It's a cold, gray, gloomy morning. We're supposed to get some snow tomorrow, not much but snow. They are saying the heavier accumulations will be south of us, so me may just see some flakes falling. But, I've got potato soup in the crockpot and I think I'll make some cornbread to go with it later. Bill wasn't fond of cornbread and, something else I've discovered with this new widowhood life, I can cook what I like! That slapped me in the face not long ago. So many things do that now.

I got all of the Christmas decorations taken down Monday and put away, and that was the best day I had all week! I was tired and sore from moving all of the boxes back to storage, but it was a good tired.

Tuesday I woke up aching everywhere and extremely tired. I checked my vitals as usual and m blood pressure was up some, but not dangerously high, no fever, oxygen level good, but I just felt horrible. I texted my symptoms and vitals to my daughter (it's great that she works for my dr.) and she said she would pass them along. She called a couple of hours later and said my nurse practitioner wanted me to go straight to the ER. I told her that I didn't think I could get dressed, let along drive the 2 blocks to the hospital so she sent my granddaughter's fiance to pick me up (with the instructions for him to evaluate to see is an ambulance needed to be called). When we got to the hospital he made sure that his badge was showing (he's a city cop), hoping it would get a little extra attention and then he stayed until Emily could come on her lunch hour. Both in triage and then again by the doctor, I was asked why I hadn't gone to my doctor. I just explained that I had texted my symptoms and vitals and was told to go to ER. The doctor was really ugly about it and said that I needed a COVID test and they didn't do them and I would have to go to the office to get one anyway. Now, here I am, feeling like death warmed over, can hardly hold me head up, and the dr. is telling me I have to go to the clinic to get a COVID test! He listened to my chest, said uh huh a couple of times and left the room. I texted Emily again (she had gone back to work by then) and she told my nurse who went ballistic! She called the hospital administrator and told him that she understood that they were overwhelmed by patients, but she would have sent me to the ER if I had come to the office and the staff should not take their frustration out on the patients. The administrator, I was told later, went to the ER and told the DR. that was not how things were done. I didn't see the DR. again. They did a flu swab, strep swab, chest xray, labs, urine and that was it. Finally, after 4 1/2 hours a different nurse came in and told me she had my discharge papers. I asked what the results were and she said I had a UTI and he was giving me Cipro. A UTI? I had no symptoms of a UTI, and I've had several. I had all the symptoms of strep except the sore throat, and I've had it before! But, I was ready to go home. Emily came and got me home and then she took the discharge papers and my script and said she would bring me the meds when she got off work. She told me later when I looked at the labs online and it showed strep negative, but later showed strep active, that I was getting the million dollar treatment after the complaint. The active strep was a culture and there were no results for it yet as it had to grow.

I felt better Wednesday but not quite as good Thursday and Friday I felt OK, but had a reaction to the Cipro. So, texted that info in and because the UTI is apparently a pretty bad one, I needed to stay on an antibiotic so they were going to change it. The new one as a super long name, and has the same side effects as Cipro, but so far so good. I was a little confused by the label instructions and of course the dr. and the pharmacy were both closed when I noticed it. It says "Take at bedtime by mouth with food or milk twice daily". Now, except for a little nap here and there, I usually only go to bed once daily! Emily and I decided to do it twice daily since there were enough pills for 10 days and she's going to make sure tomorrow. We both just laughed and wondered if they were trying to kill me or cure me!

I got the settlement from the insurance company Friday, and the check was made out to both of us. I thought I was going to have to send it back but I went to the bank and, even though I know they made a copy of Bill's death certificate when I got the new debit card, his name is still on the account! So, it was OK to deposit it. Now, tomorrow I'll call the roofer and get that in the works. Hopefully they work in cold weather!

As a lot of you have probably done, I watched the events unfold on Wednesday at the Capitol. Instead of going into all of my thoughts here, I wrote a long post on my alternate blog. If you want to read it you can click here. It will also link to a post by an online friend, who said what I wanted to say, but much better than I could. So, I asked his permission to share it.

So, the year is not starting off well. Emily's stepson has been diagnosed with COVID, but so far it's a mild case. He's just quarantined at home. We had another prominent business owner pass away with the virus this week. I'm actually thinking about cancelling my cardiology appointment next month. I've gotten so I only leave the house when absolutely necessary and I've taken to online groceries. They don't deliver here, but as long as I don't have to get out of the car I'm good. I've even ordered a few meals through DoorDash when I don't feel like cooking but don't want fast food. I really have to watch myself with that though because I could do it every night!

I hope your year is starting off better than mine! Stay warm and safe, or cool and safe, whichever applies. Just stay safe!