The "what's On Your Mind?" Thread -2018

[Margret]

It works because most of the pain of a broken anything is the shifting of the bones. Those bones are now stabilized and not shifting, so...no (or very little) pain. And don't push it. Let the "cautious" part of that sentence be your watchword!

Oh, trust me. I'm being very cautious. But I think you misunderstood what it is that I don't understand. There's a metal plate in the back of my wrist to hold those bones in place, so how is it that I'm able to bend my wrist backward, into the plate? Not why doesn't it hurt, why is it possible? (Understand, by "backward" I don't mean a long way back; there's still Ace bandages there holding the cast in place and they don't allow that much movement, and even normally my wrist wouldn't bend too far that way, nor would I want to try.)

By the way, I seem to have missed it, again. One of these years I'll get it right.

For a while, it was actually considered fashionable to be as pale as a tuberculosis patient. How weird is that? Who wants to look like they're on the verge of dying?

I dunno. I also don't understand "Goth" makeup, but some people like it.

Now you've gotten me remembering something though, but I can't quite bring it up. A story from a book, I think one I downloaded from Project Gutenberg. Kipling, maybe? A girl who doesn't know she has T.B. is much taken with a fashionable new song about a flower dying, except the song is really about T.B., and her father and doctor are hard put to keep their reactions from her. Could it have been in Puck of Pook's Hill or Rewards and Fairies?

Margret

 

[artiemom]

Mamanyt1953

 

[Willowy]

As for longevity and stamina in the past, might I point out that Charlie Bucket's elderly bedridden grandparents were probably in their 50s?

 

[arouetta]

For a while, it was actually considered fashionable to be as pale as a tuberculosis patient. How weird is that? Who wants to look like they're on the verge of dying?

Remember Kate Moss and the heroin junkie look?

 

[tallyollyopia]

Usually I can do that, but right now I can't trust my body, because these cravings are artificially generated side effects. Parallel examples, I'm guzzling water even though I don't have kidney disease, I have frightening EKGs even though I (hopefully) don't have a bad heart, one time I was not pumping out near enough thyroid hormones even though I don't have hypothyroidism, and for a while I was having hallucinations even though I don't have psychosis. I've been very fortunate, but many people on antipsychotics have really high blood sugar even though they don't have diabetes. And a lot of antidepressants make guys who don't have ED unable to have one. These medications save your life, but they also tell your brain to do some pretty wacky stuff to your body.

The craving of salt is ridiculously common with lithium because it is a salt, it's just not a sodium based salt. I'm not craving it, I just can't taste it now. I am craving sweets, and that's also documented though not as common, they think the pleasure center of the brain is involved. It's not what my body needs. Those 10 pounds can attest to that. The medication that is keeping me functioning normally is more like a shotgun than a scalpel, and it's affecting the entirety of the brain.

I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about diets in general.

"New" is a relative term. They were not there when I went on FMLA in November. They were there when I came back from FMLA in December. That's well long enough to notice that printers are below the portable computers (okay, smartphones) and to notice that the log where we sign out equipment has a printer sign out column, and to have performed price change and check out a printer for that.

In my defense, when we have a new clerk at work, "new" is usually only used for a couple weeks. After that, they're considered a veteran. Of course, we also have trouble holding people for more than a month so...

LOL!!! I'm laughing so hard at your "path" comment I can't even xD

And yes, I vote listen to your body when it comes to foods.

Hekitty can be a mean drunk. Of course, being Hekitty, she can also be a mean sober on occasion. If she wants her catnip, it is generally better to let her have it and let the chips fall where they may!

NOTE TO SELF: Do NOT eat a hunk of cold ham with your fingers and attempt to do find adjustments with your touch pad.

Pretty sure I was trying to say allows pets and my phone wanted to be dumb.

Aedan was feverish and crabby for the last few days. I called the doctor because he got up to 100.4 at one point. The shots are totally worth it, but I still don't have to like them.
We were looking into getting John a TDAP booster, but we can't find any place that still has his shot records. Very frustrating cuz the health department won't give the shot without them and they're a pertussis outbreak 30 miles away. Aedan just had his first TDAP and I'm afraid he could still catch it from John if he gets it. And with him working at a gas station, it seems risky.

Ah, I should have figured that out. I hope he feels better soon!

