Sunday.  A day of rest.  Basically.  We did the usual – I walked, had breakfast, went swimming, I went shopping, then we decided to go to the movies.  We went to see In a World, which we both agreed was pretty terrific.  Quirky and funny, but also some great characters and a good heart.  Then home and dinner and, you guessed it, Dexter and some more episodes of Breaking Bad. I hate to predict, but I have a feeling I know where the story is heading.

Walter forwarded an article about a treatment for dizziness, and we tried it today.  No luck yet, but the article said that sometimes it takes multiple tries.  It contends that the dizziness is caused by Dislodged Ear Rocks that need to get settled back in their place.  I will forward this to the Doctor as well and see if there is a specialist to see.

Then the blog and the book.  Didn’t read much of the book because it was late.  Also, you may have noticed that we haven’t taken our evening walks for the past two days.  This is because, we really can’t walk in the heat of the day, and at the moment between when the sun goes behind the mountain and it sets is party-time for the mosquitoes and no-see-ems.  Very irritating.  We talked about getting up early, but I think that I couldn’t rouse David at 7 or 8 and that is what it would take.  This week’s schedule is pretty full with PT, Speech, etc, but the highlight is Dance with Caren Doll (Judy’s stand-in) tomorrow.  I will try to video tape some of that for your viewing pleasure.

So, tonight’s title for the blog has to do with David saying sorry to me a couple of times this evening.  He wasn’t saying sorry for anything specific that happened, he just looks at me every once in a while and says a general sorry.  I tell him he has nothing to be sorry about, but I appreciate the sympathy and (now this will give away the song to many) I have to say, while things are sometimes (maybe even most of the time) difficult, I am still grateful for all the good things that we have.

A good, quiet day.  Had a nice FaceTime visit with Alex, Claire and Theo.  They are still settling into their place in Paris, but it sounds like it may take a while for all the pieces to fall into place.  Fortunately, their friends Ed and Alexis are being very helpful.  So comforting to know that they have good friends to lean on.

We went in the pool and exercised, but David is still pretty dizzy all the time.  I sent an email to the Doctor to see if adjusting his medication might help.  There are three drugs that he is taking, and two of them might possibly be stopped or have the dosage reduced.  We will see what he says, but I think we need to try something at this point.  I had orientation for the chorus, which went well, but I find that I am feeling pretty anti-social, and find it difficult to make small talk.  I did have a nice chat with the baritone section leader, who is from DC, and says that he remembers my name, because it was on the baritone section list for years after I auditioned, but didn’t join the GMCGW.  We talked about H Street and the Atlas, and of course, we had a lot of friends in common.

Anyway, that was the highlight, the lowlight was during one of the “getting to know the new members” exercises.  Ala Cinderella, all the new members were to leave one shoe at the front of the room, and the older members were supposed to pick a shoe, find its owner and ask three questions and then introduce the new member to the group.  Well, my “prince” found me, and proceeded to tell me that I was his buddy, and the purpose of the exercise was to pair folks up, and I was to call if I had any questions or needed to miss a rehearsal or anything.  Now, I knew that this wasn’t what the exercise was about – I already had a buddy, but I wasn’t in the mood to argue, so let it go.  Then people started being called up to introduce the newbies.  Next time I looked back to my “prince”, he was gone.  Nowhere to be found.  They went through the list, and the membership leader asked if there was anyone left, and I raised my hand (I had thought of slinking out, but decided to be brave) and said that my “Prince Charming” had to run because it was midnight.  I thought it was funny, but all I got were blank stares.  I then had to explain that the guy who picked up my shoe must have been frightened of me, and that I often have that effect on men.  Still nothing.  I then said I would take the liberty of introducing myself, which I did.  I have to say, it does concern me that folks here take things so literally.  I don’t think it was my delivery, but who knows.  I did get a special prize for my bravery – a cap and a mug.

Before and after the orientation, David and I watched a lot of Breaking Bad.  We got through Season 2 and have started Season 3.  In between, dinner and then ended the evening with the blog and the book.  Now it is the quest for determining the age of the earth and and at the same time avoid heresy charge.  Nobody yet is up to the task.  Also the story of the first dinosaur bone found in NJ and lost soon after in Philadelphia.

