Friday, January 9, 2009

Can I feed myself?

Well, I seem to be lacking in several skills lately. Obviously, if you have read these things at all (and you have my profound apologies, if you have), you may have read the one about dressing myself.

Yesterday (Thursday) at work I was sitting in my cubicle at work. The folks nearest to my cube were both gone - one, out of the building (I think) and the other in a conference call in a cube about 20 or 30 feet across an aisle-kind-of-thingy. And suddenly my vision was darkening and I felt like I was gonna lose consciousness. I though I had heard a guy about 2 cubes away (nearest co-worker) and I wasn't sure if my voice would or could be heard. But I called out his name, got no response, then turned up the volume and repeated his name. Fortunately for me, he answered me and I asked if he could come over to my cube. Which he did, and I told him I thought I was gonna pass out. So he stepped close enough to rub my shoulder and ask questions like how did I feel, etc. And (according to him) I proceeded to pass out - just for a minute or so - and was still sitting, but slumped a bit to the side. Of course, I was not the best witness of me, at that time. I don't know how the crowd started showing up in my cube, but they got me to lie down (lay down? I am never sure what is the right word to use) on the floor and they elevated my feet and made sure that my head was lower than my feet.

Next thing I knew, my dept. manager and also the head of HR (call her M) show up. Some of them want me to go to an ER to get checked out. And all I can think of is the co-pay that I will be responsible for. Well, M suggests getting one of EMT's to check me out. These guys operate out of the Marine Dept., so she phones the dept. head and he's not there; and neither is his secretary. By now, I am laughing about this - good thing it was NOT a real emergency, eh? And I am feeling like I am probably NOT going to pass out, so someone grabs my cup of water off my desk and then my smoothie, and I drink most of the water and finish the smoothie.

Then come the questions about how much I had had to eat that day. And I had to admit that it probably hadn't been that much. Not intentionally - but it just happened, and there was a trend like that for the several days preceding that day. My conclusion is this was from low blood sugar. So I am trying - really I am - to eat something at every mealtime. Today I had half a bagel (Panera - yummy!) plus a small cup of coffee in the a.m.; half a burger and half a malt (Beck's - yum again); and a bowl of chicken wild rice soup (thawed from a batch that I had made and frozen back in December). And I am sippin' at a glass of red wine - I think that I poured it about 2+ hours ago. I will have to work at that drinking pace...

They would not let me leave by myself (usually I take the van pool to work, but I'd driven myself that day). So one of the guys who rides in the same van was elected to ride with me (I think they thought he would drive, but HEY, it's MY car). Anyway, I dropped him off at his car at the parking lot, and I got him there just fine, thank you very much. And then got me home - also just fine.

So now I have failed at dressing myself AND feeding myself. Can an assisted living center be coming far behind this?

On unrelated news: my sis put in her two cents' worth on this "my sister's boyfriend" replacement. She wasn't fond of that "beau" word, either (P - you will be very happy about that!). So I think I will just call him "my sister's guy". P (friend from high school) had suggested "my sister's friend" and I said that I didn't like it, because someone might think my sister was gay. And he replied (this was on back-and-forth e-mails) that that was politically incorrect of me (in a kidding fashion); I retorted that this was, after all, MY blog and I got to choose! So R, you are offically "my sister's guy". Well, I guess you have been for some time - but now you have that name on my blog, as well. Love ya, sis! Hugs to your guy!

3 comments:

Janine said...

OMG, you mother doesn't know about any of this, does she?!!
I have the same problem with eating. I simply forget for most of the day. It's not something I think about, which most people don't understand.
I started to pass out when the guy couldn't find my vein last week for the CT scan, but I think that had more to do with him announcing that he had "lost the vein and couldn't get it" after digging after it for a while.
Anyway, maybe we'll have to send each other reminders to eat. How embarrassing!

jessica said...

Yes, it WAS embarrassing! And I was SO happy that the EMT's could not be dispatched, too. Just gotta remember to eat - BOTH of us do, apparently.

I have talked with several others in this W/W group here in Houston. It seems like we go one of two ways after our spouses die - either sitting home, stuffing our faces; or (your way and mine) just putting food on the back burner (pun NOT intended), as far as "to do's" go.

A couple of years ago, I had to be in for some stupid thing or another, and I had a doctor (maybe he was a resident) doing that same kind of "digging". My bruises from all of those sites were one of the worst souvenirs of that time. He did not know what he was doing and it hurt, all that poking into my poor ol' bod. I am thin enough that you can SEE my veins at various places, like where your elbow bends. That guy should have left the task to the skilled people, like the nursing staff. Men sometimes think they can do SO much better than women - and they just need to learn how to admit defeat!

Janine said...

LOL!
Here's the thing .... (well, here's one of many, many "things"!) .... I have great veins. Always have. Never had a problem getting blood out of them. This guy took one look and then announced that he'd rather go "down the middle". I did a double take .... would've done a spit take had I a mouthful of water ..... because I have very visible veins on each SIDE of the middle, but nary a vein in sight IN the middle. So not so surprising that he "couldn't get it" or "lost it". He never should have uttered those words .... because that's definitely when I started to pass out.
Oh, and after they laid me out on a gurney he stated that he would now go in one of the side veins.
Men!