Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2002. Mattie was a month old. Truthfully I had NO IDEA what I was doing! The What to Expect When You are Expecting book that guides moms through pregnancy was fantastic. But there really is no great companion book on parenting. It truly is learning minute by minute. Which is why I always say.... Mattie was my life's greatest teacher! But look at that sweet face!!! Mattie was hard to resist. Mattie did a lot of napping as a newborn, but pretty soon thereafter, napping was a challenge for him. Mattie was born with two modes.... ON and OFF! As if he knew he had only 7 years on this earth, and he wasn't going to sleep away any moment of it!
Quote of the day: You wake up every morning to fight the same demons that left you so tired the night before, and that, my love, is bravery. ~ Unknown
I had high hopes this morning that while my mom had a physical therapy session at home, that I could get some Walk admin accomplished! What a joke! Somehow, I can't focus on anything because I am constantly pulled in multiple directions. My mom can't manage her calendar to make additional therapy appointments and she really can't answer the therapist's questions about how her week is going. So I do not only need to be present for my dad, I must also be present for my mom!
At 1pm today, my parents had their annual eye exams. They have been seeing my eye doctor for four years now. Meaning the office, his staff, and the doctor should not be a surprise to either of them. But of course, for my dad, every moment is like a FIRST for him. Each year, he meets the doctor, as if it is the very first time he has met him. Since eye appointments require the administering of eye drops and an eye exam, my parents are placed in two different rooms. I always stay with my dad, and that wasn't a problem in the past! Today was an eye opener.
While my dad's eyes were dilating, the doctor's nurse came in to get me. She let me know that my mom is very upset and needs my attention. She could not calm my mom down! So I told my dad, that I had to leave the room. I kept his door open, so I could keep an ear out for him. I knew my mom was the next patient to be seen, and my dad would be after my mom. Therefore I did not worry that my dad was going to be examined without my presence.
When I entered my mom's exam room, she was frantic. She appeared anxious, disoriented, and very upset. She made it clear that she did not want to be in that room by herself. She said drops were put in her eyes and then she was just left there. Meaning she has no understanding for timing anymore. As she thought she was sitting there for an hour! Not true! She then went on to say that her previous eye appointments weren't like this and of course...... it was better in California!
I literally had to talk her off the edge, calm her down, and re-orient her to the reality of the situation. Needless to say, I did not leave the room, sat through her doctor's exam, and today we discovered her eye pressure is high. I have had this problem before too, but I have narrow angle glaucoma. She does not! However, the doctor tested the thickness of her cornea, and she has thick corneas. Apparently if your corneas are thick, you can subtract 3 points off of the pressure reading, thereby making her pressure reading normal. Nonetheless, the doctor wants to see her back in six months to recheck my mom. But he agrees with me, the fact that she got worked up emotionally impacted her eye pressure. GOSH IF THAT IS THE CASE, my eyes should be popping out of my head.
What all of this confirmed for me today is that my mom is fragile. Her memory issues are impacting her ability to make sense out of the experiences around her, so she gets frightened, anxious, and it goes downhill from there. Typically I attend all medical appointments with my mom and my dad. If they are seeing the same doctor, then we are all in one exam room together. It is a bit different with an eye exam. Rest assured in the future, I will be jumping from exam room to exam room, to cut this issue off at the pass.
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