This will be one of my last evenings perched above the freeway. And due to the excess noise beneath me, I am nearly hollering into my phone as a means to get my words across and understood (via voice-to-text). I suppose you don't need to know this, or perhaps, you don't need to know anything at all, but I'm all about sharing. And sometimes I'm all about caring. And then there are times where I am so inwardly focused, uneventful hours pass by while I am daydreaming.
So here we go, let's get down to it, shall we?
Oh wait, I'm going to interrupt myself. I went to the hospital on Monday to get my feeding tube replaced. The pain during the event was excruciating. Yes, I'm admitting as much. It took the doctor nearly five minutes to pull the damn thing all the way out. Usually the most painful part of the procedure takes no more than a few seconds - I feel a tug, an internal pull, then sharp pain radiates outwards. Then the opposite happens a few minutes later when they insert the new feeding tube.
Next time, I'm looking to get some sort of sedation. Although, I really really do not want fentanyl again. The after effects really suck!
As a result of my feeding tube replacement activity, I had 18 consecutive hours without any of the usual pain - no bloating, no nothing. I felt damn good. I actually ingested 1200 calories in that period of time… which is a substantial increase over my recent daily intake.
But then as soon as I woke yesterday morning, as soon as I began chewing a harmless piece of gum I started bloating with my belly a mere 17 chews in. Yes, there was a massive expansion. And since then, I've been contending with heart palpitations. Regularly. Irregularly. You name it. The air / gas is getting blocked at the same place it always gets blocked. Somewhere near the superior mesenteric artery - if I'm measuring correctly.
So yeah, that's where we're at right now. Although the pain is not up to the usual standards, and I haven't needed codeine in the past three days. So hurray for opioids. Or the lack of opioids.
Goals, Objectives and Adjectives
This here is your official irregularly scheduled update. Yes indeed, things are quite irregular at this interval. So let's officially dive into the shallow end of the vagueness.
Relocation Allocation
Here's what it is — The action plan entails my moving out of the nursing home on the weekend of October 28th / 29th. The hope is that by then the temperatures will drop to a level that I can more easily tolerate (while living inside the garage). As an example, Monday's record thrashing temperature was 106°!!! And all those accumulated degrees smashed the previous record by a fair amount. Can you believe it's actually THAT hot in the middle of October anywhere in the northern hemisphere? Heck, anywhere in either hemisphere?
This time of year it's supposed to be no more than 85° during the daytime. Suffice to say, we are no longer in the Global Warming phase, we've now advanced to the Global Melting phase of our demise.
Anyways, if things work out as planned, I will also be acquiring a hospital bed to sleep on. Really, that option seems best, since the hospital bed is free (based upon my insurance provisions). Yep, I will take the free bed, versus the camping bed that costs $150 (out of somebody else's pocket). And nope, I do not have that kind of money.
The only other thing I need is a room divider, a kind of screen, so that when the garage door opens, people can't see my bed and other necessary necessities inside. Due to any number of reasons (mostly, HOA reasons), nobody is supposed to be living in the garage.
Duration
If things go according to plan, I could quietly and stealthily live in the garage through about April 1st. It's only ever been over 100° a few times in March, but once April hits, we begin experiencing 90s every so often. And then of course 100's occasionally. That's way too hot for me in a garage.
Note: someone raised the question in the previous blog entries comment section - but the garage is not worth insulating. Therefore, an air conditioning unit wouldn't do much good. Years ago I lived in a garage for one calendar year, and nothing helped. Nothing at all. Well really, the only thing that "living in a garage experience" helped was my pocketbook. I was able to pay off all of my credit card debt while living cheaply in a friend's garage. Although, the summertime was brutal. Absolutely flipping brutal!
Talk to Me
Another thing I'm trying to determine is if I should maintain communications with staff members, the ones whom I consider to be friends. I'm still working through that - so I guess I'll wait and see, wait to see who it is that asks for my contact information (if anybody). In the past I've been given numbers and emails addresses and from exiting employees, so probably maybe yes, that may happen again.
Beyond all this and all of that, feel free to ask me any questions, or make any sort of recommendations. I think I've got everything covered, but you never know.
In regards to meteorological concerns, no, I cannot control the weather. It's supposed to be in the 100's all week long. We will be breaking more records. This is nuts. It's nearly the end of October! It shouldn't be over 100°!!!
Oh, and I am still waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting to see if I get approval for SSI. The safe assumption at this point is that I will never be approved for anything. According to them. the Social Security people, it appears as though 90% of my whatever has been completed. It's been stuck at 90% progress for two months. Perhaps that's a good sign. It's better than being stuck on 17.3%.
Be good. Take care.
