Another bad day

Yesterday started out strangely. I woke up early, and was reading the New Yorker till I dropped off to sleep again, only to get wakened by the phone an hour or so later (a bill collector). In the confusion of straightening that out (I put the bill, a minor amount, on my credit card), I took off the bi-pap mask but somehow forgot to hook myself up to the nasal cannula.

I was feeling really awful, gasping for breath, for about an hour, until I suddenly realized I wasn't wearing my oxygen. And even once I had it on, I continued to feel lousy most of the day. I felt weak and tired and was coughing up some ugly purple stuff. Ann arrived and started doing stuff like emptying the dishwasher and making jello. Marty was talking about going out to do grocery shopping but he got busy with some of his own work. He wanted to go out to dinner (since Passover was over and he could eat regular food again--he said his "tradition" was to eat pizza on the first night after Passover).

I decided I felt strong enough to take a shower as long as Ann could comb my hair--as always, a shower felt great and lifted my spirits. It was a really warm day, and we drove with the windows open. We went to Watertown, to the pizza place we often go to after acupuncture--a kind of upscale, "gourmet" pizza place. I like it because they have the option of whole wheat crust, and I had a delicious special: eggplant, caramelized onions, and ricotta, along with a beer. As often happens, I felt stronger as the day went on, although by the time we were finished eating I was getting pretty tired. Marty had a conference call, so we drove home and I rested in bed, feeling better than I had for most of the day.

Today I think will be different. I feel stronger (although I'm coughing up a lot of very thick mucus, which takes a lot of effort). I have some medicine to thin the mucus, so I just took some of that (I know that when Kathy gets here in a little while she will ask me if I took it). Ann will be here again today; Marty has a doctor's appointment with the foot doctor. His foot has been bothering him all week, so I'm glad he's finally having someone look at it. I think he worries about me so much he's not taking care of himself, which is not good. One of the main things I used to tell people when I taught advocacy skills is how important it is to take care of oneself ("otherwise, you can't take care of anyone else").