Sept 17

So this week has been dominated by two issues, the phone, Internet and television provider and health. I will start with the electronic stuff. As I posted before it all started when AT&T and the Hallmark Channel could not come to an agreement on how much AT&T should pay to carry the channels. I think they both carry blame but that is not what this post is about. It is about the impact on us. We decided to switch our television provider to Comcast. For our home phone and Internet we were going to stay with AT&T. Elizabeth worked hard and spent hours on the phone to coordinate having both service guys at the house last Friday and having the services turned on and off so we had a minimum disruption. I should explain since we were going from AT&Ts UVerse service to standard phone and DSL service they had to close one account and open another. In fact we were even going to have to change phone numbers. At about 4 on Thursday afternoon AT&T called to say there were problem with the wires in our area and we would be without Internet or phone service until at least the next Monday. We were not willing to accept that so decide to just keep things as they were for that week end and reassess early the following week. We called and were told the disconnect and service call were cancelled. On Monday Elizabeth woke from her nap to find a guy in our back yard. Then the phone went dead. Needless to say she was scared. After seeing the AT&T truck in front of the house she realized what was happening. He was there to connect our DSL service. Also now we were told all he did was run the service to the outside of the house. Anything required inside would require another visit and a fee. When Elizabeth talked to AT&T she was specifically told, when the service tech leaves you will have Internet service and there is no charge. So she called AT&T and after the normal minimum wait of 20 minutes she got to talk to some one and the phone went dead. She called back on her cell phone and was told that the phone number we had was now disconnected. After a quick call to Comcast we found we could switch everything to them, they could have an installer at the house the next day and it was cheaper. Granted we had the hassle of having to change our phone number and email address but we had to change the number anyways and to us that is a small price to pay to be away from AT&T. Now I know Comcast has its problem and I actually preferred the feature UVerse offered over those from Comcast but none of that is worth putting up with their unbelievably poor service. And this was not the first time we have had service problems. We use to have AT&T cell phone but again their poor service drove us to another provider. As of right now we have all three services you up and running. The only thing we lack is a router so we can use our computer wirelessly. But that has been ordered (free except for a small shipping fee) and should be here next week. Most of the updates with bank, credit card etc are done. Also we were able to find a back door connection to our old SBC email and forward important emails to our new id. It has been a busy week.

On the health front it was a long week. As I mentioned in a previous post my joints were starting to hurt. The strange thing about my condition is those can and do change. One night my ankles hurt so much it was hard to walk. I had trouble getting to sleep. However when I woke the next morning, my ankles were fine but now my wrists hurt. Except the wrist seemed to hurt more than the ankles did. This went on until Thursday. Again it was my wrists and they hurt so much I could not use my left hand to pick up anything heavy like a glass of milk. The Tylenol I took no longer controlled the pain. So we called the Rheumatologist and she prescribed some medicine. I was going to wait until after work to go get it but the power went out in the office so I packed up my computer and came home in mid afternoon. Off we went to the pharmacy. Elizabeth also bought two wrist supports she saw were recommended by the American Arthritis Foundation. Between the wrist supports and the medicine is was like a miracle. Today the pain is almost all gone. The problem is the medicine also causes bone thinning so I cannot take it too much. This is the third or fourth cycle where the Remicade failed near the end. I have an appointment with my doctor in a couple of weeks and we are going to discuss what alternatives are available. I also have an infusion next Friday so I will be able to discuss with my infusion nurse. That is all she does so she really studies it and is a very valuable source of information.

So this will be a quiet week end. Since bike riding puts a lot of stress on the wrists, that is out for this week end and maybe even next. Elizabeth has redoubled her effort to take any inflammation causing food out of my diet. Right now she is napping and I am on my way there too.

I hope who read this have a wonderful week end.