Part 27 ~ The Adventures of King Ben & Zeus the Big Dumb Dog

If you missed the start of this series, you can find it here. A lot of things will be the same or very similar.

I survived my trip to the store last night. The pharmacy had one of Ben’s meds ready, but not the one we needed more, his trazodone. No more refills…fan-freaking-tastic. The pharmacist promised to contact the doctor. I’m just glad it can be called in. I might be spared from begging the head pharmacist (that I’ve been doing business with for almost 20 years) to “lend” me a couple days worth. Ben has been taking it for years and an abrupt stop would be very bad. Also, I was unsuccessful in my TP hunt. We’re still okay and Daughter has a line on a possible source.

It was a beautiful sunset last night. Not many clouds but the colors were amazing. Orange and red in the west, and this pink and purple to the north

4X zoom kinda blurred it a bit, but WOW! Nature was putting on a show of color.

I slept horribly last night. I didn’t go to sleep until 11:30 or so, and I was awake around 1:00 for 30-45 minutes, awake again around 3:30 and stayed awake. I was in the bathroom when I heard Zeus sniffing at the door, so I knew Ben was up. I found him in my bed. He was very excited that I had changed the sheets last night. He kept saying “New bed. So cool!”. It was cute. I got into bed with him and tried to doze, it was 4:45.

It was not meant to be. He had the wiggle-jiggles and kept pulling the blankets down. It’s cool at that time in the morning. At 5:15 he decided we both needed to go to the living room.

I kept nodding off while reading through my email and WP reader. If I left any bizarre comments, please forgive my lack of sleep. I tried to talk Ben into going back to my room, but he vehemently said “stay living room!” Dang…

Daughter got home from work at the usual time. I asked how it went. Another nurse had tested positive. They worked at another facility as well as Daughter’s and probably got it there. None of the residents are positive so far, let’s hope it stays that way.

Her facility has a bunch of new rules since she last worked. All staff are issued ONE paper mask per week (not N95) and need to have a cloth mask as well. (They’re looking for more cloth masks) They are to wear the paper mask covered by the cloth mask at all times. The cloth is to protect the paper and make it last the whole week. HOW F-ING RIDICULOUS! I’m absolutely positive these rules are to cut costs. Corporate needs to keep their shareholders happy.

Also, they are hiring uncertified, unlicensed people who will be trained “on the job”. I realize this is how it used to be. A nurse became a nurse by working with a doctor or by family training. I just hope for Daughter’s sake, and the patients’ sake, HR hired people with some sense. What a mess…

Daughter went to go sleep for a few hours while Ben and I hung out in the living room. He played with his chalk for a while then watched his tablet… was pretty chill the rest of the morning.

After giving Ben his 10:30 meds I put Sven in the shower. The top of his head still needs to peel, it looks like he’s wearing a helmet. While he was in the shower I also got his food ready. I went after him with the toothbrush, but this time he didn’t get upset. I think he’s starting to understand that it’s helping him. Either that or he was so blissed out from the shower that he just didn’t care.

After the shower and some food he went to his “judgey corner”. We call it that because it’s the corner that looks out on the spot where whoever has Living Room Duty usually sits. He stares and looks like he’s being a Judgey McJudgeypants.

As I was getting him out of the shower my phone rang with Younger Daughter’s ringtone. I have to admit, I was worried. She has been having a seriously rough time lately and I was afraid of more bad news. She actually had GOOD news. She has a temporary babysitting job. Babysitting? Daycare? Child Care? Whatever…she’s got a job. A couple who are both in the military and the husband has been deployed. The wife works every other week and needs someone to watch their 3 kids… 8, 5 and 3 months. Younger Daughter loves kids and is great with them. She sounded happier than I’ve heard her sound since her last employer made her take a week off work, then fired her the day she went back. It will be good for her to get out of the house for a while, and it will be good to have a purpose and an income that she worked for.

Just before 1:00 Older Daughter came staggering down the hall. I told her it wasn’t 1:30, and asked why she was up. She told me she had gotten a group text from her work, telling the overnight shift that they needed to get vitals on every patient/resident and have them charted by 1:00AM. (yeah, maybe if they had enough staff that would actually be possible) I asked her why she hadn’t turned her phone off while she was sleeping? Because she didn’t want to miss a call from Ben’s doctor about his trazodone. Whatever, I was more than happy to tag out and go lay down in my room, hoping to have a little Happy Nappy.

Ben came into my room a few minutes later, got under the blankets and asked for my tablet. He took it and ran off. He came back a minute later with his tablet telling me “Needs plug”. Ah, okay, time to charge the battery. I took his tablet to his room and went to lay back down.

Daughter got the call from Ben’s doctor, everything was confirmed and she called the prescription into the pharmacy. The pharmacy called an hour or so later. He still has a couple days worth, I think I’ll skip going back again tonight.

Ben spent the rest of the afternoon going between my room and the living room. With a couple of short stints outside. It was 80F (27C) here today. That’s hot when it’s been rainy and in the 50s  and 60s for weeks and weeks. I’m not quite ready for it to be summer yet.

I was concerned that the higher temperatures were going to cause issues with Ben. He has been more hyper, more agitated, bouncing off people and things, pacing, running around, less concentration, restless… all the ADHD things. We haven’t had the behavior issues I was worried about, and for that I’m grateful.

We’re coming up on dinner time and the rest of the nightly routine. And time for me to end my reporting of today’s adventures. There really is something happening here at Casa Cuckoo every day.

Hang in there my Blogging Buddies. There may be traumas and dramas, there may be ridiculous boredom, but the current situation will eventually evolve into the next phase, whatever that will look like. I’m here to help in any way I can. I really feel that I’ve been gifted with my Zen and I want to pay it forward. Let me know…

I’ll leave you with something funny