Nature Songs ~~~~
MAY,2000, continued ~
May 18, 2000 - Mother had pancakes and sausage for supper ast evening. I put a patty of meat in one pancake so she could hold it and eat by herself. Then she ate another one. That was all she would eat from her tray. I noticed that the coke I fixed her the day before was still sitting, untouched. She didn't know where it was, so I took it into the bathroom, emptied it, and left it open to air out over night. I found her ballgame station on TV before leaving her for the evening. I also mentioned to one of the CNA's that her wheelchair had not been touched since she returned from Hickory Tuesday. It had all the mess left in the side of it from where she was sick upon arriving at the doctor's office.
Wendy was here bright and early this morning to transport me to Hickory for yet another epidural. The doctor was quite blunt in informing me that I was not the one to be making trips to feed Mother for each meal. His directions for me was to lay around, rest and absolutely no stress until my next visit in six weeks when he will do another sort of injections using the xray machine. Seems that stress and my blood pressure being high again are two factors I am to work toward making better so more energy will go toward healing myself. He feels that he can help a lot of my pain problems and be able to help me to get around better. My pain pill was changed and this time instead of taking as I feel I need it, I take it twice a day regularly. I had lost two pounds since my last visit. That is a good beginning. Meanwhile, I also keep up all my water workouts.
Most of today for me has been dozing off and on from the effects of the shot I got this morning. BJ came up to spend a little time with Mother around lunchtime today. He brought her two ham biscuits, so we both knew that she had something that she would - and did - eat. During the afternoon, I had her to push her call button and kept her on the telephone until one of the workers came in to fix her some ice and coke to sip on. That was the only way I could be sure that she would ask for something to drink. She is not seeing at all today. There is not light or anything, and she refuses to get out of bed because she is afraid she will fall.
I had to tell Mother yesterday that her sister in Highpoint fell during the night at her assisted living apartment and could not get to the call button to signal that she needed help. When she didn't show up for breakfast Tuesday morning, the staff found her on the floor. She had a broken hip, and had surgery Tuesday afternoon to mend her hip with a plate and some pins. Her recovery time is expected to be about three months. Their other sister is in Highpoint now with her since her only child is in Greece on vacation! (And I am not supposed to be stressed?)
Tbird came to feed Mother supper tonight. Then she and the children brought me some supper and spent a little time here at the house. I also got my Mother's Day present which the boys forgot to bring for me over the weekend. This weekend, Tbird has a class in the mountains, so I will only have the boys during the day, but they will need to go to swimming classes on Saturday. Guess I am elected, but that isn't very hard to do since I only drive them over and sit resting while they have their class. I get to watch all the people coming and going to and from working out upstairs. I like to sit near the racquetball courts and watch as they practice or play. The others have to walk by to the stairs to workout upstairs - unlike me - I would be using the elevator instead of the stairs.
May 19, 2000 - Those bucking horse noodles! We each rode astride our trusty nags as we raced around in the water a picture of perfect confusion and fun. One would have thought we were racing to the finish line in reverse the speed with which we were able to negate turns with erring graceful balance (much pun intended). Who would ever think that those noble, graceful products of years of being in our prime of life could have such a great time together. Age was not a factor here. The name of the game was have fun. We all did.... Enduring twelve minutes of the steamy heat bursting out every few seconds in the steam room and I was more than ready to proceed with the day.
Ms. Jay and I had already planned to go by the small fruit stand this morning and stock up on the fresh goodies available. I left there with much more than I usually use in a week, but with the watching my diet, I figure I will rely on the fresh fruits and vegetables instead of having to cook. How can you resist luscious red, juicy, ripe strawberries with stems screaming, "Buy me! Buy me!"? two containers carefully placed in a paper bag to keep from crushing them, next were the red grapes. They were some of the largest ones I've seen in a long time. They were much too large and inviting to leave behind. Then came the bananas - at three pounds for a dollar, I can't pass up the savings, choosing some of the greener ones that will keep longer. Of course, the large cantaloupes caught my attention before I pushed my cart through the plastic strips entering inside the store where a bag of new potatoes and a bag of apples jumped to attention demanding that I take them home with me. The vadalia onions are in season and whispered to me to take three pounds of them to cook. I resisted the urge for a watermelon this time. The season is young and there will be many more opportunities for the red juicy treat. Eating right will be easy for me this week with all the right foods at hand. I even got two tomatoes for myself and a yellow one for Mother.
I took the videos to Mother that came in the mail yesterday along with the yellow tomato and some grapes and strawberries to munch. She chose to save the tomato for later, but ate the fruits quickly. I put one of her videos on for her to listen to while I left to pick up NascarKid and DynoKid from school. She is out of bed today and is able to see just a little. Her spirits are up and she is in a little better mood. She got to "play" bingo this morning. One of the ladies at the center took her to play and helped with the card. Mother came back to her room with two quarters won and proudly told me about getting to play. I picked up the boys and came back to the center where the boys watched a new video Mother had me order just for the kids to enjoy. Then I put on another new gospel music tape for her to listen to and fix the television on the station her ballgame will come on later this evening.
