Another Day, Another Doctor

I had to take Mr. M to another doctor appointment Wednesday. His appointment was at 2:30, so I suggested we leave about 12:30 and do lunch first (trying to make sure he gets at least one good meal a day). I glanced out the window about 12:00 and saw him parked in my driveway.

We went on to Cracker Barrel--finished lunch a bit before 2:00--decided to go on to the doctor's so we wouldn't have to hurry. We waited in the waiting room for about half an hour, then got called back to the exam room. The doctor showed up about 3:30--we left about 4:00.

Mr. M needed cat food and a few other things at Walmart, so we went there next. He was feeling pretty good and walked through quite a bit of the food side of the store. It was a bit after 5:00 when we got done there. He decided that we should eat again, so we went back to Cracker Barrel.

We got back to his house about 6:30, unloaded and put away the groceries. I was supposed to refill his pill box, but he hadn't taken any medicine for the day, so I moved the morning and noon pills over a day and left him taking his evening pills. It was nearly 7:00 when I got home. I'll have to go back today and do his pill box and return his truck.

My Week--So far

Mr. M had two doctor appointments on Monday. As we were sitting in the waiting room at the first doctor's, he told me his pain patch had come off and his feet were hurting. I called his primary care doctor to get a new prescription as I knew he was nearly out. We had time for lunch between doctor appointments and went to Cracker Barrel. We got home about 3:00--I changed his patch and came home. I got a few things ready for Pathfinders, ate supper and we left at 5:15 for Piano lesson and Pathfinders.

Tuesday, we had library books due in both Portland and Gallatin. We (T and I) went to Gallatin first, did the library and a few errands, ate lunch and went to Portland. We got home a little after 5:00. M told me as I walked in that Mr. M had called to say that he had used up his last two pain patches because they kept falling off. I dashed back to town to the Pharmacy (which closes at 6:00), got the new prescription filled, walked in the door at Mr. M's to find smoke billowing from the stove. He had already burned one attempt at supper and had opened a can of chicken and dumplings to warm up--sat down in his chair and forgot about them. I got the pan off the burner and the burner off--put the new pain patch on him. Then he asked me to go to town and get him something to eat--since he had burned his supper. I called first and placed the order at the local restaurant so they could be fixing it while I drove back to town. I got his supper and took it to him, then came home. T had fixed supper (enchiladas) while I was gone--he and M had already eaten, but they saved me some--which was good because it was almost 7:00.

A Day in the Life...

5:00 a.m.--Got up and fixed lunch for M--he had to work in the office today

6:00 a.m.--Called Mr. M to make sure he was awake so he'd have time to get ready for a doctor's appointment

8:00 a.m.--Called Mr. M's primary care doctor's office to see if they could work him in

8:30 a.m.--Went to Mr. M's to take him to his doctor appointment

9:15 a.m.--Arrived at the Medical Office Building--let Mr. M out by the front door--went and parked in the parking garage

9:30 a.m.--Arrived at the orthopedist's office where they did another x-ray of Mr. M's arm. The orthopedist said again that he didn't see any break. Mr. M told him how his arm hurt still--the doctor manipulated the arm, said that the ligaments on the outside of the arm were ok, but that the inside ligaments were messed up. The decision was made to put the arm in a cast for 4-6 weeks to immobilize the ligaments and give them the opportunity to heal.

10:15 a.m.--Arrived at the primary care doctor's waiting room.

11:30 a.m.--Called back to the primary care doctor's exam room. An adjustment made to Mr. M's medication.

12:00 p.m.--Left the Medical Office building.

12:15 p.m.--Arrived at Cracker Barrel--had a good lunch.

1:15 p.m.--Went to Walmart--Mr. M was tired and stayed in the truck while I went in and did his shopping.

2:30 p.m.--Left for home. Stopped in town at the car repair shop he uses to speak to someone about a noisy tire.

3:30 p.m.--Arrived at Mr. M's. I unloaded and put away his groceries.

3:45 p.m.--I arrive home after stopping for the mail. I check e-mail, do some stuff on the computer, update my bird list, talk to T, take out my algebra homework and start it, etc.

5:00 p.m.--M arrives home from work. We decide on a "every man for himself" supper and eat.

6:00 p.m.--I head back to the homework, only to be side tracked by the computer--a check of e-mail and a "chat" with an old friend. Also, get a phone call from L.

7:30 p.m.--Return to the homework in earnest. Do a take-home quiz and problems from two sections in the chapter.

9:00 p.m.--Finally done with homework--re-pack backpack with books. Go see what's on the news. Tell T good-night.

