Im trying to figure out how to pay for dental stuff right now, since between the local hospital and the champva admins in the va, they seem to want me to be broke, otherwise they would get the billing straight and i wouldnt have bills that ended up in collections. I got the root canal figured out just nothing else. I have had horrible ear pain off an on for years and the ent keeps asking about my teeth instead. It keeps being not taken seriously to the point i have considered having all my teeth pulled and then when it starts they cant just ask about the dentist. Ent also is pushing for me to fix the blockage in my nostril thinking it is why im constantly sick.

And i just experienced 90 with way high humidity in highlands ranch yesterday and today. And im really not sure what is wrong with all the lockheed martin people that pay monthly at the hotel  to the hospital today.at 8am It was 71 and really humid and they are all "can you believe how nice the weather is this morning" and i responded that no its already hot and the air highlands ranch smells funny and there is too much oxygen in the air.  People always find it odd that you can get altitude sickness from living at 8500 ft and going to 5200 ft.  

Yeah they say the water here is high in minerals and will rot your teeth also.

Seems like the monsoon is back and we are an inch over our normal annual rainfall total already. Does that mean a wet winter?  To kinda emphasize that we avg 9 inches of rain a year most of our moisture is snow.

Wow crews all the way from ny in tx. Considering they tried to send part of our local xcel crew and they threatened to walk off.

@amymeme true but it gets compounded when you break yourself. As the ortho surgeon said not many people get to experience age 85 at  19 after looking at my mri. And it does cross my mind sometimes that if all there is to life is dr appointments, i may as well kill myself. It happened real bad in my early 20s, now it only comes up sporadically. Now mostly its jerrys appointments.

Im still not 100% sure why you didnt get a thc/cbd topical or a tincture and then mix it as a topical or just use it straight. I bought a 1:1 1000mg each tincture with plans to dump it in a bottle of icy hot lidocaine.  I think for your knee pain a topical would be much more effective and no risk of getting high from it, since i know that is a big concern.  Its a weird misunderstood plant and by no means a miracle cure for anything. So far they know of over 500 active compounds and really so far only thc and cbd have been studied and now cbn is being looked at. And im not sure what is available in ny but here the do strain specific stuff. Because while they havent been studied yet, terpenes play a huge role of what a given strain is good for.

Emily - I didn't go for topical because a day or two later I saw the Ortho and had a steroid injection into my knee. And that was like a miracle. No pain, f walking up stairs normally now. Only rare swelling which, I think was the cause of my pain - the bakers cyst would swell, leak into my lower leg and that was what was the most painful. Over two days after the shot, I was pee'ing constantly. Wayne would say - you just went, now you're going again?!!? I look 7 pounds over those 2 days

And also somewhat miraculous - after 4 doses of antibiotic, no ear pain, no referred pain in mouth and only the very vaguest suggestion of pain localized to that tooth. I'm a happy camper. So is hubby - just a here minutes ago he said it was nice to see me not in so much pain.

Emily, I am so sorry you have so much body crap to deal with. You are far too young. Wishing you some relief. And physicians that listen.

I haven't been to a dentist in 20 years, literally. Been blessed to this point with good teeth from my dad's side. My husband has had a lot of tooth issues over the years though. Has several cavities he's had to have filled. I really hope the kid will get a lot of her health from me. If she could get my teeth and his eyes that would be perfect. lol. My eyes have been pretty weak since I was about 16, though metal shard damaged one, so not exactly fair to say my eyes totally suck, at least one had extra help getting to its current condition.

Went to see the Dr today for a followup on a month ago ...
Have I been taking the Thyroid med he prescribed ... Nope, it was the wrong scrip and you didn't write a new one.
How am I doing? ... generally good.
What do I need today? Rerun the prior lab work, there's just too much that I don't agree with. Like 'major' hyperthyroid problem when my T4 is only 2 points off ... that's not high to me. You show me a being positive for Hep C - never have been in any prior lab work; but you don't show me positive for Hep B - which is a know positive (or at least the Red Cross thinks so.)
I'm not sure whether I irritated him more or if his attitude irritated me more. I never have had the "Doctors are God" attitude (oops, sorry)

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Mom had her teeth pulled when she was about 24 and exchanged them for uppers and lowers ... I remember her coming home bleeding and at 5 I really didn't understand.
Most of her generation and a lot of mine have had rotten teeth ... what can I say ... nothing I can put in here!

