Homesteading: Growing Old Together

You grow old regardless of where you live. Homesteaders grow old peacefully. Surrounded by the sound of crickets and tree frogs and the sight of deer, rabbits, wild turkeys, and an occasional fox somehow makes growing old a slower process.

We had a "growing old" experience this week. Ron had to go to the emergency room. He had been having some trouble catching his breath for a few days. Sunday he said he thought he was all better. Monday he woke me up at 5 AM with the words, "I need for you to drive me to the emergency room."

Those are words no spouse likes to hear. I tried to get him to let me call the ambulance but he insisted I drive him. The ambulance would have taken him to the small (but very good) hospital in Crestview. He knew it was fluid around his heart, congestive heart failure, and wanted to be at West Florida Hospital where our excellent cardiologist practices. As long as he was sitting down, he was okay.

The hospital is about 90 miles away. I got him to the emergency room pretty quickly because it's interstate all the way. He had agreed that as we passed by the two towns between here and Pensacola, he would tell me if he needed to go to the local ER.

Here is West Florida Hospital.It used to be called West Florida University Hospital. It has recently been merged with Baptist Hospital. WF is an excellent hospital. It is a teaching hospital. Ron had a bevy of beauties stopping in frequently to see if he needed anything.

He enjoyed the attention.

Sure enough, he had a fluid buildup. His BNP (measures the fluid buildup) should have been 100. It was 1100! By the next morning it was 450. By the next night it was back to normal. I got to bring him home Thursday. These flare-ups do happen. He had it happen once before but didn't need to be hospitalized. This time he just let it go too long. THAT will never happen again!!!

Some people might think I'm overprotective of him. I don't think there is such thing as being too protective of my Ronnie's health. But what I do is make up for his sometimes too-casual attitude toward his own care.

It's called love.

And here on the farm, we have a lot of that.

More later.....

Buy Prada Shoes