Back to the Salt Mines

19 Mar

The Squire got home after dinner on Tuesday, and Wednesday morning the church secretary called, sounding very apologetic, to say she couldn’t get her computer tuned on and could he please come over and take a look at it.  While he did that, I got the count for the soup supper – 21 people – and decided I needed to take another look at my recipe, as I had only planned on cooking for 24.  No big deal. Crank the recipe up one more notch.

We went to breakfast at IHOP, and then to the store to pick up twelve pounds of squash and six  packages of cream cheese. I cut the squash in half, lay it cut side down on a rimmed cookie sheet, and bake it for about a half an hour. Once it has cooled, I just scrape out the meat and dump it in the pot. While it’s baking, I sauté the onions in butter, and pour in the water, spices and bouillon cubes. It really does look grody while it’s cooking, but a whirl in the blender with the cream cheese, and it looks like liquid gold.

My Butternut Squash soup is easily the most popular soup served during Lent. (Excuse me while I break my arm patting myself on the back.) One lady had already gotten ready for bed, and when she heard it was Butternut Squash night, she got dressed, and brought a container so she could take some home for her husband!

While we were eating, The Squire very casually remarked that, in addition to the “we don’t keep people in the hospital this long” remark, they had also told him his blood was so thick it was starting to clog his veins. He wouldn’t have lived the night if I hadn’t taken him to the hospital. Lovely. I don’t think I was supposed to hear that part of it!

We went to the Laundromat this morning, and I have spent the day playing put-and-take with the dryer. I will be so glad when I can hang the clothes on the line again!

Snow tomorrow, and in the mid-50s over the weekend.

Nuts.

 

Tags: , , ,

He’s Home!

17 Mar

After an extremely long and frustrating day, The Squire is finally home.

Yesterday, he called me around 12:30 to say the nurse had told him the doctor would be in to see him in about 20 minutes, and they would discuss a possible discharge. It takes 15 minutes to get to the hospital, so I grabbed a bagel and drove his car down the road. (It is almost impossible for The Squire to fit into my Nissan; he has to ride in the KIA.) I arrived shortly before 1:00, bummed countless cups of coffee from the staff and got a bag of cheese crackers from the machine; that was my lunch. At 4:05 I slipped my purse over my shoulder and kissed him goodnight.

As I reached for the door the doctor walked in. We weren’t nasty, but we made it quite clear that this had been easily the longest 20 minutes on record. He did apologize, and said he’d had two admissions, ya-dah, ya-dah, but then told my husband that there were still some problems with his blood work and they wanted to do a stress test early this morning – NPO, of course.  “We’ll make as early as possible, so you’ll be back in your room for breakfast.

Ha!

I had asked my girlfriend if she wanted to meet me at IKEA for breakfast at 9:30, and then I’d go over to the hospital and she could do some shopping. Well, she couldn’t make it, and it was all for the best. I moseyed around here, running the vacuum, dusting, etc. and call The Squire’s room several times, beginning around  11:00. By 1:00 I was absolutely frantic, and could not find a phone number for the hospital. Whitepages.com is the most single useless piece of junk I have ever encountered. You look up one hospital and the first thing you get is a listing for another hospital entirely, and then two veterinarians, and finally six – six – listings for the hospital you want. Each one goes to a different department, but you don’t know it is until you call, and a sweet voice informs you that you have reached the Women’s Pavilion, Sport Medicine, Neuro and Pulmonology, and so forth. There was NO listing for the front desk.

Just as I was about to jump in the car and go down there, The Squire called from his room, sounding very, very tired. They had collected him at 11:00 (I probably just missed him) which doesn’t count as “first thing in the morning” in my book, and had brought him back up at 1:15. Because of his feet, he had to have a thallium stress test, which he passed with flying colors. Honestly, if I had gotten there at 10:30, fully expecting him to be back, when he hadn’t even left the room, there would have been Big Trouble. When I worked at Hopkins, thallium tests were very tightly scheduled; if you were told your test would be at 9:30, don’t show up at 9:32. They’d send you back home. I suppose in-patient testing is a little “looser” but it’s annoying to the patient and the family.

