Eat. Drink. Old. Woman.
    That's what it's been like, today. Over the last month or so I've been priming her, nutritionally, for her blood draw this morning. She almost sabotaged me yesterday with one of her days of extreme lethargy although she wasn't terribly pale. I had to tempt her to eat with things like nachos and a homemade lemon-ginger-blueberry sauce that is just this side of jam thick. And popcorn. We go through a lot of popcorn in this household. So much that I think the high temperatures it creates in the microwave may be slowly killing our 1985 model. Yesterday, popping popcorn blew a kitchen circuit.
    I needed to make sure her hydration level stayed fairly decent, since I expected them to take three vials of blood, as usual (they took only one). I tempted her with a root beer, something she hasn't had in months, maybe even a year or more. Luckily, her blood glucose medication can handle it.
    I had to keep her awake yesterday long enough to aid digestion so that the sleeping in which I knew I'd be unable to prevent her indulging would not back up her system.
    What with today being hair day, though, and including an appearance before the world at the lab, and getting a fast food hamburger afterwards in order to lure her to eat, she looked good, felt good, moved a little slow but denied any hip or thigh pain, talked back to the television during Charlie Rose and Dr. Phil, and is now observing Sacred Nap Time with her acolytes, our cats.
    I let her lay down without oxygen, since I know she'll be up shortly and she relaxes better without the cannula. It was her dismal expression that did it, when I arose and headed in the direction of the compressor.
    "Can't I just lay down for a little bit without that thing in my nose?"
    Yes, you can.
- posted by gail rae @ 16:33   email...this post