If you missed the start of this series, you can find it here. A lot of things will be the same or very similar.
CW: PHOTO OF NEEDLE
Bounce at 4:30… living room… SpazamaTaz… fully dressed… meds at 6:30… calmness beginning at 7:00… wash, rinse, repeat.
Daughter got home at the usual time and invited Calm Ben to her room. That gave me time to put on some going out in public clothes. Not that they’re much different than my staying at home clothes, just fewer holes and stains. Oh, and shoes. Gotta wear shoes in public.
The freeways are so nice and empty now. Usually at 8:30 traffic would be bumper to bumper the whole way in. It might be moving at a steady 35-40mph but that’s rare. I’m gonna hate the resumption of traffic.
There’s a cannabis dispensary in the same building as my pain doctor. Makes sense. There were SOOOO many people lined up, 6 feet apart, waiting to get in. I had to walk all the way around their line to get to the elevator to go up to the 2nd floor. They wouldn’t let me use the stairs cuz that’s right by the dispensary.
It was so blissfully quiet in the waiting room. They didn’t even have the TV blaring like they usually do. I didn’t even mind that they were a half hour behind.
My normally high blood pressure was 136/83, which is amazing and my weight, which had topped at 214 lbs is down to 199.8 lbs. Yay! 200 lbs is a good weight for my six foot frame. Good news, good news.
I know I’ve written about my pump before and how it’s implanted in my abdomen with a tube going around to a catheter set into my spinal fluid. I took a picture today of how they fill the reservoir in the pump up. They use a needle
NOT the most flattering picture of my stomach, but I never claimed to be a supermodel. Anyway, they use a sonogram machine to locate where the port is under the skin and mark it with a pen. The good nurses can hit it with the needle on the first try. The not so good ones have to move the needle around, searching… They draw out any remaining medication, then fill up the reservoir with new medications. I have to have it refilled every month because of the rate of drips. If I slowed down the rate, I could go in less often. I’ve been at this same rate for years and I’ve even reduced the number of tablet I take orally for breakthrough pain. It’s nice to have pain managed. For many many years it wasn’t.
I got home and texted Daughter to let her know. She and Ben were in her room. At 10:30 I took his meds to him, letting him know I was home. He stayed in Daughter’s room, playing with his chalk.
Around 11:00 he came into my highly actively taking about a Mr Incredible costume and black gloves, black gloves, BLACK GLOVES!! Okay, okay, OH-KAY… I told him that he could be Mr Incredible for Halloween, sure, but that was a long way off. “Black gloves. Hands. Black hands. Black. Hands. Black gloves…” Yeah, I got that. I went to Amazon, with him mouth-breathing over my shoulder, and found a costume. He reminded me, most stridently, about the gloves. So, I found a pair of black spandex gloves. $60 odd later… Jiminey Cricket On A Motorscooter! but on the plus side, he’s got a Halloween costume.
I went and picked up the chalk from Daughter’s room and brought it to the living room. Ben followed… supervising.
Poor Sven had peely, crusty eyes
So I put him in the shower and attacked him with the toothbrush. I got the big part on top of his head off, and most of the crust around his eyes, nostrils and ear holes. The shower pictures never show how bright yellow he is.
When I put him back in his terrarium I noticed some of the kale was gone. Ha! There were a few pieces left in the bowl and I left them. I’ll give him fresh tomorrow. I still need to get him some bugs too.
At 1:15 Daughter came out with her stuff saying that she couldn’t sleep. She said she might as well sit with Ben. I told her okay, I was feeling drowsy and wouldn’t mind getting horizontal.
I didn’t get to doze though. Ben soon entered his afternoon Spaz out. He was making noise beating a little plastic bat against the metal of the “jail” (yes, that thing is still cluttering up our space) and it was irritating Daughter. The more irritated she got, the more he did it. Of course, Kid Logic… they want to see if our heads will actually explode. She realized it was after 2:00 and his meds were late, so she doped his face. I convinced her to go to her room and let me take over, but only after he started kicking the door and saying “You have to get dressed. You have to go to the store…”
I sat him down and asked if he was hungry. I offered to cook bacon for him. He LOVES bacon! He said “Yes! Bacon!” So I got up and cooked the bacon. (…noticing that the package was 12 ounces. When did bacon stop coming in 1 pound packs??? I’ll bet it was the same time sugar went from 5 pounds to 4. Grrr!) He paced around and made some more noise, but he was settling down and the meds were helping. Plus, bonus – he can have bacon for dinner.
