Mom is Getting Bored

Mom called me at about 8:15 this morning to complain; so she must be feeling better! She said she had not seen any doctors or nurses. She found the activity booklet that they brought in for her yesterday but said she didn't like their crossword puzzles. She asked me to bring her crossword puzzle books; I told her I would also bring the adult coloring books.

Mom organizing the colored pens for her coloring books.

A short while later, Dr. Rodriguez called; she is the ER doctor that saw Mom on Sunday evening when we made the deal about going back to the ER if she got worse. I was impressed that an ER doctor would take the time to make a follow-up call. I told her Mom did have pneumonia & was admitted to the hospital on Monday morning so they could administer intravenous antibiotics.

Sandy from Mom's mahjong group also called this morning. She wanted to come by & drop off a gift for Kaia & Sarah! But she got her dates mixed up, she thought they were arriving on the 20th, not leaving on the 20th. Auwe! She will come by next week when Mom is home so she can visit with Mom as well as drop off the gift.

After Dad & I had breakfast, I took Xander to the Cat Clinic for his annual geriatric kitty check-up; he will be 15 years old on May 1st. He needed some blood tests; I also needed to refill his prednisolone prescription for his asthma. (The vog affects him, but fortunately the mango pollen does not.)

Xander hiding out in his carrier.

This morning my phone said there was a lot of traffic and it would take me longer to get to work. So I checked to see where my phone thinks I "work". It turns out it thinks I work at the Kaiser Moanalua facility; I think that's because I make so many trips there and about half of them are at the usual commute times.

When I got to the hospital about 1 pm Mom was awake; she had eaten breakfast then taken a nap, getting up shortly before I arrived. Curtis had been with her since about 8:30 and left shortly after I arrived. She stayed up for the rest of the afternoon, working on crossword puzzles and looking at her coloring books. Later she switched over to watching classic old television shows like "Hazel", "The Roy Rogers Show", "The Andy Griffith Show", and "The Lone Ranger". Then she took a nap before dinner.

Dr. Kamai came in around 2 o'clock. He is the doctor that took care of Mom back in September when she had blood in her stools, just before we took her and Dad to Las Vegas. Dr. Kamai coordinated with Dr. Chan to get her back on her feet and able to go to Las Vegas. He remembered Mom because of the Las Vegas trip.

Sarah left some beet juice with turmeric from Bluetree Juice along with some coconut water. I mixed the 2 together and took it to the hospital with me. It was a tasty and nutritious drink to have. You can return the bottle to Bluetree to get a discount on your next juice drink or recycle it.


The rainbow eucalyptus was in full sun when I arrived and looked really nice. This one doesn't have as much color as some of the other photos I have seen of them. Apparently the bark peels off naturally, exposing the bright green inner bark which changes color as it matures, going to blue, purple, orange, and finally maroon before it detaches from the tree to start another cycle. Since the bark peels off at different rates it creates colorful stripes. The one outside Mom's window seems to be only through part of its cycle and doesn't have all the colors yet.

Looking north from Mom's window we can see the Moanalua Golf Club, which surrounds the hospital on 3 sides. It is apparently the oldest golf course in the state, having been established in 1898. It has 9 holes, each with 2 different tee locations to provide for an 18-hole course.

Moanalua Golf Club in the background. The glassed-in area in the shadows of the building to the left is the Sunrise Cafe at the hospital.

Lori sent me a photo of Kaia & Salty from Saturday night's dinner. Kaia is in Pepper's cat bed. Usually Pepper sleeps in Salty's bed, forcing Salty to sleep in Pepper's bed. Since Pepper doesn't stick around when there are strangers, Salty got to sleep in his own bed.

L to R: Kaia, Sophie the Giraffe, & Salty. (Photo by Lori)

I did the sheets from the guest bedroom this morning before I went to the hospital. And I discovered that Mom had put 3 sheets on one of the beds, one on top of the other! (There was only 1 sheet on the other bed.) I'll be reducing that to 1 sheet and also rotating the sheets; Mom has more than one set of matching twin bed sheets so she doesn't need to keep putting the same ones back on the beds.

While I was at the hospital Mom asked me if I got the bag of beans. Huh? Apparently she was dreaming and could not tell that it was not real. She said there were beans in the kitchen and wanted me to cook the beans tonight. I know she frequently talks in her sleep but this time she was awake telling me about the beans. Curtis said she also did that to him earlier today.

Happy Birthday to Shannon! Happy Cook a Sweet Potato Day and Happy Margarita Day! Get ready to celebrate Tile Day, Banana Bread Day, Dog Biscuit Day, Toast Day, and Chili Day tomorrow.