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| Sore on Mom's arm, still bleeding after 1st bandage. |
Aunty Judy arrived early, shortly after we finished breakfast. She has come over a couple other times to help when Mom was needing more supervision. She was super! Not only did she come to spend time with Mom, she also brought milk chocolate covered cherry cordials (one of Mom's favorites) & gave me money to buy lunch.
I started by doing grocery shopping for things that Curtis can't get or it comes in too large a quantity at Costco. I included some heat & eat entrees. I also picked up a couple of Japanese plate lunches and a rotisserie chicken for dinner. While there I got a return call from Dr. Chan's office, Mom is going to also get platelets on Thursday; but we need to get the cross match done today.
I got back just in time to drop off the lunch, put the cold items in the refrigerator, & catch Xander and get him to his 11 o'clock appointment with Dr. Sue at the Cat Clinic; I left the rest of the groceries in the car. I also woke Dad up so he could eat lunch & get ready for his 1 o'clock appointment. Dr. Sue said Xander's asthma was sounding better and he was also looking better. We will be continuing the prednisolone tablet every other day until I run out of this prescription. Then I will pay attention to his reactions to the vog, various flowering times, etc. He goes back to see Dr. Sue at the end of February.
I got back home with enough time to get a quick bite before taking Dad to his annual physical with Dr. Young at the Spark Matsunaga Veterans Administration Medical Center. But when I walked in the door Aunty Judy told me Mom was very dizzy & couldn't stand up to go to the bedroom to lie down & rest. I got the wheelchair out of the car; working together, I lifted Mom to a standing position while Aunty Judy pushed the wheelchair under her. We got her to the bathroom, then the bedroom, while Dad was getting dressed. All that burned up the time I was going to use to grab lunch, so its a good thing I have put on a few extra pounds! Just before we left, Mom was having trouble breathing; Aunty Judy propped her up in bed and that helped a lot.
Today was the 1st time I have been to the VA medical center, it is next door to Tripler Hospital and is the same shade of pink. We went in from the parking lot that Google Maps directed me to. It turned out to be on the opposite side of the building from the module that Dr. Young works in; it was a long, slow walk to get there. We were able to check in at a computer kiosk as soon as we got in the doors; they paged Dad twice while we were on our way there but we finally made it. I gave the nurse a copy of Dad's blood work results that were done by Kaiser in September.
Dr. Young was impressed with Dad's results as well as how his heart and lungs sound. The only issues Dr. Young needed to address are cholesterol, weight loss, pain in Dad's left ankle (the same one he asked the Kaiser doctor about), and ear wax. Dad's cholesterol is 287 mg/dl, preferred range is less than 200; Dr. Young told Dad to watch his consumption of fried foods. Dad's weight had gone from 150 pounds last year to 140 today; Dr. Young told him he needs to eat more than his usual 1 meal a day, its not good to be losing 10 pounds per year. Dr. Young said he did not know what might be causing pain only when there is no weight bearing or movement; he told Dad to check if lying in different positions in bed made his ankle hurt less, then sleep in those positions. Dad came in complaining that he was having trouble with clearing his ears, Dr. Young found his left ear was full of ear wax; he is sending a prescription for drops that will soften the ear wax so that it can be flushed out. While there Dr. Young asked Dad if he wanted a walker to help make moving around easier; Dad said yes so Dr. Young will set up an appointment for him with the physical therapy unit. I sure hope I will only have these few problems as I age! I picked Dad up at the entrance closer to Dr. Young's module, now I know where to park for the next visit.
As we were leaving I called home to have Aunty Judy help Mom get ready for her trip to the lab for the cross match. I grabbed my phone and dialed the number and the car linked to the phone! Mom answered and sounded much better than when we left. I ended up talking to her through the car while we left the parking lot! (Mom thought it was amazing when I told her I was talking to her through the car. Dad thought it was pretty cool, too!) Now I need to figure out how to dial a number through the touch screen in the car.
I was glad that Mom was feeling better & was ready to go when we got home. Since Dad doesn't need supervision, Aunty Judy left shortly after we did so she would have less traffic to contend with on the way home. I'm also glad that you don't need an appointment for the phlebotomy lab; it's first come, first served. Mom's blood draw was uneventful, which was fine with me. On the drive back Mom said she really enjoyed spending time with Aunty Judy.
When we got back home it was around 3:30 & I finally had time to grab a couple of pieces of sushi. Then it was back to work, unloading the rest of the groceries from the car and washing the fruits and vegetables. I use 1 cup white vinegar, 3 cups water, and 1 tablespoon salt to make a solution to remove bacteria & bugs from the outside of the produce. I soak the produce for 3 minutes in the solution, then rinse with clean water, spin dry if needed, and store in a clean container in the fridge. I do this for all the fruits & vegetables, even the ones where you don't eat the skin; cutting in to one can introduce bacteria on the surface in to the part you do eat. It's similar to the reason why nurses & doctors swab your skin with alcohol or iodine before they give you a shot or cut you open, to reduce the chance of introducing bacteria to your insides while going through your outsides. I have found that berries last longer when treated like this.
I am really glad that I thought ahead and got the rotisserie chicken. It made preparing dinner so easy. Sometimes you just have to rely on fast food to get you through the day!
Happy Birthday to Doreen, Andrea, Geoffrey, Dean, & Van!
One Sunday I was solo with Dad the whole day. When I got him up, I dressed him in a long sleeve velour shirt that was dark blue. We had what I thought was a relatively uneventful day but when I was undressing him in the evening I was shocked to see a rather ugly two inch gash had opened up on one of his forearms. He had been bleeding periodically during the day but the blood had not soaked through the shirt (which was pretty heavy thickness).
ReplyDeleteIt was late Sunday night and I was afraid there wouldn't be any staff on site to help with Dad's wound but was relieved that an nurse was available to dress the wound. While locating her I spoke with a staff person who said the gashes happen relatively frequently with those with really fragile skin and tried to ease my feelings of guilt. She referred to the skin as having the consistency of rice paper.
On another note, one thing I've noticed with my blue-tooth enabled car is if you use your phone for GPS and also drive with the radio on, you may not get the audio instructions you're used to from the phone. The reason seems to be the GPS go into a different channel than the radio so you are forced to decide between the radio or listening to the GPS (which comes through the speakers).
My solution was turning the blue tooth off so I can play the radio and also hear the GPS from the phone speaker. There may be a different solution but that is all I've been able to solve the problem.
I discovered that the CVS Anti-Itch Lotion, or other lotion made for deep moisturizing that lasts 24-hours, helps to keep Mom's skin more supple, thus less likely to tear open. The issue with Mom is to keep her from scratching.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip about the bluetooth! I was wondering why my phone wasn't talking to me when I had the GPS on to get to the VA medical center. I found out today how to use the phone via the touch screen in the car; earlier the car was having problems synching with the contacts list in my phone, I think it was somewhat overwhelmed; but now the entire list is synched and I can see who is calling (if they are in my phone already). I have not yet found the local community radio station on O'ahu, so I have not been listening to the radio when I drive. And I still need to read the owner's manual.