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Ali: Kidney stone pain is bad for a woman, but horrific for a man. I gave a passing thought about water in the foreign country, but it was probably the med.
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Looking forward to spaceex debris crashing into moon. What can we learn from it.

Lots in the fire area have started to be listed for sale. These are people that have decided they do not want to rebuild there. And are regular size lots, not acres, only square feet. $350,000. How the heck is that going to work?
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Glad,
Probably a developer is thinking of buying up the Colorado fire burnt property and developing it... They have the $$$ and means (contractors, resources, contacts...) since there's a housing shortage. It's interesting for sure.
Hope you and everyone in AC is doing well.
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I wish I was dead.

Second half of last night's round had 3 x calls in one area, then a 35 minute drive to meet my co-worker at a 2:1 call for a bedbound client. I was running late and realised that calls #2 and #3 were the wrong way round. So I pulled over and rang my Shift Leader.

"Hi, I'm in R_____, help help I've only just left X because she wouldn't use her table and then spilled the milk jug over her sheets the moment I turned my back, I'm supposed to go to my second call next but I'm literally passing the third, can I swap them round and go to the second call afterwards please? Can you hear me okay? Sorry I can't remember her name, you know, MS lady who just needs seeing safely up the stairs and her commode done, aaaargggh I've dropped my glasses, can't see a thing. Sorry? - it's really loud here, I'm on the road - I don't know, I haven't been to the other client before and I don't know where her house is or what she'll need and Google Maps doesn't cover the address and it's dark so I'm not optimistic and I can't be late for call #3 [and quite a lot more like this]."

Shift Leader was calm and helpful, instructed me to go to call #3, and offered to call client #2 and give her a revised estimated arrival time. Brilliant! Life saver!!! Thank you so much, byeeee!!!

All was calm when I eventually found Client #2. She was enjoying a game of 9-card brag with her son (and winning, to judge by the pile of pennies). No problem at all, they said when I apologised, a very nice lady called L___ had rung and explained, though they weren't sure there'd been any need because they hadn't known when to expect me anyway...

L? Gulp.

Later on I asked co-worker shyly: "Would you necessarily recognise our service manager's voice if you spoke to her on the phone when you weren't expecting to?" Co-worker said no she wouldn't, and thanks for the heads-up. I felt a bit better. I still wish I was dead.

Moral: Service Managers should not be allowed to masquerade as Shift Leaders taking calls from unsuspecting workers on a Friday night when they should have left the office three hours before.
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cm - It does get exciting, doesn't it? Maybe more than you bargained for. It sounds like you are doing very well!!!
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Golden I just wish I hadn't made quite such a chaotic idiot of myself in front of the boss. And utterly failed to acknowledge her on the phone.

Mind you. This girl - they all look like children to me - is genuinely doing her best to comply with the Care Quality Commission's standards for service leadership. She is working her behind off. To that end, it will have done her no harm:
1. To know what Shift Leaders have to handle.
2. To see what actually happens on the front line.
3. To reflect that the workers don't hear from her enough to recognise her voice out of context - after all, I've been with the service for nearly two and a half years.

If I were she, I think I might make it deliberate policy to take a shift at least once every 3-4 weeks.
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cm - I don't think you did make a "chaotic idiot" of yourself at all! I completely understand your discomfort, but I think you are being too hard on yourself. You were dealing with a difficult situation and you did it well. The clients got what they needed.

It's not on you that you didn't recognize her (Service manager's) voice. As you said, it's on her and a good thing that she now knows a little more of the challenges of your job. I call it a win-win.

As to "they all look like children to me" - oh my, yes. How many times have I looked out my front window and seen a young person pushing a baby carriage and thought, "She's too young to have children!" Then realized "she" was probably at least 27.
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CM: You handled that situation well. Kudos.💛
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I usually root for underdogs when there are teams I don't care about or dislike. I strongly dislike the Kansas City Chiefs. They played Cincinnati Bengals today. Cincinnati won!😃😃😅😅
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DD1 works in the school system. She started not feeling well last Tuesday, did a home test which was negative. After talking to the nurse, she was told to do the PCR test which she did. Test came back positive on Saturday. Friday was the worst day, she said. But, she is still exhibiting symptoms so is home for the week.

