I heard things in the night which probably meant he was going to the bathroom. I did not hear him call out, so I stayed in bed. Had I not been so tired I would have gotten up just in case. In the morning, I woke just before 8. I took a shower in the hall bath. I peeked in on him. It was hard to see him over the bags of socks he keeps on the other side of the bed. I went to the kitchen to prepare my breakfast. But before I got very far, he walked out from the bedroom in just his brief. He wanted to know what he should do first to get ready. I told him he needed a shower.
Because of the grab bars by the toilet and the grab pole, I had to stand on the edge of the tub to turn on the water. I had to remove some of my clothes to avoid getting soaked. He sat on a shower bench. I washed his hair and handed him a wash cloth. Pretty quickly the soap got dropped in the water and I could not reach it. So I poured liquid soap on the cloth and let him clean himself. The water backed up from the drain so his feet got a good soaking.
After the shower, he was able to dress himself. I put the clean white Tet socks on him, plus blue regular socks. I let him put in his shoes while I started laundry. I also started cooking oatmeal. I shouldn't have started it until he started his dentures because it got a little dry. I put the wet laundry in the dryer and grabbed all the sheets to wash them. I plunged the back tub drain to no avail. Then I bent a coat hanger and used it to snake out a clump of hair larger than a rat. The drain ran freely after that. I tried plunging and snaking the other tub. It did not work and there was no hair to pull out. So much for my new career in plumbing.
Dad made himself a bowl of cereal while I made my usual breakfast. When I told him about the oatmeal, he ate that too. He was complaining of back pain, so I filled a bottle with hot water and put it behind him for 20 minutes. I folded laundry and washed dishes. I changed the hot bottle for a freezer pack. I put some laundry away and moved stuff around so the shirts would be accessible but not hanging in the shower. I found the cacao nibs in the closet. Dad was sleeping, but I removed the ice pack from his back. Then I turned on the router and read e-mail.
We were waiting for the home health nurse who was supposed to come between 11 and 1. I started cutting fabric for bibs, but I was a little short of what I had in mind. When 1pm came and went and there was no home health nurse, I looked up the number for the company and gave them a piece of my mind. We could have gotten groceries and gone by the dentist if we had known she was going to be this late. I got a call back that the nurse was less than a mile away. I made up the beds with the clean sheets. Soon she arrived. Dad met her at the door. She took his vitals and explained the program: visits from therapists and a CNA, opportunity for an emergency pendant, etc. There was one document to sign. Then she left us with a packet of information.
After she was gone, we got what we needed for the doctor and we stopped at the dentist on the way. Dad wanted to buy a bottle of chlorhexadine. The receptionist came out to the car to greet him. She would give him a ride for his next appt because he reminds her of her dad, and he lives so close.
After the dentist, we went to his primary care physician. First an aide took Dad's vitals and asked him questions. Soon after he left, the doctor came in. I was prepared with a list of questions. Some of them he said should be asked of the urologist. But he answered a fair amount. He also said Dad looked great and did not need the statin anymore. And Dad should eat more protein and have more variety in his diet.
After we checked out from the doctor, we went to CVS to get Synthroid. I had a discussion of medications side effects with the pharmacist. We walked around the store for a bit. After we paid for the pills, we went home.
Just as we were getting out of the car, William drove up. Since we had not had lunch, I was eager to feed Dad, but William was talking to us. Finally I fed Dad some chicken from the fridge and I ate some too. I hated to eat in front of William but we were hungry and didn't have time to go the grocery store. Faye showed up to make two casseroles. William left while I was filling Faye in on the dr visit. Faye looked for the recipes. I washed dishes to get them out of her way. I had an appointment with my tapping buddy at 8. But by 7:50 I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep it.
Kevin wasn't going to make the casseroles he'd brought the ingredients for. The ingredients were going to go bad. And it was going to take Faye all evening to make the casseroles. Plus, there were ingredients missing. So, she went shopping while I was chopping. She came back and we finished putting together the two casseroles. One went into the oven and the other into a cast iron fry pan. I stood and stirred it while she reorganized Dad's bedroom. I texted my tapping buddy again, but there wasn't time to tap between stirrings. I saw Chris had called, so I called him back. I tapped while I emoted to him.
I finished up the casseroles. William brought Patrick over . I had to move the bibs I started out of the way. Faye moved some stuff in the living room as well. Then she went home.
I cued Dad to get ready for bed. He was more interested in eating. I spoke to Patrick about how to cue Dad to get ready for bed. I found a weekly pill box to put the Synthroid in and put that in the master bath so Dad would take it first thing in the morning. It is a new habit for him and I wonder how he will do with that. Patrick watched Dad clean his hearing aids and take off his shoes and socks. I was dog tired, but had to stay until Dad was actually in bed and covered, with the lights out. Then I got myself ready for bed. I realized my blog wasn't finished so I completed that and went to sleep on the couch.
* This is Dad with his physical therapist at the hospital. *
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