Amazing: Another Sunday & more re comment writing

Redjeb continues to show gradual improvement. We are still here in the city.  Redjeb's overall weakness and tiredness, plus the home health care visits contribute to keeping us here.  Would have to change health care agencies if go to East Hampton at this point.

All but the nurse have done their last visits this week. We will miss the two guys (Les, the speech therapist--right out of Woody Allen, and Cristopher, the PT--warm, friendly and very talkative), but I will not miss having to wait around and wonder when they might appear.  Had a different nurse come for a visit this week.  She was to have been a wound specialist.  We didn't like her personality as well as the regular one, Anne Marie, so we are hoping we get AM back on Monday.  Funny how different people can be. The other nurse just seemed to have a chip on her shoulder as they say.  Redjeb is having a reaction and some skin breakdown under the brace.  Also the trach is not healing as fast as we had been lead to believe it should.  So the nurses are working on this.  It has been said that I should be doing the nursing tasks...this is very annoying to me. There is insurance coverage.  Wonder if it is sexist. Would they be dumping all this on a male? Also, really upsets me that those professionals out there just think that I am supposed to be doing everything.  You can do this, you do that.  Just who do they think they are....etc etc etc....and some swear words ##*!!#!

Redjeb went to see two doctors this week.  Getting to them by cab was not bad but coming back was horrible both days.  Taxis would avoid us because they would see Redjeb's walker and not want to stop to put it in the trunk.  They would be pulling toward me and then zoom away when they'd see Redjeb approaching. One guy even locked his doors when I tried to get in.  On top of that the Third Avenue buses are terrible, they hardly run, particularly the local which when we finally get on it stops right in front of our apartment building.  It took an hour to get back and those were the hot days.  Redjeb was exhausted for 2 days afterwards.

The doctors gave him just general look over followups, and all was as well as could be expected.  The important upcoming appointment will be with the neck surgeon, who is out on Long Island and not easy to get to, particularly from NYC.  We have an appointment to see him on Oct 10, but have a call in to him to see if he could see Redjeb sooner and be willing to take off the brace sooner.  That would be helpful in so many ways.  We could do away with the nurse (or my having to learn how to do what she does), and also it might help his eating, etc.  But depends if the doctor thinks his neck has healed enough.  I hope he calls early next week to let us know if we can have an earlier appointment for its removal.  Once we know for sure when that date will be, then we will go out to East Hampton just before that.

In the meantime NYC is working out just fine.  Although our little apartment is cluttered and cramped, being in Manhattan means that everything is so convenient.  Redjeb can walk (with his walker), right downstairs, to a coffee shop, drugstore, post office, deli, store, bank.  In EH we would have to jump into the car and make a thing out of it, and of course the exercise of walking would be more limited. Today I am trying to encourage him to get a move on and try a new coffee shop down the hill on Second Avenue.

By the way, for those of you who don't know Manhattan, we actually have some pretty steep hills in parts.  I was very pleased when moving into our current apartment many years ago, that the building and apartment are accessible for wheelchairs.  But I never thought about the hill.  Our building sits near the top of this fairly steep hill.  Even the little walk to the top from our door can be difficult when a person is recovering from surgery or whatever.  But Redjeb is already not only going to Third Ave on the top, but almost from the beginning of getting home, he has been making his way all the way to the bottom and even able to come back up from Second Ave.  He has had to stop a few times to rest, but yesterday made it up with only one stop.  These are the little milestones that he reaches each day.

Always happy to see friends to break up our routine, such as it is.  I unfortunately was under the weather one eve last week when friends stopped by.  Felt funny for me to be the sick one.  Fortunately I think it was just something that I may have eaten, as didn't last long.  Redjeb even took care of me, going down to the drugstore to pick up some Ginger Ale, a remedy from my childhood for what ails you.  Colds are going around, so delay your visit if you feel achy or are sniffly.

Today there is a street fair on Lexington (one block from us), so that will be our outing.

P.S.  A little late in finding this out, but I just figured out why most of you have been having problems contributing comments.  There was a setting that I didn't know about that stopped you from doing so unless you were "registered."  I have changed that now, so making comments should be easier (except I allowed one of those things that makes you copy crazy letters).   If that is a hindrance I can get rid of that too.  All this to say, it is a bit late in the game for your enthusiastic supportive comments, but live and learn.