So I am not in the hospital. Non-specific, low-grade urinary tract infection. He will *try* to get me in next week.

From my list:

For the surgery/hospital:
Establish what nursing home I'm using.
- Call the 'expiditer' about that.
Get bloodwork done at a Qwest labs.
Go to hospital for pre-admission exam.
Go to regular doctor for medical clearance.
Be totally off sugar, and yeast-free.

Get house set up:
Get Mary's potty chair which will fit over the downstairs toilet to make it higher.
Make and freeze meals ahead
Have the kitchen clean and organized.
Make bed as well as shower and wash hair the night before.
Make sure all bills are paid, and everything on budget.
Make files for all doctor and nursing home records
Find my yellow cushion that they gave me last time.

Equipment to take with me:
Sock puller
2-foot shoehorn
Reacher
Dressing stick
Crutches
Granola
Supplements and aspirin
2 waist purses and cloth grocery bag, for carrying stuff
Cell phone
Reading glasses
Skin care, nail file, tweezers, mirror
Clothes for 8 days
Feather pillow

Entertainment:
Books - some series
Puzzles
Playing cards for solitaire
Tarot card lists to work on my deck

So a lot of important stuff didn't get done. Will I be better prepared next week? I doubt it.

Haven't done much on my list, other than the hospital pre-admission tests. Have to get some things done around the house, with Son home.

I *have* resolved to try to build up more physical strength in the two weeks I have left. I know I can't do a whole lot toward it - I just don't gain muscle - but every little bit helps.

I'm pretty good on the sugar, but can't afford my FiveLac right now.

Things to do before surgery

For the surgery/hospital:
Establish what nursing home I'm using.
- Call the 'expiditer' about that.
Get bloodwork done at a Qwest labs.
Go to hospital for pre-admission exam.
Go to regular doctor for medical clearance.
Be totally off sugar, and yeast-free.

Get house set up:
Get Mary's potty chair which will fit over the downstairs toilet to make it higher.
Make and freeze meals ahead
Have the kitchen clean and organized.
Make bed as well as shower and wash hair the night before.
Make sure all bills are paid, and everything on budget.
Make files for all doctor and nursing home records
Find my yellow cushion that they gave me last time.

Equipment to take with me:
Sock puller
2-foot shoehorn
Reacher
Dressing stick
Crutches
Granola
Supplements and aspirin
2 waist purses and cloth grocery bag, for carrying stuff
Cell phone
Reading glasses
Skin care, nail file, tweezers, mirror
Clothes for 8 days
Feather pillow

Entertainment:
Books - some series
Puzzles
Playing cards for solitaire
Tarot card lists to work on my deck

I'd also like to make bags to hang on the crutches for carrying things.
All I have to do now is get busy and *do* this stuff!

Coming up for air. And light.

I seem to be coming up again. It always feels like walking into sunlight from a dense fog - all of a sudden I can see, and doing things seems possible. Although I don't really feel like I'm in a fog when I'm *in* it.

I'm getting better and better with my diet. I did a whole-raw day last week and felt really wonderful, comparatively. Then I rewarded myself with chocolate.

As always, it isn't the chocolate *that* day - it's the twice-as-much-chocolate the next day. But I caught myself again, had a good day, then had a no-sugar-no-flour day yesterday, and today I'm doing raw again.

Heh. The sun just came out. Hello!

Right now I'm eating my cashew/vegetable salad. It doesn't really have that much cashew in it, I just call it that to distinguish it from other salads. I haven't made it in, probably, a year. Chopped up cauliflower, carrot, celery, and whatever else. In this case raw peas and baby corn. Then the chopped cashews, and all slathered with Miracle Whip. NOT 'salad dressing'! Not even the namby-pamby stuff that comes home from the market. MY Miracle Whip sits out on the counter and gets nice and sour. Can you say Tangy Zip?

I'm working on the house again. Finally. I've figured out a way to light the decorative endcap shelves that I got stuck on last November.

You can't tell here that I'm up on the top of a 2 1/2 foot ladder. (Yes, my hip *does* feel better. Why do you ask?) First I used a router to make a trench in the back wall of the shelves; I had to wind it around in order to make the lights come out in the right places, since I didn't want to cut/splice the cord. Then drilled a hole *just* big enough for the light socket to stick into it, and judiciously applied staples to make it stay.




... testing ...
Yep, they light up. Maybe tomorrow I'll actually put up the shelf unit.