Picking up from last night, at 10:15ish at night, I got a call from the Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center. The nurse called to tell me that they were transporting Susie to the emergency at the local hospital, now called OHSU Hillsboro, previously known as Tuality Health Care. Susie was bleeding in her mouth, and they could not stop the bleeding; Susie is on blood thinners. My vision was something from a horror movie, and I was in my car and waiting for her to arrive, having rushed. I was relieved when I saw it was a slow bleed. Susie and I were placed in the hallway; I was given a chair and spent the next few hours there; we were never moved to a room.
The doc found that Susie’s gums were bleeding and that this could be a side effect of the blood thinner. Gauze and a drug were applied to the bleed, soon stopping. By just before 2, we were done, and Susie was discharged, and medical transport service was called to take her back to Forest Grove. I carefully drove back to the Volvo Cave.
At about 2AM, I took my pills and had a tiny sliver of pumpkin pie as I needed to take my pills with food. Any excuse for pie is a good thing. I went to bed and soon was asleep.
Today, Tuesday, started with me ignoring my alarm and stealing another thirty minutes of sleep. Today, I forgot, was a back to the Office day, and so I would need to drive across Beaverton to my old building; I have not been there for years now except when I stopped by once to get a chess set when they asked us to take all of our personal items home. I showered and dressed fast. I called into the meeting because I was late while driving; Zoom video showed me at the wheel. I was only 15 minutes late.
The return to the office came with swag. I got a coffee cup and a bag of cool Nike items. Also, mimosa drinks were served from a pushcart driven by our VIPs for the project, and so I was drinking before 10AM, only at Nike! Lunch was paid for and supplied from two food carts, one Mexican and the other Mediterranean food. I sat at a table and ate.
Coffee was free all day from the coffee folks, Starbucks, of course, downstairs.
Subha, Annie, and Brad joined me for lunch.
I spent most of the first day back in the building working with tech support to make my laptop work again. I cannot describe that here. I did finish the rebuild of my laptop at home.
After lunch and when the work on my laptop reached a point where I could finish the rebuild at home, I drove to the Forest Grove facility at 3900 Pacific Highway, Room 44A, from the Club House Nike building. There was another party in the later afternoon with ice cream, but I was fatigued. So instead, I took 26, the Sunset Highway, to Jackson School Road and took the back way to Forest Grove. It was a more leisurely, and I think, faster drive.
Susie was asleep, as was her roommate Terry when I got there. I suspect they got no sleep last night with all the adventures for Susie. I woke Susie and called her mother, Leta, on my iPhone. Susie kept sleeping during the call, and Terry was back to sleep, so it was a short call.
I checked, and there was no more bleeding, and Susie’s vitals were stable and familiar values. The nurse aide said they had no bleeding issues all day. Good.
(You can see Susie’s flowers I brought in on Monday. She was so tired. This is the best smile I could get)
I spoke to Dan, the administrator for the facility. He was concerned and asked the staff to be careful with Susie. The team believes the blood thinners were to blame but will carefully clean Susie’s mouth and teeth.
I drove back and enjoyed the nice summer-like weather. Finally, I got home and set up my Nike laptop to finish its rebuild. I then rested for a bit.
Corwin and I made dinner, pasta as a side, pork chops, wilted green beans with almond slices, and butter-cooked mushrooms, all with a bottle of the finest North African red sauce. Delicious.
I read and rested after dinner and then got up to write the blog.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 