u/Takiri_aerilaya

Got a kayak for a really good deal on Fb marketplace. I'm rather fluffy, and it took some patience to keep checking back for one I could afford and had a high enough weight rating.

I could not be picky about color. It's not horrible, but it's not what I'd hoped for.

Is it worth painting the sides and top? I was going to leave the bottom the original color, knowing it will rarely be seen, and will be in water and likely scuffed often.

I know scuff, clean, and use a compatible paint, but didn't know if it would still be worth it.

Been obsessed with getting back into paddling - haven't done so in like 20 years (since before I was pregnant). Coworker attempted the MR340 race last month and even though I've lived in Missouri my entire life, it never got assigned a brain cell. I used to fantasize about whitewater kayaking (in my 20s) and even had a kayak school picked out. It never happened, and I never even bought a boat.

I have had kayaking on the brain every single day for weeks now. Tired of being fat and out of shape, and I can't think of a better thing than paddling on a big lake that's just a few miles away. And there is something drawing me in to challenge myself and attempt the MR340 . . . like in TWO years. Figure I'll volunteer in 2027 and maybe see if I'm ready to try it in 2028?

That will give me time to get in shape and lose weight - because I'm fluffy and it's been !@#$$#!@ hard to find a stupid boat with a weight capacity that's high enough. I swear I should just save a google search for 'kayak specs xxxxx' because I've done so many of them. I have a freaking spreadsheet of ones that MIGHT work for me.

And then like 3 days ago I saw an add for a Perception Prodigy II that has hardly been used (and stored inside a garage upside down). $500 for the kayak and a whole crap-ton of other stuff the seller wants to get rid of - multiple PFDs, multiple dry bags, kayak cart, 2 paddles, and I have no idea what else. And kayak has rudder system already installed. Hoping I can get my hips into the cockpit. If it works out, I'll share pics when we get home.

When I was a kid, I was never allowed Playdoh. And Silly Putty was played with ONLY at the table under supervision. We had carpeting in most of the house and they complained it would be impossible to remove when I surely dropped it and it became ground into the carpet.

Fast forward a half century and I'm caregiver for my mother (83, lives with us). I bought a set of the theraputty in different strengths to help her strengthen her hands.

I cautioned her LOUDLY (significant hearing loss) that the putty should always be put back in its container or on a flat smooth surface. It will literally sink into the fibers if left on the bed, clothing, or other fibers.

I went up to get her laundry this morning to find a huge blob of yellow putty spread across a 2 foot section of carpet. She'd put the container in her rollator cart on it's side and did not close it up tight. It oozed right on out, down a handful of tissues, and onto - into - the carpet. I think it just happened within the last hour, as I got 90% of it up off the floor, but I'm going to have to cut the rest out of the carpet fibers. Did I mention we rent and do not own the house?

We lost about a third of that container.

I legit said out loud, as I was picking it out of the carpet, "As I recall, this is exactly why you never let me have Playdoh as a kid."

I'm watching Ashantin's vid on looting the dead trader's area (BetterRuins).

My husband comes upstairs and says:

And the aware for the most annoying mob sound in a video game goes to . . .

[The Bells of Vintage Story]

After being a Fitbit user for more than 20 years, I'm now seriously considering abandoning this tracker and converting to something Garmin.

A few months ago, my Charge 4 communicated perfectly with the Fitbit app to let me know when I went to bed (usually around 1 am) and when I got up (about 8-9 am). I rarely had to correct sleep times, and if I did, it was usually when the Charge 4 had less than 10% battery left.

This Google Health crAPP, though? Same exact tracker - same Charge 4.

Every morning I have to go in and edit my sleep record. If I'm watching TV or a movie with the family, it starts my sleep cycle at 7 or 8 pm in the evening.
Every. Single. Day. It's ridiculous.

Maybe I'm going about this wrong. I learned on 3 Jun that my mother's Medicare/United Healthcare will in fact cover a Purewick system for home.

Has to be ordered by her PCP, and pre-authorized by insurance, and must be purchased through an in network DME Supplier. OK, I can do this.

They gave me a list of 8 in-network DME Suppliers.
6 of them DO NOT SELL Purewick
1 of them DOES. Yay! Oh, but wait, we don't have a contract with United Healthcare
All I can do is shake my head that UHC is the one that freaking referred me to them
1 of them sells catheters, but I'm waiting for a call back from one of their specialists to see if Purewick is one of them.

So I'm asking - do you know of a DME supplier that works with insurance and stocks Purewick for home use? Maybe I should get a company name first and then see if they are in network.

Do Not Sell Purewick:
Edgepark Medical, Byram Healthcare, AdaptHealth LLC, 180 Medical Inc, Atos Medical, Synapse Health.
Sells Purewick, but does not have contract with United Healthcare
Liberator Medical Supply

Waiting for callback
Comfort Medical

I feel like I'm losing my mind . . .

Moved my mother in with us 3 years ago. Bad fall 5 May, new titanium in the arm/shoulder. 10 days in hospital, 3 weeks in SNF. Non-weight bearing on right arm - YET - and almost no muscle tone in right leg for walking.

