Ethan’s Journey

Happy Halloween!!!!!  Ethan hasn’t been feeling so hot. He has been trying to decide if it was allergies or a cold. He took allergy medication last night and woke up with no progress. His voice has started the conversion to more of a phone sex operator sound. I reached out to his transplant team. I wanted to get a plan in place for if he came down with a fever (which can be dangerous for transplant patients). Ethan was already scheduled to go in for blood work tomorrow morning. So I convinced Ethan that while we are out, we should go to urgent care as his history of multiple pneumonia’s have laid the foundation to make me think this could turn into pneumonia fairly quickly. So after bloodwork in the morning, we will be heading to urgent care. This give ME anxiety. We have to give a detailed history of his medical past but the cliff’s notes version. THEN if they take things seriously, and decide to prescribe medications, I will need to triple check that it plays nice with his other ...

 Wedded bliss at its finest. Paul has a basket of clean clothes in our bedroom. They are clean and unfolded. They have been in the basket for about a week or so. Everyday he moves the basket to the bed, digs through the clothes to get what he wants. Then at night he moves the basket to the floor. “You know, studies have shown that if you put the clothes away, you don’t have to keep moving the basket.” I said-very dead pan and not to be helpful. His response…..he laughed. “I know.” I am glad he doesn’t always think I am an asshole. He has accused me of snoring the past few nights. Apparently he doesn’t remember that I am a lady. Lady’s don’t snore. I might make “sleeping noises” but I would imagine they are lady like. I don’t care for his accusations. Paul also complained that I chew too slowly and my chewing noises drive him a little crazy. Poor Paul. Sharing things like that only stocks my ammunition box. I will save that piece of information for when I need to bust it out. Our do...

 One day closer to the weekend. I have some fun plans scheduled. Wine tour with some sorority sisters. There will be silliness and shenanigans. Paul and I have a date Friday night to go get burgers, then hanging out with some friends afterward. It should be fun! Plans on Sunday as well.  Paul and I are blowing off our adult chores this weekend. Paul is in the planning process for the barndominium. He has inexpensively figured out how to incorporate a heated floor in the design. He is pumped about it.  I worked at the vet office this evening. One of the cats I was working with was so cute! He was a hairless sphynx cat. They have no fur, they are wrinkly and have larger ears. When they are adults, some of them get a little pudgy. We all do.  But their bodies get bigger, it makes their head look smaller. Before you know it, the cat resembles Bob from Beetlejuice.  

 Phew! I made it through today. 7am -6 pm. Yes, I make my own schedule, but I am trying to cram in as many interviews as possible before our 4 day lock out. I will get the time back somewhere else in the week. I did feel like I got a lot of good work accomplished today. I got a call from Ethan’s doctor’s office. He needed an appointment for his mental health check up. It is important to check in with the doctor and make sure the dose is appropriate. They wanted to see him in person. Ugh! We did a video visit last time so we have to do the in-person visit this time around. A lot of people think this is a “money grab” but it is actually to maintain a current doctor/patient relationship. This is legally needed for the doctor to continue prescribing medication. While talking to the doctor, it was shared that he needed his annual exam. I wanted to be respectful as I understand they are just doing their job. Ethan has so many specialists. He has routine bloodwork. He is constantly being ...

 I made it through today. Yay! It wasn’t as bad as I was anticipating. Tomorrow is jam packed full.  I made some veggie and protein soup for lunch with protein pasta and beans. Yum.  I got a call from neurology. They had us set up Ethan’s next visit for April. It should be fairly easy. I scheduled it for the end of the day so that Ethan won’t miss too much work. After work I took the dogs out to burn off their energy. We went two times around the field. All the equipment for the barndominium is gone. We are now waiting on doors, floors and insulation. We had to plan some things out before we could move forward. The dogs had a blast. Ferguson decided once around was enough for him. I found him waiting in the yard when we finished lap two. He is 14. He can basically do what he wants. He know how to be a dog. He didn’t want to walk that far. I don’t blame him. Moe was so happy to run. Paul brought home the electric Dodge Charger. It is a nice looking car. He wanted to take E...

