Visiting Nurse

Dr. Nakano arranged for a visiting nurse to check up on Dad today. Since his leg was hurting, she wanted to make it easier to have the infection in his leg checked to see how it was doing. She was also going to have blood drawn to check the level of the white blood cells to see if the Cephalexin was working. Nurse Chris arrived a little early, I was still returning from breakfast (more on that later). I answered a bunch of his questions and he went through the information packet on Kaiser's Home Health Care program.


Nurse Chris checked Dad's vital signs (all normal), looked at the infected area (less red and swollen than on Monday), listened to his lungs (all clear), watched him stand up (a lot better than yesterday), and asked him a few questions. Nurse Chris said that he had no order for a blood draw but would check in with Dr. Nakano; if she wanted it someone would come out tomorrow. Nurse Chris also got a demonstration of the Deebot at work; his wife is interested in getting one.

On Monday Dr. Nakano gave Dad a prescription for 5% lidocaine patches; right now she can only write a prescription for 7 patches. Last night I went to Longs after Dad went back to sleep and picked up some Salonpas lidocaine patches; they're only 4%. Dr. Nakano said if the 4% lidocaine does not provide enough relief for Dad, she will refill his current prescription for the 5% lidocaine patches.

L to R: prescription 5% patches, over-the-counter Salonpas 4% patches.

As  mentioned earlier, I was on my way back from breakfast when Nurse Chris called to let me know he was at the house. He was about 15 minutes early! I had gone to have breakfast with my friend Tom, I also met his friend Wayne; they get together every Wednesday at Zippy's for breakfast. I was learning more about the 'opae'ula from Tom. Like many things, the whole story about Pu'uhonua o Waianae is a lot more complicated than I was originally told. There are a lot of good people from a number of agencies & the community working together to develop a win-win outcome; I hope to have good news to share next year! I also found out there are less environmental regulations at the State and county level; the Federal regulations are about all there is to help guide development around sensitive areas.

Tom with his Belgian waffle.

My Broccoli & Bacon Omelette. Wayne didn't have any breakfast.

Here's a photo of Shiro napping next to me last night. Usually after dinner all the cats are in their usual sleeping places; Shiro on the chair, Xander on his Purr Padd at the end of the sofa, and Chibi either at the foot of Dad's bed or on the chair under the dining room table.


Happy Birthday to Rachel & Christina!