9:30 p.m.--The weather report is over--head for bed.

More Catchup, Please...

• Monday and Tuesday were Fall Break, so no school on Tuesday
• Wednesday, I took Mr. M to the doctor, Cracker Barrel, Walmart, the gas station, and home
• Thursday, we tried again to get the car to pass the emissions test--no deal
• Friday, we left the car at the mechanic's to see if he could get the check engine light to go away--it came on again before M got it home
• Yesterday, after lunch, M and I walked around the yard trying to identify trees--pictures to follow--we had some we hadn't even known we had

A Busy, Busy Week!

Monday night was Pathfinder registration. We made cupcakes in honor of T's birthday and took them to registration.

Tuesday, we took books back to the library (and got new ones), did some shopping, and I filled Mr. M's pill box. (Last week, the lady who had been caring for Mr. M since he came home from the assisted living called me and asked me to come to his house. There she proceded to tell me she was leaving that night--U-haul already loaded--and would I take care of his medicine and Dr. appointments. What could I say? Her husband (ex?) is doing whatever else he needs). I also had the car to the mechanic--it failed the emissions test--he worked on it--the "check engine" light went out. I put up flyers about the puppies while I was in town and we gave away two that afternoon.

Wednesday, I took Mr. M to his primary care doctor, who promptly referred us to another doctor (fortunately got an appointment for that afternoon). We ate lunch at Cracker Barrel, then went to the other doctor who wants him to go to rehab for his balance (nurse thought it would be three times a week--will find out tomorrow). We got home in time to give a puppy away. Then, since M had already picked tomatoes, we made salsa (finished about 10 p.m.--made three batches--each batch was two canner loads). The slips of paper on the lids are to indicate how much hot pepper was in each batch until the lids dried and I could label them.

Thursday, I took Mr. M's truck to get washed and gassed up. Got some prescriptions filled for him. I also called Home Instead, a non-medical senior care company, to see if they could come see him (and hopefully sign him up). The representative came at 4 p.m.--told what they offered and the prices. Mr. M wanted to wait about signing up.

Friday, someone from Promedical came to Mr. M's to bring him a C-Pap machine and show him how to use it. He wanted me there to hear what to do also. After that, I came home and did some cleaning and laundry. I also did some okra for the freezer (sliced and breaded for frying).

We left home about 4 p.m. to meet L at a Pizza Hut near the airport--she was riding with a friend who was picking up someone at the airport. We got to the Pizza Hut to discover that it was a carry-out rather than dine-in. So, we drove around looking for somewhere else to eat. Finally settled on El Chicos. The waitress recommended some vegetarian options for us--which turned out to be quite tasty. After supper, we went to the airport and visited while waiting to see if the person being picked up would actually make it there (their flight had been delayed and they missed their connecting flight and were waiting to make another flight). About 8:45 p.m. we got the word that they were definitely coming, so we told L and her friend goodbye. We got home a bit after 10, the girls got home about 2:30 a.m. Got a nice picture of T and L saying good-bye at the airport.

Sabbath, we did Sabbath School and church--came home and had haystacks for lunch. I took a nap, M did Bible Achievement questions, and T listened to Adventures in Oddessy. After my nap, I went to Mr. M's to help him change a medication patch (has to be changed every three days--I'm trying to teach him to change it himself since I'll be gone some days when it needs changed).

Sunday, M and T prepped tomatoes and I canned crushed tomatoes (chopped in the Vita-Mix then cooked with a couple cans of tomato paste, jarred, and processed--good soup base or spaghetti sauce base). I did two batches--a total of 14 quarts (plus almost two more--not enough to run through the canner--put them in the fridge to use later this week).

Friday Evening P. S.

About 7:40 p.m. Mr. M called to ask me to take him to the ER--said he was having shortness of breath--said he'd felt that way all day (though this was the first I'd heard). M and I went over to Mr. M's--helped him get dressed, look for his keys (in a pants pocket from several days ago), discovered that he hadn't taken any of his medicine since the morning ones.

We got him to the ER between 8:30 and 9:00--they whisked him right in and starting doing things. They gave him extra fluid medicine, took x-ray, EKG, breathing treatment, etc. The doctor said he could go home at about 12:30.

We were home and in bed by a little after 1:30 a.m.

Weekly Summary

Wednesday--the kids and I went grocery shopping in the morning. In the afternoon, I did some errands for Mr. M and took him to supper.

