Okay thanks for the info on the steroid creams. On another note, in a small part related to this discussion. I've been helping a homeless man named Jim who just before Christmas was given 5 days notice to move out of his $700/mth one bedroom apartment on the excuse that the landlord wanted to renovate and that he could perhaps move back in the future but at $1,400/mth. Jim and his 3 cats have been living in a rickety tent, near a drainage canal, behind the Publix grocery store and pharmacy that I frequent. Jim was not returned his $700 damage deposit either from his last apartment.Jim turns 74 on April 27th and had been living with a retired schoolteacher in that apartment until she died of brain cancer last year. Jim does not drink, loves his cats and worked for 6 years at Holiday Inn as a janitor and then 10 years at Bethesda Hospital here and he told me he could make dirty floors and carpets look brand new. So his retired lady friend would likely have had a good pension plus social security and Jim himself between pension and social security has $2200 coming in on the 1st and 3rd of each month, loaded onto his TD bank card and social security card, so life was good. I have been buying Jim food for himself, not fancy BOGO specials of Robin Hood peanut butter, Jam and bread, orange juice, bottled water, paper towels, toilet paper (he has to use the woods) and dry and wet cat food, plus cat litter. I noticed Jim had bad psoriasis on his arms and encouraged his to go to an Urgent Care Clinic (like me, but free for him with health plan), since his assigned doctor is in Miami, 2 hours away and Jim only has a bicycle that he travels 125 miles per week on he estimated. Anyway after his clinic visit Jim only $5 to his name, so I bought him6 tubes of that Publix 1% cortisone steroid cream, and it was amazing how better his arms looked after a few days (pharmacist told me to pass on to Jim only to use cream for 2 weeks, then take a 2 week break before resuming treatment. Now against my advice, once his Feb money came in, Jim has written a $1,400 cheque to a church pastor he met at a church free supper, who said he will help Jim to find a place to live (nothing yet, hope that pastor doesn't cash the cheque and relocate out of town). Jim comes into Publix to charge his cell phone and he uses the flashlight feature as a light at night). Also several years go Jim was hit on his bicycle by an uninsured driver turning right on him and he suffered injuries without compensation. Jim told me that as an 18 year he lived with his parents in Boynton Beach and had a couple of "muscle" cars that he maintained himself. Back in 1970 Aged 20, he drove one of those cars from Florida to California on interstate highway I-10 (the 2700 mile route we are taking on Thursday). He was alone and mostly drove at 100 mph with no cops around (back then anyway). I visited Salvation Army on his behalf and they gave me the addresses and telephone #'s of three subsidized apartment building, but I was told he would likely have to give up his cats which he has had since kittens (now aged 16, 12 and 10). Salvation Army told me that Palm Beach County where we live is the worst one in Florida to be to be a a poor, homeless senior. Jim said he phoned but their were no vacancies. Better today, but often Jim stinks of urine, understandably given his living conditions without washing facilities. An assistant manager I know at Publix, Scott, invited Jim into the store eating area, a corner table with a charge plug on the wall for his phone, while he waited for me to shop for groceries and was worried his bicycle would be stolen outside out of sight, so he took a bicycle lock off the shelf and gave it to Jim and showed him how to use. Really nice thing o do, the lock had letters as the unlock code, better than #'s, and Jim's was J-A-M-S so easy to remember. In the last week Jim has move to a different camp site 3 miles away as too many other homeless people were encroaching on his space.Now imagine that, moving 3 cats in a cat carrier (he said it is really tight for them), a tent, food, blankets on a bicycle. Last week a tire blew out and he said a new tire and inner tube cost $50, he says his bearings are staring to go, that he repair himself, but parts are $80. Most apartments require first month rent plus an equal damage deposit so if Jim finds an $1100 apartment + $1100 damage out of his $2200 monthly income he would have nothing left for food or the month. Jim is a decent man and I feel badly for him in this situation. He has family support and his only friend of 40 years who he worked with is dying of bone cancer. In the heat here the smell from a litter box with 3 cats using it must be appalling, they are indoor cats and have never been outside Jim say. So now 3 miles away from Publix he has to he has to leave his 3 cats in the tent and ride his bicycle there to charge his phone and get free food samples at lunchtime. I asked Jim for his phone # (he says he has a $70 plan that he pays in person each month) and he didn't know, so told him o phone mine so I could get it. So then I told him about text messaging and he said he had never used that, so I sent him a simple message, and bing it arrived on his phone, so then I asked him to send me a short message, but his hands shake and his keyboard is small, so I showed him the back button to remove unwanted letters. After 10 mins of this, all he could text me was H3, H for Hello. So a sad situation, I hope that pastor comes though for him. I found another $1,200 one bedroom apartment in Lake Worth that allows pets, but thy require an income of 3x rent so $3,600 so that formula doesn't work with only a $2,200 monthly income. Anyway sorry to bore you all with this, but I thought of Jim with the cortisone cream treatment for his psoriasis.
