Odds and Ends

It's been a few days since I've posted here and for that I apologize most sincerely to my fanbase.

Each evening, I would see that you had been checking in faithfully but I was just too tired to put anything up.  Normally, I try to post something in the morning before I get busy with my day but this past week has just been a tad hectic.

So, here we go.  I'll try to catch you up on what I have been doing and then we'll go from there.

On Wednesday, I had a physio appointment in Ottawa so I left out my "bowel protocol" med that morning.  I am still responding to the treatment with frequent unannounced "attacks" that I can't risk when I'm driving to the city.  Now, the point of this treatment is to promote motility and it is intended to be used every day to be effective.  However (and I warned the doctor of this possibility because I've "been there, done that" and my  memory of these incidences is much better than his) my body does not tend to respond by the book (like that's a surprise to anyone).

In any event, on those days that I have to be out of the house, I do not take the stuff.  Plain and simple.  Even then, I have some very close calls so I know where the washroom is of every place we visit.  I don't know how much longer this experiment has to continue before the doctor will agree that perhaps my system simply cannot handle this regimen.  It's been almost a month now and all it does is keep me very close to a washroom every day instead of just occasionally and has added dizziness and weakness to the equation.  So what the hell is the point of that?  We'll have an interesting discussion next month, to be sure.

Following my physio visit, I stopped in at "my" computer shop with my laptop to have a few issues addressed and to say hi to my boys.  I've been shopping there since before it was a computer shop -- they started out as a little hole-in-the-wall TV outlet and my first colour television was bought from them.  I have never bought a computer anywhere else.  There have been many changes over the years and now the children, whom I call "my darlings," are running the show along with some partners who have also become very special friends.

Naturally, I'm always quite tired once I get home from a trip to Ottawa so I don't usually do much else on those days.

Thursday was an interesting day in this household.

We took delivery of our new 55" wide screen high definition TV.

Now, we bought the television back on December 29th during the Boxing Week sales.

And the salesman, when he asked if we wanted to pick it up at the store on whatever date or have it delivered on whatever other date for x price, we asked if that included installation.  He clearly and very definitively told us "yes, they would install it" AND the old television would be moved to wherever in the house we wanted it moved.

Based on that promise, we paid the fee and agreed to wait the extra time for the delivery service.

Well, they delivered exactly on time. In good time too because it was here before noon which was a bonus as far as I was concerned. Turns out it was a damned good thing it was here that early on more than a few levels (a major snowstorm started in this region within a half hour of their leaving here -- we may not have got our delivery had we been at the end of their run).

However, they weren't installing it. They don't do that. If we were told that, we should call the salesman and talk to him because he told us wrong.

We weren't impressed.

They did offer to move what would become our old TV though when I told them what we had been expecting to happen.  I refused to let them remove a working television when I had no idea how long it would be before its replacement would be opertional.

Now, when we bought the TV, we also bought a replacement DVD/VCR player that I hadn't yet installed because I didn't see the point in taking apart my hook-up twice in one month. I figured I would just wait and do everything at once when the new television arrived.

Good thing for John that his wife used to be a techie (I say "used to be" because since I retired, I've resisted having to use this skillset) because she knows how to install televisions and VCRs and satellite dishes and computers and ...

So, I set about replacing the DVD/VCR unit and making sure it worked on the OLD television before we made the tv swap (I may as well have done that the day we brought the player home and at least been able to play a DVD had I wanted to in that period).

Making the swap was the biggest challenge of the entire exercise.

John and I could barely lift the old tv.  It's a humongous monster of a set.  And he had thought we were going to take it downstairs!

Eventually, we managed to ever so carefully get it off the stand and onto the dining room carpet.  And there it sat (although we did manage to slide it out of our way).

And then we lifted the new tv onto the stand (and just made it, I might add).

And I spent the next three hours connecting, unconnecting, and reconnecting our new television.

John custom-built the TV-stand to fit the satellite receiver and the DVD player in one section, out of which their cords travel to be connected to the television, which sits on top at the appropriate viewing height.  We were delighted when we had ascertained that we'd be able to use the stand with the new unit.  You have to know that the connections for the new television are going to be in one of the few places they could be to NOt fit our stand's configuration.  Luckily, I have a plethora of coaxial cables so it was a simple matter for me to replace that one. But the component connectors for the DVD player were just too tight a stretch to suit me -- it was going to be a problem.  Again, between us we were able to scare up a longer set of cables to make the appropriate connections.

Then I saw a change I wanted in the back of the stand which involved John getting a saw and working very carefully (so as not to cut any cables) to cut a hole large enough for me to get at a cable from the back if need be (usually, I have to pull stuff out by the front when there is a problem).

Then we checked that everything worked and we adjusted the colour balance until we were happy with it.  And I played with the remote controls until I determined that I didn't know how to tell the TV remote how to recognize my satellite dish (it came with a manual on a CD -- big lot of good that does me).  And I would have to call my satellite company for the code for the television because my two year old receiver's manual doesn't include this newer model tv on its list.

So what we have by supper time is a wonderfully big screen on which I can read the ticker tape (that is HUGE for me!).  But we have to use one remote for all functions except volume control and the other remote only for volume control.

In this household, that just won't do.

Because we don't do commercials around here; however, we handle them differently.

You see, I tend to turn down the volume when a commercial comes on.

John mutes the television when a commercial comes on.

If I'm driving, I can hear when the show starts up again so I know immediately to increase the volume (and to start watching again).

If John is driving, he has to keep his eyes on the screen to know when to "unmute."

Anyway, that's just an aside.

Point is, it simply will not work in this household if we have to use two remotes when watching television.