 Plane tickets to Grand Bahama are purchased. Yay! I crossed a lot of things off my “to do” list this weekend. Swimming with the pigs is the goal of this trip. I have thought about maybe going to do it two times. Ha! Today I changed how much is being diverted into my travel fund. I am heading into this week knowing it is going to be incredibly demanding. On Friday, our software is going into a dark period. We won’t be able to access anything. For 4 days. Then we will have our new software we will be setting up. I threw up in my mouth when I saw I had 85 applicants and a jam packed schedule for tomorrow. There just isn’t enough hours in the day.  I worked on it a little this evening while Ethan and I watched TV. Jiminy was helping by snoring a little. He is like an old lady. He eats and then wants to go to bed. He naps before he goes to bed. Purely blissful life for that little guy. Ethan and I watched the show we like. Paul was working on a side job so he ate dinner and went i...

 I spent some time with my Mom and Gene this morning. We had some good chats. We had some delicious pumpkin bread (with chocolate chips) and coffee. Yum! Ethan went to Cars and Coffee. Paul was doing adult man things like waxing the camper.  I powered through the afternoon tackling window washing inside and out. Preparing for winter, vacuuming spider webs out of the sills and even cleaning the sky lights. I also washed all the curtains. Fall cleaning. I think I missed it this spring so it was long overdue. Ethan went to hang out with a friend in Buffalo at a concert while Paul and I went to play cards. Jiminy is typically NEVER home alone. We ended up bringing him with us to play cards because he sometimes gets a stress tummy when his friends are crated and he is out with no one home. We crate the dogs to keep Jiminy safe. But he seems lost without them.  He is easy and just slept the whole night. His schedule is similar to an elderly woman. He eats dinner and is ready fo...

 So glad it is Friday. Yay! I scooted off to get groceries and picked up Paul’s wine (because I am a good wife). Zach got his new heart. His new heart is struggling a bit, but the doctors are doing all the things to get him the medical support he needs. It has got to be so scary for his family.  I can’t imagine having to go through this a second time. I am pretty sure Ethan would decline it. You never really know unless the situation presents itself. Ugh! I hope we never have to go through it again. I did get a surprise text from one of Ethan’s favorite nurses. Her daughter is thinking about attending Brockport. So of course I insisted on her staying with us. Ethan is excited. He also wants to take her for a ride in this go-cart thing he has created. I am very excited about the visit. She was so kind to us. She was a huge support for us. She worked extra days a week just to help Ethan. It meant more to us than words can describe. We had many kind nurses that have earned a plac...

 I woke up early because I had an allergy headache ache. I scrolled on my phone for a bit. I read a distasteful “joke” and cracked up. I was quietly laughing in bed and Paul was still sleeping. A while later his alarm went off.  Paul is the guy that lets his alarm go off 6 times and keeps hitting the snooze button. When the alarm went off, I poked him on the shoulder and repeated the joke to him. I waited for the joke to land. Paul is not a morning person and has to give it a while before his brain starts working.  He eventually let out a laugh that was hysterical. Then the two of us are giggling at 5:45 am. Avery got a new chair in her apartment. She shared how Pluto felt it was specifically for him. He not only has claimed the chair and is judging Kendall and Avery for their doubt. Cats have staff. To be fair, Pluto is right. It is his chair now. He will allow them to use it at his discretion. It’s the simple laws of cat-titude. I did not venture out to peek at barn pro...

 I went for a mammogram this morning. It’s so fun having to have your boobs squished *sarcasm*.  I put the robe on and waited my turn. They are efficient and as they parked me back in the waiting room, I wondered if I would see my high school friend again this year. About a minute later, she walked in. No joke! The two of us sat braless (of course with our robes on) chatting away about her upcoming trip. We chatted until I was called for the ultrasound portion.  Such a funny place to run into someone from high school. I would much rather it be there. Paul ran into someone from high school waiting for his colonoscopy…sooooo…that was awkward. The Barndominium is coming along nicely. The construction is going fast. As I was working today, silly Moe decided he needed attention. He walked over to me and starred at me. He then did a jack in the box and popped up onto my lap.  He then proceeded to yawn in my face, proving his disregard for special awareness and manners. It ...

