Dinner

July 24, 2023, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Delray Medical Center, Delray Beach, Florida: Dinner

UPDATE: I threw up, due to pain medication and eating too soon after eating lunch. I also hadn't eaten in several days due to medical testing and no appetite. I drank one of my own high-protein, low-sugar chocolate shakes from home, so now I feel a little better. I am sipping on a zero-sugar, lemon-lime Gatorade for rehydration.

Lunch

July 24, 2023: I am enjoying lunch in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach, Florida. I haven't eaten in days due to medical testing and no appetite.

Nebulizer Treatment

July 24, 2023: I am receiving a bronchodilator (Albuterol) nebulizer treatment here in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach, Florida, as I give to myself at home every day.

Ventilator To Nasal Cannula

July 24, 2023: I am still in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach, Florida. Thankfully, I have been taken off of the ventilator that I was on throughout the night. This morning, I was put back onto my regular oxygen through my usual nasal cannula (in my nose). I continue to take my usual diuretic pill to continue to remove fluid from my lungs.

I am feeling much better.

I was able to take a nebulizer treatment last night for my lungs (as my usual asthma treatment) between the times I was on the ventilator. I inhaled a bronchodilator mist to loosen my lungs, which I already do at home. I received a steroidal liquid intravenously to reduce my lung inflammation. (I only use the bronchodilator, not the steroidal liquid, as my usual asthma regime at home.)

I had an X-ray of my chest done this morning.

My lower back still aches from my herniated disk. My blood pressure is thankfully now high enough for me to be permitted to take pain medication again: 2 Percocet pills for the pain in my back, plus my regular medications. ( ... and another Percocet pill.)

I am scheduled to have an X-ray and an MRI done today of my right ankle to check on the healing process/progress of the fractures in the two bones (Tibia and Fibula) in my right ankle due to two falls in April 2023.

This morning, I also had an echocardiogram done, as prescribed by the hospital cardiologist, not my usual cardiologist.

A wound-care specialist tended to the diabetic ulcers in both of my feet with iodine, plus an exfoliating, moisturizing cream. My podiatrist tends to my feet at home every two weeks.

I am still using a Foley catheter to urinate.

UPDATE: UNFORTUNATELY, I am required to attempt sleeping with the ventilator on again for a second straight night.

On A Ventilator All Night

July 23, 2023: I am in a very serious situation here in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach, Florida. Through the result of a chest X-ray (and obviously by observation of my body here at the hospital), it has been officially determined that I have Pulmonary Vascular Congestion (a "Blood Gap"), which means that my lungs are unable to expel the proper amount of carbon dioxide from my body. I should be better as the "Gap" narrows, but I am unable to eat or to drink anything until sometime tomorrow. I am already very thirsty from the ventilator. I am urinating through a Foley Catheter, with a fair amount pain. My heart is constantly being monitored with many electrodes from myself to my heart monitor. My blood pressure is often being monitored. I received an insulin injection, as per my usual diabetes. I received a dosage of intravenous steroid for my lungs (and my usual asthma symptoms). My lower back pain, which I now know from the result of a spinal X-ray and a spinal MRI, is from a herniated disk. Luckily, my pain hasn't been as severe as it was when I entered the emergency room of the hospital several days ago. Unfortunately, due to my dangerously low blood-pressure levels, I am not permitted to receive ANY pain medication. I am also dealing with fractures in the two bones (Tibia and Fibula) of my right foot due to two falls in April. Because of my propensity of developing cellulitis and my proximity to the MRI machines, my podiatrist wants me to have an MRI of my right ankle.

Medical Center: Day Two

July 19, 2023: Day Two, Delray Medical Center, Delray Beach, Florida

PHOTO: selfie in my hospital bed

I arrived at the hospital emergency room via ambulance yesterday with severe pain across my lower back. I receive intravenous pain medication in the ambulance, and an intravenous steroid and pain medication pills in the emergency room. 

I was lying in bed the day before, and it just hit me hard. I was awake all night, screaming with pain.

I had CT scans yesterday of my spine, my chest, and my abdomen. Everything looks good. However, a hospital doctor mentioned to me that there is something not quite right with my kidneys. He didn't say what.

