Paying the price?

Everything comes with a price, good things included. The better we understand that the wiser we will be with the decisions we make.

8/2/06 Wednesday
I think I am paying a price for working in the heat for six or so hours yesterday. Or maybe not. I woke up with a headache, which happens allot anyway. Hope it doesn’t progress to a migraine. Took my medicine and some aspirin. Will save the Tramadol till it gets bad. Don’t like taking pills in general. The docs had wanted me to take two Tramadols a day which I never did. Still have some left though the prescription was canceled eight months ago. They were originally for the back pain that I live with daily. That was aggravated yesterday and is letting me know it’s there this morning. Unless it gets intensely bad I won’t ask for the pain meds the docs had offered before.

I am running at a 6 on the Bob scale this morning. Not fast and not too slow. Just get a little confused sometimes. I showered and fixed breakfast so am ready to go. Cherie let me know that we are just about broke so there is to be no unnecessary spending. I am glad she keeps an eye on that stuff. Hope the check from the estate checking account gets released soon. We sent $100 to hold the trailer and I told them that we hoped to get the remainder by the end of the week.

I will get the towels in the washer before I get distracted and forget like I have for two or three days now. I will have to set the timer to remind me to move them to the dryer. Otherwise they could sit in the washer forgotten all day long. Wish this headache would go away. I need to return both of the trailer hitches I got because neither one is correct. Sent an E mail to Laura, the lady selling us the trailer, to ask what electrical hook up is required. Also need to know how to work getting plates or something to legally transport the trailer across the state line cause they are in Indiana.
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3:19 – Don’t know where the day went. I remember returning the two trailer hitches. Had to fight this laptop again. It freezes up but I can’t figure out why. There is no virus. The computer place said that a bunch of programs were running in the background and slowing it down.

I called Wayne and talked with him. He was just going to bed when I called. After letting him go back to bed I called Sharon and got her machine. I finished the calling with one to Allen. It was 2:00 so I said “Good, your up”. “It’s not good” he replied “I’ve been up for three days”. So much for being cheerful. He is out of the pain meds that he depends on so that means he is hurting on top of going through withdrawals. I told him that the National Pain Foundation or whatever they go by, sent out an E mail asking for us to write the papers that had carried a related story from the AP. They want personal stories of chronic pain problems and I told Allen I would like to write his story. Of course I won’t use his name but it is a compelling story.
This picture is of the wounds incurred in an accident at the Pyrotechnics Guild,which he was a member of, when a ten inch fireworks shell he was showing others how to make detonated. The blast threw him over a pickup truck which was in turn was moved four feet. This is only a small factor in his pain issues.
Allen was a union sheet metal worker and now, because of injuries and the arthritis from a lifetime of hard work starting in early childhood, he is forced to self medicate and is consequently addicted. The crux of the problem is the unavailability of medical help due to a lack of insurance and money. I am still working on getting him approved for public help but that is a fight. He went to a drug rehab place for his addiction but they turned him down because he is a chronic pain sufferer. If he had been a straight street junkie he would have gotten help. NOOO, he has a medical need so there is no help available.

I went through the same crap when I was homeless. If I was an alcoholic, a drug addict, or a schizophrenic there was help available, but I wasn’t and refused to lie to get help. One counselor told me that I was the kind of guy that fell through the cracks. It can be frustrating.

I am trying to stay awake as I write this. The back pain is back with a vengeance. That is because I washed the dishes. I put the ribs Cherie had bought in the crock pot. They are supposed to be done on the grill according to the instructions but the crock pot works fine for me. Was going to make tapioca but will wait and see. It is the time of day I usually must take an hour nap so I’ll look at the directions to see what is involved with making the tapioca.

Made the tapioca, some perogi’s, and corn to go with the ribs. Turned out to be a pretty good meal. Never did take a nap. Watched the news on Fox and got up to finish the meal when Cherie came home. We at watching the news as usual. Now Cherie is looking for the phone number of the USDA guy so I can call him tomorrow. I want to make sure that they only pull five acres out of the CRP program.

I think this will be the last post of the day. Want to say hi to the person from the Big Spring area who is a daily veiwer of the blog. Leave a comment or send an E mail to bobcarver2@yahoo.com Just curious who you are. Cherie and I have been guessing about it but really don't know. Night all.