Well, a note that one shouldn't put 'compostables' in a hole in the garden.  I have a <bad?> habit of putting waste that is probably compostable in the garden ... seems like it's a lot less effort than bagging it to take to 'recycle'.

Anyway, we got grapes and watermelon in commodities last week, the grapes left a lot to be desired - I like semi-sweet grapes and, up to a point, the sweeter the better - these weren't so I ate a couple of handfuls and decided these were going out (and no, they didn't go into the hole...!!)
The watermelon was good!  I tossed the rind into the hole and threw some dirt on top ... hmmmm...  I got up this morning and Belle was wanting out - vocally!!! She got out and stopped just off the front porch and had one of the messiest, runny messes I've ever seen - I just thank the powers that be that she wanted out, cause that would have been hell to clean up!
As I was watering the stuff out back I saw where she'd dug up the trash I buried yesterday and while watermelon isn't bad for a dog - at least not like grapes - apparently indulging in the rind of a medium sized melon was more than her stomach could handle ...  Oh, dogs!!!

I have my compost area just over the fence from the dog yard and for the most part don't have an issue with my dogs trying to get to it but every now and again a possum goes rummaging through and pulls some of it out and I have to pick up some various rinds. Right now there's a pumpkin plant growing out of my compost so nothing has really been bothering it. Outside of the squash bugs that are driving me nuts.

Well, we got water in the basement for the first time. We are getting ready to replace all the flooring in the basement and when we went tear out the old stuff over the weekend we noticed water was in one of the corners. We had a massive rain a few weeks ago and suspect it got through during that. Because it was carpet down there the stuff just got soaked up. So now we have 10 ton carpet rolls to heave out of the house. We found the spot where it pushed through where the water main comes into the foundation to get that sealed. Hand dug that section of the foundation yesterday which nearly killed us. It was upper 80s and I didn't see the humidity drop below 75% all day. Husband is lucky I have some energy during this second trimester or he would have been on his own. Belly starting to pop but not overly in the way just yet. We are expecting to be mid to upper 90s this week with heat index of 105-110, and since we found the leak it's rained a little bit every day making it really hard to get it fully dried out so that i can reseal the interior portion of it. I hate basements. They are just magnets for water trouble. On the flip side people only wanting to build a slab foundation house right now and those have their own issues, usually with slab movement during drought and if you have a plumbing issue in those you are toast because that's breaking up a whole slab. No thanks. If we build new we will do a traditional tall crawl space with a two story house on top if we are just desperate for multiple floors.

What do you think Wayne would say if his doctor diagnosed him with "Hypocalcemia of puerperium"???  My only comment was "Excuse please, what the hell??"  
This, on top of the rx for medicine for hypothyroid when I'm (arguably) hyper dinna make me happy!
Talked to VA, I's lookn' fo' a new doctor ...

Welp. Wayne had nothing to say. I posed the question to him and he stared, look blank and his jaw dropped.

I'm guessing an electronic record snafu.

"Reduced calcium due to postnatal milk production"  --- don't think I qualify (recent discussion regarding BC not considered)

He says he hit the wrong selection on a drop-down, I can't say that increases my confidence --- note to self, is there anything that can now reduce my confidence in him?

I got my latest lab work back and t4 has increased significantly, maybe it's time to think about meds...

Electronic health records are what printed Wayne to retire. Two things I remember: first, he had a man come in with a large fishhook in his foot. The only diagnosis in the system that was remotely closer was "foot pain." The second, on the day he decided he was done, a middle-aged man, overweight, under exercised came in with chest pain, high total for heart attack. Wayne wanted to order an EKG but the system wasn't letting because of it's algorithms. Called me, asked if we had enough money to retire - I said, well, we wouldn't be living high of the hog but we certainly wouldn't go hungry, go for it. Best decision he ever made.