Howard
on my way back across the partially alit overpass (all of the copper wiring / electrical wiring had been yanked out and sold for scrap, in order to purchase drugs and such)
Shouting into the phone from this locale -
So here we go, let's get down to it, shall we?
Oh wait, I'm going to interrupt myself. I went to the hospital on Monday to get my feeding tube replaced. The pain during the event was excruciating. Yes, I'm admitting as much. It took the doctor nearly five minutes to pull the damn thing all the way out. Usually the most painful part of the procedure takes no more than a few seconds - I feel a tug, an internal pull, then sharp pain radiates outwards. Then the opposite happens a few minutes later when they insert the new feeding tube.
Next time, I'm looking to get some sort of sedation. Although, I really really do not want fentanyl again. The after effects really suck!
As a result of my feeding tube replacement activity, I had 18 consecutive hours without any of the usual pain - no bloating, no nothing. I felt damn good. I actually ingested 1200 calories in that period of time… which is a substantial increase over my recent daily intake.
But then as soon as I woke yesterday morning, as soon as I began chewing a harmless piece of gum I started bloating with my belly a mere 17 chews in. Yes, there was a massive expansion. And since then, I've been contending with heart palpitations. Regularly. Irregularly. You name it. The air / gas is getting blocked at the same place it always gets blocked. Somewhere near the superior mesenteric artery - if I'm measuring correctly.
So yeah, that's where we're at right now. Although the pain is not up to the usual standards, and I haven't needed codeine in the past three days. So hurray for opioids. Or the lack of opioids.
Goals, Objectives and Adjectives
This here is your official irregularly scheduled update. Yes indeed, things are quite irregular at this interval. So let's officially dive into the shallow end of the vagueness.
Relocation Allocation
Here's what it is — The action plan entails my moving out of the nursing home on the weekend of October 28th / 29th. The hope is that by then the temperatures will drop to a level that I can more easily tolerate (while living inside the garage). As an example, Monday's record thrashing temperature was 106°!!! And all those accumulated degrees smashed the previous record by a fair amount. Can you believe it's actually THAT hot in the middle of October anywhere in the northern hemisphere? Heck, anywhere in either hemisphere?
This time of year it's supposed to be no more than 85° during the daytime. Suffice to say, we are no longer in the Global Warming phase, we've now advanced to the Global Melting phase of our demise.
Anyways, if things work out as planned, I will also be acquiring a hospital bed to sleep on. Really, that option seems best, since the hospital bed is free (based upon my insurance provisions). Yep, I will take the free bed, versus the camping bed that costs $150 (out of somebody else's pocket). And nope, I do not have that kind of money.
The only other thing I need is a room divider, a kind of screen, so that when the garage door opens, people can't see my bed and other necessary necessities inside. Due to any number of reasons (mostly, HOA reasons), nobody is supposed to be living in the garage.
Duration
If things go according to plan, I could quietly and stealthily live in the garage through about April 1st. It's only ever been over 100° a few times in March, but once April hits, we begin experiencing 90s every so often. And then of course 100's occasionally. That's way too hot for me in a garage.
Note: someone raised the question in the previous blog entries comment section - but the garage is not worth insulating. Therefore, an air conditioning unit wouldn't do much good. Years ago I lived in a garage for one calendar year, and nothing helped. Nothing at all. Well really, the only thing that "living in a garage experience" helped was my pocketbook. I was able to pay off all of my credit card debt while living cheaply in a friend's garage. Although, the summertime was brutal. Absolutely flipping brutal!
Talk to Me
Another thing I'm trying to determine is if I should maintain communications with staff members, the ones whom I consider to be friends. I'm still working through that - so I guess I'll wait and see, wait to see who it is that asks for my contact information (if anybody). In the past I've been given numbers and emails addresses and from exiting employees, so probably maybe yes, that may happen again.
Beyond all this and all of that, feel free to ask me any questions, or make any sort of recommendations. I think I've got everything covered, but you never know.
In regards to meteorological concerns, no, I cannot control the weather. It's supposed to be in the 100's all week long. We will be breaking more records. This is nuts. It's nearly the end of October! It shouldn't be over 100°!!!
Oh, and I am still waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting to see if I get approval for SSI. The safe assumption at this point is that I will never be approved for anything. According to them. the Social Security people, it appears as though 90% of my whatever has been completed. It's been stuck at 90% progress for two months. Perhaps that's a good sign. It's better than being stuck on 17.3%.
Be good. Take care.
Howard
on my way back across the partially alit overpass (all of the copper wiring / electrical wiring had been yanked out and sold for scrap, in order to purchase drugs and such)
Shouting into the phone from this locale -
