Friday, January 22, 2021

 Friday, January 22, 2021    

 

            My alarm went off at some odd hour of the morning. I ignored it. I slept right through it until it stopped on its own. It went off again at the correct time. I had had a wonderful night's sleep. 

            I didn't speak to Dorothy this morning. She was dealing with a car problem. She went to buy new tires at Costco. When she went to pick the car up, they told her they couldn't do the work because they couldn't find the tire lock key. She had no idea what that was. She thinks she came across it, didn't know what it was, and threw it out. The mechanics told her it was a common problem. She had to drive to Princeton to the Toyota dealer to buy a new one. She thought it would be very expensive, but it was only $50. That's nothing to sneeze at, but it was a relief when compared with what she feared it would be. 

            I called the Donners instead. These are my friends Carol and John, whose last name is not Donner. They bought a camper several years ago and traveled all over North America. They had plans to set out for a two-month jaunt. Their farthest destination was Arizona. Carol said she hoped they would make it over the mountains before the snow set in. This prompted me to think of the Donner Party. I asked who would eat whom should it come to it. Carol said they would probably eat their dog, Zoey, first. So now they are known as the Donners. They were currently somewhere in Texas with plans of resting for four days after a long drive from Louisiana. Hopefully, I have remembered all the details of this trip correctly. 

            When I got home, I checked the credit card companies to see if the charge was posted. Finally!!! It only took three and a half days. I paid off the charges. It would then take 24 hours before the payment was registered. I called Katherine of the Provision Solar company to tell her to place more charges on the credit cards on Monday. I calculated the possible amount, so I still had enough to pay the balance of the stem cell charge without going over my credit limit.   What a game! But think of all the reward points I'm getting. 

            I called the credit card company back later in the day to ask how this process could be sped up. She was clear; the speed with which a charge is posted depends on the service provider. There is something they have to do with their bank for that to happen. I told Katherine that I would appreciate it if she asked the folks in accounting to see if they could figure out how to make this happen. I'm sure they never had to think about it before. There is a procedure in place, and no one knows what goes on. It's worked, so why question it.  

            I had a session with D at 11:30. We worked on writing the story in an organized way from the notes we generated on Wednesday. I told him he could start with the characters, the setting, or a plot point. It was his choice. I tried to email the story to his mom. I couldn't figure out how to find it to attach it. Microsoft has improved its program, so I can no longer get it to work. Thank you, Microsoft.

            I spent a good part of the day working on the PowerPoint presentation. I keep on making revisions. Dorothy and I will have to work with three versions and collate them. The version she's made had some color effects; there's the uncolored version I have where I have made some changes to the slides, and then there's my script, which includes the words on the slides and whatever else I want to say. I haven't made all the changes to the slides because I want Dorothy to help me choose what sounds best. She is fantastic to work with.

            At two, I left for my medical appointment. The other day, I scratched an itch on my belly and found a hard spot just above my belly button. I had Yvette check it. As a massage therapist, I figured she would be familiar with the way the abdomen should feel. She said I should get it checked. I email my primary at Kaiser. She gave me a choice of an ultrasound or just having someone poke my belly. I chose the ultrasound.  

            When someone called to set up the appointment, she said my doctor had also ordered a mammogram. Why didn't I make both appointments at the same time? Fine. I had the mammogram at 2:30. The tech came out and told me that my appointment had been made for the Hilo clinic, not the Kona. Hilo is over an hour away. While I could do without the mammogram, I was concerned about getting the ultrasound. I wanted to eliminate cancer as a possibility. If it was possible, I would have to reconsider getting the stem cell transplant on Saturday.  

            The mammogram tech said she would talk to the ultrasound tech. The ultrasound tech came out at about 2:45 to call me in. This appointment was made correctly for Kona. No problem. I could see the layers of skin, fat, and muscle on the screen. I could also see I was not pregnant, but something was amiss. I told her that my concern was making sure I didn't have cancer because of the stem cell transplant. She said, "Cancer is the least of your problems." I didn't ask her to explain what she meant because she had already given me more information than she should, and I had the answer I was really interested in. I immediately informed Dorothy, Yvette, and Judy of the results when I got home. I figured I would have them sometime early next week. I had them by 8 pm.  

            I just happened to check my email, and there they were. "Fat-containing periumbilical hernia." "No herniated bowel contents." The best of all hernia options. However, I want to know why I have abdominal problems worthy of the Octomom. Not only do I have this hernia, but I also have a prolapsed something or another which causes its own problems. I haven't had any children; I haven't spent any time lifting heavy weights, I have never suffered from chronic constipation, and I have never been overweight. I have several medical problems for which I am completely against type. Fortunately, so far, none of these problems are serious. I am assuming the hernia is an annoyance and not something that will prompt emergency surgery if any surgery. However, maybe this explains my expanded waist. I wonder how long I've had this problem. Mike complained about my belly. The nerve. I pointed out that I didn't look bad for 72, 75, 78, and he always had a belly. He said, yes, he knew, but I didn't have one when he met me – when I was 32. 

            I got notification from Laura and Julia at the Step-Up Program that they had someone who would work on putting together programs to help tutors deal with the problems they encountered. The woman would be interested in helping me put my presentation together. Very exciting.

            I also got a notification that it was a movie night. It would be a 7 pm their time, which was 5 pm mine. I figured I could join them for an hour before I had to take Elsa for a walk. It was a fun exchange as we all talked before they played the movie. The transmission of the film was downright bad, but it was wonderful sharing it with others.

            Julia told me that the Sep-Up Tutoring program was being written up in some educational periodical. I would be mentioned in it. Julia said that J's mother spoke very highly of me. The other day, she asked permission to take a picture of J and me on Zoom. I wasn't exactly gussied up for the occasion, but okay. I had no idea what it was for. 

            Laura also said that tutors said they didn't know how to help their students break up larger words. I will be addressing this problem in my presentation, but it's a subtopic. I wrote Julia and said that I could make videos in response to tutor requests for help. They could collect a library. Assuming I survive all that is going on, Covid, my hernia, etc., this sounds like a fun direction to move in. I love solving educational problems.

            One additional problem, Elsa was off her food again tonight. She usually gobbles her food down. I see an appointment with the vet in her future. I'm not up for losing her.