This is a rant, you don't have to read and there will be some who think I am just mean. I don't understand why people these days have all these illnesses and health conditions. Is it because they were not recognized way back then or are people diagnosed with all kinds of stuff that they don't really have but make the doctors and pharmaceutical companies rich? Or is it because people eat so much junk that is loaded with chemicals, vitamins, additives etc and even small children are given vitamins to "make them healthy"? When I was in elementary school there was one girl who had childhood diabetes, two who were considered "slow" but did everything everybody else did and this in a class with 48 students, one teacher and no teacher's aide. Now it seems that half the kids in a class have some kind of mental or physical problem. When I was in 4th grade suddenly a bunch of kids returned from summer vacation sporting brand-new glasses, including myself as I was already sitting in the front row but could barely make out what was written on the blackboard. Myopia due to a lazy eye has plagued me ever since. Broken bones were rare and surgery due to appendicitis or tonsillitis were even rarer. Grandparents lived in their own apartments until one of them died at which time grandma or grandpa came to live with one of their children and provided childcare services and spoiled the grandkids and taught the grandkids things for which the parents did not have time, usually some kind of craft such as knitting or whittling. If the old person started to forget things or displayed strange behavior it was just put off as "old people become peculiar" and it was left at that, they were not loaded up with drugs to "make them normal". No "nursing homes" or some other place like that where old people are warehoused. When they came to a point where the family could not take care of them anymore they were usually so far gone that they were at death's door, were admitted to the hospital and passed away pretty soon thereafter. From what I can see that is the way it is still done in the very poor neighborhoods or out in the country.
I do realize that there are cases of mental problems as there always have been, but the sufferer was not catered to and every whim that entered their heads was excused and tolerated. I see it in my two grandsons who are on the spectrum: the older one still lives at home, his mother just let him do whatever, the younger one is now on his own in another state, by the time she had her second child she was too busy with the older one and his tantrums to let the second one get away with the same behavior. Now she is trying to catch up with the things that should have been done when he was very young and is having a hard time as he is set in his way and still has tantrums when he does not get his way. Like many on the spectrum he is very intelligent and could be helped with some drugs but resists taking any because at one time he was prescribed some that made him walk around like a zombie and now he does not want to try any others. You can't make him take any because he is an adult and will quote the law. At least he is so far now that he is considering getting a job. When he was in the hospital for many weeks after a severe auto accident he noticed the orderlies and what they did, such as taking patients to different places within the hospital and questioned them about their jobs, so he now thinks that would be a good job for him. I hope it works out, it would get him out from under his mother's feet.
Physical problems have always been with us also and people dealt with them as well as they could and still do. My own daughter had a severe heart defect but I did not cater to that either. She was expected to do what she could and not to even think of using it as an excuse to get out of things she did not want to do. Her cardiologist said she did not even think of herself as "disabled" although she legally was, that he congratulated me on job well done of raising her, that too many parents with a child like her tend to protect them from everything and end up with a spoiled rotten kid.
But then there are those that I question if they are real, mainly allergies that don't show up until it becomes "fashionable", or a diagnosis of mental disease in adults calling for ever more powerful drugs when that person had been doing quite well over all until someone diagnosed them because he/she was a little peculiar. Now under all those drugs of course they become even more peculiar, possibly irrational or delusional. A pox on the pharmaceutical companies and their bought physicians. Just ranting.

That's not the only problem. Part of the problem is that the majority of workers in the States are not making a living wage.

Thank you.

Surgery was a week ago yesterday. My "cast" is more like half of a cast; a 9" by 4" piece of fiberglass formed to fit my inner arm, from the palm to a couple inches beneath the crease of my elbow, padded with some foam and 2 or 3 layers of gauze, and all held together with 2 Ace bandages. My fingers are completely free - it was awkward, but I managed to endorse a check yesterday with my right hand, and I'm touch typing right now. I can move the wrist without pain (and I've no idea how that works, because there's now a metal plate in the back of the wrist holding the bone fragments together), I'm beginning to be able to put weight on the wrist (cautiously, of course), and I can feel it growing stronger by the hour.

I've entirely stopped taking the heavy-duty pain meds; I'm currently on 1 or 2 ibuprofen every 6 hours or so. I could still take an opiate, if I needed it, but I don't need it. I'd be able to drive right now if I didn't have a stick shift. The price I'm paying for the quick healing seems to be a need for extra sleep; I'm happy to pay it.

I can get the laptop into my lap using my right arm to help support it (too heavy for the wrist to be involved yet), which is the only reason I can get on TCS, since none of my other devices work well with the site.

The cast should come off and therapy begin in another two or two and a half weeks, at which point I switch to a removable splint; I'm hoping that will allow showering without having to use saran wrap to protect things, and that it will allow driving. Therapy for the wrist would be much easier if I could drive myself there. I have a follow-up with the surgeon on Monday, followed by a visit to my PCP; I should know more after that.

