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Tonight's picture was taken on August 6, 2008. Next to Mattie was Linda, his child life specialist. They were in the middle of the hallway, outside Mattie's hospital room. What were they doing? Linda understood that Mattie's "girlfriend," Charlotte, was coming to the hospital for the FIRST time to visit Mattie. Linda wanted that visit to go well and therefore set up a painting party in the hospital unit to normalize the setting for Charlotte, and also to give the children something to do together that had nothing to do with Mattie's illness. It was a brilliant plan. But of course Charlotte was a special friend, who never abandoned Mattie and visited him often throughout his cancer journey.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- number of people diagnosed with the virus: 5,075,678
- number of people who died from the virus: 163,282
Today and Tuesday, no caregivers are coming. I thought that would make my day less stressful. As I did not have to oversee and manage them. But today was anything but easy.
It started with the smoke detector going off at 4am in one of my parent's bedrooms. It was so loud, it woke us up from a deep sleep. Where is the smoke detector? Try a closet! A stupid place for a detector. In any case, I got up on a chair and managed to get the battery out of the gadget. Typically that stops the sound. NO such luck. The smoke detectors are connected to some sort of electrical circuitry in the house. I wasn't about to play with wires at 4am, so I literally put a pillow over the detector and closed the door. I attempted to go back to sleep.
I got up at 7am. Which is LATE. I got myself together quickly and then started addressing my dad's needs. Which means toileting, showering, and dressing. Then got him downstairs and wanted a haircut. So I squeezed that in, started the laundry and made breakfast. At 10am, my dad's physical therapist came for shortened session.
My dad went up and down 15 stairs SIX times this morning. That was a total work out for him.
My dad goes up much easier than coming down! The banister is different coming down. It is lower and causes him to tip forward while coming down. My dad's left arm isn't strong (as he broke it years ago), so holding onto the left banister isn't possible.
After going up and down the stairs, my dad then did 50 sit and stands. Which truly wears him out.
After physical therapy, I got my parents into the car and drove to his 10:45am doctor's appointment. When we got to the office, they said we did not have an appointment. I thought I was going to blow! But the doctor did make time to see us.
Since my dad passed a kidney stone on August 7th, he needed to provide a urine sample and have a KUB (kidney, ureter, bladder) x-ray. My luck, and I am being facetious, my dad wasn't able to give a urine sample in the office and the x-ray tech at the office was off today. So instead, I was given a urine specimen cup to capture urine later in the day and bring it back. Also had to go to a testing center to get the x-ray done. A lot of running around today.
While out, the dentist office contacted my mom about a September date for dental cleanings. I suggested she get appointments for August, so I could assist her. She did not want to do it, so I contacted the office myself. Bright and early we have appointments tomorrow morning. I just know it is a lot easier for me to move this caravan than my mom doing it alone or with a caregiver in tow.
Now dealing with folding laundry and been on the phone for an hour ON HOLD with USPS. They want to deliver a package to my parents that requires a payment of $200. I don't think so! Not sure how the US Post Office functions, when they ask clients to wait on hold for an hour in order to talk to a live human being. Just awful!
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