Yes, it is already 2015. Dang, I'm old! A lot has happened this year, but then again a lot has stayed the same.
January came and went and with it another non winter. The days were warm with no rain and highs in the 70's. And I have a leather jacket with nowhere to wear it.
February, same picture, shorter month. Still living in downtown Suisun City, with only a small air conditioner, but at least my former neighbor, Connie, was coming by once a week to make help me around the apartment.
In March, Connie met the man of her dreams and they married in May. He's a marriage counselor. I think it will last. Unfortunately for me and her husband, she was transferred to the Navy Base (she's in the Navy and was stationed at Travis Air Force Base when we met) at Diego Garcia way out in the Indian Ocean. She's thinking after her one year ends at the end of May, she is going to see if she can get transferred to Italy. I need to start saving money yesterday so I can visit her. I've always wanted to go to Italy.
It was another warm spring and summer. That dang Global Warming. Ming and I made it through, running every fan and the Air Conditioner. Over the summer, I began a series of sleep studies so that I could update my sleep apnea machine, CPAP. Turns out, I didn't have it. Thing is, they forgot to tell me I needed to be off the machine for at least a week prior to taking the test. So I scheduled another one, was off the machine for two weeks, but had a technician who had just been hired and had no oversight. I was diagnosed as not having sleep apnea. This is a condition I have had since I was eight years old and there wasn't a name for it. My mom used to watch me sleep because I would stop breathing while I slept.
At some point over the summer, I went to Urgent Care because I couldn't seem to get rid of considerable nasal congestion. I was referred to the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor who ordered a CT scan which came back that I had broken my nose at some point and it had healed on its own. I recalled around 2000 or 2001 I was walking to my math class, talking to my teacher at college and I tripped over a lip in the cement, where the two slabs came together. I fell down, bent my brand new glasses and ended up with two black eyes. I remember because it was a Wednesday and I was on the Governing Board as the Student Trustee. Instead of going to the meeting that night, the President of the College told me to go to the Emergency Room to make sure that I didn't break anything. They checked my orbital bones around my eyes, but neglected to check my nose. I told the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor that and he agreed that's probably when it happened. I could just leave it as is or I could have an operation that would break it and heal it properly. I decided to go with the surgery. On August 19, I had the nose surgery. It has a real scientific name, but I forgot. I know I wasn't allowed to blow my nose for a week. I never realized how much I blew my nose until I couldn't! There were stents in each nostril, which is why I couldn't blow it for fear I would blow the stents out. The moment he took those out, I couldn't wait to blow my nose! I still feel some pain around my front teeth from the operation as he pinched a nerve when he did the operation. He said it would eventually go away. I slept without my machine from the time I had the operation until my next sleep study, which was at the end of September. Guess what? They said I didn't have sleep apnea. Which is odd because I can't get into REM sleep without my CPAP machine, yet I don't have sleep apnea. My sleep doctor gave had me do an overnight pulse/ox which was about 94 %. It has to be below 85% before Medicare will give you overnight oxygen. I finally met with the Sleep Doctor (I had been meeting with his Nurse Practitioner before) and he suggested I have a home sleep study to see if maybe the setting is the issue. That's where it stands now. I'm playing phone tag with Sleep Study people.
As the hot summer turned to fall - it was hot the final day of October - then freezing the first day of November, my heater failed to work again. The few cold days we had last year my heater didn't work. The maintenance guy came by and changed the thermostat, but it still would work sometimes and sometimes not. When space heaters went on sale in August at Ace Hardware, I bought one. Thing is, since I'm on Section 8 housing assistance, they have to have a working heater. The owner bought me a new heater and it works great. Like I need a heater...
About this time, I met a man I had known for a year or two, but never thought anything of it. Turns out we both like lamb and his favorite lamb place was around the corner. I hadn't been on a date in years. It was fun. We have since become just good friends, as we have a LOT in common. I've never met anyone else who could follow my train of thought the way he can and I am able to follow his train of thought and finish his sentences. It blows us both away. He's also a musician with his own studio. I've always wanted to do a follow up to my "album" I put out in 1988. We'll see how it plays out. So far, he's been a positive influence on my life. I'm eating better and even looking to try to find a way to pay the $29 a month to pay for a membership to the KROC Center. It's like a YMCA and they have excellent water aerobics. There are a few operations I want, but my doctors won't do them until I lose weight.
I continue working on my book about the time I was homeless. I write a chapter or two when I do laundry at my friend Chritsty's house. I take care of her pets when she's on vacation or tour as she plays clarinet with the United States Air Force Band of the Golden West. That's where I met her waaaay back in 2005 when I first narrated/emceed for them. She was in Boston the past few years and I ran into her at the pet store in 2014. That's when she offered to pay me a little to take care of her 4 cats, a dog and a tank of fish. I've been her caretaker ever since.
In September, my 18 year old cat Ming, started howling. She would howl in the middle of the night when I was trying to sleep. She would howl in the morning, she would howl in the middle of the day. There is a ghost in these apartments as the main building up front used to be a mortuary back in the 30's and 40's, so I thought that was what was bothering her. Then I noticed she was drinking a lot water and took her in to have her kidneys looked out. She was in end stage renal failure. My trusty companion, who I'd had for more than ten years, was dying. She gave me that look like, "Mom, I'll do better. Just don't leave me." It broke my heart like hell, but the only humane thing to do was to put her down. My friend Christy helped me with the bill and made certain I was able to keep her remains, as it is in my will that my cats remains are to be buried with me. So far that's Herfy, Maggie T., Mowgli and Ming. The Sunday after putting her down, I couldn't stop crying. A friend of mine had been looking to re-home her longhair Tuxedo cat, Oreo, as she was afraid of dogs and my friend rescues dogs. On October 1, I adopted Oreo. There's been an adjustment period and we're still getting to know one another. But it's good to go to sleep to purr.
I've made some positive changes in my life. I've been a pack rat for a good majority of my life, but it all came to a head when I became homeless. I have too much stuff. So I've been selling it, a little at a time on eBay. I've made a little extra cash for me as I remain on Social Security Disability and the cost of medication continues to rise. It certainly helps. Things that I can't sell, I will donate to the thrift shop of the homeless shelter I was in for two weeks. It's the least I could do for them, considering they put me at the top of the list so I didn't have to sleep in my car. It's Opportunity House in Vacaville, in case you want to donate anything.
That about wraps my year. I'm really looking forward to 2016 as I have my book edited and sent off to the agent so he can find a publisher. I did find a novel I wrote back in the 1980's and a friend is scanning it into electronic form so I can get it to the agent. I did send him one of my short stories, but he said they don't do short works. Hopefully, he will like the novel as much as my late Aunt Judy did when I wrote it back in the day. We'll see. Maybe I can get back on the radio as an author. Who knows?
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Lynda
