Random Raves Fifty-one: Anticipation of Joy!
- Thread starter Birdjaguar
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I hurt my brain trying to get it around this phrase.
The government says 65 (I have some years to go yet). The previous PM (Harper) pegged it at 67. "Early retirement" age is 55 (my uncle was offered that and took it). There are various businesses around town that offer seniors' discounts to anyone 55 or over. Paying 20% less at the pharmacy one day/week sounded like a good deal to me (funny how some women get touchy and rude about their age even if it means they can save money). There's a rental company in town that offers very low damage deposits to renters 50+ years.
Several years ago, a social worker put me in touch with the seniors' centre, as I had only accessed them for flu shots when I was trying to get my dad to have them done. They're free for everyone now, but back then adults not in at-risk groups and under 65 were charged, so my parents refused to get them.
My dad would bring home everything going around town back then, and then would cough and sneeze all over stuff, and I'd get sick. So the year he turned 65, I told him, "Get your coat on, we are going to the Golden Circle, and are getting flu shots." He protested, and I told him, "You're 65 now, it's free, I'm in an at-risk group so it's free, I'm tired of getting sick when you bring this home, so no more excuses, we're going."
Anyway, I hadn't known I could access anything beyond flu shots, so it was interesting to find out the other services available. Transportation to out of town medical appointments and housekeeping are the biggies. I'd be blind without the first one, since cataract surgery is not available here - in a city of over 100K people. This is our provincial government giving us the "Alberta Advantage" and we are supposed to praise the Health Minister for it.
Somehow, people who cannot see are supposed to drive to a neighboring town's hospital for eye surgery.Other services include meals, help doing taxes, and they have some other programs I haven't accessed. There are social activities there, which I also have not accessed. I've gone to a few of the political meetings hosted there - election forums, Council of Canadians, etc.
warpus
In pork I trust
I have been told that I'm going to get an "Excellent" for my work performance evaluation for this year, just like last year, and the year before that.
So that is excellent news! To celebrate I clocked out of work a bit early and have lowered my standards a bit going forward. I wouldn't want to excel so excellently all the time and make my coworkers look bad.
So that is excellent news! To celebrate I clocked out of work a bit early and have lowered my standards a bit going forward. I wouldn't want to excel so excellently all the time and make my coworkers look bad.
AndFor you now: more money, more time, less social media stress!
tjs282
Stone \ Cold / Fish
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
The guy from the septic service just called to say that he will be here 2 hours earlier than scheduled!
This is especially appreciated because I've gotten less than 6 hours sleep in the past 2 days due to needing to empty the toilet bowl with our wet/dry shop vac about once an hour in order to prevent it from overflowing and flooding again. Hopefully that need with end soon and I can get a nap this afternoon.
Edit:
This has just changed to a rant.
The guy who came here 2 hours early was not the one who pumps it out, but someone from the same company who inspects the site, digs up the septic tank if it is buried too deep to service, inspects the lines, and gives the official price quote.
He said we need more than a basic pumping to empty the tank. That service would be $375, but since it is already backed up into the house there is an extra $100 charge.
He also said that we almost certainly have an issue with the line coming out of the tank too, and that ideally we would go ahead and dig it up to repair it now. That would cost an extra $3,200.
He said that if we don't deal with the line that we may have the tank fill with water and start overflowing again within a couple weeks, but we could get lucky and have it work fine for years.
While dad was pondering this I remembered hearing the something very similar from the last guy to service out septic tank. When I looked through the paperwork I found they had quoted us $5,800 for that service, but we declined and ended up paying $850 for what this guy says will be $475.
Since we managed to be fine for 8 years last time, we decided to risk it again and just try to remember to have it serviced more frequently.
I'm thinking I should also install a bidet, at least in the toilet downstairs if not on those upstairs, both to reduce the risk of pandemic panics making toilet paper unavailable again and to make things easier on our septic tank.
