Day 214: on what happened next

The Reader's Digest version: yes, Himself had a heart attack, but it wasn't as serious as the cardiologists feared. He is now the proud owner of a swank new stent.

The slightly longer version:

The Queen Mother took her weekly-ish shower First Thing, before breakfast. We had breakfast together, then I showered. I was left a message that Himself went to the Cath Lab while I was breakfasting, so I didn't have to rush down to the hospital. I got a few essential things from Trader Joe's and put some gas in the tank - thank you Federal Tax Refund! Then I went down.

The two hour procedure had an extra hour added onto it, due to the insertion of said swank new stent. Himself then called me on my cell to let me know he was back in his room, so upstairs I went. He/we received a few visitors today. His blood pressure and heart rate are way better today than they were yesterday, so they finally fed him some dinner, and he was ready to eat it..

I came home to feed the Queen Mother (and myself) dinner, then went back down to spend a bit more time with him. Both of them want more time with me, which makes it a challenge to juggle mom time with husband time; so far, though, I say it's working. (They would individually grumble.)

Playing it by ear tomorrow, depending on what the cardiologists and Physical Therapy folks have to say. The latter group wants to make sure he will be steady enough on his feet. We will also see if he can make his eye appointment (which happens to be in a different department in the same facility) in the afternoon; either way, I will be driving him home.

I managed to get the mail from the mailbox this evening. All will abide until he gets home, whenever that happens to be.

Day 213: on a most unexpected turn

I'm typing this from the cafeteria at the VA Medical Center. Himself has been having significant pain in his thumb for the past few days, so today he finally chose to go to the ER. He also complained of an "odd feeling" around his sternum, so the doctors drew some blood and ran an EKG. Imagine our surprise when the docs said that "odd feeling" might be a heart attack!

He's going to be admitted today for an early morning angiogram tomorrow morning, and we'll go from there. Needless to say, this has shifted our plans quite a bit!

I'll let y'all know tomorrow what his situation is. Prayers in the meantime would be most appreciated.

Day 212: on feeling nurtured

Pardon me for another short post, but this one is from a Good Tired, of feeling full and supported, instead of feeling empty and alone.

I should be back up to speed tomorrow, and I intend to blog a little more in-depth then. Till the morrow, have a good day/night.

Day 211: on a quiet saturday

Feeling better now. Depression hit me hard yesterday and this morning - the fear that Nothing Is Going To Change, Ever, and the fact that I don't have that much in the Emotional Reserve tank to ward off the Stinking Thinking effectively at the moment.

I kept my promise to stay Unplugged, though, and worked on a mandala, and puttered around a little here and there. Eventually I cut myself free and bobbed back to the surface.

Did a bit of cooking as well: a can of lentil soup, a can of white beans, and a small can of corn, thrown together and heated up, then combined with rice and enjoyed with a mixed green and kale salad. Tasty stuff.

I will be celebrating Beltane with some of my sisters tomorrow after all. I secured a ride to my friend's house.

I must be close to the summit of the mountain, because the climb is steep and the air is thin. Slowly forward and upward I go...

Day 210: on a heavy friday

Feeling very Heavy this evening, a bunch of little things adding up to weigh me down.

I am Unplugging tomorrow, maybe even for the entire weekend. All I know is that I need an extended Respite, sooner rather than later.

Day 209: on a full thursday

Full day today, starting with a run to Trader Joe's and ending with Walmart. In between, Himself and I first went to Fry's Electronics, where we purchased the graphics card that *should* make the desktop functional again. We had asked them to hold onto one for us yesterday, just in case we returned today to find them sold out.

Next up was Himself's appointment at the VA Medical Center in La Jolla. While he played with stretch bands, I went to the Pharmacy and picked up some of his medications. I can do that with his ID card; they've seen me often enough there that they know I'm The Missus, or as Himself is wont to say, "The Boss."

As Himself is a Cancer Survivor, he's been feeling a wee bit paranoid about the burgeoning measles epidemic spreading around the country, and arranged to redo his MMR (Measles/Mumps/Rubella) vaccine today. There was a bit of unexpected excitement around that: another veteran came along asking for help, then next thing anyone knows, lost his balance and would have fallen if a couple of other men had not caught him and lowered him to the ground. I got a chance to see the Rapid Response team in action; they eventually got him in a wheelchair and took him to the ER on the first floor. Hopefully it wasn't anything serious.

Once we had all of his official medications in tow, we stopped off at a nearby dispensary and purchased his "unofficial" medication, CBD oil. This has been the key to ridding his digestive system of nasty little polyps, as per his most recent "coming and going" appointment in March. After that, it was time for the Monthly Treat: burritos from the Mexican restaurant two doors and a flight of steps down. I like the veggie burritos here because they add grilled mushrooms, and I've only had mushrooms at one other place - Anejo's has a chili and mushroom enchilada which is also Divine!

By the time we got home, it was 5:20, and there was no way I was going to be able to fix the Queen Mother's dinner, eat my dinner, and get to the Caregiver Support Group, so I cut the Group loose. Food will win Every Time. I rested a bit while Himself attended a meeting, and then came the aforementioned Walmart trip after he got back. We are good to go for another little while.

I am going to sleep very soundly tonight. Good thing tomorrow is an Unscheduled day. I have been composing "His & Hers To-Do Lists" to help both Himself and I to remember what needs to be done tomorrow. His has more calls and mine has more chores at the moment.

Looking forward to Unplugging for at least part of the weekend. :)

Day 208: on a moodling wednesday

"Moodling" is a concept introduced by Sarah Ben Breathnach, if you're at all familiar with her work. It's a combination of Meandering and Puttering, doing small activities  with no particular agenda. I have been saving my Moodling for Mondays, as the calendar has been open on those days, but as there's an exception to every rule, today was my designated Moodling day. It went okay.

I received a call from the DMV, which I had to put on speaker phone so that the Queen Mother could talk to them, with a little help from me. (They didn't want to speak with me directly; how rude!) Basically, they said their records only went back to 2009, even in Microfilm, as they only keep records for ten years. It doesn't look like they will be of any help to us. 

While a part of me wants to give up, another part is still looking for answers. One option is to swear out an affidavit of my own; another is to get a Doctor's Note to swear that mom has been disabled since before 2004. There may be other options out there; right now, I'm putting out my feelers. (Himself's philosophy of Keep Copies of All Pertinent Records Forever is looking more sensible by the day!) 

Himself and I also took a trip to Fry's Electronics in San Marcos to price video cards. We found a reasonably priced one today that we will attempt to pick up tomorrow, which means our computer might just be up and functional again by the weekend. That will make the Queen Mother very happy.

Tomorrow looks to be a busy day, with appointments to be kept and errrands to be run. Fortunately it's the only really busy day this week, which has been a nice change of pace. We have reached a bit of a plateau, and it feels nice to make progress this way to the summit of the mountain, instead of having to try to scale at a near-vertical incline!

I have a few clothes to put away yet, and the tucking of mom into bed. We'll see if we can actually get up a little earlier than usual to get things done.