Pickles by Brian Crane for October 13, 2015

Better be careful, Earl, or those will be the final nails in your coffin once Opal finishes with you!

I hope Earl isn’t serious about it. Chipped tooth+angry woman = lethal combination.

Are nails made out of iron now?

Earl’s a smart ass, lol.

My mother was an ice chomper due to her diabetes. Please get checked just in case.

My mother (who has dementia and is in a wheelchair) has been demanding ice for months. 15 minutes after she finishes a glass, she wants more, doesn’t remember how much she’s had. We had her iron checked, well into the normal range. The doctor has told us that we do need to cut her off, that she is wanting too much liquid too fast, so Dad and I have to coordinate what we’ve given her. Dentist has suggested everything he can for dry mouth and we’ve looked into everything else they and Google and the dementia support group can think of. It’s driving the 3 of us batty. At least she can’t get it herself easily and she can’t argue with “you’ve eaten all of it.” Not having an ice maker is a blessing!

Geritol is a line of nutritional supplements marketed to seniors (hence the name). The original formula emphasized iron, and T.V. commercials suggested seniors who felt they were lacking in energy had “iron poor blood.” Then, it was discovered seniors often needed less iron than young people.

No one should start popping iron supplements without a doctor’s orders. Blood is hugely complicated and there are different types of anemia and so on. Too much iron is detrimental to the heart.

Start cooking in cast iron pans (not the ones that are coated on the inside).

Nowadays we have Google. Years ago my father used to go often to the University Library to learn stuff like this.

I gotta think at some point they’ll never be able to iron out their differences.

Oh yes, when you think you might be ill, sympathy is called for!!!

They told me I needed to add chromium to my diet. Back in the ’60s, that would have just meant licking a few bumpers.

A shot of one of the vitamin B’s can break chocolate cravings, although dark chocolate is a powerful antioxident….

A Lot of days with the ice… It should have melted by now.

earl is so good to her!

What could the compulsion to chew on ice possibly have to do with a deficiency in iron? I guess I could Google …

Very hard to believe Opal has an iron deficiency…unless she’s still menstruating

if you were worried about the ice cracking her teeth….?

Isn’t Earl a wonderful husband?

I take a Multivitamin every day.

xxx

He just wants to get her mad enough that she’s ’spitting nails" !