(Dad mostly uses the downstairs toilet, which has the hardest time flushing and backs up first due to gravity, and tends to use so much toilet paper than he often clogs whatever toilet he uses. Mom's personal hygiene has not been great since her strokes. Even when she puts on a new diaper she often still smells like she forgot to wipe. It might be worth getting a bidet for her master bedroom toilet too, but she'd use the downstairs one half the time when it is in order so that is probably good enough.)
Edit: I just got a call saying the pump is on its way. I guess that is still a rave at least.
Edit: More rants.
There was some miscommunication with the first guy here. When I pointed out an opening to the septic tank he thought I said that they could pump it empty just through that hole, but I had only intended to show him where the septic tank as located. The guy with the pump truck arrived but says that opening is just for overflow (when it isn't so backed up that it overflows into our downstairs toilet instead) and is not wide enough to fit a hose through in order to pump anything out. The earth moving equipment left a couple hours ago. This guy has his assistance digging manually while he argued on the phone with his boss to try to get the other guy to come back.
This guy also opined that the original drainage line from 1983 won't be operable any more and that we really ought to go ahead and replace it now .
This is especially appreciated because I've gotten less than 6 hours sleep in the past 2 days due to needing to empty the toilet bowl with our wet/dry shop vac about once an hour in order to prevent it from overflowing and flooding again. Hopefully that need with end soon and I can get a nap this afternoon.
Edit:
This has just changed to a rant.
The guy who came here 2 hours early was not the one who pumps it out, but someone from the same company who inspects the site, digs up the septic tank if it is buried too deep to service, inspects the lines, and gives the official price quote.
He said we need more than a basic pumping to empty the tank. That service would be $375, but since it is already backed up into the house there is an extra $100 charge.
He also said that we almost certainly have an issue with the line coming out of the tank too, and that ideally we would go ahead and dig it up to repair it now. That would cost an extra $3,200.
He said that if we don't deal with the line that we may have the tank fill with water and start overflowing again within a couple weeks, but we could get lucky and have it work fine for years.
While dad was pondering this I remembered hearing the something very similar from the last guy to service out septic tank. When I looked through the paperwork I found they had quoted us $5,800 for that service, but we declined and ended up paying $850 for what this guy says will be $475.
Since we managed to be fine for 8 years last time, we decided to risk it again and just try to remember to have it serviced more frequently.
I'm thinking I should also install a bidet, at least in the toilet downstairs if not on those upstairs, both to reduce the risk of pandemic panics making toilet paper unavailable again and to make things easier on our septic tank.
(Dad mostly uses the downstairs toilet, which has the hardest time flushing and backs up first due to gravity, and tends to use so much toilet paper than he often clogs whatever toilet he uses. Mom's personal hygiene has not been great since her strokes. Even when she puts on a new diaper she often still smells like she forgot to wipe. It might be worth getting a bidet for her master bedroom toilet too, but she'd use the downstairs one half the time when it is in order so that is probably good enough.)
Edit: I just got a call saying the pump is on its way. I guess that is still a rave at least.
Edit: More rants.
There was some miscommunication with the first guy here. When I pointed out an opening to the septic tank he thought I said that they could pump it empty just through that hole, but I had only intended to show him where the septic tank as located. The guy with the pump truck arrived but says that opening is just for overflow (when it isn't so backed up that it overflows into our downstairs toilet instead) and is not wide enough to fit a hose through in order to pump anything out. The earth moving equipment left a couple hours ago. This guy has his assistance digging manually while he argued on the phone with his boss to try to get the other guy to come back.
This guy also opined that the original drainage line from 1983 won't be operable any more and that we really ought to go ahead and replace it now .
Last edited:
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
They managed to dig down enough to open the septic tank without the equipment.
They emptied the tank, but found the pipe leading from the house to the tank was damaged and extremely clogged. He recommended replacing that as well as the effluent line at the other end, which would increase the price further.
Running a hose through it, flushing the upstairs toilets, and dumping the 5 gallon shop vac full of water from the downstairs toilet into the overflow port several times managed to loosen up and clear that line enough that he said we shouldn't have a problem using the upstairs bathrooms. He thinks the kitchen sink and laundry room should be ok as well.
