After last week, a whirl wind of fun, yesterday brought that all to a slow pace and a complete stop. With Roy's relatively new diagnosis of diabetes and his overachiever approach to getting it under control, some side effects from overachieving brought him to a screeching halt. I'll not go into details but I was a bit concerned and if you know Roy he can be a stubborn one, so I texted our friend and my Dr, Andy. Of course I consulted Dr Google first, and yes, that is always such a good thing to do...not! Andy called, gave us suggestions of what to do and when, if it came to that, we needed to be concerned which means getting to an urgent care or worse, the ER. I went to CVS and picked up supplies, returned home with them, and thus the next part of the journey began. It was a long evening into a longer night and even this morning feels a bit long in the tooth, but I think Roy has turned a corner. He is finally sleeping and will need the day to regain his momentum. Seeing Roy ill is not something you see too often and it un-nerves me each time. He is such a good caregiver and in the recent past years of recovering from a virus attaching my heart, he has taken such good care of me and I wanted to extend that same kind of care to him. Although, we did have a few good laughs of his approach that he takes some times and I was able to spring it on him. A few know the story of and I will tell it again, but not now.
I am so glad we were able to get out and about last week. Roy had never been on 441 through the Smoky Mountain National Park, so we made that trek last Wednesday. We were not disappointed. The elk were out in herds and Roy was able to get some great pictures. While it was still early, we went to Clingmans Dome. We were treated to several ice walls on the huge rocks on the mountainside. Mesmerizing beauty. We parked and began the walk up to the observation area, only I realized in that short distance, to stop, let Roy go on and I would head back to the parking lot and wait for him. The incline of the climb was taxing my heart and it began to flutter quite a bit. Why I am doing well now is that I stay in the parameters my cardiologist set for me and when I stay in those boundaries, I am active and feel good. Roy said I got better pictures from the view that one is treated to in the parking lot. He said people were lining the walk up to the observation deck, tired, exhausted and not in shape to make the climb. He was so happy I turned back. After taking pics, I went to the car and picked up my "car book" and waited for Roy. It took a few minutes for me to remember the storyline of the book, but it returned. We headed over to Pigeon Forge and didn't stay there too long, so commercialized. Told Roy Gatlinburg is worse, more compact, more people, so we began heading back toward home with a stop at Barbers Orchard and a very late lunch at Blue Rooster. We had a lovely day.
On Tuesday, we went to Otto, NC to peruse Bryant's Antique Mall. We stopped at the Smoky Mountain Guest Center there, where we found several good buys. Roy bought a jacket and we both got several t-shirts, twenty five percent off as well. We found a couple of things at the antique mall and stopped in at an architectural repurposing yard and found a few things there as well.
This past week held a few firsts. Roy made his cauliflower crust pizza and y'all, it was very good! I also tasted a roasted brussels sprouts and the consensus is, I still don't like them.
We worked in the garage on Thursday and had quite a load for the landfill and for Goodwill. We still have a little bit left to go through, but the hardest work has been done. We also went through Roy's closet and chest of drawers and we have more stuff for Goodwill. There is always something to take care of around here. No complaints, just a fact.
Only love could send me to the store on a Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Roy needed some stuff, so I picked up his supplies, cat food, bread and milk. It was a busy day there at the store but there were plenty of cashiers. Walmart and Target make it feel like such an oppressive experience. They blame Covid but to me the lack of cashiers is a cost savings for them. It is making curbside sound better, well for Target, but what the hey, doesn't matter right now. We are quickly getting to the time when I vow for no Target visits until January.
The patient is doing much better this afternoon. He is resting and watching TV. I was going to do some outside Christmas decorating, but it is too cold. Thanksgiving is supposed to be warm, so maybe that's when we will finish up. Roy is watching Walker, Texas Ranger...not my style but while he wasn't feeling well, he watched The Andy Griffith Show and The Simpsons with me.
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