Aches and pains

I retired from teaching in 2011. Marvin was already not feeling well so I became in fact his care taker. For 6 years (with the exceptions when Lizzie was here, and Sandy when she came to visit) I took him to his doctor's appointment, to the ER, to rehab, but mostly I took him 3 times a week to dialysis. I never missed a day and I always was in time to pick him up, I felt sad for people that had to wait for transportation sometimes for an hour or more.

The one thing I was thankful for is that I felt pretty good health wise , sure some days I had a cold or a headache but I didn't complain because it sounded petty compared to what he had to go through. There were a few exceptions when I felt pretty sick. Once I caught the flu pretty badly it lasted about a week to 10 days. I had a fever, runny nose and eyes, sore throat etc. I took to wear a mask at home, especially during colostomy time so as not to pass my flu to him. Another time last year when I twisted my leg and ended up with a lot of pain for about 2 weeks. I did complain a little, but again, is hard to complain when he  was going thru so much. I knew Lizzie but come over if I needed her, but I she was already doing enough.  Some times my pain was not so much physical as it was in my head, I had a few mini meltdowns (and a fairly large one).

By the way, other than his colostomy, when he felt good he did a lot for himself. I was glad when he felt good enough to walk without a cane, or walker, when he could go to the store, and drive.  Last year he had so many more health issues, breaking his hip among them, and he never quite recovered.

After Marvin died, I found myself with time in my hands, my daily routine was gone, I didn't have to wake up at night several times to change him, or to talk take care of his wounds, or talk to him, and comfort him.  I didn't have to cook for him or take him to dialysis, etc. 

I lost some weight and my diabetes is in control, I felt really good, and sometimes I forget that I am getting old (or I'm already old I should say) and try to do things that I shouldn't be doing.

Which brings me to this week.  N came Sunday to clean the Jacuzzi and do a couple of things around the house and garage. I started moving things around in the garage, mainly The Gazelle because I wanted to exercise a little everyday. That machine is heavy, and I kept pushing it closer to the garage door, N told me to stop it that he would do it, but hey I was all, I can do it, and I did it.

On Wednesday  I had a retirement party to go to at Jersey. I was looking forward to it. Tuesday night I went to bed and my right leg started hurting, not a little pain, it was really hurting. I couldn't find a comfortable place to rest my leg. I put some ice on my knee and took a Motrin 800, but was restless, in pain and unable to sleep. I had to call Jersey and say I couldn't make it.. I tried to make a doctor's appointment but my doctor didn't have an opening until July. Thursday I spent almost all day in bed or laying on Marv's chair, with Motrin every 6 hours, and Diclofenac ointment 3 times a day (super strong pain reliever).  Friday I was going to get some groceries since I was out of just about everything, I was using Marv's cane around the house but I was scared I would fall if I went out and my knee area was hot to the touch and very painful still.

Today I made an appointment with another doctor (June 5 at 9AM). I have been following the R.I.C.E and still taking my Motrin and using the ointment. It felt a little better than the previous days, so I did go to get me a chicken at Juan Pollo. 

I think is either tendinitis, or osteoarthritis , I will let you know....but it sure was painful!

Royal weddings

I just read Sandy's post on the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
I watched it too.

I didn't even go to sleep on Saturday, it began at 1:00AM I stayed up till 5:46AM and watched every minute of it.

 Maybe because I was born in Europe, I like all the royal stuff. I have watched all European marriages and baptisms. The Spanish royalty, of course, the Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg ,Monaco, Liechtenstein and of course the British. I enjoy it all. I like the the tiaras, the outfits, the gossip, everything.

There's 10 Kingdoms in Europe. Many of them are interrelated. For instance, the husband of Queen Elizabeth of England was born into the  Greek and Danish royals families, same as Queen Sofia of Spain.

Meghan was not the first commoner to marry a prince. Actually almost all the contemporary royals
have married commoners. The prince of Sweden married Sofia, she was a model and a reality TV contestant. the crown princess of Sweden, Victoria, married her personal trainer, the prince of Spain married a divorced TV correspondent etc. etc.