The downstairs toilet is no longer filling itself from below and overflowing every hour if I don't vacuum it!
I haven't noticed it leaking from the base anymore either.
However, the bowl won't drain at all.
If I turn the water line back on and flush the water level in the bowl just goes up and would overflow if I didn't have the shop vac handy.
We still cannot use the toilet, but at least I don't have to get up every hour to empty it.
The septic guy said there must be a serious blockage in the line leading from the toilet to the pipe taking all the effluent from the house to the septic tank. He said there is nothing they can do about that; we need to call a plumber to remove the toilet and snake out the drain, which guessed that would cost us around $300. I suspect the guy I know from Habitat could do it cheaper; when I thought the issue was just a leak from a faulty wax ring he said he would help me replace it for no charge. However, he has not answered the phone or replied to any of my messages since the first sign of it being a septic issue appeared.
The septic guy said that in a newer house the toilet drains would all be in line so that a clog in the downstairs toilet would block the upstairs ones and flushing an upstairs toilet would help push the clog out, but our home like is old enough that the drain lines may all meet at an angle further down. (When he asked if this bathroom was a later edition like the porch, den, and carport, I told him that I was not sure but did not think do. After he left, however, I remembered that when renovating this bathroom years ago we discovered evidence in the walls that this bathroom was originally the laundry room.)
What they did today is only a temporary fix. We might be ok if we empty the tank at least once every 3 years, but he said we really ought to get the bigger issues fixed or better yet switch over to using the municipal sewer. I'm not sure that is available in our area, but the county has been expanding the sewer service significantly in the past few years so perhaps it is. I guess we ought to call about it once their offices open on Monday.
Edit: The downstairs toilet is filling up with water again, albeit less in the past 7 hours than it was filling up in half an hour this morning.
They emptied the tank, but found the pipe leading from the house to the tank was damaged and extremely clogged. He recommended replacing that as well as the effluent line at the other end, which would increase the price further.
Running a hose through it, flushing the upstairs toilets, and dumping the 5 gallon shop vac full of water from the downstairs toilet into the overflow port several times managed to loosen up and clear that line enough that he said we shouldn't have a problem using the upstairs bathrooms. He thinks the kitchen sink and laundry room should be ok as well.
The downstairs toilet is no longer filling itself from below and overflowing every hour if I don't vacuum it!
I haven't noticed it leaking from the base anymore either.
However, the bowl won't drain at all.
If I turn the water line back on and flush the water level in the bowl just goes up and would overflow if I didn't have the shop vac handy.
We still cannot use the toilet, but at least I don't have to get up every hour to empty it.
The septic guy said there must be a serious blockage in the line leading from the toilet to the pipe taking all the effluent from the house to the septic tank. He said there is nothing they can do about that; we need to call a plumber to remove the toilet and snake out the drain, which guessed that would cost us around $300. I suspect the guy I know from Habitat could do it cheaper; when I thought the issue was just a leak from a faulty wax ring he said he would help me replace it for no charge. However, he has not answered the phone or replied to any of my messages since the first sign of it being a septic issue appeared.
The septic guy said that in a newer house the toilet drains would all be in line so that a clog in the downstairs toilet would block the upstairs ones and flushing an upstairs toilet would help push the clog out, but our home like is old enough that the drain lines may all meet at an angle further down. (When he asked if this bathroom was a later edition like the porch, den, and carport, I told him that I was not sure but did not think do. After he left, however, I remembered that when renovating this bathroom years ago we discovered evidence in the walls that this bathroom was originally the laundry room.)
What they did today is only a temporary fix. We might be ok if we empty the tank at least once every 3 years, but he said we really ought to get the bigger issues fixed or better yet switch over to using the municipal sewer. I'm not sure that is available in our area, but the county has been expanding the sewer service significantly in the past few years so perhaps it is. I guess we ought to call about it once their offices open on Monday.
Edit: The downstairs toilet is filling up with water again, albeit less in the past 7 hours than it was filling up in half an hour this morning.
