IMMIGRANT DAUGHTER 37

It has been over a week since you’ve heard from me. I am still under the weather and have gone to the doctor to see if they can tell me why my ankles stay double in size and why I can’t get rid of the cough I have. I do not have a fever I am just uncomfortable and sort of ache and just wish I felt better. The sun is shining today but not too warm as yet. I want to thank all my blogging friends for wanting me well.

Well this has been too long even with going to the doctor. My DIL drove me because I did not trust driving myself with my blood sugar being so erratic going on swings I couldn’t handle. I know having lived with this disease 56 years not to put myself in a car driving. When I get out of wack it takes a long time coming back.

The doctor gave me an antibiotic that lasts five days. Boy whatever it is doing I am getting rid of quite a bit of phlegm that is relieving the vise grip from around my chest.

They took blood for other tests that I will have to wait until next week to hear. Later a call came through that I did not recognize the number so I didn’t answer it and when it wouldn’t quit I finally picked up the phone but they hung up before I could say hello. After what seemed like a couple of minutes the same number called and I answered to find out it was the doctor's nurse wanting to tell me my blood sugar was 47 while I was there. Now you have to realize that I went to the doctor because my blood sugars were erratic, I had a cough with tightness in my chest, no fever, but felt lousy and she calls to tell me my blood sugar was low at 1:30 in the afternoon when they did the test. I really felt like hanging up on her but I listened as controlled as I could by telling her yes I knew because I had my machine with me and knew it was low. We went looking for a fast food after leaving their office this was about 3 in the afternoon.

I have to tell you I never get colds or headaches and hardly ever welcomed a day in bed so to speak, so when I tell you I felt lousy you can just look at me and tell. I get my flu shot every year and I am fairly healthy, except for being an insulin dependent diabetic for 56 years. So when a nurse calls to tell me my sugar was low six hours earlier it was hard not to be sarcastic to say oh REALLY. You can tell by my writing I am feeling much better and I know for sure I am on the mend because I can think and type. Now you know more about me than you probably care to.

I will pick up telling you more about Carl and my life together that lasted 58 years.

It doesn’t look like at this point I will be going back to N.J. for my birthday in June because my third sister wants to come here to see me. My DIL is too busy to take time off at that time anyway and E (my sister) and I have birthdays five days apart in June. We had to work together in the restaurant and are on the same wavelength and it will be good to have her here. I have to tellyou I attribute her long life (87) to having herself a Manhattan every day at four p.m. She and her husband never missed a day and many times we shared our birthdays together, husbands included, in New York City seeing some stage show and eating out in a nice restaurant.

One such restaurant was a small place run by all retired, out of work, opera singers. And as they worked they would be singing and when it came to their time to sing they would stop serving and sing it was wonderful. The place was called Asti’ in N.Y.C. Carl and I had many such surprises given to us by my sister and her husband. I am so thankful the Lord has given me many such memories of his love for me.

Getting back to my sisters’ visit it will be good for me in other ways when she comes we can play pinochle and talk at the same time. Two-hand is not as much fun as three or four hand playing but it is better than none. I like to play cards.

Carl taught me how to play cribbage a game they played aboard ship with a deck of straight deck cards and a long board with holes in it that goes all around the board twice that is called a pegging board that is used to keep score. It is a lot of funbecause it makes you having to count the cards from your hand that count up to fifteen and laying them down for two points for score. Its complicated but fun. Carl was easy on me so that I could learn. I never won in the beginning but after I learned I was able to challenge him and won my share of games and then he wouldn’t want to play any more.

I really never read novels much but when they started to made movies out of some of the stories by James Michener. Carl peaked my interest with a part not mentioned in the movie and wouldn’t tell me the rest of the story, but directed me to read it for myself. I then got hooked in reading. I only read what I had to in school because I had sports to keep me busy. Carl learned early in life to read everything in sight and was knowledgeable about many things. He taught me many things about reading to form my own opinion and not just rely on what others say about something. I can tell you for sure our children received their smarts from their father. He knew how to spell words without looking them up. I use to tell him he was my walking dictionary and so thankful the Lord gave him to me.

Carl was a shy introvert and I was just the opposite. When he worked for pharmaceuticals companies and had to attend conferences that had parties we had to attend he use to say he hated to go because he never had anything to say. I alwaysencouraged him to start the conversations by asking people what hobby interested them or something about themselves then he could just sit back and listen because people love to talk about themselves. Sure enough he told me that really worked because he didn’t need that crutch anymore. In his later years boy did he like to talk and it was hard to drag him away.

I see I carried on a bit much about CM but for me that is easy, so I had better end it here until next time, I am Immigrant Daughter.