Thursday--spent an hour or more trying to get in touch with Mr. M's nurse to see if the doctor wanted to see him (home health had heard some congestion in his lungs on Wednesday). Finally talked to the nurse--doctor did want to see Mr. M. Got an appointment for 2:15. Went to Mr. M's and vacuumed his floors. Left about 12:00 to go eat lunch at Cracker Barrel before the Dr. appointment. Waited nearly 45 min. to see the Dr.--he ordered some lab work, a chest x-ray and an EKG. It was after 3:00 by then--Mr. M told them that I had my final at 6:00 and they needed to hurry up. So, they ordered the tests "stat". Got done and had the results by a little after 4:00--everything was ok. It would have been tight to get Mr. M all the way home and back again to Gallatin by 6:00, so I called M and asked him to meet me part way--he would take Mr. M home and I would return to Gallatin. I got back to Gallatin with time to eat some supper at Taco Bell.

I got to my test on time--I had asked M to bring me a notebook so I would have scratch paper (already had the calculator in my purse). Fortunately, he grabbed the notebook that I had done my review problems in, so I was able to review for a few minutes before the test started. There were 33 multiple choice questions--I felt pretty confident about all but 7--of those 7 I only guessed at 3--so, hopefully got enough right to pass.

T had a piano recital at 7 p.m.--but he woke up sick and didn't go.

Friday--tried to catch up on some stuff around the house--laundry, etc. Went to town with L--then had to go again after lunch because I forgot some stuff. Fixed lunch and supper.

Another Day, Another Appointment

I picked up Mr. M at about 9:00 this morning. I usually allow an hour to get to the doctors' offices--it's about 20 miles--allow time to load up, drive there, unload Mr. M and his walker (which usually rides behind my seat in the extended cab of his pickup), park in the parking garage, walk into the building and meet Mr. M, ride the elevator to the third floor, check in.

We went to the lab for some tests--check in was slowed down by his name being misspelled on the form and misfiled--got done just before 10:30.

Went from the lab to the dentist for an 11:00 appointment. Finished at the dentist about 12:00.

From there, we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch. We got home about 1:45.

(Plus, phone calls at 7:00 for wake up; 8:00, 2:00, and 8:00 for medication reminders).

Short Work Day

Mr. M and I left home at 1:00--went to Cracker Barrel for lunch--went to the Dr.--went to the medical supply store for compression hose--stopped on the way home for gas (the price had dropped 6 cents since we went by on the way to town!). We got home about 5:00.

All work, no play

At 7:10 this morning, Mr. M called to see if I had called him at 7:00 to wake him up (I was going to call him at 7:30). I called his doctor's office at 8:00 to see if we could move his first appointment up a bit so we wouldn't be pushed to make each appointment (he had three scheduled today). I called Mr. M back a few minutes after 8:00 to remind him to take his medicine and let him know that the first appointment had been changed to 10:30.



At 9:15, I went to Mr. M's house to load his walker into the pickup--checked his morning medicine and found that he hadn't taken it yet, so had him take it--put his 2:00 medicine in my purse since we wouldn't be home by then--fed the cats--gave Pepper her medicine--left for the Dr. about 9:30.



Arrived at the Dr. about 10:15--let Mr. M out at the front door--unloaded his walker--parked in the parking garage--went inside and met Mr. M.--went to the third floor to the Dr.--finished the first appointment (including a trip to the lab for a blood draw) at about 11:30.



Next appointment was at 12:45--decided to eat in the hospital cafeteria since there wasn't time to drive to Cracker Barrel and back (and eat) before the next appointment.



Went back up to the third floor for the next appointment at about 12:30--finished that appointment by about 1:45.



Returned to the first floor--went past the cafeteria to our third appointment--got there a bit before 2:00 for a 2:30 appointment--gave Mr. M his 2:00 medicine--didn't have to wait long--left at 2:20.



From there we went to Wal-mart--Mr. M was tired so I went in and got a few groceries for each of us--left Wal-mart about 3:30. Arrived at Mr. M's about 4:15--carried in his groceries and put them away--collected his pill cups to refill--Mr. M said he wanted me to take him to the restaurant in town for supper.



Got home--called the pharmacy for refills--filled the pill cups--checked e-mail--said "hello" and "good-bye" to family (T was off to piano lesson and Pathfinders with his dad). I went back to Mr. M's--brought in his mail--put his pill cups on his desk--fed the cats--gave Pepper her medicine--took out the trash (all while waiting for him to change his clothes)--then took him to the restaurant.



I dropped him off after supper at about 6:50--went home and did Algebra homework (test on Thursday night--still much homework and studying to be done) until 8:00 when I called Mr. M to remind him to take his night time pills.