8/17/07 FridayRough morning. Didn’t sleep well. Back pain is high so took a pain pill. The right leg is still not operating well and the brain is running at a four or five on the bob scale. You’ll find my sentences short and simple during these periods. Stuttering a little and have to work to find words and put together sentences. It’s raining now, remnants of the tropical storm that hit the coast yesterday. Supposed to rain for a couple of days. Got a headache. The weather change probably contributes to the pain.
I took the laptops from Steve and Janie to Chuck and Lillian along with a load of melons and squash. They appreciated it. Lillian was cooking for a client so Chuck and I talked for a while. He hasn’t talked to the guy who has the windmill yet. And he hasn’t gotten one of the tillers running either. It would be nice to have one. They are getting lots of work lately so that’s good. Miracle, their little girl, has allergies and was in the hospital because of that.
I scooped the cat litter. Do that for Cherie now because of her back. Plan on scrubbing the puppy room with bleach. Put some of the hot pepper oil on the mattress they’ve been tearing up. Worked real well. If the rain holds off I would like to cut some firewood. Need to start stocking for winter. Wood is our source of heat except electric space heaters.
I called Wayne and Allen yesterday. They are my friends in Toledo. Allen is pretty much the same, depressed, chronic pain, and still slightly suicidal. Not too bad though, not like before. I’m glad I was able to help that. He let the food stamps I got him on lapse. Encouraged him to renew that. He was glad for the call. Helps lift his spirits.
The effects of M.S. on Wayne’s mind were evident when I talked to him. He is confused, or at least not thinking clear, regarding the state’s welfare department telling him they will confiscate funds equal to six months of foodstamps if he doesn’t get his bank account below $5,000. What a crock of shit that is. He finally gets his social security after three years, so it came as a lump sum, the state held, or “lost” it for nearly a year till I had Wayne start writing letters, and now they want to take it. So Wayne was just going to let them have it and at the same time was going to pay a lawyer about it. All he has to do is get the account below five grand, a simple solution that seemed to escape him. He’s been buying furniture and all kinds of stuff but there is several thousand dollars he needs to make disappear. I reminded him again how I told him to take care of this. Will probably have to keep on him about it as the steady mental degradation from the Multiple Sclerosis is having a telling effect.
I also called Sonny yesterday. He’s one of my old friends who responded to the news story about my memory loss and the one who let me stay with him, thus getting me off the streets. Yesterday just happened to be his one year anniversary of his kidney transplant.
By the way, I’ve been mentally clearing up as I write though the leg is still not cooperative. That’s the way it goes, the pendulum of mental acuity swings back and forth as it wills, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. I’m up to my average of a seven on the bob scale. Who knows, I might even get up to genius level today. (where I was before the accident)
So Sunny is doing great. Life with a new kidney is remarkable after seven years of clinging on to life. He told me how he finally was able to get the transplant. He got tired of living and gave up. Sonny’s brother, Gary, had volunteered to donate one of his kidneys way back when Sonny’s failed. The state of Michigan just dicked around. Sonny was on dialysis, going three times a week, and was living on his social security. It was years before they even started tests to see if Gary was a compatible donor. When you are on dialysis there is a steady downhill slide of your health. Sonny ended up having a pace maker implanted in his heart, was unable to eat much of anything because of the medicines, and was incredibly weak. Fed up he went to the doctor and told him he quit. “I’m just going to stop taking dialysis and die” he announced. The doctor said he couldn’t and made the statement “But your living”. “You call this living?” Sonny replied and listed off this quality of life. A few weeks later they got off their ass and performed the transplant. Sonny sounded so much better, he sounded alive again. He’s been able to spend time on his Harley and just get out, to enjoy being alive. It was good to talk and hear all this. When I stayed with him Sonny’s bed was set up in the living room where I slept on the couch. That way he didn’t have to walk as far and could watch the large screen tv. I got to see how hard it was for him close up. It feels good to see an old friend who lent a helping hand be so blessed. Life is a gift.
So that’s the morning start. I’ve cleared up and the rain seems to have also but the clouds are rolling by in waves so there will be some short showers coming through. I don’t care about getting wet. Lived outdoors with only a blanket both when I hitchhiked around the country in the 70’s and when I was homeless so a little rain is insignificant. Hard life toughens one up. I actually enjoy a little weather beating on my face. Wind in the face brings back the years on motorcycles. That I miss. Would love to have another Harley one of these days. Cherie isn’t too keen on it but I’m a lot more careful these days than I was in the rebellious past.
I think I’ll check E mail and some of my favorite blogs, then get to work and take advantage of this time of lucidity. Never know how long they last though I’ve had a few days now without any bad slowdowns.
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Well I got the puppy room sanitized. Put the blankets that had been on the floor out in the rain for a little nature washing. They are in bad shape as it is so might end up in the rag bin. It’s raining out pretty good now. I buried some of our food scraps in one of the compost piles. There were lots of pumpkin hulls and some watermelon as well. I started to turn the row of shredded weed and dirt I had scraped up with the front end loader after we brush hogged, into a composting pile by working in some of the goat crap we got from Kevin. The rain came at just the right moment for that as it was dry as a bone and moisture is integral for composting to start. Sprinkled on some of the compost starter I had purchased at Aldredge.
Pulled weeds as well. It was raining most of the time and Trixie stayed with me. She likes the rain. Took a chew toy and laid out in it to chew. Rascal isn’t as keen on getting wet. When it’s hot Trixie will dive into the pool but Rascal just walks around in it. I put my T shirt up where it can dry out a little. At the rate of one or more T shirts a day getting trashed cause I sweat so much this is the last one cause Cherie hasn’t done the laundry yet. I think we will go out to eat tonight. It will be someplace cheap but it is so nice to be able to do that nowadays. Cherie got her check today. We will do some grocery shopping while in town.
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