I am so glad that I decided to take today and tomorrow off from work. I thought it was just because I didn't have access to any clothes or toiletries, but now I know there was another reason. Mark was able to get a cardiology appointment today and an endocrinology appointment tomorrow, so I am available to drive and go to the appointments with him. Always a reason for everything.
Today's cardiologist appointment was a big wake up call for both of us. Mark had really overdone it the past four days. He has always seen himself as the strong one in the family, and he has not been wrong! So he pitched in and packed boxes, moved things around, and carried too many heavy things from one room to another or even up the stairs. Then yesterday he said he didn't feel right. That prompted us to try really hard to get him into the doctor's office today. So the story the doctor told us today was this: "Imagine you have a really great, expensive, new Michelin tire on your car. Then you take a blowtorch and heat up a large chunk of the outside edge. When it's nice and hot, soft and stretchy, would you pump it full of air? Of course not because it would blow out. Well, imagine your heart is the tire and part of it is stretched out, bulging, unhealthy, and not working, the blood pumping through is the air. You do NOT want it pumping too hard or it will blow out. If you let it rest now, it will heal up. If you make it work too hard right now, it will stay stretched out and bulging forever. There's a strange Japanese word for this condition, Takotsubo. It is named for a pouch that the Japanese use to catch and hold octopus."
Wow, that was quite an image. He is NOT to get his blood pressure up or overexert himself. He wanted to see him again in two weeks to check him out, but we reminded him we are leaving on our trip in 13 days, so he said come back in 10 days. That's a Saturday, so we made two appointments for 9 days from now on next Friday. At 10 a.m. he will have another attempt at an echocardiogram, the only way to know if his heart is back to normal. At 1 p.m. he will see the doctor for another followup and hopefully get the full ok to go on the trip. Next Friday is supposed to be my last day of work, EVER. I hope they don't get upset if I don't come in that day.
That image of the blown out tire really got us today. We were taking it seriously before, but now it feels even more important!
And we are back in the hotel! The dust and smell in the house is just as bad as yesterday. What was different today is that the tarps are gone. We were able to move some furniture (ok, wait, I was able to move some furniture) and get some clean clothes out of the drawers. We could not stay in the house, though, because today they painted the insides of all the closets. Everything in any closet is piled up somewhere! In our bedroom, that was on top of the bed. We cannot put it back until the paint is dry later tonight, but also we have to wait for them to rip out the carpet tomorrow. We are kind of hoping that tomorrow we might be able to stay in the house, but we are not counting on it yet. We are taking this a day at a time. They haven't really started any floors, or the bunny room, or the basement. They still have to install four new light fixtures, new electrical outlets and switchplates, four new medicine cabinets, two new sinks and faucets. And hopefully they will also put things back where they found them and dust!! We just had NO idea what we were getting into with this project.
As for my food today, I have been great. I ate two hard-boiled eggs and a small, sugar free yogurt at the complimentary hotel breakfast (200 calories). I had my usual double meat turkey salad at Subway (190). We went to Denny's for dinner where I ate my usual senior tilapia dinner, no sauce, with double green beans, salad with no dressing, and garlic toast (750 calories). I had two-thirds of a banana in the afternoon, shared with the bunny rabbit (110). Tonight I will eat one complimentary cookie from the hotel (appx. 120). Total: 1370. Pretty good day.
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