An outing with Gert

Got Gert out of her chair again last week and took her on errands with me. Pharmacy (check), CVS (check), mall (check), Costco (no-check as the parking lot was totally full!), and then over to Roy's Place to meet up with Kimberly for lunch. Roy's Place, if you don't know it, is tucked underneath the bridge in Gaithersburg and has been in operation since 1955. Their claim to fame is a menu of over 200 different sandwich concoctions - there's everything you can imagine, including tongue and calves liver. I figured this would be a good spot for Mom to get something different.

So, we belly on up to the table, Gert orders a:

Corn beef on rye.

Yep, you heard it here first. I suppose that, as we age, our tastes change too, become more simple. I've noticed that she's not eating as much protein as she used to so I trick her into it sometimes - peanut butter crackers, a piece of cheese hidden in the middle of a sandwich and, my go-to high calorie find - Ensure Plus (370 calories a can but she'll only drink 1/2 at a time). I feel only slightly guilty about these maneuvers and often tell her afterwards what she really ate.

I think she might be fighting a cold here and have been keeping her on Cordicidin (one of the few cold meds you can use when you have high blood pressure). She's definitely been off her feed and we've had a few tense times with me pleading for her to eat, just something. But, she's not getting any thinner since she has plenty of times when she eats 3 breakfasts, 3 lunches and 3 dinners (plus snacks). She's also been pretty quiet so I've been bringing in entertainment. Since John was in WV this past weekend and Bobbi is on one of her world travels, Kim came over one night and Jeff was here yesterday. Visitors are very necessary to keeping Gert propped up. And, Matee is back today when John drops her off on his way to work so that should cheer Mom up.