My Thursday

Spent the night coughing so badly that around 10:30 AM, Jaye made me call the doctor and get worked in. Dad came by and drove me over there. I think it worried him a lot when I called him out of the blue at work sounding so tired and rough. It's nearing 2 years ago to the day when Jaye and I were hospitalized, and Dad began his two week long vigil by our beds.

When Dad and I arrived at the doctor's office and got out of the car, in an unconscious motion, he reached his hand back for mine, like when I was a little girl. That almost made me cry for some reason. I wrapped both my arms around his arm and smiled as we walked across the parking lot. This time of year makes all of us anxious and afraid. It's been plaguing me and Jaye since this January, when, two years past, things started to go to hell and we didn't know what to do. When Dad reached for my hand, it reminded me of him walking around with me in the grocery store, too weak and gaunt to hold myself up, buying baby food for me. I relied heavily on it for over a year. I've never seen my father so close to crying.

We went inside the dr's office. I chatted up the nurse who was wearing Dolce and Gabbana prescription glasses. They had "swagger". I likes 'em. Anyway, when I got on the scale, I could see the silent anxiety in my father's eyes. When I told him "117.2", he looked visibly relieved. He looked reassured by my blood work too.

Waiting in the exam room, he showed me, on one of the many posters, the structure and function of the upper respiratory system. Quite informative. Though I must say I was a bit distracted by the "anterior view of the gallbladder." :-\

The doctor told me my lungs were clear so it was an upper respiratory/asthma problem. Got some thing to try. While we were at the pharmacy, we bought some Sudafed and I joked "Okay! I'm going home to freebase now!" which brought a nervous tittering laugh from the pharmacy tech and a HAHAHASTOPTHAT look from Dad. Ahee!

We talked about everything as usual, in the car, on the elevator, in the waiting room, driving back home, stopping at the pharmacy -- the hideous fate of Emmett Till, the Woolworth sit-ins in Greensboro (Dad recalls feeling very embarrassed by the bussed-in racist hillbillies antagonizing the black folks), the PBS documentary about Wyatt Earp (you know I had to talk about that), car recalls, nursing home and hospice policies (Dad is an occupational therapist), my magical couponing abilities (ok, that was mostly me bragging).

Auntie texted Dad: "Snow, sleet, rain, freezing rain - sounds like a 'cover your ass' forecast." We all laughed. Later, I saved Jaye from a spider by attacking him with the vacuum cleaner, but with a heater, the air filter, a lamp, and a laptop computer plugged in already, I blew a house fuse. Jaye and I stood in the dark giggling.

At least the spider was dead. *muscle flexes*