OK, that is an easy one, but it is appropriate.  Today, I got a number of very nice supportive emails, so thanks for that.  I have to say, when people ask about my work, it is never in an aggressive or judgmental way, but just curious.  It is all my own baggage that I have to get over, not theirs. David, as many of you will know, is relentless, and when I told him that I was getting nice, supportive and complimentary comments from folks, he wanted to know what nice things people were saying about him!  Thus, the song lyric, and the reassuring knowledge that David is David.

I slept in late, so no walk this morning, but it was nice to get the extra shuteye.  We got up and went into the pool, and then is was time to go to Physical Therapy.  Yesterday the the electro stimulator arrived, so we brought that with us, and Jeffrey worked with it a little bit.  He has been working on David’s arm a lot.
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David is still feeling dizzy, and when we got home, he took a nap, and I ran some errands, and when I got home, I laid down for a while, but was awakened when Maria, our cleaning lady, stopped by with some delicious food.  Very good!  A little spicy, so I think it will be mostly mine!  Then dinner, a few more episodes of Breaking Bad, I had to read the blog again, and more of the book.  At a certain point while reading the book, David wanted to know what the names of the planets were in French and German.  I am not sure if I was more surprised by the question or that I was able to decipher the question.  Bravo all around, and I found out that “Sun” in Indonesian is Matahari.  Who knew?

Took a short walk this morning because I got a late start, and we had an appointment with the nurse at the Doctor’s office.  She was going to remove some of the wax buildup in David’s ears.  That went well, and from my point of view, I think they are now clean!  I am hoping that this will help with the dizziness, but David says he still feels dizzy.  It may take a while to settle down if it had anything to do with ear pressure.

After that, we went to the Stroke Recovery Center for “Let’s get Physical”.  Today it was really just playing catch with various sizes and types of balls.  Hand-eye coordination.  David was doing very well, and it is just a nice social setting.  I don’t think I mentioned this, but next week we are going to see the speech therapist at the center, and hopefully get that started up.  Mary, the therapist says that there is another gentleman who has similar difficulties who she would like to form a group with David.  That could be terrific.

After that, we went to the barber downtown, and got haircuts.  I was in desperate need!  The barbers are nice at this place, so I think it will become our regular spot.  Afterwards, we went to Bill’s for pizza.  It was good and very cheesy.  And if the morning already wasn’t enough, we went to Michael’s Craft Store to pick up a shadowbox to frame the picture that Kathleen sent to David last year while he was in the hospital.  It looks beautiful!
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Then, finally home, and David was in need of a rest, so he took it.  I joined him for a bit, and then started dinner.  Made scallops and risotto with spinach.  As soon as that was done, it was time for Project Runway.  Nice to have Michael Kors back, even if it is just for one night.  Then the blog and book and sleep for David.  I am still up (obviously).

Tonight’s blog title is about something that has been weighing on my mind.  I have been asked a number of times since we are back in Palm Springs what I do for work, and my answer is often pretty awkward.  How do you explain that you actually do work, but just not at a job.  I don’t think there is a title for what I do now.  Maybe I will just say that I write a blog!

Another weather day in the desert.  We got up in the morning and did exercise and then had to go to the doctor.  David is still dizzy, and unfortunately, the Dr says aside from what he was prescribed at the hospital, there isn’t anything to take for the dizziness.  He thinks that it may be a side effect from one or two of the medications he is on.  David didn’t like that answer.  Dr. Loftus said that he thought the best thing to do is get as much Physical Therapy as possible, and hopefully that will have an effect on the problem.  He also is having the nurse clean the wax out of his ears, and who knows, that may do something.

When we left the Dr’s office, the wind was something fierce and there was a sandstorm that had reduced visibility quite a lot.  Then, on our way to the Stroke Recovery Center, the thunder started up.  We had an appointment to get a gym orientation at the SRC, and that went very well.  The radio was playing and every once in a while (between Tony Bennet and Frank Sinatra songs) there was an emergency broadcast about the flash floods that were expected in the desert.  It was stirring up and the mountains looked quite ominous again today.  The gym has lots of machines to work on and David is anxious to get started.

Then, home and picked up some sandwiches at Aspen Mills.  David was exhausted by the time we got home, so he went to bed, and I ate and then took a nap.  Didn’t sleep well last night, so I needed it and was out for a couple of hours, I think.  I woke up when I heard the plate hit the counter in the kitchen.  I wanted to see if David was eating out of the refrigerator, but he wasn’t, he was standing at the counter.  He couldn’t carry the plate to the table, so was going to stand and eat.  I helped get him settled at the table.

