Click here to view a detailed explanation of our Shit-O-Meter numbers.
Items one and two, obviously, are especially shitty. If you can’t swallow and you can’t breathe, what’s the fuck is left?! I’m lying here right now with a cannula up my nose and a glass of lemonade, because I finally started swallowing again a couple of hours ago and I feel dehydrated. Item four is wrecking my life with burning spasms seven or eight times a day.
Item three is none of your business whatsoever, so don’t ask.
I’m hoping tomorrow will be better, of course. I’ve got a 10:30 a.m. appointment with my hospice C.N.A., Leticia, for bathing, general hygiene and a salon-quality shampoo, and at 1 p.m. I’m expecting my visiting podiatrist, Dr. Wright, for quarterly diabetic foot care. The latter includes nail trimming, an examination for skin breakdown on my feet, and “scraping” biopsies in case anything looks icky or suspicious. I’ve had a number of biopsies over the last few months. They’re always negative, thank God.
In case you’re interested … my feet are absolutely gorgeous these days, thanks to Leticia’s care and diligence. Six months ago she brought them “back from the dead” with intense lotion therapy three times a week plus once-a-week scrubbing and abrasion. When we started I had swollen feet and thick, cracked “alligator” skin from my toes to my shins; today my feet are skinny, smooth and pretty! I think I could actually wear shoes again, except I can’t walk any more and haven’t been able to stand up since May 2018. (And I no longer even try.)
Sam and I are enjoying a lazy, quiet night at home. (Oh wait … ALL our nights at home are lazy and quiet!) Right now we’re watching Objective, Burma! (1945) starring Errol Flynn, which is easily one of my favorite World War II movies (it’s a true story) and one of Flynn’s best performances. In the following photo Flynn is the one holding the world’s largest hand-held radio. The damn thing is bigger than his combat boots!
Objective, Burma! is a gritty, sweaty, exhausting story of a 225-mile hike through the jungles of Burma as a group of American paratroopers try to reach their appointed destination on foot after a planned air evacuation becomes too dangerous. It’s really an amazing film, right up there with They Were Expendable (1945) starring Robert Montgomery and John Wayne, which is another of my WWII favorites.
It’s 11 p.m. and I think I need to wake Sam (he’s asleep on the sofa) for an elaborate bedtime snack because I’ve eaten almost nothing today. I’d like a bowl of spicy shrimp ramen noodles, a Twinkie, a fresh glass of lemonade and napkins.
Thank you for reading this. Please turn out the lights when you’re done here, okay?
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