Today’s Notes
General: Slept pretty good, woke up a couple times. Had French toast with berries for breakfast. Just saw that a hurricane is predicted to hit Georgia on Wed/Thursday. Our current plans are to arrive Friday so we should miss most of the storms. Had a great lunch with a friend of the family, she provided all the fixings. Went back to our Cousin’s house to take a nap before meeting up cousins from the other side of our family. We found a dead battery and had to borrow a car to make it to Chilis. Had a great time and it was good to see them again. Made it back to Elgin and our home away from home safely in their car. We have to slow down our calorie consumption, we’ve gained about 5 Lbs. since we left Atlanta. We’re talking seriously about taking a walk at Lord’s Park tomorrow. We have to repair our car tomorrow before we can regain any kind of schedule. The good thing is the battery is an easy component to replace and I have all my tools with me. My wife and I played a game of Scrabble and I won!
Tomorrow: Repair the car, take a walk and try and tie up the loose ends for Saturday event.
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? No
Did I DMBT improve something today? No
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
General: Slept in until 9AM and I did a successful run test on our battery backup. We had French toast and coffee for breakfast. We’re trying to meet up with our brother in law tonight for dinner. We’re pushing our return trip out to Thursday, but the hotel is booked so we’re looking for another hotel. Found a hotel but they want $180.00 for one night. Sheesh! Googled hotels and picked the same hotel and used Priceline. We got the same room for $90! Tried to visit our family friend in South Elgin but she wasn’t there. We drove around St. Edwards High school (School reunion yesterday) and it looks much different. The church we were married in also looked different, they removed the steps that we walked down at our wedding 40 years ago. We’re just hanging out until 4 when we meet up with our brother in law for dinner. It was good to share stories and get reacquainted with our brother in law and his wife. Food was really good as well, and we’re stuffed! Back at my Cousin’s for the evening and we’re already sleepy.
Tomorrow: Meet up with a good friend of the family and dinner with another cousin.
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Accomplishments: Noteworthy: Purchases: Travel:
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? No
Did I DMBT improve something today? No
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
Today’s Notes
General: Slept pretty good even though my lip was still swollen since yesterday. Took two more Benadryl this morning and I’ll take two more this evening. I am not going to take either of my new medications for my shoulder until I’ve figured out what is making my lips swell up. Had a huge breakfast with two of my cousins and a bit of meatloaf for lunch. We’ve showered and changed clothes for the reunion this evening. Weather has been overcast with an occasional drizzle to even things out. Reunion was fun, the wife met a lot of people she had in her graduating class. We didn’t end up eating dinner, just had the snacks provided at the reunion. (And some drinks)
Tomorrow: We’re having dinner with my brother in law and maybe visit some friends.
Purchases: Bought some shoes for tonight’s gig at Target.
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? No
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
*Do My Best To
General: Had a really good nights rest for a change! I did wake up with a huge swollen lip for the 2nd day in a row. Google Foo suggest an allergic reaction and I just started two pills. The question is do I take either of them tonight? (I know that I’ve gotten the hives from taking Aleve before.) Had coffee and a bit of coffee cake for breakfast. Met up with my sister in Dekalb for lunch, had a couple tacos and beans. It was good to see her and share a little about ourselves. Headed back to Elgin and there was a bit more traffic than I had expected. We had a huge meatloaf dinner with fresh vegetables from my Cousin’s garden. Watching the storms migrate across South Elgin, very strong lightning tonight! No backup power on the Internet modem so we switched to my Cellular Internet.
Travel: Traveled to Dekalb Il for lunch.
Tomorrow: High School reunion in the evening.
No Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Purchases: Noteworthy: Accomplishments:
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? No
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
General: Didn’t sleep very well in the hotel room. Woke up with a swollen upper lip, no bites that I could find. Travel was difficult with the rain in lower Indiana, but we made it.
Travel: Traveled to Elgin Il.
Tomorrow: Visit with my sister.
No Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Purchases: Noteworthy: Accomplishments:
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? No
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
Today’s Notes
General:Pack the car and drive 300 Miles to Louisville KY leaving around lunch. We slept in until 09:00 and started packing, we’re almost done. I’ve loaded the UPS into the car already, just have to move a couple odds/ends into the car. Then a quick shower and we’ll be off. I’ve tested the alarm system and security cameras then shut down all of the computers. Beautiful sky here in Ky tonight, no clouds and a pretty sunset i will post later.
