was resistant to buy shoes at a running store because I DON’T run! I don’t even walk! But, she bought shoes there that saved her from having a bunion surgery on her foot so I will give it a go. The guy listened to us and brought a few pairs of shoes for us to look at.

The first one was black with navy blue accents and the second pair was light blue. The third pair, however, was dark gray with PURPLE soles!!! Needless to say, that is the pair I bought! Of course!!!

So, this was my exhausting day! Doctors appointment, blood draw (x2), and new shoes! I was so exhausted that I passed out in the car after the doctor visit. When I awoke, when we were close to my house, my Mom asked if we should go or not but I told her that we should go because we we’re so close and we had 40 minutes left to get there and it wasn’t that far.
So this is the explanation of a Four-Fer!

Today was an absolute exhausting day! I will he talk about it tomorrow. It was a ‘four-fer’ and I’ll explain that tomorrow and s well. For now, must rest after my ‘four-fer’ out!

They play this song when I saw them live probably 18 years ago? It was old when they played it and it was a throwback that he wondered who knew. I knew, Pat! Of course, I knew!!!

Who were those kids listening to them sing so long ago?! It’s me and my cousinT, Shannon!: