Doing business in today's world - when you're exhausted

This week has been filled with frustration. Frustration equals stress. Stress is hard on those of us with FM and/or OA.

The highlight of the week was on Monday when my primary care physician told me that all my tests showed I'm free of cancer, free of high cholesterol, free of RA. WOOHOO~ I was given a go for surgery in December that is supposed to stop my arms and hands from going numb and to get my fingers to stop short-circuiting - and working again.

It went downhill from there.

Tuesday left me with little energy, but projects called. I've been laying a new floor in the kitchen. What would have taken me a day and a half 5 years ago has taken 2 weeks. Two very slow weeks of laying a few 12x12 tiles at a time.

Then the dishwasher would not drain. Took the hose off that attaches to the garbage disposal to see if it was plugged. Not plugged. Dipped what I could out with a measuring cup and then resorted to using the turkey baster. No bad stuff in the filter to keep it from draining. Washed all the dishes by hand. Got done just in time to discuss it with hubby as I lay on the sofa, exhausted.

Wednesday, after 14 hours of sleep I was more tired than I had been on Tuesday. The water softener in the garage began to make funny noises. Checked the salt level, which was fine. Called a repair company for the dishwasher.

The repairman showed up and made his diagnosis: "The pump is bad." The dishwasher is not yet 2 1/2 years old. He said he'd be back on Thursday with a new pump. I did as much as I possibly could before finding the sofa again.

Thursday came and went without a peep from the repairman. No phone call. No show. The garage began making clicking noises again. Clicks like a circuit is not connecting right to turn on the water softener, however a lot louder than the circuit-breaker in my neck that turns on whatever it takes to make my swollen hands and fingers work. I watched Survivor from a prone position and then went to bed.

Today, Friday, after 12 hours of sleep, I crawled out of bed (with hubby's help since I had no feeling from the elbows down and my right hand was about half again as big as it should be) and had 4 giant cups of coffee before calling the repair company - to be informed the repair was scheduled for "before noon today". The repairman showed up on time and went to work on the dishwasher.

I called the company we had ordered our pellet/corn burning stove from three weeks ago, only to be told that it is now on back order until March.

The repairman put the new pump in and got the dishwasher all back together and full of water only to discover that he'd forgotten to put the flange back in. Good thing he'd brought his shop vac to suck up the water that was now all over my new floor.

Waited until the bookkeeper came in so I could request a refund for the pellet/corn stove. She put me on hold and then said she'd have to call me back. That was an hour ago. In 10 minutes I will be back on the phone to her. If she gives me a song and dance rather than telling me a full refund check is waiting, I will drag myself out to my car and drive over there in a much less happy mood than I'm currently in. We need the refund to pay for another stove from another vendor who promises they have 16 in stock in their warehouse.

Hubby took a good look at my hands this morning and told me he will bring home KFC for supper tonight. No wonder we've been married so long.

I could go to bed right now and wake up sometime tomorrow afternoon. I'm too tired to deal with the noise in the garage. Come to think of it, I've been too tired to mention it to hubby ...

However, rather than the rain-mixed-with-snow that was forecast for today, it is sunny and 60 degrees. Certainly a mood-enhancer.

Just a little less stress ... please.

Stress and Fibro don't go well together. I've been real worried about my friend, writer/editor/author Ed Easley, who's been in a Seattle hospital for 3 weeks, has undergone 3 brain surgeries, and seems to be recovering well enough to be moved to a hospital closer to home soon. Thank God! It's been a rough road for Ed, his wife Patti, and their family.

Ed swears he's agnostic. Wait until he fully understands just how many dozens, if not hundreds, of cyber-friends have been praying for him. I think he'll come around. He walked today! What more might it take to convince him? We'll wait to see.

We're tryng to get our floors re-done in the kitchen, dining room, and back foyer before Thanksgiving. Because of the arthritis in my spine, hips and knees, it takes me a very long time to do these things. Michael helps a lot. In fact, Michael does all the heavy stuff, the tugging and pulling, the hauling, and the prying. We decided to go the easy route and use commercial tiles. (Only because they don't look like what you'd find in a grocery story or hospital.) It's much easier on me to complete small areas at a time.

The whole crew will be here for Thanksgiving. Sounds like there will be around 20 for supper. No problem. Uh-huh. Would be a huge problem if hubby, son, son-in-law, and my two great-cook-grandsons, weren't planning to help me in the kitchen. For all the barbs I withstood when Jeremy, now 19, was two - and insisted on helping me cook every meal - we'll just BBQ those barbs and call it a day. He was destined to be the one who helps me in the kitchen now that I can't do it all by myself. And Nick is well on his way to being the best kitchen helper in three states. We'll do just fine.

Stress. The MRI from what appeared to be nasty infection/cancer in the lymph nodes in my neck turned out to be not so nasty. However, it gave us some ugly pictures of my neck. Now I understand why my hands aren't working well, or often.

My primary care doc sent me to a neurosurgeon. Surgery to replace C-4/5/6 is scheduled for early December. Then I'll be in a neck/collar brace for three months. It's amazing what can be done these days with ground up cadaver bones and silly putty. Sure will be nice to have a few less bone spurs poking at nerves, and for my spinal fluid and cord to not be pinched. (Bonus: Some chiropractic circles believe that treatments to repair/place C-4 in optimal mode is the cure for Fibro.)

One of the things I had to NOT tackle right now was Karina Fabian's Leaps of Faith Virtual Blog Tour. If you like sci-fi, you'll love this anthology. If you believe in God, you'll like this anthology. Check out the schedule at The Review Hutch.