Plans & More Plans

Plans & More Plans

Earlier this week I had decided to go home Friday and take Mom with me. Mr. H and the girls are coming and we'd all go home together. But I haven't heard anything from Mom's physical therapist. Mr. H had a suggestion that maybe M &L could stay up here with me for another week then we could come home. I wouldn't mind them being here. I haven't seen M or the eldest in almost 2 weeks.

I know that sometime I need to get back into my office and catch up on some things. KK is taking care of some things on an emergency basis, but the longer I'm gone, the more there is that someone else has to do and I have to catch up. I'm so thankful for the place I work and worship.

Wow! It's coming down a gully washer outside right now. That's what my Grandma Louise used to say. It hadn't rained at my house for several weeks before I left. M told me there was a thunderstorm there earlier this week. This is the first time I've seen rain since I've been at Mom's. It's coming down loud and hard. I'm glad I went to the store earlier today. I'd be soaked if I went out now. Mom's cat, Mr. Otis, is roaming around moaning. It is the strangest sound. He likes to make that noise at 3 a.m., too. Right now, he has climbed up on the little table by the front window and used a paw to part the blinds so he can look out at the rain in the front yard. We can call him Gladys Kravitz.

I feel so much better about things today. Yesterday was tough. Mom was still dehydrated when we got to the doctor's office. They decided to give her the steroid she usually takes in pill form by IV that day to get her fluids up. They took her to what is called the infusion room. That place sort of creeped me out at first. It's a room full of recliners and IV poles. When we got there, about 6 people were hooked up, some reading, some napping, some watching TV, all receiving some sort of IV treatment. Then the nurses started looking at Mom's arms. While she was in the hospital, she had about 5 or 6 different IV sites. Then there was the unsuccessful blood drawing attempt at her dr.'s office on Monday, followed by a trip to the outpatient department at the hospital, where they were successful. The nurses in the infusion room do IV's ALL day long. They are truly the trained professionals. It took 2 of them about 15 minutes before they found a vein they could use. I was in tears. I didn't want to leave her, but when they told me it would take about 3 1/2 hours to finish, I knew I needed to go get some lunch.

Everything hit me hard about that time. I sat in Quiznos and cried on the phone to a dear lady who just listened. I hadn't planned on telling her too much; I was calling to pass on info about L and camp, but it all came pouring out. That Quiznos is close to St. Dominic's and UMC. They probably are used to crying folks.

Before we left the doctor's office, I was armed with information about how to give Mom her medicine the most efficient way, and today, the home health care nurse had some good suggestions, too. I'm armed with information and a plan. Let's roll.