A Busy Day

Fuck. What a shitload of duty used up my day. I was busy from 5:00 to 7:00 tidying and cleaning, then I took a nap, and when I rose again like Jesus, Steve was up, and we left to walk with our friends.

Next was shopping for supplies and to pick up my prescriptions, then we came home for lunch and a short rest and then it was watering time. It took two hours of conscientious work to water everything. I was hot when I was watering (26°). And then I had to vacuum the house, and Steve had left dishes for me to wash. I had half an hour to myself before our guests arrived. I used the time to chill and shower.

I was slightly apprehensive about the evening because of all the work, the lack of rest, stress over aspects of Steve’s behavior, and having no time for a sleep before the arrival of our guests, and wasps. We have a bazillion wasps flying around, so Steve set out a wasp trap (much to my chagrin), and Eoin set out some chicken scraps for them to feed on instead of off our plates.

In fact, the wasps were not much of a problem, nor were mosquitoes, so we had a very nice evening eating outdoors in the garden. François, bless him, was very complimentary about the garden; all of them were blown away by my massive Butterbur plant. 

It was a great night, but poor Jay is getting sicker by the day. He saw his sister last week, and he doesn’t see her very often and he said last night that he doubts he will see her again. He does not expect to live for too much longer. He has idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and it is progressing very quickly. I told him about prednisone, and he asked his doctor for it, and it brought him great relief.

The left at around ten o’clock, and I washed dishes to get a head start on today. I finished them this morning. Steve will be up soon, and we’ll likely have a spa and then we’ll walk Her Highness before taking him to the ferry at 11:00. Crazy as he can be, I shall miss him when he is gone. We are strongly bonded.

I’ll water in the afternoon, of course, but soon I’ll enjoy a break from the daily watering. Sunday is predicted to be cloudy, and on Monday we’re expecting rain. Then we’re predicted to have several cloudy days. Finally, a break from the endless sunshine and heat.

Now, life gets back to normal with just me and the pets.

Steve is Mr. Dressup. This is what he wore last night.

Party Tonight

Tuesday, I didn’t rise until almost six. Fred slept in, so he was late waking me. I did a few errands and then headed into the village at eight to get supplies I needed for the cake I wanted to bake in the cool of morning. On the way home, Her Highness and I stopped for a walk in the 707 Park before coming home. Once home, I started baking while Steve talked to friends online.

Baking the cake took forever. Steve spent the morning talking to friends via FaceTime while I baked. While the meringue cooled, we had lunch, and then I rolled the cake and put it in the fridge to set until later this afternoon when I decorate it.

When that was done, I hung the laundry up on the line and then I settled into the endless watering that had to be done. That took another eternity and then it was time to take Her Highness for her afternoon walk. But no! There was not enough gas in the car for that, so we decided to walk in the neighbourhood, but Sheba was having none of it, so we returned home.

Next up was going to Burro Rosa for dinner. BR is the new tapas restaurant on the island, and last night was to be my first visit, but when we got there, there was a sign on the door saying that it was closed for a private party. Steve had not noticed that his reservation had been bumped from the day he wanted (yesterday) to tonight. But we have ‘the boys’ coming for dinner tonight.

Instead of coming home, we went to The Surf. It was a spectacular night, so we took a table on the patio of the pub and had our dinner overlooking a small cover full of people swimming and playing in the golden hour of a beautiful day. In the end, it was a better experience than we would have had indoors in the crowded and expensive little tapas restaurant.

When we got home, we watched a movie before crashing. I was thoroughly beat. I’d been on my feet all day.

And oh my God! Rain is predicted for Monday. Oh, I pray that it comes! I’m so sick of watering each day, I’d love a break!

Tonight, we party! Tomorrow Steve departs.

Bought an Apple Watch

I remain truly shaken by my Sunday night seizure experience. Thank God it happened at home and that Steve was here. I never want to experience that again. However, if I do, I at least can know that all will eventually be well. I hope all goes well for me on Wednesday night when Eoin, François and Jay come for dinner.

Yesterday we began our day with a walk with our friends. Steve came and thoroughly enjoyed the walk and talking to everyone in the group. I was slow, so I was always way behind the rest of the pack, but Sheba stayed with me. It was the first time in over a month that I have walked the entire route with my friends.

When we were done, Steve and I went shopping. I had prescriptions to order and others to pick up. And bonus! All the medications I picked up were free. My deductible has been paid off and so it’s not so bad as I feared. Now it takes seven months to pay off my deductible; prior to Tezspire, it took two months.

