Couch 236: NY PS Langston Hughes

I don't have issues with needles, but my experience with it was:
depending on what issue you have, they put the needles in different places, some do hurt a bit when they are put in. You then lie there for like 15 minutes or so, with the needles in. My acupuncturist sometimes put a towel over me, which sometimes put some pressure on some needles or moved them a tiny bit, and that did hurt. In those 15 minutes, I had to usually not move around much, because that hurts too depending on needle position (especially hands and feet). Plus no scratching anywhere, might move a needle...

On the plus side, in certain positions they don't hurt at all and you don't even feel them. One time one of the needles was overlooked and I found it a few hours later, didn't feel it at all until I saw it still sticking out of my back.

I have never done acupuncture but I totally would if I could find a reputable person for it. My shoulder kills me a lot of the time. I don't have a fear of shots or needles or anything like that though.

Thanks for the additional hip surgery comments/suggestions! I'll be sure to look into grabbers and the sock things.

Maybe he could move into the living room for a bit if it would help with the stairs.

Thanks--that would be a good idea for a normal house! However, the living room is on its own floor, so he'd have to go to a different one to get to the bathroom. Though his office and the bedroom are further up. So we'll have to see what works best, how he manages with crutches (I assume?) on the stairs. If he can't manage them initially, he might have to stay at his mom's or dad's for a little bit.

And H already had this house when we got together--I wouldn't have picked it! We'll move to a less vertical house...someday.

I would guess pt will show him how to go up and down stairs - the hopsital wouldn't "release me" until pt had been in to see me. (Those idiots - I would have escaped if they had tried to keep me there). Up was no issue at all =good leg then bad leg on the same step then move good leg up and then put bad leg up next to it and so on. Down was not worse in reality but it seemed worse mentally. There is a saying up to heaven (use good leg first up) down to hell (down steps go bad leg then new leg) -but both up and down are done like little kids -one step with both feet on it before moving to another step. As long as you have rails I doubt he will need crutches on the steps themselves. I used a walker but not on the steps themselves. I started pt 3 days post surgery. I don't know how he feels about pain pills -but my experience is that taking them on time around the clock for the first 3-4 days really helps - it is worse if he lets the pain get out of hand before he will take one. I am not fond of them-but I did take them for the first several days regularly and then just tylenol. The other thing is restlessness - I was ready to be back to my life earlier than my hip was. The other thing is constipation - I eat tons of fiber as my regular diet -but people who don't often have terrible constipation after surgery from the pain stuff they give you - I suggest using senna and start either the day before surgery or when he gets home

That helps to know. Interesting about the difference in going up vs. down. I mean, he's not walking normally on the stairs right now with his injury as it is, so it might be similar.

I was on crutches for 6 weeks when I was about 8 or 9 where I couldn't put any weight on the injured side. They taught me how to go up and down stairs of course which was pretty handy because my bedroom was on the 2nd floor of the house and my school had several floors as well. At some point, I grew curious what would happen if I went down the stairs the opposite of the way they taught me which was put your crutches on the lower step first then hop down with your good leg. So I decided to experiment with hopping down first and I decided to do this at the very top of the stairs at home. What happened was a sort of pendulum effect where I basically flew down the entire flight of stairs. I remember laying there in a puddle at the bottom wondering what the hell had just happened and grateful that no one was there to witness my stupidity.

I'm sorry y'all, I was lost for a bit. I will try to catch up! I got a new phone and missed the new couch altogether. Then I could not find it again. I hope everyone is doing okay.

The first candidate bothered pretty much everybody, but for different reasons, so we recommended the second one as our preference. We shall see what happens.

Take care of yourselves.

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Morning couch. Getting ready to head to the cardiologist for h's appt, but I have a few minutes so thought I'd say good morning. And send hugs/head nods all around as wanted/needed/appropriate.

My dream-maker has been so super active lately... I'm writing down dreams almost every night. Sometimes 2 or 3 in a night! It's wild. Last night my dream was all over the place and sort of a multilevel one, because i dreamed about a dream in one part of it - I'm building some kind of animal feeder kind of thing, it's huge, me and this other person (? no one I know irl) put together these two big table-like pieces, then turn the piece over, and install a round tube kind of thingy with a flat piece on the bottom of it, inbetween slats in the large combined table kind of piece, and then a pointed lid kinda thing got set on top of the tube. Once it was finished, h pushed it across a patch of rocky ground to where it was being installed in a garden-type place. Then the scene shifts and I'm sitting in some fancy parlor somewhere with my friend A. and I borrow her phone because mine died so I could look up a name I dreamed (that i had dreamed, "Jane Meadows" that I wanted to use as a heroine in a story. I had the whole plot for the story in the dream, but as soon as i woke up and grabbed my notebook, I could not remember the plot at all only the name.

My dreams can be so weird. I know there was an actor by that name, so first thing i'm going to do in working with this dream is some research about her to see if I can find any messages in there.

Well I gotta go finish making breakfast then head to h's dr appt. Later couchies.

I don't want nuclear war.

I hope your H's appointment goes well, Artie! I've been having lots of random dreams lately as well--maybe something in the air?

Artie - jayne meadows played jackie gleason's wife on the honeymooners. I love the twist of jane meadows - it sounds more like anne of green gables, so wholesome! Anyway i think it represents you hiking - in meadows! And your h's hat looks like the one art carney often wore, all smushed down. Your h is all bluster then he turns to mush, just like jackie.

Thats my pre-coffee dream analysis. I admit i am terrible at them.

Today and tomorrow and then a three day weekend from work. (Dad's big 70th birthday party this weekend and sis and fam will be down halfway through the day on Friday.) I gotta clean and decorate, although my Mom's done most of the decorating already. So I guess that means cleaning. So not like a good day off but nonetheless a day off.

Well I caved and got Julieanne a birthday present. Since she TOLD me it was her birthday (twice) I sort of felt like she wanted it acknowledged. I thought and thought about what to send her. So I finally sent her a gift on text message on Monday, some Amazon stock. She was like OMG Thank you. And xxxx (my name) you're so sweet! I responded back with an upside down smiley face. I have no clue what she wanted from me. But I distinctly felt like she wanted something from me. Because she brought it up twice! Very odd. I have never had a T disclose like that before and it was very awkward for me.

I'm kind of glad that I don't have to see her until the 8th. Because it will give some time for the awkwardness to die down.

Same. It was nice not having to really worry about that for a long time (my childhood was in the '80s, so...).

I suspect the only person who might want that is Putin. Or people who are very devoted to him.

Oh, that kind of stock! You mentioned something about giving a T stock in another thread, and I thought you meant stock like you'd use to make soup! Like you'd made homemade stock and gave some to her. Apparently I was hungry at the time...

thanks. We just got back, ran a couple errands after since i have the whole day off. they did an ekg today, and are sending him for a PET scan and then he'll wear a halter monitor or something for 24 hours also. Waiting for insurance approval before they schedule him.

i am just sitting down to start reading up on her, thanks! that is so true of my h, btw.

me either and i've been laying awake at night (taking a long time to get to sleep, but thankfully once I sleep am dreaming interesting stuff and not nightmares!) staring at the ceiling and worrying about that. talk about the ultimate cut your nose off to spite your face. i know i'm an incurable romantic (L's "diagnosis"? ) but seriously.

Lol. That would be hard to do since I have only ever had phone calls with her, texted her or had Zoom conversations. Plus I have no idea how to make soup stock. This cheered me.

Or else she played art carneys wife.

I was on the same page, LT...then I wondered whether 'stock' is broth in the US. Eventually I realised it must be 'stocks and shares' stock.

actually it was her sister audrey that played alice. (I only saw the show in reruns of course but just learned that reading) although i'm reading that there was more than one actress for both alice and trixie over the show's run. i didn't know that. i'm reading now that someone named Pert Kelton was the original Alice.


and trixie was played by both joyce randolph and jane kean. or so i'm reading.