Next royal event I will be watching will be Princess Madeleine's of Sweden's 3rd child's baptism on June 8.:)

The very first wedding I saw was also the first time I watched TV in Spain. It was the wedding of Grace Kelly and Rainier of Monaco. in 1956. I was 12 years old  and I went with my grandmother to a little store next to our apartment in Roca y Batlle, they had a little b&w TV and we sat  down with them in their living room and watched the wedding.

By the way, I don't like monarchies per se. I think they will become obsolete. Like it happened in France, Greece, Italy, Germany etc. I think the last ones to go will be the Scandinavian royalty: Sweden, Denmark and Norway love their royals! :)

Mathilde of Belgium, Victoria of Sweden, Mette Marit of Norway, Mary of Denmark, Maxima of Holland
 

Strange adventure

Yesterday I had to do a few errands, went to lunch and then I came home and watched TV, did a little gardening etc.

In the evening Lulu kept on licking my arm, she wanted to go out, so I got her leash  and thought of walking her up and down the block. I decided to take my keys and lock the door rather than leave it unlocked, so out we went for a walk. She was happy and I took her around the block, by then she was tired and so was I and it was after sunset, it was a little chilly and getting dark.

I got home, got to the door and took my keys out. BUT.......

.............I had taken my car keys instead!!!!!  What to do!?

Before I left I had closed and locked the back door, closed the sliding door and the bathroom window. The back gate had the lock on as well. I thought of driving to Norbert’s or calling him, but he doesn’t have my front door key. So I rang Amy’s door and told her about my predicament, her husband had gone to bed already.

She came out and we both looked around but all windows were closed, I remembered that the kitchen window was unlocked, but there’s an awning above it and is pretty narrow. She went to get a ladder and called her husband. I was feeling pretty dumb :<)

Jose  had to cut the screen by the kitchen sink and lifted it and was able to open the window, but it was too small, so they called Matthew, their 6 year old boy, he said he’d do it. My house was dark, no lights inside, he went up a couple steps in the ladder and said, hmm I don’t want to do it.  So we all looked at each other and Amy said: I’ll do it!  She climbed on the ladder and with Jose holding her butt she tried to slide in the window feet first and in she went!!! A few things fell off the counter and the kitchen curtain rod got all twisted, but she did it, then ran in and opened the door, SUCCESS!

After I thanked them both profusely, she told me something weird. She said when she went to the living room she told Marvin sorry to bother him, she thought he was sitting on his chair!    I  came in turned on the living room light and Lulu ran to my room. The little lamp light in the room was on in the lowest setting it was off when I left !!!whoa!  

Marvin always made fun of me saying that I never knew where I left my keys and said someday I would lock myself out of the house or the car.

I had a little hard time falling sleep J

A Genois

I have a sweet tooth. I always wanted to be able to bake yummy stuff from scratch, but the only thing that ever came out half right was a lemon pound cake. I don't think I have even made cookies, Marv and the girls did the cookie baking.

I have found a couple places close to where I live that have delicious pastries, Porto's and 85 degrees, and Lizzie always brings me a slice of cake from San Diego's Extraordinary Desserts. But still I'd like to bake something once in a while.

Now I have time to experiment and try to bake something easy. I found a recipe for  "Bizcocho borracho de naranja" , is a cake that uses flour, sugar, eggs and butter. Once is baked and while still warm, you make little holes with a toothpick and bathe it in a mixture of orange juice and sugar that has been cooked and cooled. I added some Grand Marnier to make it truly "borracho". The results were underwhelming. It was too dense and dry, and the mixture of orange juice and sugar didn't add anything. But I ate some.

So last night I tried again. It was almost midnight and I wasn't sleepy, so I found another recipe that was even easier, I halved it because  I didn't want to have a lot left over. It called for 4 eggs, half cup sugar and half cup flour and 1/4 tsp baking powder. No butter. The secret was to beat the sugar and eggs for a long time till it almost tripled in volume. SUCCESS!

