One of the drawbacks of an otherwise excellent teaching hospital. It was being performed by an attending, a resident and I think an intern? The attending was hands off because he wanted the other two to learn. So they tried seven times, and I finally said, "At what point do we call this a failure?" And they said, "When the attending can't do it." So the attending gave it two tries, and I said, "At what point do we decide to switch to doing this via x-ray?" And the attending said, "Right now." I think he would've kept going. He kept saying how he almost had it, but he could hear that I was Over It, and he backed off.

Sophia, I think that's a perfectly reasonable response.

Dang. That's good that they listened to you,though.

And that is not a nutty response at all, Sophia.

Jesus, amyth, nine times is madness!!

And thinking of my recentish hospital experiences it was bad enough to be there a day, being there for multiple weeks or months is mind-boggling. Though hopefully at least being able to get up and use the bathroom is much more helpful there!

Sophia, saying you're busy until December is TOTALLY fair, that's only a few weeks away, and there's Thanksgiving in there! You're a busy lady which is one of the (many) reasons you regretfully have to leave your position, blah blah blah....I mean, if you totally don't want to go back, you don't have to meet with him at all! (And I suspect that they'll be desperate enough for a long time to take whatever you will give, so keep those boundaries up!!!)

amyth, I know you said the nurses said that happens a lot, but wow that's a lot of stuff for you at once.

I'm glad you stopped them from additional lumbar puncture attempts. I'm pretty sure you can insist that an attending performing the procedure (instead of an intern/resident). It's sometimes hard to advocate for yourself though, I know.

T. also said that since June, 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of our friendship, he wants us to go on a trip anywhere in the world I want to go. I have no idea where I want to go! Any suggestions from the hivemind? It's definitely nice to have things to look forward to (grad school, exciting trip).

Is there any place you have always wanted to go but never have been, maybe because of your ancestry, or a book you read?

If not, are you a lie on a beautiful warm beach person, or more of a see new things person?

Amyth, that is awful! I'm so sorry you had to experience that.

Sophia, you're totally within your right not to deal with him until December.

I had my nieces over today because there was no school. They dealt with some of ltc's toy clutter, and I dealt with the hell of the dining room. Once upon a time I had organized bins with art supplies and toys that are only allowed to be played with outdoors, but apparently when you ask people to put this in this bin or that one they put it in any bin they see. So, those had to be completely reorganized as well as putting together bins of gifts that I have saved for people, a bin for ltc's Christmas gifts, and a bin of gifts she so already been given but hasn't played with yet (those get doled out periodically).

The living room is also my catch all room for anything I don't know what to do with, but I managed to clean it all up. lic's too small clothes have been organized for vw's Stitch, a full bag of junk has been disposed of, and everything in the dining room that didn't have a home has been put away. I couldn't have done any of it without my nieces to grab this, fetch that, move this etc as well as keeping ltc busy and out of the way. Meanwhile, they also reorganized her dress up bin and all her stickers, coloring books, etc. I pay them well, but it's definitely still cheaper than a professional. There's still so much more to do. I want to get everything organized and uncluttered before Christmas so I can have a good, deep cleaning done by professionals.

Wow, that's a lot to get done!

Thanks, I'm exhausted now! I wish my niece's could come over more often, but they don't drive. So, I have to drive them 45 minutes each way, and that is just not feasible during the school year. TCG was dealing with leafpocalypse while we did all this. It really does take 3 people to get things done with ltc, especially if it involves throwing away any of the various bits of trash that she thinks are treasures.

Yikes amyth! I think at that point I'd be telling them to go find one of those docbots from The Matrix with lots of experience at spinal taps!

Sophia, I vote for the throwing-off-a-roof option. You've already contracted the services of a strapping young man and a dumpster, get your money's worth out of them!

You've already contracted the services of a strapping young man and a dumpster, get your money's worth out of them!

LOL! I think Matt has the right plan!!

Inspired by Sophia's heroic work of the last few weeks, I spent my day off tackling multiple stacks of trash in the living room and also scrubbing out the bottom third of the refrigerator (the top 2/3 is not so bad; it's the bottom shelf and the drawers where the horrors lurk), and also mainlined an entire emotionally draining Netflix miniseries (so much so that my dad called in the middle of the last episode and I sent him to voicemail because I didn't have the spoons to deal with the show and him), and now I am thoroughly knackered.

Matilda still needs to be given dessert and bundled off to bed, and at this point I'm fighting to stay awake longer than she does. All I need to do is outlast her by four minutes. I can do that, surely?