We had lunch outdoors in the garden, and then I got online with Steve and I bought an Apple watch. It cost nine hundred bucks with taxes, a special fee to make it possible to link the watch with a cell phone (in case I move), AppleCare so help is free, and delivery. 

The alarm I wear is provided by Lifeline. They recently started having AI robots answer the calls and the AI voice does not work with my speech impediment. That’s why I bought the Apple watch. But having the watch is also cheaper. One year of alarm service with Lifeline costs me $600, so the watch is a bargain over time.

When I called Lifeline to cancel my service, I told them why and the operator told me that I could request a human responder and not the AI. I told her that Lifeline might have been wise to send all of us who use their service a notice of the change in their operation. Had I known I could have requested a human responder, I might not have bought the watch. But I think the watch may be fun.

Once we wrapped up with Apple, Steve took the car and went sightseeing. He loves to go to the beaches and to do some shopping. And I watered all the garden beds. Once Steve returned, I took Her Highness for our afternoon walk, and then I got busy making Laksa for our dinner. After dinner, we watched movies and went to bed happy to have had a pretty great day together. And no seizure last night!

Today is, yet again, brilliantly sunny. I can’t remember when we last had any rain. I must bake a cake for tomorrow night’s dinner, and I’ll be watering the garden beds.

Australia has blue bees.

A Night of Terror

 Sunday was, of course, brilliantly sunny. God wants me to live with a hose in my hand. We began our day in the spa. I did errands until Steve awoke, then we got into the tub to soak and chat. Afterwards, he took the car and went exploring as he contemplated what to make for our friends for dinner on Wednesday. He went to suss out salmon but came home thinking we’d make quiche.

Once arrived, we headed out to Silva Bay and the Firetruck grill for lunch. We took Her Highness. There were lots of people, many booths of vendors, music and great, great food. We had a big lunch and then came home to nap. 

After our nap, I watered everywhere and Steve harvested blueberries, then we had dinner and settled in to watch a movie. Then my world went mad. I had one of the scariest times I’ve ever had.

We were watching our movie, and something made me pause it. I reckon I was going to get a drink or go to the bathroom or something, but I went quickly into a seizure, and it was a killer. It was quite violent. There was endless jerking and twitching. It felt like ages but it might have been about four or five minutes.

Normally after a seizure, I recover as suddenly and I got into a seizure, but last night when the jerking stopped, I was immobile on the couch. My eyes were closed, and I couldn’t open them. I couldn’t speak either; I couldn’t move my lips or tongue. Within a short while, “I” felt trapped. I used those quotation marks because while I was lying there, the concept of what “I” means seemed vague.

It was like I was disowning my own body. “I” was my brain, and it/I felt trapped inside a lifeless body. As time passed, I feared for my future. What if I can’t get out of this? What if this is the end of independence and mobility for me? I was not moving, but I was terrified.

Time passed and eventually I was able to make sounds and then I tried to speak to Steve. I could open my mouth just slightly and I tried to talk with non-moving lips. I asked him if he could understand me and he said he could. I spent about twenty minutes like that. 

I told Steve, with great difficulty, that I was certain that I was having some kind of neurological attack and that nothing like what was happening last night had ever happened to me before. I told him I wanted to wait a while to see if I recovered, but that I might want him to call the paramedics.

Three years ago, when I had a summer heart attack during the nasty heat dome, I became paralyzed for about an hour and a half. It freaked out the nurse and she pushed the code blue button. It was awful, and last night seemed similar, so we waited and eventually I felt myself again before we went to bed.

I see Dr. Shoja next week, so I’ll be talking a lot about last night. That was easily the worst seizure that I’ve ever had. It was also the longest lasting seizure I’ve ever had. And the scariest one ever.

I love Steve, but he is not an easy visitor. I feel he behaves like we are still lovers. He allows himself to be curt and rude to me like he was when we were together. He is also narcissistic; I feel like my needs are irrelevant. I have no doubt that he loves me too. He comes here every Summer and I’m very grateful for that but being together ain’t entirely easy. I can’t help but believe his visit has something to do with the terror of last night.

Now that I am recovered after a deep sleep last night, I feel that today we begin with a clean slate. I will tell him today that I need to take things easy. I’m worried about Wednesday night. Last Summer, during his visit and on the night when we had our friends over for dinner, I had a dreadful seizure. That’s why I stopped entertaining here. I hate how fucked up my mental health is.

We have no plans for today except to decide about what to make for dinner on Wednesday. I shall water plants, of course, and he will likely take the car to visit some beaches, but I shall stay home. I’m nervous now. I don’t want another experience like last night. I doubt I’ll have another attack but today will be easy and slow.