Hot Diggity Dog

  The past month has been trying. Yesterday we visited our primary care doctor to get the results of The Patient's latest blood draw. I may have mentioned that The Patient is .... difficult. He rarely follows directions or helpful advice. That is not going to change at this stage in his life. Back in earlier days he broke his foot. In fact, that particular year our entire family broke something, with the exception of my youngest. And yes, she felt left out. She was very vocal about it, as well. I broke my foot for the second time; Jill broke her toe and Jeff broke a foot. It was so bad that when I called the orthopod's office his receptionist would simply inquire, "Which one of you this time." The kids and I obeyed doctor's orders and healed our broken bones without incident. The Patient was the last one to see the doctor. I warned our doctor that The Patient would be challenging. He soon found out that was an understatement. I don't remember how many casts we...

  The rain has eased up, and only scattered showers are falling after the sun goes down. Despite that, I can't seem to escape this house. I try to simply walk outside when he is occupied with something. That something is his phone. If this technology had been available when he was a very young man, I doubt seriously he would have done anything! Still working on my dwarf garden. I went out this morning to gather the long dead stems from my daylilies that have stopped blooming. They will make a great thatch roof to go over one of the "doors" into the giant oak tree. I barely had a handful when my phone rang summoning me back to do The Patient's bidding. He was hungry. To convince someone that he was extra needy, he had that strange grimace on his face. I wanted to fetch a mirror for him, since he obviously needs practice to make it look real. Whatever, I popped a frozen sausage biscuit in the microwave and decided I would not get anything done unless I was inside today....

  It rains every day. Not just a gentle shower, but torrential downpour. Then it will subside and the sun will shine for a time, then the sky will darken for an instant replay. The patient continues to be constantly needy and in what he decrees as excruciating pain. I question his ability to accurately describe the pain, since he will fall asleep shortly after the declaration without the aid of pain killers. I long to escape the confines of my house and hike up to my playhouse and sort sewing and craft accessories. No moans of pain or requests for this and that will assault the peace there! I am afraid to do so lest I get stuck up there with the rain. I would be fine, but The Patient would not. I am still dealing with a half screen on my laptop. I just deal with it, or don't even try to fix it or even open it up. Some time ago, back in the days of kampground doings, I discovered that someone had left three of the seven dwarfs on a site. They were faded and dirty, but I still gather...

  Have I expressed just how difficult The Patient is? He has not had a shower for 4 days. I rinsed the dirt and blood off, but there was no soap or deodorant involved. No way to put this delicately, but he does not smell good. I have a very sensitive odor detector. I smell everything and can usually pinpoint the source. When you have an adrenaline rush, your body emits an odor unlike any other. Very pungent and unpleasant. So, when I awoke this morning, I determined that a shower was going to happen. Besides, lying in bed non-stop for two days is long enough. I know that getting up and on your feet is painful but will make you feel better in the long run. A shower is the best therapy when you are miserable as far as I am concerned. The Patient disagrees. I left him grumbling in the recliner while I stripped the bed and remade it while the sheets were in the washer. He had it in his head that he would immediately occupy that fresh sheeted bed. I told him he was not allowed in the be...

  One of the questions The Patient asked yesterday was about his cell phone. He wanted to know if I had found it. I had not looked since getting the truck up the drive was foremost in my mind. I did go look after I had calmed my mind with the help of my dog and cat therapy. I grabbed the garden rake with the extra-long handle and headed up my driveway and down the adjacent drive to the scene of the crime. I called his phone and I could hear it, but I could not see it. The phone case is black, making my task near impossible.  The underbrush was thorny, but I had put on a pair of jeans knowing that. I tried raking where I thought the ring tone sounded. I found lots of paper debris that people toss from their vehicles, a dogfood bowl that I had been looking for and dirt and leaves. No phone magically appeared. I decided to use the rake as a walking stick and attempt to go down into the ditch that was maybe 6' deep. I saw a foot hold and tried it. It was muddy from all the rain of...

  We walked out of the hospital and into the night. Did I mention my night-blindness? Under normal circumstances, I would never attempt to drive at night. History has taught me that the ordinary is not noteworthy. Stress never brings out the best in me. Some things make me want to curl into a ball and cry, and while that would be a great release, it would not help me navigate dark roads. Instead, I broke out in a cold sweat. I could feel rivulets of sweat cascading down my back and underarms and scalp. By the time I had backed the truck out of the parking space, my hair was wet and my clothes were stuck to my skin. The air-conditioning felt like ice, and I was shivering (not in anticipation). The road from Blairsville to Hiawassee is being changed to 4 lanes. Safety cones line both sides of the route approved for traffic. You would think that would be a help for someone with my vision. Instead, the headlights sent out a beam that seemed to strike the reflective part of the cone and...