Ups And Downs

It has been quite an up and down week! Mother had three doctor's appointments in two days and we took a trip to the ER Wednesday evening. On Monday the second appointment was with a pulmonolgist. One of the patients in the waiting room had what I called a World War II era oxygen tank - it was about 3 feet tall and on old-fashioned wheels. That is definitely a cross to bear to have to drag around something so huge all the time. It so happened that day Mother was having trouble breathing and her legs were very swollen so the doctor prescribed an oxygen tank and replaced her usual water pill with a stronger water pill. Also, she has to go to a no-salt diet which is very difficult for her since she is a salty snacks person as opposed to having a sweet tooth. We were definitely feeling down after that appointment and to compound things, that evening Mother was trying to find more information about her condition online and was convinced the end was near. I was doing my best to convince her not to worry about what she was reading and to take one day at a time to get through this. It turns out she was reading about coronavirus patients who have this condition and that in general, coughing is a symptom which she does not have.
Wednesday brought a visit to the cardiologist, located near the hospital in Arlington Heights. We arrived at 9:40 AM for the 10:00 appointment only to find the appointment was at 2:00. Mother had her cleaning woman over so I brought her back to my house. When the appointment time neared, I decided to take Vivi back to the house so I would not need to make another trip later. We got there only to find the cleaning woman had locked the doorknob lock and locked us out! None of my keys worked and Mother did not have any keys with her. I ran her to the appointment but was not able to join her because Vivi was in the car. I went back to the house and tried the keys again but they did not work. I then took a chance and went back home to see if Kuochun had the right key. Luckily he did but by the time I sent Vivi back home, Mother's appointment was finished. However she loved the staff and the doctor and it was a good experience. He was able to give her some hope as far as the "ground glass" condition which was found on her lungs.

Mother was supposed to get a call about the oxygen tank delivery but no one ever called. Every time she called the office they were either at lunch or gone for the day. The answering service was no help so we will need to wait until Tuesday to try them again. Not that she is looking forward to the oxygen tank. We picked up two pulse oximeters at Walgreens (buy one, get one 50% off) so Mother has been monitoring her oxygen level. She said the readings have been good. We walked all over the grocery store and she never was out of breath. Maybe she will not have to use oxygen when she goes out. The doctor did not specify when she had to be on oxygen. Mother is thinking the stronger water pills are keeping her oxygen levels up.

It seems though that the water pills worked too well as they seemed to have caused severe leg cramps in both legs Wednesday evening. The folks at rehab said to go to the ER if anything was wrong. Mother was reading the internet again after they subsided but I said let's just go to the ER. After several hours and the second blood draw in a day the bottom line was they could not do anything but blood tests came out well for electrolyte and potassium levels. For now, the waters are calm and hopefully they will stay that way for a while, until the next round of doctor's appointments that is!

Before all this happened, I was able to post another lot of Native American jewelry online last Sunday evening, the photo is above. This lot was highly successful as well - everything has sold except for the large dangle turquoise earrings in the center, the cuff bracelets at the left and right, the onyx earrings, the hematite ring and the #8 Mine turquoise ring. The hematite ring is really unique and beautiful quality but is only a size 4.75 so it is in need of the right person.


On Thursday evening, I was able to post a lot of vintage watches with Native American made watch tips online. Most of these pieces are wearable the way they are but the hot thing to do with the watch tips now is to outfit them for Apple watches. They look really cute with a leather, suede or cowhide band as well. Watches #1, #3, #6 and #8 have sold, the rest are available. I had an internet troll tell me in the middle of the night that these were not vintage but they definitely are! The timeframe for vintage is 20-100 years, which although it is hard to believe, puts the newest vintage items at 2001. I did not bother to answer. I received a private message from someone else which turned a little odd. The first thing she said was basically I am not interested in purchasing a watch from you, but do you have the parts to attach the watch to the band? I told her no, I am only selling these watches and parts as they are. Then she asks me if I can help her get them. I said no, but check with a watch repair shop. Then she says why can't you help me? I thought it was getting weird so I blocked her. This was the first person I ever blocked. Luckily most of the folks in these jewelry groups are very nice and we share a common interest and love for Native American jewelry.

I took some time out on Friday to price some of the Tucson Gem Show finds to display at our Park Ridge sale this weekend. Late Friday night Kuochun and I took a ride over to Park Ridge and I filled the cases with new pieces from Bali, Russia and Tibet. Kuochun just loved the home. There are three large display cases there and I have to say they all look amazing! We will be continuing our Park Ridge sale on Monday as well so there is still a chance to pay us a visit for the best prices of the estate sale weekend plus all of the wonderful jewelry finds.

On tap for next week - get as much paperwork done as possible, help Mother when needed and hopefully find time to price some more jewelry. We have five sales next weekend, they are scattered about the suburbs from north to west to northwest and the plan is to have a nice jewelry display at each location. See you next time!