Though most of the days have been chilly and rainy, it’s
still wonderful to be here in the beautiful spot and neat, efficient cottage on
the Back Bay in DownEast Maine. However, there has been some trouble in
paradise. Besides something (raccoons) constantly stealing the suet cage, Bob
has not been feeling well. He has been spending a lot of time in the second
bedroom, sleeping and shivering. He complained about a headache and neckache
for a few days and seemed feverish. Then he felt better, then worse. On Father’s
Day, of all days, he woke up and was radiating heat. He said that even if I put
the sun on him, he couldn’t stop shivering. He was ready to make the
exploratory trip into Portland (a four-hour drive) to a hospital. There are no
Urgent Care centers in the area and we were not really aware of anything in
Ellsworth (a little less than an hours’ drive). Despite the problems we have
here getting any Internet signal, I Googled and found Maine Coastal Memorial
Hospital (a 47-bed medical center) in Ellsworth. Bob doubted all the way that
we wouldn’t have to drive to Portland. We both have been very careful not to
use emergency rooms, but without urgent care centers, we had no choice.
We arrived at the small, but modern, hospital in Ellsworth—located
off the main drag which was why we had never seen it. There was no one in the
Emergency Room waiting area, so they checked Bob in and called him before he
had a chance to pick out a magazine. The person on duty in the ER was a Nurse
Practitioner, but I have been educated by my Physician Assistant daughter,
Bryn, that sometimes they’re better, if not just as good, as an MD or DO. I
stayed in the waiting room for about an hour and then they called me in to stay
with Bob. Essentially, because of our trip to Costa Rica, he was being checked
for malaria, dengue fever, and typhoid. In addition to a lot of blood work,
they also did a urinalysis. After a couple of hours, and consultation with an
infectious disease doc, and many vials of drawn blood, the NP came in to tell
us that Bob had some kind of infection (high white blood count), but she wasn’t
sure what. She said it might be a UTI (which my daughter doubted as they are
rare in men). Some of the blood cultures wouldn’t be ready until Tuesday, so
Bob was released with a heavy regimen of Cipro (an antibiotic).
It’s been a long 6 days, especially with Bob doing a lot of
sleeping, but I’ve learned to be independent and do my own thing while trying
to nurse him back to health. I made banana bread, (he wanted baked potatoes the
one day he seemed to have a little appetite), and chicken cacciatore (which I
overcooked). I kept busy by keeping the place clean and organized. My OCD seems
to be much worse on this trip. I don’t know why. It might have to do with the
fact that the cottage, though small, is very efficiently stocked, organized,
and arranged, so it appeals to my orderly sense. At least that my story and I’m
sticking to it. Because they need to have a technician come out to fix the
dryer, our landlords told us to feel free to hang a clothesline (there is also
a Laundromat 15 minutes away), so I did. I did a load of clothes and hung them
out to dry. Today, however, it’s windy, chilly and I’m not sure if the clothes
are still wet or just cold. A technician is coming today (Tuesday)
I had a chance to do some reading—just downloaded another
book (which will be my fourth book in the two weeks we’ve been here--two weeks
today). Yesterday, (Monday), Bob moved from the bedroom to the couch and
visited a while, napping on and off all day. I was able to stay outside while
he was napping because the weather was perfect and, for some reason, the
mosquitoes were not attacking, nor were they visible until near dusk/sunset.
When I came in, Bob was ready to have some cacciatore (I saved him some and
froze the rest) and asked if I would make spaghetti, too. A good sign that he’s
feeling a little better. We are in hopes that he continues feeling better and
getting stronger. There are a couple of festivals in the area that we had planned on attending.
Thanks for listening.
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