I was up late last night, I worked on a stand up bathroom shelf organizer with drawers till about 1:30 in the morning. It was Ikea still put together job. The instructions weren’t even in different languages; there were just pictures. That was about two hours of my life I’ll never get back. I will enjoy throwing that thing in the dumpster when this is all over and we move home! So, I’ve been tired today with the late night assembly, minus the mental exhaustion of this day.
I’m just not on board with going out of state unless we have to. So, I won’t stress or even plan anything out in my head that doesn’t involve Methodist. We’re maintaining the status quo right now, we found “ticket” to getting the fluid off, as the kept it up doctor said yesterday. If we can maintain, even in the hospital, we can hold for a few months. As my mama always said, you can beat a bear with a stick for a little while! I’m praying we find the “ticket” or stick if you will to keep the fluid at bay at home. Even if we’re visiting the clinic for IV Bumex pushes a few times a week, it’s better than being admitted, not to stop.
There was a problem with our AC in the apartment. When I first moved in, the thermostat would cut off when I turned it down low at night. I checked, and there was a bad battery that I replaced, bad like it looked like it was burned bad. That solved he random shut off problems but now it wouldn’t get below 70. It was cold at the vent but not blowing much. So, I put a ticket in via the resident app. I told them they couldn’t enter without me because of Tank, and I’d be there between 3-5. They showed up at one, and thankfully, we had the Ring off our wish list and installed. I answered, he spoke to me in Spanish at first, making me feel at home! I told him I’d be there at three, and he said no problem and that he’d be back then. He promptly took off on his stand-up scooter with his little ladder over the handle bars!
We’d had the hospitalist call our nurse and say to pull the central line. We’d had the nurse multiple times and she immediately fought back without us saying anything. We finally told her to tell them that unless Dr. Nair wants it pulled, we would say no and that we wanted a solid home plan before it’s pulled anyway. I left to head home to meet the maintenance guy Amanda called on my walk from the bus stop. She said the “keep it up” cardiologist said they’d take care of us and not to worry. Reassuring Amanda, he told her “People owe us, we’ll get you taken care of!”
When I got home, there was a small package I couldn’t think of what it was. I had rigged out Tanks leash with the apartment and mailbox keys along with the key fob to get in the complex gates. I had ordered a key chain with a picture of Zoey to put on the leash so she could go on walks with Tank and me. It was quite literally on the slow boat from China as my mother would say and had just arrived. I sent a picture to Amanda and I’m sure there were water works.
The maintenance guy showed up with help and they decided the coil needed to be cleaned and got to work quickly. They even pulled the blower motor and serviced it. Taking their time, I think they did a good job and I’m glad we had it done before Amanda was there. They both seemed to like Tank, one would say “Tank” every time he walked by! Tank was in his new big bed doing a time out since he thought he needed to be a HVAC apprentice. He wasn’t too happy but was a good boy and stayed put mostly until he was sprawled out on the rug with everyone stepping over him!
After the AC was fixed, I took Tank for a walk and then headed back to the hospital. I needed to stop by another pet store first. I wanted new engraved tags for the Tank’s harness and collar with our Houston address and phone number. No luck, the selection was slim. I also stopped to get fries from Chick-fil-A. I’d already planned to go by today when I saw a sign last week that you could get a rodeo tumbler with a mobile order. With my free Yukon tumbler and fries in hand, I made my way to the hospital, vowing not to forget that I drove there this time.
While I was gone, someone with our insurance called Amanda to say that since we were approved (by the insurance) to be listed at Methodist, we now had access to the travel benefits. We’d used this before to cover our hotel bill the entire time we were there during the first transplant. Amanda confirmed that it would pay for the apartment, and checked that Vanderbilt was covered as well. There’s one catch, there’s a $10k limit and it has a lifetime maximum. We withdrew the max last go round, but I’ve had insurance changes, and the new policy is in effect now. I’m praying big time with my insurance changes, it reset the limit so we can dip into that again.
Amanda received her final meningitis vaccine today. I’d forgotten about it, I’m glad they remembered, we had to ask last time. We talked this evening about things and the possibility of Vanderbilt. I just think we can maintain, but Amanda is worried, I can tell. She said for the first transplant she didn’t really feel like she needed one. She didn’t feel that bad off, she thought, even though she was on 24/7 oxygen by that time. This time she feels like she needs one, that’s saying a lot coming from someone who’s been through as much as she has.