Still sick, but she has her oxy, BP meds, and Nexium. She needs to call her boss tomorrow. She’s scheduled to be the on-call nurse next week. (i.e., she does her regular rounds, and then is on-call for after-hours – even middle-of-the-night – calls.) I don’t think that’s going to work.
Criminy, I’m exhausted! Working Friday morning from 0630 until I called 9-1-1, working on Saturday and Sunday, working Monday through today, the trips to the vet, and of course daily trips to the hospital. And the worry! Plus missing meals, and not eating well when I did eat.
Yeah, you’re probably not going to eat well under the circumstances but YOU NEED TO EAT! Also catch naps when you can. If you don’t take care of yourself you can’t take care of anyone else.
Marital HIPAA ended when she entered the hospital. Then she became our problem.
In the past few months I got it kicked into my head that the squeaky wheel’s spouse lives longer and ingreater comfort. Don’t be shy! You are there everyday and have but one patient to monitor.
Alas, none of that until she recovers. Not even the Saturday hashbrowns she says in is the pre-nup I have no knowledge of. She’s a step up from a liquid diet. She can have bland, soft food, and she has to avoid fats. She couldn’t eat the pasta and chicken the hospital gave her before her discharge. She’s ben eating fruit cups and Jell-O. I went out and got her some watermelon-agave popsicles today, and she had one and liked it. I made myself a breakfast burrito (I cheated and nuked the bacon), and she said it smelled good but she couldn’t eat it.
She said I can probably do the hashbrowns a week from this Saturday. I have some cod in the freezer, so maybe I can do the Greek-style poached cod again. Or else just lightly season it and bake it. I’ve been trying to cook healthier meals recently, so when she gets back to eating real food this will be an opportunity to expand my repertoire.
Deedeeknowitall, the wife, better half and also a nurse, says “Welcome Home!” and has pretty much sussed out what Mrs. L.A. had wrong with her. Your cooking will go great lengths in getting her on her feet again.
BTDT. Cooking for a soft-food diet can be challenging.
As unappetizing as it sounds to us healthy people, you can make some of her favorites, like the hashbrowns, then puree them. As long as they’re not too greasy they still work as soft. She’ll enjoy the flavor just the same and a little bit of that as a treat makes the rest of the soft-food program a lot more bearable.
If she likes them, stewed tomatoes are another low-effort product that’ll jazz up otherwise boring mush. Either as-is out of the can, or better yet after a quick run through the blender/processor.
Getting in some familiar flavors, if not exactly textures, is a big boost to morale. Doubly so if the malady or the medication (or depression) makes eating otherwise unpleasant or uninteresting. Lots of people have worse outcomes during recovery simply because they don’t eat well enough to power the machine. Don’t be one of those people.
