“Mr. Mom” - 3/17-23/25

Monday, March 17th

I have been thinking of some old Michael Keaton movies and I thought of this one from 1983! A nice way to remember Teri Garr as well. Lots of funny men with smaller parts and everyone is so young! It was lots of fun. I especially liked when Michael said he was going to rewire a room and Martin Mull asked him if he would wire it 120V? “120, 121, whatever it takes.”, he answered. As I was a lighting designer in a previous life, that joke cracks me up! Very fun.

Tuesday, March 18th

I realized I left you hanging about my supplements last week. My nutritionist sent an email explaining what the pills were for generally. Then they could be approved by the doctor, although he was on vacation. I worried for a minute that I would have to wait another week for him to get back, but they said someone else could approve them. The explanation had been sent so I am hopeful I can start taking the supplements tomorrow! I am feeling stronger just knowing I am about to take them!

Wednesday, March 19th

I got my first pill from the new supplements at 6 AM! Unfortunately, that was supposed to be four pills. I tried to tell the nurse and she said that I would get the other three at breakfast. I decided not to push it and be happy I was starting to get them. I should have gone over the schedule with the lady so I could iron things out right from the beginning.

There are a few pills I take when I wake up before I eat. Then there are pills I take 15 minutes before each meal, and there are ones I take after each meal. Usually, there are pills I take before I go to sleep, but we are concentrating on other areas before we start those again. I'm very glad that I realized doing things halfway like I was, was not good. I am certain that Mom and my sister will see a significant difference when these kick in.

M gave me a shower after breakfast and immediately got me up my chair so I could go to the resident council meeting at 10:30 a.m. One of the longtime residents was complaining about his roommate and wanted to change facilities. He has lived to accommodate you here for eight years already and has had many different roommates, so he is sick of playing musical chairs with roommates. I spoke up and pointed out there is something wrong with every room on our floor and unfortunately, it will be the same in another facility. What you will lose is the staff here who at least try to accommodate you. He can be a bit bratty at times and does not realize that if you have to live in a facility like this, this is where you want to be.

I also got a good look at my next-door neighbor, who had gained weight since I last saw her. She is now very, very overweight, and I can see how sitting up is a real problem for her. Yikes.

Thursday, March 20th

My therapist was at a conference today, so no Freddie today! I missed seeing him, but I will just have to wait a week. I have been feeling how the before-meal pills affect me, and I can definitely tell they are doing something. My nutritionist would quickly tell me what everything was for, but I didn't work too hard at remembering what she said, as I trust her a lot.

I'm realizing now in a way I didn't years ago just how specialized and cutting-edge she is. She's not the only person to practice this, but it is very alternative and not necessarily easy for someone to comprehend if you are used to picking up some vitamins at Rite Aid, and being done with it. The methods she uses are ahead of their time and won't be commonplace for a while. I'm convinced it is perfect for me with my MS and has drastically slowed the progression of the disease. The fact that the disease has not been completely cured is a measure of how aggressive this MS bastard is. I think now the disease has calmed down a bit and most of the damage has been done. I don't expect the supplements to reverse anything; I just want them to keep me where I am.

Friday, March 21st

A calm day of nothing much to do but sit around and watch movies. I am really enjoying the Criterion Channel and the monthly collections they have. I finished watching all the films of Michael Mann they had, and I'm working on the collection called Scene Stealers with Best Supporting Actor winners. I was happy to rewatch A Fish Called Wanda again since it is too damn funny!

I almost forgot, today is the day two of my classmates from high school came to visit me and brought me lunch! I made sure to get up in my chair so we could all go down the hall to the solarium with the amazing view and eat there. H brought food from a restaurant called North Shore Grinds. She brought four different meals (so we wouldn't run out of food) and asked me which one I wanted. “All of them!” I said. So we feasted family style and everybody got a little bit of everything! She had gone there looking for a local dish that they had taken off the menu, perhaps because one of the essential ingredients was a fried egg? I will definitely ask someone to get food from there again.

Saturday, March 22nd

I was very good and had made a list of things I wanted my sister to help me out with. Before we began that, she wanted to start the second season of Lioness while we ate lunch. Yippee! I was happy she liked my show suggestion. (Yes, I am always hungry for approval.) For lunch, she had brought me a couple of packages of sushi from a different supermarket. Last week was from Safeway, and this week was from Times grocery store. Both were good, but last week had been smaller pieces and the two packages were just two meals. Times made their rolls bigger and I split the two packages into three meals. Yum! (Have I mentioned that I like sushi?)

After lunch, we got through my chores. One of them was to get a new skirt from Thredup. Unfortunately, my sister searched for long skirts, not maxi skirts and we accidentally bought one that will be too short for me. That's the problem when you're just looking at a picture of something and you don't examine the description close enough. Luckily, it was only $11.

My body is already showing signs of detoxification and my left hand is softening! Yay nutrition!

Sunday, March 23rd

Mom stopped by after church and they had given her a lei (she didn't know why) and she gave it to me so I got to smell that all day. I had forgotten to eat the last of my sushi at breakfast so I had it for lunch. It was definitely old at that point, but still edible. Mom was hungry so she ate my lunch and it all worked out perfectly!

As I didn't get a visit from Freddie, I thought I would use the picture my therapist took a couple weeks ago of him on my shoulder. What a cutie! Have a fabulous week!