Tuesday, April 11, 2023

 Tuesday, April 11, 2023

 I went to bed around nine am. I needed to sleep to recover from my fall. I slept well during the night but was up around four am. I knew because I could hear the roosters crowing. When I got up, I felt fine. Nothing was sore except my toe; that hurt. I discovered it hurt less when I walked on the outside of the foot. I taped the little toe to the next one so it couldn’t spread out and cause pain. That helped.

  I still had to determine if the toe was broken or sprained. I used my electric toothbrush to do so. If you hold anything that vibrates against a wound area, fractured or broken bones hurt like hell. There was no response. At least I knew it wasn’t broken. There’s nothing they could do about it anyway. It’s the same treatment, no matter what: Tape the foot and reduce movement. Bones heal faster than ligaments. I was looking at a six-week healing period.

  Once I discovered I could walk with the taped toe and walking on my heels, I headed out. I got about one thousand steps in on my first outing. I reduced my step goal on my pedometer app to five thousand steps from the ten thousand two hundred I had set for myself.

  Jean, my Hanai sister, called. I told her about my down mood and my bad fall. She said I was probably down even more after my fall. No, it worked like shock therapy. It snapped me out of it.

 When I woke up from my mid-morning nap, I had a text from Paulette saying she was home. It had been nearly a week since I ran out of Kangen water. Paulette was so busy with the cars I didn’t have a chance to get up there to get more. I texted her to ask if she was still available. Yes. Elsa was immediately at my side as I picked up the blue plastic water bottles. She knows what they mean. She hopped in the car, and we were off. She made those funny noises when she wanted me to do something as I drove up there. She doesn’t understand she won’t get there sooner if I open the door before we get there. She loves visiting Auntie P. I do, too.

 I was supposed to have two appointments today. First grade Steven’s mom texted today to say it was his first day back to school, and it had been rough. Could we skip today? Sure. I worry that the mom will think Steven’s problems will clear up independently. It’s unlikely. He has not shown improvement on his own and is resistant. We have to get him as early as possible. Otherwise, his frustration and shame will worsen as he moves up the grades and is further behind his classmates. He’s a bright child, three years ahead of his classmates in math but behind in reading.  

  I see Steven as being immature for his age, too. He was a preemie, which explains some of it. I don’t know if this is common for preemies. I would love to see him left behind to repeat first grade. His mom was super gifted and skipped two grades. It was hard on her. Steven is in the grade-appropriate grade, but he is actually ‘younger’ than his peers.

 Third-grade KPS’s grandmother texted to ask if we could reschedule. KPS had a dance class she wanted to go to, so I put her down for Thursday at four.

  Mei brought me some food. I had it for dinner: this wonderful spicy pulled chicken with some cucumbers. There was also a spare rib thrown in. I wasn’t hungry enough to eat all that food, so I would spread it out over two days.

 Elsa didn’t poop on our evening walk. Yvette volunteered to take her out. I checked the lanai. There on the carpet was the evening’s delivery. I texted Yvette that walking her would not be necessary. Damn!