Thursday, August 27, 2020

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken on August 8, 2009. Mattie was surprised by a big RED ride-on vehicle. This was something Mattie always wanted. This vehicle needed to be assembled and Mattie supervised Peter the entire time on the deck. Mattie was very excited by this gift, but of course for Peter and me it was a very bittersweet reality, as it was the last gift we would be able to give Mattie. 

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 5,863,363
• Number of people who died from the virus: 180,595

It was another full day in "paradise." When my alarm goes off at 6:15am, I am not sure if I am coming or going. I do know, I drag myself out of bed, so that I have enough time to get myself together before my dad's caregiver arrives. 

My dad agitates easily. We are trying to update his will and his power of attorney. Instead, of letting me take the lead on this, he wants to do it. All fine and dandy, accept he is not capable of doing this anymore. This realization causes great stress and anxiety. His stress can be hard to manage when you are a recipient of it. I took a 15 minute break today, and sat outside in the backyard, where I snapped this photo. When I filled the tea kettle this morning with milk instead of water, it signaled to me that I am very tired. 

My dad's physical therapist came over today. The goal of the session was to walk 20 minutes without stopping. The PT, myself, the caregiver, and my mom went walking with my dad. My dad got down our street and halfway back in 20 minutes. We take a wheelchair with us, which was needed to get him back home. My dad is making physical progress, but I have observed that he is exhausted. We have given him a break from in home exercises yesterday and today. He believes this will help, but I am not sure I agree. As I find the more stagnant he is, the more exhausted he becomes. For him exercising doesn't come naturally, and therefore attributes movement to expending enormous amounts of energy. His exhausting produces more agitation, snappiness, and at times hostility. All emotions that are hard to balance from hour to hour. 

This afternoon, I took my parents out to lunch. We went to a lovely restaurant 45 minutes from their home. So I spent a good amount of time driving on the LA freeways. If you haven't had the pleasure, then it is hard to describe the chaos of driving on their 6-7 lane highways! LA is the only place I have driven where people fly down the highways at 70 or 80 MPH, and then two seconds later slam on the breaks and come to a complete stop. It is constant speeding and breaking. If you aren't careful, it is easy to get in an accident. 

Since I leave Los Angeles on Monday, I wanted to go to the grocery store and stock up on items for my mom. I have yet to go to their grocery store and not find a line! I have gone weekdays and weekends. There are always lines. 

As you can see, I am trying to stock my parent's pantry with all sorts of items. I have done so much here this month, everything from intense caregiving to setting up on-line accounts, bill paying, dealing with doctors, caregivers, the home health agency, getting xrays, addressing their front gate issues, and trying to work out estate planning documents. This is just the tip of the iceberg, as my days are very very full and I have a feeling when I get back home and stop moving, I will see how tired I really am.