Tonight's picture was taken in February of 2009. Mattie was home between treatments and doing two things he loved. Playing with water and eating a vanilla frosted donut. This was his one donut a day phase! From an early age, Mattie loved throwing his toys in water and creating all sorts of play schemes. All I know is life with Mattie was never boring.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 78,366,625
- Number of people who died from the virus: 933,743
I woke up at 6am this morning. I have to allot extra time for everything and since my mom had a doctor's appointment in Arlington, VA I had to make sure I was up, showered, dressed, able to do chores, make breakfast, get my dad up, go through his cognitive exercises, and get them packed into the car and ready to go. Our housekeeper came today and thankfully she has known me for years, because I had no time to chat with her. She is bright and could see I have my hands full.
I did not sleep well last night thanks to intense winds and the windows rattling. I am still not used to the new noises of this house. In addition to my lack of sleep, I am dealing with a killer migraine this week. The kind where my eyes are twitching. My original plan for today was to leave my dad home with Peter, but since Peter is in Boston, I had to bring my dad to the pulmonologist appointment. Traveling with him is always a gamble, because you just never know if he will have a bathroom accident. He also tires very easily!
We got to Virginia Hospital Center without a hitch, got a great parking spot, and I was able to get my parents up to the office without incident. Finding the right parking spot is crucial, because my dad hates walking and even with a disabled parking permit, I don't always get lucky with parking. Any case, I prepared my dad that he had to stay in the office's waiting room while I went back with my mom for her exam.
It was my dad's cardiologist who told me about the pulmonologist. I love the cardiologist, as he is very patient centered and humanistic! He was encouraging me to try this particular doctor today. He was absolutely correct. This pulmonologist gets a gold star. Do you know he spent 45 minutes with us and listened to my mom's stories about being a math teacher and high school program chairman. Not only was he listening, he was engaged and asked questions! Totally unheard for. In any case, my mom has crackling in her lungs and needs to undergo further testing in two weeks.
After the doctor's appointment, I retrieved my dad and took him to the bathroom immediately. Then we got back in the car and went out to lunch. Of course at lunch, I had to rush my dad to the bathroom. Once I got home, I literally was working like a nut for two hours straight. Doing chores, feeding the animals, folding laundry, helping my mom with bills, helping my dad to the bathroom again, processing through Foundation Item Drive boxes that arrived today and the list goes on. It is now 7:30pm, and I just sat down for the day to answer emails and catch up on Foundation work and activities. I have taken tired to a whole new level.
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