TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I went to check on the cats this morning.  They had cuddled up in the blanket I put out for them when I had checked last night.  I truly believe there IS a god because I got there just as a car was slowly driving down our street.  The windows were open and kids were calling.  The cats came out of the blanket cave so that the kids could see them.  Suddenly, doors flew open and thankfully the car was able to stop so that no one was hurt.  As the kids ran towards the cats, the cats flew down the stairs.  The kids grabbed up both cats and were obviously happy to find them.  I have no idea what the story was on the whole scene but.....they are back with their family.

It made me remember when my kids were young and they found these two kittens that were barely old enough to be away from their mother.  I let them keep them, of course but.....they insisted on taking them everywhere we went.  What happened was they ran away and it made me wonder about the cats we had on our porch.  Cats are curious and love to explore.  You can't expect them to behave like dogs and come when you call them.  Oh well. 

The Beast came in from one of his small sojourns outside yesterday to check on the trees out back.  He said that someone either dropped a cat in our backyard or it climbed over the chain link fence.  It's an orange tiger and Baron wanted out to play with it, of course.  The Beast wouldn't let him out there for fear the cat wasn't all that friendly.  It wasn't a feral cat, I don't think.  It was clean and healthy looking.  It's gone now so I guess it headed back home.  What is going on with cats around here?

Love you all.  Have a wonderful day! 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I'm sitting here eating some susage the Beast cooked up for sandwiches but I decided I had my limit of carbs and just am eating it with some pancake syrup on the side.  Delish!  If you haven't tried it, do it at least once.  Baron suddenly showed up at my side.  Like I don't know what HE wants.    I had to chase him out because I am sure the syrup isn't good for him.

YET....I don't think I am going to finish what I have on my plate (just four patties) so....I may wash them off and give him one or two in his doggie dish out in the kitchen.  I'll decide later. 

The Beast and I were talking about his prostate cancer.  The doctor is sure he has it so there are decisions to be made.  Surgery to remove it entirely?  Radioactive therapy where he is injected with it and then must NOT do certain things for six months.  Like let Baron lay on his lap or Chewlee either.  Or will they want to do something else?  The Beast decided we need to look up various things to find out what may be the result of all of the options.  I'm going to go with him to the doctor's for his appointment where he gets the results of the biopsies.  He will need me there regardless of the outcome.

I found out today that my favorite aunt (my mother's youngest sister and my godmother) has cancer.  It was breast cancer that metastasized onto her lungs and other organs.  The prognosis is a year at best.  It makes me so sad.  I lost my cousin just a few weeks ago and now this.  If bad things happen in threes, I don't know if I can stand the sorrow.  I did tell the Beast that I needed to be well so I can go to Chicago and visit this summer.  I don't want to go to attend a funeral.  Our family is losing too many as it is.

I've been making the trip to Chicago by myself most of the time (I pick up people on my way up usually) for years....about 18 years now I think.  I'm a good driver and don't usually speed more than four miles over the limit.  The Beast, however, always worries about me making the trip.  At least now I can stop in Louisville and spend a day with my kids there although this time I will probably have to stay at a motel.  Before I stopped to pick up Bratfink and take her with me.  She won't go now for many reasons, although I said I might stop and spend a few hours with her on my way there or back.

The Beast and I talked about his going with me and he could stay at his brother's house in Centralia while I go on to see my family.  Or, as he said, he could go with me after WE spend a day or so with the Brother.  He's not sure if he will be up to it but he's thinking it over.  Another decision to be made.

I had really wanted to bring Chewlee with me but that won't be a good idea if we go together because that means both Baron and Chewlee in the back seat...together.  He's huge (120 lbs) and takes up a lot of room.  He's not your standard Doberman by any means although he's fantastic to travel with. 

I decided today that I am dropping the HBO treatments.  For several reasons.  You wouldn't think that oxygen therapy would do it but I seem to get sick within a day or two of taking one.  I also believe that it's responsible for a recurrence of my IBS.  The idea was to help in the healing of my wounds but they are almost all healed already.  Besides that fact, I am truly worried about the Beast and his being treated for cancer could really be a problem for us.  I can drive now the doctor said, as long as I don't use my left foot until that wound is finished healing.  I told him we had an automatic and I have never used that foot for any reason so I don't see a problem there.

We have some fairly nice weather heading our way.  Decent temperatures and no rain.  Not that it matters.  Today was clear and sunny and we had a power failure during the middle of the day that lasted an hour.  The Beast just went to bed.  He's spent most of the day there and I'm sure he needs the rest to get over the biopsy.

