Rachel
@raythewren.bsky.social
510 followers 790 following 840 posts
Bird watcher and word botcher. Data engineer professionally; hobbyist birder, gardener, stained glass artist, and indie game developer. Crohn's patient with deep interest in healthcare policy due to my dependence on Very Expensive medications.
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raythewren.bsky.social
Every night is Caturday with this one.
raythewren.bsky.social
My idea of a nice Saturday night
raythewren.bsky.social
The cute interpretation: my cat likes to play hide and seek with me

The probably more accurate interpretation: my cat likes to stalk and hunt me
raythewren.bsky.social
Omg that's incredibly cool. What an awesome craft to be learning!
raythewren.bsky.social
Today's cancer appointment was not good
raythewren.bsky.social
Scenes from the fall garden. The golden Alexanders, which bloom in early spring, are having a strange second wind. The New England asters are incandescent. And the muhly grass is making its pink cloud of seeds.
raythewren.bsky.social
I am convinced that nuthatches are governed by different laws of physics than the rest of us
raythewren.bsky.social
I semi-regularly say to Matt "today I'm going to let the soft animal of my body love what it loves"

Well the other day he said "let the soft squishy body have what it wants. Or whatever that thing is that you say" 💀
raythewren.bsky.social
haha UHC has denied Matt's one-night hospital stay following his thyroidectomy saying that it was medically unnecessary
raythewren.bsky.social
OK I bought 216 bulbs
raythewren.bsky.social
Should I or should I not impulse buy 161 spring-blooming bulbs
raythewren.bsky.social
Pros: absolute joy next spring; there is little else in my garden that blooms that early

Cons: would have to rip up 18 square feet of sod to create a new bed which is a job I maybe don't need right now while my fiance is healing from cancer surgery
raythewren.bsky.social
Should I or should I not impulse buy 161 spring-blooming bulbs
raythewren.bsky.social
Today was soooooo much better.
raythewren.bsky.social
Anyway Matt was able to get his drain taken out today and it had the near instantaneous effect of restoring about 40% of his life force.
raythewren.bsky.social
Have you ever put socks on a cat? I have, because I was an annoying little kid when we first got cats. They forget they have feet and flop to the ground and just wait for it to be over.

That is the closest parallel I can draw to having a medical device like a drain or NG tube or PICC in your body.
Reposted by Rachel
raythewren.bsky.social
I don't know why but no matter how much sleep I get I am always bone tired. I can only imagine how Matt feels.
raythewren.bsky.social
Thank you 💕💕
raythewren.bsky.social
Anyway he needs labs drawn tomorrow morning and blessedly the visiting nurse can do that, so we do not need to haul him into a car again.

Sometime this week he hopefully will be getting the drain out and that should make things a lot better.
raythewren.bsky.social
We were told he might be able to work after a few days. Not only is he nowhere near being able to work but his needs are such that I also cannot work, which I had not planned for. It's fine, but a heads up would have been nice.
raythewren.bsky.social
Our poor cat does not understand why he cannot sleep in the bed with us anymore.

The part that is spinning my head is how much more intense this is than what we were prepped for. We were told that necks don't have a lot of pain receptors and some patients need no pain meds at all. That was a lie!
raythewren.bsky.social
I went to the store. We have food. I prepped a big pot of soup that I hope he will not get tired of.

Today was much better than yesterday. I hope tomorrow is better than today.
raythewren.bsky.social
I am meticulously organized. I have a little notebook and I'm logging everything. We also have a home nurse who is going to come twice a week for a couple weeks. It's going okay. I have not even forgotten to take my own meds, yet.
raythewren.bsky.social
Matt was sent home with a drain in that needs to be emptied three times a day, and multiple meds, some which need to be taken without food, some with, some that need to be spaced from one another, one is four times a day. It is all very complicated.