Monday, July 11, 2022

Monday, July 11, 2022

Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2007. That summer I enrolled Mattie in a swimming class. It was a group class, and Margaret worked one on one with the children during certain parts of the class. Mattie wasn't in love with water or swimming. Not unlike me! Overall, I would say that Mattie had a healthy fear of the unknown, but despite how he felt, he was brave and tried and completed all his group sessions. 

Quote of the day: We don't even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward. In times of tragedy, of war, of necessity, people do amazing things. The human capacity for survival and renewal is awesome. ~ Isabel Allende

Based on last night's blog, here are the before and after photos. This was our basement in December. 

This is now the same space! Not how I want it, but definitely an improvement from December. 

The rest of the basement in December. 

Our current view. It is getting there and once emptied, I will have to figure out what to do with this space. 

My dad went to the memory care center today, and while he was there, I did some administrative work for the Foundation. I did not get a lot done, but it was a start. At around noon, I took my mom for a salad, and then we went back to Virginia Hospital Center, as she had her annual mammogram. This was her first time going to my hospital for a mammogram. Fortunately I got a copy of her last scan and report from Los Angeles, so the radiologist had something to compare it to today! While my mom was getting a mammogram, I went to the hospital's film library to pick up a copy of her MRI scan on a disk. Believe it or not, I head back to the hospital on Tuesday and Thursday, as my dad has occupational therapy. 

The occupational therapist set a goal of 6,000 steps a day for my dad. She cited all sorts of studies linking physical health to cognitive health, and how the more steps you take a day, the healthier you are. I have no doubt, but she clearly doesn't understand my dad. My dad, as long as I have known him, has been sedentary. He avoids physical activity at all costs. That has now come back to bite him frankly. When I got home from the hospital with my mom today, I looked at my dad's step tracker. He had walked only 500 steps! I lost it. 

I got my dad up and he and Peter walked several laps around our cul-de-sac. The step tracker is actually very helpful, because it confirms my suspicion, and that is my dad does very little activity all day long. He claims to do a lot of activity at the memory care center, but the data doesn't lie. It just isn't true. He actually moves less at the memory care center than when he is home!

Tomorrow when I attend the occupational therapy session with my dad, I will tell her 6,000 steps is not a reasonable goal. I would target 1,200 to start with, and even that will be a challenge! According to the NIH, normative data indicates that 1) healthy older adults average 2,000-9,000 steps/day, and 2) special populations average 1,200-8,800 steps/day. So I think I am on target with the 1,200! 

In addition to shuttling my parents around all day, I am doing all the cooking, cleaning, and laundry. It makes for an exhausting day, and I find I have an inability to focus on anything other than my usual routine and chores.