A Senior Evening<\/p>\n
At Valentino’s,\u00a0any entree\u00a0can easily sate two gourmands. The price is right and the food is delicious.\u00a0Walter, Julie, Sheila (my wife) and I meet once a month at this restaurant in Yonkers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would you like to drink?\u201d asked our waiter.<\/p>\n
Sheila ordered an Apple Tucker, Julie, a Vodka Martini, Walter, a glass of Pinot Grigio. I passed, but asked Walter<\/p>\n
\u201cWalter, did you take the pills I gave you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.”<\/p>\n
“What can two little pills do to you? They may help you sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe WebMD website said they’re addictive.\u00a0Although I\u2019m up most of the night, I didn\u2019t take them.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the drinks arrived, our waiter asked if we had decided on an appetizer.<\/p>\n
Julie replied, \u201cLet\u2019s look at the menu.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at the menu? Look at the menu! cried Sheila. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t changed since the 1980s when Danny came here with his colleagues on Open School Night.”<\/p>\n
\u201cOK,\u201d said Julie. \u201cWe\u2019ll have a salad for two.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDanny, with your Warfarin pills you can\u2019t eat greens.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you take Warfarin, Walter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I don\u2019t have atrial fibrillation but I’m getting a bad reaction from the beta-blockers my doctor prescribed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJulie entered the picture.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is atrial fibrillation, what is Warfarin and what are beta-blockers?\u201d asked Julie.<\/p>\n
After an explanation, we sounded as if we were deeply embedded, and then stepped out of a Merck Manual.<\/p>\n
I have an announcement. After my cardiologist gave me an echocardiogram she said I was sluggish because it read 32 whatever that means. She said I need a new pacemaker which will stimulate my left ventricle and top it off with a defibrillator.<\/p>\n
Quadruple bypass? Atrial fibrillation? Defibrillator?<\/em>\u00a0Warfarin? Beta-blockers. What’s next on the menu? \u00a0Pills were what<\/em>\u00a0my\u00a0parents took, not me. And, when did I ever think I\u2019d grind out 83 years?<\/em><\/p>\n Out came the salad for two. There was enough greenery to feed a team of Clysdales. I lifted a salt and cholesterol-loaded wedge of Provolone cheese. A f0rbidden treat, but it was a small triangle. As the greens were being grazed, Walter raised his glass to announce,<\/p>\n \u201cI stopped taking my beta-blockers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d asked Sheila..<\/p>\n \u201cThey make me feel shitty. I\u2019m taking too many pills, so I decided to eliminate them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201dHow many pills are you taking?\u201d Julie asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know, but whatever I\u2019m taking is too-much-taking.\u201d<\/p>\n Julie added, \u201cWell, I\u2019m going to my doctor next week to check on my prostate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe prostate? Danny had his removed in 1993.\u201d whispered Sheila as if prostate was a dirty word.<\/p>\n Julie looked at me, \u201cDid it help?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid it help? A total failure,\u201d I replied. \u201cI have worn out the carpet from my side of the bed to the bathroom, and my back is killing me. I remember my botany professor saying that humans haven’t evolved as yet to walk comfortably on two feet. At this stage, we should be walking on all fours. Remember the comedian, Theodore? His opening line was, “Back, back to quadrupalism!” He was a man ahead of his time.”<\/p>\n With the prostate out of the way, I decided to make a keen observation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pharmaceutical companies play games with us. One month the pill is yellow, the next month the same pill is pink. One month it\u2019s shaped like a football, the next month it\u2019s square. It\u2019s as if the pill molds wear out and the company forgot their original shape and color.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheila offered her medical expertise.<\/p>\n \u201cSpeaking of pills, Danny. Remember when I was crying all this week? I discovered that I mixed them up and didn\u2019t take my anti-depressants.\u201d<\/p>\n Walter let us know that he was going to see the top heart man at NYU Hospital next week. Why?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so sluggish. Maybe he\u2019ll come up with something.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI felt like that and my doctor prescribed Digoxin. The next day I felt much better. My mother took them and she lived to 94.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn the shape I\u2019m in, I don\u2019t want to get close to 94. Maybe tomorrow will be my 94.\u201d<\/p>\n Our waiter cleared the glasses from our table then asked,<\/p>\n \u201cHave you decided on your entr\u00e9es?\u201d<\/p>\n What are the specials?\u201d asked Julie.<\/p>\n Meanwhile Danny asked Sheila to remind him to check whether his pacemaker is working with the monitoring company.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n danielwolfebooks@aol.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Senior Evening At Valentino’s,\u00a0any entree\u00a0can easily sate two gourmands. The price is right and the food is delicious.\u00a0Walter, Julie, Sheila (my wife) and I meet once a month at this restaurant in Yonkers. \u201cWhat would you like to drink?\u201d asked our waiter. Sheila ordered an Apple Tucker, Julie, a Vodka Martini, Walter, a glass… Continue reading A Senior Evening<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[201,202,204,203,199,200],"class_list":["post-697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-atrial-fibrillation","tag-beta-blockers","tag-digoxin","tag-prostate","tag-valentinos-restaurant","tag-warfarin","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=697"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4209,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions\/4209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielwolfebooks.com\/danielsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}