By the time I woke up, things had settled down outside, and the sky was relatively clear.  We decided to head out for a walk, and we drove to the walkway along the wash, rather than just take our normal walk down the block.  It was much nicer and the path is wider and has fewer obstacles to deal with.  It is also nice to see the view and watch the stream that appears when there is rain.  It is all very green now after a couple of days of rain.

Then home and we watched some TV – the rest of SYTYCD, two more Breaking Bad, the blog and book.  We are reading about the father of geology now, Mr. Hutton, who seems to have been a jolly fellow (unlike the two more recent examples of irritating genius) but, through thankfully very short examples, had no gift for writing.  He seems to have been almost as well known for his boring and incomprehensible writing style as for his insight.  Fortunately, he had a colleague who was able to translate his work into a palatable style after his death, and who gave him most of the credit.

Today was a good, but strange day.  Called the Doctor’s office and he is on vacation until tomorrow, and will see David at 11:30.  Also finalized some of the insurance loose ends for both David and me, so everything seems to be back on track.  We swam, but didn’t exercise this morning, because David had Physical Therapy with Jeffrey in the early afternoon.  When we were at therapy, David asked about Jeffrey’s son, and I felt bad because I didn’t even recall his mentioning that he had a young son.  I told myself that I probably wasn’t there, but I  am sure I was physically, but not mentally.

When we left, the skies were looking pretty ominous, and it began to rain as we got home.  There was quite a thunderstorm, but it passed pretty quickly.  From the news reports, it did some damage with flash flooding.  A number of streets were closed because of mud.  It is amazing how much havoc rain can cause in the desert.

Made a nice lunch of dumplings and cold sesame noodles – even I was impressed with how tasty it was.  It was quite late, so when it was time for me to leave for chorus rehearsal, I made a sandwich for David to eat later when he got hungry.  He was a bit concerned that I was going to be out for so long, but I think I had everything prepared for him.  Rehearsal was good, and it is great to be singing again.  Met a bunch of folks, and hopefully start to make connections and friends here in Palm Springs.

When I got home, David was still awake and we watched most of So You Think You Can Dance, but stopped when it was time for bed.  I was pleased that David was able to get the sandwich and unwrap it with no problems, although, I think he said he ate it out of the refrigerator.  Not sure how that worked, but it was finished, and he said he liked it.  Then, I read the blog, but no book.  It was late.  It is late now, but I have to pick the title for this entry.  Sometimes it is so easy and other times, it takes some real thought.

Another uneventful day, which can be a good thing.  Walk, exercise, swimming, sunning.  Didn’t venture out of the house except for David’s walk in the afternoon.  The flies were pretty irritating.  So small that you wonder how they could be so annoying!  I took a long nap this afternoon, but David stayed up, and at the end of the evening, he was pleased that he hadn’t had to take a nap today.  Since the dizziness started, he has slept during the day quite a bit, but today he stayed up.

Tomorrow we begin trying to get into see the Doctor.  We also have Physical Therapy.  It is obvious that the weekend is over!  The town will get back to normal I think.  I also have the first rehearsal for the Gay Men’s Chorus, and I will at least be rehearsing with them for the fall, and I think performing in the winter concert.  The director seems to think that my missing about 7 rehearsals won’t be too bad.

Tonigh, we watched three episodes of Breaking Bad, and we are really enjoying it.  Then the blog and more of the book.  We heard about Mr Mason and Mr Dixon and their line and their lives.  Also found out about Mr. Cavendish who apparently leaves Sr. Isaac in the dust for weirdness.

Good day after yesterday and the day before.  Went for my walk, then exercise.  David is still a little tired, but by the afternoon he said the dizziness was much better – still there, but much better.  We went into the pool and worked on our tans.  David is getting to be his old brown self and I have a faint tan line.  Very faint.  Alex called from Paris, and they arrived safe and sound, and Theo was a good traveller they said.  Good to hear!  We will have a longer FaceTime visit tomorrow I hope.

We went to the movies in the afternoon to see Elysium.  It was OK, but Jody Foster was almost comical.  Not sure what kind of accent she was going for, but she certainly came up with a completely new one.  It gave a pretty accurate view of what the world would be like if Republicans ran it in the future.

