October 5, 2025 Sunday

Greetings!

Well, not going to be fun writing a post today.  You guys have heard enough of my health issues and now I have to confess for the most embarrassing ordeal yet!  What a week it was!

Monday I missed a call from the office at North Sky where she expected me to go through another walk-through on Tuesday the 30th.  If you recall, she never did leave the exit paperwork outside me door she said she would after the first walk-through right after I gave notice.  (And yet they got a stack of paperwork for me to get recertified for living there?!)  What a place!  

The table got sold!  Talk about last minute luck!  

Dagan brought me to the clinic after work.  A different lady doctor had me get a chest xray and said my lungs were clear so she basically told me to go buy some Robitussin and just keep taking the allergy pill and the nasal spray as I had been.  This was despite the fact I was coughing, could barely speak, and told her I'd never fully gotten rid of the sinus infection, that it was obviously moving into my chest, my immune system is badly compromised, and I had come in hoping to nip it in the bud before it got worse.  They don't like to give out antibiotics unnecessarily.  

We picked up Robitussin. 

The corners of the kitchen rug looked flat when we took the tape off, but then they curled up again.  I tried this trick I saw on a YouTube video of laying ice cubes on the corner and letting them melt.

Allie thought it was fascinating--lol!

They melted.  Allie knocked a couple of them off, but there were still ice cubes on the corner.  It just curled up again.  Things that work on YouTube do not always work for me--lol!

Before I get into the big ordeal of the week--no, Allie doesn't have claws.  She was fixed and declawed when I got her at 8 years old at the cat rescue place in town.  They don't like to declaw older cats and Dagan and Leah don't want to declaw Blink.  And Blink is the most mellow cat with people!  She's okay with babies, toddlers, kids, and people of all ages.  Never leaves the room when there are gatherings and a lot of noise--like at the birthday parties.  Apparently, she just hates other animals with a passion.  If they are ever going to tolerate each other it would have to be somewhere in the distant future--and would depend entirely on Blink.  I wouldn't want them to see each other again for a good long time.  No reason to risk a cat fight...or cat beating, in all likelihood.  No big deal.  Allie is doing just fine.  I don't want to stress her out.

Tuesday--okay--here we go!

Was about the same.  Could barely talk, coughing jags, hadn't been sleeping much at all for days...I was walking from my chair to throw something away in the trash can next to the hutch by the door...there was a rollie chair right in front of the hutch next to the trash can...caught my foot on one of the chair legs sticking out...and you guessed it...fell hard on the cement floor!  Landed on my left side--hip and palm--twisted left knee pretty badly, too.  Ended up on my back.  Which side is my bad hip and knee on?  You guessed it!  (The reason the rollie chair isn't there anymore is Dagan also tripped on it a day or so later, picked it right up, and moved it into the storage room--lol!)

This was somewhere around 4pm.  I knew Dagan was taking the boys and going to bring Ian to Haley's Hope at 5pm.  Leah was going sometime after work to get me some more Flonase and Aleve, so eventually they'd be back home and somebody would come down with the stuff from the drug store.  I couldn't reach my phone because it was in the little red holder on the end table between the two chairs...and there was now the two folding tables holding three paper shelves between me and my phone.

I couldn't get on my knees.  Had sharpish pain in my knee, hip, and palm of my hand.  I have had little strength in my legs to begin with from 22 years of never having to use stairs the last two places I've lived.  Then ever since Keytruda--when I have taken stairs I have to hang on to something and take them one step at a time using my better leg first--and I have to lift up my bad leg up to get into the passenger seat in a car. 

Anyways, I tried a couple of times to figure out how to get to my knees, but it was too painful and I was too weak.  I had lost my voice, so there was no point in trying to yell upstairs before they left for Haley's.  I couldn't even yell.  (I did try pathetically squeaking once, but there is good insulation, as I said.)  I also couldn't lift myself up to try to crawl backwards face up.  I tried--my entire body had various sharp pains and I had so little energy or strength--it was truly quite pathetic.  Plus I scared Allie crying--OW! OW! OW!