She is fully vaxed and boosted and still got quite sick, she is finally feeling better today. I hate to think of how sick she would have become without vaxes. Nurse suspects that she has the Delta, she never had a fever, no stomach upset that often goes with Omicron. Lots of head aches and body aches, general yuckiness.
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dear gladimhere, hugs!! i hope your DD1 feels much better, very soon!!

regarding getting infected and sick, even after vaccination/boost...
i know they say, the person might have gotten even sicker without the vaccine...

at the same time, it could really be, that the vaccine simply doesn't work.

it's a theory.

i'm not saying i belong to any particular camp, in the debate.
there are so many theories about the pandemic.

it's hard to know what to believe (even research can be falsified) (and statistics...we know how easily they can be faked).

i strongly believe that one day we'll know the truth about this whole thing...
the pandemic...
the vaccines...

until then, there are many theories. and we must follow our best instinct, even if we all have different instincts.

hugs!!
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glad - sorry your dd1 has covid but happy she is getting better. Sil had no fever nor gut issues. As far as I know it was muscle aches and pains mainly. I am with you in hating to think how sick she, (or sil) would have been without vaxes. Hope she recovers completely very soon.
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glad: So sorry that your DD1 has Covid. Prayers and love sent.💟
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Golden, BOJ and llama, thank you.

Golden, I have a gripe. Several years ago didn't we agree you would keep those frigid Canada temps up there? You must have forgotten. So I am just reminding you.
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dear everyone :) :),

happy chinese new year today!!! :) :) :)
1 february 2022 :).

year of the tiger.
that means year of strength, bravery and miracles! :) :)

let it be so.

bundle of joy :)
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Becky, how are you today?
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Ugh, another member of our church passed from covid. He has been sick for several weeks, was hospitalized, seemed to be making a recovery and then the news yesterday morning. He was hospitalized for about 3 weeks. Late 50's, unvaccinated and overweight, not sure whether he had other issues as well. I'm pointing out these circumstances because those of you who are choosing against the vaccination AND you have other health risks are playing chicken with covid (because there's nothing to say that the original covid isn't still out there infecting people). He leaves a wife and 2 young adult sons. Breaks our hearts because it didn't need to happen...
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The sad thing is that so many people don't even recognize that they are one of the people at higher risk....
they're just a little overweight,
their high blood pressure is under control,
they've been able to mange their type two diabetes,
they've smoked so long they don't even consider that a health problem,
and a big one most people miss, they are over 60.
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Barb, Still in hospital. I had my second surgery yesterday. It went okay, but I had a few problems with anesthesia yesterday. My surgeon says I'll be in a wheelchair permanently. My son is here with me. He and his wife have found me a NH in Illinois about a mile from their house. I will after rehab there and then be able to move to the AL section in a small apartment. Her mother lives in the same AL so I'll have the advantage of knowing someone there. I hate to move to Illinois but I've always said I'd try not to be uncooperative about things when I got older. They've found me a dialysis tech for the nursing home there. So the big adventure to Illinois will start in about 10 days. My step DIL here in Maine is packing my stuff to move. Arrangements have been made for me a charter flight to Illinois.

My stepsons have bought my property in Maine. They wanted me to stay in Maine but they understand about my son and grandkids wanting me where they live. So a big adventure ahead.
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One of my former assistants passed almost a week ago now. She was only 68. She had underlying conditions a bit overweight, scleroderma (diagnosed 12 years ago). Obit does not state the cause. I bet the scleroderma with covid, there have been covid deaths in the past week. When she was diagnosed with scleroderma at that point she was given five years to live. She lived much longer.