It was delicious!!! I ate about a quarter of it while still warm. Then I added the orange juice and sugar and cooked it until it was caramelized, then added the Grand Marnier. Awesome. I should have taken a picture but there's only a little piece left. 

I will be making some variations of this delicious sponge cake, and I will take pictures :)

April recap

Still trying to get used to being on my own. Some days are hard.

April 1   - I had my gardener cut/prune the 2 big trees in the backyard.
          7   - Change furniture around. N came to help and I did all the finishing work. Now I have a                       nice "guest room"  and a dedicated office room.
          8   - Working on finishing the rooms, still moving things around, cleaning and organizing.
         10  - Fun day! Huntington Beach, lunch at Harbor House. Walked on the beach...fell on the                         beach... :)
         14  - Pick up Sandy at the Long Beach Airport. So nice to see her! Drive around the beach                           areas. Lunch at Harbor                   House. Go home  by Beach Blvd,with stopover at                             Porto's. Also at 38 degrees and visit the  Asian markets.
         15  - Lizzie drove up from SD. The 3 of us to El Cholo, a bit of a tradicional thing to do. Loved                   having my two girls here!
                  Lulu hurt her rear right paw and is limping. Lizzie back to SD
         16  - Drive Sandy to the airport. So nice she came here for a short visit.
                  Took Lulu to the vet. She got the Cone of Shame!
         19  - Back to the vet to get a bigger cone.
         21  - Today would have been Marvin's 78th birthday. Went to have dinner to one of his favorite                    Restaurants "The Alamitos Fish Company". N came along and we had  a nice monkfish                       dinner and creme brulee.
         25  - To Jersey School visiting. Was nice to see everybody. Was asked by one of my                                      kindergarten teacher friend if I wanted to go to Cuba on a cruise in November. It doesn't                      appeal me much. Nice talk with Jennifer.
         27  - Lizzie came in the evening. She's leaving to Scotland tomorrow.
         28  - N and I took Lizzie to LAX . Afterwards N and I drove around the beach cities then came                   home to check on Lulu and to Black Angus for dinner.
         30  - Took Lulu back to the vet. She seems to be OK. Tried to make a hair appt but couldn't get                   one till May 25 !

BOOKS I READ THIS MONTH

MOVIES I WATCHED THIS MONTH

Thinking of you on your birthday

Love,

Jo

A dog story

Lulu, my 6 year old maltipoo, has been a source of comfort and a good company to me. She's become very attached to me and follows me everywhere when is the two of us alone.

When company comes, she totally forgets that I am still around and lavishes her puppy love on them. This past weekend Sandy came to visit and Lulu smothered her with kisses, then on Sunday Lizzie came too and she was happy to see her but was acting a bit subdued.

We all went outside to admire the garden, and Lulu kept trying to "catch" a lizard. Then she started to slow down and when we went inside she got under the living room table and acted a little droopy, then we noticed that she was limping a little.

On Monday, she couldn't put her rear right foot down, it was red and sore and she kept licking it. I called the vet for an appointment for the next day. After I took Sandy to the airport and came home, she was just laying down and her paw was bleeding, so I took her to the vet  right away.

The vet said something must have  bit her or got into her paw (she said maybe foxtails) so they shaved her leg from the knee down and put some antibiotics and clean the area. She also got the Elizabethan crown or as is commonly known: The cone of shame.  She doesn't like it at all!

When we got home, she kept on hitting everything and tried hard to get it off. She couldn't get in her favorite spot under the coffee table but finally she did although I had to help her out. the next day I saw her paw was bleeding again. I don't know how but she  found a way to lick her paw again! I watched her over carefully for a while and noticed she lay down  and turned her head just so and carefully  placed her sore paw in the cone. I called her the contortionist because she really twisted her body around!

Today I went back to the vet with her, and she got a super sized cone! She looks really sad and there's not much she can do, I have to put the dog food on my hand and she will eat from my hand because she cannot reach her bowl. She can drink  if I fill her big bowl really full but she ends up with a wet head.

It's hard for her to find a comfortable spot to sleep and she keeps looking at me with her big brown eyes like saying help!!!

And she has to keep it on for two weeks!