This Week's (and Last Week's) Update

Posting has been a little light around here, even more so than usual. And, it's looking like the trend will continue to be this way, at least for a little while longer.

What's going on? Well...

Dealing with taxes is finally winding down, and I think the end might be in site - at least until I find out that I made a mistake somewhere, which might (or might not) bring me back to... well, who knows where? We can only wait and see.

Then, there's the doctors appointments...

Sam had to see an ENT specialist a few weeks ago. This appointment resulted in more drops (instead of the previous drops and the ones before them, along with the antibiotics, which his doctor had prescribed) and it also resulted in a followup. This followup took place about a week ago - and this resulted in more drops - and now, a cream, with another followup scheduled for about a week from now. Sam and I are both hoping that this is the end of our visits to the ENT specialist (no offense, ENT specialist).

On my end (there may or may not be a pun in there) went in for my annual physical last week. I was thinking it was going to be the usual poking, prodding - then out the door. Not quite, it seems. The physical has led to three (so far) blood tests, which, unfortunately have been happening on different days - they get the results from one blood test, then have me come back for another - plus I now have  an upcoming stress test with an EKG (at least they call it a "simple" stress test, so I think that's a good sign) and a CAT scan on the following day.

They're threatening me with another possible test after all of this, but we'll just have to wait and see. All of this testing is a real pain (in more ways than one) and when you work an hour away, these things really disrupt the day.

Also last week, a household emergency reared it's ugly head. I won't get into the details but, so far, it's sucking up a lot of my time (and money) and I think I'm only at the beginning of getting it fixed. At least, I'm hoping I'm at the beginning. I'm not even sure I'm that far along - and there's a long way to go. The less said about this, the better.

On the brighter side of things, Sam continues his transition from being a student to a being valued member of the workforce (which is said with hope and pride, not sarcasm). On the Not as Bright Side, a stack of forms arrived in the mail the other day, which Sam and I need to get working on.

Surprisingly, these forms were sent, not from SSI, but from the school (where he is currently employed).

Several months ago, when Sam first starting working at the school, it was for a couple of hours a week. After a little while, the school bumped his hours up to a couple of hours a day. Then, a couple of weeks ago, a new position opened up at the school and his coworkers sent him home with an in-house posting of the position, encouraging him to apply for it.

As near as I could tell, the job description was exactly what he was already doing - just more hours. This was good news to me but ambivalent news for Sam. It was, after all, a change in the routine - and changes can be tough.

It took some gentle discussing/ encouraging between Sam and myself, some discussing with his then current job coach, some emailing back and forth with his new caseworker, helping Sam with an email to the head of the department, going to the Transportation Center with Sam to discuss possibilities with the ADA transportation, and then working out a plan for continuing to work on independent walking. The spoken and I hope, unspoken message in all of this being, you're not in this alone in this.

Anyway, Sam got the position which, as it turns out, comes with a lot of paperwork. This has jumped ahead on the Things We Have to Deal With List, which I plan to at least start on, later today -that is, if I can stay sane long enough (which I feel I'm obligated to do).

So, even though it looks quiet around here, things are, for better or worse, busy. And I expect they will continue to be busy (for better or worse) for at least a while longer.

I look forward to a point, which never seems to come, when things might quiet down, at least for a little while.

Soon, I hope. Soon.


Oh, did I mention that Sam got his Jury Duty notice the other day?