You're not alone in the disappointing lab results, Al. First my bone density came back with osteopenia in my femoral neck ( not really surprising given how much I've been hobbled by my knee.) Then my mammogram came back negative for cancer but a not with "vascular calcifications." Which apparently increases my stroke risk 51% over no calcifications. Then I had my eye exam. Possible glaucoma in my right eye, repeat the tests in 2 weeks before a lifetime of eye drops. Two tests corroborated each other, slight loss of peripheral vision inner top of right ey and things of the retina on the OCT scan.

Not a happy camper. And my knee shot is wearing off. Was hoping to get 3 months out of it but doesn't look like that's gonna happen. And wondering if it was the extra steroid that pushed me into glaucoma🤬

I'm not so sure that I'd call mine 'disappointing' let's say that the results were about what I expected - except for the low calcium. I'm not having postpartal anything at my age! Having to pull teeth with the doctor to get him to acknowledge his mistakes (Oh my G-d!) was an exercise I didn't expect or appreciate!

Was talking to VA Thursday and Friday about what I'd have to do to get travel pay (expenses to and from medical appointments) and I'll continue that on Monday ... I don't mind the travel to Midland area (at 300 miles one way) but it gets more than a little expensive when (living on SocSec) I have to pay out of my pocket.

I was gonna ask a stupid question about calcium and mammograms, I hadn't thought about how 'milk' gets to the mammary glands but I suppose it's not produced there <???> so travels in blood vessels? ( Feel free to tell me I'm ignorant ... admitted )

In line with your comment about life not being for sissies, I'll go along with GBS - "Youth is wasted on the young."

The milk is produced in the mammary glands, the calcifications I mention are in the blood vessels, not a good thing

Silly puppy (well, compared to the other two)   I have two who don't eat anywhere near as much as they should.  I feed her (Belle) in her crate and then put the food for the other two on the on the porch where it just tends to set.  They both nibble a little but neither of the are eating much - 'course I'm not eating much lately either - it's too blasted hot to cook.

Anyway, when Belle gets done she sprawls in her crate for a while - like about 1/2 hour - then she grumbles, then she whimpers, then she gives with a good bark to tell me that she's been good, but she's bored!  I let her out and, of course, she heads to the front door (which is open) and STOPS!  The old folks haven't finished their meal but there's no way that they're going to let her have any of it.  Impasse:  I want out; Don't you come near our bowls (which on a smallish porch there's no way ... she's got to come sorta close.)

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I've sent a couple of notes to family who are in the Atlantic coast (or have close relatives who are) and haven't heard a thing from anyone!  Kinda irritates me,  I know some aren't anywhere near water so they're in the clear (upstate New York doesn't get hit till Friday<????>) but I have a (half-)brother in N Carolina (area) and all I can do is hope he's got his feet tucked up out the water.

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Belle's idea of playing is to grab a hand / foot / ??? (or chew something to pieces); she doesn't hurt but I can't convince her not to (she's learning, just not fast enough for my skin).
If I throw something she'll run to wherever it is but won't even pick it up and heaven forbid that we think about her bringing it back to me ... stupid question for the day, how do you teach a dog to play?? I'm not that dumb but all the dogs I've had in the past either know how to fetch or they don't .... or maybe I am that dumb.

Neither Ami nor Z'ev were "play" dogs. Archer is. If I throw a toy for Ami, he runs to where it landed, looks at it then looks at me as if to say " it's not moving." Even when he was a youngster, with the Squawky chicken, Jeff play maybe a minute or two then stop, looks at me "what's the point, Mom?!!?"

Local, private forecaster, a man we met through a husky meet up, says Debbie remnants gonna dump,somewhere in a narrow band in the central finger lakes, up to 6" of rain tomorrow and most of us, 2-4". Given that our soil is saturated already, flash flooding is in the menu tomorrow. But, at least we're on the west side of the approaching storm and wind/lightning/ tornados won't be our issue. Everything is damp without air conditioning and condensation in house becoming a big ICK.