Travel:Drove to just below Loisville Ky and spending the night at Country Inn.
Noteworthy: Had an awsome meal at roadhouse.
Tomorrow:Drive 350 Miles
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise:Purchases:Accomplishments:Feelings
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
Today’s Notes
General: I left our traveling UPS in at Mom’s so I had to conjure up another one for this trip. Had trouble sleeping again so I worked on the UPS. I made five eggs for breakfast and had a bit of coffee before taking a four hour nap. Have our 3 month checkup appointment at 14:00, just keeping busy. Doc prescribed a anti-inflammatory and a muscle relaxer for my shoulder. They didn’t help much last night and my sleep was still broken into short pieces.
Accomplishments: Modified a UPS to run for 8 hours to support two CPAP machines for at least one night (Maybe two) for our trip to Chicago. (It’s really not an option for us to sleep without them.) I did some testing with a 60W incandescent bulb, worked pretty good. (Although it’s a haul of stuff, maybe 80-100 lbs?)
Feelings: I am a bit anxious my mind is wandering.
Purchases:My finger O2 sensor died, I tried new batteries with no luck. I may look into the price of an O2 recorder which better fits my needs. I bought the sundries we needed at the dollar store and picked up my EGO Inverter.
Tomorrow: Still need shoes and sundries for our trip. Oh, not to mention packing all this in our car.
Injuries: My shoulder is still hurting and excruciating when I reach behind and up. I have a bleeding crack on my right heel and my left ear lobe is not healing where they burned it. (Basil Cell Carcinoma.)
Arguments:Exercise:Travel:Noteworthy:
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes Did I DMBT be happy? Yes Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes [*Did My Best To]
Today’s Notes
General: Finally got to sleep around 02:00 this morning. Made coffee for Kathy and I and watched Today on NBC with her. (She loves that show.) Went back down and slept for a little while before getting out of the house and getting ready for our trip. When I got back from getting a haircut I had a bagel and cream cheese then took another nap. When I got up I reassembled the last two of my 18AH AGM portable battery cases. (I had cannibalized them earlier this year to make long run UPS units for my mother’s security system.
Accomplishments: Reconnected my mother’s tablet to her wireless Internet and assembled rechargeable batteries for a UPS we are bringing on our trip in case the power fails.
Purchases:SLA Batteries and a lantern.
Tomorrow: Pack our bags and prepare the house for vacancy, which I didn’t get done today.
Future: Drive to Chicago for a High School reunion.
Injuries: Shoulder pain unbearable at times even when taking Advil.
Feelings: I was very frustrated trying to teach my mother how to originate an E-Mail using a contact from her Tablet today.
Exercise:Noteworthy:Travel:Arguments:
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Always
General: It was a long day, I got up at 07:00 after having a really difficult time sleeping for any length of time. Cereal for breakfast, Bagel for lunch and reheated beef stew for dinner.
Accomplishments: I did make quite a bit of progress on this website today.
Noteworthy: Watched a pretty funny movie called “Destination Wedding”. It had a pretty lengthy dry hump scene, but no nudity that I remember.
Purchases: Bought a new Cuisinart coffee pot
Destination Wedding on VUDU.
Travel: Drove to the dollar store and got some cereal and Coke.
Tomorrow: Get some cash for our trip to Chicago, get a pair of dress shoes and a haircut.
Feelings: Injuries: Arguments: Exercise:
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith
Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No
Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No
Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes
Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes
Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes
Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes
Did I DMBT be happy? Yes
Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes
[*Did My Best To]
Up until I retired we both took a handful of pills in the morning and another handful after dinner in the evening. (Often just before bed)
A new problem…
When we started traveling taking care of our parents it became apparent that we needed to put more effort into it. The problem was, it was quite difficult to get a refill if we were not in Atlanta.
We tried using the computer to keep track of all the medications. What doctor, how many we had in hand etc. That got to be a HUGE amount of work every three months.
The first solution, weekly pill trays.
We bought two 7 day pill trays to put our medications in. But almost immediately we realized that on the 7th day we had the same problem of no pills in hand. I forfeited my tray so that she could use two trays and keep 7 days in the arrears. That worked pretty well until she didn’t fill the 2nd tray, and we were back to no pills in hand.