Last edited:
amadeus
burning out his fuse out here alone
I ate dinner. When I feel a lot of unease and I don’t want to rely on medication, it’s hard to eat anything. So that counts for something.
Tested my lockpicking set today.
Seems the basic skills are really easy to acquire. Although I haven't tested with the only real lock I have yet, only with the testing locks. But hey, still happy
.
Seems the basic skills are really easy to acquire. Although I haven't tested with the only real lock I have yet, only with the testing locks. But hey, still happy
.
warpus
In pork I trust
I submitted an entry to the 28 second song category as well as Freestyle ANSI/ASCII/PETSCII category over at The Syntax Demoparty and scored 77 votes for both, which put me in 8th place in both categories!
I wasn't expecting to do so well in the music category, so I'm pretty happy about that. The other category can be a bit of a crapshoot, as PETSCII and ANSI are quite a bit different in how you draw, think about the composition, and put it together.. and the people voting don't really usually have a lot of experience with either art form.. so results can be interesting. Happy getting 8th there too, a bunch of talented artists ended up entering.
It's not really about winning either, it's just a bunch of geeks getting together to socialize and show off some demos, related music, art, have some DJS play some music, drink a bit, and whatever. This year all these events are all virtual, usually you can not enter to all hese categories without attending. The ANSI ones are usually a free for all. Anyway, fun times
I wasn't expecting to do so well in the music category, so I'm pretty happy about that. The other category can be a bit of a crapshoot, as PETSCII and ANSI are quite a bit different in how you draw, think about the composition, and put it together.. and the people voting don't really usually have a lot of experience with either art form.. so results can be interesting. Happy getting 8th there too, a bunch of talented artists ended up entering.
It's not really about winning either, it's just a bunch of geeks getting together to socialize and show off some demos, related music, art, have some DJS play some music, drink a bit, and whatever. This year all these events are all virtual, usually you can not enter to all hese categories without attending. The ANSI ones are usually a free for all. Anyway, fun times
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
The most skilled and experienced guy I know from Habitat for Humanity didn't think much about what I reported the plumbers told us. He said they only care about making money, not actually solving people's problems.
He came to inspect the site himself this morning.
He didn't seem nearly as worried as they did about a little standing water in the pipe, so long as it still flows in the right direction when we flush a toilet. He said the main drain pipe leaving the house ought to be at a higher elevation that the inlet to the septic tank input but that if they are almost level it isn't a huge deal as long as the septic end isn't higher so the fluid doesn't flow the wrong way..
He said that I ought to dig around the old concrete pipe myself to inspect it and see really is damaged or leaking like both the plumber and septic guy claimed. It is really is, he might be able to help me upgrade it to PVC ourselves.
When I told him that the downstairs toilet has not actually been filling itself up any more since the septic tank was cleaned, just refusing to flush at all, and was currently bone dry as I had cut off the water intake line, he told me to reattach the line and try to test how it would flush.
When it was clear that it would not drain at all and I was ready to get out the shop vac again to prevent overflow, he instead asked for a plunger.
After plunging for a few minutes he managed to get it to flush normally. He plunged a bit more and flushed a few more times to be sure. Everything seems to be flowing unencumbered to the septic tank now.
I then asked he wouldn't mind checking out the issue with the dishwasher drain that has stopped us from having a working dishwasher for the past 25 years. I could not remember the details, but a plumber had told dad when I was still a child that we would need to dig into the concrete slab to replace that drainpipe as it was horribly clogged and not up to code. .
He removed the old dish washer, and a copper water supply line with some bad kinks in it, then tested the drain. He said the drain is just fine!
I had an extra dishwasher which I picked up from a habitat work site. The home owner claimed it worked fine, but I'd never tested it. He considered installing it for us, but said he didn't like how it has some rust on the bottom. He had just removed a much better, almost brand new, and definitely functional dishwasher from another house just a couple days ago. He offered to bring it here later this week and install it for us for free!
He then went to check out some issues in mom's upstairs bathroom.