Anyway, two doctors came in around 3:30 and gave him the all-clear, and said he ought to have his discharge papers in hand by 5:00, so he called me to come get him. Yesterday we had discussed whether or not he would have been able to manage this at home, rather than my dragging him down to the ER. They both told him No. One doctor hung his elbow over the I.V. stand and said he didn’t think “you wife would be able to handle this” and the other looked up from a sheaf of papers  and told my husband his electrolytes would have never gotten back on track by themselves. “Believe me, we don’t keep patients in the hospital for five days if they could get well at home”.

So, we walked out a little after 5:00, and came straight home. The Squire wanted to work on his genealogy stuff, but gave that up after about ten minutes. Right now he is watching TV, and I fully expect to find him sound asleep when I go up.

Tags: , , ,

Still Here – or There

15 Mar
     I came home last night, typed up my blog, fed all the critters, and fell into bed.  When I went upstairs, our bed was made, but the guest room bed was open, as that was where The Squire had started to sleep. I was too tired to turn down our bed, so just flopped there. Slept straight through until 8:30,  when both the cat and Blazer came in to inquire after my health, “and by the way, we’re starving”.
     I had every intention of going to early church, which starts at 8:00, so that took care of that. I ate some breakfast and ran a few errands, and went on down to the hospital. The Squire was drifting in and out of sleep, so I just sat and knitted, like Mme. What’s-her-name during the French Revolution.
     The doctors seem to be giving this everything they have. They are keeping The Squire hydrated, which is the big thing at this point, as he has had liquid diarrhea to go along with all the other stuff. Diarrhea alone can kill you, so that’s a big deal. When I was there last night, they had put a “pot” into the toilet, and the tech came in to get two different fecal specimens for testing. They have ruled out c. difficile (?) and food poisoning, which I had pretty much eliminated anyway, as we had both eaten the same thing for dinner. Other than Imodium, I.V. potassium, and the I.V. fluids, I don’t think they’ve given him any sort of medicine. He has, at least stopped vomiting, which is a big help. They say his blood is “compacted” – too thick from all the loss of fluids.  His blood chemistry is all out of whack, and the staff is just trying to keep ahead of the symptoms.  Every once in a while he will get a searing headache and spike a fever, which nobody has been able to explain.  I did ask for the doctor to call me, as a) my husband is hard of hearing, b) he is so sleep deprived he admits he doesn’t always know – or remember -what he’s told, and c) I have a medical background and can get a better handle on what’s being said.
     He had gone to his urologist on Wednesday and that doctor had told him the blood tests showed his blood was “too thick” and recommended he see our GP about it. We think this crud was already working on him then, although he doesn’t remember any symptoms.
     Everybody has been wonderful.  The I.V. technician came by to make some changes to his line, and I told her he had just drifted off to sleep. “No problem. I’ll come back later.” I know the woman had five patients to see just on this floor, so that was really kind of her.
     At the moment, The Squire understands that there is a good chance they may release him tomorrow after lunch. He did have chicken parmesan and peach cobbler for supper – the first solid meal he’s had since Friday lunch. He wanted to walk around the unit for a bit, so I helped him get a gown on to cover his back, and then he brushed his teeth. By then he was exhausted, so he never did get his walk.
     We only have one bathroom, and that is on the ground floor, so I will open the sofa bed so he can sleep downstairs.

Tags: , ,

Never Get Sick on a Weekend

14 Mar

Friday night (was it only last night?) The Squire began complaining of severe stomach pains and burping almost immediately after dinner. This went on for a while, so he took some Tums and said he would sleep in the guest room, in case what he had was some sort of flu.  I take an anticonvulsant for my Restless Leg Syndrome, and it just plain knocks me out; I left the door open, so if he called out in the night, I would hear him.  About 11:00, he woke me up, banging on the bathroom wall.