Saw the endodontist today about the tooth under the bridge. She said she could do a root canal but it would only be a temporary fix, there's not much tooth structure left under the crown. Her recommendation is to section the bridge, leaving the good tooth under the front crown, ditching the pontic and pulling the bad tooth. Then, in a year or so, when the bone has filled in, one implant where the first molar would be. She was ever so polite - asked about my dentist "what were his thoughts about the tooth." I think she was really meaning, "what was he thinking?!!?" I'll need to get it done before mid October, I want to schedule my knee replacement then. The steroid shot is wearing off and I'm almost back to where I was. But it later long enough that I could have a good few days with the Massachusetts kids Son #1 rented a lovely place on a lake quite close to us. Unfortunately it rained the whole time they were here and the place they rented was strictly no pets. We were over there because at least they had a covered pavilion with a grill and table, which we thought would allow us to cook outside. Unfortunately, at that particular point, a very strong cell came through, driving, horizontal rain, soaked is all till I sent them inside and I sprinted to the 4 Runner with Ami (he can't stay alone at home in a thunderstorm, he'd shred the house trying to escape. And his dog house is under tall pines with a metal roof and about 15 ft from old fashioned power lines that are live when the come down. It was a nice visit but a very wet one. The grandchildren loved fishing

Just found out that the little idiot will play! Of course it's on her terms!  
I've had a rope toy that's been hanging around for a year or two and no one's done anything with it 'cept to toss it away from time to time.

Anyway, it had found it's way outside and I picked it up to toss it onto the porch when she grabbed it and damn near pulled me off balance since I wasn't expecting *that*!  It's now inside and we play with it ... when the mood strikes the old man.

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I've been having a real hard time trying to teach her that going across the road and bringing back the neighbors trash doesn't make me happy.  I'm pissed when she brings back a sack of trash (at least it is in 'grocery store size' plastic bags) and I'd be even more pissed if she was in the middle of the road when someone comes zooming through and she got herself run down.
I get 'things' from Amazon to test and review - good freebies (sometimes) - and I had been sent a 'training collar' so I decided to see what it and she would do.  Charged up the collar, adjusted the setting on the 'remote', put the collar on her and pressed 'beep' which very nicely beeped.  Pressed 'vibrate' which, in turn, very nicely vibrated and Belle decided she was going to see what this thing 'under her chin' was, couldn't get to it so in short order left it alone.  (And I owe the girl an apology) Later, after she'd relaxed (read sprawled on the living room floor) I then tried the 'shock' and she tried to crawl out of her skin ... I had set it at 75 (out of 100) which was just maybe a little high.  
I've now got things turned WAY down ('shock' is at 15) and she's responding nicely to it.  We've worked out the 'I'm gonna get me a treat', if I see her head toward the road, all I have to do it tap 'beep' and she turns around and comes  back to the porch.
What I found surprising - but probably shouldn't have.  I had the collar and remote on the charger with her sprawled on the floor so I decided I'd see if she could hear the beep and if she'd react with it off.  Pressed 'beep' and she just looked up at me ... good girl!

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Your tail about the trip to your son's rental is funny / interesting, and of course prompts "the grandkids loved fishing" was that from the porch or the couch?

Kasper is the first playing dog I've ever had. He will fetch in the house, not so well outside, and he loves play tugs with a rope. It's been kinda nice to have a dog that will play some because it offers a nice alternative way to exercise when it's raining.

We are supposed to get some rain over the next few days. Don't think it will amount to too much. Maybe a couple inches. We could use it. Haven't had anything for a couple weeks now so we are getting a tad dry in spots. I need to burn trash. We are almost done with the new floors in the basement and that old carpet needs gone.

The grandkids were fishing from the dock - with all the rain, they were able to easily dig a good supply of worms. It was intermittently misty but they didn't seem to mind.

