Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

 

    I cleaned out one of my bathroom drawers today, looking for the two boxes of Breathe Right Strips. I know I had two full boxes; both were nowhere to be found. Did one of my home health care aides take them? Did I use them and not remember? Either way, they were gone. I found an alternative I had already purchased, Sleep Right Intra-Nasal Breathe Aid. They are plastic gadgets that fit inside each nostril instead of a sticky strip for the top of the nose. I rinse them off each morning and can reuse them for twenty days. I think this solution works better for me. My nose got damaged, banging against my mother's hip for several hours the day I was born. It never bounced back. I have one impressive, deviated septum.

    After a week or so of my Kia Niro taking the charge when I plugged it in, it stopped again. The garage diagnosed it as a loose connection and ordered a replacement part. In the meantime, I had to borrow cars. Judy lent me hers on Tuesday so I could make my rehab appointment. I stopped at Target and then at Costco. Judy called, anxious about me not returning in time for Carol's appointment. Yvette lent me her car on Wednesday so I could go to Ulu Wini. 

      I used my own car on Friday. I had enough bars to make it there and back. I lose a bar with each trip, even though I am cautious. I drive slowly down hills, trying to build up bars. On the flat, I drive on the shoulder of the road at twenty-five miles an hour in a forty-five-mile hour zone.

   Today, I quizzed Adolescent D on his use of the cross-body blending technique for blending words. He reverses letters and sounds. 

When I told him I thought he was resisting using the procedure to decode unfamiliar words, he said, "My way is faster." "yes, your way is faster if you know the word, but when you don't, you're stuck." I made it clear it was my goal for him to read all words quickly. I hoped the cross-body blending would help him embody letters' left-to-right sequencing.

    I also asked him if he believed this work would change his brain. He said no. How many times have I told stories about the brain's ability to change over the last three years? I told him the story of Bach-y-Rita's work with his father after he had a stroke. I cited the research on brain modification resulting from phonics training.

  When I plugged in my phone Monday night, it didn't start charging. I tried every iPhone charging cord I had in the house. None worked. I planned to stop at T-Mobile on my way home from my rehab appointment on Tuesday. As I got into bed for the night, I absent-mindedly plugged the phone by the bedside. The following day, the phone was fully charged.

      I checked the causes for a phone not charging on the internet the next morning.   Dirt in the outlet. It is recommended to use a nonmetallic toothpick to clean it. I had a plastic one. I got some dirt out. All the charging cords worked.  

    I stopped off at T-Mobile after rehab anyway. The internet information said it would open at ten. A sign on the door announced that the holiday hours started at eleven. I was the first one there and the first one in. They told me my outlet was filthy. She had a static-free brush and worked at it for a few minutes. She said it was still dirty. I ordered a set of static-free brushes online when I got home.

   When I do my morning gentle seated yoga, there are some moves where I raise my arms. I will never be able to raise my left arm as high as I could before my accident. The reverse shoulder replacement permanently limits my joint range. I can get the right arm to a one hundred eighty-degree angle and the left arm thirty degrees less. However, I still can't raise my left arm to its full potential. When I do my arm raises in my morning gentle seated yoga session, I raise the left arm as high as possible with my strength and then pull it up further with the right hand. The passive range of motion promises the potential. I have a way to go before I reach my dead end.