Margret

On my mind now is my asthma kitty. WHAT THE HECK is causing these flare ups? He had another hospitalization last night, 24 hours, and is home doing well but within 20 minutes of being home, he coughed. I'm going insane.
We dust like crazy. We have a HEPA filter, a humidifier, no carpeting. I wash blankets very often two times a week in a very gentle, hypoallergenic detergent. No one smokes indoors. No one uses wood fireplaces or anything. No oils, fragrances (no febreeze or candles or tealight burners) and we only (and I mean ONLY!) use a very dilute solution of white vinegar and water or murphy's in a dilution to 10:1. The only litter I've found that doesn't send him into a fit (or make him avoid the box, probably because the dust is more than he can bear) is pelleted. I don't mind the litter but I HATE the non clumping factor as I used clumps to see if anyone is passing small amounts vs. normal size clumps. Even so the boxes are uncovered. I'm so frustrated, I feel like I'm going insane.
I'm having his prednisolone compounded with flavorings as he's decided pred laced food is something to be avoided, good news is he's gained back the weight he lost and is holding steady at his normal weight. I HATE prednisolone but I hate the idea that my cat might suddenly be unable to breathe when I'm not around.
I had a horrible nightmare last night that I came home to find him panting and unable to breathe and couldn't locate his emergency meds and was watching as his tongue turned blue then black. I woke up freaked out. I know, it was just a dream but it woke me up so violently, I was happy knowing he was at the vets (24/7 staffed) and was in good hands, but I still didn't fall asleep for a good hour after =(
I'm just so defeated. I can't figure this out. A cure would be great but I am not looking for it, I just want to find his triggers and eliminate them so he can be happy.

You know, I JUST watched a you tube video on this subject that left me in tears. "25 years after Willowbrook" for anyone interested. The families spoke about this very thing. Back then, it was just "what was done". Family members, friends, doctors, and priests/preachers would encourage that because it was felt that they (the special needs child) would be better off in a place that could cater to those needs.
The survivors and their families broke my heart, particularly a young man that was sent away at 3 years old after being misdiagnosed as mentally handicapped; only when he was released 18 years later was it found out he had cerebral palsy and was mentally sharp as a tack--only physically was he handicapped. He talks about how he was beaten up and had his head shoved through a wall, and only was allowed to attend school for 5 years. Today, he's a successful business man with a heart of gold that helps prevent others from suffering that fate. Truly inspiring.
For anyone interested....even if you're mildly curious. Give it a watch. It's heart breaking, yet inspiring.

Oh, yes!

 

[tallyollyopia]

I'm pretty ticked off at someone right now, but I'm not sure who. We went to Wal Mart and I picked Aedan uIp and he smelled. I sniffed the car seat and someone had peed in it! I'm livid. Of course, I have no clue which furball is responsible. I wonder if it's a jealousy thing.
On the bright side, since they're all fixed, the smell isn't as bad as it could be.

Oh, man! On the bright side, it could have been worse!

Okay, I'm responding to several messages here, and I'm not even going to try to tag everyone or quote everything.

When my mother was a little girl, her uncle raped her. She told her parents, and her parents warned the rest of the family not to let the man have access to their daughters. But no one even considered reporting it to the police, because that would have resulted in making it public, which would have further victimized my mother. This would have been some time in the 1920s. More than 50 years after that, at a criminal trial for the repeated rapes of a 3-year-old girl by her brothers and father, in Colorado, the judge refused to convict the rapists. He had the little girl brought to him and placed her on his desk (bench?) and explained to everyone that "this is a very promiscuous child." At least by that time this generated enough outrage that the judge could be forced to retire (not, please note, fired for cause), but he was still allowed to put his name on the list of judges available to serve in emergencies. This was, I believe, some time between 1975 and 1980, but that's pretty much pre-internet, so although I remember it clearly (except for exact dates and names) I'm having trouble finding documentation of it now. However, victim shaming remains to this day, with victims of all ages, and it can be even worse when the victim is male.

My paternal Uncle Philip was a "blue baby"; the umbilical cord had been wrapped around his neck, cutting off oxygen to his brain long enough that he was born blue. The doctor declared him dead, but the midwife worked over him until she managed to resuscitate him (it must have been a good year financially for my grandfather to have paid to have both a midwife and a doctor attending the birth). The result was that Uncle Philip had severe cerebral palsy, the worst I've ever seen. He could get around only by wheelchair; he was unable to do things like pick up a glass or cup, or feed himself, and his words were extremely hard to understand. His form of C.P. resulted in nerve signals being sent to multiple muscles when he moved, causing (quite literal) palsy. One further result was that his muscles were quite strong, despite being seriously uncoordinated. And when people got frustrated and finished his sentences for him, or his sisters and mother fed him like a baby, he'd get angry and hit out. Somehow that managed to be coordinated. By the time my mother married into the family everyone was terrified of him, and he was miserable.

My mother (the physical therapist) insisted that Philip be bought plates that were divided into sections for different foods and had high edges against which a spoon or fork could be pushed, and then be left alone at meals to feed himself (though his food was to be cut up into bite sizes in advance). "Oh, how cruel!" the family said, but she insisted, and Uncle Philip gained some independence and became happier and less angry. She also had them buy straws for him made of glass (Pyrex, I think), that he couldn't accidentally bite through, so he could also get a drink from his glass at meals. She told me that when Philip was first diagnosed as an infant my Grandmother was told that he was mentally defective (he actually had normal intelligence, though it was difficult for him to learn things like reading because his eyes didn't work together properly) and that she should send him to a "home" that would "take care" of him, although he'd probably die young. My Grandmother refused; insisting that she wouldn't send him off to be with strangers when he had family. That decision probably saved his life, because those "homes" had no funding for extra food for children who used such enormous energy just trying to reach out to pick something up, so their residents did, indeed, tend to die young, of starvation.

