Got a needle set in my new fistula for the first time today. The first couple of attempts were not successful. It was very discouraging.
I feel like it was more because of my own apprehension than any other reason. I’ve never liked needles, no matter how much experience I have with them. I feel like I have PTSD from having dialysis lo those many years ago.
It was heartening to have things go more easily today.
After talking to the nephrologist treatment has been backed off to twice a week. And because I do have some kidney function and don’t have fluid retention problems they’re going to back way down on the amount of fluid they remove. They were taking two kilos of fluid off me. Would you like a little mummification with your dialysis?
So I’m feeling almost human now. Even got de-Frankensteined yesterday. They took out the 24 staples from the surgery on my fistula.
So today I’m going to go and do things with my family and be as normal a human as I can manage.
Have had to go back on dialysis. It was miserable 30 years ago, it’s miserable now. To the doctor, sorry I cried but it’s an occasion deserving of tears.
Dialysis is a four hour torture session. It wouldn’t be so bad, but I’m freezing the whole time. Blanket and coat notwithstanding. No wonder I hate being cold.
And I feel worse afterwards than before. Just as I’m starting to feel human again, I have to go back.
Don’t feel like doing anything, including get out of bed. Don’t feel like I can do anything. Do feel like I can’t take very much more of this.
The koi have been showing themselves more in the water pot. They’ve ben following the goldfish up when I feed them. I tap the edge of the pot with the food container when I feed them. That way they know it’s food and not a predator. Initially the koi flipped straight down when I walked by. They missed it entirely when I put out food.
I witnessed the weirdest thing today. I was standing in the garden watching a butterfly float around the flowers when something streaked past my head, hit the butterfly and went down into the shrubbery. I couldn’t figure out what it was.
When I went and looked for it, it turned out to be two monarch butterflies locked together. I gently pried them apart and threw them in different directions. Now I know that butterflies are territorial, but this took aggression to a whole new level.
The last year I’ve been going through the testing necessary to get on the list for a kidney transplant. The pandemic delayed testing time and again. Yesterday I had the last test
Today I got a call from the transplant people. I should be getting a letter stating that I’m officially on the waiting list. I’m both excited and appalled. I don’t want to need a kidney, but I do. I don’t want anyone to risk their lift to donate, so I just wait. But at least now there’s hope.
I love this plant/pot combination, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to move it to a bigger pot before it bursts this one.
Discorea Elephantipes
This little sedum died back when it got to 110 F, but it’s showing signs of coming back and I really like it so it stays.
This aloe turns a really vibrant red on the edges when it gets enough light. I recently repotted it and moved it to a new location. I’m hoping it gets more light there.
I love the peach/pistachio colors of these little gasteria blossoms.
I love the form and color of this echevaria. Spud the tortoise loves the flavor. I set it up on another pot to try to keep it out of his reach.
Casper has discovered the fish.
And the fish are surely aware of him. They’re huddled up against the wall of the pot, motionless, where he can’t see them.
I like having both the fish and the snails in there, but I can see it’s definitely going to mean more maintenance on my part. Going to need to scoop gunk off the bottom more often, and remove plant overgrowth. However, everyone likes looking at the fish, cats and people. I’m happy with the tradeoff.
Went outside for the first time in a couple of weeks. I’d been trying to take Casper out for a while every morning. It’s usually cool enough to be nice for a couple of hours in the morning. But it’s heated up and gotten really humid for the past couple of weeks so I haven’t gone out. Casper’s been mad at me. He loves his morning out in the garden. As do I. So this morning we sat outside and enjoyed the butterfly parade. Casper enjoyed my orchids.
I got some new fish for the pond recently. I’ve had one for several years and think she’s been lonely, judging by the eggs she’s been laying. I had one fish for a long time before. I bought several at once and then all of them died but the one. This time I decided I quarantine them for a couple of days before I put them in the pond. This time everyone seems to be doing OK. I named them before I got them home; I don’t know why. Blanche, Lucy and Coppertop. I’ve had the other fish for 3 years and never called it anything but fish. At first the newcomers hid from Fish. No wonder, she’s 3 times the size of the others. But as of now they’re schooling around the pot, acting like fish. So far so good.
Kinda feeling like a home maintenance diva right now. We’ve had a couple of things go wrong lately. Got an outside faucet with a major leak. And the air conditioning broke down. During a major heat wave.
For the plumber I remembered a guy who had worked on our water heater a long time ago who I’d been impressed with. He knew what he was doing. Thanks to the wonderful spouse we had the number of the company he worked for and he still works for him. And even though they’re only supposed to do water heaters, he’s coming on Monday. I don’t know anything about plumbing, but at my age, I’m starting to know what competence looks like.
Then the AC broke down. The spouse had tried a few places, but all of them just had message machines. I tried a few myself and got the same result. I broke down and used one of the on-line services. I hate giving people my phone number, but the prospect of no AC, temperatures in 100’s and high humidity sounded awful. Entered my info and got a call back in minutes. The guy showed in minutes and fixed it in half an hour. At a price I considered reasonable.
I totally feel like a winner right now. Hope things go as well with the plumber.
Blog of a geek with a garden 