He tightened the bolts and got the toilet to stop rotating. I could have done that myself, but a plumber years ago told me not to as I'd cracked the porcelain and had to replace the toilet there once. I remember him saying there was some issue with the flange there or with the subfloor to which the flange should be attached, but couldn't remember the details. The guy today said he could pull it up to look into the issue but since it wasn't leaking and seemed to stay put after tightening the bolts he doesn't think we should bother.
He looked into the master bathroom shower. He checked out the pipes and said there was no leak. It still has an opening in the wall where they broke through tile to reach the pipes for a repair decades ago, but the section of old shower curtain duct taped to the wall was keeping water out just fine. Everything seemed fine except that the hot water pressure was a bit low, and of course the first water to flow out was rusty from years of disuse. When I mentioned dad told us 20 years ago not to use it because it was still slowly leaking into the kitchen cabinets even after pipe repair, he turned the water on full force for a few minutes and told me to go down and check. From within the kitchen I could find no leak, but if I stood in just the right spot in the utility closet and pointed the flash light at the proper angle I could make out the occasional slow drip from where a PVC drain pipe joined with the original cast iron plumbing.
He said that he suspected that might be caused by bad a clog in the trap below the drain. He went back upstairs with his little snake to clean out the drain. He pronounced it the filthiest shower drain he'd ever seen. He likes to clean all the drains at his house every year due to his wife's long hair, but that it would take her 30 years of shedding in the shower to clog a drain this bad. He left a big mess on the shower floor for me to handle, but said that once clean it should be safe to that shower again. He then described a cheap tool I should buy and use to clean out the drains regularly.
Mom says she would much prefer to go back to using that shower instead of the bathtub in the upstairs hall bathroom, except that it would mean missing the shower head I'd installed there for her three years ago. The master bedroom shower still has an old fixed position head, while in the other bathroom has a handheld adjustable shower head with a long chrome hose and a magnet to hold it up so she does not need the coordination to place it back in a cradle. I just located the exact model and am thinking of getting it for her shower as a birthday present. (She turns 68 on December 19th.)
---
I tried to get dad his chest CT scan appointment at the closest location, but they said the prescription given by dad's primary care was invalid. She had written "with or without contrast," but they are not allowed to make such calls on their own and must be told exactly what to do. They said she also used the wrong diagnostic code at the bottom. Even if we got a corrected prescription into them today, it would be at least a week, maybe two, before dad could come in for the CT scan. The nurse practitioner wanted to be able to see the results before this Friday, and wanted it done today to that the oncologist could review it for tomorrow's appointment too.
I was able to get him his CT scan at the primary office of the clinic where dad's primary care doctor works. That is about 12 miles and a 20 minute car ride from our house (as opposed to 1 mile, 5 minute car ride to the office where he saw this nurse practitioner and a 3.6 mile 10 minute ride from the closest CT scan place.)
My sister called back barely in time for me to get her to agree to watch my mom on a video call while I took dad to get his scan just before the technician was going to leave.
The technician had a strong Indian accent which my father found hard to understand. He seemed rather irritated, more at the provider who ordered the CT scan this soon than at me. He said that there would not be much change just a single week out of the hospital and that to check on the progress of the pneumonia we should come back in 2 or 3 weeks instead. He seemed to come around to the idea that it was less unreasonable after I explained dad also had leukemia/lymphoma and that she wanted the oncologist to see the results too.
He began doing the CT scan without contrast, and told us he did not see any sign of pneumonia. He said it must have been a very small pneumonia for it to be cured by less than a week on antibiotics, or could have been a misdiagnosis.
He did however see several concerning nodules, which he suspected were lymphomas. He made the call to add contrast in order to give the oncologist a better view of the lymphoma's progression. That meant we had to stay about 20 minutes longer than expected.
---
On the way home dad said he did not know where we were going and had no idea where we live. When I told him our address he recognized it and felt more comfortable, but was not clear on which family members lived there. He also commended more than once that he thought we were going back to the office where he worked before retiring almost a decade ago.
