Just need to talk to my friends(201)

side by side???

Ron…please post, we worry!

Good afternoon all.

My report from last last. We all had a blast at the concert. It was King & Country, A Little Drummer Boy Christmas. I don't know if I can describe it where you can totally understand it though. We were in a very small venue, probably holds 75 people, but there were only maybe 20 of us. So we were very spaced out and comfortable. The band wasn't on stage where we were, we were watching it. It's the first time this group has done this. Its called cinematic screening. Absolutely amazing. I had to remind myself we weren't at the live event, it felt that real. The bonus is you get to see everything whereas in seats you can only see what's in front of you. I'll see every concert this way if available. Both of our DH's did well because it wasn't crowded and they both loved the music. People in the audience sang along and clapped, just like you were in person, because it felt that you were. Great night with good friends.

When we were coming home, since I had a full tank of gas, I drove us through some lovely neighborhoods to see the lights. Just wandered our way home, with no rush. I know it did my heart good, and I'll say all of us would turn around and go again tonight if it was playing.

Now, to tackle raking some leaves. I vacuum and then the puppy comes inside and brings more in - so I have to rake. Its beautiful today, what a difference a day makes.

Let's be safe everyone.

@jfkoc side by side??? A side by side is a two-seater (seats are "side by side") all-terrain vehicle with a small bed on the back. It has a roll bar and seat belts. We use it on the farm in muddy pastures - it has 4 wheel driving option, to haul feed, fence materials or when it's more convenient than a truck. Or, just for fun. Others use it for hunting. It isn't really meant for driving on the road but out here in the country, we do that too if we need to for short distances. My Aunt is about 1/8 mile down the road. And, they can go fast in high gear if you want. And we did, lol.

Eagle, your night with the cinematic screening sounds great. I'm glad you and all had a good time.

Iris

Took DW to the endocrinologist yesterday and got some great news. Her thyroid is stable and we don't have to change her meds, and the doc no longer is contemplating radioablation of the hot nodule on her thyroid. That is a relief, because I don't think she and I could comply with the dietary and isolation requirements of radioactive iodine treatment. And she certainly couldn't tolerate surgery and the general anesthetic that would require.

We were having to change her meds frequently as her thyroid levels jumped up and down and also having to change her warfarin dose. I have her on a very consistent diet, pretty much the same things every day, and it has helped with both problems as well as with bowel regularity. Her diet would bore me to tears, but she doesn't remember what she ate yesterday so it doesn't bother her. I may learn this caregiving business yet!

Jerilynn— Thanks for the image of you can Aunt J tearing around like some kind of farm country Thelma and Louise. It made me giggle.

Lorita— Vinegar is a common cleaning agent. My SIL had a Swedish oil finish on her wood floors and a dilute solution of vinegar was the only thing she could use on them. I used to stay with her kids for a week or two so she could accompany her DH to various medical conferences (always in Hawaii), so she looped me in just in case we had a mess. It worked well.

Judith— That sounds like the bread pudding with which my friend bribed the teachers at her son's schools.

Iris— You may be right. On one hand I think part of the O2 issue is that it's insidious— with a gradual drop it's not until you're gasping that you'd realize you're in trouble and by then, your judgement may be impaired. I find mom gets fuzzy-headed as soon as she drops below 91. In the mid-80's she is forgetful and a bit delusional. On the other hand, mom is unrealistic about both her health and age. She has a lot of medical issues and resents some of the things she has to do to treat them.

She wants a fix in the form of a pill or procedure— when it's something more conservative that requires her to be proactive she gets resentful. She grouses about her sore dry eyes, but is not compliant with the microwave compress she's supposed to use for 10 min/daily to help her Meibomian glands function. She insisted on seeing the hand specialist who had her fitted with custom splints to wear to bed to preserve her fine motor skills and treat the carpal tunnel that causes pain at night but doesn't wear them. One of her visiting nurses asked to see them and mom came out with them on upside down. Oof. Her pulmo ordered a nebulizer for her to use as needed, her PCP told her to use it on Monday. At 2pm on Tuesday, it was still on the shelf in the closet. Her derm told her to moisturize her very dry skin. She doesn't like to as it takes a while before she can dress, so the derm prescribes something special and schedules a recheck in 2 months to reassess. It's exhausting.

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The saga continues. Things, indeed, did go sideways yesterday.

It's was a rainy day here which didn't help. I tried to order a couple things online for mom's Christmas list. Niece and her DH are very particular. I hit wall after wall. I reached out for alternates and sorted some of that out. Then I ran around to wrap up my list with little success.

I made some progress and went to pick mom up for her appointment. She was decked out— wearing leather trousers and a cashmere turtleneck with a cute raincoat but no O2. She reported low 90s on room air in the am, but she was 84 when I got there. I slapped the O2 on her and had to put her on 3 liters to keep her over 88 for the ride to the PCP. PCP was not impressed with her progress and non-compliance around the O2 and nebulizer and sent us to the ED. Mom even got a finger-wagging to not down-play her symptoms on arrival. She called ahead and even sent mom down to the car in a wheelchair. Mom was not happy at all.

We got fast-tracked through the ED which was nice. The doc who saw her had read her medical records and admitted her immediately. Her lungs look worse than Monday. The bloodwork is all over the place. Once she was officially admitted, I ran by her house to collect the bi-pap and her non-formulary meds plus a few things she'll want like her phone charger. I was also to feed and medicate the cat. I prepared her meds in a Tbs of wet food which she enjoyed for both mom and the vet. Not so much for me— she ate half. But the thing that concerns me was her walking. Her gait is bad. It's as if she can't fully control her hind legs. I had a cat who threw a blood clot that had the same symptoms. Fortunately, this same vet treated my cat and assured me it isn't painful. I called the vet's office so I can bring her in today. They gave me the address of the 24-hour ED for animals, but I can't see spending 2-3K to find out immediately vs seeing her regular vet.

