Photo by Jessica Hobo @ Wandel In NL
(Photo Description: A blue, white and yellow NS train crossing a red bridge on a cloudy day.)
Sunday March 27th
I really don’t have a huge ammount to tell you about today. We were both tired. So ended up under blankets in front of the TV most of the day.
Jessica did get up and vacuum the living room – or rather – the couch. And a couple other small things, including making lunch. A chicken shoarma sandwhich.
I also did 2 small chores. I shaved my head too. It drives me crazy when the growing hairs start to itch.
We watched the last episode from season two of Bridgerton and a lot of YouTube. I also played Mario Kart for a while in the evening.
Monday March 28th
The nurse and the student nurce graced me with their cheerfullness this morning. The student nurse helped me with my care. I really enjoy getting help from her. She’s been so observant every time she’s been here that I hardly have to give her any directions on where things are or which order to do things in. She decided it would be fun to have a sock race with the fully qualified nurse. Who can put the sock on my foot the fastest without hurting me? There were wrinkles in both socks! So it was a draw.
I ate breakfast, did some chores and took a nap. Lately, my chores seem to be sucking a lot of energy out of me.
I woke up just in time for lunch – a sandwhich of chirizo and sat down to play with our Apple TV. I changed some settings to make it easier for both of us to use. Turned on the ‘Hey Siri’ command on my phone and decided to test out how much Siri would allow me to interract with the TV, without touching the remote. It let me do all the things I was used to doing with the Google Home Mini and Chromecast. Nice. Now I feel like I’m not forced to buy Apple’s home pod just to be able to control the TV with my voice. I know this seems like a luxury to most people but for me, it’s genuinely helpful. I don’t ever need to fumble for buttons to pauze a movie or YouTube video when the phone or doorbell rings. It saves me much time and energy.
I decided to stop playing with it and call Mom. We had a good conversation. I spent the rest of the afternoon answering messages on my phone.
Tuesday March 29th
I somehow managed to arrange my chores list really good. Today it was empty and that’s perfect, as I have an appointment in the hospital for an echo of my heart.
I thought Mom was coming with the car so that Jessica could drive me there while Mom waited at our house with her dog but.. uhm… secretly they had decided that I should have the privilidge of being exposed to normal things. So Mom stayed home and Jessica and I took the train. We left early, because Jessica also thought I might enjoy eating lunch out.
A train… I haven’t seen the inside of one of those for at least one and a half years. I almost panicked when it started moving because it felt so weird. Luckily, there are designated wheelchair spaces in our trains and that helped, as sitting in my new but my familiar wheelchair, meant I got used to the train moving within a couple of minutes and enjoyed the ride. I may have given the train a small pat on its wall as we got off though. Just to thank it for being nice to me.
While walking/rolling through Lelystad we came across a restaurant we’ve never been to before, so we went inside. Retaurant UNO was quiet, but the staff were friendly and being able to order our food using one of their tablets, made it feel very chique. The quality of the food made it even chiquer. Juicy lamb, soft salmon and tasty desserts were very much enjoyed by both of us. I’m sure we’ll go there again some time.
I’m sure I’ve probably had echo’s on my heart as a child, though I can’t remember much about them. As an adult, it’s my first experience. Though the echo itself wasn’t a bad experience and I was quite intregued while watching my own heart beating on a monitor next to me, I wasn’t so thrilled about the uncomfortable stretcher I had to lay on. The hyper mobile hips didn’t help much either. I felt drunk after being allowed to sit up and transfer back to my wheelchair and that was from pain, not alcohol. Note to self: you need to remember to bring painkillers with you next time. I don’t have results yet. I’ll share more about those in the next blog.
On our walk to the train station, we needed to cross a bridge which has a line of tall bouey polls along the center. It would be easy to walk/roll next to them but we thought it would be fun to weave between them. I made a funny Tiktok while doing so. You can find it if you look up @MustLoveDon
At the train station before going home, we stopped at the kiosk for chocolate milk and Jessica shared a big chocolate cookie with me. We used to share snacks all the time when we used to travel, before the pandemic. Doing it today brought back happy memories.
I went into a small shop where they sell thermos cups with fun designs on them. I have a couple at home already, but wanted an extra one and found one with a cute looking leopard to add to my collection.
I gave the train a good luck pat as we got in and we rode home. Couldn’t help but stop by the Thrift store on our walk home from the train station. Jessica found a bike bag there. It clicks onto the back rest bar of my wheelchair and isn’t likely to get in the way while Jessica is pushing. So it came home with us.
Painkillers, a cup of tea and rest. That’s the evening prescription. With a dose of TV and a side dish of YouTube. While I’m typing out this section of the blog, I’m laying in bed, waiting for the nurse to come put glue… uhm… I mean… eye gel in my eyes.
Wednesday March 30th
I woke up with some pain in my hip and lower back that had stayed after laying on the stretcher yesterday, so decided to only do the really important chores and moved the rest in my list to another day.
I skyped with my Dad. We couldn’t do that on Monday because he had other responsibilities. So we spent this morning talking instead. We always have great conversations. He’s one of my best friends and I can talk to him about the most weird and wonderful things.
