Small Things, Big Wins - Day +40

I feel like it is more of the same here at the hospital. John isn’t awake or alert much at all. His labs haven’t changed much. They do say the CMV is slightly improving but not enough to see the diahrea improve yet. I do feel his belly isn’t as bloated and he doesn’t complain about abdominal pain now which is great!

The confusion has been worse this week with his fevers a couple times a day/night and also after dialysis. The West Nile is still showing active, but it is sort of like Covid - you are positive or negative so no way to tell other than continued symptoms whether it is dissipating unless we put him through a lumbar puncture. Since they don’t treat for WNV, I chose to not put him through that at this time. He has been having a greater build-up of fluid in his chest area so they are taking more fluids off with each dialysis treatment. Because of his weakness and cognitive issues, he isn’t participating often in Occupational or Physical Therapy now, but they encourage music and are attempting to move his frail arms and legs as much as he will allow. They haven’t felt he was up for sitting in a chair but did get him upright on the side of the bed today for a few minutes.

I am hoping we have an “awakening” again this weekend for the boys to come up to visit for Father’s Day.

At home, I feel a bit more accomplished.

Since we got into the new house, there were a number of things that would have been “John’s jobs” - yes, we were pretty traditional around the home - I do all of the cooking, organizing, decorating, sewing, and technology stuff. John does the yard, mechanical and labor stuff. We grew up with families that had more traditional roles and we are good with it. No judgment, it’s just how it works for us. He is better at certain things, as am I.

So moving into the house has been a challenge without my other half. We survived the moved but there were the little things like, the stove/oven didn’t turn on, the garbage disposal didn’t turn on and the sink was backing up, the new refrigerator water line was run but didn’t have an end to plug into the icemaker, the washer keeps getting off balance.

Before we moved a great friend came over to help the boys install fans and TV racks. Big Win! No way I could have done this and I couldn’t even find a handyman to come do it. I still need a handyman to install some shelves, change the deadbolts, and a few other jobs if anyone has recommendations.

This weekend another Big Win - Jason came to the rescue on the range because I had tried the breaker and GFI, and no power. I knew it worked before we had the renovations. He was able to pull it out and it just hadn’t been plugged back in after the work. Who just pushes a big appliance in without plugging it in?

I had not been giving the backyard or pool any attention in the last 2 weeks, I’d been more focused on unpacking at least 4 boxes a day. I walked out and most of the leaves and baby lemons had dropped from the lemon tree, the orange tree was looking pretty sad, the pool was full of leaves and cloudy. Guess I needed to figure this one out before I was a breeding ground for more West Nile Virus. I soaked the tree roots and start searching for recommendations for yard services. I brushed down the sides of the pool, scooped out the leaves as much as I could and figured out how to run a cleaning cycle on the pool. Shocked it and took a sample to the pool store. I got the name of a pool service and have them coming, but at least it looks clear again. I’m not sure I’m ready to get in until I know it is “safe” and I won’t get some horrible skin reaction like I did many years ago with our Ohio hot tub, but it is back to picture-worthy :-) I won’t credit this as a “Big Win” but it is certainly better than it was last weekend :-) I also have a couple lawncare services set up to give me quotes so we don’t look like the eyesore on the corner.

This a.m. I had my biggest house “Win” -- the garbage disposal hasn’t worked since the move and water would build up but each night it was drained out. Again, I knew it worked before the renovations. I had checked and it was definitely plugged in. The breaker was fine. The GFI was OK. So like the millennials, I went to YouTube and learned there is a reset switch on the bottom of most InSinkerator disposals. I tried that and I got a buzzing when I turned it on, but not the normal grinding and no draining. I had done my normal stick a long-handled brush down it to be sure there wasn’t something stuck. I’m a wuss and afraid to stick my hand down in there. I know I’m the only one in the house and if the switch turned on, it would be me doing it, but I still have that horror image of it turning on by itself with my hand down there.

So again, I consulted home maintenance by YouTube. I ordered the little silver garbage disposal key wrench from Amazon. After many tries, it finally started loosening and crunching something in there. I’m not sure what had dried down there (could have been something from the construction or maybe just gunk from rinsing dishes) but it finally seemed loose, then a huge swish of water which scared the bejeebus out of me because I was under the sink and thought it was going to dump all over the inside of the cabinet and me. Silence. At this point, I was still scared to turn it on, because I didn’t know what might be in the grinder but I proceeded by running water and it was draining. I flipped on the switch and HURRAY! Garbage disposal now works!  I don’t want to share the gross photo of the sink and the disposal before I cleaned it up because it was embarrassing that I let it get to that point, but it is all now cleaned up and I did this one myself! Big Win!