Discharge went quickly after the morning visit from the pulmonologist. Apparently they want people out by 2 PM and about 1:30 they wheeled him out of the hospital and into the car. I spent the afternoon cleaning Marc's bedroom and setting up the air purifier the kid's bought. I shouldn't have had to clean the room as grandgirl Jade had arranged a professional cleaning service to clean the house while Marc was in the hospital. Apparently all they did was dust and then only the top surfaces. Granted, there was a huge accumulation of dust and pet hair in his room and on the wall of shelves but I don't think they wiped down anything with so much as a wet rag, much less cleaner and the shelves which I had emptied prior to them coming were grimy. And while I didn't expect them to oil the furniture, they didn't even clean off the visible mildew on the chest, bed frame and doors. Didn't even wipe off the windowsills. No complaints really about the rest of the house but his bedroom was top priority.
How did it get so bad you might ask? Well, we sleep in separate bedrooms because of his snoring and our individual general restlessness. Before when we slept in the same bed we were both sleep deprived much of the time. I admit I'm not the best housekeeper, too many other things I'd rather do with my time, but I keep my bedroom relatively clean and the floors and occasionally dust the rest of the house though I do keep the bathrooms and kitchen clean, but I don't go in his bedroom. The shelves on his side of the bed were a nightmare of paper and pictures and ball caps and all kinds of miscellaneous stuff and containers of coins, an avalanche of loose coins in one corner that I put into the two smaller jars. If you want to know why there was a coin shortage during covid...
I'm taking them to the bank and converting them into paper money.
Yesterday was arranging for a primary care doc with which he has an appointment today to get the referral for his follow up care with the pulmonologist, bill paying, grocery shopping, dog walking, and dinner fixing. I had about 20 minutes of sitting and relaxing all day until after dinner. This evening I'm going to yoga class for the first time in 3 weeks.
So, the third trouble, and some of this may be TMI but too bad. At 72, sometimes, and this only happens at home, sometimes when I have to pee it is URGENT (amount has nothing to do with it) and I was struggling to get my jeans down before I wet my pants and my phone slipped out of my pocket and, yep, into the toilet. Well fuck. Heard of that happening to many people and I always thought to myself, really? How on earth are you so dumb as to let your phone fall in the toilet.
Just call me dumbass.
Anyway, I fished it out, dried it off, used canned compressed air to blow out as much water as I could and nestled it in a bed of rice in front of the electric space heater. It was working mostly OK as soon as I dried it off and blew the water out except it had reverted to silent/headphones mode. Eventually I got the sound back and I can hear everyone on the phone perfectly but they hear faint garbly speech from me and I have to yell to make myself heard. So I'm getting a new phone which I really did already need. Maybe Friday, probably next week as the rest of this one is devoted to getting Marc set up with a primary care appointments and a referral.
I would never let anyone into my home to clean. I keep a fairly clean house considering David and the puppies track dirt and debris in at all hours and I'm constantly having to pick up clothes, dishes, and dog toys. Oh, and that is one of Murphy's Laws concerning phones. No matter what, if your near a toilet your phone will fall into it. I think it also has to do with one of the scientific laws of attraction. You might want to look it up.
ReplyDeleteAha, the dropping-the-thingummie-into-the-loo syndrome. You are not alone in this. For those of us with loos separate from what we call the bathroom and you call something else, there's a tendency to install what we call a medicine cabinet (goodness knows what you call it) on the most available bit of wall in what is a moderately cramped location. And guess where this usually is? Right in one! Over the loo.
ReplyDeleteAnd like fools we keep prescription drugs in the medicine cabinet. Look, my standards of hygiene would make the average US suburbanite blench with horror but there are limits even for me. I'm presently on blood thinners and the pharmacy only allows me 28 tablets at a time. The orange discs (which look like Smarties but which you would call M&Ms) are like gold dust. You know what's coming up, don't you? Let me reassure you. Yes I could see it down there in its orangeness... Down there where a lot of unmentionables had gone before. You'll be delighted to know I wasn't even tempted.
And I am 87 (On days when depression sets in I say "Three years short of ninety".) Did I tell you that before? I'm kinda forgetful these days. It could be the blood thinners.
It's surprisingly easy to drop a phone in the toilet. I haven't done it myself but I've had a few close calls and can definitely see how it would happen.
ReplyDeleteApparently many, many people have coin stashes like that. I've read that the majority of pennies wind up in jars and buckets, and many are never circulated again. I guess they just sit in those buckets forever!
Thanks for sharing all this which seems like three times more overwhelming than anyone should go through. Glad a new phone is in your future. I've got real problems with mold, when I turn my back. On windows after cold nights, it's always condensation, and gets into the cracks below...which then doesn't help my breathing one bit!
