Oncologist Wednesday

 Even though the appointment was at 1:45 in the afternoon, I could barely move, could barely get onto the table. This doctor replaces the gynecological oncologist that died. His father and grandfather died from same cancer and he leaves three boys. I know his wife is tied in knots about their health. I could not think of words, so sounded like I had dementia. 

We left there and went to BK close by. We were going to get small, plain burger. They are $2 or over. Since there is Duo deal, we could get two Whopper Jr.s. for $5. The person at the window said something about me going to the doctor. I suppose from seeing my id bracelet. Then said, how is your blood pressure?  Okay. How is your diabetes? Okay, I guess. She checked up on several medical things with me. I laughed and said, "Is this the hospital's annex?"

She said, "Well, you go to the doctor, then come eat all this fast food?" I defended myself as I laughed, "But, we did not buy fries, bought small burger, no mayo, just vegetables on mine. Diet Coke small?" I don't remember how it all ended, but we were not offended, and she did not give up chiding us as she was very friendy. 

Tommy keeps correcting me saying it was a man, not a woman. ???

We stopped by all the stores to get ads. I bought two of the Red Delicious apples I did not yesterday. Since then, I have been sitting in my chair, trying to rest or sleep or something. I only had a small bowl of cabbage for dinner. 

On the news tonight, we saw a bad backup of traffic from an accident where we had just gone through. I am always grateful not to be sitting in a traffic jam. We almost got hit again in an identical accident near the hospital, but on the driver side of the car. The insurance company would never believe Tommy was not at fault somehow. Tommy was going about five miles an hour when a car going at least 30 miles an hour came zooming into our lane. Thankfully, Tommy braked and swerved. 

At the doctor Tommy left my purse in the car and let it go with the valet. It had $500 cash in it which I cannot find now. Hopefully, I had taken it out of my purse. We will look for it tonight or tomorrow.

After the cabbage for dinner, I am having half an apple, pecans, and three prunes. I never have more than three prunes. 

Have you ever lost a large amount of money? Did you find it?

Edit: I found the money still in my purse plus another $80.

Another Death, New Rollator

 Wednesday night, I think I went to bed before 6 pm woke at 11:30 and stayed up. See, it is hopeless. I sat here all night on the laptop. At 6 am and slept until 10:30. See, I try to sleep and the laptop viewing or TV viewing does not affect my ability to sleep at all. 

Today, we went back to Lowe's. No electric carts available. However, when we went there, the point was to get some sunflower seeds. I told Tommy to just the 4' ones. The 6' sunflowers are too tall for a pot! 

Then, Tommy asked if I wanted to go to the guy who sells produce from his yard. So, we went further into Bessemer. The guy had no produce out. Tommy suggested "going to the church with food." Months ago, we accidentally went by a church cooking outdoors and selling food for the building fund. It was delicious BBQ. Those people cook somewhere else. But, the minister of the church sets up two days a week for the building fund. We bought from him once and he nicely hit us up for a contribution, too. 

We pulled up, got the woman's attention when she finally looked up from her reading. We asked for a menu. She pointed to a sign on the lawn beyond the sidewalk. Neither of us could read it as it was sitting crooked. She was not very accommodating, slowly looking around and then going inside. He brought a QR code for us to use with a phone. I showed him my flip phone. So, he went back in and got his phone, pulled up the menu. 

I suppose I know what we will get every time now. We don't want the fish or ribs. So, a burger it is. We both had a cheeseburger. My cheeseburger had lettuce and tomato. Tommy chose fries as a side. I was debating and said I really wanted fries but should just order potato salad. He said he would just give me both at no extra cost. I told him just give me half portions of both. He said it would take about ten minutes. He went in to cook everything. Neither burger nor fries had been precooked. 

It was delicious.  We will go back, but not anytime soon. Next time, I will stop eating halfway through the burger. I will not order potato salad because it was soupy and sweet and I left it. Of course, neither of us wanted or needed dinner. For $26 we were well fed. 

However, before Elkhorn comes on, we will have prepared chicken, carrots, and potatoes in the cooking bag. The chicken was still very fresh. I still wanted it cooked. Of course, there is a thunderstorm and the threat of tornadoes. Thunder is rumbling. I hope we don't lose electricity before the food is done! Okay, food ready.

While Tommy was buying seeds, I called a friend. Her last brother was buried yesterday. She was crying. I was crying. She is the baby girl with her three brothers gone. One brother was a good friend, amazing singer. The other was a pilot. He was killed by being t-boned by 55-year-old female, active drug user as he was making a legal turn and she was driving wrong way and speeding. At his funeral I told her I always thought he would die when his single engine plane plummeted to the ground. We all could accept that. This last brother was the one I knew the least, but we were friends. 

She is so ill that I expect her to die any day. We both sobbed through the call. I promised her I would get her info for Meals on Wheels by tomorrow morning. 

We went to get a new walker/rollator for the one that broke. This one is so much lighter than the one I bought on Amazon. The other is 50 lbs and Tommy has to lift in into and out of the car. So, now we will keep it in the house for whatever, maybe when he has to push it on grass. 