Obviously, my grandmother did some things right, by instinct, and other things wrong, by ignorance, but how could she have been anything but ignorant given the state of medical knowledge on this subject at that time, and the total lack of support from the medical profession that she received? And how could she have known that things had changed until my mother showed up and told her?

I have to get to other things right now; I'll continue this later.

Margret

Then, too, there was a stigma of women who were "too educated." Seriously, I had an elderly female aunt (my DD has twelve siblings and he's in the younger part of the group) tell me to stop reading because "it's not feminine to be educated and no man wants a woman who is smarter than he is." (This was, by the way, the same aunt that got smacked upside the head with a wooden spoon by DD's mother for trying to force me in a "box.")

I came very close to catnapping a cat tonight. She's a pretty thing, technically a calico but rather than patches it looked like the gray and orange hairs are completely intermingled. She was all lovey lovey to the woman feeding her. But she's a feral. On top of all the up front costs of making sure she's not going to bring something to the boys, she'd likely have gone spastic if I actually walked up and grabbed her. And my husband is standing firm that there will be no new cats in the house until Montressor dies.

I think I will check with the local shelters though. The woman is concerned that if she's classified as feral then they may not try to rehabilitate and home her. That might be true with the county shelter, since governmental funding can be stingy. There's a Humane Society shelter, but as of a few months ago they were not accepting cats. If they are though, they may have foster volunteers that could work with her.

But the fact that I'm still ready to grab random cats shows to me that there's still a huge unhealed hole in my heart from Shadow. If it was healed, I wouldn't be wanting to just grab any cat I see and bring them home.

I know the feeling.

Spent the evening doing laundry. After folding 3 load of baby clothes, my back is hurting so bad, I may cry. I've had problems with it ever since I broke it and bending over to grab clothes repeatedly apparently was more than I can handle. The worst part is knowing that it's only going to get worse with age. I'm not even 30 and my back hurts all the time - the level of pain just fluctuates. What's it gonna be like when I'm 60? And it's not like I was really doing anything that difficult. Folding laundry is hardly strenuous.

Bending to pull stuff out of the dryer. Standing to actually fold it. Rinse and repeat for almost fifty items of clothing, if nothing needed hung. Yes, I can see how that would hurt your back. Feel better soon!

Okay, so this was on my FB feed. Caption is "So what are your future plans?"

 

[tallyollyopia]

Well she's got me beat! I think I counted 60 in that pic.

I saw someone on another forum insult another person by calling them a "sad middle-aged butch with too many cats". And I was like, sad?!? Why is that sad? I'm livin' the dream, baby! LOL

Seriously, when I was maybe 8 or 9 I read a book about a kid who befriended the neighborhood "crazy cat lady". And even then I knew that's what I wanted. I'm not sure if that was the character I was supposed to identify with. . .

I googled why people take it recreationally (if the FBI wants to look at my search history it might seem suspicious ), and, yeah, it seems like those who use it recreationally do it for the sedative effects. Either to be able to sleep after using uppers, or to disassociate for whatever reason. I would imagine that sleeping through most of the day might be tempting for people who are locked in a cage.

This is weird, I just thought of it, lol. My youngest brother has been diagnosed as "on the spectrum". We take a family vacation to Orlando almost every year, and my nephew likes to go to WonderWorks. They have a brainwave machine where you can control a ball with your mind. My youngest brother and I can practically flatline our brainwaves and always win (if we go against each other we tie, run out of time so the game ends on its own). My other brother and nephew have their brainwaves spike all over.

Last year my brother had gone to the doctor because of a particulary bad anxiety attack, and the doctor prescribed a daily anti-anxiety med (I don't remember what, not Xanax though). And when he tried to play the brainwave game, his brainwaves were spiking all over the place, and I beat him easily. Even though he had been able to flatline that game every other year we've gone. So what were those meds doing to his brain? Was that normalizing his brainwaves or something else? Haha, now that I've thought of that I'm so curious.

Perhaps the way to make his brain function normal requires making it abnormal for that brain? Sorry, shooting in the dark here.

Ever seen this cartoon before?

It's titled "Death's Dispensary," and it helped to end the cholera outbreak in New York City in 1866. New York City Cholera Outbreak of 1866 We already knew that cholera was caused by fecal contamination of drinking water - that had been discovered 12 years before by John Snow, during the Broad Street cholera outbreak in London (1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak - Wikipedia) - but new ideas take time to filter their way down into the public consciousness, not to mention taking time to result in expensive changes to the way we distribute important things like water.