 At one point today I looked outside and saw the sun shining. It made the vibrant fall colors almost glow. I stared for a few moments in awe. Wow! I started watching the John Wayne Gacy documentary. All I really knew about him is that he was a serial killer that dressed like a clown. He didn’t actually dress as a clown to commit the murders…I mean he could have but they have not disclosed that. He dressed like a clown to bring joy to children. What a messed up dude. He was married twice.  Yuck! He got himself caught when his heat kicked on and the rotting flesh smell was circulating his house….and he just so happened to be a little too cocky and invited the cops in for dinner. Dumbass! I would like to think I would be smarter than some of these criminals….well I guess I wouldn’t actually commit the crime…so I guess that is winning. I had to play catch up from the downed software yesterday.  I have an early appointment in the morning so I need to leave the house by 6:45….t...

 My day started off impacted by the Amazon outage, but I didn’t even know it. My work software called in sick today. I scrambled to get ready for my 7:30 am call and had ZERO information that I needed. I embraced the disaster fairly gracefully….I think. I had no resumes to review, no clinic information, I couldn’t email, forward documents or do most of my work. It was quite stressful. I was several hours in before my team mates also started having issues. Frustration led me to stop working and making a batch of rice crispy treats. I legitimately COULDN’T work. I did my calls and then spent the evening playing catch up once things were resolved. Basically this is how I think it happened….Amazon Web Services crapped the bed. It has it hooks embedded in several other online platforms and shut those down too. It was a domino effect that was felt across an elaborate. Audience. Tomorrow will be better.  Progress was made on the barn. The contract company left muddy footprints on the...

 I met a friend for breakfast this morning. This was set up like 2 weeks ago as the soonest we both had time. We laughed at how when you are middle aged, people ask “what’s new?” And really you get up, go to work, come home, do chores…and life isn’t overly exciting…so we say “nothing much”. We both decided that was how we both should answer that question.  The day was so nice. The windows were open, the breeze was filtering in. The dogs went on a walk and they loved it. I gathered sticks for kindling for the wood burning stove. I put them in my paper Aldi bags. While I did that, the dogs were following me around happily. They were glad to be out and exploring.  Ethan was in and out of the garage. Paul waxed the camper one final time for the season. He is getting her ready for her winter slumber. Boo! I finally brought up a few Halloween decorations. I went through some bins in the basement trying to consolidate things and setting aside stuff for donation. I have a bag of ...

 I did meal prep today. 37 meals in the freezer. It took half a day but it means I don’t have to cook during the week. We had a Halloween party to go to this evening. I shopped at Goodwill and Paul was Duff man from the simpson’s. I was a whoopie cushion. Avery decided to stop home a few hours beforehand for a visit. Since I bought these costumes unsure if they would fit, my back up plan was that we would switch costumes. I made Paul try on the Duff Man costume to make sure there was no “moose knuckle” inappropriate fitting areas on the costume. Avery and Ethan were witness to this and many jokes were made. Avery came dressed as an axolotl. Kendall was working and couldn’t make it. There were a lot of great costumes. Ethan decided not to go. His reasoning “there will be people there.” Who does this sound like?  We had great food, great music, did some dancing and made a donation to help fund breast cancer research. There were a lot of good costumes this year. Maybe aunt and un...

 I started my day off at physical therapy. It is the longest hour of my life.  This week I was a little sore from all the sitting I did.  I spent the majority of the day trying to dig myself out of the work hole. I was able to get some chores done. I think my head had enough. It was pounding throughout the evening. My body just wants to retreat. Maybe I can sleep in tomorrow and get some rest in the bank. Jiminy was cuddling with me. He was trying to help by sleeping next to me. It was a valiant effort! Tomorrow is the annual Halloween Party. I am excited about our silly costumes. We may have an Avery siting there. As I was going to pick up my groceries, I drove by Avery. I called her and she was on her way to pick up a friend to spend the night at Avery’s apartment. Avery said they had plans to make food and a dessert. Avery shared all about her cats and how silly they are, and how naughty Pluto is. Apparently he accidentally ended up in the fish tank again. There is a c...

