Prepping for the Next Transfusion

Took Mom in for the cross-matching in preparation for the transfusion tomorrow. Both the phlebotomist and I stressed the importance of the yellow wristband. I also reminded Mom that the last time when she took it off before the transfusion it added 3 hours to her stay in the ATC! I reminded her after lunch and when she went to take her shower that she needed to keep it on. (I later found where she put the other one that she removed.) She is also concerned over how much it will cost for the transfusion. We have discovered that the biggest cost for her treatments is the parking fee; since we have a parking sticker book it will cost $10 for tomorrow's visit.

We also visited one of her financial advisors today. Keoki explained about Roth IRAs and possible future strategies. It looks like Mom will leave her Roth IRA intact and pass it on to Dad, then at that time Dad will likely withdraw money from it to consolidate it into a savings account so he has less people to deal with for financial items.

After leaving Keoki's we headed over to pick up lunch at Don Quijote via the side streets. And almost literally ran in to the SPAM food truck! We saw a piece on the news last night about it. And there it was, right in front of us! The driver apparently cut the turn to close and was having issues getting around the corner of the intersection. People on the street we were on started turning around and going back the way we had come from. People on the other street were not as lucky, they were on a one way street. It did not make it on the news again, so they must have got it unstuck. Apparently they started their 12 city cross-country tour in April and people kept telling them they needed to come to Hawai'i which was not on their original itinerary - you would think that SPAM knows where its biggest fans are!


Since Mom's blood pressure was not making sense to me, I called Dr. Pham. She said since Mom's diastolic is fairly consistently low (79% of 53 measurements over 8 days) and her systolic is either normal (40%) or prehypertension (49%), to hold off on giving her the lisinopril. And since Mom's weight is steady, also continue keeping her off the furosemide. Dr. Pham said to keep track of how Mom responds to the transfusion tomorrow. If possible, Dr. Pham would like to reduce the number of medications Mom is on. We will check with her in-person on Friday.

Mom was very concerned about whether the sheets in the northeast bedroom had been washed. I reminded her that they had been washed twice since David and Kai left. (I did them as soon as they left, folded them and set them at the foot of the bed. But I was not fast enough on putting them back on the beds. Mom came along and washed them again!) We had the same conversation about them being washed 4 times tonight! I think she is finally remembering that they are washed and ready for the next visitors.

Happy Birthday to Leno, Charlene, & Grey!