Nature Songs ~~~~
MAY, 2000
continued ~
May 9, 2000 - One day. Yes, just one day. Is that too much to expect? Apparently, it is too much to ask when expecting to have a normal uneventful day with only daily planned routine-run-of-the-day-type things to experience. At least on this day I was able to get in my water routine before scurrying off for the unexpected. One may think that I kid when commenting that the out-of-the-ordinary things always pop up to be taken care of in my lifestyle. I kid not! A schedule to follow does not follow through for me each day.
This day was altered by a phone call. A phone call made by Tbird from her cellular phone while enroute on one of her own different sort of days. Her hubby scheduled for oral surgery here in Lenoir, they drove DynoKid to school and found that NascarKid would be unable to stay the day. Why? He had pink eyes. Oh,I know that long word that technically identifies the condition, but it is one of those tongue-twister words for me. I choose not to use it. Giggles was taken to daycare, and I was asked to meet them at the surgeons office to take NascarKid for the day. A call was being made to his doctor in Hickory for the drops to treat his eyes.
I asked where the office was. The answer? Across from McDonald's. Problem! McD's is at a major intersection with no offices across from it! I ask a few questions to get a feel for where to go. I get in my exercise and ask questions of others in the pool with me. They are no more enlightened as to where to go than I am. I know of three places it could be, so the search is on. It turns out to be a block and a half behind McD's on the street that runs beside the eating place. There is Lower Creek running beside the road in front of the place. No room for any buildings. A strip mall is beside it and at the intersection. Checking there for a certain car was easy enough.
Eye drops to be administered every two hours, the change over was made, and a ground rule set. No ordering of pizza on this day. NascarKid has to choose something else to eat this day. I have a few things to buy at the store, so I let him pick out what he would eat for lunch. He chose a pizza lunchable! It was not a regular pizza, so he could have it. We passed the day together and come evening, and having a conference over the phone, Mom and I decide for me to keep NascarKid for the night. It saves them from running so much, and with having drops every two hours, it is too early for him to be back in school. Plus, he still has quite a bit of redness and tearing
May 10, 2000 - Wednesday morning, and plans take a turn in another direction for me once more. I cannot take the Kid to daycare at Q4L because of his eyes. He is too young to leave home alone. Strangely, my hip I hurt a while back is giving me some problems anyway. I did too many side leg lifts while bending in the same direction with the noodle held over my head in the water yesterday. It was a movement I should not have made. Hindsight does very little to help with the pain and stiffness.
NascarKid and I go by the Subway to get something for lunch and take it with us to visit with Mother while we eat. What does he choose? A twelve inch pizza sub, of course! He does not waver too far from tasting an aroma of pepperoni pizza once again. He inhales his twelve inches of sandwich before I can savor half of my own six inch turkey sub. He must be experiencing a growth surge according to the way he devours food lately. (Ah, the wonders of youth...)
The doctor is to visit with Mother today, but from past experience I know that he doesn't get to her hall until close to supper time. True enough, she calls about supper time to say that the doctor has just left. She informs me that the doctor thinks she is crazy! He was asking her questions about things because the nursing staff had reported to him about how she has been confused about some things lately. He feels that some of her medicine is causing her to be confused at times. She will not admit to them that she is having trouble with seeing. She will not allow them to know that her back is still causing a lot of pain from her last fall. If she would work with the doctor and the staff, things could be a lot better for her. She is to the point now that I feel any comments I make are taken lightly by the staff because she will not follow through and be truthful with them. She would rather have them to see her as confused instead of being unable to care for herself - in control of herself. She is quickly losing that control, but cannot see how much it shows to others.
As for myself, I came close to having to accept that I, too, needed help! A toe nail was split and causing a problem. I reached down to clip it. There was a little twinge in my hip and thigh. I thought nothing about it. I started to get up. The trouble began. First a pain in the left leg. It eased up somewhat. But the pain that struck the right thigh was on a scale of twelve on the ten point scale! Yes, it was that bad and worse. I could not move. It would not easy up. It seemed to be in the area of the muscle that has not been strengthening. Guess the epidurals have helped some. If this is better, I'm not at all sure I can handle it. Finally, I am able to maneuver myself to where I lay on the bed. I move a pillow so that I am able to make one follow-through movement, swinging my legs up on the pillow as I lay on my back. As soon as I am laying flat on my back, the pain leaves. It has to be pressure on the nerve. Nothing else would respond in that way. When I finally get the nerve to move after taking some Flexeril, there is a soreness and tenderness in both legs, but the quick jabbing, white- pulsating, cold perspiring pain does not strike again. Thank goodness I see the doctor tomorrow.
Lady comes to straighten and clean house for me. She likes my shoe art. Tbird comes to take NascarKid home. She drops of BingoKid at his house on the way home. He had come over to play with his cousins for a few hours. In only a short time, DynoKid gets mysteriously soaked with the water hose outdoors. Now, why would two older boys try to get a younger one wet??? They were hardly wet themselves. This was while Elsie Dawg was getting fed by them.