May 20, 2000 - The boys ended up going to sleep on my bed watching cartoons. I moved into the next bedroom and slept on Mother's bed. It is a much more comfortable bed than my own. Wonder if I should trade beds? Probably not. Since the boys slept till 8:30, I had a little rest time this morning as well. Allan came in with Buddy Boy. He took the Landscape truck and equipment home with him last night and is bringing it back. He invites me to his house this evening for supper. Sounds good to me. He has had more dirt dumped in back of his house; two hundred dump truck loads, in fact, and wants me to see what a difference it makes. It's hard to believe that when they moved there, a big hill was all you could see looking out the kitchen window. That hill has been whetted away and slanted back and with all the fill dirt there is a large area that is now useable that once was the steep side of a mountain. Yes, he truly lives in the mountains.
I took the boys to Morganton for their last swimming lesson today. I was able to sit in and watch the last half of the class since this was the last day. Red Cross cards were handed out showing that they had completed level three of the swimming classes. We picked up something to eat in the car as I drove them home where their Dad was waiting for them.
Driving myself home, I realized how much pain I am having today. I noticed at the Swimming pool that moving around was not as easy as I would like. Fibro seems to be showing it's bad mood. The air is hot and heavy today with a forecast of thunderstorms. I believe it! I am so terribly tired, I have to be extra careful as I drive home. It is hard to concentrate. I fully intended to stop by and see Mother, but than I feel that I will be doing good to get myself home. I do not stop at the Center. I call instead. Mother is not happy with my not coming to see her. I am so tired, I don't really care at this point.
A severe thunderstorm passes through. The sky is so very dark. I have on the Horse Race. With only minutes until the Race is to begin and the cable goes out. Oh, well, time to leave for Allan's anyway. At least the sky is getting lighter and there is less wind and rain which will make driving easier.
May 21, 2000 - This is definitely a Fibro day. Other places are screaming for attention of their own, but they will have to wait until later for the energy to carry through with their complaints. Have-tos are waiting to be attended as well. Mother would not understand at all if I miss seeing her today. I will spend time with her watching the Sunday morning service on television and retreat to my own cocoon for the afternoon.
Even so, nothing that I feel myself could compare with the tragedies that occurred at the racetrack last evening. I watched or rather snoozed in and out of the details on television as the news unfolded during the night. A footbridge over a highway collapsed as people were leaving the race. They were crossing over the highway to get their cars in the parking lots when it made a strange noise and then dropped onto the roadway trapping close to a hundred people of all ages. They were entrapped by the very wire cage over the bridge meant to bring safety. Instead the wire seems to have caused more injuries. Than again, it may have kept some from being tossed about and hurt even more seriously. No deaths, but many broken bones and injuries that will leave life-long problems for some. Once again, it is a young girl left in the most critical condition. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., a rookie, took the win of the evening, but it was a quickly subdued achievement for him. Two years straight, something tragic has happened to people who have chosen to spend an afternoon of family fun and fellowship at the auto races. The spectacular wrecks of the race were quickly erased by the events happening to the spectators. I have to wonder if any of my own acquaintances or family may be there or be involved as the news is related.
Actually, I didn't get to moving well enough to get ready to go over and visit with Mother until after lunch. Just one of those days - again! To help her to feel better, I decided to take along my new nail kit and fancy up her fingernails. I chose to use a pretty light pink on her nails. Of course before one hand was dry, she had messed up several nails and I had to redo them. Still, it was something she enjoyed, and it helped the time to pass more quickly. I also finished tacking on all the different tiny bows on the quilt for Giggles. She is fifteen months old and I am only now getting her quilt ready for use in her crib along with the dust ruffle and bumper pads I made earlier.
Wes and his family came over later this evening and cooked some supper for us. I like when someone else does the cooking. ;o)
May 22, 2000 - As Ms. Jay came out to the car this morning, she informed me that our power had gone off. Great timing! We would not be at home so it wouldn't be a problem for us. Wrong! As we were going into Q4L we were told that the power was also off there! The backup power had some lights on. The skylights in the main part of the area lit it up well enough that folks could use the equipment that was powered by electricity. The steam room and all the good stuff I've grown accustomed to using in the morning were off limit today. The outside door was opened to the pool area so we could still get in the water and workout some. Allie and I did some exercises together as we caught up on what each of us have been doing lately, while some men did their lap swimming. The power was back on before our class started.
As soon as the water class was over, it was time to get dressed and head out for Morganton this morning. Today is Quilting Guild day. We don't have to be there until 11:30 today, but we get to show off our goodies from our day of dying materials. I wear my newly dyed shoes to show off for show and tell along with my materials. The lady that taught our class was able to be there today. She brought some quilts she had made using the hand-dyed materials to give us some ideas to work with. Our speaker today was a fellow quilter from Charlotte that specializes in log cabin quilts and quilting. She had some wonderful work to share with us along with a slide presentation of a variety of log cabin designs, both traditional and modern.
