Wow, it's been a while...
Life has been going on since I last posted. My elderly mom is now in Hospice care, and we have a full time live in caretaker for her, and between the two of us we take care of mom. Mom is still living at home, but the end is pretty close. She is unable to feed herself, needs assistance to get in and out of chairs, and has to be held when she is walking to keep her from falling. Once mom is gone, we put the house on the market, since none of the children or grandchildren need or can afford the house.
So I'll have to find a new living situation at that time. I'm still a few more years before I reach retirement age. I'm very seriously looking at doing the van life thing. Been watching lots of youtube videos and websites, and it looks very doable and affordable. Looking now for a van or small cargo truck that I can convert to my living space. Possibly live in the parking lot at work until I retire, then once that happens, drive around the country for a few years doing the bucket list. \
But in more recent news, I got hospitalized right after Thanksgiving. I have diabeties, and neuropathy in my feet. I developed a thing called Charcot foot. Basically its a bone thing, usually from an injury, that because my feet are numb, I don't realize I have broken bones, and keep walking on it. this then continually rebreaks the healing bones, leading to a whole train of complications. I first noticed my foot swelling up around the beginnning of november. Went to my doctor, he figured an infection and put me on antibiotics. this didn't help, so the day after thanksgiving, went to the ER. they said infection, and put me on a different antibiotic. that didn't help, so back to the ER, they put me on another antibiotic, which didn't help, so back to the ER again, and they finally said bad infection, and admitted me to hospital for broad spectrum IV antibiotics. Radiologist noticed wierdness in the xrays of my foot, got a poditrist involved, did an MRI, and Charcot foot, not an infection.
By the way, broad spectrum antibiotics also kill off all the normal populations of bacterias and such that live in our gut. If you ever get them, be prepared for days of diarrhea. Not fun. probiotic yogurt is your friend.
So I get sent home with a crutch and an orthopedic boot. Come back to podiatrist in six to eight weeks, and go see the wound care clinic weekly for the huge open sore that opened up on my foot while I was in hospital. That sore has been slowly healing up, and living with the boot is a hassle. Mostly because the foot of the thing is so wide that I can't step on the gas pedal of the car without also pressing the brake pedal. so I gotta take the thing off everytime I get in my car, and put it back on when getting out.
Went back to the podiatrist yesterday. He looked at the foot, looked at the xrays, and said I'm still in stage 1 of the process, and it's still getting worse. Ugh. So he prescribed a different orthopedic boot, one I have to get custom molded to my foot, and come see him next month. Ugh ugh. I'm biting the bullet, downloaded the application from the registry to get a temporary handicapped placard. Looking at the online information, it looks like this will take six months to a year to resolve, and may never fully recover. Hopefully it's on the shorter side of that time frame.
In work news, we are probably moving to a new location this year, so that will be a crapload of extra work to pack up all the area I'm responsible for, and then unpack and setup in the new location. Did it once already a few years back, was not fun. Not looking forward to that. Hopefully they will hire temporary labor to help with all that extra work.
So I'll have to find a new living situation at that time. I'm still a few more years before I reach retirement age. I'm very seriously looking at doing the van life thing. Been watching lots of youtube videos and websites, and it looks very doable and affordable. Looking now for a van or small cargo truck that I can convert to my living space. Possibly live in the parking lot at work until I retire, then once that happens, drive around the country for a few years doing the bucket list. \
But in more recent news, I got hospitalized right after Thanksgiving. I have diabeties, and neuropathy in my feet. I developed a thing called Charcot foot. Basically its a bone thing, usually from an injury, that because my feet are numb, I don't realize I have broken bones, and keep walking on it. this then continually rebreaks the healing bones, leading to a whole train of complications. I first noticed my foot swelling up around the beginnning of november. Went to my doctor, he figured an infection and put me on antibiotics. this didn't help, so the day after thanksgiving, went to the ER. they said infection, and put me on a different antibiotic. that didn't help, so back to the ER, they put me on another antibiotic, which didn't help, so back to the ER again, and they finally said bad infection, and admitted me to hospital for broad spectrum IV antibiotics. Radiologist noticed wierdness in the xrays of my foot, got a poditrist involved, did an MRI, and Charcot foot, not an infection.
By the way, broad spectrum antibiotics also kill off all the normal populations of bacterias and such that live in our gut. If you ever get them, be prepared for days of diarrhea. Not fun. probiotic yogurt is your friend.
So I get sent home with a crutch and an orthopedic boot. Come back to podiatrist in six to eight weeks, and go see the wound care clinic weekly for the huge open sore that opened up on my foot while I was in hospital. That sore has been slowly healing up, and living with the boot is a hassle. Mostly because the foot of the thing is so wide that I can't step on the gas pedal of the car without also pressing the brake pedal. so I gotta take the thing off everytime I get in my car, and put it back on when getting out.
Went back to the podiatrist yesterday. He looked at the foot, looked at the xrays, and said I'm still in stage 1 of the process, and it's still getting worse. Ugh. So he prescribed a different orthopedic boot, one I have to get custom molded to my foot, and come see him next month. Ugh ugh. I'm biting the bullet, downloaded the application from the registry to get a temporary handicapped placard. Looking at the online information, it looks like this will take six months to a year to resolve, and may never fully recover. Hopefully it's on the shorter side of that time frame.
In work news, we are probably moving to a new location this year, so that will be a crapload of extra work to pack up all the area I'm responsible for, and then unpack and setup in the new location. Did it once already a few years back, was not fun. Not looking forward to that. Hopefully they will hire temporary labor to help with all that extra work.