Sunday, April 16, 2023

 Sunday, April 16, 2023

  I was awake at a ridiculously early hour. I managed to doze a little and get my morning-in-bed exercises done. I was up shortly after six am. I had church today. I made it there in plenty of time. I got a space in the church parking lot. Fewer people were sitting on the south lanai than usual. The large extended Samoan family wasn't there. The two men from the family who serve as ushers were: Maybe the rest of the family sat inside the church with the refrigeration.

  The priest of the mass was the one I didn't particularly like. His presentation is closer to hell, fire, and brimstone speaker than instructions on how to be a good person than I like. He also speaks with a strong foreign accent. I can't even understand what he says. Just as well.

  Fr. Lio asks for weekly money for a new 'chiller.' The huge air conditioning unit, which is necessary to cool the church, is rusted. The church is one block from the seashore. The salt air does a number on metal. Judy told me it is kept cold because he suffers under his vestments. Fr. Lio may be comfortable. The rest of us have to don winter clothes to be okay.

  After mass, I looked for Judy and Paulette. I noticed that one of our parishioners was extremely thin. Was he okay? Judy was talking to someone, but Paulette was free. She knew the man was sick, but she wasn't sure what his problem was.  

  Don approached Paulette and asked if she knew the name of this young couple's new baby. No, she didn't. The parents were Patricia and Andrew. Their first child was Joseph. Since this family sits on the south lanai each Sunday, I was assigned to learn the new baby's name. I discovered that Patricia was a teacher. As you can imagine, that perked up my ears. Might she be interested in what I do?

  I was about to head home when I remembered I had a Costco package of Pull-Ups in my car. I walked back to my car and got the package. As I approached the steps to the church, I saw a young couple coming down the stairs. I asked the young man if he could carry the package up to the greeters for me. I need both hands to hold the box. There's no way I'm climbing stairs without holding on to a rail. Those days are gone.

 I stopped at Target to pick up more Nature's Miracle. I hoped to find something that would actively dissuade Elsa from pooping on my lanai carpet. No such luck!

 At two pm, I had third-grade KPS. I was prepared to work on academics. She told me her teacher commented on how well she did on division. I did discover one glitch at the end of the session. KPS wanted to play school with her as the teacher. Sounded good to me. She led me through a division problem. She divided 5 into 784,032. I started with the question, "How many times does 5 go into 7?" She didn't know anything about this approach. Which one of us is missing the point? Are they teaching a different procedure now? Who can I ask? Ah, Elijah. I called him after I was through with KPS. It took a minute to get him to understand my question. Dealing with each digit as I did was the only procedure he knew. I have to figure out KPS's confusion- or mine.

  I proposed working on reading. KPS said, "Isn't this session where I get to talk about myself?" Okay. In the previous sessions, she talked about her stressful situation with her mom. KPS lives with her grandmother. KPS's mother was not fit to care for her when she was born. In our last session, KPS complained about how her mom often yelled at her. I spoke a lot about my childhood situation with a problematic mom and how I survived and had a good life. I also talked about setting boundaries with her. However, I was in my thirties when I did it and in a strong relationship with the man who became my husband. Setting boundaries with a difficult person is risky. You can lose them for good.

  Today, she had only good news. She was doing much better in school and with her mom. I asked her what made the difference. She said, "You." Wow! I know I'm good, but I have no idea what I did that caused this change.

  She told me that she told her mom that she didn't want to be spoken to harshly. (Not her words.) Her mom made an 1800 in response. Wow! The two of them fight over which one loves the other more. They are happy with each other. Holy cow! Did I do something to make this possible? If so, what?!!! When I told her how I set boundaries with my mom, I warned her it might be risky and that it was asking a lot from a nine-year-old. It sounds like she took the risk, and it paid off. Holy cow!

  KPS's grandmother agreed that we should meet twice a week, one for academics and one for personal issues. I wanted to support KPS in dealing with all the difficulties she has with her mom. Looks like I won't have to serve this function. Hmmm! I can't imagine Mom doing this well all the time. I must speak to her grandmother to tell her what is going on. I don't want to get paid for something her grandmother doesn't want. We'll see. I'm a bit confused.

    At four p.m., I had second-grade M. I asked her how she was doing in math. They were still working on adding multiple two-digit numbers by tens. She described the process perfectly, and it was clear she was strong in this area. We worked on reading.

  I used a third-grade story I got from an online service. M made many small errors along the way, but she corrected them. Her decoding was good. Her comprehension was excellent.

    While my arms felt better, my right hip felt worse. My PT, Katie, said she was concerned that the pain I reported while walking in my right hip indicated arthritis. It feels like my left hip did before I got the hip replacement. I limited my step goal on my pedometer app to 5,000 from 10,000 after the fall. My right foot feels much better. It's neither broken nor sprained. It's just badly bruised, black and blue. It's not 100% better, so I'm still taking it easy. I will have to continue the limited steps now because of my hip. I considered contacting my orthopedic surgeon to ask for an evaluation. Maybe I'm up for a second hip replacement. I'm not having problems with the first one, and I love this surgeon.

  I texted Sandor that the eyeglass frame was damaged when I fell. I didn't see it at first. I've had trouble with glasses ever since I had cataract surgery. I wasn't worse off after the surgery, but neither was I better off. My failing eyesight is a bother. I do so much with my eyes, reading and writing, mostly on electronic devices. It's all hard on my eyes. Sandor had already ordered the new lenses for my eyeglasses. He assured me he could find a frame that would be good with the new lenses.  

 Sandor asked how I was recovering from my fall. The biggest problem is my infected index finger. I broke a nail as I fell, and it punctured my cuticle. We poured hydrogen peroxide over the wound. I learned hydrogen peroxide is good for only three months after it's opened and only a year unopened. My container had been open for the last ten years. It couldn't have done much to clean out my wound. I have been soaking my finger in hot water with Epson salt and applying tea tree oil. It seems to be working, but it's not eliminated. I may have to take antibiotics. I have some on tap to be used for my dental procedures. I need to do that for the next two years because of the hip replacement. Sandor said he could give me amoxicillin if I needed it. I ordered more online from Kaiser. It will have to be approved by my doctor.

  Sandor and I shared infected finger and toe stories. He had an awful, infected toe. He went to the emergency room in this small Ohio town where he attended school. His doctor was blonde and blue-eyed. When the doctor punctured his infected toe, Sandor cursed in Spanish. The doctor said in perfect Cuban Spanish, "Watch your potty mouth!" Both men asked each other what they were doing in the middle of Ohio. Sandor was attending school; the good doctor was doing his residency.

  I told the story of an infected hangnail. It looked like the infection was gone, but my mom recognized it was just encapsulated. On her advice, I went to a doctor. He offered to lance it or give me antibiotics. I took the prescription, but I was sure he was wrong. I went about my day. I visited my mom in her mother-in-law's apartment in the late afternoon. "Hey, Mom. Look at this red line." My mother calmly said, "That's blood poisoning." I went to the drugstore immediately to fill out the prescription. I am watching my infected finger for any red lines.

  I started watching Yellowstone last night. Maybe not. Shimicago is almost too much for me. Besides, the next episodes of Schimicago and Ted Lasso weren't coming out till next Wednesday. I watched some of Season 4 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.