If my worst fears are realized, this is fatal at some point. When it was my cat, they recommended euthanasia be scheduled in a week or 2 as things would worsen. When I got back to the hospital, mom's BP was in the toilet and her monitors were going off constantly. She seemed worse than an hour before. I warned her about the cat and stayed for a bit before heading home.

DH and I grabbed a quick bite and went to bed early. I woke up at 3am and when I checked my phone, I'd had a call from the hospital last night that I slept through. I tried to call the hospital, but the call failed because the phone was "SOS Only", I tried DH's and same thing. Verizon's network was down. I tried DS's phone and did get through. They gave me her room number on the second floor where the ICU and CCU are; she's normally on he 4th floor telemetry unit— seems they added a new unit on the 2nd but it gave me a scare. The call was about the non-formulary meds— the admitting nurse and mom couldn't find them at first. I did get to speak with said RN and she gave me an update which sounded promising.

HB

HB, we were posting at the same time. I hope your Mama stabilzes and improves and the cat too. My goodness what a day you had. Big hugs to you!

Up and off to Edward Jones meeting to do year end things. I do not enjoy being "head" of this family!

Unfortunately not yet the way the trusts are set up.

Good Update: Mom is considerably better today. They're pushing the Duo Neb— she had 4 breathing treatments before noon when I saw her. Between that and the IV steroids/antibiotics, she's holding 91 O2 on room air at rest. I suspect she'll be home by Monday.

Mostly Excellent Update: The cat is back to channeling her inner jerk. I half expected her to be dead when I got there, but she'd managed to make it on to a console table in the sun where I found her. She'd eaten all her medicated food and a small bowl of kibble. She even complained because getting her food ready was taking too long. It's not all great. She was "thinking outside the box"💩 and I stepped in it tacking it through the kitchen.

I need to circle back to give her meds tonight, but I felt OK canceling her appointment for today. They'll see her again next week.

Went and saw this last with the VA then out to dinner for Chinese.

Our housekeepers were here today while we were out and left us a card and some cookies. And cleaned of course. I really enjoyed the cookies because they are probably the only gift I will receive that I don't shop for myself. I'll have to buy myself something for Christmas day or DW and DS will fret that I am left out. I guess a man can't have too many sweaters - or maybe I should replace my ratty old bathrobe.

We watched the Motown Christmas show on video and it was pretty good. Smokey Robinson and some young woman hosted, and there were performances by some of the old groups like the Temptations and Martha and the Vandellas. Motown stars no longer with us, like Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye, were channeled by younger singers and dancers. There were some old Motown songs, some Christmas songs, the finale was the whole cast singing a Motown arrangement of "Joy To The World."

DW doesn't really like music but she tolerated it for my sake. The Grand Old Opry is having a C&W Christmas show Monday night, followed by a Michael Buble' special, so I'm recording those also. DW shuts down at sundown like a canary, so we don't stay up late enough to watch the shows live. We're going to miss the candlelight Christmas Eve service too.

Every genre has its own version of Christmas music, it seems. I heard a rap a few years ago by Run DNC that featured a hook song of which I understood nothing, followed by a male chorus chanting "Give up your dough, give up your dough, give up your dough, it's Christmas, YO!" It just warms your heart, LOL.

Good morning everyone

HB as a healthcare worker it was not unusual to see patients who wanted a pill or a procedure to fix everything. They sometimes weren't willing or able to do the things that required effort&/or time. Think sometimes as people age they get worn out and tired of it all. Glad your mom is feeling better.

14 and snowing this morning. See we have a light layer of snow.

David I am jealous, Chinese. I was spoiled the first Chinese restaurant that I ever ate at was the best. Eventually they got older and it closed. I’ve never found anywhere that has come close to being what they were. The best egg rolls, shrimp fried rice, and wor su gai among other things. No peas and carrots in their fried rice.

Got my pumpkin roll made yesterday. Went and saw mom. The bright idea came to me for us to take a walk around where she lives. I suggested that and she like that idea. Think her and I both enjoyed it. Going to start trying to do that every time I go if she’s able. There’s two ladies that are frequently sitting with my mom. One of the ladies is Mary. I have noticed Mary is very kind to the other people living there and likes to quietly be helpful. I did not know the other lady’s name till yesterday and it is Marjorie. Marjorie is the one who plays the piano now and then. When I talked to Marjorie yesterday, I realize that she has dementia. You would not know that when she plays the piano. Even though she was sitting there quietly in her chair when I started talking to her, she was in much distress because she did not know what was going on, Bless her heart.

When mom and I made it back to the sitting area Mary and Marjorie were sitting there. My mom went to the restroom. My mom takes a long time in the restroom, she did at home also. After some time an aid came through and Mary says to the aid you need to check on D she’s been in the restroom a long time. The aid cheerfully went and checked on her and came back and reported to Mary and I. I thought that was so sweet and I thanked Mary. When mom came out, she says to me they came and checked on me. I told her Mary sent them to check on you. She says to me when I go anywhere , I tell them as she nodded toward Mary and Marjorie, where I’m going. I thought how nice it was that they were all looking after one another. My mom frequently shows concern for Mary because she’s been having a problem with her skin and itching. That’s so nice to see because my mom didn’t really seem to have empathy for anyone for a long time.

Hope all have a peaceful day