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In Which Kimberly Comes Home
Dec. 14th, 2019 11:47 pmKimberly is home. It was so exhausting having her out at the hospital, and getting out there every day in rain or shine (but mostly in rain).
Whew.
Thank goodness we're to the next stage.
The stay was either longer than I expected or longer than I could keep my schedule open, I'm not sure which at this point, but the last 24 hours of her stay were particularly hectic because I started having other stuff on my schedule.
Tuesday afternoon I had to take the cats out to the vet to get them some drugs, so that we could test them out tomorrow, in advance of the plane trip. But Lucy has continued to regularly lose little bits of weight, about half a pound in the last two years, and that made me uncomfortable, so the vet and I talked for a while about the possibility of colon problems (a recurring issue in life right now, it appears) and we finally got her a Senior Screen, which she hadn't had in a few years. It came back mostly OK, but with one number, her lymphocyte count, I think, a little high. The vet said that could be a sign of inflammation, such as in her colon, but it was a really non-specific value, so at that point the answer was either to do an ultrasound, or just keep an eye on her. So, we're keeping an eye on her, and will need to make sure she gets a vet appointment next year, in Hawaii.
Wednesday morning I had a contractor out to install our new vanity and mirror in our downstairs bathroom. It was a nail biting experience, because our hot and water valves protrude into the interior of the vanity (and were scant millimeters away from blocking the drawers, none of which I realized previously) and the width of the alcove is uneven and just barely enough space (kinda, with some force, which was an issue I'd worried about before). But, it's in. Mind you, it looks ugly right now because they removed the sidesplashes and backsplash and there are gouges and even holes in the wall. Hopefully our contractor is going to get us new splashes and cut them to size, but that's a problem for another day. Worst case, it all just gets painted, but that won't look as good so I'm hoping the splashes materialize.
So after the Tuesday cat appointment I raced out to the hospital to see Kimberly there one last time ...
And then after the Wednesday contractor work I raced out there again to get there be she got picked up!
Chris was kind enough to give us a ride.
Which was good because it was raining yet again and because Kimberly was finding it really trying just getting down to the car and out.
As with our trip in, when Katherine was kind enough to give us a ride, I was really happy we'd asked friends for help rather than taking a Lyft.
So, Kimberly's been home for a few days now.
She's still in a lot of pain and sleeping a lot as she recovers, but does seem on the mend, able to eat more than in the hospital, without as much nausea.
And as I told Kimberly, my helping take care of her didn't seem such a big deal, because I've helped her out a lot in recent years because of her foot problems. And that's largely been the case (though I've been quite worried about her pain a few times, and for example didn't go gaming on Wednesday night because I felt it was too early to really understand how she was doing. I think I'll be OK to go game this coming Wednesday, for my last game at Secret).
Here's the delightful thing: we got Kimberly home and then I immediately needed to start work on final preparations for our shippers ... who are here on Monday.
I mean, they're packing everything that's left, but the trick is distinguishing what should be shipped and what shouldn't (and internally we also have to distinguish between what we're keeping to use for the next 3-4 weeks and will need to take on the airplane and what we're getting rid).
I'm doing my best to red-tag furniture that's not going and to turn my office into a fortress of solitude for cats and items that need to stay here, but oy this is a lot of work that I got behind on while Kimberly was in the hospital.
I spent much of today on it and need to spend much of tomorrow on it too (for example: to fill a suitcase with clothes for my usage in the next 3-4 weeks), and we'll also be visiting with our real estate agent tomorrow to turn over some disclosure forms that I got behind on (but which I drafted one evening while Kimberly was in the hospital and went over with her tonight).
I'm hoping that stress will drop way down after our shippers finish on Monday or Tuesday night.
I'll still have a few things on my schedule (like a driving lesson and one last vet visit and returning our cable card to Comcast and returning our modem to Sonic), and I'll still need to get rid of some stuff, but I'm hoping we'll be 95%+ ready to go by that point.