I raced downstairs to find him standing over a toilet bowl full of blood.

While he pulled on some sweatpants I grabbed the clothes I had just taken off, and we left for the hospital. I hadn’t taken time to find my glasses, I was for all intents and purposes, on dope, and it was rainy and foggy.  God really does take care of drunks and fools. We got to the emergency room around 11:30 and I hung around until around half-past 2:00; the nurse told me he’d be several more hours and they would call me. It was 2:44 when I got into my car and the clock was just striking 3:00 when I came in the door. I think I was in bed by 3:05.

So – The Squire was admitted this morning, and they still don’t know what’s wrong with him. They have ruled out pyloric stenosis (rare in adults, but not unheard of), gall bladder, and a bowel blockage. The blood was because he had vomited so much he’d given himself a nose bleed.  Fr. Matthew stopped by, and I took down some things I thought he might want or need – a book of crossword puzzles, fresh pencils and erasers, his glasses. He said Blazer was quite concerned last night, whining and putting his paw on his leg, with long, serious looks into his face. “Anything I can do for you, boss?”

The staff at Franklin Square has just been wonderful. Can’t do enough for you, bringing me coffee, and asking if I wanted a meal from the cafeteria. All of the rooms are private, because of the Patient Privacy Act (Thank you, President Obama!) and visiting hours are 24/7. There is a recliner and a pull out couch in every room, and no charge if you want to stay the night.

Anyway, we hope to get a diagnosis tomorrow, and then we shall see if this little jaunt is going to involve surgery, or just lots of fluids and bed rest.

Tags: , , ,

Of Hard Drives and Furnaces

11 Mar

The Squire found his missing hard drives late Monday.

I was sitting on the sofa reading, and he came into the living room for a kiss. When he bent over, he discovered the cases sitting on the floor, under the end table – in more or less plain sight. Well, at least one can assume it wasn’t a place a thief would think to look.

We went to see our financial advisor yesterday (which is not quite as impressive as it sounds) and got to talking about misplacing things, and stuff piling up when you’re not paying attention. I remarked that from time to time I have to watch a rerun of Hoarders just to get motivated. Bill laughed and said his dad could have outdone them all; his father was a hoarder to end all hoarders. The house was so cluttered with stacks of papers and other junk that there were only narrow, unstable, paths to get from room to room. Many years ago, the furnace had gone up, and his dad had ordered a new one, which the men were unable to get into the basement, so they left it in the dining room.  Now old furnaces were big – maybe five or six feet long, by four feet high – and this thing sat in the dining room, taking up most of the space.

At some point, his dad was taken ill and spent some time in the hospital, so Bill and his siblings decided to clean the house. He said they actually had a celebration when they found the dining room table. (Sounds like my mom’s apartment, doesn’t it?) Imagine their astonishment when they uncovered the furnace! Here is this huge, hulking monster, so completely covered with junk nobody even knew it was there.

Bill said they were all very pleased with what they had accomplished, but their father never forgave them, and groused about it until the day he died. At least my mom was so foggy she didn’t even realize we’d cleaned up.  I wonder how long it took Bill’s dad to get the house in a mess again? My mother had her apartment “re-junked” in about a month.

Tags: , ,

Still Digging

8 Mar

Well, in spite of some very, um, entertaining dreams, The Squire still hasn’t found his missing tapes.

He spent most of today entering family information from sheets his middle sister gathered at a family reunion several years ago, which he had picked up while we were visiting last week.  It is a wonder he has not pulled out what little hair he has left. As far as first names go, his family is as bad as French Royalty. Got a good name? Stick with it. He has at least twenty people named Alonzo, several in the same generation, where three siblings would each name a son after their father. Y’know, stuff like that’ll drive a genealogist bonkers.  Some people who filled out forms listed their parents, spouses and children as requested, and others listed only first names or nicknames, and one person, asked to list children and grandchildren only wrote “too many for this paper”. He has a cousin (or is it an uncle?) known only as Fat, and another is listed as Kissy.  And then there is a woman named Betty Elizabeth.  Who are these people?