In January 2021, I had kidney failure (both kidneys) that required a regimen of dialysis with a large needle in my neck: four straight hours, seven days per week, for six weeks. Of course, I recovered. Also during my quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery in March 2022, I was diagnosed with gallstones.

As for today, I am expecting to have a scan of my spine, but it has not yet been scheduled.

I have been receiving syringe squirts of Morphine every four hours through a catheter in a vein within my left arm, but even with this powerful pain medication, I am still screaming with pain. I am switching to Percoset in pill form for my pain starting with my 8 a.m. dosage.

I don't feel too bad about my screaming. 🙂 ... My roommate screams, too. We screamed out our duet through the night last night. At least, I just lie there and scream alone. He screams at the nurses. 😆

UPDATE: I am having an MRI done of my lower spine today. Also, I forgot to tell you that my roommate sounds like Joe Walsh when he speaks.

ADDITION: I fell twice in April 2023, resulting in the fracturing of two bones (Tibia and Fibula) in my right ankle.

What's Doin' Today?

July 18, 2023: I like tropical fruit, especially mango, pineapple, and coconut.

July 18, 2023: One Christmas long ago, I enjoyed caviar with shots of frozen Russian vodka. I liked it, although I don't particularly like vodka.

July 18, 2023: I do occasionally like sour candy.

July 18, 2023: Listen.

Happy 35th Anniversary

 July 18, 2023: Happy 35th Work Anniversary to my wonderful wife !!! She has worked for the same hospital in various capacities for 35 years !!! Congratulations !!!

Aileen Santos

Peach Ice Cream & Tattoos

July 17, 2023

I love peach ice cream. It reminds me of enjoying it at my paternal grandparents' house when I was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s. The brand name was mostly Sealtest, but sometimes Breyers. More recently, I love the peach shakes at Chick-fil-A.

For decades, I wanted to get a tattoo of a simple fish on the bottom of my right foot. That way, when I crossed my legs at the beach, it could be seen. Why a fish? My zodiac sign is Pisces, and the corresponding body part for this sign is the foot. About a decade ago, I developed severe neuropathy (constant numbness) in both of my feet, and since then, I have been dealing with diabetic ulcers in both of my feet and many related cases of cellulitis. (Plus, I have had surgery four times on my left foot.) For these reasons, I have abandoned my particular tattoo notion. I have also considered a tattoo related to my religion (Hare Krishna/Hinduism) or an Austrian flag. (I don't have any tattoos.)

Today Is ...

July 16, 2023

I would say that my favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip. I have liked it since I was a kid in the 1960s, especially when I would have a bowl of it at Howard Johnson's restaurant on Long Island, New York, with my usual order of chicken croquettes. I also like regular chocolate ice cream, especially with a piece of fruit pie (cherry, blueberry, peach, or apple).

July 16, 2023

I do like corn fritters, but they certainly have not and are not a staple of my diet.

Cake & Pie

July 15, 2023: This afternoon, my wonderful wife made this yellow/strawberry cake with vanilla icing and sprinkles, and this pumpkin pie.

CORRECTION: Actually, the strawberry cake is pink on the inside. It looked yellow to me on the top before my wonderful wife applied the frosting. Also, why did I initially call it icing? I always call it frosting.

Double Standards

July 15, 2023: When a woman takes maternity leave, her male co-workers have to do her job and do not get extra money for doing it. When a man takes paternity leave, he gets passed over for promotions and then he ultimately gets fired.

Frittata

July 15, 2023: This morning, my wonderful wife made this delicious frittata.

Tapioca & Gummi Worms

July 15, 2023: I love tapioca pudding, which I have been eating with chocolate syrup, specifically Bosco, since I was a kid in the 1960s. My paternal grandmother would often make it from scratch. She called it "fish eyes."

July 15, 2023: I prefer gummi bears.

A Woman's Self-Sacrifice

July 14, 2023: I learned long ago that women thrive on sacrifice. They have a strong need to be needed. Women HAVE to say that the chores are being done "incorrectly," even when they are done correctly, and then redo everything because they are afraid of no longer being needed or relevant. They need to justify their existence.

I Am Water

Free Food For Women

July 14, 2023: A recent international survey found that 33 percent of women admit to dating men only for free food. I think the percentage of women doing this is much higher. My question is, didn't we already know this? 🤔 😉

What's Going On Today?

