The crazy lady strikes again

In this post, J emmie211 talks about being bored without a job. Sure, she reads a lot and writes just as much, but that is no substitue for activity. I have to agree. Before I went into the hospital, I found myself in the same situation - sure, I wrote here and did email and engaged in other interesting activities, but those were no substitute for something worthwhile to do. The activities I just mentioned also provide no substitute for contact with other people. Now, don't get me wrong - I am... Sign in to see full entry.

In my last entry, I wrote about my own financial stress, and the fact that I don't really like the idea of doctors sending bills out to their patients. I don't resent the cashier at the grocery store for charging me for my groceries, but this really bothers me. Go figure. Well, the stress is finally starting to get to me. In addition, I miss the structure my days had when I was doing rehab in the nursing home. (Funny how I don't feel the same way about the food!) I miss going to occupational and... Sign in to see full entry.

I have a confession to make: I get irritated as all get out at the thought of being billed for all that medical care I get. Oh, I know they have overhead - salaries and malpractice insurance and all that - but I wonder just how selfless they are when they charge the uninsured such high fees. (Insurance carriers are able to negotiate deep discounts for the medical care they pay for, while the uninsured have to pay often-exorbitant rates for the care they receive.) Having said that, I wonder what... Sign in to see full entry.

Today, I felt a bit "wobbly," as if I were going to fall on the floor or something. It turns out that food - in the form of a very high-fat breakfast - solved that problem admirably, and I feel much better right now. Garfield, the feline nurse, has been doing her usual excellent job ot faking care of me. Her behavior is currently different from her behavior when I was confined to a psychiatric ward last August, in the sense that she is not clinging to me, nor is she reluctant to let me out of... Sign in to see full entry.

In her blog, my cat Garfield mentions that I went missing for almost two months. That's because I was first in the hospital, then on the rehab unit of a local nursing home. I had a variety of health problems, most notably muscle weakness in a hip muscle making it impossible for me to get up without extensive physical therapy (and that fabled drug called tincture of Father Time). In addition, I developed pneumonia and a life-threatening pneumothorax (air where it doesn't belong in the chest). I... Sign in to see full entry.

Today, I received an object lesson on the importance of activity when one is depressed. I sat around this afternoon feeling very depressed, until I started working on my Christmas cards. The minimal muscle movement involved in signing the cards and then sealing the envelopes acted as an antidepressant in and of itself. (Of course, I had to remember to take my antidepressant, too.) Don't get me wrong. I'm still pretty weak from my infection, and from not eating much the past few months (first due... Sign in to see full entry.

I looked at myself in the mirror the other day, and was surprised to see how sallow I've become. I like to think that's because I just have felt too "punk" or bad to feel like eating much. Although it's nice to stretch the food budget, I'd rather not do it this way - as you can imagine. Garfield the feline nurse has been taking excellent care of me, which doesn't surprise me in the least. It's wonderful that she is able to take time out from her DFN studies to do so, in fact. I'm sure she will... Sign in to see full entry.

Someone left a comment on one of my earlier posts, asking me just which behavior patterns I was falling into that were unhealthy or maladaptive. Since I was rather vague when I first wrote that post, I'd like to get a bit more specific right now. My major behavior problem has been that I've done entirely too much sitting around the house, doing nothing but watching TV. Some of that is a function of the infection I finally seem to have thrown out of my system. After all, I defy anyone to feel at... Sign in to see full entry.

I haven't written in this blog for a while because I've been handing all my family news over to my feline nurse, Garfield, who has been taking excellent care of me during my illness. It turns out I did have an infection. I'm on antibiotics for it now, and I feel much better. The thing I've been concentrating on is getting my husband's feet feeling better. It seems to me as if a number of things are going on with his feet. At any rate, things don't seem to be getting any better, and I hope they... Sign in to see full entry.

Today, I've been bored out of my skull. I have the house all to myself, because my husband and daughter are out watching some movies at the local googolplex. (After that, they have some chores to do for me.) I've had a couple of doctor appointments this week. One of them involved getting my blood drawn for the transplant team. It turns out that my kidney-related numbers are out of whack, and I may need to be treated for a bladder or kidney infection. In addition, I'm going to have a series of... Sign in to see full entry.