 The dread of looking at the mountain of work you have waiting for you, when you have been away from work. I was experiencing that dread this morning. Ugh! So much to do. Since last Friday I have had ~160 people that have applied. Their résumé’s were waiting to greet me….or taunt me? The worst part…of those 160, I have been picking away at them throughout the week on breaks, during speeches etc.  Not to mention the house stuff that needs attention. I needed the quiet today.  I did my many calls but in between it was quiet. No music. No talking. I worked a a few hours longer that usual. Finally, I slammed my computer shut and declared “I’m done!”  We do have exciting things happening on our land next door. A structure is underway. Our future tenant is our first born and is thrilled to have his own space coming. There is a spark of excitement in his eyes again. He is excited to start living like others his own age. He sees his friends, sister, cousin all doing age appr...

  We did more learning today and only scratched the surface on the software we are using. I think it will be more efficient. My energy was draining and I looked forward to flying home so I wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. My social battery needed a recharge. A coworker and I had lunch together and discussed things happening in our lives. We have worked together for 2 years and have been to events with one another. We sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine and the warm weather. Our corporation is a merge of two companies. One of the companies only allowed veterinarians to take any sort of paid maternity leave. All the other women within the organization didn’t qualify. Grrrrr! Luckily, moving forward, this will change    starting the first of the year. I consider it a huge win for all the women that want to utilize that benefit! The flight to Chicago was only half full, so I got a row to myself! It was wonderful! The flight to Rochester was full to the brim! I sat in a middl...

 What a whirlwind today was. We had breakfast, which went right into software training. There is about 60 people in attendance. Adults learning software is hard. Some adults talk while our peers are speaking/teaching and I don’t do well with information retention in that distracting environment. We also went over our enneagram results. I am a 7 as well as a 1 with the coping skills of a 5. It is interesting to pick apart the way you operate. Picking out who on your team is your compliment personality and how they can support you.   I do like talking to my coworkers in person and pick their brain or “interview” them to see how they do things. That way I can see if there is anything I can do to streamline my work process. For dinner we had team dinners. The meal is covered and the company really went above and beyond to make us feel valued. We had several appetizers, a main course and then desserts…as well as several alcoholic beverages. A group of us walked to a bar that was cl...

 I got to the airport pretty early due to the government shut down, I wasn’t sure what to expect trying to get through security. The line was a little bit longer than usual but still went through pretty quickly. I saw a cute little German shorthair dog walking through with a security guard. I immediately evaluated her body condition and how she walked on a leash. She was cute, well mannered and definitely working. What would it look like if cats were trained to work like a dog in the airport? Maybe they don’t use cats due to their cattitudes? If cats would suspect drugs, they would pow, pow and smack the perpetrator with their cute little cat paws. 🐾  Maybe they should use lions. Can you imagine as a drug trafficker having a LION come up and point out your bag? However, I may just    find drugs to take with me so I could see the lion….dogs are probably the best to use. I made it to my meeting. We spent the afternoon in class, which sounds boring, but I thought it wa...

 Happy 14 th birthday to Ferguson. Turd Ferguson! We got him and he weighed 2.4 pounds. He was jet black. He is the little dog that made me fall in love with ( and gain and understanding of) chihuahua’s. 14 years young, a cataract, and only a handful of teeth left. He was the messiest puppy. He was difficult to potty train, but always first at this stage to go out and get his business done. He sits under the chair and will pop out, to “bite” the other dogs when they walk by, earning him the title of “chair troll.” He is the sweetest rotten dog. He bites Moe all the time (but lack of teeth makes these bites ridiculous attempts). He is our introverted dog. He likes (even though he bites) his dog siblings. He just prefers to be in his crate and minding his own business until he decides to mind someone else’s business.  He enjoys his  walks and he still runs around like a dingbat. He quietly likes a neck massage. My little bat dog. A little grey around the muzzle now. Experie...

The day started out with me not even getting out of bed u til I saw a break on the radar. With 16 paws to wipe, I don’t need body’s to wipe off too. When I saw the break, I hustled the crew out for morning potty. It rained off and on for a bit. My brother arrived. There was a break in the weather so we had a “dog parade” of the 8 dogs in our group.  Side note, Moe has done great. He has been friendly with the other 4 dogs. He has met a few unknown males with no growling. Huge steps for Moe and I am proud of him. We walked the dogs all throughout the campground. We walked in the woods and down to a creek. Jiminy was chilly so I brought his satchel to snuggle up and “Uber” in. He snuggled right in and even fell asleep. Then a more steady rain came and we spent time under the awning. We had snacks, beverages and warm clothes. We talked about how even though it was raining, we had such a wonderful summer weather wise, we can’t be too upset. My brother left and the rain stayed. FINALLY,...

