Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2009. You will see that I was holding up a LARGE salted pretzel. This was what Mattie craved that day and thanks to Team Mattie, he got it! I have no idea where one gets such a pretzel, but leave it to Team Mattie to have figured it out!
Quote of the day: When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure. ~ Peter Marshall
Tonight's quote makes me laugh! With this in mind, I should be an oak tree or a diamond by now. Like usual, I got up early, made breakfast and then went to get my dad up. As I was getting him up, I noticed he was soaked as was the bed. Turns out he may have tried to use the urinal at night and he couldn't figure it out. So instead, the urine went all over him, the sheets, pillows, blankets, and right through the mattress. I am telling you it was a royal smelly mess and given how tired I am, this was not a good way to start the day.
I got my dad up, took his shirt off and helped him to the bathroom to wash his hands and begin to shave. While he was doing that, I striped the bed completely and brought a ton, and I mean a ton of laundry downstairs. I then brought upstairs this magic product I found years ago called Kids and Pets. It is the only product I have ever used that takes away the horrible smell of human and pet urine. I learned this the hard way when Mattie had cancer. Patches, our cat, wasn't happy with us and urinated all over our bed. No amount of washing took that smell away, until I found Kids and Pets. So between Peter and I, we sprayed down the mattress all day, had the windows open, and an industrial fan (we bought when our basement flooded) blowing over the mattress. We also did 8 loads of laundry from my parent's bed. Honestly this alone would make the day a nightmare. But it only gets better.
Today was the first day my dad took a good shower. He was overdue, because I could smell him before I could see him. The hospital really did not do a good job with his hygiene. The hospital insisted I buy a shower chair, so I had to figure out how best to use this chair in the shower. I did it but my dad needs a lot more supervision now showering.
I took my dad to see the physician's assistant (PA) today. It was the only appointment I could get yesterday. Fortunately he is seeing the cardiologist next Thursday. The PA was nice enough and she saw the logs of my dad's blood pressures that I created. The log covered the dates from March 3 through to today. Like me, she wasn't happy with these numbers. Even on medications, my dad's blood pressure is high. So we discussed different medication options and this took some time. She feels that my dad needs a diuretic since his legs and feet are retaining water, and she feels this will help his blood pressure. I am not wild about diuretics in general, but I am willing to try it for a week. Given that there maybe side effects from this, my dad needs a blood test next week to monitor the impact of the diuretic.
Needless to say for the next several weeks, I will be driving back and forth from home to the cardiologist. After this appointment I took my parents out to lunch. They both like going out to lunch and it is the only outings we do, otherwise we are home bound. While at lunch, I was getting non-stop text messages from my dad's home health care agency. Upon discharge from the hospital, the recommendation was to get nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy from an in-home care agency. Apparently Medicare has a 48 hour rule, so because my dad was released from the hospital yesterday, the agency HAD TO SEE HIM TODAY. As these professionals do not work on Saturday and Sunday. So I literally had to shuttle my parents through lunch to get them home in time for these appointments.
My dad saw the nurse and physical therapist today. I wanted to throttle the nurse. She basically gave me a lecture that the only things my dad should be leaving the house for are doctor appointments and religious reasons. Meaning that he shouldn't be going out to lunch, because if he is up to doing this, he shouldn't qualify for in-home care. HONESTLY!? My life is a nightmare. I do nothing other than manage my parent's needs. This nurse has absolutely NO REGARD for family caregivers or understanding the stresses I am under. I gave it to her and I have a feeling we will be reassigned another nurse from the agency. As we have a major personality clash. Things are hard enough, I don't need health care providers adding to my stress or judging me and my decisions. She needs to walk in my shoes and then we will talk.
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