Coffee break

In my job you now and then are offered a cup of coffee. Most of the time it’s easy to say no as they haven’t started to make it, it’s lunch time etc but sometimes like today you can’t. It’s the times when the patient or his/her relatives have already prepared it and set the table or when I know that I’m the only one “visiting” them that day. (A visit that they have to pay for.) I have even experience ladies that have sent the community caretakers to the bakery to get me something special. Now don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy these moments, they give so much information that otherwise might have been missed. It’s just that there are two small problems:
- I really dislike coffee
- I’m intolerant to gluten

Now I can drink the coffee although I’m quick to get something afterwards that will “kill” the coffee taste in my mouth. I am a tea drinker and will stay so forever. I want black tea with a hint of milk. Now I’m very picky with my tea. For instance I will rather have a cup of coffee than a cup of Earl Grey!

The other problem is a bigger issue. It’s so hard to get an 85 year old lady to understand why I can’t eat cake or cookies. That generation is so accustomed to serve 7 sorts of cakes and/or cookies. I do tend to lie sometimes by saying that I’m a diabetic – something they do understand but – yes there is a but – many then want to make me a sandwich instead. All this has made me an expert in nibbling a cookie. Oh I can get it to last forever! If I’m lucky it won’t be noticed. It’s worse when the patient has Danish or anything else from the bakery) or relatives present.

Today I had two cups of coffee!