Love you all and I wish you good health and lots of happy times. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Princess showed up, bright and early, to pick up the Beast.  I could tell she had Chewlee with her and was going to drop her off at school because Chewlee's purse was gone from my chair AND she left me three crayons for when I woke up.  They weren't gone all that long, surprisingly.  The Beast was home a hell of a lot earlier than I expected (not long after 10am).  He went right to bed after leaving the front door open for Baron to look out at the world.  I fell back asleep after checking on him and discovering what the dog was whining about.  It seems we had two of the cutest cats outside our door.  They seemed to want to play with each other.  The cats are the prettiest pearly grey tortoiseshell color, obviously siblings (and female).  I know they had to be among the earliest drop offs that some jerk has done instead of turning them in to some pet shelter.

Later, the Beast put some food out for them and they must have been starving because they attacked it.  My reaction was, *Oh great!  Now they won't be out looking for some OTHER kindly stranger to take them in.*  Sorry, but right now, we just don't have any leftover energy for more animals.  Although I would love to have a cat around again and these are really pretty.  But take the chance on more animals?  No.  Not me.  We have kids around here and they are good at begging.  I can only hope they will find each other.

The Princess came at 12:30pm to pick me up and bring me to the Wound Center for my HBO treatment.  She picked up Chewlee before picking me up to bring me home.  Chewlee was all upset that they weren't coming in and she shot me a look like it was MY fault.  I found the Beast up but headed back to bed.  The Princess told me the doctor told him to take it easy today and not do anything, let alone pick stuff up. 

He has been complaining about both peeing and pooping blood.  He says they used something that looked like a gun and took six shots inside him.  I gather what it was really doing was taking samples from six different areas of the prostate.  It will be another week before he knows what the results are.  We are just going to keep our fingers crossed and pray.  The Princess told me he was high as a kite on the way home and was just coming down from it when they got here.  She says they did stop and grab a bite to eat and, since he spent so much of the day in bed, it was probably a good thing.

I ate the other half of my French dip from yesterday as my meal.  It was more than enough but I ended up with a tummy ache and had to take a Prilosec (prescription one) before I laid down to let it pass.  I am heading off to bed early again and see how it goes with the Beast.  If he's too restless or doing too much moaning and groaning, I'll just head to my recliner for some sleep. 

It's been colder than usual here for two days now so I've had the heat turned up here in my room, trying to stay warm.  I get cold so damn easy.  I checked our trees and my roses and they are all either already blossoming or ready to burst into green at least.  It's incredible.  The peach trees and the plums are all in blossom.  The cherries are not quite there but it has to be a bit warmer for a bit longer for them.  We have both early and later blooming ones, which is nice because the sour ones are the ones you freeze and/or can. 

Love you all.  Have a great day and keep the Beast in your thoughts and prayers, won't you? 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

It was a relatively quiet (and not much pain) day today.  I dozed off-and-on during the morning until the Beast left for his meeting.  He had planned on stopping and picking up Chewlee but I guess the Princess forgot because she had taken her to Athens for some reason.  The house was so nice and quiet, I settled back to watch more of my Murder, She Wrote marathon on Hallmark.  Baron, as usual, was just staring out on the world to watch for his man to come back.

Shortly after that, Bratfink popped up and we were chatting about this-and-that when Son #1 (Mustachio) called me to find out how I was doing.  That turned into a 45 minute talk fest as we both brought each other up-to-date on what's going on.  He's doing some things with his sister to try to get her out of her rut and I told him I'm just trying to heal.  He did tell me something that I need to let the Princess know about.  He says his sister is ... well, just angry all the time.  Angry about everything and everyone.  My personal feeling is that she needs to get out, find herself some kind of job and discover that people like her.  She can be fun and funny and make good sense when she's not concentrating on just a small section of the world.  All we can do is hope.

The Beast has his biopsy tomorrow morning.  He just informed me he has to go get the stuff for his enema and take it.  He's started taking the pills he has to in preparation.  Depending on what the biopsy says, I have no idea which type of therapy he will want for his prostate.  There are a few.  All we can do is wait and see.

The Princess is supposed to be picking him up to drive him down to Gadsden for that at 7:30am.  It's about an hour's drive so I asked the Beast who was going to wake her up to make sure she got here?  I'm hoping Johnnycakes will be able to take Chewlee to preschool because I sure don't have a vehicle to do that now.

