Preparations

Surgery to repair my hernia is still on for Thursday. Unfortunately, they won’t tell me what time on Thursday until between 3:00-5:00 pm Wednesday. The earliest they could want me downtown is 5:45 in the freaking am. That would mean leaving my house around 4:30, to be on the safe side. I actually find it far more likely they’ll want me downtown at 9:00 am. The way my luck runs, peak rush hour is almost fated to be underway when I need to drive in.

The Prof must work Thursday, so Elder Sister is taking me down. I was prepared to take a train down by myself, since the surgery is no big deal, but E.S. thought it was just wrong that I take myself to my own surgery. Fortunately, I’m only supposed to be in overnight, and The Prof can pick me up Friday, so I get to spread my impositions around a bit.

I’m spending today and tomorrow trying to clean the place up and anticipate things that will be difficult for me during my recovery. Bending over will be difficult, and lifting impossible, so I’m trying to get a supply of cat food set up on the counter, as well as all the cat’s meds. I’ve got a new set of treats that the Little Grey Shit loves, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to bribe her to jump up when I have to do her insulin treatments since there’s no way I’ll be able to lift her.

Of course, I got a phone call this morning asking if I’d be available for an interview next Tuesday. I’ll have to wait until after the surgery to know how long the recovery will be, but there’s no chance I’ll be allowed to drive for the next week or so. I tried to talk the gentleman into scheduling me today or tomorrow instead, but when that proved impossible I had to admit to him that I didn’t know my availability for next week yet and would phone him on Friday to set up a time. I really hope this doesn’t screw up my chances for the job, but I’ll have to wait and see.

Further complicating things is the fact that my unemployment payments haven’t shown up yet for the last two weeks. I’ve spoken to people who are on the final tier, and they also said that their payments are late too. A few who have been collecting a longer time than I said that this is common once they move you from electronic filing to paper filing. The instructions tell you to call the state if any payment is later than ten days, but all that does is tap you into a message service where you leave your name and number. They say you’ll be called back within 48 hours, but I’ve yet to receive a call back, and two other people who are worse off than I said the same thing. I’ll try to get it straightened out tomorrow, but I fear my chances of getting things resolved before I’m hospitalized are minimal. If I’m lucky, I’ll get some work soon so this can all be moot.

You know, “moot” is a really cool word. I need to find a way to use it more often. It’s fun to say. “Moot.” “Moot, moot.” “MOOT!”

OK. I think I’ll go wash the cat’s lactulose off the floor now.