The week started with a holiday it was Easter Monday. To me it was the same as I have holidays every day. I slept longer and had just put on my Egyptian Djellaba I like to wear in the morning, when the doorbell rang. I didn't expect anybody and especially not on a Easter Monday and looked on the video to see who it was. It was an elderly man with grey hairs I had never seen. I screamed through the phone, but the guy didn't hear me. Finally I opened the door and hoped that it was not a mass murderer. Before I opened my entrance door I asked again who it was and got the answer : The Red Cross !
I opened the door and the man told me that he wanted to pick up all the medication Rick had bought and which I had put into three enormous plastic garbage bags. There were drugs for a fortune ! The man was happy because he would sort them out and give them to the nurses who visit very poor people and often didn't have the money to buy the medications. It was not easy to get rid of all these stuff, because the drugstores only took back closed boxes and some not at all and I didn't want to throw them away if I could find an organization who had use for these expensive pills. To me it was a crime to just throw them away. The Red Cross in Brussels sent me to hell (really) and didn't want to take anything. So I called the Red Cross here in Waterloo and they were pleased to take it all. I was happy and relieved that finally all medications were gone and the space where I had put them was free again. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture, because it's hard to imagine how many boxes he had stocked, and I hadn't realized, that he had been ill already, and I had never controlled or checked what he bought.
The rest of the day I worked on my posts, watched a movie, enjoyed the sunshine and then Adeline came over to say hello to Rosie and we sat on the terrace and just relaxed.
The houses start to disappear behind the trees which have leaves now.
Unfortunately with this beautiful weather there are are lot of little things flying through the air and I got asthma and it was hard for me to breath when I made an effort.
My son had sent me a message which I absolutely had to forward to common friends. He had looked on Facebook for old friends in the USA when he spent holidays in Madison/Wisc with my aunt. The neighbor's son only two years older, had taken him to the Wisconsin Dells to camp there for a couple of days. To his surprise he found Eric but what he also found on his page was a message that a silver alert had been issued and if Jack is not found soon there will be a spot on tonight's 6pm news. And he had added a picture of Jack his father. The world is small ! It turned out that Jack has the same disease then Rick but more Alzheimer and he had taken his bike and disappeared. Fortunately he was found rather soon. Of course I had to tell this to my cousin who knew him very well too because she had stayed with Jack and his wife and then to an ex neighbor of my aunt with whom I am still in contact ! I know Jack very well because when my aunt died he did all the administration papers for me. I don't know what happens but I hear more and more Alzheimer/Parkinson cases in my generation around me.
I should have gone shopping for Rick, but I still couldn't breath normally although I used the asthma spray, so that I did my shopping like Speedy Gonzales bought only what was really essential and fell on my sofa exhausted ! When I don't move I have nothing. Shopping on Internet is more easy. I looked for a parasol as the one I have is too small.
My printer still didn't work and thought I just will try to connect it to my computer myself. Don't ask me what I have done, but it took me not even 10 min and the printer spit out all kind of papers which I had tried to print. I was proud of myself.
When I visited Rick he had a bad day, he was very agitated and lay down, got up, balanced, sat down and It took me a lot of energy not to shout to stay put because he tried to follow me and I was afraid to knock him down ! While I put the drinks and treats in the fridge he was angry because I worked and didn't sit besides him. But I had to repair his bedside lamp, he had pulled out the cable, the TV didn't work, but I managed to fix it, and the worst was the telephone which didn't work either. I checked all cables and finally found the one which was disconnected. Then I sat down besides him but then he was looking on his watch with meant that he was tired and honestly I too and I left. I returned home. I had a drink with Adeline and we chatted a bit about everything.
The nice weather continues and Miss Rosie started to cook in her basket. I closed the curtains
and she got out and lay besides waiting that her basket cools down. Clever girl !
Meanwhile I also have prepared the terrace for spring and summer, and while I was looking for my (fake) flowers I found all my Easter decoration !! The tree, the bunnies, eggs etc ! Too late it will be for next year !
I still have to put my cats around the terrace !
Last year I had bought a table cloth for spring and summer times and I put it on the table for the first time. It looks cheerful to me.
The days fly by it's terrible, and there is not enough time for all the things I want to do. The last days it was my COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) which slowed me down and obliged to stay home. It's a strange disease, when the air is bad I am fine, when the air is good I feel bad. Never mind I have always done everything the opposite way (or nearly).
Rosie doesn't know if she should stay in or go out, she played Brexit.
That's good that you got rid of the medications. Odd that Brussels didn't want the drugs but Waterloo did.
ReplyDeleteWe just take unwanted and out of date medication to the chemist and they responsibly dispose of it.
Just wondering if you have cooling in your apartment, like an air conditioner?
Its a great way to help others by giving away perfectly good meds that you don't/can't use anymore.
ReplyDeleteI used to work at a doctor office and he would take meds like that and take them with him on missionary trips to third world countries.
Sorry your asthma and COPD don't like the spring weather...I have a lot of troubles when the trees blossom and have a ton of pollen.
That was quite a tale of 'the small world' when your son contacted friends abroad! Glad the gentleman was found, and was safe.
I love your table cloth, it really bright and cheerful!
I did not know the Red Cross does that.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear you could pass on the medications. I don't know why it has to be so difficult though. Sorry to hear you weren't feeling well. I hope your breathing is better now. My late MIL had COPD so I know how hard it can make doing even the simplest of things at times. At least you can take things easy when you need to.
ReplyDeleteWhat a good idea to give the leftover meds to an organization that can help people who need it. SOOOO much better than simply throwing it out. It would end up in our soil or foods! and so bad for the environment. I did read that certains meds can be tossed out with coffee grounds and not do damage.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you had some time to unwind with your friend and have a drink.
HAPPY SPRING
I didn't know the Red Cross would take old medicines. That's good to know. You've had a busy week fixing things. My m-i-l would get agitated when I puttered around her room, too. It meant more to her just to have a visitor--the staff is just in and out for routine stuff, and she didn't like to go out to the common room for programs because her hearing aid would pick up all the voices so that it was hard to distinguish anything. So having sometime to talk to one-on-one really made her day.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry for your breathing problems this week. I hope you're doing better now.
It's so nice to be able to set the terrace up for spring and summer. I think--I hope--we're firmly into spring now without as much back-and-forth between cold and warm weather.