I was going to have to do a backwards butt scoot.  The side to walk through by my brown chair is narrower than on the other side by the red chair.

I had to slide my way backwards across the floor...

...to get over to the red chair side of the living room.

Now, I momentarily thought of opening the door and going to the steps to try to get up--but I had just seen what Blink would do to Allie if she could...and Blink would undoubtedly hear me on the steps.  I would be in no position to protect Allie and I would never do that to her.  It went through my mind in a flash and was soundly rejected.  Didn't have a lot of options, but I knew I had to at least try to get over on the thin carpet...because a cement floor is cold and I figured I could be there a long time.  Oh, and I had to take off my fuzzy warm socks to get any traction at all--lol!

Talk about baby steps!  I had to stop and rest after every couple times I tried to move.  Found out I had to kind of tie my nightgown around my waist because it would try to choke me as I slid backwards.  After that I had to keep stopping to pull my underpants up--ROFL!  It took me about two hours to get to the end table you see in the bottom corner. Not sure because I didn't think to ask Alexa or my Hey, Google contraption--even though I remembered to try to ask them to call Leah.  But I wasn't set up to do that, I guess. 

These are after pictures--but I moved all these things here and there and tried to use them as support to maybe be able to get off the floor--but no matter how many ways I tried...well, by now my knee was pretty swollen up and didn't cotton to the idea of bending at all, my palm was swollen, my shoulders were complaining, and my hip was in full protest--but I didn't think anything was broken, at least.  

I finally made it around to in front of the red chair and finally, finally had someplace to rest my bad back!  Ahhh!

I think I sat there with Allie for the better part of an hour.  Allie had been near me the whole time.  She was very stressed and puzzled.  She wanted attention and reassurance.  Funny cat--when you go to pet her she never stops moving!  She flips from side to side and up and down and goes back and forth.

I saw I had a sweatshirt up on top of a bin in the living room--that I could possibly reach!!!  That is--once I got over far enough in front of the end table between the two chairs, I could reach it.  Took a good while to make that decision...move and give up the backrest of the red chair...or get warmer?  I was kind of shaky-shivery from being on the cement floor (even with the thin rug) for hours...so I decided to move over in front of the end table.  Oh, that was so nice!!  It was a sweatshirt and pants type outfit--so I laid the pants across my legs, too.  And Allie curled up between my legs and went to sleep because I quit moving entirely and she knew it.    

Then the phone started to ring--or it was the text sound.  I honestly can't remember now.  But I knew it would be Leah with a question about what she was getting at the drug store...and she would think I had fallen asleep.  It rang another time.  Leah said that was around 7pm.  I couldn't reach the phone...it was sitting in that little red holder you see on the back of the end table there.

No way I could reach it.  In fact, I was so exhausted that I couldn't even try to move anymore.  Totally spent.

Later the phone rang again a couple of times.  I knew they would be getting worried that I wasn't answering and that really motivated me.  What I did was lay down on my right side (better side, less pain) and stretched and stretched until I could reach the front leg of my laptop table.  Took a while, but I finally moved it enough to get a grip...and TaDa!!  I pulled it across the floor and got my laptop down.  I knew they don't check their email usually on their phones, but I had to try.  Sent them both an email saying I couldn't reach the phone--I'd fallen and couldn't get up.  (Yes, I did a lot of thinking about that lady in the commercial--lol!)  Let's just say my fingers were trembly and there were a lot of mistakes, but I sent it. 

I thought that would be scary for them to read so I took my time and sent another one--saying the same things, but not filled with mistakes.