Just a sideline to that story I ran into Jim at Publix yesterday and told me his phone on Cricket Mobility was "locked" and the Cricket Mobility store, a few stores up from Publix on the arcade had told him that they could not unlock it for him, even though he has a $70/mth plan they sold him Jan 4th when he, homeless man, in desperate need of a phone for communications and use as a flashlight in his tent at night Jim had moved campsite, 3 miles down the road, still on the same drainage to where he was near Publix. I asked Jim if he had the phone to accompany him to Cricket to intervene on his behalf. He said no, so I assumed it was back in his tent with his 3 cats, 3 miles away. So I went to Cricket anyway and asked on his behalf They told me he had to phone1-800-CRICKET to unlock his phone, they cannot do it. He had recently paid $70 for the one month period Feb 4 to Mar 4 so his account was in good order.I asked what type of plan Jim had and they told me North American unlimited text and talk (Can/Mex/USA), plus HBO Max to watch movies and sports on his phone, when he doesn't know how to even text message. The same plan, without HBO Max, which he should have been put on was only $30/mth so he was totally ripped off. Today when I saw Jim he told me he did not have his phone and that cricket had told him it would no longer work and that in frustration he had thrown the phone in the drainage canal as he cycled back to his campsite yesterday, so it was never in his tent. Horrible story for a poor homeless man who still has$2,200/mth in pension and social security income! Another homeless, a 59 year old able bodied man who served with US Army in Germany for 10 years, Jack of all trades he said, master of none, had no job in Army when he returned to Florida and has no income, no pension, nowhere to live.
Yes, I've just been trying to keep Jim going the past 6 weeks. He is a decent man and loves his 3 cats who have been with him for many years. Jim will not give them up to take an apartment, or give up two of them, if they allow pets, will only permit one, so a Sophie's Choice scenario for Jim. I hope that pastor who Jim has written a $1,400 cheque to, will come through and find him a place to live with his cats, as Jim only has $2,200 a month in income and cannot afford to get screwed over. Some places demand first and last month's rent, plus a damage deposit of one month's rent, so $2,200 is not enough to get in. Another place found for him at $1,200/mth allowed cats but you had to have 3x rent in monthly income to live there, so $3,600. Best place would have been a nice subsidized one bedroom that I completed an online application for Jim, they only allowed one cats and you had to name that cat, give sex of cat, weight, neuter or spay status. Jim had low enough income to qualify and wait list of 35 would have cleared in a month. I said to Jim, get moved in with one cat only, as they likely would be watching him like a hawk on moving day, then that night I would bring the other two cats over in a pet carrier, they are indoor cats, never outside, so no-one would have been any the wiser with all 3 cats inside. Anyway he didn't want that to happen as he didn't want landlord, who had a master key, to come on for a maintenance reason, see the cats and give Jim an ultimatum to lose one cat or get out. Anyway I leave for California tomorrow, the same trip Jim took in 1971, in his Chev Charger muscle car, driving his mother for a hospital operation and recovery that took 6 weeks. Jim said it was pedal to the metal driving at 100 mph on deserted roads, no cops as no coffee/doughnut (donut here) shops! Imagine that a young buck aged 20 in California in early70's for 6 weeks!
Well all done, passed urine and good to go home with pills and follow up. Amazing care and can’t speak highly enough of the team at RSH. Bit sore but otherwise feel fine.
I even get my own card for when I go through airport scanners and set off the radiation alarm. Not allowed to have kids on my knee or sit next to pregnant ladies for a long period of time……so far all good
Old ****s like you with kids on their knees is a recipe for disaster anyway, and no pregnant woman is going to want to be within 100 yards of you in case they catch midgetitus anyway so you're all good - glad you're well
Feeling ok this morning and better than expected…....bit off putting to feel ok one second, then desperate for a piss the next…..and still painful, especially when I cough…..but knowing I’m hopefully now on the home run to getting sorted is great for my MH…can’t wait to get back training again
