#21

I feel like it's unbiblical to say I'm proud of myself. 

But I don't have any regrets about how I handled myself today. 

Ron got pretty drunk last night, and was pretty rowdy, waking me up a few times.  It was kind of hopeless "reasoning" with him so I just endured. 

I got up at 5 AM and took a shower, and got ready.  I couldn't feed Biscuit his dry food because he was standing on the bucket.  I just fed them some wet food and they seemed fine with that.  Our vet wants us to feed mostly wet, anyway. 

We got picked up and went to the BBQ place.  It opened at 7, but we got there at 6:30.  Perils of paratransit. 

Ron wanted to take me to breakfast, and I figured, since I had taken him to the dentist twice in 3 days, I deserved it.  He got a drink and worked on that (diet soda) while I massacred my pancakes with cane syrup. I also got a side of bacon. 

It was very good, but we had a problem.  Ron had promised the office girls at the dentists' office he would bring them a rack of ribs.  But the ribs weren't ready yet. 

I used my own judgment and got a whole chicken, cut up, and a pound of brisket.  I made sure to get plenty of bread, plates, and sauce. 

Then our ride came to take us to the dentist.  We got there at 9:15, the appointment was 10.  They were happy to see the barbeque and snatched it up. 

Ron was taken to the back.  I always go with him because he prefers it. 

I have issues with dental offices because I had that horrible 4-in-1 extraction when I was a 12 year old, to make room for braces.  They didn't give me a valium or anything, they just got in there with some kind of horrible wrench and started crunching away.  I behaved poorly but I would probably do so again.  I cried, screamed, and threatened to bite the dentist. 

If I had to have something like that done in the future, I would have my primary doc write me a prescription for something to calm me down, before.  Nothing worse than a mouthful of rubber glove, the taste of blood, and horrible crunching noises. 

I really hate getting teeth pulled. 

I was thinking, seriously, about going out to wait in the waiting room during Ron's extraction.  The tooth was very wobbly and couldn't be saved. 

However, the first time they took Ron's blood pressure it was over 200.  The second time it was over 180.  They said if Ron couldn't get it down, they wouldn't be able to do the procedure.  I rubbed his shoulders and encouraged him to think about lying in bed with Baby Girl draped over his left leg. 

They took his blood pressure again.  130 over 80.  That's acceptable. 

They numbed him up.  I am getting used to the sight of that needle.  They chatted with us while they waited for the anesthetic to work.  Once he was numb, Doc went after the pliers, in his little toolkit.  I looked away, facing the corner, as he worked.  I didn't hear any crunching but he was doing a lot of wiggling, when I did peek.  Doc was very careful not to damage the surrounding teeth. 

They were pulling #21, a tooth that is also missing in my mouth, pulled for braces. 

Pretty soon, the tooth was out.  I would have hated to check my blood pressure during the procedure, I'm sure it was up there.  It's basically one of my worst fears aside from wasp attack or dog bite.  Or getting burned. 

But this is about Ron.  He was bleeding, of course, so they put some gauze in there and gave me more to change out in about half an hour. 

I put Ron in his wheelchair.  We paid.  The receptionist thanked us for the BBQ and said she couldn't stay out of the chicken.  Good.  I'm glad they liked it. 

Chicken was probably a better bet than ribs, because people are weird about pork, and red meat, sometimes. 

I took Ron to the bathroom and then we went to Walmart to fill his pain medication.  Doc gave him some Tylenol #3. 

We went to Walmart and got him some soft food, and more gauze, while he waited for his prescription.  He wanted Jello, he thought.  I told him they had it premade in cups.  He went for that.  He also got some chili and spaghettio's with meatballs. 

We went back to the pharmacy and I read him the labels on the sex toys they are apparently now selling, along with their prices.  He made comments about it while we waited.  Pretty soon they called his phone and we went up to the counter. 

It cost $11.  They made a big production about "insurance declining" and we had to tell them we didn't have drug coverage.  Honestly, Ron hardly takes prescriptions at all. 

They did their consult and verified that yes, Ron couldn't drink while he took the medication.  They had already told him no drinking for 3 days, at the dentists' office.  He was pretty sad about that but I reminded him he was dry all the time he was in rehab. 

That must have sounded like alcohol rehab, instead of physical rehab, but he agreed. 

Ron bought me a chicken sandwich at McDonald's because I was hungry, and sat there while I ate it.  It was pretty good, I had them put bacon on it. 

We called Lou the cab driver.  He was downtown.  We called a couple other cab drivers.  No luck.  We called Jose.  He hates Trump.  He could get us. 

He was especially happy to hear we only had one bag.  Walmart trips can be notorious for having lots and lots of bags. 

We saw a paratransit van come and load up on a couple of clients.  They both had the same t-shirt bags from the store.  I don't know how he kept their stuff separate.  I started bringing reusable tote bags when someone's son tried to take my bag of meat, one day.  He said he got things mixed up.  Yeah, right. 

I didn't blame him too much, because teenage boys need a lot of protein and calories.  He was just hoping it was their bag, I think. 

Jose got us home pretty quick.  When we got home, our garbage can had been opened at the curb, and someone had put a bunch of nasty old rugs into it.  They were disgusting, something not even a hoarder would want.  I closed it up, muttering about rude people using my trash can. 

Then I got Ron in the house.  I had told him to take some pain medicine the minute we got it, but he said he was fine.  He waited until he started hurting before he took it, and, as a result, had a harder time controlling his pain.  He told me I was right but I didn't want to be right, I didn't want him to hurt, even if he did keep me up last night. 

Once I got everything put away I gave Ron his medicine.  It says one pill every 4 to 6 hours, so I told him one pill every 6 hours.  His liver has enough trouble as it is. 

We decided to take a nap.  I slept pretty well until the yapper came out next door.  Yip, yap, yap.  Yip.  Yap.  Yap yap yap.  You get the idea. 

Then Biscuit joined Torbie in the bed, hogging the foot area of my bed.  I couldn't stretch out my legs.  I still slept with them for a little bit but it was pretty crowded for me.  I finally got up. 

I told Ron I was awake and he told me he was pretty uncomfortable, still.  He took out the gauze and that helped. 

I did my God Time.  About halfway through the prayer portion of my program, Ron asked for some Jello.  I found out what flavor he wanted and gave it to him.  He ate it. 

He got his appetite back and decided to try some Spaghettios with meatballs.  He ate half a can and had a good time doing it.  Good.  I hate to see him hungry. 

He stored the rest in the fridge.  I brought in the now empty garbage can.  We are going to try keeping it near the garage door instead of the back of the house.  If it rains, it's hard to get through the mud to put the can away.  Although Ron made a good point, I might get more people putting stuff in our can now.  If so, I'll put it in the back again. 

I am glad to see Ron's appetite is back.  I think he was very nervous and worried about getting the tooth pulled today.  I hope I was able to make him feel better. 

I think I am pretty good at pampering him when he's sick.  It's just hard to watch him suffer. 

And that, was my day.