I was dog tired from the physical exertion of the day, not to mention the mental stress of it all.  John hit the sack early and I drew a bath to let the jets massage my aching body.  I can't even begin to tell you how therapeutically beneficial that jet tub has been around here.  We have gotten our money's worth I don't know how many times over the years since we put that in.  Because I'm sure if I didn't have that therapy available to me at any hour of the day or night (and I have been known to be in there at 3:00am if necessary) I would absolutely be forced to make frequent commutes to Ottawa for warm-water therapy sessions (there are no warm-water pools in my immediate area).  And frequent commutes would simply exacerbate the problem with my hips.

Later that evening, I called our satellite provider and the young gent very nicely helped me program my remote to recognize the new television and voila! it turns the volume up and down!  He had me check this that and the other thing to ensure that all was right with our world.  And while we were talking, because the television was on and was interfering with my hearing him, I tried to mute it.

"Oops," I said to him.  "The volume up and down works, but the mute doesn't."

So he explains that if the volume buttons work but the mute does not, that means that the television is wired differently or some such thing.  I accepted his explanation, thanked him for all his help and went on my merry way to bed.  I figured volume control was better than nothing.  At least we could do pretty near everything with the one remote now.  And how often do we really need to mute the television anyway?

As I write this, I remember that the first code he gave me didn't work.  The second code did.  There may well have been a third code that may have worked better on this particular television.  I'm thinking now that I'll have to call them back and ask how many codes they have for this model television.  If they have more than two, I will ask for all of them and start over until I find the one that gives us full functionality.

If it means buying some third-party super duper universal remote that sees both and actually contols both properly, we will probably end up doing just that. Because John simply cannot live having to hold onto two remotes all the time (you know how men are with remote controls). 

Friday morning I woke up with legs that simply would not co-operate with me.

But this time it wasn't just my hips that were screaming (I had worn the TENs unit all day Thursday; I'd have never gotten through the day without it).  This time, my thigh muscles were letting me know that I had helped move a 100+ pound television the day before (my inner arms are also witness to the activity; I bruise easily).

I had a follow-up appointment with my eye doctor to see if there's any more change.  There is.  But the change is on the positive side so we know there is nothing sinister going on with the eyes that warrants further investigation.  But we are still going to wait another three months and test again to see if by then she can write me a new prescription for Bonnie's glasses again (we call my current ones 'Betty's glasses' because the prescription is certainly not what I should be wearing).  The reason we're waiting is because while my vision has changed since I bought these glasses a year ago, the prescription she would have had to write when I saw her last October would have been different than the one she would have written when I saw her last December and that one would have been different again, albeit very close to what she could have written yesterday.  So IF she gets the same or very close to the same results again in May, I will get glasses and will again have my distance vision restored to what it should be>  And I'll be able to enjoy reading with my glasses ON the way I'm supposed to. I've worn graduated tri-focals for over 20 years and now I have to take my glasses off every time I want to read the printed word -- it's craziness!  So, I will see her again mid-May and I may or may not be getting Bonnie's glasses at that time.

After that appointment, I went to visit "my angel" at her home.  We had been trying to organize a lunch get-together for some time but our schedules simply weren't co-operating.  Once we had settled on yesterday, my eye doctor's office called and asked if I could move my appointment by an hour.  That was just enough to skew the timing for our lunch.  Rather than have her with a bout of down time in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do, she came up with the brilliant idea of my just going to her place whenever I finished with the doctor (cancelling our get-together was NOT an option). 

It actually worked out better than going to a restaurant because we were able to sit and talk and visit at our leisure.  We agreed that we should do it that way more often but I only agreed on the condition that she would on occasion allow me to make lunch for her.  (Note to My Angel:  You will comply.)

It was almost dusk by the time I got home and man I was tired.  But my biggest problem was my thigh muscles.  They would have preferred that I didn't walk at all.  And they especially didn't want me to go downwards anywhere (try lowering yourself onto the throne when your thigh muscles don't want to work).

Another jet massage bath was in order and that is exactly what I did before hitting the sack early again.

It paid off because I woke this morning feeling much refreshed and my thigh muscles, while still sore, are very much improved.  Walking is still difficult but much easier than it was yesterday.

My morning today has been rather productive too.

Last night, I had called the shop where we bought the tv to discuss with a sales manager the matter of what we were sold vs what we received.  Turns out the salesman made a mistake (surprise, surprise) and never should have told us that it would be installed for that price.  It's a different price and a different delivery company for installations.  That, of course, is not my problem.  We expected a service that we thought we had bought.  Otherwise, we could have gone to the store and brought the unit home ourselves and perhaps not waited a month for it.  And we would have arranged with friends or neighbours to move the other television for us. 

This morning, Will called to let me know that they are refunding what we paid for the delivery AND he was sending someone to move the old tv out of our living room.

I had been prepared to push for a refund; I didn't refuse the offer of the move.

At 2:30pm, two salesmen from the store who had just finished their shifts arrived at our door to move a television for us (AND they came through the summer road -- "Oh yeh, we saw the sign, but I have winter tires," he said as they left.)

They could barely lift that sucker!  "I can see why you and your husband couldn't move this thing," one comments.

They weren't movers and they knew not what to do but they were going to complete their mission.

And were they ever glad to see my stair lift! They were gladder still when I agreed that they could use it.

With one in front, and the other in back, they supported the tv on the footrest of the stair lift and I used the remote control to direct it down the stairs.  The poor guy in the rear had a difficult time because he was practically crawling down; but the guy in front had the bulk of the weight to worry about while he went down backwards.  It was a tricky maneouvre but they made it.

So now it's approaching 4:00pm on Saturday, and I have spent the better part of the afternoon writing this post.  I think it's plenty long enough.

Tomorrow I'll discuss the new "treatment" plan with respect to Cesamet that I have devised for me without having consulted my doctor.