Musical Beds!

When Tony was first admitted he was put in a private room – nice!  We thought it was because he had c-diff once, but sadly, it was because he was having bowel problems, and once those cleared up, so did the private room.  He texted me the night before last with his new room number.  His roommate?  An 83 year old diabetic who had signs of a stroke.  I guess Tony fell asleep without his c-Pap machine and started to snore and the guy complained.  Tony woke up, put his mask on and then his roommate proceeded to snore the whole night!

When I got to his new room yesterday morning, he was sound asleep.  I got there at 7 and he didn’t wake up until 7:30 when the nursing shift changed and they woke him up.  He was bummed that I didn’t wake him up when I got there, but for all I knew, he could have just fallen asleep an hour before.  Before I knew it, it was time to go to work.

Breakfast was simple – one of my copy cat Nature Valley granola bars and a Chobani.  Yummers.

Work has been crazy busy.  We hired a new secretary but she doesn’t start until next week, so I am filling in and doing a lot of month end stuff that I am not familiar with and well, let’s just say numbers aren’t my thing.  I can edit and proofread a 20 page report, but working with numbers doesn’t go so well for me.  Luckily my boss knows this and cuts me some slack, but it’s a lot of attention to detail on lots of lots of charts that seem to be saying the same thing but have to be prepared twenty different ways to Sunday.  I ended up working through lunch again so I could leave at 4:00.

I had every intention of posting the recipe for this soup that I am loving – Jennie-O Hot Turkey Italian Sausage Gnocchi soup, but I stayed at the hospital until 9:00 last night, came home and I didn’t feel like figuring out the calories, etc.  Still very good – and I have to say, I don’t mind how the gnocchi tastes – I was worried that after a couple days it would be all gummy, but it still tastes delicious.  It’s on my list of recipes to post because it is that delicious.

Tony had his endoscopy yesterday afternoon, so when I got to the hospital at 4:30 I had to wait about 10 minutes before he got back to his room.  He was super tired and all I know is that they found some varices in his esophagus and capped them so they would stop bleeding.  That’s all I got out of him before he immediately fell asleep for an hour.  See, I am the sleep whisperer!

Once he woke up I went down to get some dinner.  Here’s a clue that you have been to a hospital cafeteria too many times – mainly just breakfast and dinner for the last three days, but still – the woman tonight recognized me and gave me an employee discount!  Last night I had a small salad – I put it in a soup cup so I could toss it with the lid on, and some chili.  I got a 16 ounce chili – they said an 8 ounce container was 127 calories, so even with the added cheese from the salad bar, it wasn’t too bad.  Only problem? They didn’t have hot sauce – what?!

Tony cat napped on and off.  At one point I was able to lay beside him and laid my head on his chest while he slept.  He held onto me so tight but he was so comfortable and sleeping, I didn’t even mind that he had left the t.v. on a Minnesota Twins baseball game.  A new nurse came on staff and Tony woke up and he said “oh, I thought you left already!”   I ended up leaving at 9:00 and when I pulled into the driveway, Tony texted me to tell me that yet again, his room assignment had changed – so crazy!  I don’t know why they don’t keep people in the same spot.

And his 83 year old roommate?  While he was waiting to get discharged, they had a call into the doctor because the doctor had prescribed insulin pens, but he still used a syringe for his insulin, which is way old school.

We started talking back and forth.  He’s been diabetic for 10 years.  I asked him how many times he tested his blood sugar and he said “once a week if I am lucky!”  He then went on to say that he just took his fast acting insulin three times a day, but that it varied based on when he got up.  Huh.  The whole point of fast acting insulin is to have the insulin meet the food you are about to eat so you don’t have a spike in blood sugar.  I told him that he had to take his insulin when he ate and he just had a quizzical look on his face.

So when the discharge nurse said “take your fast acting insulin right before you eat” he said “I didn’t know that until that lady told me!” and pointed to me.  He is a veteran and gets his medication at a VA hospital – not sure why no one told him of this before, or maybe they did, and he just didn’t listen.  In fact, when I told him I tested my blood sugar 5 times a day he said “you really take this diabetes thing seriously!” 

I said goodnight to Tony and headed out to my car.  Um, pretty sure the car next to mine in the parking lot had my license plate!!

And surprisingly with no formal workout, I didn’t do too bad on my steps.

So the plan today is for Tony to get a biopsy of his liver.  That will pinpoint some autoimmune deficiencies he’s been having and tell his why his liver numbers are off.  While a part of me wants to google the shit out of what that could mean, I am not jumping to any conclusions at this point.  Just taking it a day at a time. 

I SO APPRECIATE all the emails, Instagram messages and comments you guys are sending our way – I will eventually have time to respond to all of you personally, but in the meantime, know that it means so much to me.

I leave you with a song.  It’s funny, because when Tony is home the t.v. is on 24/7.  Since he’s been in the hospital, I haven’t turned it on once!  Me?  I love music.  So I’ll go to youtube and just see where the music takes me.  Yes, I am one of those people who like America’s Got Talent, mostly for the singing though.  When I saw Bianca Ryan hit it out of the park back in 2006 (can’t believe it was that long ago!) I remember thinking “that girl is going to be famous one day!”

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CxhKtcqzdE

Well, now she’s 19 and has an AMAZING voice!  Check out her cover of John Legend’s All of Me.  I puffy heart that song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sFcfbeoKok

Make it a great day!