 After knee surgery many years ago, I donated a walker with no wheels, a four-pronged cane, and a bedside commode. I n longer needed them. Now, I never get rid of anything. Inside this house, we have two rollators, one walker with two wheels and no seat, a four-pronged cane, at least six other canes, six grabbers--one in almost each room, and two lift chairs. I have a bedside commode in storage.  

Tommy came in with his dinner after taking the chicken from the oven. He had a plateful of food! I will get a bit of the cold potato and carrots. It looked and smelled great. Two breasts will be eaten this week. One will be saved for beginning of next week, and four breasts will be frozen. 

The noisy thunder and brilliant flashes of lightning are just about done. So, that is good. Today, was a good day. Only the news of a friend's brother's death dampened the mood of the day. Of course, I stayed away from electric carts! 

How was your day? Bargains? Bad Weather? Sunshine?

Do you have a cache of medical equipment at your home?

Pants, remotes, vacuum, burger, slaw, weather, mattress, walker

 For a few days, I have been so sluggish. Nothing seems bad, but I am in a haze it seems. 

When I went to the grocery Saturday, I came home with two of the largest plums ever. Nope, did not buy them. I ate one. Was that bad of me? They would have thrown it away. 

I found someone to come vacuum Wednesday. That is too long to wait, but at least it is something. She want $25 to vacuum. I wonder if that is per hour. She had husband speak to me. She will bring daughter to translate for her. I wonder if the daughter helps. We will see. I do doubt I will have her again. 

We sprayed the house today and left to do things. I wanted to see if this guy in Bessemer who sells produce from his truck had things out. No. He will. I am sure he gets produce from the big Farmer's Market on Finley Ave, but I don't care. It's always delicious. The church was selling food, but I did not want to stop.  We had a small, plain burger in a parking lot with drinks we brought from home. Basically, we kicked around, wasting time until the stench from the Raid dissipated. 

Dinner--burger, slaw, lots of slaw for both of us. I only put a smidgen of salt in coleslaw, but put too much in today. Then, I over-poured apple cider vinegar in the bowl. I had already put lots of mustard in the mix. It was a spicy coleslaw tonight. Tommy thought the salt was just fine. Ick I suppose I should have put the other bag of slaw mix in with the strong one. 

Due to the beautiful weather and high temps, I did not wear a sweater, jacket, or scarf yesterday or today. I wore an airy, loose blouse that was not warm in any way. In the house I have not had to cover myself with a throw or use a jacket. Next thing we know, we will need ac on and I will need a throw again! But, for now, the temps inside and out are perfect. 

I think we will go mattress shopping at Macy's on Tuesday. They are having a sale as is everyone else. They do carry Serta Perfect, the kind I had last that I loved. I almost fell off the bed again. It seems I just sat on the bed, lay down and turned toward the other side of the bed. When I decided to turn back, I was too close to the edge of the bed for my comfort! It actually frightened me. I have a stool with a boom box on it beside the bed. I would put the boom box on the end table, but the boom box has an eerie, bright blue light that would keep me awake. So, it sits on the stool facing the box spring. 

Tommy's last walker weighed 10 or 15 lbs.; this one--25 lbs.  I am not sure how wide the last one was, but this one is 22 inches wide. He is ruining the corner of the wall. I put thick gorilla tape on the bottom where he was ramming the last walker. There was sheet rock all over the floor. He said he did not care. He manages to hit the corner higher with this walker. Plus, the tires are 10" and not 3". This time I will get one of those rubber/plastic corner protectors and figure out how to install that. He never runs into things in others' houses or in stores, but here he is not careful or caring at all. Of course, I will purchase that at the hardware store in Cullman. 

His pants are getting too tight, so he needs new pants. I had to point it out before he even acknowledged it. Is this a guy thing? If my waist band were two inches too small, a person would not have to invite me to buy new pants. Of course, for the last 40 years, I have worn elastic waistbands for health sake only. 

When I moved here, of course Tommy manned the remote. I had no desire for him to share it with me. Besides, it takes two remotes to work the TV. When he went to sleep, I would wake him to turn off the TV. One night about two weeks ago, he handed me the one remote and told me to keep it low, turn it lower so it would not wake me in the morning, and then turn it off. 

In the meantime, he has 'allowed' me to use the other remote to change channels. I wrote how where different channels can be found. I think I know how to use both as well as he does, maybe. I suppose this is a breakthrough. We use a soft, zippered pencil bag to toss the couple back and forth. I leave the bag on his walker when I go to bed. It works for us. 

I asked why two remotes. He said he never could get one programmed. I hate remotes I have to program. The next tv, we will each have one remote, not two different remotes. When he goes to the kitchen and we need to talk, if I mute the sound, we don't have to scream back and forth, not hearing each other anyway. 

Does it seem all guys want to man the remote? 

Do you know anyone who destroys corners, furniture, anything by hitting it with a walker or wheelchair?