May 11, 2000 - Another day that I am unable to make it to Q4L. I have to be at the doctor's office in Hickory for a 10:15 appointment this morning. All those papers that doctors require you to fill out had to be done once again. His office paperwork does not include all that was done just across the driveway. I goofed and left my list of information at home! I took my appointment book from my handbag with my all important names and dates and left it on the table at home. The office called and had the insurance information faxed over. The doctor was running behind on his schedule since this was the day he was doing surgery as well as seeing patients.
Four hours later, I was back home with three new prescriptions filled, a diet video to watch and return to them, and an appointment this coming Thursday for another epidural (He would have done it today if I had a driver with me to get me back home safely.) He has me promise to use the pain pills until he can work me through whatever it is that is happening to me as he spins his magic. He assures me that he can help the pain and problems to make life better for me if I will only work with him. I shall try.
The new part of my life will be the one of learning to live with the side effects of taking the pill, Xenical, to take off some of this poundage I am now sporting. I am not certain that this is what I would chose for myself, but as I think about it, I also wonder if I would do better if I began a log of the daily eating style and results in the next year. It will be a new experience for sure.
May 12, 2000 - Sessions in the water was cut down to only two times this week with all the other happenings seeping into the schedule of have-to's. Looks as if I need to go for the evening class if this keeps up. The next few weeks is not looking too good for me and the mornings right now. I go for another shot next week. My Mother goes back to the eye doctor the Tuesday after that... and so goes my good intentions...
I have to pick up the boys from school this afternoon and keep them for the weekend. I have even forgotten what it is that their parents and Giggles are doing for the weekend. I do know that they will call to let me know the telephone number in case I should have to contact them. Sis will pick them up Sunday afternoon and take them home with her so they will be closer to school on Monday. This will be the first time they have spent the night with her in her new home. Usually she keeps they in their home instead of hers.
May 13, 2000 - A pleasant retrieve for me. The boys spent the night with their cousin. Wanting to compare and trade their Pokemon cards with each other, I drove the two over to BingoKid's. It turns out that he had injured his ankle at Karate Class Thursday evening. Wendy had spent all day between the doctor's office and the hospital with him. He is getting to sport around a shiny new pair of crutches for a while, but the good news was that he didn't have a broken bone. He does have a lot of different colors due to bruising and pulling the muscles around his ankle. He was luckier than his Aunt Cotton, who now has her cast of her ankle. She gets to wear an air brace support on her ankle for six more weeks. What fun we do seem to have.
The two are to be dropped off at my house this morning as Wes and his family are on their way up the mountain to another family picnic at Price's Lake today. I have to drive them over to Morganton for their swim lessons at Phiffer Wellness Center at noon.
I was hoping that some videos I ordered for Mother would be here in time for me to give them to her for Mother's Day. Maybe they will be in the mail this afternoon. If not, guess I'll get her another plant with showy flowers to enjoy for the summer. Her eyesight is getting progressively worse and I'm not sure just how much she is able to see. It seems at times she is blind. Instead of giving her some drops for the infection in her "good" eye, her regular doctor had the nurses to call and make her an appointment to have the eye checked again. All the eye doctor will do is take a quick look, say there isn't much to be done and give us a prescription for the infection. The problem with that? The appointment isn't until the 18th! I suggested they call and ask for some drops which the doctor would be glad to make available since he knows Mother and the problem she is having all too well. I have a mind to call myself Monday. It's quite a chance to be taking with the only sight that Mother has remaining by not treating the infection more quickly.
I'm still toying with how to handle the new medicine that I have and how best to keep track. The word "diet" is not one that I care to work with. It is a word used much out of context since everyone has a diet to deal with on a daily basis. The 1800 calorie "diet" I was given is not one that I can use. A proven fact is that it is much too much for me to loose weight. Another fact, is that it is more food at a time than my stomach can handle. There are things listed on it that I am not supposed to be eating. Seems that the best road to follow is eat in moderation and keep away from any high fat foods and keep up my water exercising. I will have to refrain from eating out with my daughter and grandchildren on the run unless I have the salad and baked potato. Decisions, decisions!
May 14, 2000 - Cotton phoned home last night to wish me a Happy Mother's Day.
She is in Georgia this weekend judging an AKC Agility competition, and was not sure she would be able to call today. She is not sounding well at all. Her voice was sounding bad when she was here visiting. Now it sounds even worse and she has not seen a doctor about it as of yet.
With the boys here, I decided to spend the morning with them over at the Nursing Center with Mother instead of going to church in Hickory. The oldest of the two has not been on his very best behavior this weekend, so I shall not travel very far with him. He wants to go to WalMart, but that can wait until his parents deem him ready for a trip there. Sis comes over to pick them up around six p.m., and takes them home. She will stay with them until their parents arrive back home with Giggles from Virginia.