She worked, in theory, until December 2020. She had nearly six months of PTO in her account that she used the last half of 2020. She then retired. She was great, a wonderful assistant and fun. She had been in that department for 15 years or so.
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Scleroderma is one of those diseases that can simmer away for decades or cause dramatic declines depending on what part of the body is affected. On the farm where I grew up there were two neighbours with totally different outcomes, one was a strong young man whose organs were attacked and he looked like a shrunken old man when he died, the other was a woman who mainly had skin and joint damage and she lived into her 80's.
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Glad, sorry to hear about your assistant. It's really a testament to some people that they can live with something like that and just... keep living life day after day, with humor intact. When you said "fun," I thought about another lady I knew in my childhood who had scleroderma, my childhood bf's mom, who babysat for me often and drove me to and from school for awhile. She was disfigured, including her face, but had a great sense of humor about it. E.g., when she coached our elementary cheer squad, she would do the routines with us and joke and say, "You guys clap your hands flat, not like me." Her hands were rounded and stiff from the disease. She lived to about mid 60s, too. As you may know, autoimmune conditions are a leading cause of death for women under 60.

I've read some things about the particularly bad covid illness that happens in people with autoimmune diseases, and also how covid causes autoimmune conditions in people who weren't dx'd autoimmune before covid. Any increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines when there is already a long-term heightened immune response seems really detrimental. Rest easy, fun assistant. Thanks for remembering her here.
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glad: You're very welcome.💟
I am sorry to hear about your assistant.
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Becky: Prayers that all goes well for your upcoming move.💛
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Becky, I'm so glad surgeries are over and done with. Now to prove the surgeon wrong, I think!

I'm glad you're going to be near your son, although I know you'll miss Maine.

You postive attitude is an inspiration to me.
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glad - So sad about your former assistant. She did very well living as long as she did and being fun to be around.

ali -what a great example that gal was.
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Happy Chinese New Year, all, and thanks for mentioning it, Bundle. I like reading about the CNY.

Geaton, it's a shame about the guy from your church.

Just an aside: My friend's mom with scleroderma died when I was 3 years out of high school -- 1996. It was bugging me because I remember her saying that she had already lived past her expectancy, and this was when I was a kid. She was 43 when she passed. She was obviously disfigured when she was 30-35yo, when I was closest with her. She had to drive with gloves on her round hands because they couldn't grab the steering wheel. She was an important person and figure in my young life. Golden, agree she was a good example of not letting disability or life expectancy get you down.

Just procrastinating here with this post and share. AC and memories of my cheer coach are much more fun right now than doing this durn school assignment. x
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hugs, alibobali :).
i like being called "bundle" :).
or "bundle of joy" :).
it makes me smile every time.

i'm getting so used to it (i only use this name, here on the website) --- that now several times, while writing to my family/friends, i almost signed off, bundle of joy :). haha.

wishing us all a great day today!! :)
over here snow everywhere. i'll now roll down the hill into town.
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Barb, I'd love to prove the surgeon wrong. We'll see how it goes. I have a bunch to learn in rehab. how to move from bed to chair, etc. This is the one time being on dialysis is lucky. One rarely has to pee. I talked to NH home I'm going to in Illinois about my dialysis. My tech has to go for some training at the NH even though she will be working for me and one other client.
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i'm thinking about our non-helping siblings...

i wonder...
mayyybe some of them - are - actually waiting for the elderly parents to die.

(i'm talking about elderly parents who're doing ok. i'm not talking about elderly parents who're in pain, towards the end, and for compassionate reasons you might think maybe they prefer to die).

i say this, because it's very weird how some of these bad siblings don't say, "thanks helping-sibling!! thank goodness you saved the situation! another emergency, you saved their life! i'm so relieved they're alive!!"

(please understand, a non-helping sibling might have hundreds of reasons why they don't show appreciation --- or why they don't express enthusiasm when their parents' lives are saved).

i'm saying that - some non-helping siblings - might be waiting for the elderly parents to die. in other words, no wonder they don't show appreciation or enthusiasm.
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