Thank you all for your expressions of support during my 4-night hospital stay this week! I was released from Queen’s Sunday afternoon and picked up by a friend, who also stopped and picked up Meda on the way to the hospital. I arrived home around 2:30 pm., managed to get into the house, waved at the cats, drank a glass of Gatorade, walked back and forth across the living room several times with the aid of my cane (hoping it would clear my head), and then lay down on our bed for a nap that probably lasted close to 90 minutes.

No, I didn’t wake up refreshed and ready to boogie! Instead, I was still unsure on my feet, grateful whenever reaching an intended destination while trying to accomplish what would normally be a very simple task. But I did managed to mix one of the bags of poi that’s been in standby mode for the week. I can report that it had just about reached an excellent point on the “sour” scale.

I managed to figure out what Meda would enjoy eating and we ordered a delicious-sounding sandwich from a well-known name up at the mall, which was delivered before too long. While Meda munched on her sub, I ate a bowl of my sour poi and drank a cup of chicken bouillon.

I had to spend a little time sorting out my medication schedule. Two prescriptions are to be taken twice a day at 12-hour intervals, and a third three times a day (every 8 hours). I have the pill containers on two pieces of paper set on the kitchen counter, with two containers on the paper labelled “12” and the third on the “8” paper. I think I can quickly wrap my mind around that basic scheduling.

It’s now Monday morning. I started the day with the first “8” pill, and I’ll go from there. I’m off to a good start on the fluid front, finished two glasses of water by 6:30 a.m. I’m sitting at our dining table, laptop open in front of me, working my way through a protein shake. Kiko is staring at me from the floor with her back against one of the sliding doors to the back deck. The sun has been up for an hour, but the light in the yard is still muted. This is a morning for the automatic sprinklers, which are working their magic around the yard.

The first rays of bright sun just hit the living room. Kinikini will quickly find a spot of sun on the floor and sit there until it moves on.

After 50+ years living with cats, I finally ordered an air purifier, just to see how much it would catch of the miscellaneous cat hair floating around the house. It was delivered yesterday and left outside the front door. Meda and I managed to get the box into the house Sunday evening so that it didn’t go walkabout overnight. If I have the energy later today, I’ll try to get it out of the box it was shipped in and set up for a test run. It should be an interesting experiment.

At one point in my hospital stay, I was asked about the fall at home that triggered calling 911.

The nurse probed. “Did you feel lightheaded or dizzy?”

I had never thought about the difference, and am not sure I understand how I would recognize it.

For what it’s worth, I finally chose lightheaded, although I really don’t know if that’s the best answer.

I’ll come back later to describe the cats’ reactions to my return, with a few photos.