By 3:00 we were on the couch together, relaxing. Daughter was relaxing in her room, and everything seemed calm and peaceful.
Then at 3:45 Younger Daughter called. I could tell by her voice that things were not okay. She asked how the house was. I told her it was okay then, but it had been bad a little bit ago. I asked her what was wrong. She said she needed to get away from her house for a while. I asked if she had transportation or if she needed me to come get her. She at first said she needed a ride, but then called back to say she was just going to drive the extra car that was there. I had been explaining to Older that her sister needed a rescue when Younger called back. Older decided to come back in the living room anyway. So, I went to my room to wait for Younger and hope that the evening could still be salvaged.
At 4:00 Ben came in and told me “You have to get dressed. You have to go to the store.” Again?! I talked to him while he screamed at me. He wound up getting frustrated at not getting the reaction he wanted I guess, because he ran out and started kicking at the door again.
I grabbed the bubble gun and started shooting bubbles at him. He came and grabbed it and shot the bubbles at me. So I grabbed the water gun and shot it at Zeus, who had started barking at the bubbles. It was enough to start to distract Ben. I hid around a corner and shot the water gun. Then I ran out and hid behind another corner… gun fight, basically. He got custody of the water gun and I got to be the target. Lucky me. It’s better than a temper fit or a meltdown. It’s only water.
I got Ben into the bathtub a little after 5:00. I decided I might as well wash his hair, it was past due. Surprisingly, he didn’t even complain about it. He played for awhile, got out and took his meds.
Younger Daughter never did come by and her phone was going straight to voicemail. Her partner had texted me that Younger “stole” partner’s wallet and took off and wouldn’t answer. Gah! DRAMA! I’m kinda glad Younger didn’t come here, but drove to the beach instead. We certainly didn’t need any more drama or upset emotions. I know my daughter is safe and she’s okay. Or at least she’s okay-ish.
Now to get Ben out of my bed and into his. Poor Older has been awake since 9:45 last night and will only get about 3 hours before she has to work again tonight.
What a day! A Casa Cuckoo kind of day, for sure! Thanks for coming along on our adventures. I hope you’ll come back tomorrow. I’m sure there will be more drama with Younger, and no one ever knows what Ben is going to do.
Hugs!!
King Ben's Grandma 
You had a Day! What kind of bugs do you get for Sven and do they have to be alive? Bacon 12 ounces, I know, ugh. Does it hurt when they refill your pump? Sorry for the 20 questions 🙃 Have a terrific evening….quiet, I hope 😊🦋💞🤗
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For Sven I usually get worms because I can keep 20 of them in a coffee can, alive, for like a week. But they have hard outer shells that can cause constipation so i have to be careful how many he eats. Hornworms are good, but fatty, roaches are good too, but the same thing with the outer shell. Crickets, but they’re not super nutritious🤷🏼♀️
It doesnt hurt getting the pump filled. It’s literally just below the skin. The needle (hopefully) goes straight into the port, so it’s just a little needle stick in the skin. And after that skin got strrrreeeeetched way out (as you can tell from the stretch marks) with the girls, plus 2 surgeries right there (the original pump, and the replacement 6 years later) there’s not a lot of feeling there.
Ask any questions. I don’t mind answering at all. I like to share information as well as my hijinks and clumsiness 😉🤗🥰💃🏼
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Thank you!! Super glad it doesn’t hurt! Bugs, I could swing any of those except the r….ones. Yep, they creep me out soooo much I don’t even like to write the word 🤣🥴. So thumbs up to Any creature that helps there to be fewer in the world 🤣
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Yeah, they creep me out BIG TIME! I almost had a heart attack the first time one flew at me😱 The big ones come into the house occasionally and I grab a shoe and SMASH!!! I’m afraid to feed the “wild” ones to Sven. They could’ve been eating anything and I don’t want Sven to get sick.
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Ugh! The flyers are the worst! I call them mammoth, ewwwww
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I literally ran away to the living room (it happened in my bedroom 😱) sat on the couch with my legs pulled up, knees under my chin, rocking and crying while Younger tried to find it and destroy it. Horrible!
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At least you got your meds. Hope it’s nothing serious with your younger daughter. Hugs.
