Don't Forget The Name!

The past few days have been trying. Looks like Spring arrived over night and my energy level rose, as well. I was so happy to be outside with my hands in the gardens, raking and making beds ready for flowers to come. My daffodils are getting big and all the lilies have green shoots coming out of the ground. This is my happy place.

So, why am I in a tizzy? HeWho swills Diet Coke, despite being told about the sodium content over and over again. He has had three episodes of an extremely high blood pressure since his heart attack. Every time he does this, he will be so sick that for months following he will drink only ice water. He will start to feel so much better and things will be going along fine ....

Then, he will decide he feels so good, he can have a Diet Coke. From McDonald's, he will get one and then pour it into his stainless steel cup that holds 42 ounces. To him, that is ONE serving. He keeps that cup full all day long. I am none the wiser, thinking it is water. The 2 liter bottles will start to appear, cleverly hidden in his truck.

He had started bring iced coffee to me. I asked what he was doing at McDonalds, me knowing he did not just decide to bring me a treat. This started happening on a daily basis. I asked if he was partaking of the breakfast menu. He admitted that he was getting a biscuit, no sausage. He did mention that it cost the same with or without the sausage. Translation: he got the sausage biscuit and as a concession to having to tell me, he tossed the sausage and ate the biscuit. With the greasy residue from the sausage. 

Did not occur to me that he was also getting his cup filled until I happened to see some 2 liter bottles from his truck. One would think that after being so miserable and being told that Diet Coke is the absolute WORST thing he could pour down his throat, one would avoid it at all cost. Well, I for one would.

It has been long enough since his near fatal heart attack that I have been lax about routinely checking his blood pressure. I mean, I have enough sense to check mine if I feel bad. Monday came, as it always does and HeWho had big plans to go back to the Apple store and get my phone working once and for all. But he was dizzy and stumbling. Said he felt horrible before he planted himself in his old people chair to moan the day away. "Should I call the clinic?" asked his wife as a way of determining how bad he actually felt. A resounding "NO" made me think he just needed to sit a bit, but let's just check that blood pressure. It was 202/157. This was AFTER his had taken his morning pills. 

I told him to stay put, that I wanted to re-check in an hour. I went outside to start working on cleaning the porch to see if I might need to paint and get everything all ready for the plants to eventually go back outside. He escaped. He just has to busy and in the midst of all the doings around here. I finished cleaning one side of the porch - more on that later- then texted the escapee and told him to get his butt home so I could take his BP. He was somewhere in the park, but I was in no mood to hunt. My next text was going to say he had two options, he could get home, or I would call an ambulance to take him to the ER. 

He came back and it was still way up there. I called the clinic and told them he had to be seen with-in the hour and off we went. He was gong to drive, or so he thought, but I wasn't having that. Usually, they will only let the patient come inside to be seen. They let me go in with him. I had come prepared with my mask and had every intention of talking to them on the phone, since he would appear to be clueless about his drugs.

I was okay after the EKG was normal. I had taken a shower and dressed in comfy clothes just in case we were headed to the hospital. I say it was normal, as normal as it could be with his history. So, here we go again with his blood pressure and efforts to make him comply with is new diet.

Yesterday was a long day of running back and forth to get prescriptions and  trying to find something he would eat and drink. He was so sick that he didn't really eat anything until last night at bedtime when he announced that he was starving. All my suggestions were met with a face that indicated he wouldn't eat it.

Today the blood pressure is still too high, but he is feeling better. I know he feels better because he is annoying me. His BP is currently 153/91. Still too high (the 91), but at least the new prescription is kicking in. Seems like with every episode it takes a little longer to bring it down. Makes me want to smack him in the back of his head!

I won' hit him, I promise. He also has a pinched nerve in his neck that has made his right arm numb. Another pinched nerve in his lower back has his right leg failing him from time to time. Because he is taking blood thinners he can't take anti-inflammatory remedies.

I am somewhat frazzled. So much so that I took a reservation yesterday and forgot to get the most important piece of information. This is a task I do so much that I don't even have to think about it. I ask for the pertinent information and carefully write it all down, making sure I can read my own handwriting. Got the credit card info, the phone number, the date of arrival and departure and the type of site needed. Just forgot to get the name. Oops 😏!