The Recovery ~ Whose In Charge Now?!

 Dillard's had their 50% Off Sale today on Christmas Merch, and it was Bananas, people piled up at the Doors before they opened at 11:00 a.m. and some of the Shoppers acting like they lost their damned Minds. I got ahead of most and we'd done our Recon on Christmas Eve, which was logistically helpful.   So I got what I'd come for in 5 Minutes, was 1st at Checkout, and out the Door within 10 Minutes. So, didn't have to Deal with the Crazies and their fray and wake. *LOL*  Being able for The Man to keep up with me in the Mob was difficult, but he managed.  I got 3 of those non-breakable colorful Garlands.   They only had 4 left, but nobody was heading for that part of the Christmas Section, so, Color me Lucky and Happy.  The Bum Rush was to get to the Christmas section and honestly, there wasn't anything there to lose your Mind over IMO.

Still not feeling 100% so haven't done too much, that was all the Todaying I wanted to do for Today. I did get my Snoop Dogg Hoodie for 50% Off too at "Spencers". The Sweaters were Sold Out but the similar graphics were on a Hoodie that didn't have all the ugly embellishments like Lights and Baubles, so I was much Happier Scoring the Hoodie and it was cheaper than the Sweaters too. I didn't even spend all the Money Princess T gave me for Christmas so when I'm feeling stronger, I can still look for another Pressy from her. Yay!  The Hallmark Store was equally Bananas, didn't Buy anything and they'd damned near Sold Out of all the Hallmark Christmas Ornaments.   Ladies had their Carry Shopping Baskets filled to the brim.  Even Half Off they are still expensive, so they were clearly spending Hundreds on Ornaments!

So many Shops at the Mall Open so late now, anywhere between 9:00 a.m. to Noon for most of them and the Food Court as well.  You get a lot of Walkers in The Mall tho' coz they Open it up for that even tho' nothing but the Bathrooms is Open on the Inside.   We had a late Breakfast at "Panera" coz literally they're the only part of the Food Court that even bothers to Open earlier than 11:00 a.m.!   The Anchor Stores like "Dillard's" and "J.C. Penney" are the latest to Open, Hours after the smaller Shops every single day.  I found that to be Strange actually, no wonder most people do their Shopping at stand alone Big Box Stores that have more convenient Hours.   It is not convenient to have to wait 'til Afternoon to do your Shopping every day of the Week.  I haven't Shopped at Big Malls for Years anyway, this would make it so I'd do so even less actually.   And "Panera" was Closing and leaving said Mall on December 30th, a big Surprise, they're always busy there. 

Since I got my Hoodie, which I need when it's Cold, I don't have a lot of Warmer Clothing to layer over my Shirts, and my Colorful Non-Breakable Garlands, I'm Good now.   Mission Accomplished!   When I picked Princess T up from Work, the Young Manager, Gabe, came up and gave me a Big Hug and so did his Assistant Manager, her own Mom had a double Stroke recently with more serious disabling factors, so, both had been Scared for me after Princess T told them why I hadn't been around lately.  It was so Touching that these Young People were so genuinely concerned and relieved to see me doing good.   It is harder for me to be out and about still, so I have to limit any time out there, I get tired, my Brain and Eyes easily get overwhelmed, and it can make me nauseous.  So, I only mostly do what I absolutely Have to really.  Still not doing  just what I Want to. 

It's irritating, but, I'm taking lots of Naps and just Blogging mostly.   Even watching TV is a little much for me at the moment, I can't scan things with my Eyes like I used to be able to before the Stroke coz my Mind can't seem to keep up and then I feel Nauseous.  The Floaters and whole Video Game Effect is still going on behind my Right Eye.  The Young Assistant Manager at SAVERS said her Mom lost Sight in both Eyes, regained some, but is still now considered Legally Blind, it never did all come back.   I don't know if mine will all come back, it has partially come back, so I'm Grateful for any improvements.  I will get a referral from my Doctor for an Optometrist, I'm sure Medicare will Approve such a referral due to the Vision Loss Post-Stroke.   I'd like to know what a Vision Specialist thinks is Wrong and what the prognosis might be to restore it?