  We are winding down our camping season. We had a campfire this evening with friends. There were many conversations that went sideways in a hilarious way. Jiminy and Moe joined the fire. Penny had tucked herself into bed and Ferguson was contently resting. Jiminy was nestled in his blanket. He was lap surfing eventually making it almost to every person without a dog on their lap. He is good therapy. We had snacks. Tried to remember which year the ice storm of 1991 was in….giggles and sarcasm.  I was impressed that Moe didn’t growl at anyone. He had a couple men he didn’t know approach him. He even made a dog friend. He also peed on someone’s leg. 😬 awkward! Damn it Moe!!!!! We can’t take you anywhere! At work, I got the results of our Enneagram Personality test. We had to take them by Wednesday and the results came out today. It is part of an activity we are doing next week when I am in Alabama for training. An Enneagram test is based on 9 personality types. Each type of per...

 Somehow I found myself enthralled in an article about anti-nausea medications at 6:00 am this morning. What triggered it was an article about “Twilight Sleep” which was an option used for women in the early 1900’s for “painless childbirth”. They would give the women a cocktail of morphine and scopalamine, then give them ear plugs and a cloth for their eyes. The medication causing an amnesia mixed with the stimuli blockers would prevent memories of childbirth from being formed. Women would get the cocktail and then perceive that they wake up to the baby. No memories of pain, or anything else. Scopalamine and morphine were two drugs that pulsed through Ethan’s veins. Scopalamine was an anti-nausea patch Ethan had behind his ear. Hmmm…scopalamine causes an amnesia effect. Interesting. It was used with two other anti-nausea medications for Ethan. Ethan remembers some things but not others. It was an interesting rabbit hole first thing in the morning. It was chilly this morning. It is ...

 I had a call from someone I have not spoken with in quite some time. We chatted for about an hour. It was a pleasant conversation and I laughed out loud multiple times. This person is worthy of their own reality show, which I would watch.  I went on about my day and went to work at the vet hospital this evening. I left my house 2 minutes later than I had wanted (still putting me to arrive with plenty of time). I sat at the stop sign and thinking “Do I want to arrive late or dead?” As I decided to wait for the safest time to pull out into traffic. Who wants to arrive dead? While we worked, episodes of the old school Scooby Doo cartoons were playing. I don’t recall watching them all the way through as an adult. I asked most of my coworkers this evening if they had watched an episode all the way through. No one really had.  I loved this show when I was a kid. I wondered if  I be able to solve the mystery as an adult? I will likely have to devote some time to watch an e...

 I received a letter in the mail from the IRS saying we owed money and needed to get it paid. The letter looked legit but I am quite suspicious. We have our taxes professionally done and it seems a little fishy that we thought everything was paid for and settled and now we owe all these hundreds of dollars. I reached out to our tax guy and asked if it was a scam or legit. If it was legit if he had an idea why we still owed? Turns out it was legit. Phew, we aren’t being scammed. The tax guy explained the reason behind the big bill. We filed an extension under joint married but then filed separately and the IRS doesn’t recognize that t as a legitimate extension. Seems complicated and I am glad people have this as their passion. It certainly is not mine. He will write a letter on our behalf explaining we did everything correctly and that sum of money will disappear. Cool! It is always good to verify scam vs. non-scam. Today was a little rainy. I remember I used to tell the kids that “...

 I love that I am still getting comments about what part of the body is washed first in the shower. Everyone’s answers are so different.  Today’s weather was a gift. The breeze, the smell, the temperature. I sat in my front yard outside today for about an hour. The traffic can get loud when I am on the phone, so I moved to my back porch.  After work I tried to exercise. I guess I did exercise but it was “lazy” (just the way I like it). I put ankle weights on and took the dogs for a walk in the field. I did some of my PT exercises and then kept the ankle weights on for about two hours. That counts right? I was just doing normal Monday night things. Switching laundry, I made a few trips out to the camper. Moe did a little sunbathing this morning. The dogs got plenty of outside time. They spent it by sniffing things, peeing on stuff and enjoying the sunshine. Almost the same way I enjoyed it minus the peeing on stuff part. My allergies seem to be in overdrive. I have been ta...