And Ami,damn him, went walk about again. yesterday. His collar was way too loose. Fortunately he sticks to woods and fields and not the roads. Josh found him, trapped in an empty fenced pasture. Josh said he was a doofus, happy to see him, wagging his tail "Hi, Josh - where ya been?" kind of thing. And he stinks. As in STINKS. Massively. And I'm in no shape to bathe him (steroid should was great while it lasted but it's not working anymore.) And Wayne's hip and back won't allow it either. So I'll spot clean him douse him with corn starch baby powder and look online for some sort of waterless, spray on/run in deodorizer. If such a thing exists.

Sigh. We've had two young adults (to me, anyway) deaths this past month. The first a week loved young woman in her 30s, beautiful in soul and face. The daughter of a local retired teacher and veterinarian, both equally as loved in the community. She was a social worker, did Peace Corp, a talented, driven athlete in school. She leaves a husband, a newborn baby and and a toddler. The second, the 45 year old son of close friends. Mantle cell lymphoma. Leaves a wife and 3 kids. Again a well loved family in the community - Josh and Wayne went to the calling hours, line was 2 blocks long and the had to extend an extra hour. We went to their wedding - they were a beautiful couple, something straight out of GQ. And so very socially adept. They knew us only as their parents friends but still, in chatting, made us feel quite welcome, honored that we came to their celebration. I feel so badly for the parents in both, I cannot imagine the devastation of burying a child his,/her prime. Not too mention the children growing up without their parent.

My grandma outlived 2 of her children (1 drowned at age 13 and the other was at least an adult) and 2 of her children's spouses. She also outlived 2 of her grandchildren who were killed in a house fire at 11 and 16. She said it was the hardest thing she ever did and she felt every wound as if fresh every day. My mom still has her struggle moments over the loss of two of her siblings and it's been a long time. As an only child I struggle to identify with sibling loss, but my husband has a brother that was killed in a car wreck several years ago that when we first met he would be a mess over every year near the anniversary of the crash, so he and my mom can commiserate on the hole of that relationship.

I have some spray cleaner that smells like blueberries for my dogs. Works alright. Got it at Walmart. Daycare wipes the dogs down with baby wipes if they get dirty and then I have to spray him with the blueberry cleaner once home because I can't stand the smell of baby wipes. We did get some of the water wipes during prime day sale for actual baby. Unscented but I haven't opened to see how true that is. Traditional baby wipe smell makes me gag. Even before getting pregnant.

Wow, Jenn, your grandmother went through the wringer. I remember years ago, when I was a teenager, we thought number 4 sister had a brain tumor. My father didn't say much about it, not even to my mother but I had just finished reading "Death Be Not Proud" and all the test my father was ordering and taking about on the phone have me rather devasting picture. Just before they were going to do myelogram, she woke up, hungry. The myelogramwould have involved shaving her long beautiful hair, my mom told my dad that sitter would be very upset with her hair all gone. My dad was very grim and said if she survives this, I'll buy her a wig! Turns it, she had Eastern Equine Encephalitis, came in suddenly, very sleepy than coma. For me, having just read that novel with the boy dying of brain cancer and seeing all the same tests being ordered, it was devastating. I was quietly subbing my heart out in corners of the house by myself. I don't think my mom has any inkling of what my father's diagnostic thinking at the time. So, I have a hint of your husband's grief, thankfully, for me, only a brief hint. But, my sister's and I are entering that stage of life where nothing is a given anymore. Even walking, it seems. All the stairs at my son's rental, various chores I do before and after their arrival have really done a number on me. I've been mostly chair bound for a week. And though I'm now recovering from all the activity, I can see the atrophy in my right lower leg from disuse. I started doing calf raise yesterday, hopefully the muscle will come back. I'll probably need to increase my protein intake as well. Sigh.

Also, Jenn - I tried to find that blueberry spray at Walmart and was unsuccessful. Do you remember it's name?

Just out of curiosity I also looked for that blueberry spray and while I  found a few blueberry sprays I didn't find any I'd consider putting on one of my hounds.  One of the benefits to having smoked for years (yes, there is at least one) is that I have almost no sense of smell so a pup's gotta get really rank before I smell it.

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Belle and I have been walking out back of an evening, we both need the exercise and she's been good until we get down to the brushline.  I try to wait till it's starting to cool off - like down to 100° or so. I'm not sure what she's chasing, she's never come back with blood on her muzzle so she's never caught it/them.