After the movie, I had a text message from Michael Sluchan who was in Palm Springs from LA.  We had stayed with Michael when we went to a wedding in LA many years ago.  He stopped by before heading to dinner, and we had a great visit.  Got caught up on what he is doing, and filled him in on our lives, both past and future.  We know Michael through Alex, and it was terrific to see him.  Sounds like life is treating him well.

Then dinner, and we were disappointed to find out that there was no new episode of Dexter tonight.  We watched two episodes of Breaking Bad instead.  No blog (I read the entries from yesterday in the afternoon) and no book tonight.  Just sleep.

Just a quick update. David is being sprung. We have to follow up with neurologist and primary care Doctors. Boy is he excited!

The view from David’s hospital room – looking across Bob Hope Dr.

So, I have mentioned that David has complained about being dizzy, and today, we decided to do something about it.  I will backtrack and tell the whole story, but cutting to the heart of the matter, David is in the hospital where they are running some more tests.  They gave him an MRI and discovered that he recently had a very small stroke, and we obviously need to figure out what it is all about.

So, the day began as many, my walk, exercise with David and we got ready to go to the Stroke Recovery Center.  While there, we made an appointment for intake at the gym there, which is next week, then we went to the music performance, which was nice, but David was feeling uncomfortable, and wanted to go to urgent care to see a doctor about this dizzy problem along with a discomfort in his stomach.  We went to the urgent care near us, and was seen pretty quickly.  The nurse practitioner recommended that we go to the emergency room, and David didn’t like that idea.  She said we could do what we wanted, but she said, if David was a family member of hers, she would get him to the emergency room.  All the tests they could do looked normal, so she thought that he needed more looking at.  David would not hear of going in an ambulance, and I said, lets go home, have lunch and then head to the ER.  She assured David that it would only take about two hours (four at the most) and was worth the trouble.  That is what we did.

We arrived at Eisenhower Medical Center at 2:45pm and just as we were approaching the four hour mark, at 6:30pm, David insisted that I go up to the charge nurse and tell him that we were going to leave.  They had done an MRI and blood tests, but we had only seen a doctor for about one minute, and it really was starting to get ridiculous.  He said he would release us, but wanted to check the reports and make sure there was not reason we should stay.  He came back a few minutes later and said that the MRI showed that David had had a stroke.  I, being a smartass and just a little frustrated said, “Well, yes, I know that.  He had a stroke last year.  I told you that when we checked in.”  His reply was, “No, recently”.  “How recent?” asked I, and his answer was “Within the past two weeks”.  Yikes (I didn’t say that, just thought it).  David was puzzled by all this, and I had to explain, but he still didn’t want to stay.  He asked what I thought they would be able to do.  And here, for I think the first time, I just laid down the law and said we were staying.  Moments later, David’s name was called and we went back into the ER.  Not sure if it was coincidence, but I thought it was strange that the charge nurse reading the report and our being called were so close together.

Anyway, we were somewhere, and there were now folks looking in on us.  The doctor who saw David four hours prior came in and said he looked much better.  After he left, we both laughed at that because he looked exactly the same as he did earlier, the Doctor must have confused him with someone else he saw.  The nurse, Alex, got us sandwiches, because at this point it was 7pm.  The doctor said he wanted David to stay overnight, and he started to fight about that, and again, I had to put my foot down.  Alex said that the hospital was very busy, but a bed should be available in 20 minutes to an hour.  It was really only about 35 minutes, and we were upstairs by about 7:45pm.  After the usual rounds of introductions – Doctor, Nurses Aide, Charge Nurse and Nurse – we were off to the races.  David, even in a hospital bed, made sure that I understood that I was to tell everyone that I abandoned him.  He wanted me to stay overnight, and pointed at the empty bed next to him as enticement.  Yes, a bed that will probably be filled within the next few hours.  I resisted, and left at 10pm when he was taken away for an ultrasound.

Anyway, it was quite a day, and I am ready for some shuteye, but not before one story I overheard in the lobby.  There was a woman being checked in as we were waiting at reception.  She looked relatively well heeled, but her head kept falling back as she sat in her wheelchair.  Soon after she got settled, and attendant came up to her and told her that she didn’t need to worry, her bag was being held at the Betty Ford Center.  Yes, just steps from Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra Drive!  Every once in a while I think, what are we doing here??!!  And then, the sun comes up in the morning.

