Adjusting... Sort Of

Yes, we're back in Minnesota, back where they freak out at temperatures over 90 degrees. We've had our first backyard bonfire but nary a mosquito. I finally have a chair to sit in (AND get out of!), dishes have been done though you can't tell because the sink and counters are still packed. We're learning the two-remote system for watching TV (Dish vs. Direct) all over again though what used to be the skip 30 second forward button is now the keep going forever faster button, and I have actually gotten out walking.

I still spend plenty of my days pissed off. It took so long for the new recliner to be delivered that both my shoulder and knees gave out in trying to get in and out of the old one. I got stuck in a patio chair and had to have both sons help me up properly. This was after a long frustrating day of overstraining everything trying to use the other furniture, of course, and I just didn't have it in me any more. I probably could have slept there.

The first day it took an hour to clean the shower enough that I could tolerate using it, starting with tossing out the moldy bath mat and using scrubbing bubbles plus the toilet brush to clean the walls and floor. Believe me, I looked for another brush, but... I prefer to believe Scrubbing Bubbles cleans all. If you know different, just shut up about it.

Then in order to make the kitchen usable in the slightest there were two hours of cleaning dishes, counters, and part of the table, making no pretense whatsoever that the job was finished. Just that progress had been made. And the newest replaced knee locks in place from standing a fraction of that time.

This was day one. Bachelors!

We didn't really get around to unpacking until day two. There are still dirty clothes in the wastebasket because it was there next to the hamper which was covered with my drying bath towel, but that will be sorted. There's getting adjusted to sharing a queen bed again where it's not just as simple as rolling over to the other side to ease the pain from a bad knee position but one has to make about seventeen different moves in the same location on the bed to accomplish the same effect, sort of, and that's on a mattress that's inexplicably higher in the middle so you have to beware winding up on the floor. From which, might I add, there is no recovery. Even if the dog forgives your landing on top unannounced.

I now have two usable drawers in the big triple dresser for my stuff. The top one falls on the floor if you misjudge how many millimeters it can be pulled out. The second needs a winch and chain to pull it open enough to both insert one hand and either add or remove the desired item. Hmmm, I wonder if I reversed them....

Grocery shopping happens in tiny dribs and drabs. We have to share the fridge and freezer with two more people and the latest pickings of raspberries for Paul's fall jelly making. By the time I get to the store trying to pare down the list enough to fit the available space, absolutely nothing sounds appetizing any more.  On the plus side, that means we haven't over-stuffed the fridge. It does add, however, to the mounting list of frustrations.

My biggest battle so far seems to be refilling my latest prescription which treats my RLS. If you recall, the first one made me nauseaus and and I refused more than 2 days of that. So the doc ordered just a half month of medicine #2, completely understandable on his part. I took that bottle to the local pharmacy here  and they assured me they could refill it for me, just give them a few days.

I did. No pills. No call-back from my AZ doc. I called there and his assistant first said they needed the phone number here so they could respond to the fax requesting refill. Still no pills. The pharmacy up here said no contact and the assistant there said they couldn't fax it over state lines.

Love those open and consistent lines of communication, eh?

Tonight is my last pill, and will hold me 24 hours. Meanwhile I made an appointment with my former - and much missed - doc up here. She can see me tomorrow. I can explain what's happening, show her the empty bottle with the label info, and beg for enough refills to last the three months we plan to be here. That's the plan anyway. Of course she's in MN and the nearest pharmacy is just across the river in WI, so we'll see if the state lines thing is still an issue. If it's a no-go, the poor alternative is taking the few remainders of half Percosets I've hoarded from the surgery and otherwise don't need any more. They are far from ideal for many reasons, but are an improvement from daily unremitting fights with RLS.

And maybe I'll have to shop for a new primary doc back in AZ.

For those who are wondering, Steve and one of his sons did get out in his buddy's boat a couple days ago, enjoying a relaxing day and bringing home 5 crappies! Yee Haaa! For me to clean, of course. After I'd taken my bedtime sleepy pills. And without bothering to sharpen his filleting knife for me.   But tonight we get to wheel the garbage can down curbside instead of sitting in its usual spot right outside our bedroom window.

I dunno, the dogs didn't seem to mind.