Plugging Along

Yours truly supervising the digging of a new well at our old property in Pennsylvania

Now you ask "What is this picture than Ron has posted on his blog?" First, it has nothing to do with this blog posting. I decided to dig into my treasure chest of thousands of photos and post iconic ones from my past. You all have seen enough of my current reality of aged old gay men. These days sometimes I prefer to remember the glory days of my youth. Didn't seem like glory days back then but in retrospect, well you know. This particular photo was taken about 1994 at our Pennsylvania house when our well ran dry. Yes, our two gallons a minute well went dry and we had to dig a new well. This is yours truly butching it up on the well digging machine. By the way, the new well didn't get that much more water but we did have water again.

This morning I got Bill up as I have been doing for the past two years. These days the morning preparation is taking longer. For one thing I'm getting up later. I used to get up before seven o'clock but now my rise up and greet the sunshine day begins with me arising from a dead sleep sometime after eight am. Then, after I complete my morning ablutions (I have to get myself ready for the day too), I descend the thirteen steps to Bill's basement bedroom to the right at the end of the steps. 

Bill is usually awake, waiting for me. I get the pink plastic hospital basin that I had absconded with during one of my or Bill's hospital stays. Into his bathroom I turn on the hot water in the basin and suds up Dial soap in the basin full of hot water.

Into Bill's bedroom I go and give him a fresh wash cloth soaked in the hot water. He washes his bald head (no toupee these declining days) and face. I rinse out the cloth and help him up. I have to undress him and change his Depends. I give him a fresh washcloth and he washes his private parts.  I apply a medicated salve to his buttocks which have had an ugly rash. I rinse the wash cloth again and wash his legs. I soak his feet for a few minutes in the basin of Dial anti bacterial soap suds.  After I dry his feet off wash his right leg wound which is still leaking from the giant blister he got from his last hospital stay where he had a large blood clot in his right leg.

Then it is time to apply the dressing to his leg. 

Clean the wound

Apply a non-adherent pad

Apply a larger gauze pad over the non-adherent pad

Wrap gauze around the two pads

Wrap a expandable bandage over all

Apply a leg holding over all of the previous

Now comes for the hard part, getting his pants on. Bill is so weak these days that I have to put each pant leg on separately. I go through the hardship of putting pants on Bill so he can maintain some dignity in his day to day life. I hope I never have to go the route of my friend Lar who has ALS and spend the day in underwear or shorts. I know that would be more convenient but Bill's never worn shorts in his life when he was healthy and I'm not going to put him there at this time of his life. He's suffered and suffering enough indignities as it is. It took some time to convince him to wear Depends but he does now and is used to it. And that saves me a lot of work folks. A lot. There aren't as many accidents as there where when he first came home from the rehab facility a couple years ago but there is still the occasional accident. Depends work. So much better than taking someone's pants off when the poop is all down one leg. By the way, an interesting fact, the poop always goes down one leg of the pants. 

Now we're ready to go upstairs for Bill's morning medications and breakfast.

I have to crush Bill's pills. He can't swallow whole pills. I give him is crushed pills with a spoonful of applesauce.

I have to grind to a powder his oatmeal. After I make the oatmeal I put three tablespoons of sugar on it (Bill likes his oatmeal very sweet) and half and half, oat milk or egg nog. I put this concoction into my blender and liquify the oatmeal. Bill drinks his oatmeal breakfast.

In between all this I take my medication and prepare my breakfast of strawberries and cereal. 

Bill takes about twenty minutes to swallow his breakfast of oatmeal. He still has trouble swelling but, thank goodness, he not choking since I've been liquefying his oatmeal. 

Bill is very self conscious about his slurping sounds when he drinks his oatmeal so I usually tell him I'm going outside for my morning walk. Lately it's been too cold to go outside for a walk so I go to another room in the house while he "eats" his breakfast. I repeat this routine at five o'clock for his "dinner". For lunch he has a bottle of vanilla flavored Ensure. He used to snack on cookies, especially the shortbread cookies that I made for him but since he's come home from the hospital he's lost his appetite for cookies and any other snacks like caramel candies he used to have melt in his mouth.

Other than our one ride a day and if one of us has a doctors' appointment, Bill spends most of the rest of the day sleeping in his Archie Bunker Chair in our sunroom. Sometimes he listens to the local Fox propaganda radio station (the only one that comes in clear). Often when he go out for out daily ride he repeats those MAGA lies ("caravans of criminals are coming on our southern border!" or "The Biden Crime Family is ruining our country!") I have to remind him that what he's listening to are all lies and propaganda for the gullible Deplorables to send money to those grifters. He confused. He doesn't know what to believe because "he heard it on the radio." Just another challenge I have to face folks but we can't get any other talk radio stations. The other stations are all commercials or current style "music" and for an old guy like Bill that is torture to listen to.

Ah, for the days when our only challenge was digging a new well. I didn't realize how good I had it at that time.