I'm going to make it an early night tonight because I have a bit of a tummy ache after the pseudo-Italian dip sandwich the Beast brought home from Arby's for us.  It's just not sitting right for some reason.  I don't want another IBS attack.

I have to go get ready for the Beast's return with the citrate of magnesium stuff he has to down that will clean him out.  They give you about two half gallons of it to down in two hours.  Then it's like....WHOA!  It's not fun.

Love you all.  Have a great day even if you DO have to work.  Oh, and that poor little toddler that was found in that field in Indiana 20 miles from her home (and the sole survivor of her family, I believe) has died.  How terribly sad. 

Whilst I was in the hospital a woman came to see me.  She was there to help me apply for Medicaid to get more of my medical bills paid.  She also said that I would probably qualify for some food stamps.

So, we jump through all the hoops for that crap, and we had to do it fast because all the papers had to be 'in' by February 28th.  We got it done by the 27th, and the lady at the hospital [bless her heart!] faxed all the info to where it had to go and The Boy made a couple trips back and forth to make sure she had what she needed.

Then yesterday [Saturday] The Boy tells me he got a notice that the food stamp application was turned down because all the papers needed weren't there.  I was not surprised, even though we DID send all the papers they requested.

The Boy had thrown some mail on my desk and I saw one addressed to me that looked 'different' so I opened it.  It had some kind of 'Hoosier Health Card' in it.  I called The Boy out to the living room to show it to him.  But there was nothing that explained what the card was FOR.  I told him, "Maybe this means I was approved for Medicaid?"    He could only shrug because he didn't know either.  I put the card in my wallet.  I figure I'll find out sooner or later.

Today [Sunday] I was looking for something and I ran across some mail I had not seen.  So I opened it.  The first one I read was dated 3/01 and it said I was not approved for food stamps OR Medicaid.  OK.

I open the next letter.  It's dated 3/02 and it says I've been approved for food stamps AND Medicaid.

WHAT THE FREAKEN HELL?????

I called The Boy out here to see the mails and after seeing the dates he said "I guess we'll just have to call them tomorrow and find out what the hell is going on."

Oh yes.  "I'm from The Government and I'm Here to Help."

Prove it.
.

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Today...yep, another bad day.  Almost no sleep last night, then pain, pain, pain today but mostly from the area I hit on the desk last week.  I couldn't move without it hurting me.  What's weird is if I sat up, the pain diminished but I was still tired so I spent most of the day trying, with slight success, to find a comfortable position and drift off. 

That's what I spent my day doing.  Drifting in and out of sleep, helping Chewlee out a time or two (mostly peeling an orange, opening up a popsicle or two and admiring her handiwork).  She has gotten really good at drawing her own hand now.  No more need to dip it into paint like it has been for the past several years.  I really had to admire the one she did for me today.  It was really perfect and adorable.  All with no help.

Chewlee spent most of the day getting under her Papa's feet.  His temper was fraying; I could tell.  I spotted her once on her hands and knees, behind Baron trying to put this toy's hand into his butt-hole and yelled at her.  She didn't think she was doing anything bad because she was *using a toy, Grandma!*  I told her it was not nice and Baron wouldn't like it.  She got this look on her face that said she didn't believe me. 

I'm reading all about some of the incredible things that have happened the past few days during all the tornadic activities and my heart just alternates between joy and such sadness.  We all need to remember how short life can be as I have said many times.  Say I love you to all those that you do as often as you can. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

It's only 1:30pm but we've already experienced several tornadoes here in NE Alabama.  One county has 9,000 people without power, lots of damage but, thankfully, no deaths and few injuries.  Another county just west of us has 38,000 without electricity, a hell of a lot of damage but, again, no deaths.

The schools in almost every county here have already let the pupils go home because more wild weather will be hitting and we won't be spared here like we were earlier.  The Beast went to pick up Chewlee from school since the Princess was working.  He finally bought a booster for her for in the car.  I had to tell him where they were located in Walmart.  You would think common sense would tell him but...NO!  He's a man.  We had one but, when he traded in the car, he left it in there and never missed it.  Why would he?  *I* was the one picking up Chewlee every day at the time.

The HH nurse was here, bright and early, to change my bandages.  She had new orders for adding calcium alginate strips on both wounds.  She had to show me for the one because I have to change that one every day.  The other is the one the wound sucker goes on.    I don't have to touch that one, thankfully.

Just before the nurse, Laura, got here, my little box started beeping to tell me a leak was detected.  We checked the wound and it wasn't there.  Had to be in the tubing.  Thank goodness the company provided enough of all that stuff that we just changed it all.