When is the last time you heard of a cholera outbreak? If you're like me, it was in a news report about a refugee camp with inadequate sanitation (something that we've seen way too much of lately, but that's for the IMO forum). Cholera was one of the reasons our ancestors tended to die young. Another was Smallpox, which we've discussed fairly recently and I won't rehash that discussion here, except to say that vaccination has wiped this disease out entirely.

There was a time, just a few generations ago, when the biggest risk for a new mother was to give birth in a hospital, because doctors prided themselves on coming directly from the autopsy room, with blood still on their hands, to do physical examinations of women in labor. They considered hand washing to be a form of superstition, practiced only by those "ignorant" midwives (who had a much better survival rate in their patients - gee, I wonder why?).

So, what is new? Well, how about AIDS? Does anyone here doubt that AIDS is real? And is it truly "new"? Well, the answer to the second question probably depends, at least partly, on your definition of "new." I went to a parochial high school run by a fundamentalist church and, while there, had a friend named Nelson who seemed to be a little odd. What I didn't realize at the time was that Nelson was gay, and was deeply closeted (as he would have had to be to survive in my high school). When we graduated in the early 1970s, Nelson came out of the closet and moved to San Francisco. This was before HIV had been identified, let alone drugs developed to treat AIDS, and I've heard from people who lived there that being part of the gay community in San Francisco at that time was like living in a war zone, so many people were dying of this unidentified disease that seemed to strike gay men preferentially. Nelson was one of the casualties. So I tend to date AIDS to the early 1970s, but that's my personal viewpoint, based on my experiences. It actually goes back farther than that. The first reported death from AIDS in North America happened in 1969, and the patient admitted himself to the hospital with symptoms in 1968, where he reported that he'd had symptoms since 1966, when he was 12. (Robert Rayford - Wikipedia) Poor, poor child. HIV dot gov has an AIDS timeline, which begins in 1981, because that was when the government first started paying attention to it. (A Timeline of HIV and AIDS) So, I can personally remember a time before AIDS (or at least before AIDS in North America), which makes it new by my standards.

Worldwide, the first known case of AIDS occurred in 1959 in the Belgian Congo (CNN - Researchers trace first HIV case to 1959 in the Belgian Congo - February 3, 1998). which is still within my lifetime. According to the same article, researchers believe that the mutation that led to AIDS occurred shortly after WWII, so before my birth, but not by much. Where did it come from? Probably monkeys. How? No one knows - I would guess a bite. As for mutations, well, HIV appears to be in a constant state of mutation, which is one of the reasons it's been so hard to develop a vaccine for it.

Other "new" diseases:

• Chronic Fatigue
• Fibromyalgia
• Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy

Are these really new? I doubt it, though Chronic Fatigue may be. I think these have merely become more well known recently. As for Chronic Fatigue, my personal suspicion is that it may actually be post-polio syndrome in people who were vaccinated with a live polio virus, but to my knowledge that's never been tested. The reason I think this is that both the time line and the symptoms seem to fit, which is enough to make it an interesting idea but hardly enough to make it any more than that.

Some new diseases are merely old diseases with new names:

• COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder, which killed Leonard Nimoy) used to be called asthma, or emphysema, or something else more specific.
• PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) used to be called battle fatigue, or malingering. With the name change there also came a realization that you don't have to be a soldier to have PTSD.

Which pretty well covers my contributions on this subject for the time being.

Margret

Vaccinations are important. There's a local group collecting donations to vaccinate ferals for rabies. I donated. As for the other--how many of the "new" issues are just renamed old ones. "Manic-Depressive" used to be "Bi-Polar" and so on. The medical community seems to rename and "discover" diseases that already exist.

It works because most of the pain of a broken anything is the shifting of the bones. Those bones are now stabilized and not shifting, so...no (or very little) pain. And don't push it. Let the "cautious" part of that sentence be your watchword!



Reiterating what several people have already said, it just wasn't talked about. The most you would ever hear about such things is, "Oh, poor things, they have a 'funny' uncle." And all too often, the "funny" one was the one with the money, hence the power, in the family. And all too often, mental illness or deficiency of any sort resulted in the sufferer being locked in a basement or attic if the family lacked the funds for an "asylum."



Well, I was going to suggest an inexpensive card table that could be folded away, but I like arouetta 's suggestion even better!

Today is my birthday. 65, heaven help me. I've been fielding FB messages like a mad thing.

Hehe. In our family we tend to refer to canned pet food as "Kibbles 'n' Snouts" (points if you get the reference). I just found a small piece of pigskin in a can of Friskies. Well, kibbles 'n' snouts indeed! Extra snouts in that one.

As for longevity and stamina in the past, might I point out that Charlie Bucket's elderly bedridden grandparents were probably in their 50s?

