GETTING BETTER

I have been starting to feel a bit better.  I still have a cough & some stuff in my chest, but the fever has stayed gone & my oxygen levels are like 94%, so that's all good.  I went back to the doctor for a follow up on the 16th.  She wanted me to let her know immediately if the fever came back & that we would just have to be careful about the whole pneumonia thing from now on.  I go back for another chest x-ray on the 24th & also some blood work.  The spots on my thyroid showed up during the CAT scan, so she's going to do a blood test & see what's going on with that & "keep an eye on it."  Also check me again for diabetes...because I basically have pre-diabetes, check my cholesterol, etc.  I have a "fatty liver," which I have known about for a little while.  They ask if I drink.  I used to go out & drink quite a bit, but haven't in a long time & it was never on a regular basis.  I know that high fat foods can cause that as well.  So we'll see how it all goes.  My kids are doing good as far as getting over being sick goes.  Matthew still has a cough going, but he also has seasonal asthma, so he's better if he uses his inhaler when he needs to.  Phillip isn't working anymore.  It came under new management & they just didn't think he was fast enough, but that maybe after school starts again & Summer is over, he can try to go back.  I thought it was nice of them to say that he could go back if he wanted to.  I don't know if he will or not.  I told him that this Summer, he can do some school stuff (he goes to the alternative high school & can work on different things for credits), start seeing his therapist again (he has anger issues & depression) & lose some weight.  He would feel better if he did.  I think it would be easier for him since he's only 17 & he's a guy.  They seem to be able to lose weight faster than women.  He just needs to find the motivation to do it.  To go for walks or whatever & to not eat so much & definitely not eat the carbs like he does.  It frustrates me that he's so unmotivated to do anything.  I hope that he figures it out soon. 

My niece (the one who lives with my mom) has been stressing even me out a bit these days.  She says they can't afford to move out & get their own place.  Well they are going to have to figure out a way.  They don't help mom around the house at all.   They live there basically for free.  Bring home food for themselves & not even ask mom if she wants anything.  They go to the mountains on a regular basis to "find rocks."  Yes they find some cool ones sometimes & are even able to sell some of them, but that's not going to pay rent.  He also works on cars some...but when they do have money, they blow it fast.  Instead of putting it aside for rent or whatever, they are going out to eat, buying new clothes, etc.  They have lived with mom for over a year now.  She also has a couple of dogs.  Mom has really never really liked dogs...not big ones anyway...and Justine has a pit.  Mom puts up with that one & the other little dog that she has. But Justine is always looking in the paper for dogs or cats & then she gets mad when mom says that there is to be absolutely NO MORE animals brought into her house.  Justine KNOWS this, but continues to look & then get's all pissed off when she can't have one that she likes.  Then Brandon (her bf) left his dog with his ex since he can't have it at mom's.  Well now she says that he either takes the dog or she's going to take it to the animal shelter, so they are flipping out about that & want mom to let them have the dog at her house.  WTF don't they understand about no more animals??  Half the time (more so really) MOM is the one that is cleaning up the dog poop in the yard.  They don't.  Even though mom doesn't like their pit, she's the one that makes sure she has water when it's hot out.  They do to an extent, but not on a regular basis.  It's just a bunch of different things that they do or don't do that is stressing mom & everyone else out.  Yes my kids stay down there some....but it's mostly Dominic & he helps out when she asks him to.  She'll ask Justine to do something & it rarely gets done.  My youngest sister, Cindy, was up over the weekend (Justine's mom).  Cindy has been with her fiancee for quite a few years now & they have a 4 year old daughter together, Jasmine.  Plus his son from a previous relationship, Nathan.  They all came over to visit & do some other things.   They hadn't seen Maximux (Justine's son) since he was born in February, so they were excited to see him.  Cindy bought Max some "swimming diapers" so that they could all go up swimming yesterday.  Cindy was even paying for it all.  Well Justine didn't want to go because it was "too hot" out....ummmmm....that's why you go swimming, right??  Cindy was disappointed.  I don't blame her.  She hardly gets to see them.  It's not like Justine & Brandon don't drag Max out to the mountains or wherever when it's hot out.  She was just being rude.  No Cindy wasn't the best mom to Justine (she was 14 when she had her)...but she's trying now & is much better with Jasmine.  Justine should make the effort to at least be civil.  Family crap is always stressful.  I have always tried to keep the peace, but it's not always easy to do.  I agree with mom about the no pet thing, it IS her house.  Plus mom is still dealing with the death of her husband in July 2013.  She still has a hard time with it.  She has health problems & I don't think she needs the added stress.  She doesn't want Max living in the truck or in a shelter or whatever, otherwise she would just kick them out.  They need to get their own place.  They would be happier too.  I wouldn't want to stay with someone who didn't want me there.  Mom loves Max but refuses to get too attached, because of the way Cindy was with Justine.  It's a whole other story, but basically mom loved Justine so much & Cindy (who was on drugs at the time), would use that against her.  As in "you'll never see her again if you don't do this or act like this," etc.  She did the same thing to me, but I still love Max totally.  You just have to hope that things will be a bit different & if they're not, then you deal with it then.  I know I ramble a lot, but just needed to vent some.  I love my niece, but she & her boyfriend really need to get themselves together & figure out how to rent a place.