Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2003. Mattie was 15 months old. We took him to visit my parents in Los Angeles. In fact, it was an August tradition. Mattie loved to travel and to have adventures. That afternoon in my parent's home, we were trying to entertain Mattie. Peter brought him to the piano and Mattie was tapping away at the ivories!
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- number of people diagnosed with the virus: 2,931,142
- number of people who died from the virus: 130,248
Don't ask me what happened to today! It went by so quickly, moving from one task to the other. I got up at 6am, to do my usual chores. At 8am, one of the caregivers arrived and I walked her through the many check lists I have developed. Of course I could write things up, but I find NO ONE reads, so I literally have to walk through the process with each of them. One learns by doing!
There is a lot to manage here on a given day, and right now Peter and I have been working around the clock. Which makes one wonder what happens when we are both not around? The answer is still out on this and I will find out quickly this week as I return home tomorrow.
Today was a juggling act. I helped to get my dad up and showered because his physical therapist was coming at 9am. It was going to be a shortened session because my dad had a 10am doctor's appointment. I made this appointment because I wanted to know if there was a medical explanation for his exhaustion. He literally wakes up tired and it is next to impossible to get him to comply to do any of his in home exercises.
Any case, the physical therapist observed my dad going up and down the stairs twice today, since I reported two times he was unbalanced walking down the stairs. In addition, the therapist discussed why following the in home exercise program is vital. It was important for my dad to hear this and for him to understand why participating in these exercises is mandatory for independent living.
Literally from therapy, we packed my dad up in the car, along with the caregiver and drove to the doctor's office. Given our conversation and blood results, there is no physical reason for my dad to be tired. Other than age, recovering from two hospitalizations, and lack of motivation. I can't quite say I have great confidence in the doctor. But he has been my parent's physician for many years.
Since we are leaving tomorrow, there are so many chores to still get done. So I am signing off and in hopes that I can figure out this week how to be useful from afar. Though I know quite well from my own situation with Mattie, when you are caregiving full time, the only real support is that provided on the ground.
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