Thursday, August 26, 2021
For the past several weeks, I’ve had these visciously itching little red sores all over my feet and ankles! I didn’t figure out what they were until this week, though I had been using Cortizone anti-itch cream and ointment. This week I added Caladryl (calamine lotion plus a topical analgesic). Finally, I found a WebMD slideshow (#4 slide) showing acupressure to relieve the itch of eczema.
Speaking of acupuncture, I had a group acupuncture scheduled for yesterday, Wednesday, August 25, at 1:50 p.m. In the past, the Acupuncture Department would send a confirmation email the next day (or same day) and then send a reminder text the day before the appointment. While I had this appointment uppermost in my mind every day for the past week, yesterday (Wednesday), the day of the appointment, I totally forgot the appointment. Forgot?!? That simply is not like me! I didn’t remember it until 5:30 p.m. yesterday, and it upset me terribly. It wasn’t just that I missed out on something that I have been looking forward to for a month, something that relaxes and soothes me, but it was the fact that my own mind did not register it!
I had a terrible evening, even though I watched my soap operas and colored (with my new Castle Arts pencils!), but even that did not help me feel better. I left my computer shortly after 11:00 p.m. and went to bed, much to Linda’s surprise. And Emily’s surprise. (But I took her to her pee pad anyway.)
I had a terrible night, up to pee every couple of hours, and putting hydrocortizone cream on my feet and ankles, trying to not scratch but not being very successful at not scratching! About 4 a.m. I realized that I had not taken my PM pills—including the tramadol—so that’s why I wasn’t able to sleep. Fortunately, I had a small stash of tramadol pills on my nightstand (for whenever Linda needs an extra one in the night), so I took one (along with my thyroid pill). I must have dozed off within a half hour. I woke again at 6-something, got up to pee, and tried to go back to sleep. But there was that viscious itching! I did not go back to sleep, with the main thought in my head being the need to call the Acupuncture Department and reschedule the group acupuncture session.
I got up about 8:30 a.m., checked my Fasting Blood Glucose (113 mg/dL), and turned on the coffee pot (which was set to come on at 9 a.m.). I took kefir to Linda and poured Almond Breeze unsweetened chocolate almond milk for myself. I checked Outlook email, turned on the New York Times “Read Aloud,” and took my AM pills. I tried calling the Kaiser Acupuncture Department at 8:37 a.m., only to find out they were closed until 9 a.m. I tried again at 9:11 a.m. and had to leave voicemail. I kept checking my phone every few minutes to see if they had called back, but I decided I needed to make breakfast for all of us. Which I did, and poured coffee for Linda and me. After that, I checked my phone and found they had tried to call back but they did not leave me a message, so I called them again and finally got a live person.
The short version is that my group acupuncture that had been scheduled for yesterday (Wednesday) had been cancelled! But they did not notify me, by text or phone, even though she swore that “we called everyone who had been scheduled.” Now I’m feeling a mixture of relief and anger. I realize that if I had remembered the appointment yesterday, and if I had asked Linda to drive me there, and then found out it had been cancelled, I would have been beyond pissed!
So I have this sudden epiphany that Someone was watching out for me! *Long, deep sigh!*
As for the flea bites, Linda ordered some natural-ingredient flea repellent that we can (and did) spray on our bedding, Emily’s bedding, stroller, carpet around my desk, and anywhere else that fleas might inhabit. Linda also put hydrocortizone cream on Emily’s back and base of her tail, which she tries to chew.
Oh, yes, here’s the Epilogue. The mail carrier came to my front door (just as I was trying to check my blood with my meter), so I answered the door with my meter still in one hand and took the two prescription refills with my other hand, which apparently confused my mind. Because instead of locking the screen door (which I have been doing ever since last Christmas when Tom sprayed the mobile home and got water in the front door lock), I shut the front door and locked it then could not get it unlocked. So I had to take Emily in the trike basket and ride the trike instead of walking. I couldn’t take the trike up the steps to the fish pond so I found a table with an umbrella and Emily and I sat there for awhile. She was very patient to sit there while I read.
When we got home, I ordered some WD-40 from Amazon, which won’t be here for a week (September 2)! And just resigned myself to taking the trike for our walks for a week. After some persistent tries, I finally got the front door unlocked from the inside.
And now I’m ready to watch General Hospital, Days of Our Lives, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. I might even be desperate enough to watch Dr. Richard K. Bernstein’s seminar on gestational diabetes. Who knows?!?