I just have to survive the shipping, even if I have to follow them room to room all day Monday, saying, "NO! Not that!" (I suspect that's exactly what I'll have to do.)
Whew.
Thank goodness we're to the next stage.
The stay was either longer than I expected or longer than I could keep my schedule open, I'm not sure which at this point, but the last 24 hours of her stay were particularly hectic because I started having other stuff on my schedule.
Tuesday afternoon I had to take the cats out to the vet to get them some drugs, so that we could test them out tomorrow, in advance of the plane trip. But Lucy has continued to regularly lose little bits of weight, about half a pound in the last two years, and that made me uncomfortable, so the vet and I talked for a while about the possibility of colon problems (a recurring issue in life right now, it appears) and we finally got her a Senior Screen, which she hadn't had in a few years. It came back mostly OK, but with one number, her lymphocyte count, I think, a little high. The vet said that could be a sign of inflammation, such as in her colon, but it was a really non-specific value, so at that point the answer was either to do an ultrasound, or just keep an eye on her. So, we're keeping an eye on her, and will need to make sure she gets a vet appointment next year, in Hawaii.
Wednesday morning I had a contractor out to install our new vanity and mirror in our downstairs bathroom. It was a nail biting experience, because our hot and water valves protrude into the interior of the vanity (and were scant millimeters away from blocking the drawers, none of which I realized previously) and the width of the alcove is uneven and just barely enough space (kinda, with some force, which was an issue I'd worried about before). But, it's in. Mind you, it looks ugly right now because they removed the sidesplashes and backsplash and there are gouges and even holes in the wall. Hopefully our contractor is going to get us new splashes and cut them to size, but that's a problem for another day. Worst case, it all just gets painted, but that won't look as good so I'm hoping the splashes materialize.
So after the Tuesday cat appointment I raced out to the hospital to see Kimberly there one last time ...
And then after the Wednesday contractor work I raced out there again to get there be she got picked up!
Chris was kind enough to give us a ride.
Which was good because it was raining yet again and because Kimberly was finding it really trying just getting down to the car and out.
As with our trip in, when Katherine was kind enough to give us a ride, I was really happy we'd asked friends for help rather than taking a Lyft.
So, Kimberly's been home for a few days now.
She's still in a lot of pain and sleeping a lot as she recovers, but does seem on the mend, able to eat more than in the hospital, without as much nausea.
And as I told Kimberly, my helping take care of her didn't seem such a big deal, because I've helped her out a lot in recent years because of her foot problems. And that's largely been the case (though I've been quite worried about her pain a few times, and for example didn't go gaming on Wednesday night because I felt it was too early to really understand how she was doing. I think I'll be OK to go game this coming Wednesday, for my last game at Secret).
Here's the delightful thing: we got Kimberly home and then I immediately needed to start work on final preparations for our shippers ... who are here on Monday.
I mean, they're packing everything that's left, but the trick is distinguishing what should be shipped and what shouldn't (and internally we also have to distinguish between what we're keeping to use for the next 3-4 weeks and will need to take on the airplane and what we're getting rid).
I'm doing my best to red-tag furniture that's not going and to turn my office into a fortress of solitude for cats and items that need to stay here, but oy this is a lot of work that I got behind on while Kimberly was in the hospital.
I spent much of today on it and need to spend much of tomorrow on it too (for example: to fill a suitcase with clothes for my usage in the next 3-4 weeks), and we'll also be visiting with our real estate agent tomorrow to turn over some disclosure forms that I got behind on (but which I drafted one evening while Kimberly was in the hospital and went over with her tonight).
I'm hoping that stress will drop way down after our shippers finish on Monday or Tuesday night.
I'll still have a few things on my schedule (like a driving lesson and one last vet visit and returning our cable card to Comcast and returning our modem to Sonic), and I'll still need to get rid of some stuff, but I'm hoping we'll be 95%+ ready to go by that point.
I just have to survive the shipping, even if I have to follow them room to room all day Monday, saying, "NO! Not that!" (I suspect that's exactly what I'll have to do.)