“Elitist” is redneck code for “educated”.
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So, I was let out of the hospital two weeks ago yesterday, and I think I've been 100% for at least the past ten days. Full of energy, but I'm being good and not trying to do too much, as they'd warned me not to try. It's only now that I realize how weak I had been for quite literally months. My strength had been ebbing since the hurricane in early November, and the subsequent 11 days with no heat.
The Nugget had started nursery school in like September(?), and as expected she's had one cold with and without ear infections after another. She and I traded back and forth. She got better between bouts - I didn't. I went a little more downhill with every cycle.
By late November I was having difficulty getting up if I had been sitting on the floor. By mid December I had difficulty getting out of the tub after a bath. By late December I was having difficulty going up stairs, even if it was just one step. I had no strength in my legs.
Whatever was going on seemed to affect my thinking, too. The weakness having come on so gradually couldn't have been all of it. I noticed, but I just chalked it up to ... age? I don't know. Mostly it was that I had lost the capacity to care. Is that depression?
By the time of my Thursday, 12/27, post, when I said I'd been sick for so long, I hadn't slept in like three nights, because of the coughing. That night I coughed so hard I did something to a rib in my back. It hurt so very badly when I coughed. Friday morning I went over to Daughter's house hoping for massage or something, and she insisted on taking me to the ER.
Some weird stuff happened there. I kind of tuned out and let go, so I don't know a lot of what went on that day. The ER was very busy. I was on a stretcher in the hall from late morning until sometime in the evening because they didn't have a room or something, but I didn't lack for attention from nurses, doctors, x-ray technicians, vampires.
At one point someone left a file folder on my stretcher. MY name was on the outside. Daughter opened it, and was reading a form in it, when she said, "This isn't your name." She flashed a page at me. All I saw was "DIABETIC" in large letters across the middle of the page. Daughter ran off and gave the folder to a nurse, and there was some fuss, and then I lost interest. But somebody had screwed up badly.
For the next three days, that mistake haunted me.
Next post....
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One of the reasons I haven't updated before this is because after several weeks of good behavior, my laptop is choking again. I started this post at 7:25. It is now 8:45. I've been getting hanging scripts which kill Firefox. I've had to restart twice. I just plain haven't had the patience to fuss with it. I assume it's the "updates out of phase" thing again.
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