At least now I could watch something while I waited.  They'd be home eventually.  They found me sitting on the floor watching a Cog Hill Farm video when they came home.  Dagan had happened to look at his email!  They were just heading for a restaurant to have dinner.  Came immediately.  They each took an arm and pulled me upright and helped me hobble over to my chair.  It was 7:30pm.  Ian grabbed my warm blanket for me.  When I felt warmed up and not shaky I limped into the bathroom and back.  They wanted to make sure I was mobile.  (I wasn't very steady, Leah said.)  Leah brought me an ice pack for my knee and got my Aleve for the swelling.  Those two things really helped my knee!  By Thursday I was able to do laundry!

AND--I made enough money on selling furniture to be able to pay for the apartment cleaners AND order a smart watch.  Yes, I have a brand new Pixel #4 smart watch coming this week.  So, if I ever have anything like that happen again I can talk into my wrist and make texts or phone calls like in a sci-fi movie--lol!  Once I learn how to use it, of course.  It will count steps, tell me how long I sleep and things like that, too.  But mainly it will be like having a cell phone right on my wrist all day and night.  Supposed to charge in like about half an hour...like my phone does.  A sigh of relief for all of us, eh? 

So, that's the wonderful news after the big ordeal.  I'm going to keep a smart watch on my wrist day and night except when I charge it during the day when I don't need to get up for a while--lol!  ;)  And after two days of Aleve and an ice pack I could hobble around slowly (with my cell phone on me) and do laundry.  Didn't get it all put away until today but that's okay.  I am still sore kind of all over, but by this weekend the coughing and breathing seemed to be better.  Still sick but just a little better than I was.  Still keeping an eye on it and taking it day by day because if I get any worse...

But it looks like maybe the respiratory crud might be going away?  Man!  When people say there's some lingering crud going around I can certainly attest to that being true.  I do wonder sometimes if this was covid.  I am not going to try to predict anything whatsoever. 

Saturday I was in my chair petting Allie on the floor as she rolled and flipped like she does...when she suddenly froze!  Didn't move for some time...long enough for me to get a picture in the wardrobe mirror of what she was looking at.  Herself. 

Which I'm sure at first she had thought might be another cat...maybe that scary Blink from the outside world.  Who knows where Blink lives, right?  Allie hadn't paid any attention to her at all, like I said.  But after the threat--she seemed to hear Blink on the other side of the wall using her litter box one day, I think.  I can't hear well at all, but Allie sat up and walked over to sit and stare at the kitchen.  (Blink's litter box is on the other side of the kitchen wall).  So Allie hasn't totally forgotten Scary Blink--lol!  

I really, really hope this is a good week of healing and feeling better.  I'll take gradual.  I am patient.  But I want a nice boring week.  No ordeals.  No setbacks.  No clinic visits.  Just feeling better and better.  Sounds fantastic to me.  Fingers crossed.  I really hope nothing like this ever happens to you.  Four years of serious health issues and I had become even weaker than I already knew I was.  Need to build back some strength.  I'll let you know how it goes, of course.  We never know how our lives will go, do we?  I never, ever would have thought I'd be sitting here still in October not having unpacked more than a couple of bins.  So glad it makes me laugh now that I'm on the other side of the move.  No worries.  Things will work out eventually.  

So that was my crazy week.  Embarrassing as it is...anything can happen in a moment.  I always worried about falling, but I didn't think about what if I was also injured to boot!  I guess I'm lucky I didn't break my hip or my knee to be honest.  Cement floors are very hard, I can tell you.  One time I was lucky to have all this extra body-padding--ROFL!  But I have now decided that I need to do some strength exercises of some kind.  Been looking on YouTube and there are a lot of them for seniors.  I'd have to start out with chair exercises and really simple stuff.  But not till I get my smart watch!  LOL!  ;)

Back in a week if I'm lucky--lol!  Sorry that I haven't had some unpacking pics yet--but they will be coming.  I do hope you've been having better luck than I have had lately--lol!  Regardless--life is good!  It could have been so much worse...and Allie was good company throughout the long, slow ordeal.  :)