Tuesday, July 3

Up around 7:30 this morning, but skipped my exercises, so I could get ready to meet an appointment with my cardiologist at 11 a.m. I probably would have had time to exercise, but I was waiting for the nurse at the clinic to return my call to let me know if I needed to skip breakfast and liquids this morning. When I hadn't gotten a call by 9:30, Hubbie and I went ahead with our usual breakfast.

Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 10 a.m., and she prepared tomatoes for the freezer. The tomatoes are stressed by the heat, and a bunch of them were blistering, splitting, and softening on the vine, so they needed to be preserved before we lost them.

I left for my appointment just after 10:30, and didn't have to wait long before I was taken back. The nurse decided it was time to hook me up to a machine that indicates if a patient is dehydrated or has too much fluid, and takes a blood pressure reading, as it does an electrocardiogram.

This required the nurse to apply connector pads everywhere on my upper body, and hook leads to them. Unfortunately, the machine didn't work, so the nurse called in another nurse, and they used their hands to press against the pads, hoping to get a reading. No dice. So they unhooked everything, and ripped off the sticky pads. I'm allegic to the adhesive on these pads, so I now have red marks on my neck and torso.

The nurse took my BP the old way, and said it couldn't be better. That was happy news. After the nurse was done with me, she called in the cardiologist, who said my electrocardiogram was good. So I won't need a stress test until January.

I was back home by noon, breathing a sigh of relief that the worst part of my day was over. I'm not fond of doctor appointments.

I fixed a lunch for us, and afterward encouraged Mother to take a nap, while Hubbie and I ran errands...to the post office, to the newspaper office to drop off this week's word search puzzle contest, to the farmer's market (no one there), and to a town about fifteen miles away to pick up cantaloupes, a watermelon, and peaches.

Mother was awake, but remained on the couch to rest a while longer.

Later, I sauteed mushrooms, bell pepper, and onion for a supper of scrambled eggs, with biscuits and gravy. I chose this meal, one, so we could finish the biscuits we made late last week and, two, because my mind's a blank about what meals to fix this week. I'm playing it by ear day-by-day.

After supper, I accompanied Mother to her house, helped her take a shower, and then threw a load of laundry in the washer.

At home, Hubbie and I wasted time in front of TV.