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Thanks, Sadje. I’m sure Younger and her partner are just having the normal drama of 20something romance🙄. Lockdown doesn’t help🤗🥰
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You’re right, lockdown doesn’t help at all.
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Interesting about the meds. Thanks for explaining that. I didn’t know how it worked. Sven is coming along!
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I thought I got all of the skin off the top. Nope… the tip of the triangle on top, like from his eyes forward, is still waiting to come off. And SO many places here or there. Snakes are definitely easier😂
The pump is pretty cool. Dripping the meds into the spinal fluid puts it right to the brain without going through the whole body. The meds still show up on drug tests though🤔
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Glad you got your meds and had a good trip out. Great job warding off the meltdowns. We’ve had a couple, always on the weekend and always hours long. This time though instead of running away he wants to kill himself. Those are tough days for everyone. But he’s doing well again, so that’s good! Here’s hoping for some good chill days ahead!
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I’m really surprised that we’ve been able to stop them. Especially since it has gotten warm. That’s gotta be tough to hear from such a little guy! If Ben had more speech there’s no telling what he’d say. He HAS said he was gonna kill us. Scripting some movie but they choose those lines for a reason. Ben’s meltdowns are always hours long and we have to restrain him. And he’s getting almost too big and too strong for that.
Calm, happy days for all of us would be wonderful!!
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I’m not sure what is setting Declan off. Most of the time I think he has something planned in his mind and it doesn’t play out the way he wanted it to. Last weekend it was just threats. This weekend he stated he was going to throw himself out of an upstairs window. We got to him in time, but then he was in the silverware drawer trying to get a knife. He’s so mad that he’s not thinking so it was a whole afternoon of being a bodyguard to his body. Then when he is calm, it’s like it never happened. I hated the running away but I think I would prefer that instead.
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Yeah, definitely. Ben WANTS to run off, but the street in front of our house is 5 lanes of busy traffic, even now. The back gate leads to a small parking lot but cars speed past on the street there too. I wish we COULD let him run, then go after him, but he doesnt look. Too dangerous.
Poor kiddos and poor us. It’s just sucky for everyone!
Hugs!💌
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Clever distraction.
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I’m just glad it worked! Pretty soon there won’t be any stopping it I’m afraid.
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That’s a face mask. A few years back I bought a couple of masks for climbing when it was really really dusty. Must find them. For some reason they might come in useful. So glad you got the doctor appointment sorted out. x
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Yes, modeling a lovely mask made by a lovely friend. It drawns attention away from the tape on my broken glasses. Then ALL thoughts leave when my gut makes an appearance 😂😂 I must remember not to lean down & over to take the picture next time… it looks like I’ve got a footy ball in there⚽️🤣🤣 and after I just bragged about dropping those extra 14 pounds 🤦♀️😂
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Wow, I guess I didn’t catch all the details of the pain pump before. That’s certainly a process, with the refilling, but I’m sure it’s worth the pain relief.
And yes, that IS a face mask, rather stylish. You know, that gives me an idea for a blog post….
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Yeah, the pain pump was a total game changer…a life saver! I was at one point prescribed 640mg of oxycontin per day. Per DAY! that’s the equivalent of a $600/day heroin habit. The withdrawals sent me to ER three separate times. Major bad sauce!
Oh I just love it when I give people ideas😉
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What a pretty face mask you have! It comes to something when you have to go and get pain meds to get a bit of peace and quiet! X
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A fellow blogging friend made the mask for me
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Aw!! ❤ I didn’t know you were blonde :blink blink: Thought all this time you were brunette. Well pleased to meet cha. In the mask face. I LOVED the photo by the way, and owwwie for your poor tum. But as you say, we’re not all super models. Zeus and Sven look healthy and happy. Congrats on the weight and the blood pressure. Isn’t it nice when those things behave?? I’m glad you got your shot and got a bit of peace and quiet. Priceless.
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Thank you! Yeah, my hair is blondish, reddish, brownish, greyish😂😂 It usually looks light brown blah in pictures for some reason🤷🏼♀️
That picture of my stomach looks like I’ve got a basketball in there.😂😂 I have a bit of a gut, but it more wobbly than round. I think leaning to the side and kinda hunching forward wasn’t the best way to take the picture🤦♀️😂
Beware… future photos of bare skin will be highlighting my plaque psoriasis. All the stress is making me a scaly, spotty, itchy mess!💌
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