|
Barbara
Fritchman Thompson Diary
Week
of 14 September 2009
Latest Update: Sunday, 20 September 2009 2:20 p.m.
|
Monday, 14 September 2009
Very
busy Monday. I had a haircut appointment after work. From there I had
to run several errands. I told Bob to go ahead and eat when he was
ready and I would pick something up while I was out.
It has
turned warm again, back into the mid 80's. I got so hot and tired
running in and out of stores and getting in and out of the car I never
did get hungry enough to stop and eat.
The final of the
men's U.S. Open tennis was supposed to start sometime around 4 or 4:30.
When I got home at 7:30 they were in the fourth set, all tied. They are
playing the fifth set now. The number one seed, Federer , may get beat
for the first time in five years.
[Top]
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
No update.
[Top]
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Finally. It started drizzling last night when
we walked Malcolm for last time. It rain a little over night and was
lightly drizzling when I left for work this morning which turned into a
mostly steady rain all day. When I left work it was a fairly light rain
but got heavier as I got closed to this side of town. By the time I
reached the gym it was coming down pretty good. So far we've had 1 1/2
inches here. From the radar, it looks like we are in for at least more
of the same tonight and tomorrow.
It is still heads down, intense busy at work. I have a lot of very tedious projects going.
We've been watching episodes of Deadwood, Kavanagh QC and Wire in the Blood.
[Top]
Thursday, 17 September 2009
[Last
Week]
[Monday]
[Tuesday]
[Wednesday]
[Thursday] [Friday]
[Saturday]
[Sunday]
[Next
Week]
Bob woke up feeling dizzy and light headed
this morning. He said he had a dizzy spell yesterday afternoon but
contributed it to too much caffeine. He felt better by the time I got
home and was okay last night.
After he stretched out on the
sofa while I read the paper and had my breakfast he said he felt a
little better. He decided it was just exhaustion from all the work he
has been doing on the Make stuff and for me to go on to work. I gave
Malcolm a second time out and left him resting on the couch. I had
already planned to leave work today at 2:30 to take my Trooper out for
service. I told Bob to call me if he needed me to come home but
otherwise I would stop by here on the way out to Tim's garage. I called
once about 10:00 to check on him and he said he was napping.
When
I got home at 3 he was still feeling dizzy and light headed. As Bob's
readers know, he has not darkened the door of a medical facility in at
least 40 years except to take his parents or me. I called my doctor but
they were booked solid. I did get an appointment for tomorrow afternoon
with the PA. In the meantime I was concerned about the dizziness even
though he had no other symptoms. He agreed to let me take him to
PrimeCare, a minor illness medical walk-in facility, associated with
our Novant Health Care.
I managed to get him out to the car
and then into the doctor's without either of us falling down. Other
than a somewhat, for him, elevated blood pressure, the doctor said he
was in good physical shape. They checked his heart, oxygen levels, and
pressure points on his head, face, and neck and some motor skills
functions, On the surface that ruled out any immediate brain or heart
problems. His initial diagnosis was some type of inner ear issue.
He
prescribed a medication for dizziness and told him he should be feeling
better by tomorrow but to follow up with the doctor.
Malcolm,
of course, knew something was up. Bob said he went over once or twice
to slurp his face to check on him but otherwise left him alone instead
of coming over to pester him to go out.
Right now he is sleeping. Hopefully he will be feeling better by morning.
[Top]
Friday 18 September 2009
[Last
Week]
[Monday]
[Tuesday]
[Wednesday]
[Thursday]
[Friday]
[Saturday]
[Sunday]
[Next
Week]
I had an 8:15 eye doctor appointment
this morning. I left Bob in bed to rest. My left eye has been giving me
problems since I got my new glasses four weeks ago. For the first
couple of weeks I attributed it to getting used to the new bi-focal.
As the left I settled down, the right became worse. Finally I made an
appointment with the eye doctor associated with the optical department
for a second opinion. We needed to see if it was my new prescription, a
problem in grinding the lens, or something else. After my exam it was
determined the previous eye exam was way off in my left eye correction
and partially off in the right. New lenses are now on order. I was able
to keep the current ones since I am now at least seeing good out of one
eye. I doubt I could see much at all with my previous ones.
Last
night I when we got back from the doctor I brought Lenor's walker up
for Bob to use in the house rather me trying to hold him up or him hold
onto the wall. When I got back home this morning he had made it out to
the sofa by himself. He was somewhat better than yesterday but was
still having trouble reading the computer screen or focusing on a book
page.
I called Tim to see if I he could service the car today.
He said come out around 10:30. I walked Malcolm, settled Bob in with a
fresh drink and took off for Tim's. He changed the oil and found a
cracked axle boot that was causing the noise underneath when I turned.
My Trooper being a 1993, he was having to shop around to try and find
the part. In the meantime I can drive the car. I went on to the grocery
store after I made a quick call to check on Bob.
We have just returned from the doctor. She diagnosed Labyrinthitis.
He will continue with the Meclinizine until the dizziness and focus
problems disappear which could be by Sunday or next week. Naturally, if
it gets worse we will go back to the doctor but I am fairly confident
this is the problem.
I did get my wish for rain. We are up
over 3 inches as of this afternoon. Over the last three days it has
rained off and on pretty steadily, hard at times, but nothing like a
big downpour.
Last night I started reading a new Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich, Finger Lickin' Fifteen.
[Top]
Saturday, 19 September 2009
[Last
Week]
[Monday]
[Tuesday]
[Wednesday]
[Thursday]
[Friday]
[Saturday] [Sunday]
[Next
Week]
Bob continues to improve. After getting him
settled I took off to run some errands. We have seen very little of the
sun except for an hour or so last night before dusk and a peak this
morning. A good breeze during the morning dried the grass enough I
could mow and get the leaves up. I threw some seed and fertilizer out
by hand to help with the grass rejuvenation after all the rain. We are
supposed to get more off and on today and tomorrow and maybe the first
of next week.
Of course Malcolm was out helping except while I
was mowing. Since the loss of Duncan he as really become even more
fixed on me. He barks almost anytime I leave the house. He now barks
when we both leave, which he never did. He is already OCD but I think
he has gotten much worse. We may need to get him dog companion to fill
his pack needs and give him something to do.
Last night we tried
the first episode of Monk. We will see how we like it after a couple of
more episodes. Time to read and relax.
[Top]
Sunday, 20 September 2009
[Last
Week]
[Monday]
[Tuesday]
[Wednesday]
[Thursday]
[Friday]
[Saturday]
[Sunday] [Next
Week]
Bob continues to improve. By using the
handrail on the stairs he went down to the basement. While I did the
house cleaning he sat downstairs and took care of the laundry. We have
my old swivel rocker down there along with a little table in the area
near the washer and dryer. I put the a cloths basket on the dryer so he
would not have to bend over to load the washer. He can read hardbacks
but the print in the paperbacks is still giving him trouble. He sat
down there reading and tending to the laundry most of the morning. Paul
and Mary stopped by to drop something off and stayed for a visit.
This
afternoon I cleared the paperwork from my desk, paid the bills, and
balanced the checkbook. I finished reading the Stephanie Plum
last night. This afternoon I am starting the fourth book in the Gail
Fraser, Lumby series from my TBR stack.
We did not like the
Monk show. Not very well written for one thing and after the second
show the OCD, germaphobic stuff started to get a little old. I think we
are spoiled by the quality of the shows on Showtime, HBO, and the BBC.
[Top]
Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
2003,
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
by
Barbara
Fritchman
Thompson. All Rights Reserved.