Erin do you have any stairs to go outside tomorrow if it is a nice day. That way you can be out of the way, out of the noise, and get some fresh air. Good luck. I love new renovations.

It's supposed to rain or wintery mix tomorrow. At least that's what the weatherguy said earlier. My iPhone's weather forecast thingie says that it's supposed to be 68 degrees tomorrow. But, still might be raining. I'm inclined to believe what Siri tells me over what the local weatherguy says. They've been wrong a lot this winter.

It was 75 degrees today!!! (I did go outside, but without a walker, and I had to stay by the door. Also had to have help to get back in the house)

I had to turn the a/c on because it was 80 degrees in the house! I did turn the heat back on earlier because I hadn't heard the news updating the weather yet, and set it to 67. If it's nearly 70 degrees again tomorrow. Our house will probably get really warm again. So, I'll probably end up turning the a/c on again.

I did notice that when I turned on the a/c, I set it for 71. When I went to flip it back to heat, the room temperature was 77 degrees. It barely cooled the upstairs. Hopefully that doesn't mean the a/c is screwy again.

"Not in a great mood today. I have a bit of a worry in the windmills of my
mind and must shake it out. Nothing I can do, without the fear of losing/
threatening a dear friendship. Mouth zipped is best, but very hard!"

How are you doing today Sally?
Can you maybe let your friend know that you are "concerned"? That might open a conversation in a way that is not threatening to your relationship, but strengthens it instead.

Erin,
I hope that the weather lets you be outside for a bit today, especially if the destruction/ construction goes ahead. Hope that your A/C is OK too.
It sure does make sense to widen the door and get rid of the hallway for easier access. Will the door to the washroom also be a wide one...maybe a slider? Those work really well.

With love, Erika

Now the forecast has changed, and it's going to be 45 degrees. Argh.

I don't think I have room for a pocket door for the bathroom. The contractor is going to see if he can widen the bathroom door if he can. Not sure if it can be done.

I considered asking for a pocket door for the bedroom, but I think that would cost a bit more money than what was budgeted. Think we're just making the door several inches bigger. I still have to talk to him before he starts framing.

I better get dressed before he gets here.

I got worse last night. Maybe because I forgot to take my magnesium full quota. Maybe because I have been cheating on Swank. Or maybe because I am just older.
My left leg just wouldn't come out of spasm or twisting over and over. I was doing small pants a lot, for air. I finally got up and took a magnesium capsule at 3:30, when I really figured that part out.
Today I am giving up egg yolks at least for a while, and also the lasagna I've been fancying. Back on Swank, hope it helps.
The other concern is that I live at 6500 feet, not exactly recommended for people with Polycythemia Vera, although I've not had breathing trouble before except when I tried to chemo to cut down my platelets and red cells, which proliferate. (I took p32 twice, radiation, at Mayo, instead, I've been hoping I don't have to do it again--platelets are not up to the 800,000 level yet).
I have several diseases so it's hard to tell what's doing what but I've always got into trouble if I got too far off the Swank diet, and I have been careless lately, with all that good organic cheesy stuff at the Co-op deli! Back to bread and water.

Erin, good luck with the remodel. Please don't sleep in that room tonight. It will have fresh composite in it (building materials), unless the workman is just sawing today. Even if he's just sawing he may be sawing into composite, which is made of wood chips glued together and containing a variety of chemicals. You may not be as sensitive as I am to that stuff, but everyone is sensitive when it's "new" and "outgassing". You must avoid it at least until the smell gets less, indicating that some outgassing has taken place.
Erika, don't you agree with this, from your vantage as a health care person, and Mrs. D. too, if you are reading today?
When we bought a new house many years ago, I got sick right away and had to keep the windows open 24/7. We had the house tested, and the only thing the tester found was the formaldehye in the composite shelving. Irv (my husband) replaced everything upstairs with cedar shelving, and coated the downstairs new cabinets with Safecoat, a product which seals in the gases coming off of the material.

Oh h***, pass the cheese twists..

He hasn't done my room yet. He's been using a sawz-all on the bathtub upstairs. He finally got that out. He had the bathroom door closed the entire time for that, and closed the a/c vent, and turned off the whole house fan to keep the dust from wandering around.

I have a feeling he won't get to destroying my wall until tomorrow.