Paul brought the camper home today. He spent the last weekend with our camp family. It is a bittersweet end to the season. He said it was weird because all the other campers were gone, the boy lifts were in the yard and it was awfully quiet. The heat got to Ethan today. As soon as it got a little bit warm, he became exhausted. He is dreading tomorrow at work. His work doesn’t have air conditioning. The heat from all the machines really elevates the temperature. He has his neck fan ready and will tie his hair back tomorrow. I was able to do more meal prep. I premade sandwiches to freeze. Ethan snacks on them when he gets home from work. I call it “pre-gaming for dinner”. I left to go pick up my groceries and noticed that one store had not even started shopping for them. The scheduled pick up time was 3:00-4:00 and it was 10 minutes to 3. I was dressed sort of poverishly. That is a real word. I had my hair slicked back, and wearing a very “I am working outside” type outfit. I threw on my...

 Ahhhhhhh the beauty of a Saturday! My headache was gone when I woke up thankfully!  Ethan and I had a visit with our neighbors who are moving. Our kids and their kids shared a bus and grew up together. We chatted for about a half hour in their driveway. We will miss them. They have been great neighbors. Ethan worked in the garage for the morning. He became very tired and had to take a break. He had to nap, which is becoming more of a thing for him. Heart and kidneys check out as stable, so this may be something he will need to get used to at 22.  I got up on the ladder and cleaned the outside windows in our kitchen. They needed it. I probably haven’t done them in well over a year. This evening I went to a surprise 50 th birthday party. The birthday girl was one of my first made friends ever, a childhood neighborhood friend. It was nice to see her. She looks amazing for 50.  While I was there, Ethan texted me and asked if I was wearing his glasses (I was not). He had...

 Yay! It’s Friday!  I have been putting off a call to the county department of Social Services to inquire about Medicaid and what the nexts steps will be since Ethan lost his SSI. I have been putting it off for the very reason of the hassle of it all. I called, went through a few prompt menu’s and sat on hold for quite some time. I actually startled because I had forgotten I was on hold and what I was calling about for a split second. The final consensus is that I need to wait for paperwork with next steps. I did some meal prep this evening. These men eat! I then developed a nasty head ache and am going to bed early. Yuck!

 My little grand kitty had his neuter today. Avery dropped him off and our vet friends took great care of him. Avery had to answer the questions and make the decisions. I had her stop by for a visit afterward. She stayed for a bit. The dogs miss her and were stuck to her like glue. Kendall picked Pluto up from the vet and got all the instructions. They are both very caring and loving people and wanted to make sure they did everything correctly for this little guy. Well Pluto discovered that he really enjoys opioids.  Right from the start he gave them a hard time. He was licking his incision right away. Avery drove home and grabbed Jiminy’s lamp shade. By the time she got home, Pluto had stopped licking. Pluto was very vocal and following them around. His pupils were huge.  One of the medications he was given causes that. He was feeling no pain. In fact, he was feeling invincible. A while later, he had jumped on the fish tank and made the cover fall in along with him. Aver...

I love everyone’s comments on what is the first thing you wash in the shower. I did a short shift this evening at the vet hospital and took a poll there. It is quite the conversation starter. I asked one of my vet office friends and her answer was “arms”. She then asked one of the guys “hey, what do you wash first in the shower…..and don’t make it weird.” That made me laugh. I may have to add that in when I ask other people. Luckily….mostly everyone has not made it “weird”….mostly….but not all. Ha! Paul made it home from Michigan. He had to travel there for work. He almost got into a nasty accident right near our house. Someone blew a stop sign and almost T-boned him. He swerved and his car and was just missed. The caveat….this all happened in front of a cop. Paul rolled the window down inches from the cop car to make sure the cop was ok. There was no collision thankfully, but the cop went after the person that blew the stop sign. When I got home from the vet office job, I was a hot co...