Some of you may wonder how I always seem to have a sunny outlook in this blog, and, generally, I do have a positive outlook on life.  I do, however spare my readers the gory details of day to day living.  Anyway, there were no gory details today, which was good.  I got up and took my walk, and when I got home, David was up, and I fixed him breakfast – he always wants cereal even if I offer to make eggs.  We then had exercise and a shower.  We had a good conference call with Candi to go over our finances, and everything seems to be in pretty good shape.  All good stuff.

Then we had a physical therapy session and sadly, Blade is on vacation for a week and a half, so we had a substitute.  Jeffrey was good though, so not a bad thing, and he has a slightly different approach, which is always good.  He suggested that I investigate buying a small electro stimulator to work on David’s hand and ankle.  He said they are only about $40 and would be worth the investment.  I ordered one tonight, and it is on its way.

After therapy, David was a bit tired, so he took a nap, and I ran to Trader Joe’s to do some shopping.  On my way, I stopped in The Estate Sale, a sort of high end furniture consignment store.  We are looking for two bars, one for the living room and one for by the pool.  I think that I found the one for the pool, but later, when David and I took a drive to look at it, they had closed already.  Tomorrow we will have another outing!  Then home and I took a dip in the pool, and we watched Project Runway, which was good.  It is always nice when none of the remaining designers make me crazy.  Then dinner, bed, an episode of Breaking Bad, the blog and the book.  More craziness from Sr. Isaac.  He must have been totally nuts!!  I think he would have been one of the people I would have wanted voted off the island immediately!

Oh, and more on the good news list – I got a text from Alex and they have their visas and have a flight booked for Saturday evening to Paris!  Bon Voyage!!

For those of you who think that I just pull these quotes out of thin air (or somewhere else?), we went out for a drink tonight, and the bartender was regaling two of the other patrons with a special drink that he made for some sort of bar crawl – a Manhattan made with honey!  For those of you who are “in the know” that should give you a big clue to where this line comes from, but my guess is you all would know this line anyway.

Good day, and David is less dizzy than he has been for the past two days.  We exercised and swam, but I took a long nap in the afternoon, so it was too late to walk.  Sorry, David.  This was after the trip to the bar, so you understand.  David wanted to take a drive in the afternoon and we drove through some neighborhoods in Palm Springs, and ended up at Tropicale, where we didn’t order the special Manhattan.  Now, I don’t want to be critical, it’s not my style (I give credit to David for that one), but I like to taste my scotch or bourbon!  It was nice to be out with David, and we were early, so there weren’t crowds, but as we headed home, it was filling up.

Then home, the nap and a later than he would have liked dinner.  Carousel was on TV, and we watched.  Such a great movie and the “June is Busting Out All Over” number is a classic.  I cried, of course.  Here is my favorite version of “June”.  Hysterical!!  Singer’s nightmare, and I give her lots of credit for keeping going and with such verve!  Also, those lyrics are sort of incomprehensible anyway.
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Then the blog and more of the book.  Nothing disturbing tonight.

We went to speech therapy after I wrote the blog this afternoon.  It went well.  Arlene, the speech therapist, thought David was doing well.  She did a lot of tests with him, and at one point she asked him to count to ten.  He was stuck, and didn’t know how to begin.  I said that I thought she needed to get him started, and she put up one finger, and he was off.  That was the first time that I recall where he didn’t need a verbal cue to get started, and he went right through ten.  I also asked about a group, because is said that he speaks more with other people around, and not just me.  She said that this is very common, and that folks fall into shorthand with people they see regularly – pointing, making hand gestures, etc.

After Speech we came home and I made dinner.  Then I had an audition for the Gay Mens Chorus of Palm Springs.  I was not worried, and there were about 30 folks auditioning.  The notice said to prepare something and bring the music, so I did, but very few of the folks had prepared anything, and luckily, the people who had prepared something went first.  I sang one of my favorites – “Somewhere That’s Green” from Little Shop of Horrors.  I’m no Ellen Greene, but people seemed to enjoy it.  The evening was a sort of meet and greet, so went down to socialize after the audition and met a few nice guys.  I am not sure if I will actually be able to join the chorus, because we will be in Paris for a big chunk of the rehearsal time for the winter concert and on our way to Copenhagen when the spring concert is scheduled.  I may see if there is some other way to help out.