July 14, 2023: French fries are neither French nor from France. The fry was invented in Belgium. "Frenching" is a method of cutting vegetables.

I eat french fries in the traditional way: dipped in mayonnaise. I sometimes eat fries with tartar sauce, but never with ketchup.

July 14, 2023: On this date last year, when I was living in a physical rehabilitation facility, my occupational therapist told me there was an apparently crazy, elderly woman screaming and running around the hallways of the facility naked. I told my therapist that the reason for her actions could be caused by dementia or simply because today is National Nude Day. I was fortunate not to have seen this woman. I wonder if that was the same woman who often screamed from her room down the hallway.

I entered the facility on June 3, 2022, and I did not return home until July 21, 2022, a day before my wife's birthday. Prior to that, I was admitted to the hospital on May 13, 2022, where I would have two chest surgeries (May 19 & 25, 2022) due to complications from my quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery on March 9, 2022. That's a total of 70 days away from home.

July 14, 2023: I will just mention that I occasionally like Mac and Cheese.

July 14, 2023: I like Grand Marnier, but I haven't had it in many years.

July 14, 2023: I sold (and exchanged for free) many tape measures when I worked as a salesman in the light hardware department at Sears when I first moved to southeastern Florida from New Jersey in 1998.

Happy Bastille Day !!!

July 14, 2023: I was in Paris, France, on Bastille Day (basically French Independence Day) with my parents in 1970, when I was nine years old. I remember the top of the Eiffel Tower was closed on that day, so we enjoyed lunch in the restaurant that was about halfway up the tower. My parents and I were on a 28-day trip around the world. We started in New York City and visited San Francisco, Honolulu, Tokyo, Osaka (Expo 70), Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau, Bangkok, (refueled in Calcutta and Karachi), Rome, Sturno (in Italy to visit my great-grandparents and cousins), Paris, London, and then home to Long Island, New York.

I returned to France twice after that: once with West Islip High School on Long Island, New York (a week in Paris on a cultural trip with my French teacher and three girls) in the summer of 1978; and with Villanova University (three weeks to study the French language during the summer of 1984) in a school/dormitory in Massy, France, just visiting Paris on weekends (about 30 minutes by train).

Phyllo Spinach Cheese Rolls

July 13, 2023: This early evening, my wonderful wife made another batch of these snacks: Phyllo (Filo) dough filled with fresh spinach, sautéed onions, butter, ricotta cheese, raw egg, ground black pepper, and an Italian six-cheese blend (Mozzarella, Provolone, Parmesan, Asiago, Fontina, and Romano), and then baked.

Franks 'N' Beans

July 13, 2023: I like eating sliced Nathan's Famous hot dogs mixed with Heinz vegetarian baked beans. UPDATE: I decided to have this for dinner.

What's Doin' Today?

July 12, 2023: I prefer my professional life to be complex and my personal life to be simplistic.

July 12, 2023: I like pecan pie. I once ate a piece which had chocolate ganache on top. It was orgasmic.

July 12, 2023: My favorite Jell-O flavor is lime.

July 12, 2023: In recent decades, plastic  bags have mostly replaced paper bags. In recent years, the trend toward returning to the use of paper bags has gained speed and continues to do so.

Memory: No More Bandage

July 11, 2023: One year ago today, I no longer require a bandage on my chest.

(more information in the original post below)

If Facebook blurred the composite photo that I created (below), click/tap on "learn more," and then click/tap on "see photo."

Today Is ...

July 11, 2023: There certainly are many lonely men out there. Cheer up a few of them today.

July 11, 2023: I do like cherries.

July 11, 2023: I like blueberries, but I don't particularly like muffins.

July 11, 2023: I do NOT like Mojitos, probably because I don't like the mixture of lime and mint.

July 11, 2023: Common Brand Names of Benzodiazepines: Valium, Ativan, Xanax, Restoril, Tranxene, Librium

July 11, 2023: At one time, I wanted to be a dairy farmer/cheese maker in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg.

July 11, 2023 (7/11/23)

Stuffed Bell Peppers

July 10, 2023

My wonderful wife made stuffed bell peppers, with ground beef, tomato sauce, ricotta cheese, and an Italian blend of six shredded cheeses (Mozzarella, Provolone, Parmesan, Asiago, Fontina, and Romano). She didn't use her usual rice or Israeli couscous this time.