Way back, when I worked for Blue Cross, I took a call from a fellow who was adding his infant son the his policy. His name was Francis J. and his wife was Frances M. The new baby? Francis T. “You named him Francis?” I asked weakly. “We named him after my father.”

What do these folks do when the phone rings?

Tags: , ,

Playing Hide and Seek

6 Mar

We got a call from the vet at 7:45 this morning, saying that we could come up and get Blazer any time we were ready. We went to the Y and worked out, then swung over to grab the dog, who was mighty glad to see us. The tech said the vet had decided to close the clinic yesterday because of the snow, rather than risk somebody falling on the parking lot, and she had come over about noon to feed the animals. I must have just missed her, as she remarked “somebody had walked up to the door”.

Before we left for vacation, The Squire had backed up both computers and put the hard drives in a “safe place”, so now, of course, he can’t find them. I told him yesterday (after listening to him moan and groan all day) that if he thought about it really hard before he went to bed, the answer would probably come to him in his sleep.

This morning, he said he had been on an ocean liner, and had given the hard drives to the ship’s purser. When he got ready to leave the ship, he had asked the captain – who happened to be Jean-Luc Pickard – for his tapes. The purser had jumped ship at the previous port and taken the tapes with him.

So much for that theory.

Me? I hide the family silver. Him? He hides his Family Tree records. Just makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Tags: , , , , ,

Two Very Frustrated People

6 Mar

In spite of what it says, this was written Thursday evening, the 5th. If I don’t post it before 7 PM, it shows up as the next day.

>>>>>>>

After a lot of wobbling back and forth about the oncoming storm – should we stay or should we go – we left Winchester, Virginia about 6: 45 last night, with warm-ish weather and a steady rain. Not too hard, but steady. We made excellent time, getting back home a little after 9:30, and that included a trip to the grocery store for milk and eggs, plus topping off the gas tank.

Eddie was extremely glad to see us! He insisted upon sitting in each of our laps while we checked our email, and then tried to sleep with us, which is simply not allowed. I did not know a cat could make so many different sounds! He sat outside the door and cried from 10:00 until about 2:30. When I came back upstairs, he was on the bed, and stayed there all night. He followed The Squire down in the morning and actually sat on his lap while he ate breakfast.

When we woke up this morning at 7:30, it had just begun to snow. I called the vet to see about picking up the dog, and got a recording. OK, maybe they don’t open that early, so I just left the house at 9 and drove on up.

Nobody there, and the lot had not been plowed. I went on up to Bel Air and picked up 40 pounds of birdseed and a dozen blocks of suet and headed back down the road. The vet’s office was still not open.

To say I am distressed is an understatement. It is bad enough that Blazer is not being cared for (although I’m reasonably sure they must have automatic food and water dispensers, the dog can’t get outside to take care of business) but there must be other animals there who have had surgery or need some sort of attention, and they have also been abandoned. I sent an email to a friend who worked there before she moved to Chicago, to ask if she had any personal phone numbers to I could contact somebody at home, but haven’t heard back.

In the meantime, The Squire was doing battle with Comcast.  Over a week ago, he asked them to change us to  their “Triple Play” program, which includes TV, Internet and phone service for less than we are currently paying for just TV and Internet, and would eliminate the $40 we pay to Vonage for our phone line, which includes unlimited overseas calling. I don’t understand it, but apparently it would save us a considerable amount of money per month. Of course, we may end up paying that back out to cover The Squire’s nervous breakdown.

Instead of more TV channels, he has lost some of his favorites, and Comcast still has not managed to change over the phone line. Today the young lady to whom he spoke insisted it would be impossible to do this and allow us to keep the same number. Mind you, we were able to change from Ma Bell to Vonage without any problems, but Comcast is not able ( unwilling, more likely) to do this. We’ve had the same number since 1972, and it is an easy one to remember, with a nice rhythm to it.  He was on the line with them when I left to go get the dog, and was still on the line when I returned. He had been transferred five times, disconnected twice, and was about to completely explode when I got home.