As you can see by my choice of Imagery for this Post, I've included some my Friends have sent to me of them during Christmas.  My Retro Friend Sarah Lives her 1950's Vibe 24-7 and 365, she always looks absolutely Adorable!!!   Alice Cooper the Rock Star always drops by the Events and our Antique Mall too and takes Pixs with my Friends and Co-Workers at each.  I've talked to Alice and his Lovely Wife numerous times, he is a Local Guy and grew up and went to School here, they Love Antiquing and bought an Ugly Christmas Sweater from one of my Designer Friends at "Sweet Salvage".  *Smiles*   Alice used to have a Space at both of our Local Brass Armadillo Antique Mall Locations.  He had a huge Collection of Vintage Watches and of coarse lots of Cool Stuff his Fans had given to him over the Years.   Above is the Coolest Creepy Christmas Gingerbread Man Cookie EVER, Love it!   The Guy that made it said nobody would eat it and the Kids wouldn't stop Crying!  *Bwahahaha*

The Above Meme had me Laughing my Ass off.   Great Comeback to that Question. *Winks*   Gypsy James had Shared a Pix of his Tree this Year {Below}, for a Guy he does a great Job of Styling his Christmas Tree for his Little Girl.  Being a Father is everything to him.  And I Love the new Wood Floor he's installed in his Historic Home in South Phoenix, he did it all himself.   He did the Wood Ceiling Molding too.  At one time he was asking The Son if he wanted to Buy this Home from him and I felt that The Son should have considered it.   It's a rough Historic Barrio Neighborhood with lots of very Old Cute Smaller Homes, but a good Investment and Gentrifying.  The City has bought up a lot of the Vacant Lots that have no Houses on them, which number more than the Historic Homes still standing, so, that's also a good Sign the Area will be Up And Coming, building Equity.  A shame so many small Historic Homes got razed over the Years tho'.  

But, The Son isn't interested in being burdened with a Mortgage with the Trades being so uncertain for Employment, I Get It.  It's a big down payment to risk losing if you get Laid Off again.  And everything is so uncertain right now that taking on a big Debt load is just risky.  Here we can pool our resources and hopefully weather whatever Storms are coming Economically.  And, I do feel we're in for some epic ones since 45/47's fiscal Management has always been abysmal and Bankrupted whatever he's been running and caused much collateral damage to whoever he owes Money to.  Not to mention, I wouldn't personally put a Con Artist and Convicted Felon with his track record in charge of Finances in the first place.  But, clearly a large swath of America probably has less than a rudimentary knowledge of Economics to draw upon and know whose most capable of making good Financial decisions. This is Why Economics should be being taught in our Schools from Kindergarten thru Senior Year in Age appropriate ways.

Anyway, I'll be having Co-Workers filling in for me at Work until I feel recovered enuf to return.   I went to Bed last Night at about 5:00 in the Afternoon, since, everything wears me out quickly right now even if I don't do all that much.   That's very annoying, but, Thankfully I have Family here at Home picking up my Slack, since I just can't do all I need to do yet.  I'll be seeing the Cardiologist on the 30th and getting that Monitor installed for my Heart.  Hopefully wearing it Two Weeks will give us some feedback on what's going on there?  They still think my Heart is what caused the Stroke and not my Brain, but, I will still be seeing the Neurologist again in January too.   My other follow-up will be with my Primary Physician in early January and hopefully with an Optometrist about my Vision loss in the Right Eye after the Stroke.   I do think the Eyesight limitations is what's causing a lot of my current Symptoms that are limiting me considerably.

