Please Don’t Retire, Yet!!

I actually did have a honey-do list but it’s funny how things work out at times. Sure not the way I was expecting! Monday, we went to the bank and took care of some business. That was okay but still no sewing!

Tuesday was when the real fun started. Doug had been working in the yard in the morning and he came in and the left side of his face was off. It was drooping a bit. He said he felt okay and we thought it was just a pinched nerve and left it be, thinking if it was worse we would go to the doctor on Wednesday. I worked.

Wednesday, Doug woke up and it was more pronounced, the droop. He couldn’t and still can’t close his left eye and had trouble speaking. My first thought was a mini stroke but the more I checked the symptoms, it didn’t fit. We called Kaiser and they told him to come to the emergency room. They thought it was Bells’ Palsy. Now, Tuesday night, one of my plugs in my eyelid popped out and I couldn’t see. Doug had trouble seeing, so we were quite a pair and neither of us could drive. So, we called Kathy and she took us and dropped off Sam at his other grandparents’ home for the day. Good idea as he wasn’t feeling well and the ER is not the place for a child. I made an urgent appt with my ophthalmologist to have the plug replaced, and Kathy dropped me off in front and took Doug around to the back. I had my appt, thankfully got in really quickly and walked VERY fast over to the ER. Doug and Kathy had gotten in very quickly and were waiting for me. They had seen the nurse but not the doctor yet. Since only one visitor could be in at a time, Kathy went to the waiting room and I gave them all the info. I think this was about 10 am. Later, they took Doug for a brain CT and it confirmed that he had Bells’ palsy. Apparently, Bells’ palsy is a virus that goes away after a while so it isn’t permanent. May take a few days to a month for it to go away. They placed him on Acyclovir.

After another long wait, they did some blood tests. The tests showed that he had high blood pressure and prescribed a medication for it. I went to the pharmacy to save some time and picked up the prescription. Well, it was ready for me, I picked it up and then found out that we needed to make another trip to the pharmacy! It turns out that DH has diabetes! The doctor called the pharmacy and asked them to refund the medication for high blood pressure and replace with another one. We did that and then about $100 later we had everything to get started on fighting diabetes. His blood sugar in the ER was 325 which is high. He had never had it checked before cuz as he puts it, “I don’t trust doctors!” I had been bugging him to have this checked for a long time but he refused to do it.

Kathy was kind enough to take us wherever we needed and we finally got some lunch as we were all very hungry! I had taken the day off and Thursday too. Good thing as it was very stressful for all of us.

Thursday morning dawned and I made a follow up appt for Doug with Dr. Mendoza. We were fortunate to get in that afternoon. I was finally able to see but Doug had an eye patch on and so couldn’t drive. Oh boy, how fun that was! You have to remember I married one of the most critical, hot tempered and easily irritated men around. In other words, a copy of my Dad! lol! Even as I was pulling out onto the street he started in on me about my driving and how I was doing it all wrong! ARRRGGGGHHHH! Since I still love him and I knew he was not feeling well and was still upset about it all, I just gritted my teeth and had a good primal scream later! Good thing I’m very patient! LOL! I was really ready to reach out and “touch” at that point, but let it be. Not worth it the fight. He didn’t want to leave it alone though and kept harping on it. We went to the bookstore first and I was about to go in but decided to wait. BUT NO, he got upset about that and said let’s just go to the appt and get it over with. Of course, we are at the appt almost 45 minutes early.

Can we all let out a primal scream together!!

Turned out that we didn’t wait very long at all as we were early. And good news, well sorta good news! Dr. Mendoza started with the Bells’ Palsy, and it will go away with time, no long lasting effects. Doug still can’t close his eye without holding it down with his hand. High blood pressure, well the doctor thought it was just circumstantial as DH was probably already stressed and upset in the ER. He has been having his blood pressures checked on a regular basis and have been normal. Dr. Mendoza took him off that medication but still needs to have it checked regularly.

As for the diabetes, Dr. Mendoza wants to do a conservative approach. No medications just yet, but check blood sugars 3 times a week and work on diet and exercise to see if it can be brought down. Doug had a blood test yesterday and we are waiting to hear back on the results. Dr. Mendoza thinks it is diabetes but not severe yet and that it can be managed without medication at the moment.

I’ve been reading up on diabetes and different recipes and all, and we are working on modifying our diets. Interesting and a real eye opener! Thankfully my blood sugars are normal but I’m back on Weight Watchers and modifying their recipes to fit our needs.

Other than working and trying to understand all of this, I haven’t done any sewing. Tomorrow, Doug goes back to work to see if he can actually work or needs more time off to recover. I’m really praying hard that the Bells’ Palsy clears up soon, as I don’t know if I can take another week off with Darling Hubby again!!!

That’s about it for now. Will write more when I have more news! By the way, Doug did apologize and we’re okay again.