My husband's shoulder started giving him trouble (he has the beginnings of arthritis), and after a nice long battle with the ER doctors who were convinced he was just after morphine (it confused them rather satisfactorily when he refused the nasty drug), we finally got him an appointment with a REAL doctor, in the same clinic as my own primary care doc. This man is amazing, folks. He listened, did all the right tests, even wrote out a note for my husband to take some much needed time off work to recuperate! (With arthritis in his shoulder and arm, working at a computer is damn near impossible for him right now.)
The doctor gave him better medications, including an anti-inflammatory (think ibuprofen, with a kick), and the best pain-killer/muscle-relaxant known to mankind. I won't share names, but this medication comes in a little yellow tablet... a little tablet of sunshine, if you ask me! It takes his pain down to a dull ache, just as if he'd had a rough day working on the car.
We hit up Walgreens to fill the prescriptions, and to pick up some essentials for pain management. A heating pad (electric, great buy and works wonders with its 3 settings), an ice pack complete with a little cloth sleeve to keep from burning the skin, a tube of muscle cream (gets cold, and then slowly warms the pain right out of his joints), and of course, the biggest necessity... Rocky Road ice cream. That last one is mostly for me. ;)
Our days have been spent enjoying each other's company, and commiserating between his shoulder and my kidneys. We laugh about what a fine pair we make, watch old TV shows about men screwing in space, and take naps. This little speedbump in our lives may have prevented us from doing what we'd originally planned for Valentine's Day, which was to go out of town this next weekend, but instead we get a full week to spend, at home, just focusing on not stressing out. With any luck, it will help in some much-needed areas of our lives. This is kind of it on some levels, and I think I'm dreading life going back to normal so much more than he is.
It's a dreary day today, which means that the windows are of course all wide open, letting in that gray light, and whatever cool air I can get my nose buried into. The crabbed trees and snowdrifts outside make it seem almost otherworldly, giving the impression that, much like his work schedule, the entire world has stopped for these few days. And for all intents and purposes, it has. Our bills are caught up, our rent isn't due yet, and we have food in the refrigerator. I have my books, he has his Sci-Fi stuff (I refuse to call it "SyFy", that's just an insult to any real fan of the genre), and we get to act like a stable old married couple for a few days.
In travel news, I have been glued to the Delta website, waiting to see good deals. I have an account set up with a few other programs to earn miles, and we'll see how quickly I can get to that 25,000. :) If you have a Delta SkyMiles account, there's a great program that partners with it, called "SkyMiles Dining". The way this works is quite simple. You register, link your SkyMiles account, and then supply a debit/credit card number. THERE IS NO FEE TO USE THIS! The reason for the card number is that it is then linked to that account. Every time you use THAT card at one of the approved dining locations (and they have a million of them), you earn miles. It's like having a Diner's Card with FF miles, but without needing the credit. ;)
To try it out, go to http://skymiles.rewardsnetwork.com/ and sign up. Again, it's totally free. They never charge a fee to use their service, and you can have family members link THEIR debit/credit cards to the account as well. I have my husband's card and my own, along with a card from a family member who doesn't even live with us. The more cards you link, the more likely you'll earn miles. :)
Now that the sales pitch is over, I have to say... that 25k looks pretty distant right now. I'm hovering around 4,000 miles, from my last trip out to CA, but I have a great deal of hope that I'll get that number up fast. Even with my bad credit. I would love to be able to get a Delta SkyMiles credit card, but since I'm not working right now, and both my and my husband's credit stinks, that's just not going to happen. :)
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