Last Friday, the infusion nurse who comes to the house each week didn't like the looks of the skin around Denis's picc line and told him he needed to go to the Emergency Room. It being the weekend, none of the doctors' offices would be open. Since infections involving picc lines can be deadly, it's something you don't want to mess with. Denis went and wound up spending the night in the hospital. When he was discharged, he called both Uber and Lyft to get a return trip home, but no vehicle capable of holding a mobility scooter was available, no matter how long he waited.
Since the hospital was about a quarter mile away, Denis trundled home on his scooter as the light left the sky. To say I was a waiting bundle of nerves would be an understatement, but he arrived home without incident.
On Tuesday, he went to a doctor's appointment. I almost don't want to say anything, but this past week has seemed to show improvement in both Denis's pain level and mobility, an improvement that I pray continues.
Thus endeth the latest medical update. Thank you for putting up with them. Now... have a great weekend and enjoy the links!
►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄
- How to choose your favorite books when choosing favorites feels unnatural.
- How to choose your next book to read-- in the most chaotic way possible.
- The most boring book opinions.
- How perfume becomes an evocative clue for mystery writers.
- Jeffrey Siger on the law of unintended consequences.
- The art of furnishing rooms with books you haven't read.
- The endless debate about spoilers keeps us consuming boring art.
- What kind of bookstore browser are you?
- Why a bookstore's most quiet moments are (sometimes) its most important.
►Book Banning & Censorship◄
- Censorship battles' new frontier: You public library.
- I'm a high school junior. Let's talk about Huckleberry Finn and Mockingbird.
- Amanda Oliver considers what it costs librarians to be the saviors of society.
- An Oklahoma library cancels its adult romance book club after the board bans sexual content.
- We Need Diverse Books offers banned book grants to educators.
- How one district in North Carolina is pushing back against book banning.
- The Authors Guild has launched a Banned Book Club.
- The IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association) tackles book bans.
- A look inside the textbooks that Florida rejected.
- The officials in a Texas county have been sued over library book bans. More from the Washington Post and NPR.
- "Book smugglers" are planning caravans from Houston and San Antonio to start an underground library for banned books.
- And the one that almost made my eyes pop out of my head: A Tennessee lawmaker has suggested burning banned books. This person's brain cell is decidedly lonely yet he got enough votes to be elected to state government. People, each and every one of you has a vote that counts! Anyone whose thinking is as clouded as this man's has no place in any lawmaking process.
►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄
- There's more art and antique theft in rural New England than you might think.
- The book that sank on the Titanic and burned in the Blitz.
- The Temple of Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl in Mexico City.
- A Dutch teenage painter's multi-million-dollar masterpiece was hidden in plain sight.
- An ancient Roman pottery workshop was discovered in Egypt.
- A lost Charlotte Brontë manuscript has sold for $1.25 million.
- What gets lost when archives aren't funded.
- Viking runes at Hagia Sophia.
►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄
- A veterinarian's perspective on writing animals.
- Video: A woman built a tree house for the squirrel she rescued as a baby from her yard.
- Ten feel-good non-fiction books about animals.
- Researchers have developed a "bear-dar" that warns humans of approaching polar bears.
- The first U.S. open-air test of genetically modified mosquitoes has been deemed a success.
- A new puppy named Ollie became a "golden" retriever after sniffing out a stash of rate coins on his first walk. What's he going to do for an encore?
- A Lake Tahoe homeowner recently found five bears hibernating under her house.
- A bomb-sniffing Jack Russell terrier named Patron has been hailed as a hero for saving lives in Ukraine.
- Science says being surrounded by birds can make you happier. Duh...
►Fascinating Folk◄
- The erased lives of enslaved women forced to have the children of their enslavers.
- How four authors organize and declutter their massive book collections.
- Sir David Attenborough's remarks after receiving the lifetime Champion of the Earth award are a must-watch.
- Miss Lala, the Black aerialist who dazzled Gilded Age Paris.
- The real-life figures who inspired Conan-Doyle's characters.
►I ♥ Lists◄
- Eleven books with strange and magical houses.
- Eleven time-bending sagas for fans of The Time Traveler's Wife.
- Eight cozy art murder mysteries to paint suspicion onto your day.
- Fourteen Chicago slang terms you should know.
- Eight of the best books to read if you loved The Lost City.
- The most and least satisfying endings of all of Agatha Christie's mysteries.
- Anna Lee Huber's top ten female sleuths in long-running historical mystery series.
- The Guardian's top ten books about gardening.
That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. And don't forget to curl up with a good book!
Oh, my, Cathy! I'm very glad Denis was able to get back safely, and that the office wasn't too far a way. But still, that's so awful that there wasn't any available Uber or Lyft that could help. It's good to hear that his pain... but I won't say anything - don't want to jinx it! Instead, I'll just head off for that temple in Mexico...
ReplyDeleteI had a feeling you'd be dusting off your Spanish... ;-)
DeleteOh my gosh, I am glad it was so close and hopefully adequate sidewalks. Hope you guys enjoy this weekend and can relax a bit!
ReplyDeleteHe told me that he didn't have any problems on his way home. Come to think of it, I think they finished making all the curbs at intersections ADA-compliant, thank heaven!
DeleteGood thing Denis had his scooter! Glad to hear he seems to be improving. Hope you both have a restful weekend!
ReplyDeleteIt would've been restful if some folks at the pharmacy hadn't screwed up his antibiotic delivery. Again. If I didn't have high blood pressure before (and I didn't), something tells me that I've got it now.
DeleteYes, but how lucky Denis is that he is living with someone with an eagle eye who catches these mistakes. One always has to be on alert on everything medical.
DeleteAnd it is exhausting to constantly have to be on red alert.
DeleteGlad to hear Denis is improving, even if slightly. Poor guy. And you get some rest, books, iced tea and snacks. I'm livid at the book banners, daring to deny people their reading of choice. It reminds me of other such types who want to deny people other choices. Let people live, read, make their own decisions on whatever that may be. I will come back and read more links. I have been ensconced in news this week without reading time. But thank you for taking the time to post the links with all this going on. Best wishes for everyone's good health.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kathy.
DeleteAs always, thanks for the roundup. Many interesting stories there and it's good to hear that Denis' condition has improved somewhat. What a relief to you both and here's hoping it continues!
ReplyDeleteYes!
Delete