Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2004. Mattie was two years old and as you can see Mattie was NOT liking the beach whatsoever! Mattie was the kind of kid who had a sixth sense about things! Or let's put it this way, a healthy fear of the unknown. The sound of the ocean was very intimidating to Mattie. I remember being besides myself back then, as I wanted Mattie to enjoy a place we loved to visit. But I did not push it! I followed Mattie's lead. With more subsequent vacations by the water, Mattie came to LOVE IT! I learned early on with Mattie that he followed his own time schedule and that in order for experiences to be successful, I had to wait until he deemed himself ready.
Quote of the day: Problems are not the problem; coping is the problem. ~ Virginia Satir
It has been quite the day! I first had to drag myself out of bed, get myself together, make breakfast, and then get my dad up, make their bed, get him showered, dressed, and downstairs. By 10am, I had to leave in order to take my mom for a doctor's appointment. I left my dad with Peter. The doctor's appointment was over an hour long. We needed to see him for a script for an MRI and x-rays of my mom's neck. My mom has been having neck pain, and it is impacting her balance and walking. She walks hunched over and in my opinion is a fall risk. Since she is seeing a neurosurgeon next week, I need to supply him with films of her cervical spine.
However, while visiting the internist today, he decided to tell us that he doesn't think my mom has a cervical spine issue, but instead Parkinson's Disease. Fantastic! He laid that on us, but had no follow up on what to do about this. Frankly I will take it one step at a time. I have to rule out a serious cervical spine problem first.
After the doctor appointment, my mom and I ran chores, then came home, put my dad in the car and we drove back to Arlington, VA so my dad could get evaluated at Virginia Hospital Center by outpatient occupational therapy. It was a 90 minute evaluation and I had to attend his sessions with him, because he has NO long or short term memory. Frankly he doesn't even remember that he was in the hospital in March to get a pacemaker placed.
The OT was lovely, but truly not in touch with my home environment. She feels my dad is TOO sedentary and needs to do much more walking and take on chores around the house! All true, but hysterical really, as his energy level is close to non-existent. The to-dos for this week is to get him a fit bit so he can log his steps on a chart each day. She also wants him to spend less time sitting in his recliner, as she believes he should only resort to going there after dinner. If that wasn't enough to take in, she wants him to get involved in the activities we do.... such as going to the farmer's market, walking the shopping mall, etc! Truly this is down right hysterical.
Even before dementia overtook my dad, he was never a physically active person. He always had very little interest in walking, seeing and participating in anything. So how on earth I am now supposed to motivate him is beyond me. But what this woman doesn't get is every activity she wants him to do, involves me. That means MORE work for Vicki.
After the OT evaluation, I took my parents out for an early dinner. Then came home, did some chores, and wrote this blog. At 8pm, I am getting back in the car with my mom to drive to Virginia Hospital Center (AGAIN TODAY!!!) for her x-rays and MRI of her neck. Her appointment is at 9pm! A great hour, no? A ridiculous time, but since I need these scans done before next Wednesday's neurosurgery appointment, I have no choice. When I tell you I have driven all over the National Capital Area today, I am NOT kidding.
No comments:
Post a Comment