The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

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caseydog said:
Dad fell today. He hit is head. An ambulance took him to the hospital where my sister works. He's home now. He has 8 surgical staples in the back of his head. He starts physical therapy next week to work on his leg strength and balance, so hopefully he will stop falling.

CD
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caseydog said:
He's fine. His only major gripe was that he didn't get to eat dinner until almost 9 PM. He keeps a VERY rigid meal schedule. Dinner is at 5 PM, whether he is hungry or not. :laugh:

We are really hoping that the physical therapy will help him not fall as much.

His younger brother has Parkinson's. My dad is showing multiple signs of it, too. My uncle is 11 years younger than my dad, so he is able to do the extensive medication and therapy regimen pretty easily, and gets around quite well. My dad would not be able to do it, without moving into assisted living.

CD
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Sorry to hear this CD.
 
Had a brand new boiler fitted yesterday. Had to wait for the off peak controlled load hours to kick in at 10pm...

Guess what?

Yep, still no hot water!

Really beginning to wonder if it's a boiler problem or an electricity problem now.
(Landlord chose to replace the old boiler because they've had other issues with it in the past. I'm not so sure now that it was faulty...) I'm also not so sure how I ascertain if the 10pm-7am off peak controlled load electricity is actually working.... it appears (I've never had it before so had to read up on it) that it's a completely separate electricity supply at a different voltage (?) so you get 2 lines coming into the house, not 1 and the 2nd only works for certain devices at certain hours of the night.

And of course the electricity is in my hubby's name so I can't talk to them without his permission each and every time! Grrr 😡
 
We've finally got hot water! :woot::woot::woot:

Yeah. Seems we had 2 problems for the price of 1.... :facepalm:

We were due a 9-5 power cut 2 days ago but it was cancelled at the last minute because someone figured out that they could change where we get our electricity from, from A to B and it would allow them to isolate the relay stations they needed to do the work on without anyone losing power yet again for a full day.

So a signal was sent down the line to switch the timed controlled load off (from area A) and another signal from area B was sent down the line to say back on but from this location.... However, ours and around 35 other homes didn't come back up... that was Monday. We lost hot water back on Wednesday night last week. So likely we had a boiler problem that overlapped this switch issue.

The fix has taken a couple of days for Essential Energy to work out with a technical specialist having to be sent down from the Blue Mountains to our region to investigate because the boxes all respond, all have the correct files and numbers etc, but just don't 'work'. The fix has been to remove the file from the smart meter, and put it back on again which has to be done at the property. Once it's back on, everything works as it should do and talks happily to the world again...

And, because not having hot water is considered to be very important in Australia, the off-peak side has been bypassed for today so we don't have to wait until 10pm for it to start to get warm... (in fact, hubby is in the shower now).

Apparently, not having hot water is taken so seriously it's a free 24/7 365 days a year call out and they'll usually arrive within ½hr (though for us it would take about an hour because of where we live).
 
Bedroom is ready too!
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kaneohegirlinaz said:
Every since we left Hawaii, at least once a year I get what I think is a bite of some sort,
about this time of year, when we get a warm snap.
View attachment 81655
I felt it start up this past Saturday.
I cleaned the wound and put a bandage with some antibiotic ointment on it.

View attachment 81656
Today it looks like this.
It's a little tender, but not so bad really.
I was thinking that it's a spider bite ...

Anyone have thoughts on this?
I'd certainly appreciate them ...
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Went to see the Doc this morning, it's confirmed, Shingles ... AND an added bonus, secondary skin infection, YAY!
As soon as I showed him the first photo ... "Yup, that's Shingles all right."
So it's antibiotics and and antiviral and then once this clears up and I need to get the Shingles Vaccine.
None here's the rub on that:
Our health care insurance is all out of Hawaii and in order to get that vaccine, I have to go to a clinic that is connected with a pharmacy.
Now that's a mouthful!
The doctor's offices no longer stock nor administer the Shingles Vaccine, only pharmacies here in the continental US, back home in Hawaii, I could simply going to my local drug store, get the shot and have it paid for by our medical insurance.
Another fun fact, when I think back, I've been getting this for probably a good 10 years, if not longer but I never put two and two together.
 