We stopped by to see how Mother was doing on the way home. In short, Mother was in a foul mood today. It was mid-afternoon and her stitches were not out yet. She had refused to get out of bed today. I hadn't been home too long when my brother called to compare notes on Mother. She was in a foul mood for him as well when he called to see how she was doing. Guess I will have to call the doctor's office in the morning and see if they forgot to take out Mother's stitches, or if they were too busy to make the trip up to the nursing home. Not having the stitches out of her eye and the state of expectancy all day did little to improve her attitude on life today.
Meanwhile, back at the barn, ER, house that is, I was more than ready to collapse for a while. It was well after dark when I ventured in to check my email and sit at the sewing machine long enough to get the borders on my flower pot I've embroidered. Corners properly mitered, in spite of myself, it is now ready to layer and spin the magic of quilting around the flowers and borders. Miters are not my cup of tea. I would much rather do the olden method of sewing on borders without the mitered corners. Actually, I did the first border that method, but don't tell anybody!
Surprisingly enough, I got a letter from Medicare today. Mother's case has been re-evaluated and she is not being taken off the skilled care. It didn't take them very long to decide on her in this case.
May 23, 2000 - Another of those Fibro days. Ouch! Enough said on that subject!The other day we rode our water noodle broncos as we exercised. Today they magically turned into bumper cars bouncing into each other on the watery speedway. Most of our noodles were sticking up taller in back of us looking much like the connector on the bumper cars on the midway at the county fair. We also had that same look of bumper cars on land all bumping into each other and jamming the way for each other as we exercised along with all the fun.
We had a visitor from Budapest with us today who spoke no English. She came with her sister and joined in with our group in the water. I can't help but wonder what she must have been thinking at times. She quickly caught on to what we were doing and kept up with our movements during the hour. We asked her sister to be sure and bring her back since she will be here visiting until July. What made it so much more of a challenge for her was the fact that her sister has a problem with her back and has to do her exercising in the deeper water using a water preserver to help keep the weight off her back. She does not swim and had to stay in the more shallow water. She was on her own.
A quick call to Hickory and I learn that the doctor's office has Mother listed on the appointment book to have her stitches removed tomorrow. They told us they would do it on Monday. Since no one came to the center to take them out yesterday, I called to see if she had been forgotten. I call Mother to update her and while talking to her, I offer to be there this afternoon and help her play bingo. That is the only activity at the center that she has shown any interest in. After all her calls to me yesterday saying that she is ready to come home and spend some time sewing, I figure it is easier to be there with her than to be here at home having the phone ring every time I start to turn around... I lost count last evening how many times she DID call.
May 24, 2000 - Another of those Fibro foggy Prainy days to say the least. This that and other stuff got done a little at a time, or at least I think it did. Lady sent word that she would be here tomorrow instead of today. Her work schedule at the hospital was changed on her again. That gave me a chance to get a load of dishes in the dishwasher. After trying twice to get my layers of the wallhanging together while sitting in the chair last night, I gave up and took all the pins out to redo it. This time I put it out on the bed where I got all the layers perfectly flat and squared up with each other the way they should have done the first try. Sitting on a chair beside the bed I inched my way around the bed as I pinned the layers while keeping the material smooth. Much better! Now to round up the things I need to mark how I want to quilt the background and begin actually quilting.
This is the first quilting I have done since I bought my handmade thimble. I love using my special thimble. It is already my favorite and finding one that would be better would be impossible. It is shorter than most thimbles and is open on the nail side with a filigree heart design that fits over the fingernail - pretty as well as functional. Strange how hard it is to stop quilting once you start. I am using the cross hatch for the background around the flowers and vase. I still have to make up my mind what to do with the borders. I'm thinking of maybe using some embroidery and maybe adding a butterfly here and there.
Mother has not been a happy camper today. They painted her room and she had to sit out in the hall. She wouldn't go anywhere else. She had just be moved back in and had her lunch brought to her when the doctor came up from Hickory to remove the stitches from her eye. That helped her mood to improve just a little.
Mother called and called and called me off and on all afternoon. I told her I was too tired to try to come over. I nearly fell in the locker room at Q4L this morning. I don't know if my hip made me trip or if being tired was a factor. I did everything but land on the floor. That is one up for me! However, I am sore; whether from the near fall or something else. I'll try to go easier tomorrow.
Brother called. He was visiting with Mother. Her television was no working properly. The screen kept going black. It had to be something mother had done with her channel searching while not able to see. She would never ask anyone to help her out a little. Of course, it's the television that is the problem and not anything that she has done to it. I called Wes to see if he would go by and check it out. Meanwhile, my brother calls back to say that he did something with programming and got the picture back on. It still needs to be checked out...
We've had storms all around us this afternoon and evening. We had storms here, but nothing compared to other counties. There has been a tornado, and much damage from it, winds, rain and hail. There have been interruptions on the television off and on all evening with updates.
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©2000 by Stormy Jeanne
