The results

Song of the day: Hmmm. There wasn’t any for a change. Strange, huh? That hardly ever happens. But okay, it’s late, I haven’t edited a single word today yet and I really need to get to bed on time a bit.

So. What to say. The past couple of days involved the hospital a lot. Had to get up earlier than usual for it. Yesterday because we really had to be on time to talk to the doctor and today because we had to feed the dogs first. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s stick with yesterday first.

There were the usual chores, followed by quickly gathering stuff for grandpa and eating cereal on the run as breakfast, so we’d be able to leave on time. When cousin Ed and I arrived grandpa’s roommate informed us they had taken him out for a full body scan around nine o’clock, so we settled in for a wait, and didn’t see him until after eleven. He’d had a bad night…well, morning anyway. The confinement of that tube nearly drove him bonkers, he said, and he had some bad moments when he saw us sitting there. All the tension and fear just came flowing out, I guess. Did managed talking him out of it, chatting about normal stuff that would remind him of home while we waiting for the doctor to come and tell us what the heck was going on. The doc finally arrived and explained that grandpa’s problem wasn’t so much his head, but his heart. They think he has Atrial Fibrillation (also called Cardiac arrhythmia), which caused a clod to travel to his brain and mess with his speech. Luckily that effect was only temporary.
Grandpa wasn’t having any of it. He finally, with a lot of negotiation agreed to a final, echocardiogram, but no more than that. I get it. Truly, I do, in particular since doctors seem to be doing little more than guess about causes while they go through a whole battery of tests. Added to that, yesterday’s doctor was a bit of an arrogant fella who expected you to say yes and amen to his every “wisdom”. If there is one thing that sets grandpa up, it’s that. But anyway, we discussed his options, and did finally decide to follow the doctor’s advise, if for no other reason than the fact that he didn’t know what else to do.

Once grandpa was settled for the night, we left for home, arriving there somewhat late, but determined to head into the yard where we could at least harvest some fresh Broccoli. Got a nice big batch, and what was too far gone already we cut for the dog food. Luckily the four-legged ones love everything related to the cabbage family.

Did manage to eat a piece of meat. It wasn’t easy, but I choked it down (good Sammie), along with an alcohol free beer for all those awesome nutrients that not a single pill can replace. *sigh*

Of course we had way too little time, because we had to cancel our Wednesday Spanish lesson and rescheduled for yesterday afternoon. Regretfully I was already running on fumes by then, so, how much of yesterday’s lesson stuck, I don’t know.

Afterward we had to stop in the village to pick some stuff up for mom, and thereafter, we needed to go to town to pick up a donation, of course. It wasn’t much, but all the bits help, ya know.

So then there was cooking, followed by cutting dog bread (normally grandpa does that), edits and then going (blissfully) to bed at around one thirty in the morning

Which brings us to today, which started even earlier, because we still had to do laundry, soak and mix the food prior to big brother and me leaving to visit with grandpa. This time he was sitting on his bed eating breakfast, and once again being somewhat overwhelmed by emotions he had managed to keep capped so well during the night. I left him and big brother to chat and went looking for the doctor. I explained to her (had a different doctor again today) that he’s an old stubborn man and that he wanted to go home. She wasn’t happy, but she did admit that there really wasn’t anything they could do to stop him if he insisted. I promised her I’d talk to him again, and did. We discussed all his options, and finally did decide that for the time being it was safest to just go along, have these last tests done, get his medication sorted and then later see what to do next…but only if he could get out of the hospital for a bit. He needed fresh air. Normally he is outside all day, and that dry air in there is driving him insane (I have a similar problem), and he wanted out.
So the doctor came in and I said, “okay but he really wants to go out for a bit” which she interpreted as that he was refusing treatment and wanted to go home. So we cut her off before she could finish, saying “no, no, no. He’s agreed, but he needs fresh air” to which she responded with much relief, and basically ushered us out of the door.

We had a nice walk, keeping grandpa nicely distracted by talking constantly. He was in much better spirits at the end. His face was less red, and way less tense. So we chatted some more while he sat in bed, and then, when he was picked up for his echocardiogram, we waited the promised ten minutes (which in the real world lasted one hour, but who’s counting) until he got back and then said our goodbyes. Tomorrow we’ll just have to visit again.

Once home we headed into the yard to set up the fence for the sugar peas. We’ve been trying to for several days now, but it just didn’t work out. Harvested some things, and then had to hurry back up so we could take Knight II to his checkup at the vets. The wound is gradually, but slowly healing, and the vet appears happy with it. Picked up some veggies at the vegetable center and then hurried on home so I could get started on supper. Chard with potatoes for us, and kale with mashed potatoes for tenant and grandpa. He’s complaining that he’s constantly hungry, and he wants us to take him some cookies. So I decided to just make him one of his favorite dishes and see how that works for him. Hah. When I offered he told me not to bother. We talked for a bit and suddenly out of the blue he asked, “so you’re making cabbage with potato mash, huh?” to which I answered affirmatively and asked if I should take him some anyway. Again he said no, but I’m not taking his word for it. Stubborn old fool.

No market for me tomorrow, but plenty to do, to say the least. There’s pie to make, burgers to defrost, tenant to help (she asked if I could help her practice walking again), dogs to feed, a car to load, grandpa to visit, a donation to pick up and…probably several more things that I can’t think of right now because my eyes are falling shut. Gotta hit the sheets. I’m pooped.