Tonight's picture was taken in February of 2009. Mattie was pictured with Sally the Storybook Lady. Sally is an incredible professional, who freely shared her skills and talents with all of us once a month in the pediatric units. Mattie absolutely LOVED Sally. No matter what kind of funk Mattie was in, he was always eager to know what creative activity Sally had up her sleeves. Mattie did not invite many people into his hospital room, but on Sally days, if Mattie couldn't go into the playroom, then Sally came into Mattie's room. Even within the two by four of a hospital room we had, together they would sing and even act out plays.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 76,224,384
- Number of people who died from the virus: 900,528
I got up this morning and after getting myself together, I decided to make phone calls before making breakfast or getting my dad up. Given that it is Friday, I wanted to get a hold of the cardiology and pulmonary medicine offices. Thankfully I got through and got all the appointments we needed set up. But the whole thing took an hour! This lost hour threw off my whole morning schedule and routine.
My dad is scheduled to take a Lexiscan next week. This is a nuclear stress test. A bit different from the usual treadmill stress test. This nuclear version avoids him going on a treadmill and actually exercising. Instead, the technician uses an IV and injects him with a tracer and agent. The agent helps to speed up the heart rate, as if one was physically exercising. The doctor feels this test is necessary to understand what is going on with my dad. In any case, my dad has a history of severe allergies to all dyes and contrast. Contrasts that are iodine based! These contrasts result in uncontrollable hiccups. Hiccups that typically require hospitalization. The last time this occurred was in 2020, when he was also dealing with urinary sepsis. Back then this was the perfect storm. The hospital gave him assessments involving contract to understand why he was so ill, but no one looked at the fact that he is allergic to contrast. Given that we are in the era of COVID, neither my mom nor I were there to advocate, and fortunately my dad lost that ability years ago.
Any case, I finally got a hold of both a nurse and my dad's doctor and we talked through my concerns. They feel that these agents are very different from contrast and that he should be fine. But what I also did was I got them to write in the orders that I am allowed into the procedure room with my dad. It is a 3-4 hour test, so in reality, they will be grateful to have me there, otherwise, they will be dealing with his incessant questions and potential need to go to the bathroom. It is me who is doing them a favor.
After I got my dad washed, dressed, and completed breakfast. It was time to do his exercises. I frankly just did not have it in me today. As I had to walk the dog and do other things. So my mom did his exercises with him. I think this was actually very good for her to do because she can see the profound decline in my dad's memory and thinking. Not that he is good at covering it up, but when doing his cognitive exercises you blaringly see that he can't really process information nor retain it beyond a kindergarten level.
Walking Sunny, even in the rain, is important for me. I need to get out of this house, not be meeting someone's demands for 45 minutes, and what I realize about myself is that I have a lot of angry and hostility. At times I just want freedom to do what I want to do, when I want to do it, and with whom I want to do it with.
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