So I'm here with Chewlee who only wanted popsicles while she waits for her mother to pick her up.  I asked her to get me a can of *my* soda (Sprite Zero) and she feigns stupidity.  So I hobble out to the pantry with my special purse over my shoulder and my cane, show her what I want in the pantry, turn around and the can goes flying out of my hand, hits the bowl to the dog's self-feeder dry dog food container and I hear, *Oh shit!* from Chewlee.  She then puts her hand over her mouth because she knows that's NOT something SHE should ever say and I look at her with my eyebrow raised.  Then she asks, *Do you have to throw that away now?*  I asked, *Why would I throw it away?  I just have to let it sit now and settle down before I open it.*

That's when she cocks her head and says (with hand on hip), *Grandma, just get another one!*  Well, duh!  I should have thought of that, right? 

She asked why Papa picked her up so I told her about the coming storms.  She immediately assumes that it's going to be dark so she needs *her* flashlight.  I told her she didn't get one unless we had no electricity.  She tried to come up with a good reason to take possession of it then but I am more stubborn than she is.  I hate having my batteries run out just when we need one.  She would have it run down in nothing flat if I let her take one.  She thinks they are to play with.

So far, no sign of the coming storm but it could be upon us within the hour according to the weatherman.  My weatherbug keeps chirping like crazy with it's warning so I had best close this.  Hope to talk to you later and let you know what's gone on here.  Bratfink is chewing her nails over their green sky but no sirens there so far.  Say a little prayer for all of us in the path of the coming storm lines.  Love you all. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Why is it little ones are in such a hurry to grow up?  I remember I was, too, but I barely remember the reasons.  Every year it changed.  I watch Chewlee and it both surprises me and makes me sad.

She gets so excited about going with *Papa* to bible study and tonight was no exception.  I had to change her shirt from school and, when I wanted to comb her hair, she insisted she could *do it herself*!  First she started with a comb but she always manages to tangle it in her long hair (it's waist-length and very fine).  I laughed as I got it untangled and told her to get me the brush, which she got but kept away from me while she did it herself.  When she thought she was done, she presented herself and said, *See?*  Her hair looked so flyaway that I put my hand out and told her she *almost had it right* and she let me tame it for her.  She then looked in the mirror and was satisfied but took the brush away and left my room.  She's taken to hiding *her* brush since everything I use on her or for her automatically is hers.  Today she was trying to claim the flashlight I let her use during our blackout as *hers* and put it in her purse.  I told her that I got it for her to USE or BORROW but it stayed here with me for when we needed it.  She wasn't happy about that but shrugged and let me put it up without further discussion.

When they got home, she said she was *very* hungry and wanted some pancakes.  I told her to go ask Grandpa because he was the waffle and pancake maker here.  So she did.  He, however, made waffles and she told him in no uncertain terms that she only at waffles from the toaster and what she wanted was pancakes.  She settled for a popsicle (her choice without any discussion or suggestion on OUR parts).  She can be so matter-of-fact in her speech.  She actually told me, after being told to sit down to drink her milk, that she could do what she wanted to in THIS house.  She had her glass of milk in one hand and her other hand on her hip as she told me this.  I told her she was greatly mistaken because this was MY house.  She just shot me a dirty look but went and sat down grumpily.

Other than that, today was pretty blase',  My damn VAC system was sucking like there was no tomorrow but....the droplets were small all through the 10 feet of tubing attached between me and it.  At one point, I started checking it for leaks because I couldn't believe it was doing it for so long.  It finally stopped.  I find it unnerving when it does it continuously like that.  It kept me up last night and made me miss my HBO therapy today.  Poor Belinda was disgusted and I don't blame her but we rescheduled my appointments to start at 1pm next week so I don't have to worry about oversleeping.  The doctor likes it better because then he doesn't have to come in early or cut his lunch short for my time with him on Wednesday.  So, all is well in La La Land. 

More bad weather heading for us tomorrow and possible tornadoes for OUR area.  That means an early post or a very late one because I will lose my internet for sure.  Love you all and please stay safe if you are in the storm area. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast and I slept in because we were both up late last night.  He didn't go to bed until 1am and I went shortly afterward.  However, I went to sleep in my recliner because I had to charge up the damn V.A.C. unit and the charging plug is the worst I have ever seen.  It slips out very easily.  It's probably the most poorly designed one I have ever seen.  Even the HH nurse said she had heard that complaint from others.  This time, she says when the company sends her their questionnaire, she is going to make sure to mention that.  I gather the company does that to find out what problems they might have had while applying it to a patient (me). 