The first pill carrousel dispenser $175.00
Life Fine 28 slot Wi-Fi enabled pill dispenser with a DC-DC inverter for power.
In Jan 2024 I bought my first carrousel from Amazon, it was a hefty purchase. But if the carrousel did its job, it would be worth every penny. The Wi-Fi part enabled supervision and remote control of the dispenser if I got one for my mother in Florida. (With my sister’s approval.) 28 slots allowed us to store two weeks in the dispenser, and we could refill it before it got half empty. It was a pain keeping it plugged in, but we had other USB devices at the kitchen table anyway.
Since her tray worked out so well, I bought three more dispensers so we both had more than two weeks in hand. (Only two of them were powered, the other two were just holding spare pills.)
A crisis with Invisalign trays.
She started complaining about a toothache on Friday afternoon and it was too late to get into the dentist. We drove to a Doc-In-Box urgent care and got some antibiotics and pain meds. Monday the dentist pulled the tooth and wanted to pull a 2nd tooth, but we refused the request. (Another story) We had to take antibiotics and pain meds that had random times during the day. I tried creating paper schedules and documentation, but that was almost impossible to keep up with.
With four trays now powered up and online. I could space out all the medications (Including Pain meds) so that her three trays would notify us when to take all of them at the proper time. That turned out to be a life saver. They also would tell our cell phones when the medication was actually taken.
Now that the crisis is over, we bought six obsolete trays on EBAY for storage. It was actually cheaper to purchase the whole dispenser than just the tray!
For pain medications the primary risk is an overdose where we’d take 1000mg of acetaminophen or 800mg of Ibuprofen and forgot we took it.
Pulled all the pain medications from the other trays to put in this new battery powered dispenser. I set the timer to dispense every three hours, and I cut the 500mg acetaminophen tablets in half. (A lot of times 250mg is plenty.)
It will rotate, flash green and dispense every three hours. 2x 250mg Acetaminophen and 1x Ibuprofen tablet in only three of every four slots.
Recommended no more than 4000mg Acetaminophen in 24 hours (500mg 8 times a day or 3 hrs.) Recommended no more than 1200mg of Ibuprofen in 24 hours. (200mg 6 times a day)
Traveling and missing medications.
When we go to any appointment we have to consider what medications we’re going to take before we leave, while we’re gone and when we return. The trays are too cumbersome and have to be consistently powered or they will burn through the batteries.
We bought these folding pill trays to take with us. Most of the time, we’ve still missed taking them on time because we don’t have the trays to remind us.
Now we have these alarm devices on our wrists to remind us.
They vibrate soundly to notify us to take the medications when we are away from the dispensers.
We also have a box with all our medications for 24 hours if something bad happens.
Reset her carousels to 2x and 3x per day after removing the pain meds. 3x per day is nine days for 28 slots, so we’ll just leave the eight extra slots empty to stay on a weekly schedule. 2x per day works out to 14 days, which means we fill it every other week which is ok too. Mine is still 4x and seven days since I only am using one dispenser.
Final Comments
These dispensers do have a couple of faults. First, since they rotate you cannot have two dispensing times close together or the pills will move away from the door. If the dispensing times are closer than two hours, you need to alternate trays so that the medicine can always be taken. The firmware on the old ones cannot be upgraded, that’s a security risk for anything attached to the same Wi-Fi. I sent an E-Mail to the marketing company and they responded that there’s nothing I can do. They also said that there’s no risk with the firmware, I don’t believe that for a second. I do have them on their own VPN to keep the traffic off my network. The functionality of the trays is dependent on the version of firmware, so all of the ones above work a little differently. (I only use the three dispensers that have the latest firmware.) Her two dispensers have the same firmware as the $175 one from Amazon. Mine is a bit older and doesn’t flash red like hers does. Some of these dispensers are like 4 years or older. The dispensers don’t like to be right next to each other. They will ignore configuration changes if they are close together. All of them show that the batteries need to be replaced and they have new batteries. An alarm will sound if the Wi-Fi to the phone faulters, it also is annoying to have this LOUD and repeating alarm saying to take your medication even on the quietest setting. It turns out that we can hear the pill tray rotate from across the house most of the time, that’s enough for us.