Well, Grandpa Joe might have been faking, but the other three were genuinely bedridden--and they were trying to take care of the grandparents.

 

[Willowy]

Well, Grandpa Joe might have been faking, but the other three were genuinely bedridden--and they were trying to take care of the grandparents.

Well, the discussion was, why were people healthier in the old days, and I was trying to use that as proof they weren't, lol. Of course Roald Dahl was one sick puppy so you can't take anything he said seriously. I can't find my book right now, but I think it says in the book that Grandpa Joe is 96 1/2, which begs the question of exactly how old Charlie's dad is, or how old was Joe when Charlie's dad was born. More realistically, going by averages of the time, he probably would have been 25 when he had his first child, and so would Charlie's dad, and Charlie is 10, so he should have been around 60. Maybe he's really Charlie's great-great-grandpa. . .or Charlie's dad is like the 15th kid. Or maybe Charlie's the 15th kid and the rest of them all starved to death. That would be a very Roald Dahl-esque kind of backstory.

And he wasn't faking it; he practiced walking when the others were sleeping for many months, because he just knew Charlie was going to find the golden ticket!

Haha, OK, I like to overthink books.

 

[tallyollyopia]

This is just a long, random ramble about things going on in my life right now, so feel free to skip. None of it's really important, and it's in no particular order.

So. Got part of my tax refund and had time off today, so went to get shoes. (One store in the entire tri-state area carries my shoes, so that's where I go when I get new ones.) I don't know what is wrong with New Balance and their work shoes: I tried on two pairs and there's some kind of design flaw that makes it feel like I'm standing on a rock as I walk--can't wear at work. They decided to order the shoes I got last year, I paid, left, and woke up at ten tonight realizing that the shoes I have were made with a severe design flaw where the seam of the tongue digs into the foot (I dealt with it by smoothing the seam out with electrical tape). I'm going to call as soon as they open in the morning to see if they can cancel the order and if I can go in on Wednesday (when I'm supposed to be off) and find another shoe. Hopefully leather, but maybe not. Most important is that they fit.

Got the cats new Seresto collars on the same trip. The clerk mentioned that they're taking donations for varying feral support; money for shelters, for vaccinations, for food, etc. I asked how the donations work and he knew!! And the group is local!! So, I donated. Maybe they can help the cats around my work.

Last night this customer came in demanding to know why we don't have Diet Lipton Peach Tea, and I explained to him that while there are several things the store does order (most candy, the "fresh sandwiches", etc.), there are things that the vendor doesn't trust the store to order (like Pepsi, Coke, Budweiser, Frito-Lays), and so they send representatives to do the store orders for us and Pepsi's representative hasn't been ordering the Diet Lipton Peach Tea (which is oddly a good seller--when we do get it in, we have trouble keeping it on the shelf because so many people buy it). So he gets a soda, comes up to the counter, and I automatically plus sell something to eat at which point he tells me that there's nothing good in the store. But we had just gotten a fruit delivery, and the bananas in particular looked spectacular, so I pointed them out. He then told me that they were all GMO, and thus poison. Remembering that there was a debate about being able to tell on this very forum, I asked how he knew. He said, "Because it says in revelations that at the end times all the food will be poison and destroy the body." He leaned forward and added, "I hope you enjoy your road to Hell for peddling poison to unsuspecting people.

Earlier in the week I had this woman (not local) buying two armloads of items. I asked her if she needed a bag, and she said no. As I rang up her items she carefully loaded them in her arms and I asked, again, if she needed a bag (or several bags, she had a lot of stuff). She got upset and began yelling at me for trying to plus sell her a bag and I was shocked, because none of the stores in our area (that I'm aware of) charge for plastic bags. Now the bags are flimsy as crap and won't hold heavy (or even moderately heavy) items, so it's better to have your own bags in order to make sure they don't break between the vehicle and home, but we don't charge for them. I explained this to the woman, who was both shocked and promptly demanded bags. And got mad at me for the length of time it took to actually bag her items.

I don't know where the ferals around the store went after that set his dogs on them, but they're coming back (shyer than ever, of course). One of my favorites (a dark gray that I almost took home when I first met him) saw me taking garbage out and slunk from shadow to shadow hiding behind pumps, the cardboard dumpster, and jumped out around the corner of the dumpster out at me, and looked so satisfied when I jumped! After that he sauntered off. How cute!

I don't know what Ra saw on the wall the other day, but he leaped for it, missed, and the walls are smooth with nothing for claws to catch into--so I reached out to catch him. He felt his paws hit something solid--and the claws came out for stabilization. I yelped and he managed to turn and leap down at which point he came to me, worried. "Mom, are you okay? I'm sorry Mom, I didn't mean to hurt you. Are you sure you're okay?"

