my tragic day

Today I went to the doctor and she prescribed me steriods to help the inflammation in my lungs. I'm looking forward to being aggressive and eating a lot. My life is average.

I'm KIDDING! About the second part, anyways.

I actually debated the steroids for thirty minutes and made her double check to see how they would interact with the other medications I'm on. She also prescribed two inhalers. One is a daily inhaler and the other is a rescue inhaler. We'll do this for a week... have the CT scan to get a better idea of what the stuff inside my lung is... she did a bunch of blood work... so we'll review all of that stuff and then next week she'll decide if I need more/different antibiotics, a referral to the pulmonologist, and so on and so forth. I am not looking forward to sterioids. The thought behind it is that everything is all swollen and inflamed and so forth. She thinks if we can get that under control then the cough will stop.

So that was exciting. While i was in the Rite Aid getting my drugs, Cody called and said, "MOM... you have got to put oil in your car"... so I wandered over to the automotive section... and then went... "uh... what kind of oil do I need?" Cody didn't know. He tried to tell me how to find out but I was just overwhelmed at the prospect of actually trying to lift my hood in front of the Rite Aid and I was using up my precious minutes on my go-phone so with a little encouragement from Marquee, "If I can do it, you can do it!" we hung up.

I texted my oldest son, Ryan, my big brother and my friend Cory (who knows about car stuff) with the question, "what kind of oil should my car take?" and they all three texted back with the same answer so I figured it must be right. I bought two quarts of that kind of oil. I looked for one of those funnel dealies, thinking it must surely be important (I've never added oil myself but I have observed it a time or two) and couldn't find one.

Out of the three meds I was supposed to fill today, the drugstore had one. Joy. The steroids. Great. Once again, thank God for health insurance. So far this week I have filled over $200 worth of medications and paid $15. With two to go.

I had sent Austin a text that I was coming to pick him up. I got to Tasha's and he didn't come out. I blew the horn. I called. Nothing. Her mom's car was not there. Although the oil light was no longer on, I was afraid to let the car keep running so I went home.

I called my oldest son and had him talk me through the process of putting oil in my car. That's the short version. The long version of the story includes me being totally retarded and not even knowing how to open the hood of my car. Seriously. It was tragic. It took him ten minutes to talk my through that first step. He gave me this scary warning about not spilling oil on the engine block so - since I didn't have one of those funnel dealies, I fashioned one for myself using a dominos pizza ad.

But, in keeping with the tragedy of the day... first, the light was burned out in the kitchen so I couldn't turn on the light to fix my funnel. Then... the scotch tape I was using to hold the paper in a funnel shape wouldn't come off the roll. It kept shredding. Ryan kept telling me not to worry about it and his friend in the car with him was trying to provide emotional support... but it was just ridiculous. Eventually... I pulled it off.

Then... unscrewing the cap was tricky. I was shaking... just touching an engine. I am not mechanically inclined.

I should mention that during this process my brother sent me a text saying, "It goes in the spot on the engine that says oil. Its not the dipstick. You unscrew it". Yes. My family thinks I'm a complete idiot. I think I could probably have figured that out. Ok. I will admit. I didn't know you didn't put it in the place where the dipstick goes until Cody told me earlier while I was going through the whole, "what kind of oil" dilemma back at the Rite Aid.

At any rate... I managed to put oil in the car and am praying that this will keep me chugging until I can get it done by someone who knows what they're doing. Afterwards, I had black stuff under my fingernails and felt like I had really accomplished something. First I unstop the toilet and then I add oil. OH! And yesterday I hooked the computer up! I'm becoming totally butch! I'm practically a guy! Once I add the steroids I will be able to pee standing up!

So that's my tragic day. Ultimately, not so tragic at all.

And... just a few minutes ago I got a call from Austin (did you forget he was still AWOL during this whole process?). Tasha twisted her knee and they had spent the afternoon in the emergency room. She has to see an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow. Oddly, I had not been concerned about him. Honestly, I just thought they decided to go to her church and forgot her phone or something. Alert DFCS. I'm the worst mom ever. But I can add oil to my car.

This may be the last pleasant post from me for the next week. Hope you enjoyed it. Love and hugs!