Because many of you asked, I wanted to share with you what has transpired since my last update five days ago. In case you've forgotten how horrible my time without Linda has gone, here is a recap:
So far, since she left Friday morning, this has been my world. The first night the dog wet the bed, which I had just changed the sheets on that morning. Time to do laundry again. Two days later the same dog, who is seventeen and shaky at best, was pooping outside at four thirty in the morning when she lost her balance and plopped down right into her freshly dropped poop getting herself covered in it. Luckily it was outside so I could get the hose, corral her, and hose her off. Good times.
That should have been a wake up call for me because yesterday, day four, Doris got light headed and fell down hurting her ribs, back, and posterior. Luckily I was able to drag her over to her bed, put an ice pack on her back and load her up on Aleve. She is mostly OK but her ribs hurt and it is painful for her to move and breathe. I loaded myself up on vodka but it didn't seem to help her.
Last night, the same dog wet the bed, and me, again. Laundry time once again and while I'm out I may look for some bed diapers too. Incredible.
Tomorrow is beauty shop day with my mom, always fun to hear her and her stylist fight about what he is doing to her hair. I still have to go to the grocery store for some last minute things, then to Ace to refill the grill propane tank, on to some store to pick up a package that UPS forgot to deliver yesterday, and oh yeah, get Thanksgiving dinner ready for Thursday. (Note to myself: pick up more vodka.)
So, as you can see, it was a fun filled first few days without Linda. You would think I was over the hump by Wednesday morning, but you will not believe the rest of the week.
Wednesday morning I in fact took my mom to the beauty shop where as is the weekly occurrence she and Michael went at it like brother and sister. He teasing her and she yelling at him. Always entertaining. After dropping mom off back home I did my errands as outlined above. Ace for new gas cannister, gas for the car, Walgreens for a prescription, and a UPS store to pick up something they failed to deliver as promised the day before. No dog incidents and Doris was resting comfortably, things looked like they were swinging my way.
I spent Wednesday afternoon getting things ready for the next days festivities. Pre cooked the sweet potatoes and loaded them in a baking dish with butter and brown sugar and put that in the refrigerator ready to slap in the oven. Got dishes, serving bowls, and place settings ready to lay out the next morning. A nice peaceful day.
Then God woke up Thursday morning and said, "You know what? Dan's had it a little too easy the last day so let's see if we can find his breaking point."
Doris usually opens her bedroom door around 6AM and I start to get her breakfast ready at that time. Thursday morning she opened her door at 5:15 so I knew something wasn't right. I looked in on her and she was sitting on the side of her bed struggling to breathe. After determining that it was worse than her usual morning breathing issues I called 911. Doris did not want them to see her without her teeth so I had to bring them to her, which was a whole comedy routine in and of itself, so that she was ready for their visit.
The entire Palm Desert EMS team apparently had nothing else to do because they showed up with enough guys to field a football team. They checked her out and told her, against her insisting, that they were taking her to the emergency room at Eisenhower. Off they went, taking her insurance card and Medicare card accidently with them, never to be found again.
I got the dog settled, got dressed, and went over to the hospital where I found her in bed with enough tubes in her to support a deep sea diver. She saw me come in and her first words were, "This is why I didn't want to come here." They determined that she had fluid in her lungs which was the cause of her breathing issues and now they were trying to figure out why. It was going to involve her staying overnight for at least that night. So much for Thanksgiving dinner and celebrating my mom's 93rd birthday as planned.
They moved her to a regular room and began their battery of tests finally determining that she has congestive heart failure. (If you are wondering what that is you'll need to look it up.) Her primary came in the room Friday around the crack of noon and told her that she was going to stay that night which did not make her any happier and she insisted that she was going to be fine at home. The doctor told her that she would die if they sent her home now and she said fine. Good talk Doc, thanks for stopping by.
My Thanksgiving dinner was three pieces of left over pizza around 1:30 and a half a PB&J sandwich around 5:00. The dog was now refusing to eat because first her mother abandons her and then her grandmother leaves her and until one or both gets back she is not eating.
Saturday morning I try once again to feed the dog and she looks at me like who are you kidding, sniffs it, and walks away. Whatever. Linda calls and says that she and her friend cannot get her boarding pass to come up so she can print it and wondered if I could get it and email it so they can print it. I told her sorry to go the the check in at the airport and they will get her one. She called back to let me know they figured out finally how to do it.
I shower and get dressed and get over to the hospital around 10AM just in time for the primary to come in and announce that unless the cardiologist has other plans she is releasing Doris that morning. Delirium ensues and we wait two hours for the process to play out. They bring Doris out front of the hospital where I am waiting to take her home. Upon arrival the dog sees Doris in a wheel chair and has no idea who she is and she gets herself into kill position. After a minute she figures out it is Grandma and happiness abounds, along with a quick pee on the rug in her bedroom. The dog, not Doris.
Now its just five trips to Walgreens to get all the new meds straightened out and delivered to me for the low, low price of $300 total. Getting Doris' drugs in order reminds me to take mine and I notice that I have not taken my drugs for a day and a half. Finally I am off to the airport to pick up Linda and bring her home, admonishing her for being gone so long, and expecting things to return to normal. Ha.
Linda arrived home tired and worn out, tell me about it, and the dog was mad at her for having other dog smells on her clothes so she gave her the cold shoulder. This morning, again in the dark around 5AM, she went outside to pee for the eighth time and managed to step in her previous deposit of nice soft smelly poop. Back out came the hose and another round of wrestling and spraying her to clean her feet.
Linda finally woke up and Ellie was so happy to see her that she went and peed on the rug again. Where is she getting all this pee when she is outside peeing thirty times a day? Today I need to go over to my mothers house to try to figure out why her normal $23 water bills have been $300+ last month and $400+ this month. Like I don't have enough on my plate, now I have to go fight with the water department about two seriously flawed bills. Needless to say my mother is unhappy and how can you blame her.
I told God that I give and he wins, enough was enough.
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