The last time SD was visiting he had to go into the back bedroom for something (some time ago he started remodeling the center bathroom and never finished, so I get ready for work in the in the master bath), and he closed the door. No big deal. When I was leaving the room I saw Asia on the bed and she languidly waved her paw towards the door with a low mew. It was like she said, "Free me! I'm not moving anytime soon, but free me!" It took a while to stop laughing.

One night I had an unusual number of cranky customers. As a clerk, I'm constantly moving around and cleaning (there's a lot that I have to get done before I leave in the morning), and for the most part my customers are just happy that things (like the roller grill, coffee pots, cappuccino machines) are getting cleaned, and since I interrupt the task to help them, or wash my hands so I'm not getting stuff (especially important for restroom and roller grill), they usually take it in stride. No problem. Well, the other night they unusually cranky, like I was deliberately neglecting them, and most of them were regular customers that understand I don't loiter around the register (like some clerks I could name ). I don't know what caused it, but I warned first shift about it when I left, so they wouldn't be caught off guard.

Well. Upper management has issued a statement that if a clerk is wearing a jacket, then he or she is out of dress code and we're not to do that. I say I'll stop wearing my jacket when they give the clerks control of the thermostat and stop turning the heat off in the middle of the night!

For two or three days last week I'd come across Princess and Asia staring at each other, as if they were talking. Then, the other day, I realized what the result of their negotiations is this: Princess gets to sleep at the foot of my bed in the morning, when I go to bed, and Asia gets to sleep there in the evening, when I get up. I feel so confused.

AWM's been watching (and I've been catching part of it) a show on Netflix called Zumbo's Just Desserts--and the desserts, especially for the challenges, are amazing.

I've been having massive headaches at work, and after finally getting time off I realized something--I don't have the same kind of headaches at home. I have no idea what's so different.

Things left overday in the work fridge are starting to develop a metallic aftertaste (I take things like cheese, Slim-Fast, etc and don't always have enough time during work to break them open. Does that make them dangerous to eat?

My feet have gotten so dry and cracked. I'm almost afraid to put lotion on them.

Okay, so one of the guys at work (we now have two, and I dub them Slacker--for obvious reasons--and Singing Hater--because he hates the sound of singing). Well, Slacker tried to go around the manager for his promotion (which was halted when he started taking attitude and challenging the other clerks at the store) by calling her manager and demanding a promotion! So, just in case the promotion sidelining was due to personality clashes (happens), my manager's manager viewed the camera footage (because they can) and told him to get his act together or get out.

Two of my customers were gossiping the other night about Sexist Pig (who left a note saying he couldn't "do that women's work no more") and how they knew he was unreliable because of all this stuff that happened back when he was a juveneille (that was sealed when he became an adult, so none of it came up during the standard background check). They were talking about how my manager should have known this so I asked them if either of them told her about this information (for context, while we're in a small town where everyone knows everyone else, the manager and assistant manager live in the nearby city and are not plugged into the gossip network). They said no, because she was supposed to know this already. Can't make an informed decision without information guys!

Got a call from a clerk who wants to transfer to our store. Not that there's anything wrong with the store she's at, or with the manager she's under, but she's having personality clashes with just about everyone else, and wants to transfer. Her current manager is fine with the transfer, our manager is fine with the transfer, but corporate has to approve the transfer. Still, she's third shift trained, so if she comes over it'll be more support for me.

 

[Katie M]

I suspect I need to have a tooth pulled. It's been hurting off and on for a few days, and it woke me up just a little while ago. It's throbbing badly, but I can't afford a dentist

 

[tallyollyopia]

I suspect I need to have a tooth pulled. It's been hurting off and on for a few days, and it woke me up just a little while ago. It's throbbing badly, but I can't afford a dentist

I hope you find something that helps soon. Have you tried taking a toothpick and running it along the gum line to see if you have food caught there? That's what caused my last toothache.

 

[tallyollyopia]

Few more stories about my crew of cats:

Today they got their new collars, and Ra was happy to see the collars. He saw me opening the tins, stretched across the table in front of me, and tilted his head back so I could easily reach his neck. He was the only one that happy about it; I had to pin Spot between my legs in order to get his new collar on and as I was fighting with him Ra walked by, sat in front of Spot, and tilted his head back to display his new collar. Then Ra got closer to Spot and shoved the new collar in Spots face before sauntering off.

Princess was lying on the floor as I pet her and then, at some signal I didn't hear she suddenly sunk her teeth into my hand and began rabbit kicking it. More scratches.

The other day I worked ten hours, came home, and Ra met me in the yard. He looked up and said, "Mom, I know you just got home, and you had a long day at work, but when we get inside I'll have to share you with all the other cats. Can you pet me some more now?" So, of course I did!

 

[Katie M]

I hope you find something that helps soon. Have you tried taking a toothpick and running it along the gum line to see if you have food caught there? That's what caused my last toothache.