The dishwasher had decided not to release the dishwasher tablet and had for some reason, not used hot water? Or did I turn on the power and forget to hit the start button? Whatever I may or may not have done, I had to run it (possibly for the second time) instead of emptying it.
My stomach had starting making light sommersalts. I had eaten a tiny bit of ice cream yesterday, so figured i was reacting to the lactose and decided to eat porridge instead of a heavy lunch. Hoping it would settle.
Then it was Emily’s turn for a video call. This time on FaceTime. That too was a weird and wonderful conversation. That’s what best friends are good at.
The stomach was still doing gymnadtics. But I had to eat. So the frozen pizza went into the oven and was promptly eaten and enjoyed, regardless of what my stomach was doing.
Jesica came home, swiftly made her own dinner and ate it before flying out of the door again. This time to make photos of the two SP members who were being sworn in as members of the local counsil. While she was gone, I turned on YouTube but fell asleep. I woke up just in time to go to bed.
As I was getting ready for bed, Jessica came home. Noticed I was feeling unwell, asked my symptoms, checked my temperature – which wasn’t a fever – but was higher than what I usually measure at – and promptly put a stick in my nose. As usual, no second line appeared. I do however feel like I have a slight stomach flu. It could also just be withdrawal symptoms from the last bit of pain medication I had stopped taking last week. I had similar symptoms last time we lowered the dose.
Thursday March 31st
I’ll spare you the details envolving my nurse and my toilet chair this morning. Let’s just say my temperature is still slightly higher than my normal baseline. No fever, but she told me I should rest.
I did just that. I spent most of the day watching YouTube and a little part of the afternoon being creative with photos and an editing app.
At the end of the afternoon, I did one small chore and watched more YouTube afterwards until Jessica came home.
She called me to the front door when she came in. ‘Look, it’s white out there’! She said. Snow? Really? It’s March! The weather was so nice these last two weeks. The white stuff is pretty though. Even if it is just a light dusting. The snow was still falling while we were standing there talking. So I went to the door to stick my hand out so that I could feel it hitting my hand as it fell. I can’t see it falling with my own eyes. I never see rain when it falls either. But I like to hear the rain and I LOVE to feel the snow tickling my hand as it falls.
My stomach was still doing gymnastics and we were both cold. No wonder, it’s snowing! So we turned up the heat a little and both crawled under our blankets to watch our favorite TV shows.
Friday April 1st
Being awake at 4am with eye pain… again… was no joke. So I started the day by calling the eye doc. The eye gel isn’t helping any more than the eye drops do but it is more inconvenient than the drops. Nurses need to come at 22:45 to put it in and I’m supposed to immediately go to sleep. But they work with people and people, sick or disabled don’t stick to a schedule. That’s normal. My body doesn’t either and having a nurse come in while I’m trying to relax before sleeping, was messing with my already messy schedule. It was also waking Jessica and the most important thing, the gel was rolling out of my eyes, onto the cushion. The eye doc and I agreed that I could stop using it and continue with drops that I can put in independently. I still have to put them in directly before I sleep and I’ll need to put them in again if I wake up in the night with pain. They can’t do anything more to help with that. The pain will stay. As long as my eyes get drops, they won’t become danaged or deteriorate.
I did my chores. Talked to the GP support assistant as she called to check on my blood pressure and sugar numbers. She’s pleased with them. So I get a 5 week break before She calls to check on me again.
In the afternoon I watched some YouTube and played Animal Crossing on the Switch.
When dinner time rolled around, I needed to think. My body never allows me to wait and eat with Jessica when she comes home. So there are always easy meals in the house for me to heat up. However, I’d already eaten the last easy meal earlier in the week. And a frozen pizza. Didn’t want another one. So would I order noms, or would I look to see if I can make a meal from the stuff in the freezer?
I’m not a chef and cooking anything that requires food prep costs too much energy and if I’m tired, I struggle to eat. We do have an airfryer though and an electric grill plate. So into the freezer I dug. I found something in a reuseable baggy that resembled a burger and some potato balls. They went in the airfryer and a pot of beets went into the microwave. Yum!
Saturday April 2nd
Why does my body have good days when my chores list is empty and when it’s full, my muscles scream at me? Even before I’ve started doing anything. I almost believe I should have let the nurse shower me instead of taking a wash at the sink. She was intent on me showering. Should have listened!
Slow body is slow but with a balance between chores and rest, I got everything done.
Jessica made fishfinger sandwhiches for lunch and about an hour later, handed me a cup of Swiss Muss – hot chocolate from the U.S. it may be April. But it’s cold outside and the Swiss Miss was appreciated.
While she chilled on the couch watching TikTok, I edited some photos of the new bunch of flowers on my dining table that I had taken yesterday. My Twitter friends really seem to love my dramatic flower pics.
As we near the end of Saturday it’s time to finish up the end of the blog and get it ready for posting. It’s been an interesting week with new and old experiences. I wonder what next wewk will bring? You’ll have to wait and see.
CRS Life 