Some young lady with a heavy accent called here in mid-afternoon, and said they would call us tomorrow to arrange to switch the phone number, but she still didn’t know if we cold keep the number. That may be the deal-breaker. We can always go with Vonage if Comcast can’t get their act together.

Aaargh!

Continue reading →

Tags: , , , , ,

Dragging Home

4 Mar

We visited several grave yards over the past week, looking for old tombstones. At one point I discovered I’d lost my cell phone, and The Squire had to keep calling it while I wandered around the cemetery with one ear to the ground. Fortunately, I had a pretty good idea where I’d dropped it; I’d bent over to take several close-up photos of one particular marker and I figured that was where it had fallen out. Ironically, I almost never carry my cell, much to my husband’s annoyance.

We’d lost some time due to the bad weather, so The Squire decided to leave Newport a day early to visit the library at Johnson City. I wasn’t very happy with this arrangement, but he has driven miles out of the way to take me to doll museums and waited while I’ve read every single label plenty of times, so off we went. Actually, the Johnson City genealogy section was just fabulous, and we both had a grand time, finding lots of information, so it was worth the trip.

The motel in Salem last night was not very nice – no heat in the bathroom or extra blankets – and The Squire decided to watch one of his science fiction shows. Agents of Shield, I think. I wasn’t very nice about it, I’m afraid. I don’t like science fiction, and I don’t enjoy violence, and I don’t like the volume turned as loud as it will go. My hearing is very sharp for someone my age, but The Squire’s CMT has caused the small bones in his ears to stop working properly, so he is very hard of hearing. At home, he uses the closed caption option, which is a live-safer ( and a marriage saver!) for both of us, but the TV at the motel didn’t have it.

We arrived at youngest daughter’s home before lunch, and will leave right after dinner. The weather reports are all different, but the general consensus is that we will have snow before morning, and we want to get ahead of it, if possible.

 

Tags: , , ,

Weird Day

1 Mar

—Well, not really weird, I suppose. Just “ultra normal”.

We got pretty well packed last night, and left The Squire’s middle sister’s home in time for church at St. Andrew’s at 10:30. Not a soul  in sight at 10:15. Finally, the rector wandered out and apologized profusely for what was obviously not his fault. The city was doing some major repair work following several major snow storms in a row, and on Thursday had notified the church that they would be without power from 7:30 until noon. The church had sent out a shot-gun email to the parishioners that services would be at 12:30, but hadn’t put anything on the website. As it turned out, the power had just come on at 10:00. Bless him, Fr. Tim offered to do a Mass just for the two of us. A sort of private interview with God, and Rite I, to boot.

I don’t eat breakfast before communion, so I was famished, and since there was no coffee hour,  we found a nice little Chinese restaurant and had dinner before we headed over to Newport.

We knew that our friends had to leave at 3:00 to go to a Lady Vols game, but we have been here often enough that this is practically a second home. They headed off to their game and we went to visit The Squire’s youngest sister. She smokes non-stop and visiting with her is more of a chore than a pleasure, but we girded up our mental loins and headed off. As it turned out, she is quite ill – she thinks it’s pneumonia – but that didn’t stop her from trying twice to light up a cigarette in the five minutes we were there.

We left the poor girl to suffer in solitude and came “home” to wash our clothing and ourselves. I had changed wigs before we left the house, but I still had to strip down completely and wash my scalp, anyway. Blech.

I moved Jane’s laundry from the washer to the dryer, put in our clothing, took my shower, and The Squire and I are now eating fresh homemade black bean and rice chili while waiting for the laundry to finish up. I emptied the dishwasher, and just hope Jane can find where I stashed all the plates and cutlery!

Tags: ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →