Very puzzled last night; Dr. Salazar was supposed to call me after five as a followup to the medication he'd given me. He never called, although I did find out later I'd gotten a phone call about 2:35 from Kaiser. But if it was him, why didn't he leave a message? [Turned out he was called in to the hospital and tried to phone me early.]

Anyway, because of the medication Dr. Salazar was trying him out on, James was scheduled to go get his eyes checked out today to establish a baseline, as the medication can cause eye problems. The appointment wasn't till 3:20 p.m. and was at Cumberland right near us, so we didn't have to leave until 2:30. So we slept late instead of going to the grocery store, and just for the heck of it James logged on to Kaiser—and discovered we were supposed to see a technician before the appointment, at 2:30. It was 1:45.

You have never seen two people get dressed so fast! We got to the office right at 2:30, and they took us in immediately. It was mostly an eye test like you get for glasses, and they dilated his eyes and tested for glaucoma, too. Actually his eyes are in good shape considering he is diabetic; he has the beginnings of a cataract in one eye is all.

We toyed with going to Barnes & Noble, but even with sleeping late we were both tired out and James still had a sore throat, we figured from the flu shot he got on Friday. So it was home, and pot lucks for supper, and more Babylon 5. I walked Tucker in coolness that was almost too cool in a tank top and shorts. Alas, the low 60s at night and highs in the mid-80s are only a brief respite, and it will crawl back up to 90 by next week.

Since we skipped it Thursday, Friday we had to do the grocery shopping thing: first to Publix for the twofers and lunch meats, then to Lidl. I spent a lot more at Lidl than usual along with getting bread, milk, and more chocolate: they had several things on sale this week that we wanted. One was a shower seat. We don't need it now, but I have always wanted one for our bathroom to straddle over the side of the useless garden tub that we've never used, since sitting on the edge of the narrow tub is very uncomfortable. These shower seats are usually very expensive at the medical supply stores. This one was only $20. They also had one of those bicycle gadgets for only $30, you know, the ones on TV where you sit and read or watch TV and pedal. The ones on TV are $200 (mostly because they have bluetooth). This is much simpler, but the principal is the same.

We also filled up the truck in case the fire in Saudi Arabia made the gas stations jack their prices.

Anyway, I mentioned the new medication Dr. Salazar had put James on. This was supposed to be okay for his kidneys, but side effects could cause water retention. Well, boy did it cause water retention. He gained five pounds overnight. But the most troubling problem was that the cellulitis on his left leg, which had been under control since the catheter and post-TURP surgery, was acting up and he had developed a big blister on his lower left leg, which, despite being covered up, had burst. Thursday night before bedtime I had written a note to Dr. Salazar asking about the telephone appointment, telling him the medication he'd given me wasn't doing any better than my taking ibuprofin every night, and also telling him I was concerned about the medication he'd given James. If it had worked on his arthritis it wouldn't have been so bad, but it has not really done anything for his knee, ankle, and hip pain, and his left hand is still so swollen he can't make a fist or wear his wedding ring. He sent me a return e-mail telling me he'd been called to the hospital for an emergency, that if the medication he had prescribed for me wasn't working I should stop taking it and he would try something else, and that James should stop taking his medication immediately.

Anyway, James noticed how angry the blister and surrounding skin was looking Thursday night, and that his leg was getting swollen, and early Friday morning called up Kaiser. He got an appointment with Dr. Julien at 2. She took one look at it, told us to keep up the saline cleaning and the Neosporin and bandaging, and gave him doxycycline for the encroaching infection.

Saturday we had a full day, with morning and early afternoon for Hair Day. They served chili, so I brought a sandwich (proscuitto on a Lidl "dinner roll"...yum!) and enjoyed the sides, especially the olives in Phyllis' relish tray. It was a great time except for hearing the story about Brad Linaweaver's last few weeks (Brad died over DragonCon weekend). He had pancreatic cancer, and Alex was with him most of that time. Brad was such a sharp, sarcastic, and iconoclastic person that it was hard thinking of him ill and frightened and razor-thin.

We had an hour or so breather and then headed to Dallas Highway and the Longhorn, where David Gibson's birthday party was being held. As usual, we were seated at the rear in a long queue of tables lined up. The waitress was excellent, and we had good convo with the Lawsons and the Boulers at our end of the table, but the food was iffy for some people. My baked potato wasn't quite soft enough in the middle, Alice never got her food done properly, and I understood there were some other foul-ups. So when the check came we were astonished that the manager had comped the entire group (about 20 of us!). Our bill was 27 cents (the tax on the meal).

The sun was already set when we emerged and we drove home with a beautiful sky to our right, first yellow and then fading to orange and pink before going to navy blue and then black. Everyone was hurrying home for the Georgia/Notre Dame game, but we chose Babylon 5 instead. 😀

Labels: birthday, food, health, illness, shopping

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:22:00 PM

Comments: Post a Comment