kaneohegirlinaz said:
Went to see the Doc this morning, it's confirmed, Shingles ... AND an added bonus, secondary skin infection, YAY!
As soon as I showed him the first photo ... "Yup, that's Shingles all right."
So it's antibiotics and and antiviral and then once this clears up and I need to get the Shingles Vaccine.
None here's the rub on that:
Our health care insurance is all out of Hawaii and in order to get that vaccine, I have to go to a clinic that is connected with a pharmacy.
Now that's a mouthful!
The doctor's offices no longer stock nor administer the Shingles Vaccine, only pharmacies here in the continental US, back home in Hawaii, I could simply going to my local drug store, get the shot and have it paid for by our medical insurance.
Another fun fact, when I think back, I've been getting this for probably a good 10 years, if not longer but I never put two and two together.
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Well, now you know, so you can deal with it. Stay away from other people as much as possible if you are in a contagious stage -- I'm sure the doctor told you that. Has DH had chickenpox?

CD
 
caseydog said:
Well, now you know, so you can deal with it. Stay away from other people as much as possible if you are in a contagious stage -- I'm sure the doctor told you that. Has DH had chickenpox?

CD
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For real? :ohmy:
No he did not say really much of anything, this was a PA in the same office, I couldn't get in to see my regular.
I wasn't thrilled with this guy, at all.
Not to sound sexiest but I feel that for the most part, women are better care givers, sorry if I offend anyone, but that's my feeling.
 
kaneohegirlinaz said:
For real? :ohmy:
No he did not say really much of anything, this was a PA in the same office, I couldn't get in to see my regular.
I wasn't thrilled with this guy, at all.
Not to sound sexiest but I feel that for the most part, women are better care givers, sorry if I offend anyone, but that's my feeling.
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A person with shingles can pass the varicella-zoster virus to anyone who isn't immune to chickenpox. This usually occurs through direct contact with the open sores of the shingles rash. Once infected, the person will develop chickenpox, however, not shingles.

I've never had chickenpox, so I have to stay far away from friends who have shingles.

If DH has had chickenpox, then he should get the shingles vaccine, too. If not, you and he need to maintain some distance.

WebMD and the Mayo Clinic websites have some good information on shingles.

CD
 
caseydog yes, DH had chickenpox as a kid and then Shingles a few years back, also the vaccine, which is how I knew how I need to deal with the insurance.
Me, well, I didn't get chickenpox until I was in my 30's, it was the worst, sickest I have ever been in my entire lifetime!
 
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CD - so sorry to hear about your Dad. How old is he? Mother is 90. She is physically remarkably well. Mentally she has issues with dementia. It is so difficult to.... just to see elderly parents have issues, physical or mental.

kaneohegirlinaz I do not envy you dealing with shingles. George had a very mild case. A small patch just above his belt line on his back. I spotted it early. He got treatment early. I know people who have had bad cases. BIL's Mother had a very bad case. She never fully recovered. The rash went away but she suffered from nerve pain for the last 20 years of her life. Take care.
 
ElizabethB said:
CD - so sorry to hear about your Dad. How old is he? Mother is 90. She is physically remarkably well. Mentally she has issues with dementia. It is so difficult to.... just to see elderly parents have issues, physical or mental.
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He will be 90 in June. After his fall today, the senior living community where my parents live are insisting that we get home care to help him get around, such as getting to and from the dining room, do safety checks twice a day, and help him shower. He has fallen too many times.

He's going to say no, but we'll have to talk him into it, because the alternative is moving over to assisted living.

He starts physical therapy on Friday -- assuming he goes to it. This is designed to help him build leg strength and improve balance. He agreed to do it, but we won't know until he actually does it.

CD
 
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