I have my bedroom window open, because even tho it's in the 40s outside (not snowing or raining yet) It's really warm in the house.

Kind of lucky that my bedroom window opens into the covered patio that's under the deck. (glassed-in room) So it doesn't exactly open to the actual outside. I get the cool air, and I don't have to worry about getting any rain into my room if it starts raining.

I still feel kind of crummy, and I was insomniac last night. Went to bed at 1am, didn't fall asleep till after 4am, and the contractor showed up around 9ish. I kept waking up last night too.

I'd sleep, but the contractor's sawz-all is keeping me awake. Hoping that I'll be able to sleep tonight.

edit

he's about to take my wall down. yay.

I'll try to take pictures.

Oh dear, Sally. One of those days.

Erika - I will say extra prayers for you.

My wall is still up. But my door is gone. That wall that is the original one I want to move probably gets knocked down tomorrow. My linen cabinet barely survived. He missed a screw and almost tore the very extremely expensive cabinet into pieces. (the screw that he missed popped off in the back.)

The linen cabinet is going to actually be in my bedroom next to my desk now. (he's going to match up the crown molding from the desk to the cabinet, and connect the two. Guess my desk gets bigger) The cabinet used to be right outside my bedroom door between my bedroom and the bathroom. The little bit of wall that it was attached to is now going to be cut off, to give me a lot more space to get into the bathroom with the walker, without making me have to make the little turn past the cabinet. So, straight shot into the bathroom. I guess I'm going to loose the spot that I was going to hang a mirror, or some pictures on that wall. But, hey! I get more room to get into the bathroom. I'll live with it.

The door in the bathroom is not going to get widened, but I found hinges that are made for doors, to help handicap people get a little extra space to get into a room. It's like an extra hinge, that allows the door to open just a bit farther. You end up with something like two extra inches of space to push a walker or wheelchair into a room. So, that kind of solves the cutting off the two inches that I wanted to on the door jamb on the other side of that doorframe.

I had him save my deadbolt lock for my bedroom door. (I have snoopy nieces) So, when he makes the new door, his door guy will make a door that's actually made for a deadbolt lock. The other door is just like a cardboardish type material (it was a nice 6 panel door) that wouldn't have held up to someone kicking in the door if someone really wanted into the room. (explains why my dog used to be able to pop the door open in the days before I put the deadbolt in)

My bedroom is actually about to get freaking huge. This isn't just moving a wall now, this is like an enlargement of my room because we're relocating that linen cabinet. (good thing the linen cabinet was an almost match to the desk. Desk cabinet doors are slightly different. Paint is the same. I think)

He discovered a leak in the shower he built three years ago for my parents in their bathroom. It's right next to the guest bathroom upstairs. Shares a wall. When he opened up the wall in the guest bath, he found a wet spot on the floor in between the two showers. There's no mold. He thinks it's a really slow leak, and might be where some water got thru the grout, or it's coming thru where the grab bar on that wall is. His tile guy is going to check it tomorrow.

I feel kind of icky today. I got what...three or four hours of sleep this morning, maybe. I didn't get much sleep the night before. I'm going to take a shower in a little bit, watch some tv. Play with a computer or an iPad, and then attempt to sleep.

Maybe the construction project is a good thing. This might force me to get on a decent sleep schedule. Might actually end up helping.

oh, also in health news. I'm still taking the b12. My hands are feeling pretty good today. They were already feeling better before the steroids, so I don't know if the b12 did that, or if both the b12 and the oral pred are working together on the hands.

my legs are killing me tho. Feet are swollen. I can barely walk thru the rooms because my legs are so tired. (bags of wet sand hanging off my legs). I think I pulled a muscle last night adding in a leg stretch exercise that I did in PT that I sort of had forgotten about. I did it too long. It's one you have to do laying down. I did the stretch while reading my iPad last night, and forgot to unstretch after a few minutes. Over did it a bit, but that muscle is so tight, that I figure if I go careful on that stretch from now on, it probably actually helped.

Maybe all the moving around that I have to do just while watching them deconstruct things and getting ready to reconstruct things will end up helping too. I need exercise. I'm so deconditioned it's not funny.

I have to go find my towels so that I can take a shower. He moved all my towels into another room when he took my linen cabinet off the wall. I need to wash my hair so I can go to bed early. (this ended up being a long post. Hope you all didn't get bored and wander off not too far into it)