”First Blood” - 5/5-11/25

Monday, May 5th

Mom and M came in with this pic already chosen. I won't complain, as I did not have a preference either way. This is, if you didn't already recognize it, the very first Rambo movie. Rambo is a Vietnam vet who finds out at the beginning of the movie he is the final remaining member of his company. As he is peacefully passing through a small town in the Pacific Northwest, the sheriff tries to kick him out of town and ends up picking a fight with the one person you really don't want on your bad side.

It's a nice little movie with nods to the very real issue of PTSD. I have no desire to see any of the bloody shoot-’em-ups of the later films, but it can be interesting to see where it all began. Sylvester Stallone and Brian Dennehy give good performances.

Tuesday, May 6th

I forgot to mention that my swallow evaluation was done at dinnertime yesterday. The lady came, and I explained to her why I cough and that I had probably been lazy and not sat up all the way with my sister, and she got nervous about it. The evaluator wanted to see me drink water, and I was thirsty, so I told her I drank 20 swallows at a time and proceeded to do just that. She really liked the way I had good, strong, complete swallowing. I could handle my thin liquids! No downgrading needed. 

What she did suggest was downgrading my solid food to ’cubed.’ This meant instead of getting a complete piece of meat, it would be cut into cubes for me. That meant I would not have too big a piece of food to chew. Fine. Better safe than sorry, and it would show my family I'm complying with things. My masseuse was still dealing with illness so no massage.

Wednesday, May 7th

I cannot remember what happened today. It's actually been a while since I’ve had a black hole day, so good for me.

Thursday, May 8th

I was hoping to see Cutie since it has definitely been a while. 11 a.m. came and went, and no one showed up, so I was wondering if it was happening. And then all of a sudden, here they were at 11:20! This would be the first time I could ask Dr. R how she liked Chris Gethard’s comedy show that she saw in mid-April. She did enjoy it, and she brought two friends with her! I can't wait to tell Chris I brought three of the non-family members to his show. It sounded like that would've been a good percentage of the audience.

Freddie was quite content sitting in his stroller and showed no interest in getting up on the bed. Dr. R picked him up and put him on the bed, and he turned around and jumped right back into the stroller. We figured it had been long enough for him to forget why he was here. 

Thinking about it later, I realized I had not been talking to him at all over the weeks of our separation. He was either a little bit irritated or indifferent to me now. If I wasn't going to pay any attention to him, he would give that right back to me. Fair enough, I thought, and resolved to talk to him frequently so we could reestablish a bond. I really love remembering Humphrey, but he would be disappointed if I didn't take full advantage of a live cat right in front of me.

Friday, May 9th

I was a little nervous thinking about Sunday and all that has to happen to get me ready to go out. Mother's Day is a big holiday at the hospital, and they have a meal on the first floor so everyone can visit their mom. I'm very happy I get to leave and go somewhere else to celebrate with my family. I visualize everything happening smoothly and easily. And then I trust that it will. That's called creating your day, and it has always worked for me when I remember to do it.

Saturday, May 10th

I didn't think my sister would be able to stop by, because she is sometimes too busy when we will see each other the next day. But she did come by around noon to give me lunch. My stepbrother called and said he and his wife would stop by to say hi around 3 p.m. I asked him to bring some sushi. Great! Then my sister wouldn't need to bring anything when she came.

My sister was having an allergy attack when she came, so she took a pill and did not stay long. I had a nice chat with my stepbrother and his wife and was very happy to get the sushi. It was a spicy roll with tuna and avocado. Just to be on the safe side, I would get rid of all the spicy sauce on top and eat the rest. 

I’ve had some sushi that was called spicy but tasted just fine to me. Every place has different levels of spicy sauce, so I'm always careful about it. For some reason, I felt cautious about this, and I was right to be. My helper scraped 98% of it off, but after three pieces, the 2% of residue was too much for me, and we had to wipe it all with a napkin.

There were ten pieces of sushi total, and I ate six pieces for dinner and left four pieces for breakfast the next day. I love it when I can have something other than eggs for breakfast. And you know how much I love sushi for breakfast!

Sunday, May 12th

Everything went well in the morning, and I got my shower done, and they even shaved under my arms! (My new dress is sleeveless, and I know you are thinking, but Ellen, you only have two years of growth. What are you worried about?) Mom drove over in the cab with me. Turns out, the lift was not working, so instead of eating in the private room, we had a table at the corner of the common room. We did have nicer chairs than everyone else, and the waiter paid a lot of attention to us.

They had amazing sashimi, along with an incredible assortment of almost anything you would want to have for brunch. I had an eggs Benedict without the muffin and some of whatever my sister brought on the plate. I do miss being able to pick out what I want to eat from a buffet, but oh well, you can't win them all. And my sister is a very good judge of what I would like. They had some amazing cheesecake for dessert along with a few bites of other things.

My post-brunch surprise was my sister made a point to go back to the hospital, and since Mom was worn out and left soon, my sister stayed and played some NYT Games with me. That was very fun, and it definitely smoothed the transition back to hospital life. 

The photo is of my sister, my mom, and me at the brunch. I had a nice group shot of the whole table, but you can barely see me at the end, and I didn't think you needed to see a bunch of people most of my readers don't know. You’re welcome. Have a fantastic week!