The tooth itself looks bad, so I think it might be too far gone. I haven't been able to see a dentist in four years.

 

[tallyollyopia]

The tooth itself looks bad, so I think it might be too far gone. I haven't been able to see a dentist in four years.

 

[arouetta]

Are you near a college? Dental schools nearly always offer dental services at a fraction of the cost. The tradeoff is that while an experienced dentist supervises the procedure, the person performing the work is a student (not sure if the person is in their final year or just got their degree).

 

[Katie M]

I think WVU has a dental school. I'll look into that.

 

[Alicia88]

We have a place like that here
It goes by income. If you're in the lowest income bracket, it's $50 a visit.
I hope you get it fixed. Tooth pain is the worst.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Tooth pain is horrible! We, luckily, have a low-cost, income-based clinic two towns over.

Oh, trust me. I'm being very cautious. But I think you misunderstood what it is that I don't understand. There's a metal plate in the back of my wrist to hold those bones in place, so how is it that I'm able to bend my wrist backward, into the plate? Not why doesn't it hurt, why is it possible? (Understand, by "backward" I don't mean a long way back; there's still Ace bandages there holding the cast in place and they don't allow that much movement, and even normally my wrist wouldn't bend too far that way, nor would I want to try.)

By the way, I seem to have missed it, again. One of these years I'll get it right.

Oh, I see why you're confused! Yeah, that's odd...but then again, it is you

Thank you! And thank everyone else who wished me one, as well. It was lovely. I ate cake and ice cream for supper! How decadent is that?

One of my favorites (a dark gray that I almost took home when I first met him) saw me taking garbage out and slunk from shadow to shadow hiding behind pumps, the cardboard dumpster, and jumped out around the corner of the dumpster out at me, and looked so satisfied when I jumped! After that he sauntered off. How cute!

AWWWWWWW! One of my little "wanderers" hides behind a tree across the drive and peeks out at me. I say "Peek-a-boo" and she dodges back. She will sit and do that with me for as much as ten minutes at a time. I swear she knows that it is a game!

I've been having massive headaches at work, and after finally getting time off I realized something--I don't have the same kind of headaches at home. I have no idea what's so different.

Possibly the fluorescent lighting. They flicker. Even if you don't see it, they flicker. They give me headaches, as well, after a couple of hours.

she's having personality clashes with just about everyone else, and wants to transfer. Her current manager is fine with the transfer, our manager is fine with the transfer, but corporate has to approve the transfer. Still, she's third shift trained, so if she comes over it'll be more support for me.

Crossing my fingers. She would be trained help. Although I worry about those personality clashes, as she is the ONE common denominator in all of them.

I suspect I need to have a tooth pulled. It's been hurting off and on for a few days, and it woke me up just a little while ago. It's throbbing badly, but I can't afford a dentist

 

[Margret]

"Manic-Depressive" used to be "Bi-Polar" and so on.

The other way around, actually. It used to be "Manic-Depressive" and has now become "Bi-Polar."

Well. Upper management has issued a statement that if a clerk is wearing a jacket, then he or she is out of dress code and we're not to do that. I say I'll stop wearing my jacket when they give the clerks control of the thermostat and stop turning the heat off in the middle of the night!

Darn right! You know, that sounds like it might be a violation of OSHA rules; does anyone else know?

I've been having massive headaches at work, and after finally getting time off I realized something--I don't have the same kind of headaches at home. I have no idea what's so different.

Something you're allergic to at work, perhaps? I know you do a lot of cleaning at work, are there any chemicals you're using there that you don't use at home?

My feet have gotten so dry and cracked. I'm almost afraid to put lotion on them.

Vitamin E oil might help.

I suspect I need to have a tooth pulled. It's been hurting off and on for a few days, and it woke me up just a little while ago. It's throbbing badly, but I can't afford a dentist

The other day I worked ten hours, came home, and Ra met me in the yard. He looked up and said, "Mom, I know you just got home, and you had a long day at work, but when we get inside I'll have to share you with all the other cats. Can you pet me some more now?" So, of course I did!

Well, duh! There's no way you could resist that!

Margret

 

[Margret]

I wash blankets very often two times a week in a very gentle, hypoallergenic detergent.

This is the one thing in your post that rang a bell for me. For the past couple of years we've been using All Plus Free and Clear. The "Plus" seems to be some kind of whitening additive, but the "Free and Clear" is supposed to mean hypoallergenic, right? Wrong. One day I went online looking for some detergent coupons and what I ran into was whole web pages of people complaining that when All became "Plus" it also began causing allergies. I put that together with the excessively itchy back I'd had lately and switched to Era, which is just detergent - doesn't say anything about extra strength or "free and clear" or hypoallergenic(!), and after making the switch the itching went away.

It may be time to try different detergents. Or simply, if his asthma never flares up when he's hospitalized, call the animal hospital and ask them what detergent they use on bedding.

Margret