After that, came home and we watched So You Think You Can Dance.  It was the final elimination before the final, and I have to say, I was disappointed with the male dancer who was cut.  It shouldn’t have been him, but, after all, the american public is voting, and look what we were stuck with from 1998 to 2008!!  Anyway, then the blog and the book.  There was a frightening story about Isaac Newton that I had to actually stop reading because it was freaking me out.  You will have to read the book because if I tried to describe it, I would have nightmares.  I am a little edgy just writing this.

After two days of rain, this morning the sky was crystal clear.  You could practically see the leaves on the trees on the mountain.  Well, the ones that hadn’t burned over the summer.  Didn’t post last night, so trying to make up for it today.  Yesterday was a rough day, and David spent most of it in bed.  He was having a problem with being a bit dizzy.  All the activities that were planned for yesterday got scratched.  Blade called and was quite concerned.  This morning, he is still a dizzy, but it is a bit better, and we are heading off to speech therapy in a few minutes.

We did take a walk yesterday, which was difficult, but David wanted to do it.  Because of all the rain, it was cooler but very muggy.  We watched another episode of Breaking Bad, and may even catch up to this season, who knows?  Read the blog and the book, which continues to scare and enthrall me.  More tonight!

OK, now I am just getting lazy.  The only connection the above lyric has is to the day of the week.  Very sad, I have to say, and I am disappointed in me!  Anyway, another uneventful day.  We hung out at the house, exercised and went for a walk.  No swim in the pool today for David.  His toe was bothering him in the morning, but was better in the afternoon.  We had unusual thunderstorms today.  Well, really nothing to write home about, just unusual for Palm Springs.  It was relatively cool today to – only about 95°.

I went out and did a little shopping – just some stuff for around the house, and then we took a long afternoon nap.  Again, I took the longer nap, but David was laying down when I went out shopping, so it all evens out.  Then we had dinner, Dexter, the blog and book.  More distances and numbers that make your head spin, but still good.  Tomorrow we have a full day – Social Security office, the Stroke Recovery Center and Dance with Judy’s stand-in and then Physical Therapy.  I will take some pictures and include them tomorrow.

This morning we both slept in a little later than usual.  Actually, I am not sure if David slept later than usual, because I was on my walk.  It was slightly longer than my usual, and I had a very snappy playlist that kept me going at a pretty good pace. When I got home, we had breakfast, then a swim and some sunning (David is getting his old color back) followed by exercise.  The new exercises that Blade has given us are helping, I think.  He is working on very specific areas – ankle, wrist, forearm, shoulder, knee.  David is slowly getting more movement in his ankle and forearm.  It is a different method than we used before.  It can be repetitive, but he says that even if David isn’t doing much of the work, over time, the brain will make connections, and he will start to do more of it.  I have seen this in both the ankle and forearm, so hopefully the rest will begin to fall into place.

Then, if the afternoon, we went shopping and had lunch in Palm Desert.  We went to the Apple store, and bought a speaker and a stand for David’s iPad.  Both were excellent purchases – The speaker is great, tiny and powerful, and the stand will work very well for David.  He was having trouble working on the iPad and holding it.  We had lunch near Saks and while at dinner, we were talking about movies, and decided to go after lunch.  My Flixter ap said that The World’s End got good reviews, so we went to see that.  About 20 minutes into the movie, I was sure that David didn’t like it at all.  At the end of the movie, he confirmed my fears.  I wasn’t thrilled by it either.  It took too long to get to the plot, and as a buddy movie, it was a bit flat, I thought.  Much better when the alien plotline started, but it was too late then.

Then home and I made summer squash soup for dinner.  I couldn’t find the recipe, so I had to make it from memory.  Not sure if I left something out, but it was good, so I felt OK.  Then the very short blog from last night and more of the book.  Anthony texted me as said the he read the book, and it kinda freaked him out.  I have to say, I am finding it kinda freaky too.  Some of the numbers are just scary, and he went on more about the size of the solar system, and did some comparisons of the distances of planets based on size. If earth is a pea, pluto is the size of a bacterium and is 1.5 miles away.  How do you even begin to wrap your head around that!?

Today was pretty dull.  Exercised, walked, shopped, had lunch at Nature’s Cafe and watched Gypsy.  The one with Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood.  I read the blog to David early in the day, and he told me that I should go out dancing one of these nights, and I might just do that. I think it is because of the video, and I also said that in NY, I went out once in a while, which I haven’t done since we got to California.

