As I walked across the street to get coffee this morning, a homeless lady screamed obscenities. I joked with my security guard buddy that they came and got his friend yesterday afternoon. He mentioned that guy had been a problem all day. I said something about the screaming lady, and he joked they must have released a new batch today! It was just a regular day in the Texas Medical Center.
I finally got a decent night’s sleep on the chair/bed. I turned the bed around and slept on the lower part, where I stacked pillows to level it out. Then, I put my foam topper over the top. As I was putting the fitted sheet, I said see a pillow top to Amanda. I told yall I would figure that thing out!
After I returned with coffee, Amanda was ready to start our daily Bible reading plan. It took coffee to get her up, and in the mood, I guess. We were still one day behind, so we knocked out two to catch up.
Amanda was ready for a shower. I was worried she’d overdo it again. The nurse assistant looked for a shower chair but never found one. So, she had to use a portable toilet chair as a shower chair. I told them they better bring a bunch of towels since the chair didn’t fit in the tub and hung out. The assistant was supposed to be back in to make Amanda’s bed. She never showed, so nurse assistant Barkley had to do the job! Amanda was in there a shower for too long and needed me to call the nurse for pain meds as soon as she was done.
I needed to pick my pants up at the cleaners, drop a pair of jeans off, and go to the Whole Foods nearby. I know the area well since we lived here for 4 months during the transplant days. On the short drive, I called my aunt to catch up; she’s not much on computers, so she doesn’t read the journal. She’s also a big Yellowstone fan and knew we were catching up on the new season, so I knew she’d want to chat about how the series ended.
I had planned to go to Torchy’s Tacos to get lunch since I was out, and that’s not one we get delivered. I grabbed a few snacks we needed, well wanted! Then I realized Whole Foods had a hot food bar. I like loading a big plate up from there with various things. This area is all pretty ritzy; everything west of the hospital through Rice Village is full of lovely houses and expensive cars. The kind you would think drive those BMWs and Land Cruisers are the kind that I had to wade through in Whole Foods. Let’s just say, for the most part, that kind isn’t very kind, and I’ll leave it there!
I called Amanda to see if she wanted something from the hot bar instead of a taco. She wasn’t feeling good, I could tell by her voice, and she gave me the whatever you want thing. Note to any newer husbands: that is never the correct thing to do. I was like not doing that; I’ll just get the tacos. Then I noticed they had loaded veggie brown rice sushi rolls; she didn’t whatever me on those, so I grabbed some. I loaded everything in the Whole Foods bag, including my pants. I forgot my bible was in the car until I noticed it under a bag, so I grabbed it, too. Those two loaded on top, bible and britches, sounds like a book title!
Amanda was still feeling bad when I returned from the store, worse than she sounded on the phone. While I was gone, she called the nurse because her chest was still hurting. They had given her morphine just before I left, so it was too early for another dose. The fellow, a tall young Asian man who had visited with the cardiologist this morning, came back to see Amanda to see her. He ordered an EKG, but it turned out fine.
Amanda wasn’t feeling good enough to eat, so I unloaded all the snacks into our ever-growing snack closet. Then I dove into my sushi, but it was a while before Amanda ate hers. In the meantime, I snacked on almost everything I bought, a total munchie session.
Amanda’s pain never left and worsened; she ended up in tears. She called the nurse, who in turn called the doctor. Forever later, she came back and said the doctor ordered an extra dose of the anti-arrhythmia medicine and an oral pain pill that was a little less effective than what was already ordered. It took a while before the medicine worked, but not very well. About an hour later, when the morphine was due, she called the nurse for that. That finally kicked the pain for a while.
We settled in to watch a movie, one we’d seen before, but it had been a while. I was getting a little worn out on the Grey’s Anatomy bingeing. I typically like Grey’s, but the further it gets in seasons, the more political they have become, and I’m on the opposite side of most of their Hollywood views. I miss just watching a show for that, not being fed an agenda, of either side.
I went to pick up our dinner order from the driver. I sent him a message that I send every driver: I’m outside the front door, tall guy, amish beard, grey sweater, or whatever I’m wearing. He pulled up. I noticed the right car by the make, model, and license plate; this is why I like Uber the best. He saw me and nodded. I walked up, grabbed the bag, and slapped a tip in his hand, and he barely stopped rolling. It was a pretty smooth drop-off, so smooth that a nurse waiting for a ride gave me a smirky look as if I had just made a drug deal!
We ordered Mexican from a place we’d frequented before. They have great homemade corn tortillas and black beans that they make into mean refried beans and soup, as well. I had the soup and kale and brown rice veggie bowl, and Amanda had veggie fajitas.
We watched another movie with the same lead actress, Blake Lively, as the other. This was a new one on Netflix; it was good. It was a double feature of romantic movies that I actually picked. Both were good, and we enjoyed them. Amanda’s palpitations started ramping up about halfway through the movie. The pain getting worse, too, but more so the palpitations without the rate being up, which is new. We’re dealing with the night nurse trying to get morphine; she’s a pill. We’ve had her the last few nights, and I’m ready for it to be her off night. She wants to be in charge and act like a doctor; the she knows best type. My personality clashes head-on with that, too.
I had to argue with her about giving Amanda the morphine. She said she couldn’t give it because she was about to give the diuretic. I told her that as bad as she was feeling, maybe we should give her morphine and hold the diuretic. She said some BS about the diuretic lowering the heart rate. If it hasn’t lowered it now, it is not about to start. I mouthed off a bit about it, and then she checked the chart and said she’d go get the morphine.
I must be mad about it, Amanda says I’m angry typing again! The nurse also came in saying they had the orders wrong on one of the beta blocker to lower her rate and that she called and had it changed. I questioned it and said it wasn’t supposed to be like that. I asked for specific medication and dosage. I told her it was supposed to be that way, and the doctors told us that was the plan since yesterday. This is more of the wants to be the doctor and in charge. I’m on the verge of telling her to know your place. I’m a bulldog, and I go toe-to-toe with the nurses. Imagine two rams bashing horns. Then Amanda is all nice and asks about her day and how she thought she’d be off tonight. It’s like good cop, bad cop, I guess!
We’re settled in watching a Norwegian limited series on Netflix about a volcano in the Canary Islands. I’m usually not a fan of dubbed films, but this one seemed good. We’ll see how the pilot is, and then I’ll get to work on my three-layer bed-making!
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