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Sky's gone out a couple of times and she wanders around the trailer, seldom even over to Darryl's place.  I'd like to let her wander if she stays close, but I've had a couple of older dogs who, apparently, have decided that they're old enough and they can just go walk off and no one's supposed to care.  

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Parents outliving their kids ... my grandmother outlived three of her 5 daughters ... but shoot, she was 102 when she died.  
On the other hand, a lady friend who is about my age lost one of her sons before she passed.  We tried to see if we could get him to consider the tilt of his head but he was more interested in what he could ingest ... the last I saw of him was when he stopped by to see if I'd give him some money.  Nope, I was fixing dinner and offered to share but he wanted money ... and that wasn't going to happen.  Bad scene and way too many years ago ...

After I hit preview and make sure everything is readable ----- remember to hit send!!

 Send helps I've done that with texts. Pisses me off when I find it a day later.

Phew. Four birthdays in the past 30 days, two this week both sons and two grandsons. One of whom got his driver's permit today. His mom sent me a picture with him beaming in the driver's seat. That picture came after I said you know you're getting old when your grandkids have their own phone numbers.

And Al? These days, I wish my sniffer were less sensitive! I thought we got rid of the odor this morning but tonight?!!? El skunko

Got good news yesterday - no glaucoma   But still glaucoma suspect. Gonna rain for several days then Tuesday? High temp of 64⁰ expected. Sigh. Summer is over. We put the electric blanket back on 3 days ago.

What I have I got a long time ago. Looks like it might be discontinued. "I Love Pet head - Dry Clean" in blueberry muffin. Never really paid much attention to what was in it since I don't use it much but the smell was nice while it lasted and was good for taking on vacation with us in case I couldn't stand to be in the car with them.

At this point Kenzi would probably walk off if I let her out and not know how to get back. She would always like to wander but has always had good recall for me. Her dementia though is to the point where I'm not sure she really recognizes people all that well anymore, me included. There's just a way she looks at you that suggests not everyone is home. She doesn't see all that well to begin with and then it's like she's seeing something unexpected when she comes up to you. I'm not sure how long to go on with this. Calling it for physical medical reasons I can wrap my head around better, but at what point does the mind need to be considered. Physically she's still getting around. We do our walks morning and night (she is getting slower now), her kidneys are still working fine, she's eating fine. Sometimes I feel like her bowels work too well but that's where the mind is coming in again. She will kinda let me know when she needs to go out to pee, but she will not let me know if she needs to go out to poop, and often she won't get both done in one trip. She' will pee then need to poop like 10 minutes after and will try to do that in the house and it has me at the end of my rope. I'm so tired of smelling poop in my house. I'm tired of getting up at every little sound all night long thinking she's sneaking into the kitchen to poop rather than letting me know she needs out. Kye is only a little better but he's always been touched in the head so nonsensical decision making has been his thing forever. His body is failing so i think he will give up physically before I have to think too much more on his mind.

I feel horribly guilty but I'm hoping kenzi will go peacefully before the baby comes. I just don't know if I can handle her routine and a baby routine. They aren't overly different. I've been getting up with her multiple times a night for at least 2 years, but the way I know it will go is that she will sleep while baby is up and the instant baby is down where I could be sleeping then she will be getting me up and I will be left with nothing, and I can't run on nothing. I can run on very little as I've done for the last couple years, but I can't do it on nothing. Then I'm really hoping Kye will go before she starts walking. I feel like I can't give my kid a well cleaned environment in the current pattern in which for her to explore in. Kye currently is less issue in the house but he has never been one to get off the patio and into the grass to poop and I'm constantly cleaning the concrete in the backyard. i just don't know how much time I can expect to have to put toward bleaching the back patio daily so i feel like it's okay for my kid to crawl around on it. And I'm not at all a germaphobe, but I draw the line at poop for my kid. I hate being this frustrated by old dogs that can't help it. Well, Kye could help it, he's just always been mentally deficient and we've not found a way to counteract it.