ReplyDeleteWe sleep in separate bedrooms too & Mike's is SO DUSTY! I go in there about every two weeks to dust the main surfaces, but we really need to take everything out & wipe it down & hose it off. Ha!
ReplyDeleteI haven't dropped my phone in the toilet, but I have had it slide into the sink while I was washing my hands (set it on the side so I could keep reading my book). That was traumatic, but it was fine.
You know, I was sort of waiting for the third thing to pop up. As in- bad things come in threes.
ReplyDeleteBUT you've wanted and needed a new phone and now you will get one and that is a good thing.
You and I are so alike in many ways. One of them being our dislike of housecleaning. I relate. Also, we are married to men who stash their coins. Glen has about twenty pounds of them in a box on his dresser. It is a nice box though.
It was incredibly sweet of Jade to arrange for professional cleaning but dang- I've had the same experience the few times I've done the same. I'm paying for THIS? Well, that room is now clean.
May only good things follow.
Hopefully, you have all of the bad things for 2023 finished now and the rest of the year will be fabulous!
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that having to clean your man's messy shelves is worse than dropping something into the loo.
ReplyDeleteThe one and only time I used a professional cleaner was when we lived for a few months in the UK and got nervous about losing the deposit for the temporary rental space. We left them do their job and when we returned it looked clean but different. What they had done was take pictures of the rooms before cleaning and then put everything back where it was, only in two rooms, they somehow got a mirror image to work on. We left it like that but well it was spooky.
I am so sorry you are going through all of this! I understand, since I am still getting used to my new role as chief caretaker of everything. The Patient has had that defeated look on his face for the past week. I didn't mind being the one to take care of his every need while he was so sick and in so much pain. It was a role I accepted without reservation. That being said, I find it so annoying to do everything while he just sits with a blank look on his face, not even trying to take on any responsibility. Like he has given up and is waiting to die. I am at a loss and I am not happy with my new role and don't know how to change it. No matter that I have told him how happy I am that he is beginning to feel better and hope that he will be more active and how very lonely it was without him. I hope Marc continues to improve and gets back to a more "normal" way of life, so that you can, as well!
ReplyDeleteI'm not the best housekeeper, either, and unfortunately I can't lay the clutter or the dust on anyone else, since there's just me in this place. I have gotten better over the years, though. One advantage of moving into a smaller apartment is that I don't like to see clutter from my desk. Since I can see most of the place from my desk, I manage to keep things at a dull roar.
ReplyDeleteI confess I laughed a bit at your phone story. At least you only dropped yours into the toilet. That's an accident. A few years ago I laundered my flip phone. That was stupidity, or at least radical inattention!
I did that once, and didn't even have to pee that bad. Had to replace the phone. Now, as I'm walking to the bathroom, I pull the phone from my pocket and throw it on the bathroom counter as soon as I walk into the bathroom.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the phone. It seems like I just get used to a recent phone, get the screens how I want them, which takes awhile, and then the battery dies. It's exhausting when a partner is unavailable, everything falls on the other. I don't suppose you can order take out to be delivered where you are.
ReplyDeleteWe did get pizza from the Italian restaurant Monday night. It's going to be part of a new normal, take out at least once a week.
DeleteBack in the day when I was working and before the corporation I worked for had started providing company cellphones to all managers we had pagers. They had a clip on the carrier that one could clip over the waistband and belt of your slacks, I guess that I hadn't properly clipped mine on that day and it jumped to its death........
ReplyDeleteoh dear! ha! i am going to follow your blog, we have a lot in common, ailing husband and our housekeeping style, and maybe pelvic floor exercises, i am sure you are into those.
ReplyDeleteGreat! The more the merrier. I'm big into yoga, go to class 3 days a week, one of which focuses on core and strength building.
DeleteI clearly missed some things while I had my head down. I'm off to read the rest of the posts I missed so I can catch up. I hope all goes well with Marc's recovery. I have been there. You're going to be very busy managing the healing.
ReplyDeleteDust is me. I live alone so this is all me or shit of me from the dust mites. I bet you I am much worse but since I leave gross until super cleaning, I'm just a bipolar housekeeper
ReplyDeleteThe fact a professional cleaning service that got paid to do a professional job, did such a crappy one, I find no excuse for. I'm no domestic goddess either, but if I paid a Pro to come in and clean, I'd at least have the expectations they know how to do it and properly, not a half-assed attempt. Ailing Spouses consume a lot of whatever we have in us and Caregiving is never an easy task. I do Hope your Beloved continues recovering at Home, it is sometimes difficult to recover in a Hospital setting and most do far better when they can return Home and around those who truly Love and Care about them and their Recovery. As for urgency, yeah, moreso than in younger years... but luckily I don't bring my Phone anywhere with me when at Home and keep it in my Purse otherwise, so it's never taken a dunk in the toilet.
ReplyDelete