If I sleep on the recliner, I am less likely to pull it out because I pretty much don't move around much.  Thankfully, it was fully charged when I woke up.  The Beast beat me up by a few minutes and already had made coffee.  Ahh!  Nothing like fresh, hot coffee first thing in the morning.  After a little bit, I took my morning pills and then ate some Greek yogurt (love that stuff!  Has a heavier texture and is more filling.) before getting dressed and ready to go.  The Beast had someplace to go but got home before we had to leave for the Wound Center.

I did my time in the hyperbaric chamber while watching NCIS on USA.  The two hours just flew by since the episodes were new to me.  Then it was time to see the doctor....oh boy!  I swear to you, the doctor just HAS to hurt me at least once when I see him.  I know he doesn't mean it but the lidocaine paste they put on the wounds only does so much.  At least this time it was only once but, of course, it had to be on the wound that gets the V.A.C.  That guarantees that it will hurt for a while once the unit is in place.  I took a pain pill when I got home but it takes a while for it to kick in.  Bratfink got all worried when I told her I was having some pain and wanted me to either call the doctor or go to the emergency room.  I knew what was causing it and told her it would pass.  I don't think she believed me but.....

When the Beast picked me up he had Chewlee with him and she was so excited.  She told me all about the animals she had seen when she went with Papa to the Pet Store.  He had to pick up some more dog food for Baron and Chewlee was fascinated with all the animals there.  She was also totally floored over being able to take Baron in the store with them.  She just gushed telling me about the rabbits, fish, puppies, kitties and guinea pigs she saw.  Then she started on the birds!  She loved getting as close to them as she did since wild birds fly away and these birds were caged.  She was so adorable and wanted Papa to take us to see them so I would be as excited as she was.

It had just turned dark when the storm we were expecting hit us.  I had just warned Bratfink that she might lose me online because it suddenly started lightning and thundering.  Before I could say more, BAM!  The lights went out.  I heard Chewlee's voice say, *What happened?  Papa, what's going on?*  I knew she would be scared but also that giving her a flashlight (even though the Beast had put a light on that he hooked up to the solar system).  I grabbed one from where I keep it close to my desk, turned it on and Chewlee was at my side in a flash.  She took the flashlight with a casual, *I need this, Grandma.  I'll be back in a minute!*  Yeah, sure!  I know her better than that.  I heard the Beast yell at her to NOT shine it in the dog's face (Baron is terrified of flashlights for some reason and he ran to cower behind the Beast's recliner) and, when Chewlee got close to him with the flashlight, he ran lickety-split into the bedroom to hide.

She walked around like a big shot, shining the light on the ceiling and walking around shining it into the bedrooms, the bathroom, looking for Baron (I swear she was tickled over watching him panic!) and then coming in to my room where I had decided to take a nap until the lights were back on.

When I woke up, Chewlee was gone but still no electricity.  I ended up calling the electric company because the Beast said the lights were on all around us.  They took the information I gave them after assuring the woman we had checked OUR breakers.  All the neighbors were without lights, too.  They said there would be a follow-up call before the crews left our area.  It took about another half hour before we got our electricity back and got the call to make sure we had power.

I was starving by then but, luckily, we had some taquitos we could microwave.  I don't know if we were just hungry or what but they sure hit my spots.  The poor Beast had a pot roast, potatoes, carrots, etc. in our slow-cooker and it still had about 2 hours to go when we lost our power.  The potatoes hadn't been in there long so they were still hard.  We'll end up with that for dinner tomorrow along with some nice hot dinner rolls.  Yum!

What's funny is the Beast went to turn the pot roast over at one time and Chewlee saw it.  I heard her say, *Oh yuk!  What's that?*  The Beast told her and then she said, *Papa, I don't want to eat that.  Give me noodle soup, okay?*  When the Beast told her pot roast was good, she just shook her head and said, *I don't eat that stuff.  I only like chicken and pig chicken.*  Pig chicken has been a joke in our family for years.  That's pork of any kind if you haven't guessed.  She grabbed onto that name when we first used it for her so it passes to another (third) generation of our family.    It's true.  She doesn't like beef for some reason.  Maybe because it requires more chewing, who knows?  She'll get over it eventually, I'm sure.

Time to get this posted.  Love you all and I wish the best of days to everyone.  Be good.  Stay healthy and safe.