I decide to go to bed a little earlier than usual this evening, but soon find that it was not a good choice. The phone keeps on ringing ... so I don't rest. First, it is Allan to see how my day has been. I report to him that Wes and his family were over to spend some time with this evening before going by the nursing center to spend a little time with Mother. Tbird calls to say they are back in the state, but it will be a while before they get home. Mother calls to see if I have called her.... so goes a restful evening....
May 15, 2000 - Yawn, Boring....! Yawn, again and again. This seems to be a day filled with one yawn after another. Even in the water this morning I could not keep from yawning. I came home only to take a nap, but that didn't do all that good. I didn't sleep all that well last night. I didn't get to rest yesterday afternoon, with the boys here. I did check my blood sugar around 3 a.m. It was 76, so I ate a piece of candy to bring it up. The cold sweat went away and I felt some better, but I still didn't rest much. Perhaps, tonight, it will be better.
I spent several hours with Mother today. She is not seeing much at all. Today she sat with her eyes closed most of the time. In the morning she has an appointment with the eye doctor. He can help the infection in her eye, but there is nothing more to do done for her vision. I'm not sure how things are going to be from here on out with her. It would help is others of the family would or could help out with her. She would eat better if there was a person there to guide and help her. Her supper tonight was hardly touched. The coke I fixed her yesterday was sitting there in the window. She had hardly had any of it. She said she couldn't find it....
May 16, 2000 - Another of those topsy-turvy type of days. I set out to do one thing and end up out in left field befuddled as I hold the football and ponder the next move. I arrived in Hickory at the eye doctor's office as the CNA that drove Mother down for her appointment was just finishing up using bunches of paper towels to clean up Mother sitting there beside the van. Mother had suddenly had an upset stomach which surprised her as much as it did the rest of us. I feel that probably by riding down the road with her eyes shut and then being brought out of the van and down with the lift, she probably got disoriented and upset. She has had problems in the past with not being able to ride in the back seat of cars or on rides at the fair. At least, by telling the office that she was sick, they rushed her on in so we didn't' have to sit in the reception room but a few moments.
The doctor came in and took one brief look at her eye and said, "I see what her problem is. The lower lid is turned in, scratching the eye, itself. I can do something about that." He quickly decided that he would have time to do it this morning and save having to make another trip to Hickory. So Mother had surgery on her one remaining eye for seeing. On the down side, it left her with the eye bandaged up, leaving her in total darkness. The patch would come off in the morning, and the office made arrangement for a trip to the nursing home to take out the stitches next Monday.
It is lunchtime before all is finished and she is on her way back to Lenoir and the Nursing Center. I have a 2 p.m. appointment to have my hair cut, so it is needless for me to drive home and back again. I go by the Jewelry Store and catch BJ as he is getting into his car for lunch. We talk about Mother and her morning activities, and how her eyesight is growing worse before we each go our separate ways. I go by Burger King and being a "good girl" I order a Whopper Jr. with no cheese. That comes closest to not messing up my eating for the day when paired with a diet drink. I have a little time that I spend in WalMart in Hickory looking around, but buying little. A drive by the ATM machine to get money to pay Lady this evening, and then on to the Beauty shop for my hair cut. This was friend day at the shop. Several friends were there and we talked together. My hairdresser had returned from a cruise to Bermuda and had pictures to share with all of us. From there, a stop at the grocery store and I make it home, tired to say the least.
Allan was home working on his lawn equipment, and said he would carry in the groceries for me. Thank goodness for small favors. I rested a little before heading out to the Nursing Center to feed Mother her supper. She was in quite a bit of pain and rubbing at her eye too much, but ate a pretty good meal for me - half a sandwich and all her soup. (Wonder how she would have done, it she had to eat the soup by herself?) I had left Lady at home cleaning house for me, so I didn't stay for too long with Mother. I located the station for her ballgame on the television so she could listen to it tonight, and promised to come back tomorrow.
May 17, 2000 - A good workout in the water this morning. I got in fifteen minutes of peddling before class began, plus some more movements, and then in class, we did a lot of aerobic movements throughout the hour.
Back home, there is a message on the phone that reminds me to be at the office at 8:30 a.m. for another lumbar epidural in the morning. I get in touch with Wendy to make sure she is still able to go with me. A quick rest and then off to feed Mother her lunch. She has told me that the pad "came off" her eye during the night. It was on quite securely with all edges covered. That tells me that she had to be picking at it. She has two stitches on the inside of her lid which rubs the eye anytime that the eye moves downward. Keeping her fingers off is going to be a challenge for one and all. I suggest to her nurse that having her to wear dark glasses helps some with keeping her hands off the eye. Mother's eye is sore and so far today, she has made little effort to open it to see. Hopefully, the glasses may act as a shield and encourage her to use the eye more quickly. Guess I need to go back about supper time to help her eat again. I left her listening to one of the tapes of our Sunday Church services that a friend brings to her each week.
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©2000 by Stormy Jeanne
