Boxthorn of Trill
Apr. 15th, 2018 12:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ismoHello from the heart of strange weather. We had the torrential rain and high winds, snow last night, and now it's raining ice and has been for awhile. I don't know if the minister canceled church today, but we didn't go. I'm glad I'm not in Nebraska.
My trip on Friday was successful and not too difficult. One complication was that the appointment time made it impossible for my mother to have lunch in the dining room and still get there on time. I packed sandwiches, chips, cookies, and drinks, and got an early start, with a stop at the drug store to pick up a pack of disposable, absorbent underwear that I thought she might wear. She was ready to go when I arrived. She remembered! I told her we had time for her to have a sandwich and a drink before leaving. I had cut the sandwiches in quarters to make them easier to manage. She fell asleep several times while trying to eat a quarter of a sandwich. I brought her a bottle of Snapple. She looked at it suspiciously and asked if it was "doctored up." I said no, it's just a juice drink. She has decided not to drink the Gatorade any more because she claims it gives her diarrhea. So she poured a tiny amount of Snapple into a plastic cup and drank just that much.
Then it really was time to go, and off we went. The eye clinic is 30-40 minutes away, and when you get there, it's a big building. She allowed me to give her a ride in a wheelchair down the long hall to the first waiting room. There, she fell asleep while trying to fill out the form that asks about her recent health and prescriptions. The appointment is long, because it's very thorough, and involves dilating her eyes so they can photograph her retina in a separate department that is up two floors and at the other end of the hall. It took over two hours to complete the whole thing. I kept trying to ply her with drinks and snacks while we were in the waiting room, but she only ate a little more sandwich and no water.
The good news is that her glaucoma and macular degeneration are stable and not getting any worse. It's worth the effort to take care of the vision she has left. She ate a little more of her sandwich in the car while we navigated a traffic jam, and said, "Oh, this bread tastes so good." I made it myself. It is tasty in itself, but to me, it also tastes like home, and I hoped it would bring a little taste of home to her too. I didn't get to spend as much time with her as I would have liked. By the time we got back, I really had to go. I left her a couple of cookies for later.
I never seem to get away early enough to avoid the joy of heavy traffic, but I did get home before the rain. I got back just in time to pick up the Sparrowhawk and a casserole full of basmati rice with herbs, and head off to the dinner engagement we made before I realized I had to drive my mother. The dinner was great, and one of our friends, who is a creative coach, did a cool little exercise with us. But when I finally got home, I was SO DONE. Yesterday was me recuperating. Today we're quite happy to stay home and let winter flail around and have its little hissy fit.
My trip on Friday was successful and not too difficult. One complication was that the appointment time made it impossible for my mother to have lunch in the dining room and still get there on time. I packed sandwiches, chips, cookies, and drinks, and got an early start, with a stop at the drug store to pick up a pack of disposable, absorbent underwear that I thought she might wear. She was ready to go when I arrived. She remembered! I told her we had time for her to have a sandwich and a drink before leaving. I had cut the sandwiches in quarters to make them easier to manage. She fell asleep several times while trying to eat a quarter of a sandwich. I brought her a bottle of Snapple. She looked at it suspiciously and asked if it was "doctored up." I said no, it's just a juice drink. She has decided not to drink the Gatorade any more because she claims it gives her diarrhea. So she poured a tiny amount of Snapple into a plastic cup and drank just that much.
Then it really was time to go, and off we went. The eye clinic is 30-40 minutes away, and when you get there, it's a big building. She allowed me to give her a ride in a wheelchair down the long hall to the first waiting room. There, she fell asleep while trying to fill out the form that asks about her recent health and prescriptions. The appointment is long, because it's very thorough, and involves dilating her eyes so they can photograph her retina in a separate department that is up two floors and at the other end of the hall. It took over two hours to complete the whole thing. I kept trying to ply her with drinks and snacks while we were in the waiting room, but she only ate a little more sandwich and no water.
The good news is that her glaucoma and macular degeneration are stable and not getting any worse. It's worth the effort to take care of the vision she has left. She ate a little more of her sandwich in the car while we navigated a traffic jam, and said, "Oh, this bread tastes so good." I made it myself. It is tasty in itself, but to me, it also tastes like home, and I hoped it would bring a little taste of home to her too. I didn't get to spend as much time with her as I would have liked. By the time we got back, I really had to go. I left her a couple of cookies for later.
I never seem to get away early enough to avoid the joy of heavy traffic, but I did get home before the rain. I got back just in time to pick up the Sparrowhawk and a casserole full of basmati rice with herbs, and head off to the dinner engagement we made before I realized I had to drive my mother. The dinner was great, and one of our friends, who is a creative coach, did a cool little exercise with us. But when I finally got home, I was SO DONE. Yesterday was me recuperating. Today we're quite happy to stay home and let winter flail around and have its little hissy fit.
no subject
Date: 2018-04-16 01:36 pm (UTC)