The raccoon did not make a return visit tonight, which was a good thing, I think.  We read some more about the cosmos in A Short History of Nearly Everything.  Tonight it was about how immense the solar system is.

Today, after quite a start of the morning, I was pretty productive. David and I almost came to blows about my to-do list. There were three things that I didn’t have on the list, and he didn’t understand why I hadn’t added them, or forgot them. Anyway, I immediately thought of this, and while the show was never produced on Broadway, it was a musical that I loved, and the video below always cheers me up. Well, this is an updated version, and worth the watch. Sorry for the language, but, that is what makes is so good, I think!

Anyway, after reconstructing the list, and adding a whole bunch more to my list, I tackled some of the items, and was glad to cross them off. More for tomorrow. Then, we had Physical Therapy with Blade. He really is terrific, and gets David and me, which makes everything easier. I also don’t feel bad about having to pay for the initial sessions out of pocket, because, he told me that under Medicare, only 36 sessions per year are covered, and that includes Speech, PT and OT, so we will go through those in about three months.

So, at today’s session, a number of things happened.  Blade thinks that David is communicating very well, and he told us about a colleague he worked with almost 20 years ago who had a stroke, and has more trouble communicating than David does.  He also said that I was very smart, and David just said bad and no.  I think he was still thinking about this morning.  Blade thought I was smart, because I mentioned that I had noticed and change in David’s ankle, and it was looser, and I thought that it might be a sign that he will be getting more movement back in that area.  The same thing happened with his arm when that started to come back.  It is, and we have some more exercises to do with the foot and ankle to encourage that.  Blade also said that he was very impressed with David’s trunk control, and of course, David immediately let me know that I was to write about that in the blog.  I said I was going to find some reference to an elephant and his trunk, but, alas, the only musical I could find was “Elephant: The Musical” from The Tall Guy with Emma Thompson.  Blade also thought that David was walking really well, and he was taking the tips that he was given, and incorporating them well.

Blade asked about the blog, and I confessed that he was mentioned in it already, and that I did not change the names to protect the innocent.  I then explained that while his name is Blade, i was pretty sure he wasn’t ever a stripper, which he confirmed.  He also said that he wanted to come to Paris with us.  Wouldn’t that be nice – to travel with your physical therapist!  I think he was kidding.

Then the bank and home.  David took a short nap, I made dinner and we took a walk and a swim.  Fortunately, we took the swim early, because just before I started writing this, a raccoon was using our cement pond to do his evening exercise.  First he took a dip in the hot tub, and then did a few laps in the pool.  Then he left the building.  Tomorrow is trash pick-up, so my guess is that he (or she) has a regular weekly schedule, but I hope she (or he) uses a different pool each week!

We watched a little TV, then the blog and more of the book.  This morning, when I was taking my walk, I took this picture that I thought was beautiful.

This morning, I took my walk and when I got home, David was up, so we went into the pool.  When we got out, the bandage on his toe had come off, and he scraped it again, so I have to do some first aide.  It looked much better when I changed the bandage later in the day.  We didn’t exercise until later in the day, and didn’t do our usual walk because his toe was hurting. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow.  We also have Physical Therapy.

I did some of the items on my “To-Do List”, but not enough.  One of the items was dealing with medicare.  We took the short drive to the Social Security office, because when I have tried to get information by phone or online, it gets a little frustrating.  A 45 minute wait time on the phone, and it took only 30 minutes to go to the office and get what I needed.  I need to have add part A to David’s medicare, and she said that once I get the form from UNIS, it should be pretty quick.

We went to the movies this afternoon with Donovan, and saw Lee Daniels’ The Butler.  We both liked it a lot, but there was a lot of commotion in the theatre – first, there was a woman and her daughter right behind us, and the mother was having to explain all the civil rights history to her and then, some guy started yelling at a person who was texting during the movie.  They all calmed down.  I also felt very young.  I think I might have been the youngest person in the theatre, except for the daughter sitting behind us.  It was a bit of a history lesson, but certainly one that is worth telling to a younger audience.

Then home, and I ran to the store and made dinner.  We watched another episode of Breaking Bad, and still enjoying it.  Then the blog and more of the new book, A Short History of Everything by Bill Bryson.  Mary Clute had recommended another book by this author, but I thought this one would be good for us.  Thanks, Mary.