He said we had to stop on the way to find a restroom, but when stuck at a train crossing he decided he could not wait and had to try urinating in a water bottle I had just finished drinking. Fortunately he did not spill any.
---
When we got home I was surprised to see an extra dish washer already on our porch.
I don't like the look of it as much as the black model that has been sitting on our porch for a couple years (black would match our refrigerator and stove better than white), but it is a big improvement on what he took out.
It does seem to be missing its lower rack though, and the racks from our old dish washer comes down low enough that it might interfere with the sprayer arm. Perhaps the height of the sprayer arm gets adjusted during the installation. Perhaps he has the rack in his car but only unloaded the heavy stuff today. I'm sure finding a replacement rack would be cheater than getting a whole dishwasher, so were not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
He came to inspect the site himself this morning.
He didn't seem nearly as worried as they did about a little standing water in the pipe, so long as it still flows in the right direction when we flush a toilet. He said the main drain pipe leaving the house ought to be at a higher elevation that the inlet to the septic tank input but that if they are almost level it isn't a huge deal as long as the septic end isn't higher so the fluid doesn't flow the wrong way..
He said that I ought to dig around the old concrete pipe myself to inspect it and see really is damaged or leaking like both the plumber and septic guy claimed. It is really is, he might be able to help me upgrade it to PVC ourselves.
When I told him that the downstairs toilet has not actually been filling itself up any more since the septic tank was cleaned, just refusing to flush at all, and was currently bone dry as I had cut off the water intake line, he told me to reattach the line and try to test how it would flush.
When it was clear that it would not drain at all and I was ready to get out the shop vac again to prevent overflow, he instead asked for a plunger.
After plunging for a few minutes he managed to get it to flush normally. He plunged a bit more and flushed a few more times to be sure. Everything seems to be flowing unencumbered to the septic tank now.
I then asked he wouldn't mind checking out the issue with the dishwasher drain that has stopped us from having a working dishwasher for the past 25 years. I could not remember the details, but a plumber had told dad when I was still a child that we would need to dig into the concrete slab to replace that drainpipe as it was horribly clogged and not up to code. .
He removed the old dish washer, and a copper water supply line with some bad kinks in it, then tested the drain. He said the drain is just fine!
I had an extra dishwasher which I picked up from a habitat work site. The home owner claimed it worked fine, but I'd never tested it. He considered installing it for us, but said he didn't like how it has some rust on the bottom. He had just removed a much better, almost brand new, and definitely functional dishwasher from another house just a couple days ago. He offered to bring it here later this week and install it for us for free!
He then went to check out some issues in mom's upstairs bathroom.
He tightened the bolts and got the toilet to stop rotating. I could have done that myself, but a plumber years ago told me not to as I'd cracked the porcelain and had to replace the toilet there once. I remember him saying there was some issue with the flange there or with the subfloor to which the flange should be attached, but couldn't remember the details. The guy today said he could pull it up to look into the issue but since it wasn't leaking and seemed to stay put after tightening the bolts he doesn't think we should bother.
He looked into the master bathroom shower. He checked out the pipes and said there was no leak. It still has an opening in the wall where they broke through tile to reach the pipes for a repair decades ago, but the section of old shower curtain duct taped to the wall was keeping water out just fine. Everything seemed fine except that the hot water pressure was a bit low, and of course the first water to flow out was rusty from years of disuse. When I mentioned dad told us 20 years ago not to use it because it was still slowly leaking into the kitchen cabinets even after pipe repair, he turned the water on full force for a few minutes and told me to go down and check. From within the kitchen I could find no leak, but if I stood in just the right spot in the utility closet and pointed the flash light at the proper angle I could make out the occasional slow drip from where a PVC drain pipe joined with the original cast iron plumbing.
He said that he suspected that might be caused by bad a clog in the trap below the drain. He went back upstairs with his little snake to clean out the drain. He pronounced it the filthiest shower drain he'd ever seen. He likes to clean all the drains at his house every year due to his wife's long hair, but that it would take her 30 years of shedding in the shower to clog a drain this bad. He left a big mess on the shower floor for me to handle, but said that once clean it should be safe to that shower again. He then described a cheap tool I should buy and use to clean out the drains regularly.
