Mom has the flu over Christmas but she is over it and she came down on Sunday to exchange presents. I got gifts to help sleep and a cute cat themed tote.

The sleep gifts were the Hug Sleep [link] Which was a Shark Tank thing. It's a light compression swaddling blanket cocoon for adults. She got the one with a hood which also has an opening for the feet. Looking at the sizing options Mom got me a size larger than is recommended but I think the size down might have been too much. I'm not sure. It's cozy and does helpe relax. It's kind of the same effect of a weighted blanket but without the weight.

I haven't slept in it a whole night because I got warm (our bed room is always warm) and also it felt a little claustrophobic at one point. But it's comfy and I can feel myself relaxing ...not as much on my legs that isn't tight enough but I put my weighted blanket just over my legs the other day and it was perfect.

She also got me some gummies and I tried one last night since I have today off. It was working but M was restless and everytime I was almost asleep he would move around and wake me up. It also seemed to wear off around 4 am and I was awake for a few hours. Now it's after noon and I'm feeling a little bit of sleep medicine hangover so next time I ont be taking a full gummy.

Penny has hurt her back leg and is limping around. I was looking at pet stairs but realized that we don't have enough floor space between the bed and the dresser or the bed and the wall to have one and not have it in the way. So I am going to come up with some other solution.

(And your crepe sounds strangely familiar to me!)

It was delicious when we had it in France, and it also was delicious inexpertly made in my kitchen.

I'm really sorry to hear about your dog.

Guess who woke up with cold symptoms this morning?

Oh, god damn it.

Mmm savory crepes. I went to a crepe place last month in Palm Springs but it was weird cheesy crepes that were really just a holder for the filling, and not like, filling folded into a crepe, if that makes sense? It was not what I wanted from a crepe.

Askye that sounds intriguing! I recently pulled out my weighted blanket again but realized when I bought it it was about 10% of my body weight, but I’ve lost so much that now it’s closer to 20%! No wonder it felt heavier.

Dana sorry about the cold!! Boo.

I've been reading along and nodding and sending comforting ~ma, but I am still suffering Covid brain and can't seem to organize thoughts as well as I'd like. The whole writing and thinking thing gives me a headache.

I did adult up and went to the doctor yesterday. He gave me meds for my lingering cough, and told me that it may take a couple of months to feel normal. Then they made an appointment for me to do the annual physical thing this afternoon. Sigh. This is a new doctor since I moved so I printed out a ton of stuff for his history. I wonder if I can bargain with him like I did my last doctor. Not like he can force me to do anything, but I had a nice relationship with the last one. I only take one prescription, and only do about half the tests they like to do. We shall see!

Hugs to all. I'm sorry I don't have the brain to meara.

It looks like one simple answer to my dad's increased hallucinations is that he hasn't been getting his antipsychotic meds filled since summer of 2022. (Yikes!) So that's been refilled.

I can see where that ball got completely dropped, because I assumed that Dad always gets refills on his meds when they run out, but I think this one ran out of refills and the pharmacy didn't contact the provider to authorize a refill. Or it's possible that the pharmacy did contact the provider, and the provider said that Dad needed to come in for a checkup before they would refill the meds, and Dad never did it. And I really haven't kept track of his medical shit because I haven't been willing to take on that responsibility. (He got pretty salty at me during the appointment today when the nurse practitioner asked him what meds he's taking and he pointed at me and said "She knows," and I said "No, I don't." He snapped "Well, why the hell not? You're supposed to remember that stuff for me!" No, sir. No I am not. Write. It. Down.)

At this point, all we know is that the ball got dropped, and the unfortunate upshot to being off his antipsychotic meds is hallucinations and paranoia. So I'm going to set up access to his Kroger pharmacy account so that I can keep an eye on what he's picking up every month. (Picking the meds up isn't a guarantee that he'll take the meds, of course, but he does actually have a pretty good history of taking what he's been prescribed, as long as he actually has it in his house.)

The nurse practitioner agreed that otherwise he does seem more or less mentally sound, with some common age-related memory deficits popping up. But there doesn't seem to be any other reason (disease, brain tumor, etc) for the hallucinations, so hopefully it's just a meds issue, and getting back on them will fix this shit.

My reward for sitting through that appointment was a tasty bean burrito.

Pix, continued sympathy for you and yours. It sucks so much. Tep, I hope your dad's brain goes back to a better space with the meds.

[Redacted primal scream about family health, physical and mental from the adjacent boat to your boats.]

Unrelated, but at what point did Mike Mills turn into Hec? [link]

Or it's possible that the pharmacy did contact the provider, and the provider said that Dad needed to come in for a checkup before they would refill the meds, and Dad never did it. And I really haven't kept track of his medical shit because I haven't been willing to take on that responsibility.

Once again my deep gratitude that my dad was VA eligible. One of the many aspects of care that they are very, very good at. We should all be so lucky.

I know that all of this elder care stuff is looming for me and my husband. Like, if it comes to the point that one or both of my parents need to move out of their house, where most of the living space is upstairs, are they going to refuse to do that? My mother went through it with her mother, and I know she learned some lessons from that, but it's easy to tell yourself you won't be that stubborn and not so easy to do it.

Unrelated, but at what point did Mike Mills turn into Hec? [link]

Heh! My hair's not that long currently but probably will be by summer's end. I wish I could sing his high harmonies and play bass as well.

Tep, I could be spitballing but I suspect that maybe, just maybe, there's a correlation between NOT taking Anti-Psychotic medicine and HAVING hallucinations. Maybe.

That has to be a huge relief though.

EM has been over this morning helping me catch up on papework and folding clothes and whatnot.

As much as I like Xmas lights around I'm getting itchy to Begin The Year In Earnest, so tree will be de-ornamented on Sunday night and taken down Monday morning while Matilda's at school.

I'm wishing all the sick people were getting well.

Oh! I need to poll the populace, as we are now in 2024 and I need to actively plan Jacqueline's memorial.

Originally I had just planned to do it on May 15th - our 20th wedding anniversary. But that's on a Wednesday, and I'm thinking I should just push it to that weekend.

Some folks have mentioned their intent to fly in for her memorial, it seems like Saturday (May 18th) would be the optimal date to accommodate travelers. Maybe people coming in on Thurs or Fri for an informal Buffista F2F kinda thing.

Thoughts?