The Howdygram 2: We survived our wild and stormy night, as evidenced by the fact that I’m still typing.

SUNDAY, 10/20/2019, 11:10 P.M. Hey. Thought I’d start a quick post tonight so you’ll know that Sam and I are all right. A couple of hours ago there was a SUBSTANTIAL TORNADO here in the Dallas metro area! The twister developed at Love Field (the smaller of Dallas’ two airports) and traveled for 17 miles east and slightly north, heading straight for Mesquite … the location of Howdygram headquarters. According to a news report on NBC.com, there’s been a lot of structural damage to commercial and residental buildings, downed electrical lines, injuries from flying debris and broken glass, and a large area of the city is currently without power

Sam stepped outside and said he could hear tornado sirens in Garland and Rockwall, but thank God we didn’t experience any problems here. Our lights flickered on and off a couple of times when the storm approached Mesquite … but we were never really in its direct path, we never lost power, and I’m not sure we even had any rain. I’ll learn more tomorrow. It’s hard to assess storm damage in the dark.

Incidentally, it looks as though we’ll have another round of very severe weather starting around 2 a.m. As I write this post there’s a line of severe thunderstorms (capable of producing tornadoes) already approaching Fort Worth and traveling due east. We have a tornado “watch” in effect until 4 a.m. that will probably be upgraded to a “warning” as the storm gets closer. Yikes. Night-time storms can be terrifying, especially when you’re bedridden (like me) and can’t get to a safe place. My hospital bed is in the middle of our family room surrounded by windows.

The following storm map indicates: A) Howdygram headquarters; and B) Love Field in Dallas, the location of the tornado that touched down a couple of hours ago.

MONDAY, 10/21/2019, 1:25 A.M. Those huge thunderstorms are already here … half an hour early! Right now we’ve got heavy rain slamming against the windows, strong wind and lots of thunder and lightning. Therefore, I just asked Sam to make me a sandwich*. When you’re stuck in bed, food is the only real fun you can have during a middle-of-the-night TORNADO HOO-HAH.

Carl Buddig chicken lunch meat on pumpernickel. With mayo.

11:28 A.M. We survived our wild and stormy night, as evidenced by the fact that I’m still typing. This would be a fine time to move on.

I only have two free fonts for you today … a casual display font (“Rhigen”) and layered retro-style script (“Donatello”) with two different shadow options. Download links will appear below the list.

Rhigen • Donatello

So here’s what’s going on this week at Howdygram headquarters:

Absolutely nothing.

We’re anticipating a totally quiet, totally uneventful week here. My hospice C.N.A. was fired on Friday (details to come), so we were told there’s nobody else available for my Monday bathing and hygiene session. Therefore, nobody’s coming over today, nobody’s coming over tomorrow, either, and it’s possible nobody’s coming on Wednesday unless they can get Leticia (my original C.N.A. who resigned last month to take a full-time job) to do it. This is insane. How can a hospice organization only have one C.N.A. on staff?

DETAILS, DETAILS. And now regarding Beauty, the C.N.A. who got fired on Friday. It was our fault, I’m afraid! She was here doing my bathing and hygiene routine, and when we asked her to please wash my back and sprinkle some medicated powder … SHE REFUSED. Beauty said washing my back and using powder wasn’t part of her job (seriously?!) and we should ask an R.N. to do it. Then she packed up and just walked out!

When my R.N. showed up an hour later for my routine weekly checkup we told her what had just happened with my C.N.A. She called the hospice administrator (Bea) as soon as she got back to her car, and Bea called Beauty AND FIRED HER ON THE SPOT. Oy! The bottom line is, Sam will help me do a bath later today and also wash my hair, and we’ll hold a good thought that the hospice will be able to send us Leticia or a new C.N.A. on Wednesday.

Stay tuned …

I’ll begin with good news (for a change) … MY TASTE BUDS ARE BACK. And, thank God, I haven’t had any noteable digestive issues for at least four days, not counting last night when all my bedtime meds got stuck in my throat and I told Sam I needed pudding immediately.

The only other medical update today involves BREATHING. I’ve been using oxygen via cannula 24/7 for at least a year and a half, and my oxygen concentrator is set at level 6. That’s fairly high, since most people can breathe well and get enough oxygen when it’s set at level 3. Sam and I test my oxygen concentration at least once a day with a little finger-clamp device, and the result is usually in the low- to mid-90s, which is just fine. Unfortunately, on Friday I took off my cannula for 20 minutes while I had my bath and hygiene session, and Sam tested my oxygen before I put the cannula back on. It was 71%, and holy shit, that’s SCARY LOW. In the past my oxygen would only dip into the upper 80s after 20 minutes, not the low 70s! This is definitely a major deterioration for me.

Nice of you to stop by today. Thank you for reading this, and please try not to take any wooden Alamos.