Mom says she would much prefer to go back to using that shower instead of the bathtub in the upstairs hall bathroom, except that it would mean missing the shower head I'd installed there for her three years ago. The master bedroom shower still has an old fixed position head, while in the other bathroom has a handheld adjustable shower head with a long chrome hose and a magnet to hold it up so she does not need the coordination to place it back in a cradle. I just located the exact model and am thinking of getting it for her shower as a birthday present. (She turns 68 on December 19th.)
---
I tried to get dad his chest CT scan appointment at the closest location, but they said the prescription given by dad's primary care was invalid. She had written "with or without contrast," but they are not allowed to make such calls on their own and must be told exactly what to do. They said she also used the wrong diagnostic code at the bottom. Even if we got a corrected prescription into them today, it would be at least a week, maybe two, before dad could come in for the CT scan. The nurse practitioner wanted to be able to see the results before this Friday, and wanted it done today to that the oncologist could review it for tomorrow's appointment too.
I was able to get him his CT scan at the primary office of the clinic where dad's primary care doctor works. That is about 12 miles and a 20 minute car ride from our house (as opposed to 1 mile, 5 minute car ride to the office where he saw this nurse practitioner and a 3.6 mile 10 minute ride from the closest CT scan place.)
My sister called back barely in time for me to get her to agree to watch my mom on a video call while I took dad to get his scan just before the technician was going to leave.
The technician had a strong Indian accent which my father found hard to understand. He seemed rather irritated, more at the provider who ordered the CT scan this soon than at me. He said that there would not be much change just a single week out of the hospital and that to check on the progress of the pneumonia we should come back in 2 or 3 weeks instead. He seemed to come around to the idea that it was less unreasonable after I explained dad also had leukemia/lymphoma and that she wanted the oncologist to see the results too.
He began doing the CT scan without contrast, and told us he did not see any sign of pneumonia. He said it must have been a very small pneumonia for it to be cured by less than a week on antibiotics, or could have been a misdiagnosis.
He did however see several concerning nodules, which he suspected were lymphomas. He made the call to add contrast in order to give the oncologist a better view of the lymphoma's progression. That meant we had to stay about 20 minutes longer than expected.
---
On the way home dad said he did not know where we were going and had no idea where we live. When I told him our address he recognized it and felt more comfortable, but was not clear on which family members lived there. He also commended more than once that he thought we were going back to the office where he worked before retiring almost a decade ago.
He said we had to stop on the way to find a restroom, but when stuck at a train crossing he decided he could not wait and had to try urinating in a water bottle I had just finished drinking. Fortunately he did not spill any.
---
When we got home I was surprised to see an extra dish washer already on our porch.
I don't like the look of it as much as the black model that has been sitting on our porch for a couple years (black would match our refrigerator and stove better than white), but it is a big improvement on what he took out.
It does seem to be missing its lower rack though, and the racks from our old dish washer comes down low enough that it might interfere with the sprayer arm. Perhaps the height of the sprayer arm gets adjusted during the installation. Perhaps he has the rack in his car but only unloaded the heavy stuff today. I'm sure finding a replacement rack would be cheater than getting a whole dishwasher, so were not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Good news on the plumbing front!
Three more overnights to go at work, then two as shrink on call, then I get a weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I get to repeat my previous post!
good news!
Zkribbler
Deity
What do you do when you're on call? I imagine it's something you can drop on a moment's notice.
I remember having Thanksgiving dinner in the US with my neighbors. The husband is a homicide detective. He got a call in the middle of dinner, strapped on his pistol, and went out.
I spend 12 hours sitting around until someone comes in needing my services as a psychologist. I do help the nurses with their paperwork when I have the time, making me extremely popular. 
Time for bed now...
Time for bed now...
That is some hands-on therapeutic work.
- Status
