February 3, 2023 Breakfast - Scrambled Eggs, Oatmeal, and Little Smokies Lunch - a Vietnamese sandwich. Dinner - a Cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato and Hand-cut French Fries and Pineapple chunks

February 3, 2023 Breakfast - Scrambled Eggs, Oatmeal, and Little Smokies  Lunch - a Vietnamese sandwich. Dinner - a Cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato and Hand-cut French Fries and Pineapple chunks

I am generally feeling pretty good about my stay at Spanish Trail rehab hospital.

I spent three nights in the hospital in bed with limited walking because my blood pressure plummeted when I tried to walk.

I guess I lost a lot of blood, so they ran four liters of saline into me to fill me back up.

Then on Sunday I was transported to Spanish Trail. This my fifth night at Spanish Trail. Today, with the assistance of occupational therapy, I have increased the things I can do, like put on my socks.

Although I still spend most of my day in bed, I am beginning to go to the bathroom and walk and sit up in a chair with supervision.

More importantly my blood sugar and blood pressure have stabilized somewhat. The rehab facility includes many aspects of a hospital such as monitoring your vital signs on a regular basis and providing medication to try to keep your blood and sugar within normal levels.

Suzette came by today and when they checked my blood pressure at 4:30 I was a perfect 124 over 75.  My blood sugars have also stabilized, perhaps because I walked about twenty minutes today or am building back my blood supply.

The default cuisine is Mexican.  There is always an alternate.  Yesterday I rejected a mystery meat taco and was served the alternate, a grilled cheese sandwich with a bowl of cream of tomato soup.

The alternative is no always appealing. For example, when I rejected the mystery meat taco after eating the succotash and some Mexican rice served with it, I rejected the alternate that was a burrito.

Luckily, I have been blessed with people bringing me food. Willy brought me my favorite Vietnamese dish, fried Egg Rolls and grilled marinated pork  strips on top of steamed rice noodles, on top of chopped lettuce, herbs, and bean sprouts. It was a wonderful treat.

Then two days ago Susan brought me a platter of delicious ultra crisp Julia Child Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipe for cheese biscuits.

 there are also two default food options always available, a ham and cheese 

sandwich and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I ordered a ham and cheese the other day and when Suzette came two days ago we ate pieces of ham on cheese biscuits as an afternoon snack because Suzette had not eaten lunch. 

Then yesterday Amy visited and brought me Vietnamese sandwich on a freshly baked baguette from Coda Bakery.  I had a good dinner of chicken fried steak (actually a small chicken breast) with vegetables and mashed potatoes and gravy, so I stored the sandwich in the fridge in the room.

Today, without a decent alternative I asked the helper to heat 1/2 of the sandwich. It was wonderful.

Then tonight another good meal of a cheeseburger with a slice of tomato and several pieces of lettuce and a small,pile of hand cut French fries and a small cup of pineapple chunks was served for a decent dinner.

I got a little hungry by 11:00, so I ate another cheese biscuit.

This is the first day I have had a strong appetite.

I consider my stay an adventure in eating institutional cuisine, although Willy promised to bring me sashimi tomorrow for lunch.

Bon Appetit