The Dr.. visit

It was another dry and hot day. I guess all the rain is in Korea. I got up to get Mom washed and dressed. Then took her to the kitchen for breakfast. She ate what I ate. Then she started taking pills with apple juice. Dad had each one in its own little cup. He dumped one in her hand, and she popped it in her mouth and took a swallow of juice. Sometimes it went down, but sometimes she took too much and just sat there, not able to swallow, until I asked her to spit it out. But the pill always went down. Maybe applesauce would work better? Dad puttered around after breakfast. I kept reminding him to call a plumber, but he kept getting distracted, so I did it myself. I had trouble on the phone making the appointment. Is this phone going bad? Then I went in the back to use the other phone to find area agencies that might offer help for aging people. Mostly no one was in. But I did get one lady and she suggested we meet in person at a local restaurant. Tomorrow. Then we had an early lunch so we could take Mom to a Dr. appointment. Even though we left on time, there wasn't quite enough time when we got there for us to park on the other side of the bridge and walk back to the hospital. They have valet service, but the line was too long. So Dad let Mom and me out. I did not know where we were going, but followed the signs for Orthopaedics. I signed her in, and Dad showed up after parking. When we got in to see the Dr., she suggested botox and physical therapy for the curled fingers. If that worked, then and only then would she be willing to operate for the carpal tunnel syndrome. She wanted Mom to have individual finger splints so she wrote on a form and send us to the Hand Management center. We found that pretty easily. But after Mom was seen and the splints started, a man came in in a motorized wheel chair. He was not in good shape and all the physical therapists were worried. They called the emergency number several times before any one arrived. The man was getting worse. He had just come from dialysis, so why didn't they call down there to see if he was feeling poorly then, or if this was some kind of side effect? 30 minutes later one lady came with a backpack from which she pulled a heart monitor. After some fussing, they were able to wheel him out to where an emergency team waited, I hope. It was quite a delay. Then they finished making the splints and we were free to go. Dad offered to get the car while we waited, but I thought Mom should get some fresh air and sunshine so we all went together. Dad took control of the wheelchair and set off so fast I could hardly keep up. When he wasn't navigating turns or bumps, he walked beside her, holding only one handle. So I caught up, to grab the other handle. We crossed her over the bridge and into an inner-city neighborhood. We got in the car and went to the fitness center. We called Chris to tell him we'd be late for supper. Dad put Mom on the tread mill and stood behind her for 25 minutes, constantly reminding her to take larger steps. Then he did an arm workout. There was nothing for me to do 'cause guests aren't allowed to use the equipment. So I played patty-cake with Mom. Then Dad took her to the Back Extension machine. She did a set and then he did three sets. Then he used some other machines while I used a large exercise ball to play with Mom. We pushed it back and forth, up and down and side to side. She was really working hard. Then we drove home. Supper was almost ready. After we ate, I called Faye, but she didn't answer. Then Dad asked me to go for a walk with him and Mom. He said 'walk' but I should have brought jogging shoes. I could not keep up without running. He wheeled her in circles around me. I told him that she was going to get bugs in her teeth at that speed. When we got back, Faye was on the phone so I talked to her for awhile. Dad put Mom to bed while we were talking, so I just went to bed myself afterwards. I forgot to post to my blog.
* Mom is using the back extension machine at the fitness center *