Bulleted Updates in These Foolish Things

Aug. 5, 2024, 7:22 p.m.
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Public

It’s the end of the workday on Monday already! I owe you some bullets from where I left off on Friday…

On Friday, after I got over the whole insurance battle, I went to get my CTA scan and forgot to bring along some valium for getting through the jitters. Of course, there was a struggle finding a good vein to insert the contrast IV, and I confessed that I was panicking a bit because I was having to raw dog this procedure without mammas little helper. It cracked up the whole staff and they were so gentle with me (as they always are), and they finally found a juicy vein and got that monstrosity of a machine going. All went fine, even though I thought I might have to stop it when I felt the contrast go through my whole body this time. I used breathwork and settled myself down. We were done 5 minutes later. They even sent my results a few hours later, and lo and behold, all reporting came back stable, which I knew it would. I haven't had headaches on that side in literal years, and I feel like maybe I can stop doing those annual scans now that I'm 5 years past the incident.

Friday night it was all I could do to pick up the dog and take her back to the cute little Airbnb and crash.

Saturday I took Martini on the longest walk (2.5 hours) and then to daycare and then I went to go see Maria. Maria is the one who lives with her daughter's family and takes care of her daughter's 3 growing young boys and lives very luxuriously. The daughter is so successful that she's built a new mansion in the extreme ritzy part of town, and they are in the process of moving into the new place. It's insanity. On a totally separate note, Maria had sent me a text on Thursday telling me that she had a pacemaker placed the day before!! She'd been having what she thought were panic attacks - I guess for YEARS - but they weren't panic attacks after all. It's something called AV heart block and she ended up having a pacemaker placed. Fairly simple/straightforward procedure, but I know she was feeling tired and a little funky. So I brought out some lunch and saw that she's doing really well. We had a lovely afternoon touring the home (it literally took well over an hour to see each room and the features and the details). And the builders are still working on the gigantic pool, outdoor living area and the pickleball/sports court (!!!). But a lot was already finished...I can't even get into the over-the-topness of this place except to tell you that there's all of the regular stuff (if you call having an elevator, multiple laundry rooms, a gym complete with dry sauna and steam room regular), but there are also secret rooms like a *speakeasy* bar that's connected to an honest-to-goodness piano bar and then other dark and secret spaces. It's wild, y'all. I could probably write five entries about Maria and her family and that house and their extravagance. And what I think may have happened to her heart. Do you want me to speculate??

Saturday night I went to Marce's place and we had a very, very mellow time because *she* had just had an *emergency appendectomy*! What is going on with my friends?! I brought over some snacks and she had a little simple seafood dinner and we watched some Olympics highlights and jabbered on and on and I fell asleep on her sofa, so that's how exciting we were.

Sunday I got up and went to visit mom and dad and it was great to see them, but I have a whole bunch more to write about when it comes to family dynamics and I just don't want to get into it much except to say I truly need to figure out how to manage my feelings around my brother's DICKISHNESS. Remember how he called me to thank me for staying with mom and dad for those two weeks and praise me for getting the house in order? Yeah, I thought maybe the tide was turning. Well, yesterday he told me that I "abandoned ship" after those two weeks and insinuated that I wasn't helping anymore! This, as I was MAKING LUNCH AND DINNER FOR MOM AND DAD AND HIM!!! And I fucking did all of the fucking dishes and helped them all afternoon. I had to bite my tongue so hard that I couldn't even look my jerk of a dickwad brother in the eye. UGGHHHHH. Sometimes I hate him. And yet, I know I'm going to have to work with him through all of this Mom + Dad stuff. But I'm pretty sure I won't want to have anything to do with the guy after this whole ordeal is over.

Long drive home yesterday afternoon with the poor dog in my lap. Why is she so nervous about car rides now? This never used to be the case. But she relaxes when she's in my lap and she doesn't cause any issues, so I'm okay if she's okay. Today is officially Martini's 10th birthday, but I'm planning a party for her this Saturday. And with that, I do need to get going so I can do some planning!!

xox,
GS