Dad's Good Leg Goes Bad

This morning as he was getting ready to go, Dad's right leg (the "good" one) was bothering him. It was hurting so bad he couldn't put any weight on it. I had him sit in the wheelchair and took him to the kitchen for breakfast. Then I had to take him out to the car in it; he needed the wheelchair for the rest of the morning. Later, when he saw his Primary Care Physician (PCP), Dr. Nakano, she sent him for an x-ray of his right leg. She also prescribed a 5% lidocaine patch, plus acetaminophen 3 times a day, both for the next 7 days; then the acetaminophen on an as needed basis.


The visit with Dr. Nakano today was really for his follow-up appointment for the fall he had last Monday. This was his 1st time meeting her, she replaced his previous PCP, Dr. Kramer, who moved to a different branch of Kaiser last October. Dr. Nakano was great, her specialty is geriatrics & she worked at the Veterans Administration (VA) hospital as a geriatrician just before she moved to Kaiser so she could work with patients across a range of ages. She said Dad passed all the neurological tests showing he had no lasting effects of the fall he had last week. Yay! Now we can concentrate on the leg.

On Friday, Dad goes to the VA to get fitted for a walker. I am trying to get him in to see a physical therapist also for the pain in his right leg. Dr. Nakano said either the VA or Kaiser could prescribe physical therapy and both can have the therapist come to the house to work with Dad. If he can't get it from the VA, I will let Dr. Nakano know that he will need a physical therapy referral from her for Kaiser.

After we finished taking care of Dad's medical needs, we went to the lab for Mom's cross match for her transfusion on Thursday. She had a great conversation with Corbin, the phlebotomist. He used to live in Hilo and was asking Mom about her experiences growing up on the Big Island, which she was very glad to share.

Because we spent so much time at Kaiser, we went to lunch at Zippy's to give me a break. Mom had the chicken noodle soup, Dad had the beef stew plate, and I had the wun tun min. Dad ended up not eating any of his meal, we took it home. I think Dad's leg was bothering him more as well as sitting in the wheelchair for so long. Tina and Nicki, 2 of the servers at Zippy's, came over to say Hi to Mom & Dad, who used to go to Zippy's much more frequently when Dad was still driving. Tina & Nicki said they always wonder what has happened to their senior customers when they stop coming in.

Because of the leukemia, Mom's immune system does not work as well as it should. The doctors say that an infection is what will ultimately kill her. There are several things we do in order to minimize her exposure, such as, wearing a mask when she goes out of the house, wiping the table down at the restaurant with a disinfecting wipe, using hand sanitizer after she handles a menu or other items that are germ magnets, and washing produce in a solution of vinegar, water, & salt.

Papayas soaking in produce wash.

At dinner, Dad walked out to the kitchen on his own! He said his leg was a lot better, a lot less painful. Yay, for lidocaine! Since the patch needed to be removed before Dad went to bed I gave him the acetaminophen so he would have some pain killer in his system to help him get to sleep. (Twelve hours is the maximum time for the patch to be on; we'll start tomorrow morning at a more normal hour.)

Happy Retirement to Curtis! Today was his last day of work, he now joins the ranks of the many retired Baby Boomers. Because they did not have a retirement luncheon for him at work, his co-workers are actually having 2 luncheons for him over the next week. Then next week, he goes to Las Vegas with his LV buddy; they went to Vegas when his buddy retired a couple years ago, so now they're going for his retirement celebration.