"You really don't want her off her pills"

Yesterday went better than I expected.  Ron got up, got ready, I took my shower.  It was cold (40's) and raining with a wind.  Not very pleasant. 

But if the weather were perfect, everyone would want to live here. 

We got to work and started stocking.  People are trusting the soda machine that was "down", again.  Happily it wasn't taking their money, just refusing to take it.  You wouldn't think that would be a big problem in vending, having a machine refuse money, but it can be. .

They bought all the RC and the Mountain Dew.  We only stock those in that machine.  One day I might give you a list of everything we sell, or at least the top sellers, if you're interested.  Let me know.  I don't want to bore anyone. 

Ron did his thing, I did mine.  It didn't take too long before the repairman called.  He was here.  I got him and he changed out the lock in about 10 seconds.  He has a lot of practice!  I just couldn't get the damned thing to go to save my life.  If you had held a gun to my head I wouldn't have done any better.  I can always blame it on my medication.  It can make my hands "dumb". 

He went off to help the other vendor, after we paid him.  I'm glad he could combine the trips.  Maybe he called them and said "I'm here for Ron and Heather, do you need anything fixed?"  Smart. .

I'm sure he made a lot more "offa" them than he did from us. 

Ron didn't have enough time to finish canned sodas, and bottled sodas.  I factored in his bad back and decided to do bottled soda for him.  I got the cart and the drinks, 3 cases, and stocked them.  I also fronted the machine so every row looked full.  It was a good looking machine when I finished.  All done. 

I told Ron, who was delighted, and he finished canned sodas.  Then we put the carts away after we did our inventory for Dr Pepper. 

You can't buy soda if you don't know what you have.  Can't order it, rather.  So I read it all off on Ron's recorder.  He figured out how much we needed and called it in after we got home.  Then we get up at 2-3 AM on Friday to get it. 

We left, and our ride pulled up pretty much the minute we got there.  Good, it was pretty miserable out there.  We had a good ride home. 

I took a nap.  I needed it.  I think Ron had some more vodka.  He is saying he wants to get medication for his back/neuropathy instead of drinking.  I tell him that's a very good idea, but many of them will severely interact with alcohol.  He swears he won't drink if he has an oral medication. 

And I worry about narcotics addition. 

No one gives a crap how much lithium I'm getting, as long as I take it.  They will fill a prescription "early" any day of the week if I go in asking for it, because I'd be awful off it.  And it's not addictive and pretty damned safe to boot.   It's basically unregulated as long as I get my blood test every year. 

Not so with narcotics.  I told him this.  He said he doesn't want a narcotic.  We will see. 

When we go to the doctor I will mention he has a drinking problem, with blackouts on a regular basis.   He need to know that. 

So, I took my nap.  I woke up and did my God Time.  Ron woke up.  He had made a trip to get dinner so I took it (would have been penalized by paratransit if we hadn't).  We had a pretty good meal. 

They left us there pretty long.  I did find it funny when we got dropped off, there was another driver there, she was smoking and texting at the same time, standing right next to her vehicle.  Both are extremely forbidden when clients are present.  I thought about taking a photo just to show the other driver, but I didn't want to get her in trouble. 

We went home. 

I saw something odd on the porch.  I checked it out.  It was what looked like an exploded box of Scripture booklets.  They apparently didn't process very well at the processing center.  Funny to think they could have just brought them to me at work.  Anyway, the booklets left (most of them) look OK so I'm not worried.  And if any got lost maybe the right person will pick them up and get saved. 

I was still pretty tired; sleep deprivation has a cumulative effect on me.  I went to bed early.  I slept pretty good, but woke up in the early morning.  Have you ever had that experience where you wake up really early on your day off, and can choose to go back to sleep?  I did. 

I had a dream where I went to a movie, and when I came out everyone was yelling at me for abandoning Ron in the hospital.  I was yelling at a nurse about how I am "this close" to caregiver burnout.  Then I woke up. 

Not a very nice dream to have.  I think, next time I wake up early, I'll just get up. 

Now, let me tell you about my Walmart pharmacy drama.  Days ago, I asked them to put in for a refill on my 4 prescriptions.  They said OK, they would contact the doctor and ask. 

I was out of refills, so I expected it might take a little longer.  I had no idea. 

A few days ago they called and told me my Haldol was in.  It's the only $10 prescription.  That also let me know doc put in for 3 month refills. 

I waited another couple of days.  No more phone calls. Yesterday Ron called and asked about the rest of my prescriptions.  They wanted to talk to me.  I took the phone. 

They said they would "put them in", could do 2 of them, but they would have to send out the last, which would come in after 1 today.  Why didn't they put them in the day they got them? 

Like Ron said, "You really don't want her off her pills".  They aren't stupid, they know what these meds are used for.  They probably know more about my condition than I do. 

Stupid.  Screw around with someone's Retin-A, or sleeping pills.  But don't jerk a psychiatric patient around.  That's really stupid.  It is really hard to attain anything close to functional, especially with my issues. 

The last thing I need is inconsistency with my medication.