When I try to look at things quickly now and Scan things with my Eyes, I feel Nauseous and very Tired, sometimes even getting a Headache.  So, I have to look at everything slowly so my Brain can keep up and then turn my Head to the Right a lot so I don't have Blind Spots.  Other than the Vision Impairment that still exists in my Right Eye, and the Tiredness/Nausea/Headache thing with some slower Thinking, the rest of me feels quite normal and Recovered already.   I don't notice any Physical Limitations really in my Speech, Walking, or Motor Skills.  So I'm very Grateful that if we can clear up the Eyesight and regain most or all of it, I'll be just Fine.   So far when I'm Blogging I think I'm making sense?  *Winks, tell me otherwise if I'm not, okay?  LOL* 

And, I don't know if it's caused by the Stroke, or, just the way I Naturally Feel right now, but, I'm really not feeling like doing anything.  Nothing.  Nada.  And that is out of Character for me to want to be Still and just Do Nothing, so, perhaps it's a lingering Side Effect, not sure really?   It's causing The Family concern becoz they keep asking me if I'm Okay and I really don't know what to honestly tell them.  I don't Feel Not Okay, and yet, do I Feel Okay?  Not sure either.   The Verdict is not in whether I am Okay or Not Okay right now actually.   So I tell them I really just don't know for sure, we'll just have to wait and see what my Specialists can add to our knowledge.  *LOL*   Considering what happened, I truly think I'm doing Well and better than expected.  Becoz a lot of folks seem very fucked up after having had a Stroke and I don't feel that I am and that's the general consensus too.  Few bounce right back, I seem like I am bouncing back fairly Well and relatively quickly.

And, since I don't have a Full Time or Paying Job/Career, I'm on Retirement Time to do all the Recovering I Need to do, so I'm Fortunate.  I couldn't Imagine going thru this and being on some Short or Long Term Disability Time Clock, you know?   The Man... well, since I'm not yet up to Speed and the Kids forget what he Needs reminders of, he did have the same Shirt and Shorts on for Three Days before I noticed and finally said something and told him to get Fresh ones and change them.  *LOL*  They had reminded him to Shower, but they forgot he won't know to put on Clean Clothes so he'd just popped back on his Dirty Clothes.  *Le Sigh and Eye Roll*   The Kids don't necessarily pay attention to what he's wearing, so didn't notice it was the same damned Shirt he wore Christmas Day and the same Shorts.  Pictures proved it.  *Winks*  They're Novice Caregivers, so it was an Honest Mistake to make.  I'm used to Remembering these things FOR him constantly.

It's a verbal Checklist of sorts to where I start with reminding him of taking his Medicine and Shots.  Getting Clean and Dressed in Clean Clothes.  Then reminding him if he ate or not and is drinking enough fluids.  And so on and so forth thruout the Day and reminding him of his Safety Prompts too if it looks like that Routine is faltering.   A gentle Reminder of "Should you be doing that?", it usually enough to get him back on track from doing things he's not allowed or supposed to do without Supervision at least, or, never, becoz he just isn't Safe doing whatever it is anymore.  He is allowed to use the Microwave without Supervision, but, he and The Daughter are notorious for then Forgetting they put something in there and just leaving it 'til someone else finds it!  Luckily the Microwave is used a lot so someone finds it before it's gone Bad.  *Whew*

  Her Memory Care is compromised mostly due to Decades of Dangerous Drug Use and complicated by Borderline Personality Disorder and D.I.D..  If the Dominant Personality changes, then it's like she's a whole other Person who won't remember what another Personality even did, said, ate, where they went... a total Blank.   Even after having had a recent Stroke, I'd say I'm still better off than all but Princess T actually.  *LOL*  And she's at Work all Day, so we're muddling thru here while she and The Son are at Work and The Daughter is pretty much left in Charge of her Dad.  *LMAO*   The Daughter is relieved I'm Home from Hospital becoz it was Freaking her Out that I'd told her when I went into Hospital, that I was leaving HER IN CHARGE!   She's like, Holy Shit, we're in DEEP Trouble now, I'M WHO SHE'S LEAVING IN CHARGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yeah, The Recovery... or... Whose In Charge NOW?!   It is rather like a Group Home running itself here at Forever Boheme'... *Bwahahahahaha*

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Happy Holidaze from the Arizona Desert... Dawn... The Bohemian