All meals have to taken up to her room as steps aren't a thing yet. Must be spotted with a gait belt on trips to the restroom.

Been waiting a week for the insurance order that was put in for a commode and a transport chair.

Am also sandwich generation and raising a high school with severe ADHD combined. He failed half his junior year classes. He swore he'd work his butt off for a summer class (month of june) and gave me permission to ride his ass about lessons. Yet he currently has a 32% in the class that is now more than half over because the draw of video games is so strong.

I said things earlier, venting to my mother about "what's wrong honey", and I feel bad because I know I upset him. He has to learn to manage his own time and find motivation to get things done. He was accepted into a tech program that the school would pay for for his senior year, but he's on the wait list, and i don't know if he'll get in. So it's probably college for that (welding). But if can't get his shit in gear, i said he might as well just get a job at mcdonalds, because with his attitude on homework and classes now, there's no point in wasting the money on college.

I'm through 6 of the DME in network suppliers that mother's medicare gave me. Trying to get her a Purewick Catheter system for the future, since her worst falls are nighttime bathroom trip related. They gave me 8 companies. 5 of them don't sell the damned system. 1 of them DOES - but they don't have a contract with UHC. And UHC is the one that gave me their name.

monday i woke up with some kind of stomach virus. gotta admit, son stepped up and did almost everything for his grandmother, letting me lay in bed or the recliner and whimper and moan. I thought it would be a 24 hour thing, as they usually are.

Wednesday now. i still have diarrhea, and my stomach is cramping. I practically scream if a dog walks over me to settle in.
Monday also included a vestibular migraine (super dizzy, practically no pain). Vestibular migrained continued through Tuesday (yesterday). last night the pain came. i gave up and went to bed, but the pain was too bad and i could not sleep. about 3 am, i moved to the recliner with an icebag and a couple of ibuprofen.

this morning about 10, pain gone, but dizziness is still here with a vengeance. You ever tried to spot your mother on a trip to the bathroom, to keep her from falling, when you have to use the wall for support to keep YOURSELF from falling over? oh, and then you get to cook her breakfast, that kinda smells good, but you're afraid to eat any yourself because vomitting sucks.

i'm exhausted. DME company #7 was a lady that would only take info and have a 'specialist' call you back. I'm at the end of my rope and i just started crying. she wasn't sure what to do with that.

i want to crawl under the covers and shut the world out. but i have a mother and a son to care for, and it doesn't matter that i wobble when i try walk around the house. on the 11th and put in for a refill of my migraine meds that do shorten the vestibular attacks. Today is the 17th and it's still 'in process.

/vent

:'(

Moved my mother in with us April 2023 - me (56F), husband, and son (17). Mother took a bad fall on 5 May, ended up having right arm/shoulder surgery 12 May, and then spent about 3 weeks in SNF. I brought her home Thursday the 11th.

Every trip to the bathroom requires a spotter walking with her, hand on the gait belt. We're waiting for the insurance approval on a Purewick for nighttime. That first night she was worried about what she was going to do for bathroom, as she didn't want to wake me up (2-3 times a night). I appreciate this, as I have enough struggles with sleep.

An idea occurred to me and it's been working. Because you have to find humor wherever you can - I suggested she 'shirt-cock' it, a la Deadpool style. Gown, nothing on underneath. Waterproof bedpad in the power chair, with one of the super overnight adult incontinence pad between her legs. Pee into it, use the chair to almost standing, drop it into trashcan and stick a new one between her legs. It's working. Two to three pads a night.

Yesterday I noticed an aroma while walking behind her. I started breathing through my mouth on bathroom trips. Showers were a challenge BEFORE the fall. We rent and the tub is the step up and over kind. Can't exactly rip it out and put in a walk in since we don't own. Getting into and out of the tub/shower was the one thing she could not do independently before the fall and broken arm. Now it's a source of major stress. Again, I came up with a possible workaround. But yet the shower didn't happen yesterday.

She's even riper in aroma today. She's also constipated and taking stool softeners, laxatives and more laxatives. (I lived in fear today of my first ever poopacalypse). I was ready to get her into the shower this morning on first trip to the bathroom, but she wanted to wait to poop.

Poop happened - right where it's supposed to, thank-you-very-much - but the shower did not.

I get her tucked into the chair, get the pee-pad in place. She leans back and lifts up her belly, asking me to sprinkle some of the anti-fungal powder on her that the SNF sent home with her.

Oh for the love of Bob. Let's just say the stream of obscenities that went through my head, and some that came out of my mouth, could potentially get me banned from reddit. She is bright red and slimy galded, from hip crease to hip crease, and into her groin joints.

This is the FOURTH night I've tucked her in, and she just now asked for powder? WTF???

I told her tomorrow there is a shower happening. I don't care if I have to put her on a blanket and drag her ass to the back yard and hose her off with the garden hose, there is a shower happening.

If she'd effing said something days ago, it never would have gotten this bad! Now I'm worried about it being so bad that there are breaks in the skin and infections are possible.

WHY DO THEY HIDE THINGS?????