So it's Labor Day weekend, the end of the summer that wasn't. Figure that Redjeb was in the hospital through July and part of Aug and then the nursing home till Aug 28. All this is unreal.
I sat down last eve to write the blog and just couldn't bring myself to say anything in particular, so signed off. Then of course I thought of things, but now forgot again. But I have decided that starting today I am not doing daily blogs: I shall do a blog each Sunday in September and then re-evaluate.
Somehow the days are busy, just getting dressed, making and eating meals. Redjeb took a shower of sorts using the new tub bench. It seems to work well. Yesterday his daughter Nicole went down to Virginia to be with her sister, who is baby-sitting the grandson. Then she and the little one go back to Georgia this week. Friends came by this afternoon and evening, which was quite pleasant and of course interesting (since all you, our friends out there, are of course smart and interesting).
Redjeb has been getting outside. He takes his rolator or whatever it's call: a walker with a seat. He goes out to the 91st Street side of our building, which is a pedestrian walkway and sits there or down to the park further down the street. This is all on a pretty steep hill, but he manages. He can only go about 15 feet and then has to sit down for a spell. But he makes it. Told me today his goal is to get to a small restaurant a few blocks away and have eggs benedict. So he is exercising for that trip.
Even though it's Labor Day weekend, the physical therapist came on Saturday, and the Speech Therapist is to come tomorrow afternoon, Labor Day Monday. Then as the week goes on they all return as does the nurse and maybe an Aid. I'm not so sure about how helpful having an Aid will be, but will give it a try.
Redjeb ate much more today, which I was happy to see. We are trying to find foods that he can eat that are also pleasing to the eye and tasty. So for breakfast we had smoked salmon and cream cheese: typical New York breakfast. He ate a nice lunch too, slacked off a bit in the eve. But still all in all was good.
Some of you have asked what he can eat, so you can bring something. Is hard to say. I looked up "soft diet for swallowing problems" on Google and read some articles. Not sure where it leaves us. Some good foods would be fish, pureed vegetable soup (on the thick side), steamed vegetables, flan, creme brulee (though he's staying away from sweets as too much was sweetened in the nursing home & hospital.) I bought the ingredients for a beef stew. He will skip the beef part, but it will flavor the stew and give it some nutrients. Now that I read what I have just written is probably hard for you to bring food.
But he is getting back into reading as I think I mentioned before: spy and detective stories, science fiction, historical novels. He has a new Kindle so he can now download but he does like to hold a real book in his hands. We are also going to start up Netflix again, but if you have a CD of a really good movie we could perhaps watch that. But in reality just coming to visit is enough. We both enjoy seeing our friends and getting back in touch with what is going on in people's lives and in the world. Our own world has become too narrow. The country is about to go to war again, and it seems to belong to a different universe. One thing I would add to the visits is don't kiss us hello and goodbye, as is probably best that we avoid getting "germs" for a while. Sounds silly but just thought I'd add this precaution.
I like to hear about good movies, so I can see them maybe and then tell the stories to Redjeb, or maybe watch them on Netflix, when we finally get our act together to restart it again.
So I shall say adieu for now. Tune in next Sunday--or Monday in case I get the blog done on the late side.
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