Tuesday, May 14

Had one of those nights, again. Woke up at 4:30, and tossed until 6:30. Drifted off, and woke up again at 7:30. Did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30, and then he went to another town to pick up the computer.

The tech said when the anti-virus program updated itself, it also turned off the CD burner. Took the tech a while to figure it out, and I never would have, I don't think. I'll know to look for that if the problem arises again.

After exercising, I dressed for an outing to the hospital conference room for a noon luncheon/talk. Mother was already dressed to go, and Hubbie changed into appropriate clothing after he returned with the computer.

 Today, the talk was about stroke...statistics on the incidence of it, how to recognize the symptoms, and what to do in case it happens to us or a family member. I was surprised to learn that our state is third in the nation for strokes.

Men and African-Americans are more likely to suffer strokes, but women are more at risk at older ages, and women are more likely to die of it.

The doctor who gave the program injected humor into his talk. At one point, he did an imitation of Jeff Foxworthy's "If you (etc.), you might be a redneck," except he substituted "If your face is drooping, you might be having a stroke,"  or "If you can't raise one of your arms, you might be having a stroke."

At another point, he showed an MRI of a brain with a blood clot, and described how it would be treated. Then he joked that he is a big fisherman. "I live, breathe, and eat fishing," he said. "But at one point, I had symptoms that needed to be diagnosed, and so I got an MRI. Here's what it indicated." And he showed us a slide of a brain with fish floating in it."

Later, he showed us an entertaining You Tube animated Hip-Hop video, "Stroke Ain't no Joke...Stop My Stroke."

Literature was also provided at each place at the table, including refrigerator magnets with info on how to recognize a stroke.

Lunch today was chicken breasts in gravy, mashed potatoes topped with yellow cheese, and mixed veggies, along with mixed fresh fruits. I was glad that today we didn't have to stand in line endlessly while the person in front of us picked all the strawberries out of the fruit bowl. Last month, a woman actually did that.

We were back home shortly after 1 p.m. Hubbie promptly went shopping for groceries, and after Mother and I changed into work clothes, we got a pork roast ready for the slow cooker. Then she and I watched last night's episode of "Dancing With the Stars."

Later, I went into the back yard to snap photos of a really pretty peony bush. The flowers smell so good that we cut one for a bud vase for Mother to enjoy.

The roast, cooked with carrots and onions, and mashed potatoes and gravy, along with individual cups of applesauce, was exceptionally good tonight. After supper, Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house.

Then he and I went to the movie theater to see "The Great Gatsby" in 3-D. The critics have panned the film as too long and too excessively opulent. We didn't know any better than to go ahead and enjoy it.

About 25 people were in the theater, which was more than we expected for a Tuesday night. It was after 10 p.m. when we got home. We'd spent three hours there, though an hour of that was taken up with commercials and movie previews. We arrived a little early, so we could nab the only two high-backed comfy seats in the theater.

I also took along a jacket, since the theater has always been notoriously cold. Tonight, though, it was warm almost to stuffiness. The same was true at the hospital yesterday. I was surprised that the conference room wasn't chillier. Even Mother came out of her jacket. Guess businesses and institutions are trying to save money on air conditioning.