Wednesday, November 13, 2019

#2386: Wednesday, November 13: Helping


Post 2386
- 8 years and 317 days since I started this blog -
  
Daily Comment
Another snow day.

Right before I moved to Syracuse, I was a licensed nurse tech 2, and I had an agency job as a home care aid for male ALS patients (before they reached end of life stage, where they were usually receive hospice care). I ended up having a six-month long tenure with one patient, and moved to Syracuse before my second posting).

About three years ago, a bass-playing friend of mine called, and asked if I'd do him a  favor and meet with some friends of his who'd asked him to officiate at a wedding he would be unable to do. Because he knows I, like him, am an ordained Minister of the Universal Life Church, and because he thought, incorrectly, that they were mutual friends, I might be able to perform the ceremony in his stead.

So I met with them, a lovely couple. He was disabled with early-mid-stage ALS. Of course I did the ceremony, it was lovely. It turned out we had many mutual friends, he had been a cook and, I think, a bouncer at Shifty's, one of my favorite music bars in Syracuse.

I saw them a few times after the wedding. Then, shortly after I came back from my Winter travels
 earlier this year, I found out they'd moved, and were living at the other end of the same garden apartment complex I've been living in the last eight years.

Of course, I see them more often. Sometimes, though, it's just to assist, when there isn't other help to get my friend Pat, now completely unable to move at all, in his daily need to move out of the recliner he 'lives' in and onto a commode, so he can get a quick bath, and all the pads and pillows and towels get changed, so he doesn't develop sores. 


This is something I did for my ALS patient a dozen years ago.

Today, I had a late call, and we (his wife Jenn and I) did this.
 
It's hard work. Pat's a big guy. It takes about a half-hour, and there are some physically demanding moments that leave me feeling like I'd done hard reps in the gym.

But I do this once in a while. Jenn does it a few times a day, every day.

It is the most exercise I get, ever, these days. So, I'm out of shape. Still, whether it's a quick neighborly call to sit, or have dinner with, or help with Pat's care, I always leave feeling good.

I am grateful for the opportunity to help someone - it always makes me feel good.


Food and Diet 
Today's Weight:                    194.8 lbs.
Previous Weight (11/12/19):        194.8 lbs.
Net Loss/Gain:                     - 0.0 lbs.
Diet Comment
Dead even. And, this is my seventh consecutive day at or under 195 pounds. I feel like I can easily maintain this weight (which probably means tomorrow will see a gain, LOL).

Food Log
Breakfast
4:50pm: Turkey salad (roasted turkey breast, cheddar cheese, walnuts, arugula, chard, kale, spinach and home-made mayonnaise.

Lunch
8:45pm: Ezekiel 4:9 Sesame sprouted grains bread with guacamole, almonds, and a Quest bar.

Dinner
12:15am: Dal Tadka (lentil curry) with chia seeds on riced cauliflower with cottage cheese, and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake
   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 12 oz.;  Water: 72+ oz.; 


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